Workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) on Monday began an indefinite strike, shutting down government activities across Abuja.
The industrial action led to the closure of government offices, including the FCTA Secretariat, where heavy security was deployed early in the day.
A security personnel, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “Staff of FCDA, FCTA are not allowed into the office premises because of the strike.”
The strike is expected to disrupt activities across all FCTA Secretariat, departments, agencies, area councils and parastatals within the FCT.
The action followed an earlier notice issued by workers on Friday, announcing plans to shut down government offices across the FCT and its area councils.
The decision was taken by the Joint Union Action Congress, which directed workers in all cadres to withdraw their services over what it described as the authorities’ failure to address long-standing labour and welfare issues.
It was gathered that the strike followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the FCTA management, which the unions said was ignored despite several meetings during the period.
The ultimatum, which took effect from January 7, 2026, was contained in a statement dated January 8 and signed by the JUAC President, Rifkatu Iortyer, and the Secretary, Abdullahi Saleh. Copies were also sent to the Minister of State for the FCT, the Chief of Staff, the Head of Service and the Director of Security Services.
Speaking to journalists at the FCT Secretariat on Monday, the Vice President of JUAC, Musa Istifanus, said the action was taken after repeated attempts to engage the management and the Minister of the FCT failed.
“The reason for being here, you can see that we are shutting down the gates of FCTA, FCDA and all our parastatals and agencies. The reason is that everybody knows that the main issue is our welfare. Since the inception of this administration, we have been having issues with the management of FCTA and the Minister of FCT.
“He has refused to meet with the union. The union is a stakeholder of every organisation. The minister has refused to talk to us,” Istifanus said.
He said workers were grappling with several welfare-related challenges, including unresolved promotion matters.
“There are so many issues, welfare issues. We have issues like promotion, which you know. I think last year, in June, we had a protest here. The management called us, and we resolved some issues. We thought everything would be fine. But since that time, nothing has happened,” he added.
Istifanus criticised the 2024 promotion exercise conducted by the FCT Civil Service Commission, describing it as deeply flawed.
“But the issue of promotion of 2024, the promotion was conducted last November and it was a mass failure. It was conducted by the FCT Civil Service Commission. They used CBT.
“That was the first time the FCTA administration is using CBT, which we appealed to them that the staff should be trained before the exam is conducted, but nothing happened,” he said.
He alleged that the examination was marred by technical problems that were ignored by authorities. “Even when they were writing the exams, there were so many glitches. We communicated, we talked, but the computers were not working. Still, the chairman FCT service commission did not listen to the staff,” Istifanus said.
The PUNCH
