There is heightened tension in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, as the strike declared by workers in the FCT administration enters its second week with the battle now at the National Industrial Court, Abuja.
FCT workers under the aegis of Joint Unions Action Committee, JUAC, had embarked on an indefinite strike over workers’ welfare, non-remittance of deductions, stagnation and tenure elongation for retired directors amongst other grievances.
Since the strike, Abuja, the city capital and environs have seen the collapse of social services, water not running and heaps of refuse across the city and partial services at the administration’s owned hospitals.
Fears of Chaos have been real even as the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, have taken over the strike action with a warning that could paralyse government operations across the territory.
This escalation followed a closed-door meeting on Friday between the national leadership of the NLC, TUC and officials of the JUAC.
At the end of the meeting, NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, declared the strike “a people’s struggle” and ordered mass mobilisation ahead of the next court appearance scheduled for Monday, January 26.
Ajaero directed all workers in the FCT including affiliate unions, civil society organisations, student groups, and community activist to join forces with the JUAC and shutdown the city until the alleged abuses against workers are addressed.
“The ongoing total and indefinite strike action is not merely justified; it is a necessary and heroic response to a vicious cocktail of neoliberal attacks, gross administrative impunity, and a systematic violation of the fundamental rights of workers by the FCTA management and its political leadership,” Ajaero stated.
According to him, “after the petition and consequent consultation with the leaders of JUAC, in which the unfortunate deliberate and calculated assault on the working class within the nation’s capital was laid bare, the need for concerted action became obvious.
“The litany of sins committed by the FCTA regime is a textbook case of capitalist exploitation and bureaucratic oppression.
“The case of wage abuse was well established. The illegal withholding of five months’ wage award and promotion arrears is not an administrative lapse but a brazen denial of workers’ legitimate earnings, a direct attack on their livelihoods and a violation of the constitutional guarantee of remuneration.”
Strike set to paralyse the city
To press home their demands, labour directed that the strike broadens the FCTA.
The NLC president, therefore, directed all workers across the territory to intensify the shutdown, participate in compulsory daily prayer and solidarity sessions from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and converge en-masse at the National Industrial Court on Monday for the hearing of the minister’s case against the workers.
“A total escalation of the industrial action. All affiliate unions within the Federal Capital Territory are hereby directed to fully align with and intensify the ongoing industrial action. This struggle is now the struggle of every worker in the FCT.
“This is no longer just a labour dispute; it is a people’s struggle against an insensitive administration. Together, we shall make this action total, compelling, and impossible to ignore.
“The NLC warns the FCTA management and the political leadership that the patience of the working class is exhausted. Their ultimatum was and is our ultimatum.”
The strike, now in its sixth day, has shut down major offices of the FCTA and FCDA, with no sign of backing down despite the ongoing court case.
Residents and businesses in Abuja are bracing for the expanded labour action which is expected to test the limits of government operations across the territory.
