Civil Servants Don’t Like Me Because I Stopped Wasteful Spending’ — Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said he is unpopular among many civil servants because his administration has blocked avenues through which public funds were previously wasted or diverted.

Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja on Thursday, Wike said his decision to prioritise infrastructure development over what he described as frivolous government expenditure has attracted resentment from some public officials.

According to the minister, funds that were previously spent on unnecessary foreign conferences and other recurrent expenses are now being redirected to road construction and other capital projects that directly benefit residents.

“We waste our resources on frivolities. You expect me to approve funds for you to go to America for a one-week conference on land administration. What is that?” Wike queried.

He argued that government officials could acquire similar knowledge within Nigeria by studying successful land administration models in other states.

“Go to Lagos and Port Harcourt, study how their own works or did not work and make a comparison here. How do you encourage me to sign N20 million for somebody to travel to America for a conference on land administration? I won’t do that,” he said.

The minister disclosed that before he assumed office, about 65 per cent of the FCT budget was devoted to recurrent expenditure, leaving inadequate resources for capital projects.

“Before I came, you had about 65 per cent of the budget for recurrent expenditure. How would such a society develop? I came on board and said no—70 per cent must go to capital expenditure while 30 per cent should be for recurrent expenditure,” he explained.

Wike maintained that many official conferences had become channels for siphoning public resources rather than improving governance.

“Some people say conferences are for capacity building, but I say, what is that? You are going for conferences to do what? These are ways government funds are being diverted,” he stated.

He said his administration had instead consolidated such funds and invested them in road projects and other critical infrastructure that have visible impact on the lives of residents.

“I say, put this money into this road here and the people will see the impact.

“That is why I can’t be popular among civil servants. If you ask anybody today which minister they don’t like, it is me. Why? Because the money they used for conferences, I put it together and used it to build roads,” Wike said.