* Teachers’ welfare my priority
By John Odunjo
The new chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Ekiti State Wing, Dauda Bamidele Olantani, has said that his emergence is to rebuild the union in the state and once again restore teachers’ confidence.
Olantani, who promised to prioritise the welfare of teachers in the state, assured that he would run an inclusive administration where everyone would be carried along in the union affairs.
The NUT chairman, who spoke in a chat in Ado Ekiti, said that the State Wing Executive (SWEC) members passed a vote of confidence on his emergence, adding that his acceptability would be openly demonstrated by members during the World Teachers Day celebration coming up on Thursday.
Olantani, who said that the erstwhile chairman, Emmanuel Oke, was asked to step aside by the NUT national leadership to pave way for investigations into the allegations levelled against him.
He said, “The national body will be coming down here to probe the allegations that have been levelled against the state chairman. The suspension was taken at the national. The state secretary was only given a directive by the national and we are acting on the directive given by the National.
“A vote of confidence was passed on me being the new chairman during the cause of our meeting this morning (Tuesday) at the SWEC. I see it as a call to service.
“I will stand in the position to listen to series of advice. I will relate with our leaders and take advice from them. The welfare of the subordinates will be taken as paramount. I will take it as a priority to look into their welfare.
“I told members of the SWEC that my coming on board is to rebuild the union because things have gone so bad and I will try to seek the cooperation of every member of SWEC so that the task at hand will be achieved”.
According to him, his coming on board had averted the planned demonstration by teachers against NUT leadership during the World Teachers’ Day.
He said, “Preparations are in top gear now to have a very successful outing on that day. The mood of our teachers has been positive because people are rejoicing that we are having a change in the government.
“We only thank God that we are witnessing this now because when we sought the opinion of our teachers, it would have been ridiculous if this change had come up because the teachers have gone to the extent of having a revolt during the World Teachers Day in order to express their level of anger in the presence of the governor,” he said.
