Senior citizens Forum demands urgent end to FCT primary schools, healthcare strike

Stories by Stanley  Onyekwere

Some elder statesmen under the aegis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senior Citizens Forum have appealled to the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and six Area Council Chairmen to immediately resolve the three-month-old strike paralysing primary education, and healthcare services across the territory.

They made this position known at an emotionally charged press conference, held at the weekend, in Abuja.

The Forum’s Coordinator, Elder Danjuma Tanko Dara, described the situation as a monumental failure of governance that has left the nation’s capital in a state of social emergency.

He said: “The simultaneous collapse of our primary schools and healthcare centers represents a double tragedy for our society.

“While our children roam the streets instead of classrooms, our sick and vulnerable are being denied basic medical care. This is not the Abuja we envisioned. These acts are much broad reasons FCT should have full scale of democratic structures.

“The Honourable Minister must rise to this occasion. We know his reputation as a man of action. Now is the time to deploy that political will to rescue our education and health sectors”.

Recall that the industrial action, now entering its 14th week, stems from the Area Councils’ failure to implement the N70,000 national minimum wage and clear salary arrears dating back to 2023 for both teachers and primary healthcare workers.

However, the Forum proposed concrete solutions, which it said are the immediate reconvening of the tripartite committee, direct deduction from council allocations to pay workers and establishment of a special intervention fund for area councils workers.

Also, elder Dara expressed disappointment that over 500 primary schools and 200 Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) across the territory have remained shuttered since the strike began, leaving millions of residents without access to basic education and healthcare.

According to him, “we are witnessing a complete breakdown of two critical pillars of our society. While our children roam the streets instead of classrooms, sick residents including pregnant women and the elderly are being turned away from health centers. This is unacceptable in Nigeria’s capital!

“How can we have healthy children when their teachers are unpaid and their clinics are closed? The Council Chairmen must stop playing politics with people’s welfare.

“The Minister has both the moral authority and constitutional power to compel compliance”.

Furthermore, the Forum are demanding the immediate and full implementation of the minimum wage for all workers, clearance of all outstanding arrears and direct payment from council allocations by the FCT minister, if chairmen refuse compliance.

“We know the funds exist. Just last month, the councils received increased allocations. Why are workers still suffering? The Minister should withhold funds from non-compliant councils and pay workers directly”, the Forum’s Coordinator stated.

He added that the Forum has also proposed an emergency tripartite meeting between the FCTA leadership, the Area Council Chairmen and Labour unions to put an end to the prolonged strike.

“We cannot afford another week of this paralysis.  The Minister must act now before we lose more lives and futures to government negligence” he stressed.