Wike Man
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has revealed that he is unpopular among civil servants, attributing the situation to his decision to block avenues for the diversion of public funds.
Wike made the disclosure during his monthly media chat on the state of the nation in Abuja on Thursday.
The minister said his administration had redirected funds previously spent on what he described as unnecessary conferences and other recurrent expenses to the construction of roads and other capital projects.
He explained that he had refused to approve public funds for foreign conferences on land administration, insisting that officials could understudy similar systems within Nigeria instead.
Wike also said he reviewed the FCT budget structure by increasing capital expenditure to 70 per cent while reducing recurrent expenditure to 30 per cent, arguing that such a policy was necessary to accelerate development.
According to him, excessive spending on conferences had become a channel for diverting government funds, stressing that resources should instead be invested in projects that have direct impact on the lives of residents.
The FCT minister maintained that his decision to block such expenditures had made him unpopular among civil servants, as funds previously allocated for conferences were now being used for road construction and other developmental projects.
