Teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja under the Local Education Authority (LEA) have appealed to the minister, Nyesom Wike to intervene and ensure that area council chairmen implement the Perculiar Allowances approved for them.
One of the teachers, Comrade Ephraim Ogar while speaking on behalf of the teachers in a press briefing lamented that it was indeed very clear that a letter for peculiar allowance has been delivered and received by area council chairmen who have failed to implement it for more than a year since it was received.
They lamented that it was unfortunate that the Peculiar allowance has not been implemented for more than a year, while other teachers under the Universal Basic Education Board have been enjoying the benefit for more than a year since it was approved.
“We urge the NUT, and NULGE officials to deliver a letter to FCT Minister Barrister Nyesom Wike as a reminder and urge for intervention on this issue to implement the peculiar allowance for FCT LEA teachers, staff with immediate effect.
We call on the FCT Minister, NUT, and NULGE officials to make it a memorable one.”
Another LEA teacher, Hassan Dogo lamented that LEA teachers have been marginalised for too long because area council chairmen have always refused to accord them the benefits that are due to them.
“Local Education Authority (LEA) teachers are like slaves, because we do most of the work, and receive salaries like slaves. We do not enjoy any benefit from the government at all.
“Even the former minimum wage of N35,000, not many teachers are benefiting from it, a Level 5 teacher is still receiving less than N35,000 which was the approved minimum wage. All these anomalies need to be corrected by the minister.
“When the Peculiar Allowance of N40,000 was approved, we were very happy that things would improve for us, but since it was approved, no chairman of the six area councils has implemented it. UBEB have been enjoying it, but the council chairmen have refused to give us our own for more than a year now,” he said.
It can be recalled that almost a year ago, the minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, had set up a six-man committee to resolve the lingering dispute between local government employees and the six area councils in the nation’s capital.
The disputes were due to unresolved allowances and deductions which included non-payment of 25 months’ arrears of the 2019 approved national minimum wage, non-release of some promotion letters to beneficiaries, and non-implementation of released promotion letters.
Other issues are non-payment of promotion arrears, non-upgrading of concerned teachers, non-implementation of salaries for upgraded teachers, non-implementation of annual salary increments in some councils, and non-compliance with the agreement on payments of the backlog of teachers’ entitlement amongst others.
The secretary of the Area Council Service Secretariat, Mr Bitrus Garki, had told journalists that the committee would resolve the 40 per cent unpaid peculiar allowance, hazard allowance, and other deductions and some of the issues dated back to 2006.
However, since the committee was set up by the minister and assurance given by the administration, not much has been done to alleviate the suffering of LEA teachers in the FCT.
