Seven-Day Ultimatum, Rapid Engagement as Teachers’ Welfare is Top Agenda
While friends, colleagues, party faithfuls, movement activists and commentators exchange volleys with Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and other anti-Otti disinformation factories, Governor Alex Chioma Otti has been visibly preoccupied with a more urgent matter: the welfare of Abia teachers. This week, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Abia State, led by Comrade Kingsley Mmadu and Comrade Nnenna Okonkwo, formally issued a seven-day ultimatum over unpaid salary arrears, promotion bottlenecks and payroll irregularities, a development widely reported by The Eagle Online (https://theeagleonline.com.ng/strike-abia-teachers-issue-seven-day-ultimatum-over-unpaid-salaries-welfare-gaps/). Rather than deflect or dismiss the concerns, the issue was immediately escalated within government circles, with the Governor’s media team led by Ferdinand Ekeoma and Njoku Ukoha acknowledging the grievances as legitimate labour issues requiring administrative resolution, not political spin. This posture is consistent with Governor Otti’s earlier engagements with teachers, including the formal onboarding of 5,394 newly recruited teachers into the Abia payroll system in 2024 (https://www.nairaland.com/8498994/abia-govt-onboards-5394-teachers), the payment of logistics allowances to ease classroom delivery costs (https://peopleofabia.com/jubilation-across-abia-as-governor-alex-otti-pays-logistics-allowance-to-5394-newly-recruited-teachers/), and the state-wide capacity-building programme organised for the same cohort (https://peopleofabia.com/abia-state-government-sets-augustseptember-dates-for-six-day-capacity-training-of-newly-recruited-teachers/). Long before the current ultimatum, Governor Otti had publicly committed to improving teachers’ welfare and implementing wage reforms, a pledge reported during World Teachers’ Day celebrations (https://nationalambassadorngr.com/gov-otti-vows-to-enhance-teachers-welfare-says-abia-will-implement-new-minimum-wage-for-workers-by-end-of-october/). In other words, while political noise rages elsewhere, the Governor’s immediate focus remains administrative justice for teachers whose classrooms cannot wait for 2027 arguments.
AProf Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke
