The demonstration, led by the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC), saw aggrieved staff chanting solidarity songs and demanding urgent government intervention.
By Mathins Owoseni
Hundreds of workers under the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Wednesday stormed the secretariat in Abuja to protest poor working conditions, salary irregularities, and unpaid allowances.
The demonstration, led by the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC), saw aggrieved staff chanting solidarity songs and demanding urgent government intervention.
JUAC President, Rifkatu Lortyer, listed several grievances that she said had been ignored by authorities for months.
“We have not been promoted since 2023, and we have not gone on training since 2023,” Lortyer stated.
She also questioned unexplained deductions from workers’ salaries.
“We started having fund deductions that go to the Federal Mortgage Bank, which is strange because we don’t understand what is happening,” she said.
Although salaries are paid monthly, Lortyer noted inconsistencies in both the timing and the amount.
“Though our salaries come monthly, it is not regular. When I say regular, it means we get a different figure today, a different figure tomorrow. Our salaries come two days into the new month,” she said.
Lortyer declared solidarity with the ongoing strike by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), saying, “We are also adding our voice to the NUT strike in solidarity.”
She also raised concerns over the plight of auxiliary staff in the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and the Social Development Secretariat, who she said had not been paid in seven months.
“They are the ones that clear beggars and prostitutes on the road. They also clear street hawkers from unauthorised spots. They have not been paid and they keep crying to us,” she said.
Lortyer stressed that staff are being left behind in a rapidly changing work environment due to a lack of training.
“There are so many other issues. Staff have not been paid, and we wake up every day to the trend of new technologies. If we are not trained to catch up with the trend, how do we meet up?”
A major concern is the non-payment of overhead costs since December 2024, which she said has paralysed basic office operations.
“Overhead has not been paid since December 2024. People think we want money to steal, no. This overhead is for office upkeep—replacing bulbs, buying toner for printers, and so on,” she explained.
She noted that cleaners, whose salaries depend on the overhead, have also been affected.
“If you enter some of our offices, you won’t be able to stay. Nobody cleans the places. Our offices are in a mess,” she added.
Lortyer called for a roundtable dialogue with FCTA authorities, emphasising the union’s desire for cooperation, not conflict.
“So, we really want to talk to our bosses so they can see it is not a confrontational thing, but a thing of, let us work well,” she said.
As of the time of filing this report, FCTA management had not issued any official response.
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