FCT council workers begin strike over minimum wage

The federal capital territory (FCT) chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed all workers in the six area councils to commence an indefinite strike from December 1.

Knabanyi Adalo, chairman of the council, gave the directive in a statement on Saturday.

Adalo said the directive was in compliance with a communique issued by the NLC national executive council (NEC) on November 8 in Port Harcourt.

He said NEC appealed to the council chairmen to implement the N70,000 national minimum wage.

Adalo said the chairmen had, however, refused to respond to the demand for implementation of the minimum wage in their respective councils.

“The state administrative council also noted with deep frustration the persistent delay and outright refusal by the area councils’ chairmen to pay some pending entitlements to the workers, including the outstanding arrears of primary school teachers,” he said.

“Therefore, all workers in the six area councils in FCT are hereby directed without hesitation to proceed on an indefinite strike beginning from December 1, until further directives.”

NLC SUSPENDS STRIKE IN SOKOTO

Meanwhile, the Sokoto state chapter of the NLC has suspended its planned strike.

At the presentation of the 2025 budget proposal to the house of assembly, Ahmed Aliyu, Sokoto governor, announced that implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage for workers in the state will begin in January.

During a press briefing, Abdullahi Aliyu, the state’s NLC chair, said the implementation aligns with the broader goal of fostering development in the state.

“The state branch of the NLC supports the implementation of N70,000 announced by the state government effective January 2025,” he said.

“We will also assist the state government in the process of implementing the minimum wage even it means conducting screening and verification to ensure only genuinely employed workers benefit from the new minimum  wage of N70,000.”

Aliyu urged workers to exercise patience, while expressing confidence in the state government’s commitment to unveiling more beneficial welfare packages for its workforce.

“We are optimistic that other welfare packages are coming to workers in the state,” he said.