Nyesom Wike trends, always. For his politics and for his tangible deeds. He trends for his dancing skills; his dress sense which swings from the traditional to the exotic; and for other existential reasons.
But in all his trending and traits, what is consistent is his voluble appetite for work, for duty; his iron-cast resolve to lead from the front on matters of development, including physical infrastructure, human capital, healthcare and educational development.
It was said of Wike that as local government chairman in his Rivers State under Dr Peter Odili as governor, he was a workaholic; voted as one of the best performing local government chairpersons; was President of ALGON and was also an African representative in the Commonwealth Local Governments Forum. A man of high tide.
As minister of state (Education) and later minister of education, he was up and about making sure that public schools did not go to rot. He did not spare contractors who did shoddy jobs while constructing facilities in public schools, especially in government colleges across the country.
As governor of Rivers state for 8 years, Wike, the wonk, came to full bloom. Any unbiased assessor who knew Rivers and the state of infrastructure therein before and during Wike’s era would attest to the reality that Wike turned the state around positively, making it one of the fastest developing states in Nigeria, infrastructure-wise. He won many awards, local and international, for this. Wike as governor was bullish in infrastructure development as he was bold in confronting challenges in healthcare and education. He delivered on many fronts; constructed new roads, expanded existing roads, built bridges. He undertook projects many thought impossible. Like the stretch of road to Opobo, a road that crisscrossed swamps, soggy soil and water bodies from upland Port Harcourt to riverine Opobo; a real engineering marvel. Not even his most acerbic critics would deny knowledge of his brazen disposition to infrastructure development.
He earned accolades from both political foes and friends. Then Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, obviously in awe of Wike’s many projects during one of his visits to Rivers state, christened Wike ‘Mr. Projects.’ It was a fitting emblem for a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, (opposition party) governor from the number two citizen who was, and still is, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Wike is listless. He loves to work, truly an activity man. On several occasions, this writer had been among editors who undertook project tours of the state. And on each occasion, he leads the team as the tour guide. He’s aware of every project, from urban centres to rural communes. He makes demand of the contractors; demands on quality of job, meeting deadlines and sundry details that attest to his quest to get value for Rivers people. He was truly a governor on duty. He loved his job, his state and his people. He lived among them as governor. During project tours, he walked distances with the visitors which included the then VP Osinbajo, his colleagues in the class of governors, journalists, lawyers, members of the National Assembly, former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a proven wonk, and other professionals and politicians who visited his state. As he trudged along streets and byways, he acknowledged cheers from his people. Such verve and energy in one man. Wike as governor was always in Rivers state; not outside the country or Abuja as many governors did and still do. You could always feel the connection between a leader and the led.
And now as FCT minister, the leopard has retained its spots. Wike in Abuja has not moulted his attitude to work. The wonk has become even wonkier. Wike is barely 11 months on the job as FCT minister, but within this period, the capital territory can attest to a breath of fresh air. Both in morphology and physiology, the FCT knows that there is a new sheriff in town. Abuja landscape is transforming very fast. The philosophy of leadership within the FCT administration has changed. Residents are talking about this transformation. Visitors to the capital territory are singing from a new hymnal. Wike is on duty!
Let’s get it straight. Wike is the 17th FCT minister and the 8th since the birth of the 4th Republic in 1999. But none of his predecessors has impacted the capital territory in so short a time more than Wike. Past ministers closest to Wike in terms of transformational leadership as FCT ministers were Jeremiah Useni who served for 5 years (1993-1998) under General Sani Abacha and Malam Nasir el-Rufai who served under President Obasanjo for 4 years (July 2003 to July 2007). But given what Wike has achieved in just 11 months, it’s hard to imagine any past FCT minister who would be said to have outperformed him.
Give it to him, Wike is a politician, a typical Nigerian-bred politician who plays his politics in his own special way. But this essay is not about politics, state or national politics. It’s about development. It is about Wike’s passion for development. Any smart player in the nation’s political space must know how to separate politics from development. Both do not mix. In fact, one is the antithesis to the other. Wike has learnt never to mix politics with development. Wike is succeeding as FCT minister because he smartly embraced development, elevating it over politics of the capital territory otherwise he could have run into treacherous turbulence.
Just consider this. Aside Mobolaji Ajose-Adeogun, the very first FCT minister (August 1975 – 1979) who had the rare privilege of serving under two military heads of state, the aborted government of Murtala Mohammed and the transitional government of Olusegun Obasanjo, no other southerner has served as FCT minister until Wike’s appointment in August 2023. This explains the welter of criticisms and resistance that trailed his appointment from a ghoulish gang of bigoted merchants of political power. In the midst of such resistance, Wike played the smart cookie. He simply ignored the rabble rousers and did what Wike is fabled for: work, work and more work. Pronto, he silenced the noisy mob with verifiable evidence of his capacity and competence. Assigning Wike the FCT portfolio is also evidential of President Bola Tinubu’s knack to headhunt. After the sterling performance of el-Rufai, the FCT relapsed to its old dour status.
In this era and these times, the FCT needs a makeover; a re-branding both in landscape and in administrative essence to cope with influx of the global community and the daily movement of Nigerians to the city they hold in high esteem as a fitting equipoise to modern cities around the world.
Wike has done and is doing roads, bridges, rail and much more; has won, somewhat, autonomy for the FCT, both fiscal and administrative. He is one of the best-performing ministers in the Tinubu government. It’s all too obvious. Wike has a template: Leadership for development template. And he has reproduced it in all his stations in public service. Nigeria needs such template at every stratum of government, a template that separates politics from development.
