Abuja — Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, yesterday met with chairmen of FCT area councils, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, and the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, to discuss the reopening of public primary schools in the FCT.
The schools had been on shut down for over two months, following the strike embarked upon by teachers over non-payment of salaries and allowances.
The meeting was confirmed in a statement released in Abuja yesterday by NANS President, Olushola Oladoja, and the group's Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Ajasa.
NANS explained that it had earlier planned a mass protest at the FCT Administration Secretariat yesterday's morning.
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However, the plan changed after its leaders were invited to a high-level meeting at the Department of State Services, DSS, headquarters.
NANS revealed that at the meeting, the ongoing strike and its effects on students were discussed thoroughly, adding that the first engagement led to another strategic session with Muktar Betara, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on FCT.
It said the meetings helped clarified the causes of the teachers' strike and what the Wike-led FCTA had done so far, adding that a third meeting was held on Tuesday with Wike, where he gave further explanation.
"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," NANS quoted Wike as saying.
It said further that Wike had offered a bailout plan, with the FCTA taking responsibility for 60% of the teachers' unpaid salaries, while the councils were to pay the remaining 40%.
The statement read: "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 this plan did not work as expected, the FCT minister withheld Internally Generated Revenue from the area councils for May and June, intending to use the funds to pay the 40% share owed by the councils.
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I"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 utilise these funds to make up the 40 per cent requested of area council to clear the outstanding arrears owed to teachers," NANS stated.
NANS added that the withheld funds were expected to be released before the end of the week, stressing that based on this, it suspended the planned protest but would monitor how the resolutions were implemented.
"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," the association stated.
