Secondary school teachers and workers of Yenagoa Local Government Area on Monday shut down Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, protesting the non-payment of their salaries.

Teachers, under the aegis of the Association of Senior Secondary School Teachers, were the first group that marched the streets of the metropolis to express their plight.

The aggrieved teachers, who displayed placards with various inscriptions, took their protest to the Post-Primary School Education Board, demanding to see its chairman.

Workers in the state have been in the throes of hardship following the inability of the government to pay the backlog of their salaries.

Workers in the only state-owned Niger Delta University, including lecturers, have been on strike for over four months as a result unpaid salaries.

The secondary school teachers, who chanted solidarity songs, claimed that they had not been paid for over seven months, alleging that the government was insensitive to their plight.

They displayed placards with inscriptions such as, “Governor, why do you have teachers?” and “Governor, remove board chairman”, among others.

One of the teachers, who identified himself simply as Jacob, said the teachers were angry at the way the government and the governor’s aides were handling their matter.

He said the government had allegedly abandoned its responsibility and caused the educational system to be paralysed in the state.