RismadarVoice Reporters
February 1, 2026
Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lere Olayinka, has defended the payment of salaries to FCTA workers amid calls by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for a nationwide protest.
In a statement shared via his X handle on Sunday, Olayinka said FCTA workers received their January salaries last Friday alongside one month’s payment of the five-month Wage Award arrears.
“FCTA workers received their January salary last week Friday, with one month payment of the five months arrears of the Wage Award,” he said.
He added that two months of the arrears had already been paid, with plans to clear the remaining three months alongside salaries for February, March and April.
“Two months out of the five months arrears of Wage Award paid already, remaining three months to be paid with February, March and April salary,” Olayinka stated.
The media aide criticized the NLC for what he described as selective agitation, noting that several states had either stopped paying the Wage Award or failed to implement it entirely.
“More than 20 states have stopped paying the Wage Award or have not implemented it at all. NLC has not done anything. It is the FCT that is paying, and has paid two months out of the five months of arrears that is now the problem of NLC,” he said.
Olayinka also expressed concern over the planned mobilisation of workers in other sectors for the protest scheduled for Tuesday, arguing that such workers should be at their duty posts.
“The NLC is mobilizing workers in other sectors, who should be at their duty posts, for a protest on Tuesday,” he said.
He further noted that the FCTA workers on whose behalf the NLC is organizing the protest had remained at work in recent days.
“The FCTA workers were at work last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and they will be at work tomorrow,” he added.
The wage dispute follows an indefinite strike embarked upon by workers under the Federal Capital Territory Administration Workers’ Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) on January 19 over unresolved welfare issues.
