Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has declared the ongoing strike by the FCT Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) as political and baseless.
Wike, who stated this after meeting with chairmen of the six area councils in Abuja on Friday, directed the council chairmen to enforce a strict “no-work, no-pay” policy against participating workers.
He added that he had directed the council leadership to clamp down on unapproved absence.
“We have directed the chairmen of the area councils to call their teachers and state clearly: if anybody participates in this, we will implement no-work, no-pay.
“Enough is enough; we cannot continue with this,” Wike warned.
The minister rejected the rationale behind the industrial action, asserting that all legitimate demands raised by the teaching body, including promotions and operational matters, had been substantially resolved or were actively being implemented.
“We want to state categorically and let it be known to the public: this so-called strike declaration is political, and we will not accept it.
“There is no basis for anybody to call for a strike. We don’t have any issue with the Local Education Authorities or primary schools. Everything we have agreed on, we are implementing,” he said.
Wike noted that secondary school teachers and other key union segments had distanced themselves from the strike action, recognising that the demands were already being met.
Addressing the political underpinnings of the shutdown, the minister directly challenged the political neutrality of the local NLC leadership.
He alleged that the union chairperson was a former candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the last February FCT area council elections.
“You can see his interest. He is trying to ensure the FCT is in crisis as a political tool, telling voters that pupils are at home. We will not accept that blackmail.
“If you want to involve yourself in politics, you are free to do so, but excuse yourself from holding union leadership so you don’t politicise it,” he advised.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NLC had on Wednesday directed workers of the FCT Administration and those in the private sector to begin indefinite strike over unresolved issues between the FCTA and NUT.
The issues relate to NUT’s demand on the FCTA to withdraw the redeployment of some directors in agencies under the FCT Education Secretariat, rescheduling of 2025 promotion examination and removal of vacancy precondition for promotion.
(NAN)
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