Primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have called off their over three-month strike, following interventions by the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.
The FCT Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), disclosed this in a communique made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the communique was jointly signed the union’s Chairman, Abdullahi Shafas, Secretary, Mrs Margaret Jethro and Publicity Secretary, Ibukun Adekeye.
In the communique, the union leadership directed the teachers to return to the classrooms and continue with their legitimate duties.
They applauded the intervention of the minister in the impasse through a stakeholder meeting.
NAN recalls that primary school teachers in the FCT embarked on an indefinite strike on March 24 over unpaid minimum wage and other welfare concerns.
The FCT minister, though not responsible for the payment of primary school teachers, intervened severally, including a meeting with the union leaders and other stakeholders on July 3.
Some of the stakeholders included the Chairmen, House Committee on FCT, House Committee on FCT, Area Councils and Ancillary Matters, FCT Head of Service, FCT Permanent Secretary, Treasury, and executives of the NUT among others.
“The payment of FCT primary school teachers, as explained by the Minister, is the responsibility of the Area Councils
“The minister, however, emphasised the inadequacy of the councils’ allocation to cater for the payment and therefore offered the following:
“The release of 10 per cent of the area councils’ six months accrued Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), amounting to N16 billion, to augment the payment of the minimum wage for June and 60 per cent of its nine months arrears.
“The constitution of a Special Committee to, within two weeks, harmonise all the outstanding arrears detailing the sourcing of funds for the permanent settlement of all the backlog,” the communique read in part
The union leaders said that, upon the minister’s intervention, SWEC held an emergency session on July 4 to deliberate on the offers and review the strike action.
They added that, after exhaustive deliberation on the offers, including the positive disposition of the minister, SWEC resolved to suspend the strike, if the N16 billion is released and payment received by teachers.
“Consequent upon the implementation of the minimum wage and payment of five months arrears into the teachers accounts on July 8, the SWEC, hereby, suspends the ongoing strike.
“The council, appeal to all primary school teachers in FCT to, with effect from Wednesday, July 9, return to the classrooms and continue with their legitimate duties.
“The union will intensify efforts to ensure the payment of the remaining entitlements,” they said. (NAN)
