FCT NUT kicks against LG autonomy

The nationwide agitation for local Government autonomy may have suffered another terrible setback as Abuja, the nation’s capital witnessed a well-attended protest in total disagreement to the clamour.

Over 700 teachers, under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) FCT chapter, stormed the Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Tuesday in a peaceful protest, demanding to be left out of Local Government autonomy.

Chairman, NUT FCT chapter, Comrade Knabayi Stephen, who addressed the protesting teachers at the main entrance into the Secretariat, said that the decision to be left out of the Local Government autonomy was NUT National Executive Council (NEC) common position taken at its meeting held on April 24, 2017, in Kaduna State.

According to him, NEC meeting having “reappraised the issue of management and funding of Primary Education and the responsibility for payment of primary school teachers, directed all national chapters to sensitise all stakeholders, including the public, lawmakers and other leaders”.

Providing reasons for NUT decision not to be part of Local Government autonomy, Knabayi said: “It would be recalled that between 1990 and 1994 when Primary Education came under the control of the Local Government, the school system witnessed poor funding and total neglect which led to industrial crises because the Local Government Councils failed to give primary education the priority of place it deserved”.

He further regretted that “despite an increase in allocation to the Local Government Councils from the Federation Account by 5 percent to enable the Councils play their participatory role in assisting the state Governments to pay the salaries of primary school teachers, the teachers were denied salaries for several months, in some cases for over 12 months”.

Another propelling factor for opting out of the autonomy, according to Knabayi is the failure by the Local Government Councils to contribute their mandatory 15 percent of the teachers’ emolument to the pension fund meant for the payment of the teachers’ pension and gratuities”, thereby “allowing the school system to deteriorate to the state of dysfunction and near collapse”.

Explaining that “in a bid to address the deplorable situation, the Federal Government had established National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) and effected payment of the salaries of teachers through the Commission from education, as first line charge, from the Federation Account”, he noted that “the development brought stability to the system but could not stand the test of time.

However, the NUT chair stated that the union was “not totally against Local Government autonomy if that is what Nigerians believe would bring development to all nooks and crannies of the country, saying that the “union is concerned about the likelihood of scrapping the state Joint Local Government Account which would mean taking primary education back to the dark pre-1994 era.

He decried a situation where “primary school teachers were currently been owed salaries for months in a number of states ostensibly due to the inability of the Councils to provide the funds needed for payment of the salaries, thereby creating a situation of demoralisation and hopelessness amongst the teachers”.

The NUT chairman also stated that they had submitted a letter to the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, containing this position, as it affects the Federal Capital Territory NUT, even as he expressed hope that the Administration would look into the submission as it promised.

Notably, the FCT Administration is one of the few administration where funds for primary education management is given directly to them, through its Universal Basic Education, without recourse to the Area Councils or Local Governments.