The primary school teachers demoted in 2016 by the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board (CR-SU EB) have protested non-payment of their six year salaries.

Mrs Ekponwan Ekanem, who spoke to newsmen on Wednesday on behalf of the protesters, said they had been stagnated by the board, adding that some of their members had died in the process.

She pointed out that, though, some of them have rectified some of the issues that led to their demotion, yet the board had refused to listen to them.

“We are stagnated because of the demotion. Over 2000 of us were affected across the state.

“We have not been paid since 2016 and many have died due to hardship. Some are receiving alerts far below their monthly salaries while some of us don’t even receive anything.

“We have not been promoted either and we are still teaching on an empty stomach, ” she said.

The teachers also insisted that they must be paid the arrears for the six years that the board owed them as well as promotion arrears.

Another speaker, Mr Kingsley Egbo further claimed that, Gov Ben Ayade had earlier directed the SUBEB to address all the issues arising from the 2016 exercise.

“So, we want full reinstatement and all our entitlements paid to us, ” he said.

Reacting, the Secretary of SUBEB, Mr Cyril Itam said the board was waiting for the outcome of the audit report on the matter from the office of the Auditor General of the Local Government Service Commission.

“In November last year, we called all those who had remedied their problems to come and they went through screening to ascertain their current status.

“The report of the screening is with the Auditor General of the Local Government Service Commission. So, the issues are being sorted out, ” he said.

The secretary added that, for some of them to be receiving lower than what they earned before is because of the demotion.

“Some were demoted down to Grade level 4, because they had no teaching qualification, ” he said.

DailyPost