Regina Otokpa 
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered a total escalation of the ongoing industrial action by workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), describing the strike as a “Necessary and heroic response” to what it called wage abuse, intimidation and deliberate suppression of workers’ rights.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who made this solidarity statement on Friday in Abuja, declared that the Congress stood “Very strongly” with the FCTA workers under the Joint Unions Action Congress (JUAC).
This is as he insisted that the alleged actions of the FCTA management amounted to economic sabotage and bureaucratic oppression.
According to the NLC, the illegal withholding of five months’ Wage Award and promotion arrears was “Not an administrative lapse but a brazen denial of workers’ legitimate earnings.
He said: “This is a direct attack on workers’ livelihoods and a violation of the constitutional guarantee of remuneration.
“The non-remittance of pension contributions since May 2025 and National Housing Fund deductions condemns workers to a destitute old age.
This is capital accumulation by dispossession, plain and simple, and it is unacceptable.”
The labour centre further accused the FCTA leadership of deploying “fascistic tactics” against workers, including intimidation, bans on phone usage and the incarceration of staff who allegedly spoke out.
“These actions are designed to cripple workers’ solidarity and silence dissent, in utter contempt of constitutional rights and international labour conventions.”
As part of its directives, the NLC ordered all affiliate unions within the FCT to fully align with and intensify the strike, warning that the dispute had now become the struggle of every worker in the nation’s capital.
The Congress also directed workers to mobilise en masse to the National Industrial Court on Monday, January 26, 2026, where issues relating to the dispute were expected to be heard.
“Let the court premises be filled with the dignified presence of the working class, sending an unmistakable message of our unity and determination.”
In an unusual move, the NLC further mandated daily compulsory prayer and solidarity sessions from 8:00am to 5:00pm across designated venues in the FCT, describing the exercise as a moral and spiritual reinforcement of the workers’ cause.
Additionally, all trade unions in the FCT were directed to immediately forge alliances with civil society organisations, students’ groups, community activists and other mass movements, signalling an expansion of the industrial action into a broader social protest.
“This is no longer just a labour dispute; it is a people’s struggle against an insensitive administration,” the NLC declared.
The Congress warned the FCTA management and political leadership that workers’ patience had been exhausted, stressing that failure to meet the demands would lead to an even tougher resistance.
“Their ultimatum was and remains our ultimatum. Their demands are our demands,” Ajaero said.
Sending a direct message to striking workers, the NLC President added: “Your struggle is our struggle. Your victory will be a victory for every exploited worker in Nigeria. Stand firm. No retreat, no surrender. Workers united can never be defeated.”
