Workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have declared an indefinite strike beginning from 12am on Monday, January 19.
The workers, under the umbrella of the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), said all the members of staff, including those of the College of Education, Zuba and senior secondary schools, would down tools on Monday.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, FCT JUAC president, Rifkatu Iortyer, said the strike followed what the union described as the administration’s “breach of trust, inaction and deliberate demoralisation” of its workforce through a litany of unresolved grievances.
In an address titled: “A Plethora of Festering Issues,” Comrade Iortyer presented an 11-point ‘sins’ of the FCTA management, accusing it of financial malfeasance, systemic failure and acts of bad faith against employees, among others.
The union highlighted the non-remittance of pension and National Housing Fund (NHF) deductions as a “serious breach of trust and a threat to the future security of its members.”
The union also demanded the immediate removal of retired directors and permanent secretaries, calling their tenure extension a “clear contravention” of Public Service Rules.
“We are appalled by the illegal extension of tenure of retired officers,” Iortyer stated.
The union also rejected the promotion recently approved for 2,000 FCT staff out of the over 7,000 staff that sat for the promotion exercise.
“We say no to the deliberate mass failure of the 2024 promotion exams with the intention of not paying promotion arrears,” Iortyer said, calling the process a system “designed to fail and demoralise our members.”
Other grievances include unpaid promotion arrears, poor working conditions, staff intimidation, lack of training and the non-payment of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) enforcement officers.
She said, “We demand an immediate action on these issues. We will not be silenced by inaction. It is on this note that I declare an indefinite strike action from Monday, January, 2026.”
Our correspondent reports that the strike action will paralyse operations across FCTA’s secretariat, departments and agencies.
The FCTA management is yet to issue an official response to the strike declaration.
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