The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, may soon call off the three-month strike by primary school teachers, following the intervention of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Chief of staff to the minister, Chidi Amadi, disclosed this on Thursday, after a closed-door meeting with the area council chairmen, leadership of the NUT, and representatives of the FCT Administration.
He said other participants at the meeting included representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANs) and the National Assembly.
Mr Amadi explained that the meeting was convened by the minister, in addition to previous interventions, to find a lasting solution to the prolonged teachers’ strike.
According to him, after extensive deliberation, a decision was reached to put the issues to rest.
He announced that part of the resolution was to withhold 10 per cent of the accrued internally generated revenue (IGR) of the area councils for the past six months.
He explained that the funds would be used to settle 70 per cent of the minimum wage owed to the teachers.
“Although it will not cover 100 per cent of the debt for now, it will cover about 70 per cent. This is a laudable move towards addressing the fracas once and for all,” Mr Amadi said.
The chief of staff added that the minister had also directed that a special committee, composed of three members from NUT, two members from FCTA, one area council chairman, and a representative of NANs, be set up to revisit outstanding issues.
Mr Amadi said that Mr Wike also decided to address the issues of local government employees to ensure they resume operations.
Speaking on behalf of the area council chairmen, Abubakar Abdullahi acknowledged the resolution, saying, “Although it was not in favour of the area councils, it was necessary to resolve the issues.
“Six months of our IGR had been held to settle this issue. Ours at this point is to appeal to the NUT to consider our children and call off the strike. Please, NUT, we are calling on you to respect the fact that the minister has taken his time to resolve this matter.
“Wike had clearly stated that by law, he has no right to take the 10 per cent IGR of the area councils to clear the outstanding debt of the teachers. However, the chairmen have all agreed because they also, collectively, want an end to the strike, and so we have agreed that the 10 per cent IGR should go to the teachers,” Mr Abdullahi said.
He expressed optimism that the strike would be called off before Friday, so that children could return to school.
The national president of NANs, Olushola Oladoja, commended the minister for taking the bold step, stressing that any of the council chairmen could take him to court over such a decision.
On his part, the NUT chairman, Mohammed Shafa, acknowledged the deliberation but said he would get back to the NUT State Executive Council, where the final decision would be taken.
The teachers had embarked on the strike in March over the non-implementation of the minimum wage.
Other issues included non-implementation and payment of a 25 per cent and 35 per cent salary increase, and non-implementation and payment of a 40 per cent peculiar allowance.
The union were also demanding the payment of the ₦35,000 wage award and the implementation of the template on outstanding entitlements of teachers as agreed in 2022.
(NAN)