Workers at the Abuja Film Village International (AFVI) have protested against the termination of their appointments, appealing to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to intervene in the situation.
The leader of the protesting staff, Habila Kayit, while speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, said 27 of them were sacked without any reason, despite the fact that some of them are full staff of the agency, while others are casual staff.
Kayit explained that since September 30, 2022, they have not been paid their salaries and allowances, even though they have family and dependants.
“We wish to convey with dismay the unlawful termination of the employment of the Staff of Abuja Film Village International Limited by its then Managing Director, Barr Francisca Ibezim. We were fully employed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and had enjoyed every privilege that comes with the employment.
“We were invited on September 30, 2022 through a notice for staff meeting but received the greatest shock of our lives as the entire staff was issued termination letters with no specific reason for their action.
“However, we do not enjoy attracting negative publicity to the administration which we are also a part of. As a result, we have followed all administrative channels to seek reinstatement but all to no avail hence the resolve to cry out for help,” Kayit said,
She further added that the Abuja film Village International (AFVI) is a subsidiary of Abuja Investment Company Ltd (AICL), an agency of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), envisioned to make Abuja and by extension Nigeria the centre for film and entertainment excellence.
It was gathered that over 5,000 hectares of land were allocated for the project in Kusaki and Yanga Districts of Kuje Area Council for the actualization of the Abuja Film village project from inception, but the project which should provide jobs to millions of people in the creative industry seem to have been abandoned.
Kayit further said they were employed on a full time basis as staff of Abuja Film Village International and some worked for over 15 years.
According to her, when the then Minister of the FCT, Muhammadu Bello, came on-board in 2015, he made frantic efforts to reposition FCTA business holdings including Abuja Film Village for profitability and better service delivery.
The protesting staff demanded the immediate reinstatement of their sacked colleagues and appealed for the full payment of their salaries and arrears over the time of the unlawful disengagement.
“We wish to state explicitly that the outstanding salaries arrears paid to us before the termination can never be pay off package as posited in some quarters. Therefore nothing was given to the unlawfully sacked film village staff other than our statutory monthly salaries and one month salary in lieu of the termination.
“We call for the immediate investigation of the 400 Millions allocated in the 2023 budget for the AFVI by the National Assembly. Kindly note that Abuja Film Village as at now has no single permanent staff as the then Managing Director, Barr. Francisca Ibezim was the only stay and has been relieved of her job by the Honourable Minister,” she said.
