NUT demands EFCC probe as teachers’ protest exposes deep dysfunction in local council wage administration.
By IDNN Labour Affairs Desk | April 25, 2025
[ABUJA] — In a sharp rebuke of local governance failure, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has summoned all six FCT Area Council Chairmen and the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to a crisis meeting over the ongoing teachers’ strike in Abuja.
The move comes after hundreds of primary school teachers took to the streets on Wednesday, protesting months of unpaid wages, allowances, and benefits despite a ₦4.1 billion disbursement meant to settle these issues.
“I don’t know why people don’t have conscience,” Wike said on Thursday during an inspection tour of Tinubu’s second-year project sites. “These are teachers who take care of our children—and you’re happy not paying them?”
The ₦4.1bn Question: Where Did the Money Go?
According to Wike, the FCT Administration already released ₦4.1 billion to the area councils specifically for implementing the new minimum wage and pending teacher entitlements.
Yet, no payments have been made.
NUT Chairman Abdullahi Shafa, who led Wednesday’s protest, accused the council chairmen of diverting the funds and called for the EFCC and National Assembly to investigate the mismanagement.
“They’ve failed to pay the 40% Peculiar Allowance, ₦35,000 wage award, and the new minimum wage,” Shafa told reporters. “This is financial recklessness that borders on criminality.”
Local Council Blame Game
Wike clarified that primary school administration is the responsibility of the area councils, not the FCT Administration. However, he said the FCT has fulfilled its financial commitment—and the councils have failed theirs.
“You can’t be smiling in office while the teachers you oversee are living in misery,” the Minister said, visibly agitated.
The six FCT area councils—AMAC, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Abaji, Kwali, and Kuje—are now under intense scrutiny.
Teachers’ Demands: Long List, Little Action
The protesting teachers listed multiple unfulfilled demands, including:
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Implementation of the ₦70,000 minimum wage
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Payment of 40% Peculiar Allowance
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Full payment of ₦35,000 Presidential Wage Award
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Backlog of 25% and 35% salary adjustments
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Non-remittance of pension deductions to PFAs
Despite prior strike actions, the councils have remained “adamant and unmoved,” said Shafa.
External Context
A Thought-Provoking Close: When Teachers Must Teach Without Pay, Who Teaches the Leaders to Lead?
The FCT wage crisis isn’t just a budgetary failure—it’s a betrayal of responsibility.
Wike’s outrage, while commendable, reveals a broader rot: local councils empowered to serve but shielded from accountability.
If ₦4.1 billion meant for teachers can disappear without consequence, what hope is left for public service delivery, or the children dependent on it?
As Abuja’s classrooms remain shut and public trust continues to erode, Nigerians must ask: Who will teach integrity to those who control our public purse?
Because what’s at stake here isn’t just unpaid wages—it’s the future of governance itself.