Striking FCT teachers barricade 6 area councils’ secretariats

Teachers of the Local Education Authority (LEA) have occupied the six area council secretariats in the FCT to press home their demands over nonpayment of their 25 months minimum wage arrears and other entitlements owed them by the council chairmen.

City & Crime visited council secretariats at Abaji, Kwali, Gwagwalada and Kuje and observed that the teachers, nursing mothers among them, barricaded the entrance to the secretariats brandishing placards.

Some of the placards had inscriptions including, “Pay us our balance of 60% minimum wage arrears”, “No to unfulfilled Agreement, give us our rights”, “Let the LEA teachers breath” and “Our members are dying every day without entitlements,” among others.

Some of the teachers who spoke with our reporter said the LEA primary school teachers in the FCT have been turned into beggars despite efforts they were making to educate pupils in schools in the nation’s capital.

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 A teacher, who only identified herself as Zuwaira, said the council chairmen had been treating primary school teachers as second-class citizens despite the sacrifices they are making.

“I believe today, you know what every Nigerian is going through, especially we the teachers. For example, I have four kids and all of them are in school but I don’t have money to even pay their school fees and their father is a retired civil servant for over three years now,” she said.

Another teacher, Michael Azuka, said the teachers decided to occupy all the area council secretariats in order to press home their demands, which he said included payment of the remaining 60 per cent of the 25 months minimum wage arrears and other entitlements held by the council chairmen.

He said it was unfortunate that the council chairmen, who have been receiving huge monthly allocations, have remained reluctant in paying teachers their arrears and other entitlements.

“None of these council chairmen has their kids in public schools in FCT, maybe that is why they don’t care about the welfare of the teachers apart from building mansions and buying cars for their cronies and political associates,” he said.

Also speaking, the state secretary of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), FCT wing, Comrade Margaret I. Jethro, said the union decided to direct all LEA primary school teachers to occupy the six area council secretariats in the FCT in order to show their displeasure over the failure by the council chairmen to pay their arrears and other entitlements.

She said since the teachers embarked on the strike last week, there has not been any positive response from the six area council chairmen over their demands.

“In fact, the union met with the area council chairmen on Saturday, but unfortunately, there was no positive response from them. And even on the remaining 60 per cent of the 25 months minimum wage arrears, they only said it verbally that they are going to pay without putting anything in writing.

“That was the same thing the chairmen said in January this year in the presence of the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike that they would pay but nothing has happened. However, the chairmen have called the union for another meeting by 2pm today (yesterday) over the issue.”