Apparently rejecting last minute moves by the authorities to stop the planned protest by staff members of Federal Capital Territory Administration(FCTA), the workers this morning kicked off the protest.
From as early as 7.30-8.00am, scores of the workers began massing in front of the gate leading to the entrance of the complex housing the office of the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, at Area 11, Garki, Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The irate workers had last week in protest documents, some of which were obtained by People&Politics , accused the Minister and the administration of stunting their career and salary progress by not conducting any promotions since 2023 when Wike emerged as FCT Minister.
Last Friday, the administration, in a circular by Chairman, FCT Civil Service Commission, Mr Emeka Ezeh, quickly announced dates for the 2023 promotion examination –after two years –a development which,now,seems not to satisfy the workers.
Furthermore, they frowned at non-release, since December 2024, of the statutory overhead, which is a funding subhead under recurrent expenditure, and which enables directors and heads of departments run offices on a day-to-day basis.
A director had confided to People&Politics that indeed since December, 2024, Wike had not disbursed overhead to them, constraining them so badly that most departments cannot afford to purchase mere A4 papers for work.
The staff are also angry that since Wike became Minister, they had stopped enjoying training and retraining –a vital input to capacity building to be able to deliver on President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The staff members also want Mr Ezeh sacked, alleging that he has been a huge hindrance to service delivery.
This morning, as the workers protested, some were heard querying the real reason the Minister embarked on his ‘strange’ administrative style.
“He appears to be running directly contrary to President Tinubu’s service delivery objectives. How can you stop these items which are in the civil service handbook and financial regulations and which previous Mimisters never joked with?
“We know a lot because as civil servants, we carry their files for them,but we’ll restrict ourselves to these issues for now,” they said.
The protesting workers displayed placards, some of which expressed their views on the protest matters.
… Updates coming.
