PRIMARY school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Wednesday resumed its indefinite strike action over the failure of the Area Council Chairmen to reach agreements with the FCT Council of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) over the payment of owed allowances.
Comrade Stephen Knabayi, the Chairperson of the FCT Council of the union told journalists after an emergency Executive Council meeting at the Teachers’ House secretariat of the council in Gwagwalada that the “six area councils are owing about N14.3 billion arrears from 2015 till date.”
Comrade Knabayi said the emergency meeting was to review the level of compliance and commitment of the council chairpersons to the agreement with the union which led to the suspension of an indefinite strike on December 1, 2021 after a couple of weeks into the industrial action following an emergency meeting of the State Wing of the Executive Council.
Comrade Knabayi said the teachers are no longer ready to be taken for granted until their demands are met by the relevant authorities in the FCT. He said the emergency meeting lauded the effort of the FCT Minister Muhammad Bello for fulfilling his promise to pay the outstanding 2018 promotion arrears to secondary school teachers in the FCT.
He said the union also acknowledged the implementation of the 2019-2020 teachers’ promotion across the six area councils in November 2021.
Knabayi said the union, however, observed with dismay the non-compliance by the area councils’ chairpersons to abide by the agreement for the payment of the backlogs of the Local Education Authority (LEA) teachers outstanding entitlement in their various councils.
He affirmed that the union had directed all primary schools teachers in the territory to stay away from their duty posts while parents are advised to keep their children and wards in primary schools safe at home until the teachers demands are met.
