By Daniel Tyokua
There is an intense feeling in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) over denial of some staff promotion across the Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs) by the administration.
The affected staff, mostly in senior cadre are threatening to blow off the
entire system, if their plight is not addressed.
Those who spoke in confident, said the manner they had been schemed out during the last promotion exam showed that the system doesn’t want their career progression but to frustrate them and kill their morale.
Investigation revealed that those worst hit are directors, and deputy directors that have being in acting capacity for years instead of the six month time limit.
Deputy directors are also up in arms for spending years as DDs. According to them, they are overdue for promotion to directors, but they are shortchanged by the administration, which their juniors have been promoted to directors.
The tumult stemmed from 2022, when about seven hundred staff participated in promotion examination organised by the FCT Administration, which some were to be promoted to director cadre.
Checks revealed that the result released in December, 2022, showed that hundred names were published as those who passed the examination, while only eighty- six out of the number had been given letters of promotion, dashing the hope of others.
The shortchanged staff who don’t want their names mentioned, said: “Promotion examination was held last year, we were denied from participating in the exam, for reasons best known to the administration, despite meeting up with the whole criteria, we were left behind.
“Most of us have been deputy directors for years. Does it mean that they are better than us? Or we are not part of FCT Administration? Necessary actions must be taken before the situation gets out of hand.
“It is inhuman, frustrating and killing of our morale. It is the expectation of every civil servant to grow to the peak of his/ her profession, we have to be considered before the system is grounded, this is unacceptable”
In his reaction, the chairman Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), FCTA/FCDA, Comrade Matilukuro Oluwakerede, said the current structure of FCT Administration is faulty and has put the whole system in bondage, which made a lot of things to come to play on the issue of promotion.
He noted that the structuring of FCT Administration must be reviewed to accommodate the interest of all staff to avoid the danger lurking in the corner.
According to him, “Like the FCT procurement department has only one director, and quite a number of them are ADs and DDs, yes they are qualified but where will you fix them? if you allowed them to go and write promotion examination, where will you fix them? because they will still come back and ask you that, we wrote promotion examination and pass but you don’t want to promote us.
“It is one of the reasons why the Union has been fighting on the restructuring of the FCTA for good, the staff are not been well treated. We are disenfranchised and that is why since 2004, we have been having issues with FCTA structure.
“The former minister, malam Musa Bello was making it look as if he will implement a structure that will make the system function well, but he did not, which is very wrong.
“The law that created FCTA was Order 1 of 2004, but the Order was not properly implemented. The implementation shortchanged civil servants, as a union we agree that laws are good but no law is perfect, there are shortcomings that call for a review, for long period of time no review, things are backward over a long period of time. A lot of things in FCT are illegal but yet they keep pushing them.
“Those that are saying they are deprived of promotion and other things, they are right because it is their right. They are right, the truth is that by the current law that FCTA is operating on people will continue to be disenfranchised.
“Even the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, says FCT should be treated like a state. The meaning of that is, FCT is a state, we are not saying call it state but structure it in such a way that civil servants career progression will be seamless.
“The treasury, currently has one director, which is due for ten directors, if other directors, the current director there supposed to becomes Chief Executive Director (CED), to pave way for career progression of others”
The government is the problem, because of bad structure most staff are shortchanged, and this is causing tension in the system. The matter will soon snowball into what the management will not control. It is a problem, no doubt about it.
Efforts to hear from the Director Federal Capital Territory Administration Department of Human Resource Management, Mohammed Bashir during the time of filling this report failed as he neither response to calls nor an SMS sent to him.
