Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, is set to meet on Thursday with area council chairmen, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to address the ongoing strike and reopening of public primary schools in the FCT.
The meeting was confirmed in a statement on Wednesday by NANS President Olushola Oladoja and PRO Adeyemi Ajasa, following a series of engagements with key government figures.
NANS had initially planned a mass protest at the FCTA Secretariat on Wednesday but shelved it after being invited to a high-level meeting at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters. Discussions focused on the prolonged strike and its impact on students, and were followed by a strategic session with Muktar Betara, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on FCT.
Subsequently, a third meeting was held on Tuesday with Wike, where he clarified that the FCT is the only part of the country operating full local government autonomy, meaning that area councils—not the FCTA—are solely responsible for paying primary school teachers’ salaries.
To help resolve the crisis, Wike proposed a bailout plan, offering for the FCTA to pay 60% of the outstanding salaries, while the area councils would cover the remaining 40%. However, when this plan failed to produce results, Wike withheld Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) due to the councils for May and June, intending to use it to offset their 40% salary obligations.
NANS noted that the withheld funds are expected to be released before the end of the week and confirmed it has suspended its planned protest, while pledging to closely monitor implementation of the resolutions.
“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,” NANS stated.
The strike, which commenced on March 24, 2025, has brought academic activities to a halt in over 400 public primary schools across the FCT, leaving thousands of pupils without learning while their counterparts in private schools accross the country are rounding off the third term of the current session.
