The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has announced that the FCT Administration would use the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the six area councils to offset the dues owed to primary school teachers in the FCT.
This decision was reached during a resolution meeting involving the teachers under the National Union of Teachers (NUT), FCT Chapter, the area council chairpersons and representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Thursday.
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After the meeting, Mr Wike’s Chief of Staff, Chidi Amadi, said all parties have agreed to use the 10 per cent of councils’ IGR for six months to offset the teachers dues.
The meeting was convened following a prolonged strike by primary school teachers, which has lasted over three months.
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The teachers had accused the council chairpersons of failing to implement the new national minimum wage and failing to implement previous agreements.
Mr Amadi, who spoke on behalf of the minister said the IGR, when calculated, would cater for about 70 per cent of the amount owed the primary school teachers.
“I’m happy to announce that after exhaustive deliberation and with the firm intervention of the Honourable Minister, this whole matter has been put to rest. For now, with the Honourable Minister’s intervention, the accrued revenue of the councils for the past six months have been collectively agreed to be channelled towards solving this problem,” he said.
Although stakeholders wanted the teachers to suspend the industrial action immediately at the meeting, the NUT-FCT Chairperson, Abdullahi Mohammed, noted that the union would have to meet with its members before deciding on whether to suspend the ongoing industrial action.
“Most of the issues presented to us, we have looked at it and we will get back after our state executive council where we are going to take our final decision,” he said.
Special Committee
The minister’s aide, Mr Amadi, explained that a special committee has been inaugurated to draw out a plan on how to address other outstanding issues.
The committee includes three members of the NUT, two members from the FCTA, one of the area council chairpersons, and a representative of NANS.
He said the committee has been asked to present a comprehensive report in the next two weeks.
Area councils speak
Speaking, the Chairperson of the Abaji Area Council, Abubakar Abdullahi, said resolutions had been reached but noted it didn’t favour the council chairpersons “because our six months IGR had been completely picked to settle this issue.”
On behalf of the other council chairpersons, Mr Abdullahi said the minister doesn’t by law have the powers to withhold 10 per cent of the councils’ IGR but noted that the councils agreed to that so as to end the teachers’ strike.
“So, ours is pleading with the NUT to look at our children and call off this strike. Please, NUT, we are calling on you to respect the fact that the Minister has taken his time to intervene into this matter,” he said.
“We hope, before the close of work today, the union will call off the strike for our children to go back to school tomorrow by special grace of God.”
Background on FCT Teachers’ strike
The FCT teachers had downed tools three months ago after accusing the area council chairpersons of neglect and disregard for the teachers.
The teachers are demanding the full implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage, the 40 per cent peculiar allowance, other wage awards, payment of arrears, and overdue promotions.
The union also said the wage increments of 25 and 35 per cent, paid to teachers at the junior and secondary level, promotions, arrears, and the federal wage awards of N35,000 have consistently bypassed the primary educators.
Although the unions have previously engaged the council chairpersons, the meetings have ended in deadlock, leading to a full-blown strike.
The last strike by the teachers was also suspended in October after Mr Wike’s intervention.
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