Bolanle Akanji
Moderator
The FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed, on Monday assured the staff of FCT Administration (FCTA) that issues causing the nonpayment of their salaries and allowances would soon be resolved.
The minister gave the assurance in Abuja, while addressing the aggrieved workers who staged a peaceful protest over the nonpayment of October salary and delay in workers’ promotion.
Mohammed said that the FCTA, which had over 28,000 personnel, paid about N3.6 billion monthly as workers’ salaries. The staff strength and huge wage bill prompted the decision of the FCTA to start a biometric exercise in order to identify ghost workers.
``The FCTA wants to ensure that every dime spent is well spent with commensurate value, in line with the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda,’’ he said.
Mohammed pointed out that the FCTA, under his supervision, had never delayed payment of staff salary as salaries were always paid on or before the 25th of every month. He added that in the history of the FCTA, it was only his administration which had paid the 13th month salary in 2011 saying "the records are there’’.
The minister said that the biometric exercise had been concluded and that over 3,000 workers had some unsolved issues. He assured that honest and fair workers would be duly rewarded revealing plans for a promotion exercise and also benefits which have been put aside for workers with long meritorious services. He also revealed plans by the institution to provide a car loan scheme for workers.
``The FCTA is also working on the allocation of affordable housing plots to cooperative societies and unions to enable them to have befitting housing schemes for their members,’’ he said.
The minister gave the assurance in Abuja, while addressing the aggrieved workers who staged a peaceful protest over the nonpayment of October salary and delay in workers’ promotion.
Mohammed said that the FCTA, which had over 28,000 personnel, paid about N3.6 billion monthly as workers’ salaries. The staff strength and huge wage bill prompted the decision of the FCTA to start a biometric exercise in order to identify ghost workers.
``The FCTA wants to ensure that every dime spent is well spent with commensurate value, in line with the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda,’’ he said.
Mohammed pointed out that the FCTA, under his supervision, had never delayed payment of staff salary as salaries were always paid on or before the 25th of every month. He added that in the history of the FCTA, it was only his administration which had paid the 13th month salary in 2011 saying "the records are there’’.
The minister said that the biometric exercise had been concluded and that over 3,000 workers had some unsolved issues. He assured that honest and fair workers would be duly rewarded revealing plans for a promotion exercise and also benefits which have been put aside for workers with long meritorious services. He also revealed plans by the institution to provide a car loan scheme for workers.
``The FCTA is also working on the allocation of affordable housing plots to cooperative societies and unions to enable them to have befitting housing schemes for their members,’’ he said.
