Yesterday the BNTU held their presidential elections and Nadia Caliz came out on top with 445 versus 137 for Ifasina Efunyemi. Just before the counting started, we spoke with Caliz about her vision for the union. She said that she's seen the BNTU decline, and hopes to bring it back to its former glory.
Nadia Caliz, BNTU President-Elect
"I'm looking at job security, I'm looking at better benefits, I'm also looking at what we refer to as institutional strengthening and an improved BNTU brand because I'm quite certain that if you hear certain things about our union, it's not things that you'd like to hear, and I don't like to hear so we have to come back to what we were and better. That is key. Now underneath institutional strengthening, it's not just about the teachers themselves, but the institution called BNTU, we have to look at it. a union is a continuum, new members come, old ones leave, what do we need to do? To hear the concerns, you have to address those concerns. It can't just be about the old methodologies and ideas and concepts, we have to merge them, that is the only way we can survive overtime. And you see this little break that caught us? For me, that will never happen again."
