By Felix Durumbah, Abuja
After 16 days of indefinite strike by the about 40,000-strong workforce of Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Minister of FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike, and FCTA authorities in the early hours of today, finally caved in to the employees’ demands for better conditions of service.
The strike, organized by the workers’ umbrella Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), led by its president, Comrade Rifkatu Iortyer, had paralyzed activities not only at FCTA’s corporate headquarters located on 1 Kapital Road, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, but at its Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs), some sited in far-flung parts of the nation’s capital such as Zuba,near Niger State, or Abaji, contiguous to Kogi State.
The situation was so dire that the Minister could not access his office for days, except on one or two recorded occasions.
After trips to the National Industrial Court (NIC), the Court of Appeal, involvement of armed security agents, fruitless intervention bids by some prominent Nigerians and others, threats, arm twisting and other tactics by the parties, last night the national leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), who had openly declared their support for the embattled, disenchanted workers, sat down with Wike in a conciliatory meeting where demands were met and industrial harmony restored.
People&Politics gathered from several overjoyed workers of FCTA this morning that they are indeed on their desks and have resumed work today.
A circular issued early today by the NLC and addressed to all affiliates of the body and those of TUC, signed by Acting General Secretary, NLC, Comrade Benson Upah, and his opposite number in TUC, Comrade N.A. Toro, confirmed the meeting with Wike.
The nine-paragraph circular, a copy which was obtained by People&Politics, is titled ‘Outcome of Conciliatory Meeting with the Honorable Minister of FCT’.
In it, the labour leaders stated that the meeting commenced at 11.45pm (Monday) and ended at 3.51am “after extensive and frank deliberations.”
The circular added: “At the conclusion of the meeting, the following resolutions were reached:
“1. All complaints presented by JUAC members were taken one after the other and fully addressed;
“2. The Honorable Minister assured Organized Labour of mutual respect and sustained engagement going forward;
“3. It was agreed that, arising from the strike action, no worker shall be victimized in any manner;
“4. All outstanding cases at the National Industrial Court (NIC) shall be withdrawn immediately;
“Consequently, all JUAC members and all affiliates of the TUC and NLC working in the Ministry of the FCT (MFCT) (sic) are hereby directed to resume work immediately.
“All affiliates are enjoined to comply with this directive in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in good faith.”
Background To Industrial Crisis
It is recalled that the workforce had bellyached and proceeded on indefinite strike following what they described as the Minister and FCTA authorities’ indifference to their three-day warning protest last year, 21-day ultimatum, then seven-day ultimatum, and demands for improved service conditions.
Among others, they complained of non-payment of six months’ statutory overhead to SDAs; skewed promotion or lack of same in some cases, alleging that management did so to avoid payment of due promotion arrears; non-payment of four months of President Bola Tinubu’s 2023 N32,000 Wage Award arrears designed to ameliorate the dire socio-economic straits occasioned by the yanking off of petrol subsidy; and non-payment of arrears of critical allowances to certain health and environmental sanitation workers.
The workforce also accused the management of not remitting into their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) pension deductions made from their monthly salaries; non-payment of National Housing Fund (NHF) deductions; and several others.
When the Minister later opened up on these demands, he said “10 of the 14 demands” had been met by his Administration -a position quickly dismissed by JUAC which gave its own account of the status of each demand, insisting too that the workers’ demands were 18 and not 14.
Pressing on with the strike, both parties, in late January, ended up at the NIC where Justice Emmanuel Subilim granted the Minister an interlocutory injunction restraining the workers from continuing with the strike and ordering them to immediately resume work.
The verdict was instantly strongly criticized by the NLC which blasted the court for granting Wike’s reliefs but not those of the workers.
Dissatisfied with the court verdict, the workers, now supported by the national leadership of NLC and TUC, hired Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana leading other prominent lawyers, including Barrister Maxwell Opara, and headed for the Appeal Court where they secured an interim order quashing the NIC’s restraining order.
Amidst these, public spirited Nigerians and the NLC had called on the Minister to negotiate directly with the workers to end the lingering, avoidance impasse.
With last night’s conciliatory meeting and agreement reached, keen watchers of FCTA developments expect that concerned parties will stick strictly to the terms reached and allow industrial harmony prevail once more in FCTA, in the public interest.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Minister’s gate,main entrance into FCTA.
