The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Abuja says the demands of the striking primary school teachers in the FCT are not feasible.

Abubakar Abdullahi, the national chairman of the association and chair of the Abaji area council, stated this in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.

In a communique issued on Wednesday, the Abuja chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) directed all primary school teachers in Abuja to begin an indefinite strike from Thursday.

According to the communique, the strike action followed the failure of the six area councils’ chairs to pay the teachers’ 40 per cent peculiar and other outstanding allowances.

The communique was jointly signed by Stephen Knabayi, Margaret Jethro and Haruna Samson, chair, secretary and publicity secretary, respectively. The teachers claimed that they had given the six councils’ chairs a seven-day ultimatum to pay the 40 per cent peculiar and other allowances owed them.

They alleged that throughout the ultimatum, the area council chairs neither acknowledged receipt of the letters nor invited the union for dialogue, nor attended to any of their concerns.

The teachers’ concerns include non-payment of 25 months’ arrears of the 2019 approved national minimum wage, non-release of some promotion letters to beneficiaries, non-implementation of released promotion letters, etc.

They explained that the strike was their last option, having exhausted all available avenues to meet their demands.

Mr Abdullahi stated that what the teachers requested was not feasible, adding that contrary to their claims, he had met with the NUT leadership on Saturday and Sunday.

“I met with the NUT leadership twice. I met with the chairman on Saturday evening and asked him to arrange a meeting with his members of the executives, which I attended in their head office at Gwagwalada,” Mr Abdullahi. “I pleaded with them, and we are still pleading with them to reconsider their action. What they are requesting is not feasible.”

The chair stressed the need to join hands with the leadership of the NUT to approach FCT minister Nyesom Wike for help.

“He just assumed office. We appealed to them to give him at least three months to settle down so that we can approach him with their complaints, but they insisted they have to go on with the strike. So, we have no option than to wait for the minister to call on us so we can explain things to him,” Mr Abdullahi said.

When contacted on the matter, Hassan Sule, the director of the FCT Universal Basic Education Board, said the board had not been officially communicated by the NUT that they would embark on an indefinite strike.

Mr Sule said, “I have not received any official communication from NUT that they are going to embark on strike. When I heard that the primary section did not resume on Monday, I had to call the chairman of the ALGON and the NUT chairman.

“I think they have a little misunderstanding. Normally, if there is going to be a strike, there must be grievances, and there must be communication. I cannot say it is a strike because they didn’t write to us that they were going to commence a strike. I have not seen any circulars. It is just a communication between NUT and ALGON chairman.”

The director, however, said he had met with the NUT leadership and the ALGON chair over the issue, and they assured him that the difference would be resolved.

(NAN)