The six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory have agreed to forfeit 10 per cent of their internally generated revenue (IGR) for the next six months to offset outstanding salaries and entitlements owed to public school teachers.

The decision emerged from a closed-door meeting convened by FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday in Abuja. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), and the chairmen of the area councils.

The teachers have been on strike for over three months, demanding the implementation of a tripartite agreement reached in December 2024. The agreement includes a N70,000 minimum wage, 25–35 per cent salary arrears, a 40 per cent peculiar allowance, the ₦35,000 Federal Government wage award, and promotion arrears spanning several years.

Speaking after the meeting, Chairman of Abaji Area Council, Abubakar Abdullahi, said the agreement reached was not in favour of the councils but was accepted in order to resolve the ongoing industrial action.

“Our six-month IGR has been completely picked to settle this issue,” he said. “We are appealing to the NUT to consider this commitment and call off the strike in the interest of the pupils.”

Abdullahi added that although the minister does not have the legal authority to mandate the use of area councils’ IGR for the payment of teachers’ arrears, the chairmen agreed to the deduction voluntarily.

“We collectively agreed that 10 per cent of our IGR for six months should go to the NUT,” he said.

NANS President, Olushola Ladoja, who was also present at the meeting, said the teachers had insisted on receiving at least 70 per cent of the outstanding payments. He confirmed that the figure could be covered through the IGR contributions and noted that a committee was set up to review the remaining demands within two weeks.

“Fortunately, when they calculated the IGR, we were able to get 70 per cent of the money they were owed,” Ladoja said. “The minister pleaded with them to call off the strike and also constituted a committee that includes NANS to look into the other issues.”

FCT NUT Chairman, Abdullahi Shafas, said the union would convene its state executive council to review the resolutions before making a final decision on the strike.