The president of the Joint Union of the Federal Capital Territory Administration workers says employees took to the streets of Abuja because negotiations with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike collapsed and the administration escalated the dispute by dragging the union to court.
She explained that the protest followed weeks of unresolved grievances and legal action taken by the minister and his team against the workers.
Speaking during the protest in an interview with Symfoni TV, the union leader said she acted in her official capacity as president of the joint union representing staff working under the FCTA and the minister’s leadership.
She stressed that the workers did not rush into public demonstrations but exercised restraint for over a week while presenting their demands to management. According to her, the union formally rolled out a list of grievances beginning Monday, May 19, but discussions failed to yield any compromise.
She said workers initially stayed away from work in limited numbers and remained largely at home, hoping for dialogue, until the administration filed a court case against them. She explained that the legal action forced the workers to mobilize and appear in court collectively.
The union president clarified that the dispute did not stem from criminal allegations against the minister but from longstanding welfare and administrative issues affecting staff.
She said that the most important thing was the non-remittance of contributory pension deductions since May 2025, despite deductions being made from workers’ salaries. She noted that the affected workforce exceeds 31,000 staff, raising fears about their security after retirement.
She also raised concerns over promotion exercises conducted through computer-based tests, alleging multiple technical glitches. She said the union formally requested a review after identifying errors, but management ignored the complaints and proceeded with the results.
In her words, “This thing has been on for more than one week. We’ve rolled out our issues, our list of grievances. And it started last week Monday on the 19th.”
“We have not really come to a compromise and they dragged us to court even though we were not coming out in our numbers for the past one week. We were just staying at home until they dragged us to court. And so we all came and went to court.”
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