Primary school teachers in Abuja have urged Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to prioritize their welfare.

The teachers requested for urgent attention to be paid to the critical matter of primary school educators in the FCT.

The coordinator of FCT LEA Teacher’s Forum and member of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Karshi Branch, Abdulsalam Haruna, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

Haruna said over the years, primary school teachers under the Local Education Authority (LEA) have faced numerous challenges with several backlogs of allowances and arrears, which have significantly impacted their morale and overall performance.

“The problems bedeviling primary school teachers in the FCT include late implementation of staff promotion, inadequate payment of promotion arrears (arrears not paid in bulk), irregular payment of annual increment, delay in payment of monthly salaries, poor training allowances, delay in confirmation of teachers after employment, delay in upgrading of teachers with additional qualifications, NUT land issues, nonpayment of the 2019 minimum wage arrears and implementation of 40 per cent peculiar allowance and its arrears amongst other challenges,” Haruna said.

He informed Wike that these issues have caused immense financial strain, demotivation, and frustration within the teaching community.

He implored the FCT minister to prioritize the resolution of these outstanding matters to salvage the future of primary school education in the FCT and Nigeria as a whole.