Human rights activist and convener of the RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has strongly condemned Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for approving a minimum wage of just N70,000 for FCT workers.
Sowore’s criticism comes in light of Wike’s recent decision to build luxury homes worth N700 million for corrupt Nigerian judges.
Sowore expressed his outrage on social media, calling out Wike’s decision as inadequate. Wike’s approval of the N70,000 minimum wage is the implementation of the new minimum wage for all administration staff in the FCT.
Taking to his X page, Sowore criticised Wike, labelled him “corrupt” for paying FCT workers a meagre N70,000 while spending millions of naira to build luxury homes for judges.
“Wicked and corrupt Nyeson Wike, paying paltry N70k to FCT, Abuja workers but building N700m homes to corrupt Nigerian judges!” he wrote.
Earlier reports had revealed that Wike announced the revocation of Julius Berger’s ownership of a plot of land in Abuja and its re-allocation for the construction of a judges’ quarters.
Wike made this announcement during the flag off ceremony for the housing project, attended by Kudirat Kekere Ekun, the Chief Justice of the Federation. Wike noted that approximately 70% of the funding for the project had already been released.
However, Wike’s unilateral decision has stirred significant controversy on social media. Some users express concerns about the implication of these ‘gifts’ on judicial independence in Nigeria.
On Friday, Chidi Odinkalu, a professor of law, wrote about this on X. He quoted a section of the Nigerian Judicial Code of Conduct: A Judge shall avoid developing excessively close relationships with frequent litigants—such as government ministers or their officials—if such relationships could reasonably create an appearance of partiality.
Kalu Aja, a finanical analyst and social critic, also reacted to Wike’s decision, albeit indirectly. He described it as “fruit of a forbidden tree”.
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