Wike disowns ‘fake’ FCT school shutdown, suspends education secretary
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday, faulted officials who issued an unauthorised directive announcing a shutdown of schools across the city, saying that Abuja schools are not under any form of threat.
Speaking during a routine tour of ongoing projects in Guzape District, Wike said he was shocked to see reports suggesting that the FCT Administration had ordered schools to close.
He insisted that there was no security situation that justified such a move. The minister said the circular announcing the alleged shutdown was issued without his knowledge and did not reflect any decision of the FCT Security Council.
According to him, “I was watching television last night and I saw a school, that FCT has directed that schools should be shut down. I couldn’t believe it, so I had to call the Mandate Secretary of Education and of course, he couldn’t reply then I had to get to the details.”
He said the circular was released without approval and was never discussed by security agencies.
“I called the Commissioner of Police and I called other necessary authorities. I said, who did this? and they said, It’s not in their agenda and there’s no way because we don’t have such a threat that will make us shut down the schools,” he said.
Wike said the Mandate Secretary of Education has been suspended indefinitely, while directors involved in issuing the unauthorised circular would face sanctions under civil service rules. He described the action as reckless and unacceptable.
“It’s unimaginable how people could take such a decision without the head of the affairs knowing. It’s very unfortunate,” the minister said.
Responding to claims that officials may have acted to prevent possible unrest, Wike dismissed the explanation as irresponsible.
“How could you have taken such an action in anticipation? I mean, even, I cannot do that without letting the President know,” he said. He added that neighbouring states were not shutting down schools. “Kaduna has never shut down, Nassarawa has never shut down, and Kogi never shut down. So how will you say we were threatened?” he asked.
Earlier on the tour, Wike explained that many of the projects the administration is executing were abandoned by previous governments due to funding challenges.
He said districts like Guzape and Maitama II had been stalled for years before the current administration decided to complete them.
“It is most unfortunate, what I’ve always said, that most of the jobs you see us doing are jobs that were awarded years back before the inception of this administration of 2023,” he said.
The minister said the Federal Executive Council recently approved engineering infrastructure for Maitama II after years of neglect, and similar efforts were underway in Guzape. He said developing infrastructure was the only way to encourage expansion and ease congestion in the capital city. On concerns about nearby villages affected by new developments, Wike said compensation and relocation were always provided.
“Any village that is affected is always compensated, like the one in C01, at the Guzape village. They were trying to relocate them. Compensation has been made,” he said. He added that the relocation project had been awarded to Gilmore Engineering Company. Wike stressed that completing abandoned projects was part of the administration’s duty.
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