From INIOBONG SUNDAY, Uyo
No fewer than 108 supplementary workers of the Federal Government College, FGC, Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State have decried the alleged discrimination and exclusion in the implementation of the new N70,000 minimum wage.
The affected workers, our correspondent gathered, were hired to fill the void created by insufficient regular staff in the teaching and non-teaching departments, and paid from the terminal levies generated by the Parents and Teachers Association, PTA.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved workers, one of the affected staff, who declined her name in print, lamented that since their engagement, they have been collecting a monthly handout that cannot even take a single worker home, not to talk of people with children.
Checks revealed that the highest paid ad-hoc staff in the teaching category earns N40,000; the least teacher earns N30,000, while the non-teaching workers in the food, hostel and administration sections earn N25,000 monthly.
It was gathered that the PTA Chairman, Dr John Etim, had at various meetings with the management, staff and parents of the college, assured that a new wage regime for the affected workers would be effected in line with the new N70,000 minimum wage as soon as parents pay the new PTA levy as directed by the Federal Ministry of Education.
The ministry had directed all unity colleges to effect a new PTA levy from the hitherto N5,000 per term, to between N10,000 and N12,000, urging parents to bargain with the PTA leadership to arrive at either N10,000 or N12,000.
The decision by the ministry, according to the school management, became necessary “in order to augment the welfare packages of auxiliary workers in the college.”
But a parent, Victor Effiong, regretted that “after parents had accepted to pay the N12,000 PTA levy, the PTA chairman failed to augment the salary of the affected workers.
“We voted him based on his mature and elderly outlook as an academic, but we are worried that he is putting up this dissonance disposition towards the welfare of staff who are teaching and taking care of our children.
“His tenure is ending in October and we must be on the lookout for his plans in case he is trying to end his tenure with a bad record of fraud which he must answer for, even outside office because parents are ready to go after him.”
Another staff who craved anonyimity said, “We are over 180 auxiliary staff, both teaching and non-teaching, because the current chairman employed his son, friends, inlaws and wife, but the wife recently resigned for another job elsewhere.
“The school management always conducts briefing every Monday and Friday. Last Friday, the teachers paid by the PTA asked the principal about the minimum wage issue.”
The principal replied that the question should be answered by the PTA executive.
However, the current PTA secretary, Mr Oshionebo replied that the issue has been resolved.
