The meeting between the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the area council chairmen over the payment of a new minimum wage for primary school teachers ended in deadlock, according to a Daily Trust report.
The meeting, the paper said, held at the conference hall of the Area Council Service Commission (ACSC) was presided over by the board chairman of ACSC, Alhaji Isah Ramat, director of UBEB, NULGE, six area council chairmen and some senior staff of the commission.
Speaking to newsmen at end of the meeting, the chairman of the FCT wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Comrade Stephen Knabayi, said the meeting ended in deadlock as the union and the six area council chairmen could not reach an agreement.
He added that the reason the union could not make headway with the council chairmen was because they complained of financial constraints, LEA staff verification, which he said the union rejected in totality.
According to him, the union also disagreed with the claim of the council chairmen of their plans to source funds from the savings of the FCT administration in order to pay teachers the new minimum wage.
“So to us as a union, we are asking the area council chairmen why they are giving us all these flimsy excuses 17 months after they were supposed to have commenced payment of the new minimum wage,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that despite available avenues the union exhausted in ensuring that the new minimum wage of the teachers were paid, the area council chairmen ended up reneging on their promise.
Comrade Knabayi said the chairmen had pleaded to meet with the union again on Friday, over the matter, adding that the union may have no option than to extend the strike to secondary schools across the FCT for solidarity if the council chairmen failed to reach a compromise with the union.
The chairman of Gwagwalada area council, Alhaji Adamu Mustapha, who is also the FCT ALGON chairman, said the association would meet with the Minister of State for FCT, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, to deliberate on the issue.
“The union, at the end of the meeting reasoned with us as we assured them that the association will meet with the minister on how to ensure that the minimum wage is paid,” he said.(Daily Trust)