Wike meets FCT chairmen, teachers over strike on Thursday

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, will meet with the chairmen of FCT area councils, leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) on Thursday, July 3, 2025.

The meeting, according to a statement issued by NANS on Wednesday, July 2, is to finalise modalities for the reopening of all public primary schools in the FCT.

The statement was signed by NANS National President, Olushola Oladoja, and the association’s National Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Ajasa.

The association had earlier resolved to stage a protest on Wednesday morning at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Secretariat.

NANS noted that its leadership was invited to a high-level engagement at the Department of State Services (DSS) Headquarters, where the issues at hand were discussed in the interest of national security and students’ welfare.

It said the first meeting at the DSS paved the way for a second strategic meeting with the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on FCT, Muktar Betara.

NANs stated that the engagement revealed the root causes of the ongoing industrial action by the NUT and the efforts made by the Wike-led FCTA.

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It added that a third meeting was held with Wike on Tuesday, where the minister explained the issues at hand.

NANS said: “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.

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

The Star