By NATHAN NWAKAMMA

Primary school teachers in Bayelsa have expressed disappointment that their April salaries did not reflect increases following promotions, despite the pledge by Gov Douye Diri.

According to official sources, the state government made available about N200 million and had promised to commence the implementation of salary increases following the promotion of primary school teachers who are in the services of local governments.

But the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the payment of promotion increment for primary school teachers stalled since 2013.

Mr Igelege Samuel, who spoke on behalf of the teachers in Ogbia Local Government Area (LGA), told NAN on Tuesday in Yenagoa that primary school teachers felt disappointed when the increments were not reflected in their April salaries.

He said that the approval granted by the state governor to commence the implementation of salary increments had boosted the morale of teachers whose incomes had remained stagnant for more than eight years.

“The governor of Bayelsa had listened to our cry and shown his compassion by making funds available to assist the local governments to pay but we were disappointed that just a handful out of over 400 teachers got the increment.

“Those of us who were left out happened to be in the majority and we are worried and demand to know what led to this.

“We remain grateful to the governor who intervened to end our stagnation, the primary teachers in Bayelsa have been earning the same salary since 2013 even though they are promoted as and when due.

“So the promotions in the past eight years have been merely cosmetic and have no financial implication on the monthly take-home pay and that is what this governor has addressed but we have not seen the money,” Samuel said.

NAN reports that more than 100 of the affected teachers had gathered at the residence of the Account Supervisor for Ogbia LGA, Mr Yague James, to submit their promotion letters to facilitate the implementation.

James had addressed the aggrieved workers and urged them to submit their documents to ensure that those who were omitted would be captured in the implementation of the promotion increment.

He explained that the updated records, including promotion records, were required to compute the new salary scale of the teachers. (NAN)

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