Wike: Profligacy, Lack Of Accountability And Other Matters -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

A few months after the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesome Wike took over as the Federal Capital territory (FCT) minister and after the completion some of the government ongoing projects, the chant of “Wike is working” became the song of his political praise singers and media hirelings and some ignorant members of the FCT residents. But while the praise singers are singing Wike is working, nobody is looking on the other side or asking questions about the cost or the relevance of some of the projects undertaken by Wike. Some ethnic jingoists say they don’t care whatever Wike does because to them Wike is the first southerner to be appointed FCT minister as if Wike is representing or working for the interest of the South. Others say they don’t care even if the contracts executed by Wike are inflated as long as he is doing something.

Wike, it seems understands the psychology of some ignorant members of the public who don’t know anything about governance or public administration nor care about transparency and accountability. When Wike was the governor of Rivers State he received trillions in federal allocation and internally generated revenue and yet left Rivers as one of the most indebted states after Lagos. His usual practice was this: shortly before the elections, he would construct a few roads and flyovers and invite dignitaries and world press for the commissioning and his media team would amplify the whole thing. That was how the swashbuckling Wike got the cognomen: Mr. Project.

Now in the FCT, Wike has continued his act of profligacy. Figures from the Debt Management Office indicate that when Nyesom Wike became the FCT Minister in August 2023, Abuja’s domestic debt stood at N88.51 billion but by March 2026, it had risen to N389.88 billion. That is an increase of N301.37 billion, representing a 340.5% increase. Abuja moved from being the ninth-lowest indebted sub-national government in Nigeria to the second-highest. So in three years Wike has increased the debt burden of the FCT by N301.37 billion. And many are asking where the money is invested in a capital city that does not have public transport system, where healthcare and public schools and social services are in shambles.

But the most stunning part is that all these are happening when the federal allocation to the FCT is increasing and the internally-generated revenue of the FCT increased from N9billion to N40billion monthly according to Wike and the FCT operating with greater fiscal autonomy. Recall that in October 2023, shortly after Wike assumed office, the FCT Administration was removed from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) thereby giving the FCT greater financial autonomy over its internally generated revenue.

According to media reports, the FCT under Wike has between August, 2023 and March 2026 received Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocation to the tune of N432.13 billion. If you add this figure to that of the internally-generated revenue and funds from other sources, the figure will run to several trillions. The question is where is the money spent and why borrow? Concerned Nigerians would want to know the projects financed from the borrowed funds, the cost, structure and tenure of the loans. Not that I am against borrowing, though. Nobody should be against borrowing if it is used productively. Public funds should be handled with care. Probity, transparency and accountability is the rule. This seems not the case in the Wike’s FCT. According to Premium Times report the successive FCT budget documents, budget performance reports and audited financial statements covering the Wike period is not published on the FCT Administration’s website. The newspaper says that this makes it difficult to independently establish the precise purposes of the additional borrowing, the terms of the loans and how the funds were deployed.

Another critical issue besides the relevance of the projects is cost of executing the said projects. It is on record that Wike spent a whooping sum of N39 billion to renovate the International Conference Center (ICC) built during the Ibrahim Babangida regime in 1989, which he renamed after Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and spent N51 billion to build three bus terminals at Krugbo, Federal Secretariat and Mabushi and many months after the commission, the bus terminals are yet to be put to use. Earlier in the year, the roof of Krugbo terminal was blown off by wind indicating the work done was of poor quality.

The opaqueness with which the current administration is handling public finance is raising a lot of issues and making concerned Nigerians to make insinuations. Some are alluding that Tinubu gave Wike free hands for him to amass accumulate enough funds to be able to deliver Rivers State, his home state and the FCT to Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election. It is also insinuated that he increased the allocation to the states in order to enable the governors to work for his re-election. It was in the news a few months ago that the APC governors set aside the sum of N800 billion from their states allocation to support Tinubu’s re-election bid.

Evidently, all these are happening because the Nigerian public do not hold their leaders accountable. The truth is that Nigerians due mainly to ignorance and other primordial considerations do not know or care to appraise those in positions of authority as it is done in advanced democracies. For primordial reasons some people would defend fraud and criminalities. If Nigeria must make progress in governance, there must be transparency and accountability in public finance. That is the only way to check corruption and fraud. Wike Nigerians want to know how much funds you have received and generated in the FCT since you assumed office, the use and the projects you have put these funds as well as the breakdown of the costs of the projects. That is the only way to show that you genuinely working for the nation.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK