President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday decried the current situation in which teachers go without being paid their salaries for many months in some states of the federation.

Speaking after receiving a briefing from the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Buhari urged the three tiers of government to be more mindful of their responsibilities to pay teachers their salaries on time.

While noting that the non-payment of teachers had resulted in long-running strikes in some states, he declared that the worst harm state governments could cause their citizens was to deny them good education.

“It then means that their citizens will be denied a chance to compete with others at the centre. Socially, it is very, very bad, if not irresponsible,” the president said.

The permanent secretary, MacJohn Nwaobiala, had earlier briefed the president on the current activities of the Federal Ministry of Education as well as its challenges, including inadequate funding and insecurity in some parts of the country.(