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• Workers defy court order, extend indefinite strike
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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The National Industrial Court (NICN) in Abuja has delivered a decisive blow to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) workers’ union, issuing an order of interlocutory injunction that bars union leaders, agents, and members from strikes, picketing, lockouts, road blockades, or any moves to paralyse FCTA operations.
The injunction, granted on Thursday, January 21, followed an indefinite strike launched on Monday by workers under the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC), protesting unpaid promotion arrears and other entitlements.
Honourable Justice E. D. Subilim approved the FCT Minister and FCTA’s urgent application, halting the action despite the absence of defendants Rifkatu Iortyer (JUAC president) and Abdullahi Umar Saleh (secretary).
Led by Dr Ogwu J. Onoja (SAN), the FCTA’s legal team contended that the strike was unlawful and risked crippling administrative functions. Justice Subilim agreed, ruling that the applicants deserved judicial protection.
With the defendants absent, the court authorised substituted service, directing that the originating summons be published in a national daily such as Leadership Newspaper and posted at JUAC’s office in the FCTA Secretariat, Kapital Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja.
The summons probes the strike’s compliance with the Trade Disputes Act and questions JUAC’s status as an unregistered trade union.
The matter was adjourned to Monday, 26 January 2026, for hearing of the motion on notice — a clear FCTA strategy to prevent disruptions and compel the union to defend its position legally.
Meanwhile, in a swift response, the workers have vowed to intensify their ongoing strike, rejecting the court order obtained by the minister, Nyesom Wike, to halt the action.
In a strongly worded announcement circulated on Thursday and signed by the publicity secretary, Abdullahi Umar Saleh, JUAC directed all staff to continue to stay at home until their demands are fully met, dismissing attempts to intimidate or coerce them back to work.
The union revealed that the minister has dragged them to court in a bid to break the strike, but insisted they would not relent, affirming that JUAC will not succumb to any form of intimidation or harassment by any means.
JUAC’s publicity secretary expressed appreciation for staff compliance and urged them to stay home until further directive from the union. The message was capped with rallying cries of “ÀLUTA CONTINUA!!!! VICTORIA ACERTA!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW,” signalling no immediate end to the impasse.
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The strike, which began on Monday, 19 January 2026, saw workers lock the gates of their offices, enforcing a total shutdown to press for resolution of long-standing grievances, including unpaid pensions, promotion exam failures, and alleged intimidation by management favourites.
JUAC president, Rifkatu Iortyer, while addressing journalists at the scene, said the action marked a shift from prior failed negotiations.
“There’s no demonstration, but there’s a strike,” Iortyer stated firmly. “The reason for this strike is because we want to call the attention of the management of FCTA to certain grievances, quite a number of them, that we’ve tried to resolve, but it has not happened in a while. And we do not have a choice than to do exactly what we’re doing today.”
Iortyer detailed a 22-point list of demands, starting with financial woes. She highlighted “issues of non-remittance of our pension funds to our pension fund managers” and unresolved National Housing Fund (NHF) contributions. Tenure extensions for directors past retirement age were also flagged as “stunting our growth”.
She explained that the strike gained urgency from a recent computer-based test (CBT) promotion exam, marred by glitches.
“We have issues of mass failure in the just-concluded CBT exam, which has happened in FCTA for the first time,” Iortyer explained. “And so many glitches happened, ranging from power failure, overcrowding, invalid logging, and all. And before we knew it, they gave us a 22.5% success rate. And we know that we are not done in the FCTA, and we know that this is not what should be.”
She mentioned that wage awards and allowances remain contentious.
“Another of our agitations is the wage award, which has not been paid,” Iortyer said. “When we started talking about this, they decided to pay one month for every staff against the five months. They paid the hazard allowance for the health and medical workers, the 13 months which is part of our grievance.”
Iortyer decried intimidation tactics.
“We have been intimidated by the favourites of the honourable minister. We have situations of civil servants doing one mistake or the other. And instead of following the procedures of disciplinary action in the civil service, we have been taken away by policemen. Stay one, two, three days and then we are being released,” she alleged.
She said the gate lockdown symbolised their resolve not to shift position until their demands are met.
