The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has dismissed claims that its workers are owed salaries, following recent protests and public complaints over unpaid entitlements.
An aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has insisted that all duly employed staff of the FCTA have been paid, describing reports of salary arrears as misleading and inaccurate.
Speaking on Monday on Arise News Night as monitored by BELLNEWS, Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, stated clearly that no worker under the FCTA is owed salary.
The Minister’s SA explained that salary payments, including December wages, have already been made to staff.
According to Olayinka, confusion arose from the misunderstanding of the status of certain workers who are not permanent employees. He clarified that the complaints being circulated largely concern casual workers, not core FCTA staff.
He said: “Nobody in the FCT is owed salary, I have also received my December salary. Let’s not confuse the people, the issue you are talking about is about casual workers, casual workers in the sense that they are people that are engaged occasionally.”
Olayinka explained that casual workers are engaged only when their services are needed and are not on the regular payroll of the administration. He likened the arrangement to hiring artisans for short-term jobs, noting that once the task is completed, such workers disengage and return home.
Addressing claims of a five-month unpaid wage award, the minister’s aide said the process of payment has already commenced. He stressed that it is incorrect to suggest that the FCTA has refused to pay or abandoned its obligations.
He said: “The talk about non-payment of five months wage award, the payment has started, it’s already on.”
Moreover, Olayinka also reacted to reports concerning promotion allowances and the alleged extension of tenure for Permanent Secretaries. He explained that such administrative decisions are not peculiar to the FCT and are sometimes taken to avoid disrupting ongoing systems.
According to him, temporary extensions may be considered where there is no immediate replacement for a key official, but he emphasized that no extension has been approved under the current administration.
He said: “Things like that are done when you don’t want to disrupt a system that is running… But the Minister has said if you don’t want it, I will not do it again, he has conceded.”
Olayinka further revealed that discussions on tenure extension were raised at the last Executive Committee meeting, where it was agreed that no such extensions would take place.
He added: “It was discussed at the Exco meeting last week, there was no extension.”
However, this clarification comes amid protests and growing public debate over workers’ welfare in the Federal Capital Territory, with the FCTA urging the public to separate verified facts from speculation.