PAY OUR ALLOWANCES…. FCTA
STAFF PROTEST
BY: DAVID BARAU
Aggrieved
staff of the Federal Capital Territory Administration this morning barricaded
the entrance into the premises of the headquarters of the administration at Kapital street Area 11 Abuja in protest of
what they describe as neglect by the FCT
Minister senator Bala Mohammed on staff welfare.
The
staff who were protesting under the auspices of the joint union action
committee (JUAC) were seen displaying different placards and chanting
solidarity songs and gyrations. Some of the placards reads: “Pay Our Hazard and Call Allowances Now’’
Stop The Abuse of FCTA Workers’ Rights “Return Our Housing Allowance Back to
100% others had a strong show of grievance
like “Bala Must Go; Staff Welfare Zero”.
The
joint union action committee is the umbrella platform of all the individual
unions of the FCTA/FCDA.
Addressing
the staff at the entrance of the FCTA headquarters, the chairman of JUAC
comrade Ajao Adelowo said the protest became necessary following the refusal of
the FCT administration to honour their demands given to them, and after the
expiration of the 21 day ultimatum the mass protest is to press home their
demands.
Some of
the agitations of the FCTA staff according to the JUAC chairman include the
refusal of the Administration to pay the salaries of workers that was stopped
by the FCT Minister pending staff verification. “ the biometrics has been done
and people have been cleared yet they have not
been paid” he added that the staff training has been stopped for a long
time which should not be so “staff training and promotions should not be tied
on biometrics they should be released immediately”
The chairman
added that many staff of the FCTA were exposed to risk and hazard in their jobs
daily, but the FCT administration has failed to approve Hazard allowances. They
also faulted the present FCT administration for reducing the Housing allowances
of FCTA staff from 100% of the
annual basic salary to 60%.
A mild
drama ensued when the permanent secretary of the FCTA Engineer John Obinna
Chukwu came to address the crowd as he was booed by protesters who wanted the
FCT Minister himself to address them. The timely intervention by the chairman who
pleaded with staff saved the face of the Permanent secretary.
After a
moment the permanent secretary addressed the aggrieved staff and promised to
meet with the executives of the union later in the day .
“I’ve
seen your demands and today the Management of the FCTA led by the Minister are
meeting with the labour union at 1.30PM it was not scheduled yesterday because
we’ve been talking, most of your request we have seen, but we do not talk under
a non-conducive environment so I appeal to you to just give us today so that we
talk with your union.”
That idea did not go down with some of the
protesting staff who started shouting ‘we no go gree o! we no go gree!’. The
assurance by the JUAC chairman that the protest will continue if the meeting
did not take place was what calmed the nerves of the edgy protesters.
Meanwhile
as if to intimidate the protesting staff, two trucks full with armed police men
stormed the premises of the FCTA but that did not deter the protesters who
prevented motorists from coming into the premises or going out.
It is
however unclear if the meeting with the top management and the executives of
the union held at 1.30PM, but what is certain is that the protest seems to be
the beginning of the end of the relationship between the present administration
of the FCTA and the Staff who have said they have seen enough.
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