Wike Fumes Over Unauthorised School Closure Directive, Vows To Sanction Officials Involved

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that all officials and directors involved in the unauthorised directive to close schools will face strict sanctions.

Wike announced this during an inspection tour of infrastructure work at Guzape II (A11 District) in Abuja, stating that the FCT Mandate Secretary for Education, Dr Danlami Hayyo, has been suspended indefinitely.

“I was watching television last night and I saw that FCT has directed that schools should be shut down. I couldn’t believe it,” Wike said.

He revealed that upon investigation, he discovered the circular was sent to all schools without his approval.

“I called the Commissioner of Police and other necessary authorities. I said, ‘who did this?’ and they said it was not in their purview. There is no way, because we don’t have such a threat that will make us shut down the schools,” he said.

The minister condemned the action, stating it created a false impression of insecurity in the nation’s capital.

“This is the FCT. Do you know what that tells people? That there is insecurity in FCT. Kaduna has never shut down, Nasarawa has never shut down, and Kogi never shut down. So how will you say we were threatened?” he said.

While assuring residents of the safety of schools, Wike vowed that all officials involved would face sanctions.

“The mandate secretary of Education has been suspended indefinitely and the Directors who were involved would be sanctioned according to civil service rules.

“It is unimaginable how people could take such a decision without the head of the affairs knowing. It is very unfortunate,” he stated.

When asked if the officials acted in anticipation of a possible security threat, the minister said, “How could you have taken such an action in anticipation? I mean, even I cannot do that without letting the President know. We will not forgive anybody who is involved in this.”

Earlier, the minister had defended his administration’s focus on completing inherited projects, particularly the engineering infrastructure in Guzape and Maitama II districts.

“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,” Wike said.

He explained that the Guzape project, known as Lot A11, was awarded six years ago but stalled due to lack of funding. Similarly, the Maitama II project was awarded over a decade ago, leaving landowners unable to access their properties.

“We felt that the only way we can create, or make people develop their land, is to create infrastructure. So it’s our duty, even though we are not the ones who awarded it, to complete it.

“That is why we look at it this way. Any village that is affected, we always compensate. And we don’t just compensate them, we also relocate them,” he said.