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Over 50 employees of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have been erroneously delisted from the payroll and labelled as “ghost workers,” sparking outrage and calls for immediate action from the FCT Civil Service Commission.
The affected workers, many of whom are assigned to critical departments, including healthcare, were among 230 staff excluded from the April salary disbursement during a recent payroll audit initiated to sanitise the civil service system.
The development triggered a warning strike by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) and affiliated unions, who protested the removal of legitimate staff under the guise of fighting payroll fraud.
In response, the FCTA reversed course and reinstated a majority of those affected, subsequently paying their April salaries.
However, over 50 civil servants remain unpaid due to what officials have described as “technical hitches” within the payroll processing system.
Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Chief Emeka Ezeh, last week acknowledged the error, stating that genuine staff members were mistakenly caught in the clean-up process.
“We were trying to clean up the payroll and, unfortunately, some real workers were mistakenly affected,” Ezeh admitted, offering an apology and assuring that payments would be made between then and Friday.
Despite his assurances, as of Wednesday, May 14, the affected staff say they have yet to receive their salaries or any update from the Commission.
The workers are now demanding swift intervention, warning that continued silence could heighten tensions among employees already grappling with financial hardship.
As of the time of this report, the FCT Civil Service Commission had not issued a fresh statement on the pending salary payments.