Staff of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Tuesday stormed streets of Benin in a peaceful protest to demand for the payment of their three months salaries arrears and the N25, 000 minimum wages.
BusinessDay reports that the protesters are mainly staff of the state headquarters of the agency in exemption of the teaching staff in the 18 local government councils in the state.
The protesters armed with placard of various inscription such as, “No SUBEB no red roofs, Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomhole please sign the committee reports, though it is our salary please pay us our four moths salary, leave transport grant, pay relativity, pay incremental credit and N25,000 increase in minimum wages.
Other inscriptions are ‘we are hungry, Edo state government pay us now our three months salary arrears, now that you are going pay us all our entitlements, our patience has reached its zenith among others.
The spokesperson for the protesting SUBEB staff, Daniel Odion urged the state government to order for the immediate release of committee’s reports set up by the state government to ascertain the true status of the agency staff that is for the state and those for the local governments.
Odion who said the committee has since concluded its assignment noted that the state governor has not assented to the reports, positing that the non assenting to the report has made it impossible for the state government to pay them their financial entitlements.
However, when contacted the state chairman of SUBEB, Stephen Alao said the aimed of the committee was to streamline teaching and non teaching staff of the agency.
Alao added that the committee has since submitted its report to the state government and only waiting for its implementation.
The SUBEB boss, who however appealed to the staff to be patient with the government as their recommendations of the report would soon be implemented also urged them to join hands to ensure that the outgoing administration of the Adams Oshiomhole finish well.
The spokesperson for the staff further stated that in the past eight years there had been no promotion for the staff of the board.
Also speaking,Caroline Akorogie,one of the protesters alleged that the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Tom Oloko had in a circular aid that the salary of SUBEB and LGAs in the 18 local governments was going to be stopped.
She further added that the circular which later read stoppage of SUBEB and LGA salaries prompted the staff to write letter to the board chairman for intervention.
She said the letter prompted the board to set up the committee to screen the workers of SUBEB to enable it ascertain the true staffers of the state and local governments.
“Tom Oloko, the state commissioner of local government and chieftaincy affairs had in a circular said the salary of SUBEB and LGAs in the 18 local governments was going to be stopped or later read stoppage of SUBEB, LGA salaries. We went there to see him but we were not able to get something tangible, and then we did a letter to our board chairman to intervene in the matter and we copied the office of the head of service and based on that letter we were invited and said that the government was going to set up a committee to screen the workers of SUBEB to enable them to ascertain the true staffers of the state and local governments because in SUBEB we have about three set of workers.
“They are, the pioneer workers that were deployed from the various MDAs to start up SUBEB in 1994- 1995 and thereafter the SUBEB employed its staff and we got other staff from LGAs and schools and they were posted to the board. We are all be working and salary paid, until local governments have not been able to pay their salaries and they have been protesting that they are the ones paying our salaries which is true.
“Like me I am from Oredo, and I am earning my salary from Oredo local government council and so when that one was withdrawn and the state government said they wanted to know those that are their own staff before they can take over and then leave those for the local government to them. The committee assured us that the exercise was not going to affect our salary. We have long been through with the screening since August but as we speak they said the report is somewhere and it has not been signed and that until it is signed we are not going to get salary.
“But when we discovered that it is going to snowball to what we don’t know we now said there is need for us to let the government know the plights of the workers of SUBEB and LGAs in the state so that the governor can be aware of what is going on because we want to believe that the Comrade governor is not aware of it because if he is aware of it he will not just want us to suffer unjustly and that is why we are trying to protest to bring his attention to it, and if possible call our leaders on roundtable discussion and chart the way forward.
“Especially for the payment of our leave transport grant for 2016, our incremental credit for 2016, the 25,000 minimum wage that he gave to civil servants on May 1, 2016 as we speak the staff of SUBEB has not benefited from it, and out four months’ salary running now. These are the four critical issues that are on ground right now”, she explained.
