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The Abuja branches of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have declared that their ongoing strike will not be suspended unless backlog payments owed to primary school teachers are settled.
A senior member of the union’s state executive committee, who spoke anonymously due to a lack of media authorisation, revealed to our correspondent on Tuesday that this resolution was firmly conveyed to the six area council chairmen during meetings held last Thursday and Friday.
“The unions made it clear that until the arrears are paid, there will be no suspension of the strike,” the source said.
He noted that the area council chairmen had appealed for a truce and urged the unions to halt the strike for negotiations to continue, but both meetings ended without an agreement.
The unions reportedly voiced their frustration over repeated failures by the chairmen to uphold previously signed agreements and their general neglect of the welfare of both local education authority staff and council workers.
Although the unions acknowledged the recent implementation of the new minimum wage, they insisted that it was only one item on a list of unmet demands.
“At the joint meeting, the union also demanded that the payment should commence with the eight months’ arrears of the new minimum wage of the LEAs and area Council workers, amounting to over N16 billion,” the union member stated.
He added that the joint unions supported FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s proposal to use 10% of the FCT IRS allocation to settle the workers’ entitlements.