Striking primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory, on Friday, vowed not to return to the classrooms until they get paid.
Teachers in the FCT have been on strike since March, and all efforts to end the industrial action have been futile.
FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had on Friday met with the representatives of the Nigeria Union of Teachers across the six area council to resolve the strike.
At the meeting which held at the official residence of the minister, the teachers insisted on continuing the strike until they were paid.
Chairman of the FCT wing of the NUT, Comrade Abdullahi Mohammed Shafas, who addressed newsmen at the end of the union’s State Wing Executive Council (SWEC), said there was a unanimous resolution that teachers would resume classes any moment the backlogs of arrears and other entitlements were paid.
The teachers declared the strike over non-payment of backlogs of arrears and other entitlements.
“Our members are ready to go back to their classes any moment they start receiving alerts. In fact, even if it is this evening alerts start coming in, the union will call off the strike,” he said.
The FCT NUT chairman, however, commended Wike for withholding 10 percent of the Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) of the six area councils for the past six months as a result of the strike.
“The Minister has also in his own wisdom set up a committee to look into other pending demands of the teachers,” he added.
Recall that FCT primary school teachers embarked on the strike over the non-implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage, backlogs of arrears and other entitlements.
Three agreements/undertaking were signed with the union but the council chairmen reportedly reneged.
