Cross River teachers protest over unpaid salaries

Primary School teachers in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State on Friday protested against their unpaid three months salaries.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, armed with placards bearing various inscriptions, the teachers also decried the selective payment of salaries and short payments.

The teachers protested around major streets and ended up in the council secretariat.

They said they were owed the salaries for September 2025, January, and February 2026.

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Peter Okpe, a spokesperson for the protesting teachers, regretted that the payment of salaries, which ought to be the right of every worker, had been politicised in the council area.

He explained that in September 2025, over 95 per cent of primary school teachers in Yala were unpaid, while the remaining were short-paid.

He further said that some of those who were paid were due to their relationship with some highly placed persons.

According to him, this has been their plight since September 2025, when only about 72 of the over 300 primary school teachers in Yala received their salaries.

“Even those who got their salaries were short-paid, while others got debited as soon as they were credited with their salaries.

“I can tell you that some teachers, among those who were paid, got N3, 000 and some N7, 000 as salaries. How possible is this?

“We have some teachers who called their godfathers and got paid immediately by the council.

“They have given us all manner of excuses for this pitiable situation, and yet, the same thing applies to our January and February salaries.”

Mr Okpe declared that if the situation was not addressed, the teachers may not resume next term with the pupils.

Meanwhile, the Cross River State Government has blamed the teachers for their predicament.

Stephen Odey, a professor and commissioner for education in the state, who spoke with NAN, alleged that most of the teachers who were not paid were not always at their duty posts.

“Whenever auditors come around for verification, some of these teachers are not always around.

“I am from Yala, and I can tell you it is only those that refused to subject themselves to the authority that have these issues.

“The place of teachers during office or school hours is the classroom, but these people who are having issues now are the ones found wanting.

“The government is not owing salaries to any worker across the state,” he explained.

However, Emmanuel Onah, Press Secretary to the Yala council chairman, attributed the nonpayment of the salaries to a system glitch.

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According to him, several of the teachers received way above their salaries in September 2025 and attempts to get them to come forward for this to be corrected have been difficult.

“Some got N1 million, and there have been several pleas for them to come forward for these errors to be corrected, but they have refused.

“These same protesting teachers had their October, November and December 2025 salaries paid without issues.

“I can assure you that this matter is being resolved,” he noted.