By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
The Gbagyi youth forum has called on relevant authorities to urgently clear N59 billion owed in arrears to local education authority teachers.
The group said the continuous delay threatens the stability of primary education in the Federal Capital Territory( FCT).
Speaking at a joined press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Chairman of the FCT Gbagyi Youth Forum, Hon. Musa Jezhi Nyanya, stated this on behalf of the Forum and the six area council stakeholders.
Nyanya, explained that the primary school teacher’s arrears, dating back to 2011 has become a historical burden that the current area council administrations cannot carry alone.
He added that, “we hold our teachers in the highest esteem and that is why we are demanding for their payment.
“We refuse to accept a “Robin Hood” scenario where the funds for the people’s water, roads, and clinics are liquidated to pay for decade-old administrative debts.
“While we seek for the payment of teachers, the current “solution” drains the funds needed to buy desks, repair leaking roofs, and provide learning materials.
“We are paying for the past by robbing the future of our children”.
He noted that the six area councils of the FCT is the very heartbeat of our local communities, are currently facing a fiscal chokehold that threatens to extinguish grassroots governance as we know it.
While appealing for a special presidential bailout intervention fund to settle the N59 billion teacher arrears, this is a legacy debt and must not be funded by cannibalizing the current year’s infrastructure budget.
The forum said: “If the presidency does not intervene immediately, we are not just looking at a budget deficit; we are looking at a total systemic collapse”.
He further said there is a 10% internally growth rate IGR denial for a long time meant for the area councils which has been shrouded in bureaucracy.
He said; “we are requesting for an executive order protecting local development funds from being diverted to historical debt settlements.
“We call for an immediate financial summit between the Presidency, the FCT Ministry, and Area Council Stakeholders to ensure this crisis never repeats”.
Meanwhile, the chairman said, “Gbagyi people, our neighboring tribes, and all residents of the six area councils have been patient.
“But our patience is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of our belief in the Rule of Law.
“We will not stand by while the bridges, schools, and health centers of our people are sacrificed on the altar of a financial crisis we did not create.
