FCT Civil Service Fee chairman pledges to pay employees salaries earlier than Friday

The embattled chairman of the Federal Capital Territory Civil Service Fee, Emeka Ezeh, has assured employees of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, that their withheld salaries might be paid earlier than Friday, attributing the delay to a human error encountered throughout an effort to sanitise the payroll system.

Ezeh provided this reassurance on Tuesday following a peaceable protest staged on the fee’s headquarters in Abuja by members of the FCTA Joint Union Motion Committee led by its president, Rifkatu Lortyer.

The demonstrators, visibly distressed by the sudden stoppage of their salaries, demanded speedy explanations and determination. Brandishing placards, they questioned the rationale behind halting wage funds with out prior discover and referred to as for the immediate disbursement of funds to all affected employees.

“We’re not ghosts. We work day by day. Why ought to our salaries be stopped with out warning?” one protesting employee stated.

Past wage considerations, the union additionally demanded the discharge of overdue promotions, stating that employees had been denied development for over two years, regardless of assembly eligibility necessities.

In response, Ezeh emerged from his workplace to deal with the aggrieved employees straight. Acknowledging shortcomings within the payroll audit course of, he defined that the latest measures had been a part of efforts to determine and get rid of ghost staff, however inadvertently led to the exclusion of official personnel. He provided an apology for the disruption.

“We had been making an attempt to scrub up the payroll and within the course of, some real employees had been mistakenly affected. I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience. The affected salaries might be launched between now and Friday,” Ezeh acknowledged.

On the matter of delayed promotions, the chairman assured employees that the fee is within the remaining phases of concluding the method and that the deserving promotions would quickly be applied.

His remarks had been obtained with cautious optimism by union leaders, who referred to as on the fee to prioritise employees welfare and stop future occurrences.

“We recognize the chairman for addressing us straight, however we might be watching carefully to make sure that the guarantees made are fulfilled,” Lortyer stated.

Stress stays as employees await the fulfilment of the fee’s pledges earlier than the shut of the week.