Wike To Meet NUT, NANS, FCT Council Chairmen Over Strike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, will on Thursday hold a crucial meeting with chairman of FCT area councils, leaders of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to finalise plans for the reopening of all public primary schools in the territory.

This was disclosed in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday by NANS national president, Olushola Oladoja, and the association’s national public relations officer, Adeyemi Ajasa.

NANS explained that it had initially resolved to stage a mass protest at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Secretariat on Wednesday morning over the ongoing closure of public schools.

However, the protest was put on hold following an invitation to a high-level engagement at the Department of State Services (DSS) Headquarters, where the matter was thoroughly discussed in the interest of national security and students’ welfare.

The association said the DSS meeting was followed by another round of talks with the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on FCT, Muktar Betara, which shed light on the root causes of the strike action by the NUT and the interventions made so far by the Wike-led administration.

According to the statement, a third meeting with Minister Wike took place on Tuesday, during which he explained the issues surrounding the ongoing impasse.

NANS expressed hope that Thursday’s meeting would produce a definitive resolution to reopen public primary schools across the FCT.

“That the FCT remains the only unit of the federation operating full local government autonomy; hence, all salary payments, including that of primary school teachers, are the sole responsibility of the area councils.

“The FCT Administration is not directly responsible for the backlog of teachers’ salaries and therefore should not be held solely accountable for the inadequacies of the area councils.

“In a show of responsibility and commitment to resolving the crisis, Wike intervened by proposing a bailout, with FCTA offering to pay 60 per cent of the outstanding arrears while the area councils cover the remaining 40 per cent.

“When it became clear that this arrangement was not yielding desired results, the FCT minister withheld the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the area councils for the months of May and June, with a plan to utilize these funds to make up the 40 per cent requested of area council to clear the outstanding arrears owed to teachers.

“Based on this intervention, it was expected that the two-month arrears withheld be ready before the end of the week,” it said.

The association said that based on the productive engagements and emerging progress, it hereby suspends the planned protest while keeping close tabs on the implementation of all resolutions reached.

“We reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of Nigerian students and ensuring that no child is denied access to education due to governmental lapses,” he said.