FCT primary school teachers embark on strike over ‘unpaid salaries’

Primary school teachers in the federal capital territory (FCT) have embarked on an indefinite strike over “unpaid salaries”.

Stephen Knabayi, chairman of the FCT chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), announced the commencement of the strike after an emergency meeting of the union in Abuja.

Knabayi said the meeting was held to evaluate the commitment of the council chairmen to an agreement with the union which led to the suspension of the previous strike in December 2021.

TheCable had reported that secondary and primary school teachers in the FCT had threatened to embark on an indefinite strike if workers’ salaries were not paid.

Speaking on the development, Knabayi said the salary arrears date back to 2015, adding that teachers will no longer be taken for granted.

According to NAN, he said all FCT primary school teachers have been ordered to suspend work and parents urged to keep their children at home.

“The six area councils are owing about N14.3 billion arrears from 2015 till date,” he said.

“We have waited and made several efforts for the template on how teachers will be paid to be drafted but none of our efforts has yielded positive result.

“That is why we decided to resume the suspended strike today based on the non-commitment and at this point, we will not call off the strike based on mere word of commitment.

“Unless teachers begin to receive alert, we will not call off the strike. For now, only primary school teachers are on strike but if it persists, we will call on solidarity strike, where secondary school teachers will be part of it.”

Reacting to the strike, Alhassan Sule, chairman of the federal capital territory Universal Basic Education Board (FCT-UBEB), blamed area council chairmen for the teachers’ action.

“I could remember that in December 2021, NUT and the area councils had an agreement to suspend their strike based on the agreement that they were going to have a roundtable to discuss the template on how they were going to implement the arrears,” he said.

“I believe that what the area council did by not inviting the NUT to the roundtable is one of the reasons that they decided to go back on strike.

“They are not talking of the arrears now, but that they should come together and get a workable template on how they are going to decrease all the outstanding arrears from 2015 till date.

“But that of the area councils has to do with friction between the LEA secretaries and their chairmen when it has to do with the employment of teachers.”