Former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, has called on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the six area council chairmen to quickly resolve the ongoing strike by Abuja’s public primary school teachers. He says thousands of children are suffering due to the closure of schools for three months.
Speaking on his program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels TV, he painted a troubling picture of how public primary schools in the FCT have been left to decay, warning that this situation is similar to what is happening across the country.
“The crisis in Abuja public primary schools reflects a national pattern of neglect. Public education and healthcare in particular are in steep decline with low income families unfairly bearing the brunt, across the country actually,” Akande stated.
He pointed out that while the federal government is often blamed, it is actually state governors and local council leaders who are responsible for many of these problems in public schools. According to him, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has been urging state governors to access nearly N300 billion from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) that has been untouched since 2020.
Akande described the teachers’ strike as a result of unpaid salaries and benefits, noting that the teachers have been on strike since April, leaving classrooms empty and thousands of children at home.
“Meanwhile, here in Abuja, under the watch of Minister Nyesom Wike and local council chairman in the six areas, public primary school teachers have been on strike for three months over unpaid salaries and entitlements,” he said.
He gave an example of one affected school, the Local Education Authority Primary School in Sabon Geri, where over 500 pupils sit in poor, broken-down classrooms with no desks or chairs.
“Conditions in many of the public schools here in Abuja are deplorable. For instance, at the local education authority primary school in Sabon Geri, over 500 students are crammed into dilapidated classrooms with no furniture. While federal workers benefit from the new minimum wage announced by the president, the teachers in FCT are excluded,” Akande lamented.
He referred to a report from the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, which showed how learning has stopped for thousands of students. In the report, one parent said, “For the past three months, our pikin dey for house. Make the minister help us. Make him beg the area council chairman to do something. This thing no good.” Akande responded, saying the parent was right and that the situation must not continue.
Akande also noted the demands of the teachers, saying they are reasonable and should be met immediately.
“On behalf of the teachers, the What About Us movement has risen up with the support of Action Aid Nigeria and they are making the following demands: Number one, immediate implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage. Number two, full enforcement of the December 11, 2014, tripartite agreement. Number three, payment of salary arrears from January 2025. And number four, a plan to offset at least five months of the arrears. We suggest that the arrears are more than five months. Now, every person of goodwill ought to support these modest requests,” he declared.
He ended by expressing sadness over the continued closure of schools, asking how leaders can watch children lose their future without acting.
“This prolonged strike has paralyzed primary education in the FCT. Where is our compassion? Where is our conscience? Where is even a sense of duty?”
