News: Protest by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) following Chibok abduction

Another protest is set following the April 14, 2014 kidnap of 276 girls from the Government Secondary School, in Chibok, by the Boko Haram Islamist sect. The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Wednesday directed all its members across the country to sit at at home this Thursday, May 21, 2014.

President of NUT, Mr Micheal Olukoya, gave the directive at a press conference in Abuja, and said the union had resolved to hold #BringBackOurGirls rallies, simultaneously, across the 36 Nigerian States of the federation and in Abuja.

Olukoya said all schools nationwide shall be closed, as the day will be NUT’s day of protesting the abduction of the girls, as well as the heartless murder of 173 teachers.

“We remain resolute in our resolve to continue the campaign even as we mourn the death of our colleagues”, Olukoya said.

“We will continue with the protest until our girls are brought back safe and alive, and the perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to book,” Olukoya added with a passionate resolve.

Lamenting the killing of 173 teachers from both Borno and Yobe States, he implored the government to show concern to the plight of the deceased teachers by compensating their families.

“The federal government must be alive to its social responsibility to the people by protecting their lives and property, and showing more commitment to their welfare”, he continued.

“The NUT joins the world to call on the insurgents and their collaborators to bring back our girls safe and alive. This is an assault on humanity, an attack on our professional industry, the school system. And we will be quick to tell the insurgents that the school system remains the proud industry of teachers,” Olukoya later added.

He described the innocent school boys and girls as, “the raw materials we process for the human resource development of the nation,” and Olukoya emphasised, “the importance of taking insurance cover for both students, and teachers, in the vulnerable political environment of the country”.

Olukoya urged the government to publicly declare education as a fundamental human right, and to criminalise its abridgment.

“Teachers are now living in constant fear of attacks, so the government must make provision (s) to secure the school system in order to guarantee a conducive environment for learning in the country”, he added.