FCT elders’ forum urges Wike, council chairmen to end teachers’ strike

The FCT Elder Statesmen Forum has appealed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the six area council chairmen to immediately resolve the three-month-old strike that has paralysed primary education and healthcare services across the territory. Mr Danjuma Tanko Dara, the forum’s coordinator, who addressed newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, described the situation as a […]

The FCT Elder Statesmen Forum has appealed to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the six area council chairmen to immediately resolve the three-month-old strike that has paralysed primary education and healthcare services across the territory.

Mr Danjuma Tanko Dara, the forum’s coordinator, who addressed newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, described the situation as a monumental failure of governance, which he said has left the nation’s capital in a state of social emergency.

He said the simultaneous collapse of FCT primary schools and healthcare centers represents a double tragedy for society.

“While our children roam the streets instead of classrooms, our sick and vulnerable are being denied basic medical care. This is not the Abuja we envisioned,” he said.

Abuja Metro reports that the industrial action, now entering its 14th week, stems from the area councils’ failure to implement the N70,000 national minimum wage and the nonpayment of salary arrears dating back to 2023 for both teachers and primary healthcare workers.

According to him, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike must rise to the occasion to end the lingering teachers and area council workers’ strike.

“We know Wike as a man of high reputation with action. It is time to deploy that political will to rescue our education and health sectors,” he said.

The forum, however, proposed concrete solutions, which include the immediate reconvening of the tripartite committee, direct deduction from councils’ allocations to pay workers, and establishment of a special intervention fund for area council workers.

Dara expressed disappointment that over 500 primary schools and 200 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across the territory have remained shut since the strike began, which he said had left millions of residents without access to basic education and healthcare service.