By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The FCT Minister, Barr. Nysome Wike on Thursday disclosed that the six Area Council Chairmen will be summoned over refusal to pay teachers’ salaries even after he approved monetory intervention.
Wike made this known on Thursday after an inspection of three road projects in parts of Abuja.
The minister expressed his displeasure with the Area council Chairmen when he heard that the money approved has not been used to pay teachers’ salaries in the six Area Councils.
Wike said, “It’s unfortunate, but we have to tell ourselves the simple truth. The Area Council Chairmen, after I have, approved money to be sent to them to pay the teachers. They were unable to do that. In fact, I got the report yesterday, and I’m able to summon all of them.”
Wike chided the Council Chairmen, as he vowed to sanction them for not paying the teachers their salaries, after he moved to settle their backlog of salaries.
He said, “You see, that’s the problem we have in this country. By the time you apply the big stick now, people will be saying all kinds of things. I don’t know why people don’t have conscience that these are teachers who take care of our children, and you are happy that you are not paying them their salaries.”
Earlier, members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers from the FCT had protested at the Minister’s gate over the non-payment of the backlog of their salaries, after the minister’s intervention.
The Chairman of FCT NUT, Comrade Abdullahi Shafa who spoke to Journalists said that their protest was brought to the Minister’s office to inform him of their predicament.
He said,” we are protesting at the office of the minister today to inform him that the intervention he gave to the teachers in the FCT and the local government workers; the local government Chairmen have refused to implement it. They should implement our monies for us.”
The NUT Leader recounted that the struggle started with the implementation of the minimum wage of teachers, after the strike action the minister intervened and gave 4.1 billion Naira to the six area councils to go and implement these monies to pay us, but they ran away with it.”
However, the minister has appealed to the aggrieved teachers to give some time to allow things to be sorted out.
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