FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has given the diplomatic community in Abuja his strongest assurance yet of a secure and enabling environment to carry out their activities.
Wike made the assurance on Wednesday March 18, 2026, while speaking at the European Union Complex in Abuja during the Saint Patrick’s Day Reception and official opening of the new Embassy of Ireland. The event was attended by Ireland’s Minister of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Jack Chambers, Ireland’s Ambassador to Nigeria Peter Ryan and members of the wider diplomatic corps.
“We owe you a duty to make sure that we create the right environment for you to work and thrive. I want to assure you that we want to make Abuja one of the best capital cities in the world. We will continue to provide an enabling environment for you to carry out your duties, especially in terms of security. Of course, you will attest to the fact that things have improved in Abuja since Tinubu’s administration came on board. We will keep improving every day,” he said.
Wike was deliberate about the capacity in which he was speaking making clear he was not representing either the Federal Government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I am here as your landlord,” he told the gathering of diplomats, a characteristically direct framing that underlined his view of the FCT Minister’s relationship with the foreign missions based in the capital.
The minister used the occasion to also take a firm stance on land encroachment in Abuja’s diplomatic zone. He advised embassies to promptly develop the plots of land allocated to them in the FCT, warning that idle diplomatic land was being taken over by grabbers. “You saw what happened recently when land allocated to embassies was cornered by a land grabber who was building houses on the land because the embassies didn’t develop it. Of course, you know me very well the law must take its course. We have written to the affected embassies to come and collect their lands back and develop them,” he said.
Wike had earlier this month directed the Department of Development Control to demolish illegal buildings on plots allocated to ten foreign missions in the diplomatic zone including Thailand, Bulgaria, Syria, Somalia, Serbia and Montenegro, Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Senegal and the Palestine Liberation Organization saying the land had been allocated since 2008 but a developer illegally built structures on it.
On the subject of his own public image, he stated “My face may not be liked by many people I don’t care. I will continue to do what is right,” he said.
Wike also expressed the FCT Administration’s readiness to deepen partnerships with foreign missions to enhance bilateral relations and support Nigeria’s development objectives, and hinted at a possible official visit to Ireland, noting that his kinsman and former NBA President Onueze Okocha has just been appointed as Nigeria’s new Ambassador to Dublin.
