Thousands teachers in the employ of the Ministry of Defence who were registered for the cash transfer programme of the federal government in January have received no dime since then, FIJ can report.
The government had said in August that it intended to pay N25,000 to 20 million people. But Wale Edun, the minister of finance, told Nigerians on October 31 that 25 million citizens had benefitted from the initiative, with payments of the said amount supposedly made directly to their bank accounts.
“There are also direct transfers to the people on social register that has been put together by all levels of governments and it has been verified,” Edun said after last week’s National Economic Council (NEC).
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“And so, people are paid after they have been uniquely identified biometrically and they are paid digitally through a bank account or mobile wallet. And those payments have been rolled out and we have reached 5 million households and 25 million Nigerians.”
A redacted copy of the cash transfer registration form.
Like Edun said, the government registered vulnerable people for the programme by onboarding them on the National Social Register managed by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction. About 9,300 of temporary classroom teachers employed by the Ministry of Defence and posted to Armed Forces schools, such as Nigerian Army’s Command Day Schools, Nigerian Navy Schools and Nigerian Air Force Schools countrywide had their data collected for this purpose.
The registration was done by the defence ministry in conjunction with the humanitarian affairs ministry. A copy of the registration form obtained by FIJ, titled ‘registration form for rapid response register/cash transfer’, contains personally identifiable information of the workers, including their bank accounts.
The programme is part of the government’s social investment policy of helping the “poorest of the poor” navigate the challenging cost of living crisis imposed by the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and currency devaluation. According to the government, each beneficiary would receive N25,000 for three months.
More than 10 months they submitted their data, the government has not credited their accounts with a penny. Meanwhile, the minister had announced that 25 million people had been paid already.
“On December 1, 2023, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Defence Steering Committee on Social Safety Net in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, commenced the registration of all temporary teachers for the Rapid Response Register/Cash Transfer program,” Godwin Phillips*, who has spent over 20 years in service, said on Friday.
“During the registration process, temporary teachers were instructed to designate their employment status as ’employed’ in item 15 of the registration form, despite their temporary status, in order to qualify for the palliative funds.
“However, it is disheartening to note that 11 months after completing the registration, we are yet to receive any palliative funds, unlike the permanent staff who have already benefited. This unjust treatment necessitates urgent attention of well-meaning Nigerians, as it is a clear case of injustice and victimisation.”
An email sent to the humanitarian affairs ministry on Friday bounced back and all the three phone numbers (08024175445, 08028216336, 080131638164) on its website were unreachable.
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Expressing his frustration about the non-payment, Phillips continued, “Our salaries are nothing to write home about, but we have always been excluded from any intervention by the government. By excluding us from palliative funds, the government continues to tell us that we don’t matter in this system.”
FIJ phoned Andrew Young, the personal assistant to the permanent secretary at the defence ministry, on Friday. But he declined to comment, saying “This is an official matter. I cannot discuss is on phone. I attend to official matters only in my office.”
FIJ told Young that coming to his office might not be feasible because of the location barrier and asked him for an official email address to which relevant questions could be sent.
“Send your email to the ministry’s official email,” he said.
FIJ then said it had sent an email before on the regularisation issue in October without any response. But Young maintained that he could neither discuss the matter on the phone nor send his official email address to receive the questions.
FIJ also called Idris Yaga, a human resource director at the defence ministry, on Friday. He said he had no authority to speak with the press, but he promised to send the public affairs officer’s number after obtaining a permission to do so. At press time, he had not sent it.
FIJ’s email sent to the defence ministry on Friday had not been responded to as of publication time.
REGULARISATION WITHOUT RESULTS
FIJ had reported that some of these teachers’ appointments dated back to 1999 and the ministry had failed to upgrade them to permanent staff status since then. This is despite conducting several verification exercises at various locations in the country for this purpose. Until 2016 when they were laid off without any compensation, their salaries ranged between N16,000 and N20,000. To avoid creating a vacuum, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in their schools decided to retain them, placing them on a salary between N19,000 and N20,000, which falls short of the old and new minimum wages of N30,000 and N70,000 respectively.
A redacted copy of a March 2022 verification exercise.
On November 24, 2014, the defence ministry carried out a verification exercise aimed at regularisng the education officers’ appointments. Again, on March 24, 2022, another batch of verification done for exactly the same purpose. These verifications added to previous regularisation-focused events by their employers that were not acted on.
In December 2023, the government conducted another verification activity for all the temporary workers. In the form, they were termed “contract staff.”
Notably, these three verifications events occurred under three different presidents: Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent Bola Tinubu.
Phillips and his colleagues all want the same thing: regularisation that leads to a decent living.
“Additionally, we implore the Minister of Defence to address the nation and provide clarity on why this injustice persists, despite the government’s periodic verification exercises. Although a verification exercise for temporary teachers was conducted by the current federal government on January 2, 2024, there has been no update on when the regularisation process will be implemented,” he said.
A redacted copy of a December 2023 verification exercise.
“It is also noteworthy that, in the 2023 verification form, the federal government used the designation ‘contract staff’ instead of ‘temporary teachers’, which had been consistently used in previous verification exercises. This change raises concerns about the government’s sincerity regarding its intention on this matter. We call upon the government to prioritise this matter and grant us permanent employment.”
EXCLUSION FROM DISCOUNT RICE
FIJ learned that the teachers were also excluded from the sale of discount rice launched by the government on September 5. Abubakar Kyari, the ministry of agriculture and food security, inaugurated the intervention in Abuja with a promise that it would be sold across the country at N40,000 per bag.
However, the government fenced off these teachers from benefitting from it. A source said that even though each person could not afford to buy a bag due to poor remuneration, they were already discussing how to pool money together to buy some bags and share it accordingly when permanent staff in their schools said “temporary staff were not included in the memo” they received. The memo contained the directives on who was eligible to buy the rice.
“We are about 9,300 throughout the country. We were happy when they brought the rice. But they said the memo sent to them only took permanent staff into consideration. That was how they excluded us again,” Olayinka Fadare* said on Friday.
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“We are the ones doing the real job, teaching various classes and subjects for hours daily. But they wanted us to use our N19,000, N20,000 salaries to buy a bag of rice sold at N75,000 in the market while those they are already paying well continue to enjoy these privileges.
“Let me add say this; the defence ministry continues to employ new teachers and send them to our schools as permanent staff, and impose them on us as superior officers. They still sent someone to my school in September.”
Editor’s Note: Asterisked names have been changed for sources’ safety.
The post FG Claimed to Have Paid 25m Nigerians Cash Palliative, But Over 9,000 Teachers Who Were Registered For It in January Got Nothing appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.