A few hours after the National Industrial Court of Nigeria ( NICN), sitting in Abuja ruled, ordering the striking FCT Workers to go back to work, the Minister, Nyesom Wike has said that the administration was forced to go to court, because the strike was obviously hijacked by politicians.
Briefing Newsmen after the court’s pronouncement on Tuesday, the Minister disclosed that the strike was unnecessary as his administration had “ reasonably met” almost all the demands of the workers.
Wike noted that even while the striking workers refused to come to work, he had signed workers’ salary files amounting to N12 billion naira.
He said: “I believe the administration has reasonably met the demands of the workers.
“However, we must be honest and admit that some of the demands are frivolous and go beyond what workers are legitimately entitled to. When the strike started, we did not rush to court.
“We believed in dialogue and engagement. We felt the issues could be resolved through discussion. But when it became clear that politicians were about to hijack the strike, we had no choice but to seek legal intervention.
“We decided to allow the court to determine, on merit, what the real issues were and whether the demands were justified”.
The Minister stated that while workers are busy fighting the reforms he is introducing, he had remained committed to improving the Internally Generated Revenue of FCT from N9 billion three years ago to N30 billion now.
“Meanwhile, I just signed January salaries amounting to over ₦12 billion. That means even if the FCT receives ₦10 billion, it is not enough to pay salaries and run the administration. That is why we rely heavily on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“When we take steps to improve IGR collection, people complain. But when I came into office, FCT IGR was about ₦9 billion. Today, we have increased it to ₦30 billion. That is progress, and workers should acknowledge it”.
While the Minister further said that the laws made in the country are supposed to be obeyed, he warned the workers to heed the order of the Court and refrain from blocking the entrance to offices.
He equally said that workers who fail to resume work following the court’s pronouncement, will be sanctioned according to the laws.
“Workers must act as workers, not politicians. Anyone who disobeys the law or attempts to block access to government facilities will face the full weight of the law. We will not tolerate disorder.
“This is a democracy, and disputes should be resolved legally. That is why we went to court. Let the court determine who is right and who is wrong, not propaganda or false narratives. We are also aware that some directors are involved in instigating these actions because things are no longer business as usual”, he added.
