By Peter Omopo
Abuja | July 2, 2025 — The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, is scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on Thursday with chairmen of the FCT’s six area councils, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in a bid to resolve the prolonged strike that has shut down public primary schools in the territory for over three months.
The planned engagement was confirmed on Wednesday in a joint statement by NANS President, Olushola Oladoja, and the group’s Public Relations Officer, Adeyemi Ajasa.
NANS disclosed that it had originally scheduled a mass protest at the FCT Administration Secretariat on Wednesday to demand immediate resolution of the teachers’ strike. However, the protest was suspended following an invitation to a high-level dialogue at the Department of State Services (DSS) Headquarters.
The student body revealed that the ongoing strike and its impact on pupils were extensively deliberated during the DSS meeting. This was followed by a subsequent strategic session with Muktar Betara, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on FCT.
According to NANS, those engagements helped clarify both the root causes of the industrial action and the steps already taken by the FCTA under Wike’s leadership.
In a follow-up meeting on Tuesday with Minister Wike, the minister reportedly reiterated that the FCT is the only unit in the federation operating full local government autonomy, meaning that all salary obligations — including those of primary school teachers — are solely the responsibility of the area councils, not the FCTA.
The Thursday meeting is expected to bring all key stakeholders to the table to seek a definitive path toward reopening the affected schools and restoring educational activities in the territory.
