Workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, under the Joint Unions Action Committee, have protested the deployment and appointment of a Permanent Secretary by the Head of Service of the Federation.
The protesting workers also demanded the full implementation of the FCT Civil Service Commission Law, 2018, which provides for the appointment of a permanent secretary from the FCTA.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, in October 2023 disclosed that he had received the approval of President Bola Tinubu for the establishment of the Civil Service Commission of the Federal Capital Territory.
Wike had explained that the development would allow career progression for civil servants in the FCT Administration to become permanent secretaries, noting that the workers had lost hope, as they could not attain the position of director in their careers, because there was no CSC for FCT.
The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation had announced Tinubu’s approval for the posting of 24 permanent secretaries in Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, including Dr. Magdalene Ajani, who was redeployed from the Transportation Ministry to the FCTA to replace the current permanent secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, who would retire on January 29, 2024.
Speaking on behalf of the protesting workers in Abuja on Monday, JUAC President, Mr Matilukuro Korede, challenged the deployment, which he described as an aberration of the FCT CSC Law, noting that the Federal Executive Council had in October 2023, approved the implementation of the law establishing a CSC for FCT.
Korede said that because of this development, the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, had no power to appoint a Permanent Secretary for the FCT, describing her actions as faulty, and called for the full implementation of the FCT CSC Law.
Thursday, we heard that the Head of Service has announced that she has gotten approval from President Tinubu to deploy another Permanent Secretary to FCT. We felt aggrieved because it was an aberration. As we speak now, the FCT CSC Law has been gazetted since 2018.
“But to our surprise, the Head of Service decided to include a name for appointment as permanent secretary for the FCT. As far as FCT is concerned, the permanent secretary should be appointed among the qualified directors in the FCTA and not from outside. This will provide an opportunity for the staff of FCTA to get to the peak of their career by becoming a permanent secretary.
“Our demand, therefore, is that the appointment of a permanent secretary outside the FCTA is an aberration and an anomaly that should be corrected. We are waiting for the implementation of the FCT Civil Service Commission,” he said.
According to him, since 2004, staff of the FCTA had been deprived of becoming Permanent Secretaries, adding that the law to make it possible had been signed in 2018, but implementation had become a problem.
Korede added that if the Head of Service insisted on appointing a permanent secretary from outside the FCTA, then she had to wait for the law to be amended and be given the power to do so.
“But between now and then, the law must be obeyed and what we know is that FCT CSC has come to stay,” he stated.
Korede equally announced to the protesting workers that Wike had reached out to the leadership of JUAC and called for calm, adding that the minister promised to meet with President Tinubu over the issue and provide feedback to the workers.
