The Human Cost of Governance in the FCT
By Jerry Adesewo
At 6 a.m. on Monday, January 26, hundreds of workers in the Federal Capital Territory will begin another familiar routine. Not at their desks, not in classrooms, clinics, or offices, but on the streets, walking toward the National Industrial Court in Abuja. Some will arrive hungry. Some anxious. Some uncertain whether their next salary will come at all.
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For them, governance is no longer an abstract conversation about policy or politics. It is about unpaid wages, unremitted pensions, intimidation at the workplace, and the daily erosion of dignity. It is about survival.
This is the human face of the crisis rocking the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), while its Chief Security Officer is stucked away in Rivers State playing politics. .
When Work No Longer Guarantees Security
Over the past months, FCTA workers—under the umbrella of the Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC)—have endured what labour leaders describe as a systematic breakdown of trust between the administration and its workforce. Five months of withheld wage awards, promotion arrears left unpaid, and pension contributions reportedly unremitted since May 2025 have pushed many households to the brink.
For civil servants, whose lives are structured around predictability and modest stability, the impact has been devastating. Rent deadlines do not wait for court processes. School fees are not suspended because of industrial disputes. Hospital bills do not recognise government silence.
Yet, these are the realities confronting workers who, paradoxically, serve in the seat of Nigeria’s power.
The Strike That Became a March for Dignity
What began as an industrial action has now evolved into something deeper: a struggle for recognition and fairness. After the FCTA instituted legal action against JUAC, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) stepped in, taking over the case with the backing of seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
The response from workers has been resolute but restrained. Union leaders insist that the mobilisation to court is peaceful, constitutional, and symbolic—an attempt to show unity rather than provoke confrontation.
“This is no longer just a labour dispute,” one union leader noted. “It is a moral question about how the state treats those who keep it running.”
Fear in the Workplace
Beyond unpaid entitlements, workers speak quietly of a climate of fear—allegations of intimidation, restrictions on communication, and even arrests. The Nigeria Labour Congress has described these actions as attempts to silence dissent and weaken solidarity, warning that such measures violate both constitutional guarantees and international labour conventions.
For many workers, the psychological toll has been as heavy as the financial one. The anxiety of reporting to work under threat, of choosing between silence and survival, has deepened a sense of alienation from an administration meant to protect them.
Civil Society Raises the Alarm
Civil society organisations have begun to echo workers’ concerns, framing the crisis as a broader failure of governance in the FCT. In recent statements, activists questioned how the nation’s capital—meant to exemplify order, fairness, and administrative excellence—has become a theatre of labour unrest and social strain.
Calls have even emerged urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene decisively, arguing that the situation reflects not just administrative lapses but a leadership failure with real human consequences.
Prayer as Protest, Faith as Fortification
In an unusual but telling development, unions have directed workers to observe daily prayer and solidarity sessions across the FCT from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. These gatherings are not merely religious rituals; they are acts of collective endurance—spaces where exhausted workers draw strength from one another while awaiting justice.
It is a striking image: civil servants praying for wages they have already earned.
What This Says About Governance
The crisis in the FCT exposes a troubling contradiction. If workers in Abuja—under the direct gaze of federal authority—can be treated this way, what message does that send to workers elsewhere in the country?
Governance is not measured solely by infrastructure projects or policy announcements. It is measured by how institutions honour agreements, protect rights, and uphold the dignity of labour. When wages are withheld, pensions ignored, and dialogue replaced with litigation, governance fails in its most basic duty.
A Test Case for the Nation
The unfolding situation in the FCT is now a test case—not only for labour relations but for Nigeria’s commitment to fairness, justice, and human-centred governance. Workers insist they are not asking for privilege, only for what is due to them.
As one labour slogan reminds us: an injury to one is an injury to all.
The question remains whether those in power are listening—not to the noise of protests or court filings, but to the quiet desperation of workers whose lives are being stretched thin by decisions made far above their pay grade.
In the end, the story of the FCT is not just about administration.
It is about people.
And people are paying the price.
“The Human Cost of Governance in the FCT