Teachers protest exclusion from Fubara’s N100,000 Christmas bonus

A protest against their purported exclusion from the N100,000 Christmas bonus that Governor Siminalayi Fubara approved for public officials was organized by about 100 elementary and secondary school teachers who work for the Rivers State Government. The protest took place at Government House in Port Harcourt.

The demonstrators questioned why they were not eligible for the bonus, claiming that other state employees had received theirs along with their December 2023 salary.

Fubara approved each civil servant’s bonus before the Yuletide holidays, a fact that sparked wild celebration among the workforce and the state’s two labor union congresses, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.

Teachers who were upset about the situation aired their dissatisfaction and demanded action from the state administration while occupying administration House.

One of the instructors, only known as Oke, told reporters on Friday, “We were so happy when we heard that the governor approved a N100,000 Christmas bonus for all civil servants.” Thus, we believed that this Christmas would be especially wonderful for us.

However, as of right now in January, as you can see, a small number of us have not yet received our Christmas bonuses.

Schools will resume on Monday. The majority of us have traveled and come back.

We’ve used everything we have. We are here this morning to file our grievances with our devoted governor in order to assist us in speaking with the people who are keeping our Christmas bonus.

“We should release our N100,000 Christmas bonus because it will help to mitigate the effects of the hardship, particularly this January.”

Some who spoke criticized the state Universal Basic Education Board and their banks of ignoring the issue.

When addressing the teachers in protest, a government representative praised them for their composure and gave them the assurance that their grievances would be investigated.