The unending teachers’ strike in FCT primary schools

In the last two years, parents and pupils in FCT-owned primary schools have had to contend with series of strikes by teachers following the failure of the area council chairmen to meet some of their demands.

The teachers strike started in 2022 over non-implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage arrears by the six area council chairmen, which was approved by the administration of the former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.  The union had said then that its members were being owed arrears of 25 months. 

After much struggle without positive response from the area council chairmen over the minimum wage arrears, the teachers in January 2022 went on an indefinite strike for eight weeks. 

As the strike was going on, the then FCT minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, waded in by inviting the union leaders alongside the six area council chairmen for a meeting. At the meeting a committee was set up to look into their demands which included annual increment, arrears and upgrading.

At the meeting, presided over by the then former FCT minister of state, Dr Ramatu  Tijani Aliyu, and attended by the former permanent secretary, former mandate secretary for education and FCT UBEB director, Dr Hassan Sule, as well as former education secretary. 

A template was designed on how the payment of the 25 months wage arrears of the teachers was going to paid, in which the six area council chairmen all agreed and appended their signatures.

The union and the six area council chairmen agreed after the meeting that the template will be taken to the FCT Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting so that N30 million will deducted from the coffers of each area council and paid to the teachers through their respective Local Education Authority (LEA) of the six area councils every month until the debt is liquidated.

The resolution prompted the teachers to suspend the strike, but weeks later the union said it was surprised that the council chairmen reneged on the agreement as they failed to pay the money agreed on in the terms of the template. It said the chairman paid only once since the agreement was signed.

The union said several efforts were made to draw the attention of the six area council chairmen including writing several letters to them to continue with the payment as agreed on the template, which they said fell on deaf ears.

As a result of that, the teachers  resumed the strike again in September 2023. This  drew the attention of the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, who immediately invited the union and the six area council chairmen for discussion.

Wike set up a six-man committee headed by the FCT minister of state, Hajiya Mariya Mahmoud, to resolve the issues and get the teachers back to their classes.

 The committee resolved that the six area council chairmen should continue with the payment of 25 months minimum wage arrears as agreed in the earlier signed template, while the issue of the peculiar allowance and minimum wage arrears will be looked into by the FCT minister. 

Based on that, the teachers again suspended the strike. However, since the strike was suspended, the council chairmen again failed to honour the agreement. They also ignored several letters sent to them urging them to resume payment of the 25 months minimum wage arrears.

Following refusal of the council chairmen to meet their demand and to hold a meeting between them and the union’s officials, the teachers embarked on another round of strike on January, 15, 2024.

 FCT Minister Nyesom Wike again waded in by inviting the union and the six area council chairmen where he promised to pay 40 per cent  of the 25 months minimum wage arrears of the teachers, while the six area councils should pay the balance of the 60 per cent.

The six area council chairmen all agreed to that but while the minister paid the 40 per cent of the arrears as he promised, the chairmen again reneged on their promise.

Following the non-payment of the 60 per cent, the union in March 2024, wrote to the  council chairmen inviting them for a meeting over the non-payment of the  arrears but they now said they never promised to pay the amount.

This resulted in the current strike by the teachers which started on September 18, a few day after the resumption of schools for a fresh academic session.

The teachers on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, barricaded the entrance of the six area councils’ secretariats carrying placards to express their displeasure over the protracted non-payment of their entitlements.

The chairman of the FCT wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Comrade Abdullahi Mohammed Shafas, said there was no positive response from the six area council chairmen despite the four meetings the union executives had with them.

“The union met, up to three or four times, with the six area council chairmen on this issue but there was no any serious commitment from them,” he said.

“The council chairmen should show us the degree of their seriousness. How they are going to pay the remaining 60 per cent of the 25 months minimum wage arrears and other entitlements of our teachers,” he said.

He said two weeks ago, the meeting invited the council chairmen again for a meeting at the Teachers House in Gwagwalada, but only one of them turned up.

Meanwhile, parents have expressed concern on the future of their children following the series of strikes by the teachers in the FCT schools.

 A parent, Mrs Rukayyat Musa, said her four children who were all in primary school, now play without doing anything positive since the strike commenced last week.

“In fact, I am seriously worried since the strike commenced last week. My children always play around. And even when I tried to engage them with a home teacher, they don’t stay at home, especially my two male children who go to play football and return home only when they are hungry,” she said.

She appealed to the FCT administration to as a matter of urgency wade in to resolve the issue between the teachers and the council chairmen so that pupils can return to school.

Another parent, Abdullahi Aliyu, also expressed displeasure with the ongoing strike by teachers, even as he blamed the council chairmen for failing to meet up with the demands of the teachers.