Stories by Stanley Onyekwere
Workers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the aegis of the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC), of the FCT Administration led by the President, Comrade Rifkatu Lortyer yesterday staged a peaceful protest over the stoppage of salaries of some workers and other sundry issues affecting the workforce.
Also, the protesters called for the release of promotions of workers from 2023 to 2025.
It was observed that the aggrieved FCTA workers also chanted songs, demanding the sacking of the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission (FCT-CSC),Emeka Ezeh.
Some of the workers held placards that read “2023/2024/25 promotion must be released now!”, “The Chairman of the Commission must go; Engr Emeka Eze must go”, “The Commission Chair must go”, among others respectively.
Our correspondent reports that the FCTA workers’ protest came barely 24 hours after Resident Doctors in the FCT had embarked on a three-day warning strike against the actions of the FCT-CSC, resulting in the alleged wrongful dismissal of 127 health workers last Friday.
The aggrieved Doctors while also demanding the immediate resignation of the Chairman, threatening that if their demands were not met by FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and the FCT Administration within three days, they would embark on an indefinite strike and shut down hospitals belonging to FCT Administration.
Meanwhile, Ezeh who addressed the FCTA workers, who took their protest to the FCT-CSC’s office in Area 11, apologised for the errors in the withholding and non-payment of salaries to the workers, attributing it to “human errors”, during the verification exercise.
Ezeh therefore promised the workers that the promotion exercise would begin, after the verification exercise has been completed by the end of May.
He said: “I have listened to your chairman on our efforts to ensure that salaries are restored between today and tomorrow. Of course, we know you participated in the verification exercise.
“Unfortunately, as humans, there were some errors. We are aware that some people are overseeing and receiving salaries. And that is the essence: to fish out those who are not working.
“And because some people did not come to work, we got approval to suspend the salary, pending when people show up, like you have shown up. It shows that none of you is a ghost worker.
“I have directed the Secretary, today and tomorrow, to send the first set of officers have been sent to the treasury to restore their salaries. The second set of 100 and something is going this evening; and the last batch will go tomorrow.
“But I assure you that, even with your promotion, we want to conclude it, we want to talk about the promotion. The promotion cannot go on without the verification.
“ So, we want to conclude the verification by the end of this month, so we can start the process of promotion from next month.
“So please, I want to apologise for the mix-up of some of you who were verified who came. I want you to accept my apology and go back to your offices and do your job.”
JUAC is an umbrella body of affiliate unions of the FCTA that mediates between the management and staff of the administration for a harmonious working relationship as well as efficient and effective service delivery.
