Author: Gist Correspondent

Primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have renewed demands for the settlement of outstanding salary and allowance arrears, while also urging the FCT Administration to take urgent steps to improve traffic management in the nation’s capital amid lingering labour unrest.

In a letter addressed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, the Coordinator of the FCT Local Education Authority (LEA) Teachers’ Forum, Abdulsalam Haruna, recalled that during the 2024/2025 academic session, public primary schools in Abuja were shut for about three months following strike actions by teachers over unresolved entitlements owed by the six area councils.

Haruna acknowledged that through the intervention of the FCT minister, teachers eventually received the N70,000 national minimum wage and partial payment of nine months’ arrears. However, he noted that three area councils are yet to fully clear the outstanding minimum wage arrears.

According to him, the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage represents only one of several outstanding demands confronting primary school teachers in the FCT. He listed other unresolved entitlements to include the non-implementation and arrears of the 40 per cent peculiar allowance, 25 and 35 per cent salary increases, the N35,000 wage award, as well as promotion arrears dating back to 2014 across the six area councils.

Haruna further lamented that promotions and annual salary increments have not been implemented since 2023, while underemployed teachers in Kuje, Bwari and Gwagwalada area councils have not been upgraded since 2018. He also decried the absence of health insurance and welfare packages for LEA teachers, unlike their counterparts under the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) and State Education Boards (SEB).

Beyond welfare concerns, the teachers’ forum drew attention to broader infrastructural and environmental challenges in the FCT, including the Kugbo bus terminal, which was commissioned several months ago but remains non-operational.

Haruna urged the minister to ensure the facility becomes functional to help ease traffic congestion and improve public transportation in Abuja.

He also expressed concern over frequent strike actions by workers’ unions in the FCT, noting that they disrupt economic and social activities in the capital. He called for the withdrawal of court cases against workers and greater reliance on dialogue to amicably resolve labour disputes.

The teachers’ leader further appealed for urgent intervention in the prolonged JOHESU strike, which has lasted over 80 days, as well as the pending demands of primary school teachers and area council workers, warning that unresolved issues could trigger further industrial actions.

In addition, he called attention to poor waste management in parts of the FCT, citing heaps of refuse along Karu and the Nyanya–Karshi road, and urged the authorities to address the growing sanitation challenges.

Despite the concerns raised, Haruna commended Wike for his infrastructure development efforts in the FCT and assured him of the teachers’ support in making Abuja a more functional and livable city.