By Ajijola-Anabi Rasheeidat
It’s unbelievable. In a profession where decency, fairness, and equality are expected to be the watchword, immorality, inequality, and depravity are the other of the day therein. It’s because miscreants have taken over it. This set of people are milking the resources of teachers to their advantage, and the detriment of the teachers. Transparency, accountability, and probity are all gone. And usage of members’ struggles and what are expected to be benefits to living large pervade. Bamu bamu niwon yo, they do not care if awon omo enikan are hungry.
Despite the meager take home as our monthly salaries, we duly imbibe a good saving culture, that has birthed many subsidiaries of NUT, initiated with utmost good faith by some prominent people, to have worthy life during and after service. However, the reverse is the case since some cabals envision this as an avenue to siphon those resources and use the sweat of others to their advantage. It’s so pathetic!
Known to us, we have several ways of generating income to the purse NUT but these two sources do not have any variability as others may do. The first one is the monthly deductions from professional members across the state. With this, #500 and above are being deducted every month from their account. The second one is the contribution renders to the cooperative by the cooperators.
Be mindful that every potential cooperator must contribute for a period not less than six months tentatively before any attempt could be made for a loan. Even though in the end, no loan would be given to cooperators at the exigency of the time.
In short, only a few cooperators are eligible to get the loan. It’s either you’re their ally or somewhat related to them, or has a way to get back to them in kind. So to say that the loan programme is highly based on preferential treatment. Even if one has a multifold of requests submitted to them, it isn’t an exaggeration that one won’t get a comeback call till one passes out of this world.
Our monthly dues are nothing to write home about. No commensuration at all. Unlike what’s obtainable in other professions such as NMA, NBA, et al, where their dues turn into an investment like DR’s Hall in the Mandate estate for rent on any occasion. Many more organizations are doing it well and using the dues judiciously. Just last week, facemasks were distributed to some selected schools that were believed to be ‘troublesome’, while a larger percentage of schools are still on the waiting list. Imagine, ordinary facemasks could not be made available to go round all the selected schools. The only exercise we agitated for to help reduce the spread of Covid19 in Kwara state NUT.
Did you know that OKADA RIDERS ASSOCIATION meaningfully impacted the lives of their people during COVID-19 lockdown by giving them food items in varieties? Rice, Beans, Maize, Yam tuber, and Yam flour were given to their members. The soft loan was also made available for members for an emergency that surfaced their ways in the trying time to mitigate and lessen the suffering of their people.
Recently, there was an uproar within the power that became known when the Fifteen million was withdrawn, without due process in the cooperative account section in connivance with cabals of Ilorin West NUT. It ignited misunderstanding among the incumbent executives of the cooperative and the main NUT executives which was later swept under the carpet. To them, they have lived above that too!
It’s disheartening seeing a quantum number of teachers demand loans from the pot they fill with their meat, but hit the brick while the custodians live flamboyantly. Upon their sizeable REBATES to them, they still deem it fit to inflict an unbearable affliction on all cooperators.
A scenario that is close to this is a serving teacher facing health challenges, which pushes him to demand part of his contribution as a loan. Coincidentally, the said man was about to retire and he hasn’t ever taken a loan. The man was striving to battle health challenges in solitude, but when it went out of hand, he got admitted to the UITH. Sadly, the loan demanded by the sick member was not offered until he gave up the ghost. Afterward, his family was called to pick up the request (loan) at a later date. Many have died in this course without redress. pathetic!
Verily, Government doesn’t provide us a better condition of service and the harm Union is causing to us is more dangerous than what the government wages against us! This call is a necessity, we need to do it and fight it rightly