Martins Otse, a popular social critic commonly known as VeryDarkMan, led a protest of primary school pupils on Monday over the ongoing teachers’ strike that has lasted for over nine weeks.

The protest took place at the FCT minister’s gate, with children seen carrying banners and adults dressed in school uniforms to support the students.

During the protest, the pupils expressed disappointment in President Bola Tinubu’s administration and how Nigeria has failed them as a country.

Mr Otse and the children used the letters of the alphabet to illustrate Mr Tinubu’s administration, starting with the letter A for Asiwaju, B for Bola, C for corruption, D for disappointment, E for embezzlement — going on to Z.

He also called the attention of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to the matter, informing him that without basic education, he wouldn’t have attained his ministerial position.

“If Nyensom Wike didn’t get basic education, he wouldn’t have become a Minister of FCT today,” Mr Otse said.

A teacher revealed that at a primary school in Durumi, only 10 teachers are directly employed by the government, while the rest are part-time teachers paid through PTA fees collected from parents — yet the government refuses to pay the teachers.

The teachers’ strike stems from the government’s failure to implement salary adjustments based on the new minimum wage of N70,500, with teachers still being paid N30,000 as salary.