Unpaid stipends: FCT Water Board workers seek Wike’s help

Casual workers paid directly by the FCT Water Board have pleaded with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to consider absorbing them into the FCTA’s payroll and order the payment of their six months’ outstanding stipends. Our correspondent learned that the workers, some of whom are HND holders, are paid between N20,000 and N25,000 per month. […]

Casual workers paid directly by the FCT Water Board have pleaded with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to consider absorbing them into the FCTA’s payroll and order the payment of their six months’ outstanding stipends.

Our correspondent learned that the workers, some of whom are HND holders, are paid between N20,000 and N25,000 per month.

They are mostly commercial workers posted to the board’s various area offices to distribute bills or rectify broken pipes.

A cross-section of the workers told Abuja Metro that they last received their monthly stipend in December last year.

Our correspondent, who visited the board’s office at Area 3 in Garki district yesterday, reports that there are two categories of casual staff with the board. A senior management staff of the board, who craved anonymity, said there were casual workers being paid directly by the FCTA and others being paid by the Water Board.

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He said those being paid by the FCTA were receiving their monthly stipends regularly, but those being paid by the Water Board have not received theirs since December last year.

He attributed the situation to the absence of overhead funds from the FCTA to the agencies, from where, he said, they were being paid.

He commended the workers for their patience, hoping that the FCT Minister would address their case as soon as possible.

However, a cross-section of the workers told Abuja Metro that all their pleas to be absorbed into the FCTA’s payroll had yielded no result, and they pleaded with the minister to consider them in the interest of the children who depend on them.

“My two kids have been out of school since the teachers in the public primary schools embarked on the strike, and now we have not been paid since December. It is really tough,” one of the workers, who gave her name as Chioma, an HND holder, told Abuja Metro.

She pleaded with the minister to come to their aid.

Another worker, Mrs. Yahaya Hanafi, said it has been tough for them since their stipend was stopped last December.

She said despite the stoppage, they still go to work daily with the hope that their issue will be addressed by those in charge.

“Even on Monday, new bills came out, and we all had to go and distribute them and thereafter follow up on the payment by the customers,” she said. According to her, their counterparts who are being paid by the FCTA are lucky as their stipends have been coming regularly.

“This only affects those of us that are being paid directly by the board. The leadership of the board said they have not been getting overhead funds, from where they said they often pay us,” she added.

The General Manager of the Board, Daniel Salka Audu, did not respond to a WhatsApp message sent to him on the plight of the workers.