Resist Wike’s Waste: Fund Education, Healthcare, and Workers’ Welfare Now!

By Bilal Abdullahi

The Movement for a Socialist Alternative (MSA) strongly condemns the reckless and anti-people prioritisation of prestige projects by the FCT Administration, while urgent social needs—such as education, healthcare, and housing for the working masses—are shamefully neglected. While children across the Federal Capital Territory remain out of school, healthcare centres lack the most basic equipment, and public workers go months without salaries, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, is only interested in constructing a brand-new multi-billion-naira Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) complex.

This is not simply a policy error—it is a damning indictment of a system that places political grandstanding and elite comfort above the lives and futures of ordinary Nigerians. What we are witnessing is the naked face of capitalist governance: one that treats public welfare as a distraction and mass suffering as a tolerable cost of political dominance.

1. Over 90 Days of School Closure: Children Bear the Brunt

Since December 2024, public primary schools in the FCT have remained largely closed due to an indefinite strike action by Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) staff. The strike, which resumed after a brief suspension in November, has deprived schoolchildren of over 600 teaching hours—equivalent to more than an entire academic term. These children, mostly from working-class and poor families, have been denied their fundamental right to education—not by war or natural disaster, but by deliberate neglect and the non-payment of public workers’ salaries.

While the Minister tours demolition sites and holds political meetings, FCT classrooms lie empty. Public education has been brought to its knees—yet instead of emergency action to restore learning, the state’s priority is a new INEC office. What are elections without educated voters? What is democracy when the future electorate is abandoned in ill-equipped or non-functional schools?

2. Wage Arrears and Broken Promises: The Cruelty of Non-Payment

This strike did not emerge from nowhere. Teachers and Area Council staff are owed months of salaries and arrears, including the new ₦70,000 minimum wage—approved in principle but denied in practice. Even after the FCT Administration claimed to have released ₦4.1 billion to settle wages in 2024, the funds mysteriously failed to translate into actual payments.

Rather than take responsibility for this failure, the Minister turned punitive—threatening to withhold 10% of Area Council allocations and publicly humiliating council chairpersons. Yet months later, teachers remain unpaid and the strike continues.

This is not just mismanagement—it is wage theft. These are the people responsible for shaping the minds and health of our communities, yet they are treated as expendable. A society that starves its educators while rewarding political cronies cannot pretend to value development.

3. Decay and Despair: Education and Healthcare in Ruins

Let us look at the cold, hard numbers, sourced from data by impact.Tracker.ng:

• Only 26% of FCT primary schools have access to safe drinking water.
• Only 27% have any form of electricity.
• Public school buildings are collapsing, overcrowded, or completely without desks and learning materials.

In the healthcare sector, the picture is no less grim:

• Of the 239 primary healthcare centres across the FCT, only 30 meet the minimum standard for equipment and staffing.
• In many communities, a single doctor is tasked with caring for over 30 patients daily—without adequate supplies or support.

This is not governance—it is criminal neglect of the very institutions that sustain life, health, and hope. Yet, rather than direct funds to these urgent gaps, the government embarks on yet another prestige construction project.

4. Demolitions, Land Grabs, and the Phantom INEC Office

Minister Wike’s administration has also overseen widespread demolitions, often justified by claims of illegal occupation or flood-risk mitigation. Yet residents have denounced selective enforcement and raised allegations of land grabbing and elite capture of reclaimed lands. Even the PDP national headquarters was not spared, prompting questions about whether demolitions are truly for development or simply political vendettas.

Meanwhile, no clarity has been provided on the fate of the old INEC building. Is it damaged beyond repair? Was it demolished? Or simply abandoned to justify a lucrative new contract? These questions remain unanswered. What is clear, however, is that a new complex—complete with modern conference halls and lavish offices—is already underway, while classrooms still have leaking roofs.

We are confronted by a brutal contradiction: public officials claim to be serving democracy, yet undermine the very foundation of democratic society—an educated, healthy, and informed populace. By pouring funds into INEC’s new headquarters, the government hopes to present an image of order and progress. But this is a façade.

It is political theatre—where actors play to the gallery of the elite while the masses suffer backstage. The children forced into street hawking because their schools are closed, the mothers who trek miles to access under-resourced health centres, the teachers forced to borrow to feed their families—these are the real stories of Abuja.

This governance model is one of surface over substance—one that rewards visibility over viability, and political convenience over human necessity.

We in the Movement for a Socialist Alternative (MSA) insist that these problems are not accidental. They are symptoms of a capitalist system that serves the few at the expense of the many. We demand a complete reorientation of public priorities—rooted in the needs of the working class and guided by democratic control over public resources.

Demands:

1. Suspend the New INEC Project

No new electoral complexes while schools and hospitals are in ruins. Every kobo must first go toward restoring essential public services.

2. Pay All Salary Arrears Now

No excuses. Teachers, health workers, and Area Council staff must receive all owed wages—including the new minimum wage. End the strike by honouring agreements.

3. Invest Massively in Schools and Clinics

Water, electricity, toilets, equipment, learning materials, and staff must be prioritised in the FCT budget. Public services must be revived—not replaced or abandoned.

4. Stop Elite Land Seizures

Demolitions must follow transparent legal processes—not political agendas. All reclaimed land must be used for public good: schools, health centres, and social housing.

5. Community-Driven Development Planning

Budgets must be democratically decided with real community input. Let town hall forums, not backroom deals, determine how public funds are spent.

Tinkering with a broken system will never be enough. That is why we fight not just for better policies, but for a new political and economic order. An order where:

• Education is free and compulsory at all levels, funded from public wealth.
• Healthcare is a right, not a privilege—accessible to all.
• Workers have democratic control over production and public services—not bosses and bureaucrats.
• Land and housing are planned for use, not profit.

This vision cannot be realised through the capitalist parties—PDP, APC, or their offshoots. They have failed, time and time again. The working masses must build their own political alternative—one that defends their interests, empowers unions and communities, and breaks the rule of profit over people.

Abuja is not a neutral Federal Capital—it is a city of sharp class contradictions. Gated estates sit beside slums. Billions are spent on concrete palaces while clinics run out of medicine.

Every budget decision must be judged—not by its cost—but by its value to the people.

We say, let the budget serve the many, not the few. Let the INEC funds be use to build classrooms, equip hospitals, and pay teachers. Let development mean dignity—not glass towers and empty slogans. We call on all workers, students, activists, and community members: to organise, resist, and reclaim what is rightfully ours.