Many public school teachers in Maiduguri are furious because some of them have still not been paid since a qualification verification exercise was started two years ago.

They want their money and they want it now, they told RNI.

The Borno State government began the verification process to verify whether teachers were qualified to do their jobs, or not. At the time, teachers were told it was part of an effort towards restructuring the education sector in the state.

The government established an independent committee to work on this. Recent figures released by Bukar Abba Wakilbe, Borno State’s commissioner of education, showed that of the teachers who wrote the examination only 5,439 passed, 7,915 needed further training, 3,829 were are not qualified to teach and 2,389 did not have any qualifications at all.

Some of the teachers in Maiduguri told RNI that they did not know if they had passed the qualification examination and had not been informed by the education department, even though the verification process had stopped.

Now some of the teachers were still working but were still waiting to hear about the findings of the verification process and they were in the precarious position of not getting paid.

Kingi Alkali Bukar told RNI reporter Zainab Alhaji Al that he had been teaching in the primary school for 20 years.

“My salary is ₦‎14,000 a month. The government has put us in a difficult situation. They did the verification process two years ago, but they still have not told us about the outcome. We heard that some teachers in our school did not pass. Even though there is a shortage of teachers, some at our school have stopped going to work and have been fired,” he said.

He called on the government and the education commissioner to come to their aid.

Aishatu Ibrahim Muhammad, a teacher for 15 years, told RNI that she had gone through the verification process but still had not been paid for two years.

“They told me my name was on the shortlist and that documents had beed submitted. But still we have not been heard anything.

“Even without the payment I go to work and teach because the large numbers of teachers who had left because they were not getting a salary. But there are many pupils who are now missing out on schooling. It is not their fault that we are not getting paid. I am married and have children and I want them to get an education. I walk to school often, although sometimes my colleagues give me money for transport.”

“I have been a teacher for 13 years and I have not received a salary since the verification started,” said Aisha Sagarwa. “My salary was ₦‎14,500 when the verification process started. I live in Bulunkutu so transport costs me at least ₦‎350 a day. Sometimes I don’t have money for breakfast or lunch and eat only when I get home from work. The public school teachers are suffering. The authorities need to come to our aid.”

Maryam Musty, the head mistress of Mafoni Primary School, said: “After we did the verification process no one passed. All the teachers stopped coming to the school. We persuaded some of them to return but many refused. We had 70 teachers but only half of them have returned.

“It’s a very difficult situation. Those who have not returned said it was because they had not been informed about the verification process or its outcome and they were not receiving their salary. I’m not sure what to do because more and more pupils are being enrolled in the school,” said Musty.

Wakilbe said: “We will review the verification process.”

He said although the committee had finished its work, he had immediately directed that it be reconstituted to investigate this issue. The government was doing its best.

He aware of the shortage of teachers. “In the current situation, we recognise that there is an inadequate number of teachers. But we are begging teachers to rededicate themselves to their jobs and attend classes regularly.”

ZAINAB ALHAJI ALI