Workers in the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been instructed by the Nigeria Labour Congress’s Federal Capital Territory Council to go on indefinite strike on December 1, 2024, unless further instructions are given. This was stated in a letter signed by Stephen Knabayi, the Chairman of the NLC’s FCT Council, which our correspondent was able to get on Saturday. Remember that the non-implementation of the new minimum wage of N70,000 prompted the NLC to order workers in 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory to begin an industrial action on Sunday, December 1.
In his letter, Knabayi criticised the Area Council Chairmen for not responding to the call for the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage, even after they received a communique from the NLC’s National Executive Council on November 14, 2024. A “gross violation of the law, and represented a total disregard for the welfare of workers in the Area Councils,” he continued, was the failure to apply the minimum wage.
The chairman of the FCT Council stated that the State Administrative Council decided to follow the national direction, pointing out that workers’ entitlements in the FCT, particularly primary school teachers’ unpaid arrears in their individual Area Councils, had been delayed. The document stated, “On 14/11/2024, the Area Council Chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory were issued a communique of the National Executive Council meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday 8/11/2024” .
“Unfortunately, the chairmen of each area council have openly refused to address the workers’ demand that the new national minimum wage be implemented in their respective councils. It is a flagrant legal infraction and a complete disregard for the welfare and well-being of the employees in the Area Councils to fail to apply the new national minimum wage.At its State Administrative Council (SEC) meeting on December 11, 2024, organised labour responded to this inaction by unanimously resolving to strictly follow the national directive to launch an indefinite strike action should any government fail to implement the N70,000.00 (seventy thousand naira) national minimum wage by the last day of November 2024.
“With great annoyance, the SEC also observed that the Area Councils have been consistently delaying and refusing to pay certain workers’ entitlements, such as the unpaid arrears of the primary school teachers in their respective Area Councils. Therefore, without hesitation, all employees in the FCT’s Six-Area Councils are given the command to go on strike for an unlimited period of time starting on December 1, 2024, and continuing until additional instructions are given.”