Court instructs FCT workers to end strike, resume work

ABUJA – The National Industrial Court (NICN), sitting in Abuja, has ordered workers under the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to immediately call off their ongoing strike and return to their duty posts.

The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Emmanuel Subilim, based its decision on the fact that allowing the workers to embark on an industrial action when the facts of the matter are already awaiting judicial attention amounts to a resort to self-help.

According to the court, though the FCT labour force has the constitutional right to embark on an industrial action, such right is not absolute.

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Referencing Section 18(1)(b) of the Trade Dispute Act, Justice Subilim stressed that, in a trade dispute, workers could not embark on a strike over a matter already referred to the Industrial Court for adjudication.

He held that in a situation where the workers had already commenced a strike over a matter that is in court, such action must cease.

Consequently, the court ordered the protesting workers to immediately suspend their strike and report to duty.

The ruling following a suit that was lodged before the court by the FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike and the FCTA.

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Cited as defendants in the case marked: NICN/ABJ/17/2026, were the President and Secretary of the Joint Union Action Congress (JUAC), Rifkatu Iortyer and Abdullahi Saleh, respectively.

The workers had embarked on an industrial action over alleged unresolved welfare issues they said included a backlog of five months of unpaid salaries; long-outstanding promotion arrears; as well as poor working conditions in the FCT.