from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – The persistent disruption of public primary education across Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is putting the education and future of thousands of children at risk.
The strike stems from a recurring dispute between the authorities and the teachers’ union, centred on unpaid salaries, unmet welfare commitments, and concerns over financial management.
This has triggered repeated cycles of school closures from 2023 to date.
Plan International Nigeria said while it acknowledges the legitimacy of workers’ rights and welfare concerns, the consequences now extend far beyond industrial relations.
The organisation reports that the situation has reached a critical point, where the fundamental right to education for over 340 000 children across the FCT is being undermined.
“Every day that children remain out of school due to unresolved institutional disputes is a day of lost learning, lost protection, and lost opportunity,” said Charles Usie, Country Director of Plan International Nigeria.
“While workers’ grievances must be addressed fairly and urgently, children must not continue to bear the heaviest cost of a crisis they did not create. What is at stake is not only the functioning of the public education system, but the future of hundreds of thousands of children in the FCT.”
The organisation has therefore called on the FCT administration and the teachers’ union to move beyond temporary fixes and reach a sustainable and credible resolution.
Usie said the future of children must remain the non-negotiable centre of every policy decision, and called on all duty bearers to demonstrate the political will required to break this cycle of disruption.
“The priority must be a safe and sustainable return to the classroom, ensuring that public primary education in the FCT is no longer held hostage by avoidable deadlock,” he said.
Outside the FCT, schooling has previously been disrupted by bandits and terror groups.
– CAJ News