FCTA workers begin three-day protest over ‘poor welfare, stalled promotions’

Workers under the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) have shut the gate of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) secretariat in protest over poor welfare conditions.

Rifkatu Iortyer, the JUAC president, said the action was prompted by the non-payment of overheads since December 2024, lack of staff training, and stagnation in career progression.

She listed irregular salary payments, unresolved strikes by primary healthcare workers and teachers, and unpaid casual staff as additional grievances.

The JUAC president acknowledged Nyesom Wike, minister of the FCT, for initiating far-reaching reforms aimed at repositioning the administration.

She commended Wike for establishing the FCT civil service commission, which she said has opened the path for career advancement up to permanent secretary level.

However, Iortyer noted that workers’ welfare had deteriorated despite the reforms.

“We are protesting for so many things and we are not happy over a lot of things,” NAN quoted Iortyer as saying.

“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.”

The JUAC president also said casual workers in agencies like the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) 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,” she said.

“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.”

While noting that primary education falls under the jurisdiction of area councils, the JUAC president asked Wike to intervene in the lingering teachers’ strike.

She said the protest would continue for three days, after which workers would reconvene to decide on their next steps if no action is taken.