Industrial Court Orders FCT Workers to Suspend Strike

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, has ruled against ongoing indefinite strike action by the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC).

The court ruling followed an interlocutory injunction filed by FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, asking it compel workers of the FCT Administration, under JUAC to suspend their ongoing strike.

Wike and the FCT Administration management, had approached the court presided by Justice Justice E.D. Subilim, and in suit number NICN/ABJ/17/2026, seeking an order restraining the

the Chairman of JUAC, Rifkatu Iortyer, and its Secretary, Abdullahi Umar Sale and their agents from embarking on any industrial action, picketing or lockout.

Justice Subilim, in ruling held that although the matter before the court amounted to a trade dispute and had met the required legal conditions, the defendants’ right to embark on industrial action was not absolute.

The court determined that workers were prohibited from participating in a strike once a dispute had been referred to the National Industrial Court, adding that where such a strike was already ongoing, it must cease pending the determination of the case.

“An order of interlocutory injunction is hereby granted, restraining the claimants and representatives… from further embarking on any industrial action against the claimant. The order shall remain in force, pending the determination of this suit,” Justice Subilim said.

The court subsequently adjourned the hearing of the substantive suit until March 23, 2026.

It would be recalled that FCTA workers had for the past seven days crippled activities in the secretariat and escalated their grievances with the administration over non remittance of pension funds, backlog of unpaid salaries and mass failure in recent promotion examinations, among others.