President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers(NUT),Micheal Olukoya has confirmed the death of 37 teachers in Tuesday’s bomb blast that hit Sabon-Gari, Zaria in Kaduna State.
He added that several other teachers who were victims of the 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, stressing that over 19,000 others have been displaced in the North East since insurgency broke out in the country.
The blast occurred on Tuesday at Sabon-Gari Local Government Secretariat during a verification exercise for civil servants in the State.
Olukoya stated this yesterday in Abuja at a programme commemorating NUT Founders Day.
He reminded 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 insurgents were still daunting.
The NUT President who said government should tilt its development programmes on development of critical sectors of education, however, added that there was need for a review of retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65.
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.