Staff of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), under the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), have appealed to the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, to make affordable staff housing one of his major projects.
JUAC president, Mrs Rifkatu Iortyer, who made the appeal at the commencement of the JUAC Week in Abuja, yesterday, with the theme, “FCT Civil Service Commission – A New Dawn”, pointed out that Abuja was one of the cities with the highest rent in the country.
Iortyer added that the development had forced many workers to stay in the outskirts of the city, where rent was affordable, saying that to address the challenge, JUAC had secured a land eight years ago, for staff housing estate.
She, however, said that the union was financially incapacitated to allocate the land to the workers, despite paying compensation and other commitments.
JUAC president explained that the union had equally made some moves for additional housing for the workers but were unsuccessful.
“We appealed to the minister to consider our plea considering that housing is key to our staff. If we cannot do it as a union, let the housing issue be one of our minister’s projects.
“He should help us to have an affordable housing estate for our staff. We know him as Mr Project, as evident with the ongoing projects across the territory,” she said.
She also appealed to the minister to look into the transportation scheme for workers, noting that most of the staff buses were grounded since COVID-19 lockdown.
Iortyer commended the minister for being labour-friendly and a welfarist to workers, adding that the biggest gift to the FCT workers was the FCT Civil Service Commission (CSC).
“FCT staff can now grow to the peak of their career. We cannot thank him enough for making this a reality,” she said.
Also, the FCT Head of Service, Dr Udo Atang, described Wike as a labour-friendly minister, stressing that he has made staff welfare his priority.
“The minister had said that the establishment of FCT CSC is an integral part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda.
“So, our hopes have been renewed and reestablished. We are all potential permanent secretaries and potential heads of service,” Atang said.
Responding, Wike, who was represented by his chief of staff, Mr Chidi Amadi, ascribed the successes so far recorded in FCT to the resourcefulness of the workers.
