Female health workers employed in May 2023 by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Wednesday, staged a protest at the FCT minister’s office premises over non-payment of six-month salaries and arrears owed them by the Administration.
The protesting health workers, who carried placards with inscriptions such like, ‘Health workers are taken for granted’ and ‘Economy is bitter, pay us our salaries,’ among others, vowed to go on strike if the FCTA refused to listen to their demands.
One of the leaders of the protesting workers, Dr. Janet Dan-Ebri, a medical doctor, said that since they were employed in May 2023 by the FCTA, they had been owed salaries and allowances for six months, while some were owed seven-month salaries and allowances.
“Up until now, nobody is saying or doing anything about it. We have gone to all the offices of the HMB, we have spoken to those in authority and till now, they have not said anything about it.
“The economy is harsh and our people are suffering. Things are increasing in the market and prices are skyrocketing daily, we are seriously in pain.
“How can HMB owe us six, seven and five-month salaries and expect us to work? We are appealing to the FCT minister to come to our aid and pay us our salaries and allowances,” she said.
Another angry protester, Eucharist Jorbedom, a Lab Scientist, who said she works in Maitama District Hospital as a new FCTA staff, lamented that she could hardly take care of herself and her family because of nonpayment of her salaries.
“This month makes it a year when we have not been paid our salaries, both doctors, pharmacists, medical lab scientists and nurses. They owe us six-month salaries, allowances are not there. They also pay us with wrong code grades.
“We are here to appeal to the FCT minister to rectify all these for us and pay us all our arrears and the six-month salaries. Please, we have been running calls without allowances or anything.
“Some of us are presently sick and at home because the country is very hard. We are presently in pain right now and we are appealing for the intervention of the FCT minister to solve all these problems.
“If we stop running calls, how can the sick people be treated? If the government refuses to listen to us, we will stop running calls, we will stop going to hospitals to do our normal duties,” she said.
Another protester, Adaobi Akpa, who spoke on behalf of the pharmacists, said, “We have not been paid our arrears and call allowances and we have been running calls back to back. Some of the allowances have not been paid to us.
“We have written several letters and made different complaints and up until now, we have not received anything. We are appealing to the government and authorities involved to please listen to us and pay us all our allowances. It is not something that we are supposed to be begging for, because we worked for it day in, day out.”
See Photos Below: