Staff of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs staged a protest on Wednesday, September 10, locking out the Minister, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, over what they described as prolonged neglect and unresolved grievances.
The protesting workers gathered in large numbers at the Ministry’s headquarters in the Central Area of Abuja, blocking the entrance gates while chanting solidarity songs.
They called for the immediate removal of the Minister, accusing her of disregarding staff welfare and ignoring repeated attempts to engage with her.
According to the workers, the protest was a last resort after several failed efforts to have their concerns addressed.
“The Minister was deployed to the Ministry in October last year, and since then, she has not had any meeting with the workers nor the unions. After several efforts, she fixed a meeting with the unions and staff on Wednesday, and we were glad. Every staff member, including the Permanent Secretary and all the Directors, was seated since morning waiting for the Minister,” a staff member explained.
According to The Sun, the staff member recounted that they waited for about four hours, having been informed the Minister was returning from a trip.
However, her eventual arrival sparked further outrage. “Surprisingly, she snubbed us when she arrived. She never said ‘hello’ to us nor even apologised for keeping us waiting for several hours. Rather, she gave us silent treatment and went to her office. We waited patiently for about an hour for her to come down, but she never did. That made us express our grievances,” the employee added.
Union leader Alake Success also addressed journalists during the protest, accusing the Minister of showing no concern for the welfare of staff. “In fact, the immediate-past Minister, Uju Ohanenye, is far better than her. In our Ministry, there are no working tools, statutory welfare, training, and several other issues,” he said.
He alleged mismanagement of resources, claiming the Ministry’s overhead allocation appears to benefit only the Minister and her aides. “We don’t see the usefulness of the overhead allocation to the Ministry. The Minister and her over 25 aides use the money. We use our personal funds to work for the Ministry. Cleaners are no longer in the Ministry. We clean the toilets ourselves; we buy stationery ourselves,” he said.
Success added that even the Permanent Secretary had acknowledged efforts to escalate the matter to the Minister, but no meaningful outcome had been achieved. “We have met with the Permanent Secretary on this matter, and she confirmed that she has made several efforts but received no positive response from the Minister. We have no option but to register our discontent through peaceful protests.”
The protesters demanded the Minister’s removal and urged her reassignment to another ministry, asserting she was unsuitable for the Women Affairs portfolio.
As of the time of filing this report, the gates of the Ministry remained locked, and the Minister had yet to address the protesting staff or respond to their allegations.
