The Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, says it has uncovered 224 absentee workers that are possibly ghost workers.
This was made known on Sunday following the approved conformation of the appointment of 1, 659 staffers of the FCTA by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The confirmed staff were among 2,281 candidates who sat for the confirmation examination conducted by the FCT Civil Service Commission on February 28, 2026.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, quoted the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Emeka Ezeh, as saying that some of the workers who took the exam were employed as far back as 2016 and 2019.
“2,512 candidates were invited to present themselves for the confirmation examination, but only 2,281 turned up for the examination.
“A total of 224 officers were absent, fuelling suspicion that they could be ghost workers.
“Some of the workers who sat for the confirmation were employed as far back as 2016 and 2019, while others were employed shortly before Wike assumed office in August 2023,” the statement read.
The statement added that the FCT Civil Service Commission has also concluded plans to conduct both the 2025 and 2026 promotion exercises as approved by the minister and in line with President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to renewing the hope of the FCTA workforce.
Candidates have been advised to visit the commission’s website, www.fctcsc.abj.gov.ng, to check the status of their names.
This follows earlier efforts to address staff welfare and career progression in the FCTA.
In January, Wike approved the immediate promotion of over 2,000 workers in Abuja after examinations conducted from November 25 to 29, 2025.
In January, workers of the FCTA and the Federal Capital Development Authority under the aegis of Joint Union Action Committee, JUAC, embarked on an indefinite strike over welfare and promotion issues.
Speaking then, the vice president of JUAC, Musa Istifanus, cited promotion of their members as one of their grouse.
“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.
“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.
On the results of the exercise, he said a majority of candidates failed. “By the grace of God, I think last week or the last two weeks, the promotion was released. It was so bad that so many people out of 100%, 75% failed that exam. Do you call it an exam? So I think that is the number one reason we are here,” he stated then.
