Follow Us on Google
• Wike counters 10 of 14 demands met, strike unnecessary, ill-motivated
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Workers under the Joint Unions Action Congress (JUAC) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday locked the gates of their offices, enforcing a total strike to press for resolution of long-standing grievances, including unpaid pensions, promotion exam failures, and intimidation by management favourites.
JUAC President, Rifkatu Iyote, who addressed journalists, clarified that the action marked a shift from prior failed negotiations.
“There’s no demonstration but there’s a strike. 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.”
Iyote 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,” Iyote explained. “And so many glitches happened ranging from power failure, overcrowdedness, invalid logging and all. And before we know it, they gave us a 22.5% success rate. And we know that we are not dons 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 agitation is the wage award which has not been paid. When we started talking about this, they decided to pay one month for every staff member for five months. They paid the hazard allowance for the health and medical workers, the 13 months which is part of our grievance.”
Iyote decried intimidation tactics: “We have been intimidated by the favourites of the honourable minister. We have situations of civil servants making 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 said the gate lockdown symbolised their resolve. When asked for “how long will they be locked” for as long as they want us to lock it because the ball is in their court. If they call us and they do what we are angry about, the gate will be open. But it’s not about the gate alone.” She warned of escalation: “Our adventure is going on right now because we are trying to have a human face to staff and the residents of the FCTA. But if they push us, we do not have a choice than to go much more critical.”
On the CBT exam, Iyote rejected outright cancellation. “We cannot say cancel an examination that certain people passed,” she noted. “But all we are saying is let’s come to a round table. Let’s see what the problems are. We know that the questions were not moderated by professionals in the civil service.”
Other News
On workers’ compliance to the strike, Iyote said: “You can see there is total compliance because we just told our staff please stay at home. Everybody is feeling the pinch of this.”
She listed other issues to include unpaid overheads crippling operations. “You stay in an office environment that overheads are not being paid. They are recurring expenditures for running the day to day operations of the offices and they are not being paid. You don’t have papers to work with.”
She added that the FCT Civil Service Commission’s March 2024 implementation has stalled progress, she added: “It gave us the leverage to climb up to the very apex of civil service career… but it has also made the system not work.”
Iyote emphasised peace amid Abuja’s tensions ahead of area council elections. “We have had meetings with the DSS… FCT is volatile right now. So many people are having their agitation. And so we don’t even want staff to come to work. For those of us that are here, we are representative of the staff and we want it to be as peaceful as possible.”
In a swift rebuttal, the FCTA issued a press release claiming substantial progress, with Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, accusing JUAC of ulterior motives.
“10 out of 14 demands of the workers that are on strike have been met, with the remaining four being addressed,” the statement read. It noted dissociations from groups like the Law Officers Association of Nigeria and Association of Resident Doctors (ARD-FCTA), who praised Wike.
ARD-FCTA wrote to the minister “appreciating him for his exemplary leadership and commitment to the welfare of healthcare workers, as demonstrated by the payment of the longstanding 13 months hazard allowance arrears as well as the payment of one month wage award”, Wike’s aide said.
Olayinka detailed meetings, including on January 16, where “the demands as well as the interventions of the FCT Minister were laid bare, and at no point did the Minister express unwillingness to address any of the demands.”
Key resolutions Olayinka said include wage award payments commenced (partial from five months demanded), full payment of 13 months hazard allowance and 22 months rural allowance for health workers, N286,166,772.46 approved in December 2025 for 2023/2024 promotion arrears covering 724 officers, tenure elongation resolved with assurance of Public Service Rules compliance, training needs directed to the Head of Service, an NHF/pension committee formed (noting these are worker functions), and CBT results pending official release with 2023/2024 promotions to address director overstays.
The statement dismissed the strike: “From all indications… the strike action embarked on by JUAC is unnecessary, ill-motivated and obviously aimed at achieving purposes other than welfare of the workers.” It urged security to allow non-striking workers access.
