Warning strike cripples FCT as workers declare permsecretary’s office illegal

Angry workers have crippled government activities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in a three-day warning strike declared by the Join Unions Action Committee (JUAC).

The Guardian observed customers and visitors stranded yesterday at some of the strategic FCT Administration agencies, like Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS).

Teachers and health workers are expected to join the strike any moment from now.

The workers were accusing the administration of double standards, stressing that a government that claimed to be transparent would not continue to retain a permanent secretary deployed from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF) against the spirit and intent of FCT Civil Service Commission Act, signed by the President three years ago.

They consequently declared the permanent secretary’s office illegal.

According to them, the serving permanent secretary who was deployed from the office of HoSF, is occupying an illegal position, as the Act provides for an FCT Head of Service instead.

It was also gathered that the workers’ outrage over the non-implementation of the FCT Civil Service Commission Act was becoming louder because the permanent secretary, Olusade Adesola, also stifled administrative procedures.

Chairman of JUAC in FCT, Matilukoro Korede, told journalists yesterday in Abuja that FCTA had ignored the workers’ agitation for too long.

Korede noted that the strike was likely going to be indefinite, except the administration heeded the call to implement the Act.

While insisting that JUAC had called the attention of government and other stakeholders to the existence of Executive Order 1 of 2004, even before the passage of the FCT Civil Service Commission Bill by the National Assembly and its subsequent signing into law, he asserted that refusal to implement the law adversely affected the overall welfare of the workers.

He said: “This is three years. The big question is, why has it been difficult to implement it to date? I must tell you that, as union leaders, we are bent on pressing for the implementation of Executive Order 1, so that ahead of service, who understands the plight of workers, will emerge.”