*He’s Doesn’t Care About Our Welfare, Say Staff
*No Overhead To Buy Ordinary A4 Office Papers -Director
*Wike Cares -Spokesman
By Felix Durumbah, Abuja
Simmering discontent among employees of Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, blow to the surface on Monday, June 30, when they kick off a three-day protest to press home their demands for better service conditions.
Already, leadership of the workers’ umbrella Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC) this morning stepped up mobilization of the about 40,000 staff members of FCTA for the action.
The workers are angry with FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, for allegedly throwing their welfare out the window since he assumed duty on August 21, 2023 -about two years now.
For the first time in FCTA’s history, People&Politics gathered, the planned protest has even received the endorsement of most directors, angry with Wike over what some described as his alleged “insular, very suspicious, administrative style.”
In protest documents circulated to staff members, a copy of which was made available to People&Politics , JUAC reeled out a lengthy list of lawful items which the Wike administration has either stopped implementing or may have banned outright, without any official explanation.
For instance, the union claimed that since 2023 when Wike became FCT Minister, there have been no staff promotions for 2023,2024 and 2025, leading to employee gross frustration occasioned by career and salary stagnation.
It also accused the administration of non-payment of overhead to run offices since December, 2024 -a clear seven months now.
A director told People&Politics : “Even ordinary data to do office work, departments can’t afford. Even ordinary A4 papers, we can’t afford to purchase as we are deprived of our statutory financial entitlement, the overhead, to be able to carry out day-to-day running of the office.
“In this era of fuel subsidy removal and the crushing aftermath, directors can’t afford to send staff to go do outside jobs because there’s no money to give them for transport neither can most departments carry out previously routine operational tasks –all because Wike refused or failed to pay overhead.
“No previous FCT Minister has held on to overhead like Wike. Work has consequently stagnated in most offices with frustration very high. What he’s doing with our overhead, only he knows.
“For the avoidance of doubt, overhead is a recognized statutory category within Nigeria’s Civil Service financial regulations, specifically falling under Recurrent Expenditure. It is for the day-to-day running costs of government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). It is for items like utilities, maintenance, and general operational expenses.
“This money normally comes monthly and for all of FCTA’s Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs), the amount is huge. That is part of what Wike has been holding.”
The protest documents, one of which read:”Enough Is Enough. Our Mumu Don Do. Protest! Protest!! Protest!!!”,also listed other grievances of the workers such as no staff training and retraining since 2023; the non-domestication of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS); non-payment of President Bola Tinubu’s wage award for five months/health workers’ hazard allowance.
They are also demanding payments for Abuja Environment Protection Agency (AEPB)’s Enforcement Squad; an end to the “overseeing of directors’ positions”; inaccessibility of the salary portal to salary desk officers, raising fears of the ghost worker syndrome; and an end to ongoing strike by primary school teachers which has kept pupils at home for several months now.
The staff members also seek the immediate removal of the Chairman, FCT Civil Service Commission, Emeka Ezeh –a demand earlier raised by the FCTA chapter of National Association of Resident Doctors when medical doctors shut down clinical services in public hospitals run by FCTA during their strike about three months ago.
A grade level 10 staff member told People&Politics on condition of anonymity as the staff is not authorized to speak to the press, that since the Wike administration came to being, FCTA employees’ welfare had allegedly been consigned to the far end of the back seat.
“This wasn’t the case under past Ministers. I’ve been working here for a long time, rising through the ranks. Under past Ministers Adamu Aliero, Bala Mohammed, Muhammad Musa Bello, even further back to El-Rufai,staff welfare and well-being were given top of the table treatment. Under Wike, it is close to zero.
“It is unheard of that for three years, FCTA staff haven’t been promoted. No training under Wike, nothing.
“Even Tinubu’s wage award, he paid once or twice, to some staff, and hasn’t paid since that time, an open, clear and punishable defiance of Mr President.”
Contacted, JUAC Chair, Rifkatu Iortyer, told People&Politics on the phone that indeed the staff members will embark on protest, beginning Monday.
“It is not a strike,but a protest,” she said.
Asked if JUAC had contacted the FCTA authorities over their demands, Iortyer said the union had been talking with the management over the issues, but apparently to no avail, hence the protest option.
Communication made to Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, was not responded to.
However, a ranking staff member in the Minister’s Office denied that the administration had done nothing tangible about staff welfare.
The staff explained that the Minister has created the FCT Civil Service Commission which was not in existence since 1976; and promoted nine senior directors to Permanent Secretaries in another unprecedented move.
The source,however, wouldn’t be drawn into commenting on JUAC’s list of demands, saying only the Minister or those so delegated can treat the matter.
“But what I want to say is that Wike cares for the career progression of FCTA staff members,” the source stated.
