There was huge drama today at the Abuja residence axis of Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as primary school children in their uniforms gathered in front of the entrance to take academic lessons.
The pupils, whose teachers have been on strike since March this year and who have consequently been left confined to their homes, were being tutored by accountability expert and social media critic, Martins Vincent Otse, more popularly known as VeryDarkMan (or VDM).
Obviously, the scene was a public bid to get Wike to play a more proper leadership role to end the strike on his domain, especially against the backdrop of Wike’s reported announcement of plans to withhold 10 per cent of the statutory allocation to Area Councils due to the latter’s failure to implement the new minimum wage for primary school teachers -the non-implementation of which sparked the strike in the first place.
Passersby and other members of the public were amused as VDM transformed to an emergency teacher and conducted a class where he taught the pupils the letters of the English alphabet.
Picking some chosen letters, he asked the pupils to repeat after him -in typical Nigerian classroom instructional method.
Obediently, the pupils chorused as demanded by the ‘teacher’.
Part of it went thus:”S for Suegbe! T for Tinubu! W for Wike!”, even as the pupils repeated after him.
Primary school teachers in Abuja have been on strike due to the failure of the six Area Councils to implement the agreed-upon N70,000 minimum wage and clear outstanding salary arrears.
The strike, which began on March 24, 2025, came on the heels of a series of failed negotiations and broken agreements.
At the heart of the issue is the non-implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage agreement, signed in a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding on December 11, 2024.
The minimum wage matter aside, teachers are also protesting the non-payment of other salary arrears and entitlements.
However, as the mock classroom in front of Wike’s residence played out, some residents in the know of the Minister’s involvement, condemned VDM for ridiculing the Minister.
They pointed out that Wike’s threat to slash 10% of Area Councils’ allocation, was in order as most leaders of the grassroots tier governments were allegedly virtually not performing.
“Go to many Area Councils and see if the Chairmen are doing much. Since Tinubu removed fuel subsidy, FCT Area Councils, like others nationwide, have been getting almost triple what they used to get as allocation.
“What are they doing with all that money? Area Council accounts are swollen. So, how can’t you implement N70,000 minimum wage? Where did they keep the money? What are they doing with it?
“Next year, another Area Council election Will come. Are teachers’ minimum wage monies meant for electioneering campaigns? They should answer us.
“Nigerians should always ask questions and demand accountability from leaders. There is no law that says government or public funds are properties of any particular officer holding any public position. It is my money,it is your money,it is everybody’s money, so we must be asking questions.”
Meanwhile, VDM said henceforth the pupils would continue to receive academic lessons at the Minister’s residential entrance.
