Bomb blast in Kaduna: 37 teachers died, says NUT

Micheal Olukoya the President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Wednesday confirmed the death of 37 teachers in last Tuesday’s bomb blast that hit Sabon-Gari, Zaria in Kaduna State.

Olukoya said several other teachers who were victims of the latest bomb blast are in critical condition in various health centres in the state.

He also confirmed that 272 teachers’ have lost their lives to the atrocious activities of the Boko Haram sect in Borno State alone adding that over 19,000 teachers have been displaced in the North East since insurgencies broke out in the country.

It would be recalled that another blast occurred on Tuesday at Sabon-Gari Local Government Secretariat, while civil servants in the state presented themselves for verification as earlier directed by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

He gave this statistics in Abuja at a programme commemorating the NUT founders day.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari that the war against insurgency in the country was far from being over, adding that daily attacks by the sect was indicative of the grim reality that the callous attacks by the insurgents is still daunting.

The NUT President, who said government should tilt its development programmes on critical sectors of education, however said there was need for a review of retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 by the present administration.

He argued that retirement age of University lecturers and judges was recently shored up from 65 to 70years because of the assumption that they tend to perform better having garnered enough experience in the course of service.

“The older the teacher, the more caring and tolerant he is to the students with improved dexterity in the pedagogy of teaching acquired over time.

“It is for this and other similar reasons that the retirement age of lecturers and professors in the tertiary institutions was extended to 65 and 70years respectively, while that of judges was also increased to 70 years.

“We therefore wish to restate our demand that the retirement age of primary and secondary school teachers in the country be raised from 60 to 65 years, “he stated.