Borno Govt Owes Blind Graduate Five Months Salary

By Oladipupo Mojeed with agency report

A 32-year-old blind university graduate, Mohammed Mustapha, who was offered automatic teaching appointment by Gov. Kashim Shettima on compassionate ground, says his salary has not been paid for five months.

Mustapha told NAN in Maiduguri on Tuesday that the development had place him under severe hardship,

The graduate of History from Gombe State University, was employed into the state civil service in February 2017, sequel to the directives of Gov. Shettima, and posted to College of Management Studies (CMS), Konduga,

The governor’s gesture followed an appeal to him by Mustapha through the Hausa Service of the BBC, requesting for job.

Shettima had then invited Mustapha to the Government House, Maiduguri, after hearing the appeal through the radio station, and granted him an Executive approval for him to be employed by Borno Ministry of Higher Education.

No salary

However, Mustapha said that he was yet to receive his salary for five months since his posting to the college.

According to him, from the time he reported to work, he had been transporting himself to and from Konduga, a distance of about 60km from Maiduguri, where he resided.

“Honestly, life has become more difficult and very unbearable, since I was employed.

“They said I must undergo the Biometric Verification before I get paid, which I already did in March.

“On several occasions, I had gone to the verification committee to inquire why I was yet to be paid but no tangible explanation was given to me.

“The last time I went, they said I must get a note from the Head of Service (HOS) before they treat my case; I went to him (HOS) and he promised to do something and I am still waiting.

“Now I am left confused and I do not know what to do; I am not a beggar and I do not want to ever beg anyone.

“I want an opportunity where I can work to earn a legitimate livelihood and impact on the lives of my people,” said Mustapha.

Not the only one

Responding to Mustapha’s complain, Malam Bulama Abiso, Chairman of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Borno, said that Mustapha was not the only teacher who was affected.

“Many of our teachers’ salaries have been pending despite been verified by the Biometric Committee.

“Some are owed five months, some seven and some even ten months salaries.

“As union, what we did was to approach members of the committee and ask them to identify our teachers having issues with their verification.

“We were able to identify those with problems and solved same for them. So far, about 4,000 teachers were successfully verified, while some were not,’” Abiso said.

Reacting, Alhaji Yakubu Bukar, Borno Head of Service said he was aware of Mustapha’s case.