FCTA workers during a protest on Monday in Abuja
The gates of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) secretariat were shut down on Monday as workers, under the aegis of the Joint Action Congress (JUAC), embarked on a protest over unresolved welfare issues.
The workers, who are demanding immediate attention to their plight, cited non-payment of overhead costs since December 2024, lack of training and retraining, and inconsistent salary payments as some of the key concerns driving their action.
The President of JUAC, Mrs. Rifkatu Iortyer, expressed the workers’ desperation, saying, “We are protesting for so many things and we are not happy over a lot of things.
“We no longer go on training anymore. From December last year, there was no overhead to run the offices. We go from office to office to borrow paper to work.
“No promotion since clearing of the backlog the Wike-led administration met in August 2023. Since that time, there’s been no promotion, only appointments of Permanent Secretaries.”
Iortyer also highlighted the plight of casual workers of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board and other agencies who have not been paid since December 2024.
“They may not be career civil servants but they are the ones that sweep the streets; they are the ones that attend to the cemetery; and they are the ones that attend to the mortuary.
“Yes, we don’t have casual workers in career civil service but we already have them and then you say you will not pay them? If the FCTA doesn’t want casual workers then it should absorb them because they are humans and have families to feed,” she pleaded.
The workers also expressed concern over the protracted strike by primary school teachers, which has brought education in the FCT to a standstill.
Iortyer appealed to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to intervene in the matter, saying, “As the father of all, he needs to address the protracted strike by the teachers.”
The protest is set to last for three days, after which the workers will reconvene and decide on a new course of action if their demands are not met.
The workers are hopeful that their action will draw attention to their plight and prompt the authorities to take immediate action to address their concerns.
