· CSO decries dilapidated LEA schools
· Pupils abandon classrooms for farms
· Invigilators owed marking fees since Feb
By Sarah NEGEDU & Laraba MUREY
Education in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory especially at the primary level is in crisis with wide ranging dilapidated schools, poorly motivated teachers, unpaid fees for mock exams since February this year amongst other complaints.
These issues have become stark after nearly four months of primary school pupils being at home over wage dispute between the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, FCT Branch and area councils of the FCT.
The indefinite strike, which was called on March 24 over unpaid minimum wage and other welfare concerns, was called off on July 9 following the intervention of the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, and other stakeholders including the House Committee on FCT.
Aggrieved teachers agreed to the release of 10 per cent of the area councils’ six months accrued internally generated revenue, amounting to N16 billion, to augment the payment of the minimum wage for June and 60 per cent of its nine months’ arrears.
“The constitution of a Special Committee to, within two weeks, harmonise all the outstanding arrears detailing the sourcing of funds for the permanent settlement of all the backlog.”
However, a civil society organisation has decried the neglect of LEA schools in the FCT, warning that the decay has forced hundreds of pupils in Makanima, Abuja Municipal, to drop out and turn to farming.
Findings by The Abuja Inquirer also revealed that a large number of pupils did not return to the classrooms after the strike.
Most school heads who spoke on the condition of anonymity say there is an urgent need for local authorities to embark on sensitisation to get parents to allow their wards and children back to school.
“There is an educational crisis which the authorities must act on now,” a school head in Bwari area council stated.
“Most pupils didn’t return back after the three months’ strike. Parents point to the farming season as well as tough times. If this matter is not tackled urgently, the FCT will lag behind in basic education and only the privileged will have their kids in school.”
This sentiment is shared by MonITNG visited LEA Primary School Makanima.
The CSO noted that the school’s classrooms, like most in rural areas of the FCT, have cracked walls, collapsed ceilings, broken furniture, and are now being swallowed by weeds.
“For the children of this community, education has become a luxury. Hundreds of pupils have stopped going to school because there are no classrooms left for them to learn.
“Their laughter, once heard in the playground, has been replaced with silence. For many of them, the dream of becoming doctors, engineers, or teachers is slowly fading,” the group said.
It noted that while some parents have moved their children to private schools, others who cannot afford alternatives have resigned to fate.
“Many children have now turned to farming, their little hands carrying hoes instead of books, while their peers in the city enjoy quality education,” it added.
With no classrooms available, teachers now conduct lessons under trees.
The organisation queried why the school remains in such pitiful condition despite the release of N121 billion Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, funds to 27 states, including the FCT.
“In 2024 alone, N121 billion UBEC funds were released to 27 states, including the FCT, yet communities like Makanima have seen no change. Where is the money? Why should underserved children continue to suffer because leaders have failed to prioritise them?” it asked.
MonITNG charged the FCT Senator Ireti Kingibe to focus on projects such as schools and not only abandoned health facilities, and urged the minister to give equal priority to education.
“The FCT Minister, while commended for road construction, must remember that children cannot learn on roads. Classrooms are equally important as highways.
“The billions set aside for massive city-centre projects like the ICC could also transform schools across satellite communities.
“A true capital city is not measured only by skyscrapers and highways but by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, its children,” it said.
Further, there have been muted cries by teachers who marked the 2024/2025 mock exams as they were yet to be paid since February.
Efforts to speak with the director of the FCT Education Resource Centre of the administration was met with a brick wall who directed our correspondent to the mandate secretary of the education secretariat, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, who could not be reached on his known GSM number.
During the 2025 budget defence of the FCTA, Wike disclosed that N181 billion was allocated to the education secretariat out of which N61 billion was for recurrent expenditure and N120 billion for capital expenditure.
The minister said that the N120 billion include N8 billion set aside as Universal Basic Education Board counterpart fund.
