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The union declared the strike in a communique signed by its Chairman, Abdullahi Shafa, State Secretary, Margaret Jethro, and State Publicity Secretary, Ibukun Adekeye. The strike is a continuation of earlier ones suspended by the union in October 2023 and in January 2024.
The union, in the communiqué issued in Abuja, explained that the action was the outcome of the State Wing Executive Council (SWEC) meeting held on Tuesday. It added that the SWEC had deliberated on the 14-day ultimatum given to the area councils’ chairmen to pay the teachers their entitlements.
The ultimatum expired on Tuesday, September 17.
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“The SWEC, therefore, resolved and directed primary school teachers in the FCT to resume the suspended strike action with effect from Wednesday, September 18.
“All public primary schools in FCT should remain closed and parents are hereby advised to remain guided by this development until the union’s demands are met.
“We appeal to all teachers to remain calm and disregard any counter directives except as directed by the union,” it added.
The union identified one of the unresolved issues as non-payment of 60% of the 25-month-old minimum wage areas. Other issues included non-implementation and payment of 25% and 35% salary increase, and non-implementation and payment of 40% peculiar allowance.
The union is also demanding the payment of the ₦35,000 wage award arrears and the implementation of the template on outstanding entitlements of teachers as agreed in 2022.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the FCT Minister had intervened and promised to pay 40% of the outstanding 25 months minimum wage arrears.
As part of the resolution for suspending the strike, the six area councils were expected to pay the remaining 60% of the minimum wage arrears. The teachers acknowledged and applauded Wike for redeeming the 40% pledge, and frowned at the area councils’ chairmen for failing to fulfil their part of the agreement.
Reacting to the development, Dr Hassan Sule, acting Chairman of the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (FCT-UBEB), appealed to the NUT to suspend the strike. Sule said that discussion with the chairmen of the area councils was ongoing to resolve the issues.
![Julius Abure is the national chairman of the Labour Party. [LP]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Julius Abure is the national chairman of the Labour Party. [LP]")