Teachers under the umbrella of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have promised to call off their three-month strike following the intervention of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The primary school teachers across the Federal Capital Territory have been on strike since March 24, over the non-implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage and unpaid arrears by the six area council chairmen.
Despite an initial attempt by the FCT Minister who approved N4.1 billion to address the wage backlog, the strike has continued following allegations of fund diversion by council chairmen have fueled the crisis.
However, a fresh wave of protest from the union and individuals over the three-month strike got the attention of the minister who called for a meeting between NUT and the FCTA.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting between the Area Council Chairmen, leadership of the NUT, and representatives of the FCT Administration, Chief of Staff to the minister, Chidi Amadi said the teachers have promised to call off the strike.
Amadi explained that the meeting, convened by the minister sought 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 the 10 per cent 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,” Amadi said.
He added that the committee would revisit all the other outstanding issues and within the next two weeks, submit a report detailing how the other outstanding issues would be permanently addressed.
“In addition to addressing the issues of the primary school teachers, Wike had taken a decision to address all outstanding issues of the local government employees.
“The minister pledged to personally intervene to ensure that their demands are addressed by the FCTA. This is to ensure that the area councils resume full operations effectively immediately.
