By Dalena Reporters Staff
ILORIN, KWARA STATE — Public school teachers in Kwara State on Friday, January 2, 2026, staged a protest to denounce their exclusion from a recently approved 30 per cent peculiar salary allowance, a development they say amounts to economic injustice and deepens hardship for educators already struggling with rising living costs. The demonstration unfolded outside the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Kwara State Secretariat along Asa Dam Road in Ilorin.
Carrying placards and chanting slogans, the teachers accused both the state government and the NUT leadership of neglecting their welfare by failing to ensure teachers benefit from the 30 per cent allowance granted to other state workers. Protesters said the disparity leaves educators comparatively worse off, even as economic realities make existing wages unsustainable.
One of the demonstrators highlighted that teachers have been offered only a 27 per cent Teachers’ Specific Allowance (TSA) — a statutory entitlement referenced by some officials but that this does not substitute for inclusion in the broader peculiar allowance enjoyed by other civil servants. Teachers carried signs reading messages such as “Economic hardship for Kwara teachers is escalating daily” and “We are tired of surviving on loans just to sustain life.
The protesting teachers said their action was also directed at the NUT leadership, which they accused of ineffectiveness and complacency in negotiations with the government. “We’re protesting against Kwara NUT leadership for not representing us effectively,” one participant said, stressing that the union had not secured equitable treatment for public school teachers.
In response, the NUT Kwara State leadership issued a statement distancing itself from the protest, saying it had neither authorised nor directed the demonstration. The union leadership also expressed appreciation for government approvals of teacher‑related allowances — including the TSA — claiming it is a step towards addressing longstanding welfare concerns.
Educators in Kwara have previously staged protests, including a demonstration on December 23, 2025, to contest their exclusion from the 30 per cent salary increment provided to other categories of state workers. Protesters warn that continued exclusion undermines morale, widens inequality within the public sector, and threatens the quality of education in state schools.