The government has paid promotion salary arrears to 52,000 teachers, while payments for another 28,000 remain outstanding, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed.
The Minister said the 52,000 teachers had successfully completed the validation process out of approximately 80,000 teachers and other personnel seeking payment of their promotion arrears.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, October 27, Mr Iddrisu appealed to the affected teachers to refrain from embarking on another strike, assuring them that efforts were underway to resolve the outstanding payments.
“The 52,000 promotion arrears on the new grade were honoured by the government and paid by the government by October 16. What is outstanding is around 28,000, which includes some non-teachers; they may not be able to get payment because the validation process has not been completed,” he explained.
The Minister said he had reached out to teacher union leaders and intended to meet them by the end of Tuesday to discuss the outstanding arrears.
“I am compelled to invite the teacher unions to an emergency meeting this morning. I have reached out to them,” he stated.
According to Mr Iddrisu, the government is working to ensure that the remaining eligible beneficiaries receive their arrears by the end of November.
He added that an alternative arrangement could involve providing a supplementary allocation to facilitate payments for October.
“Not all of them may get their October salary; we may have to do another supplementary payment or push it to November,” he noted.
The disclosure follows the suspension of industrial action by teachers over delays in the payment of their promotion salary arrears.
The outstanding payments remain a concern for affected teachers as the government works to complete the validation process and settle the arrears.
