The Federal Capital Territory Administration has disbursed January salaries to its workers along with an instalment towards outstanding arrears of the 2023 provisional wage award, a move highlighted by a senior aide to Minister Nyesom Wike as evidence of progress in addressing long-standing labour concerns.
Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, disclosed the payments in a statement posted on his X handle on Sunday evening. He stated that workers received their January salaries the previous Friday, accompanied by payment for one month of the five-month arrears owed under the wage award.
According to Olayinka, the administration has now cleared two months of these arrears in total, with the remaining three scheduled for release alongside the February, March and April salaries.
The provisional wage award, a N35,000 monthly increment for certain categories of federal workers, originated from an October 2023 agreement between the federal government and organised labour. It was designed as a six-month palliative to ease the impact of fuel subsidy removal announced earlier that year by President Bola Tinubu, while negotiations continued towards a new national minimum wage.
Although the N70,000 minimum wage was eventually signed into law in July 2024, implementation challenges and delayed payments of the temporary award created arrears in several federal agencies and entities, including the FCT Administration. Reports indicate that more than 20 states either halted the award entirely or failed to implement it fully, contributing to widespread discontent among workers.
In the FCT, tensions escalated when workers under the Joint Union Action Committee embarked on an indefinite strike starting January 19, 2026, citing 14 unresolved demands. Chief among these were the five-month wage award arrears, promotion backlogs, non-remittance of deductions and other welfare issues.
The industrial action disrupted services across the territory until the National Industrial Court, on January 27, 2026, granted a motion by Minister Wike ordering suspension of the strike. The court adjourned the substantive matter to March 25, 2026, for further hearing.
Union leaders Rifkatu Iortyer and Abdullahi Saleh subsequently filed an application at the Court of Appeal, seeking leave to challenge the lower court’s decision and a stay of execution. The motion, handled by senior advocates including Femi Falana, argued that enforcing the suspension order could prejudice the appeal.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, in a joint response, described the industrial court ruling as one-sided and accused the FCT Minister of worker intimidation. The unions reaffirmed solidarity with the staff and urged them to remain resolute.
Olayinka, however, questioned the NLC’s decision to mobilise workers across sectors for a planned protest on Tuesday, noting that FCTA staff had reported for duty on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the previous week and were expected to resume normally on Monday.
He pointed out that FCTA workers continued their duties despite the outstanding arrears, while the labour centre had not taken similar action against states with more severe non-compliance on the wage award.
The latest payments, including approval of over N12 billion for January salaries as reported in official circles, mark the administration’s stated commitment to gradually clearing the backlog. Earlier acknowledgements from groups such as FCT doctors had praised settlements of related allowances, including 13 months of hazard pay.
This episode reflects broader patterns in Nigeria’s labour landscape, where disputes over wage implementation and arrears have frequently led to industrial actions, court interventions and negotiated settlements since the 2023 economic reforms. The FCT, as a federal entity directly overseen by the presidency through the minister, has seen recurring tensions over worker welfare, with previous strikes affecting primary education and health services in recent years.
