Abuja parents urge Wike to resolve 3-month-long teachers’ strike

…To prioritize children’s education over large-scale infrastructure projects.

As primary school pupils in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, remain at home for over 90 days due to an unresolved teachers’ strike, frustrated parents are appealing to Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to prioritize their children’s education over large-scale infrastructure projects.

Wike recently commissioned 17 completed projects, including the ₦39 billion renovation of the International Conference Centre and several multi-billion naira road infrastructure projects across the nation’s capital, transforming Abuja into an international-standard city.

However, for the children of low-income earners who cannot afford private education, these projects do not address their immediate concerns, as their children have been out of school for more than three months due to the ongoing strike by primary school teachers in the FCT.

Maimuna Usman, a parent from Lugbe in the AMAC Council, expressed her disappointment, saying that public schools used to be good but have unfortunately declined.

She explained that if more parents could afford private schools, they would not send their children to public ones. Usman also noted that frequent strikes are affecting every aspect of education.

Read also: Strike continues: FCT teachers demand immediate payment

She recalled occasions when pupils’ exams were rushed, with multiple subjects scheduled in a single day, and other times when exams were not completed before schools were abruptly closed.

Abdullahi Kebbi, another parent, expressed feelings of helplessness and unhappiness. He said that while they used to trust the government, they are now deeply disappointed.

Kebbi lamented that the very public schools that once nurtured great leaders are now being neglected and left to deteriorate, giving the impression that no one cares about the education of poor children anymore.

Some parents told BusinessDay that they are now searching for affordable private schools. Agnes Oyewole, a petty trader at Kugbe Market, mentioned that she visited a school in the car wash area on Monday to inquire about fees and plans to enrol her children by the end of the month.

Her neighbor, Alice Johnson, revealed that she had already withdrawn her two children from LEA Primary School Aleita and enrolled them in a private school near her home in Chika, along Airport Road in Lugbe. Johnson explained that she has three children in school but can currently afford to pay for only two.

She has informed their father, who works in Kaduna, that the third child will have to wait for divine intervention—or for the public schools to reopen.

BusinessDay spoke to 11-year-old Muhammad Aliyu, who described how a typical Monday morning in Abuja now involves rolling tires down the street with friends instead of going to class.

While private school pupils in crisp uniforms attend their lessons, Aliyu and tens of thousands of other public school children in the FCT remain at home—sidelined by a prolonged primary school teachers’ strike.

Asebe Isa, a Primary 6 pupil at Piyakassa Primary School, expressed her frustration over the ongoing strike that led to the closure of her school. She shared that many pupils have forgotten what they were taught and missed their scheduled examinations.

Although she has been able to occupy herself by learning tailoring, she noted that many other children without such opportunities are left roaming the streets.

Yunusa Idris, a Primary 5 pupil at Lugbe Primary School, conveyed his unhappiness about the situation. He feels disheartened seeing children in private schools continuing their education while he remains at home. He urged the government to end the strike so public school pupils can return to their classrooms.

Read also: FCT teachers strike: War against systematic impunity

Despite the Tinubu administration’s commitment to improving education and addressing systemic challenges, primary education in the FCT remains paralyzed by recurring industrial actions. This crisis is particularly alarming given the ₦140 billion allocation to education in the 2025 FCT budget.

The core dispute centers on the FCT primary school teachers’ union’s unresolved demands, primarily the non-payment of the ₦70,000 minimum wage agreement signed in a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding on December 11, 2024. Other grievances include unpaid 25% and 35% salary increments, as well as a 40% peculiar allowance.

This marks the fourth industrial action, following strikes suspended in November 2023 and January 2024. A similar strike in September 2024 protested area council chairmen’s failure to implement minimum wage arrears and other entitlements.

The strike ended after 14 days, following Minister Wike’s threat to withhold the councils’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to meet teachers’ demands, but the resolution proved temporary.

The impact of the current strike has been severe. Pupils were forced to abandon their first-term exams just three days before completion, as classrooms were abruptly shut.

The teachers, employed by local government area councils, are demanding unpaid entitlements that the council chairmen have yet to settle. With classrooms empty and children like Muhammad Aliyu sidelined, Abuja’s primary education system is on the brink of collapse.

While government officials debate policy and funding, it is the pupils who suffer most from the ongoing strike.

Wike is scheduled to meet with chairmen of FCT area councils, the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Thursday.

According to a statement released by NANS in Abuja on Wednesday, the meeting aims to finalize modalities for the reopening of all public primary schools in the FCT.

The statement, signed by NANS National President Olushola Oladoja and National Public Relations Officer Adeyemi Ajasa, noted that the association had earlier planned a mass protest on Wednesday morning at the FCTA Secretariat.

However, the NANS leadership was invited to a high-level engagement at the Department of State Services (DSS) Headquarters, where the issues were thoroughly discussed in the interest of national security and students’ welfare.

Read also: FCT teachers strike: VDM holds free class at FCTA gate for stranded pupils

The initial meeting paved the way for a second strategic engagement with Muktar Betara, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on FCT. Following this, a third meeting was held with Minister Wike, who explained the complexities involved.

The FCT remains the only unit of the federation operating full local government autonomy, meaning all salary payments—including those of primary school teachers—are the responsibility of the area councils. The FCT Administration is therefore not directly responsible for the backlog of teachers’ salaries and should not be solely held accountable for the area councils’ failures.

Demonstrating responsibility, Minister Wike proposed a bailout plan in which the FCTA would pay 60% of the outstanding arrears, while the area councils cover the remaining 40%. When this arrangement failed to yield results, the minister withheld the area councils’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for May and June, intending to use these funds to clear the outstanding arrears owed to teachers.

Based on this intervention, it was expected that the withheld two-month arrears would be paid before the end of the week.
The association therefore suspended the planned protest while closely monitoring the implementation of all resolutions reached.
“We reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of Nigerian students and ensuring that no child is denied access to education due to governmental lapses,” the statement read.