Teacher’s Strike: No Work, No Pay Will Be Used – Wike Declares

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has condemned the strike action declared by the FCT Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress as a politically motivated attempt to blackmail the administration, describing the strike action as ‘political’.

The Minister made this statement during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, October 9, 2026, shortly after a closed-door meeting with Area Council Chairmen and security operatives.

Nyesom Wike clarified that the FCT Administration had fulfilled all obligations to local government workers and teachers, rendering the industrial action entirely baseless. He pointed out that overseeing labour unions, had not been consulted, among other contraventions, before the strike action was called, hence, he has announced the immediate implementation of the “no work, no pay” policy across all Area Councils to protect public interests and maintain order.

Addressing the media on the development, the Minister stated, “We want to state categorically and let it be known to the public that this so-called strike declaration is political, and we will not accept it. We will not accept it because there’s no basis for anybody to call for a strike. We don’t have any issue with anybody, either be it area council local education primary authority, or be it secondary schools, we have no issues”.

The Minister pointed out that major educational unions, including the Senior Secondary School Teachers and the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), have explicitly dissociated themselves from the strike because current agreements are already being executed. He exposed the political affiliations of the current FCT NLC Chairman, Hon. Stephen Knabayi, noting that he was a candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the last Area Council elections. Mr. Wike warned against manipulating industrial action for political gains.

In his words: “And you can see his interest trying to see that FCT is in crisis, and then wants to use it as a political tool that FCT teachers are at home, and nobody is teaching students; how can you now come and vote for a government when the pupils are at home? We cannot accept that blackmail. We won’t accept it. I’ve told everybody, and I’ve told Labour, look, if you want to involve yourself in politics, you are free to, but then excuse yourself from the leadership of the union, so you don’t politicize it”.

In a swift response to emerging urban and security concerns, the FCT Minister also directed a coordinated crackdown on unauthorized businesses like ‘beer parlours’ appearing along the Guzape-Asokoro axis. The Minister ordered the immediate dismantling of such illegal open-air commercial operations, specifically unapproved beer parlours, before they manifest into severe security liabilities.

Shifting focus to national political ethics, the Minister strongly challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigerian media to enforce strict regulations against hate speech and defamatory political commentary. The Minister expressed deep disappointment over inflammatory remarks made by the Vice Presidential candidate of the ADC, Rotimi Amaechi, concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his supporters, and wondered at the lack of institutional response to these verbal attacks.

“Many Nigerians have called INEC to sanction political parties, and candidates, or some politicians who, in their campaigns, incite the public or raise matters that are not issue-based. We have been told to go on campaigns based on issues. What are you going to do about the people attacking personality or insulting individuals? Up till now, I have not heard that INEC has been able to call or draw attention of the Vice Presidential candidate of the ADC, Rotimi Amaechi, to this”, the Minister stated.

The Minister further challenged the media to step up its investigative role and demand accountability from the opposition, rather than remaining neutral in the face of unsubstantiated insults against the President and his supporters. He raised questions regarding unverified capital projects during Amaechi’s past gubernatorial administration in Rivers State, demanding clarity on the status of a multi-million dollar hospital, the state monorail project, a state-owned gas turbine sale, and a controversial state-wide fumigation contract.

Demanding media scrutiny over these specific financial expenditures, the Minister stated: “I challenge him, and I challenge the media. Ask him the $10 million USD you paid to a Cuban company to fumigate Rivers State so there will be no mosquito bite. Up till now, mosquito has been biting Rivers people, including myself. Ask him, the ₦68 billion monorail, where is the monorail? Ask him, where is the $308 million USD with which you sold our gas turbine?”

The Minister added a final warning on the consequences of continuous mudslinging of the president and his supporters, stating that such derogatory rhetoric would meet stiff resistance from political supporters across the country, particularly within Rivers State, if campaigns are not immediately restored to a respectful, issue-based format, adding that thieves and lunatics will not preside over Nigeria

“If he continues along this line, it may be difficult for him to campaign in Rivers. And I want somebody to go and write it down. Because we will not take that. We will not. Instead of you to go to the people to say, ‘This is what you will do, against what the present government is doing’”.

Credit: Rabi Musa Umar, Deputy Director, Press (Office Of The Hon. Minister) FCTA/ODP/PR/909 – 09/10/2026