Worried by the continued industrial action embarked upon by teachers in the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Nigeria Youth Organization (NYO), after a consultative meeting with the FCT chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has issued a 7-working day ultimatum to the FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello and the six Area council Chairmen to end the ongoing strike by FCT teachers over unpaid salaries and emonuments to enable the pupils return to school.

At a press conference covered by The Street Reporters Newspaper on Monday, the FCT Chairman of the NYO, Comrade Solomon Danjuma Garda called on the six area Council chairmen in the FCT “to immediately convene a meeting to dialogue with the teachers and guarantee their demands be met with a time line to enable our young ones go back to school like their counterparts in other states of the federation.”

The youths vowed to picket the six area councils in the FCT in the event that a dialogue between the Area Council Chairmen with a view to ending the industrial action has not commenced.

According to the Nigeria Youth Organization, it met with the the leadership of NUT in FCT “to discuss the lingering teachers strike was held on the 29th of October, 2020 at the NUT office, Gwagwalada, Abuja in a very cordial atmosphere and the deliberations were far reaching.”

The Nigeria Youth Organization noted that the meeting was necessitated by the need to for the organisation to “brocker truce between the FCT wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the six Area Council Chairmen over unpaid salaries and emonuments.“

Frowning, in no small measure, the neglect by Chairmen of the six area Council to the plight of the teachers, the pupils and the educational sector in general, the youths said they view the lingering industrial umpasse as “a premeditated attempt by politicians to subjugate the rights of the teachers and deny the children their right to quality education”, saying that “It’s on this note that we call on the six area Council chairmen to immediately convene a meeting to dialogue with the teachers and guarantee their demands be met with a time line to enable our young ones go back to school like their counterparts in other states of the Federation.

“It is rather sacrilegious to say the least, that politicians will continue to show this high level off negligence, ignoring every attempt by the teachers to negotiate with government to resolve this impasse amicably.

“We the youths of the FCT will not hesitate to shutdown all the Six Area Council Secretariat of the FCT if in the next 7 working days the government did not find a middle ground with the teachers in a clear terms and conditions upon which the protracted strike action by teachers could be called off.

“We therefore call on the NUT FCT wing to continue with their actions of no pay, no work until their demands are met, we are totally in support of teachers in the FCT to continue the ongoing strike.

“This communiqué today is in solidarity of the hardship being experienced by teachers in the FCT and the negligence by politicians to provide enabling environment for teachers to do their job and our young ones to continue their education like other states.

“We demand that the arrears of the approved consolidated salary structure and that of the minimum wage be paid in full to primary school teachers without further delay.

“Government should not be insensitive to it’s citizenry, teachers are Nigerians, builders and should not be allowed to be discouraged and suffer in other for them to continue to impact on the pupils.

“It is also more disheartening that other ministries in the FCT have long implemented the minimum wage except the LEA staff who the Politicians consider insignificant and easygoing.

“This is indeed shameful and embarrassing in a country like ours that teachers welfare is treated with disregard and the children education taken for granted.

“On behalf of the leadership of NYO FCT Chapter, I wish to call on all right thinking individuals and youth organizations to join in this fight to save our young ones and our teachers who sacrifice alot but take home peanuts to feign for themselves and family after a long day of stress and hard labour.

“The Six Area Council Chairmen and the FCT Minister should as a matter of urgency, implement and pay Teachers their minimum wage and Arrears, failure to act promptly and meet the demands of the teachers which as it’s stands, is the only guarantee for our children to go back to school, our Organization will not hesitate to do the needful”, the youths said.

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