Boko Haram kills 173 teachers

The Nigeria Union of Teachers said on Wednesday that 173 teachers have been killed in Borno and Yobe States since the beginning of Boko Haram insurgency.
Michael Olukoya, President, NUT said this while addressing journalists on the decision of the teachers close all classrooms and sit at home in protests of the April 14, 2014 kidnap of 276 girls from the Government Secondary School, in Chibok, by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.
The NUT President said the Union has directed all its members across the country to sit at home this Thursday, May 21, 2014.
Olukoya also said the union will also hold #BringBackOurGirls rallies, simultaneously, across the 36 Nigerian States of the federation and in Abuja on the same day.
According to him, all public schools across the country will be closed, as the day will be NUT’s day of protesting the abduction of the girls, as well as the murder of 173 teachers.
The NUT President urged the federal government to live up to its constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property while calling on the insurgents to release the kidnapped girls.
“The NUT joins the world to call on the insurgents and their collaborators to bring back our girls safe and alive. This is an assault on humanity, an attack on our professional industry, the school system. And we will be quick to tell the insurgents that the school system remains the proud industry of teachers,” said Olukoya.
“We will continue with the protest until our girls are brought back safe and alive, and the perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to book,” said the NUT President.
He also asked government to work out a compensation package for families of teachers killed by Boko Haram
According to him, the innocent pupil are the raw materials under processing for the human resource development of the nation. Olukoya also said there is the need for government to take insurance cover for both students, and teachers because of the present situation in the country.
Olukoya urged the government to publicly declare education as a fundamental human right, and to criminalise its abridgment.
“Teachers are now living in constant fear of attacks, so the government must make provision (s) to secure the school system in order to guarantee a conducive environment for learning in the country”, he added.