Civil servants and labor activists are outraged by Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike’s contentious restriction on cell phone use by employees of the Department of Land Administration and Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS).
According to an official memo seen by SaharaReporters, starting on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, officers on Salary Grade Level 14 and below are not allowed to bring cell phones into the workplace.
The ban is a component of a new office policy intended to “maintain discipline and information security” within the agency, according to a document released by Chijioke Nwankwoeze, Head of AGIS.
Part of the statement said, “All officers on Salary Grade Level (SGL) 14 and below shall be prohibited from using mobile phones within the office premises.” From now on, affected employees are not allowed to use their cell phones on the property.
According to reports, the letter is applicable to all employees of the Department of Land Administration and AGIS who work in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) complex.
The order was given less than a day after footage of Wike’s furious altercation with a military officer over a contested property in Abuja went viral on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, sources within AGIS told SaharaReporters.
One senior employee claimed that the minister was incensed at the extent to which the video spread among government employees.
The sharing of the videos among employees infuriated the minister. He considered it to be sabotage. According to the insider, he is expressing his rage through this phone ban.
After Wike was spotted accusing a naval officer of unlawfully guarding a construction site purportedly connected to a former Chief of Naval Staff, the altercation, which occurred in Abuja’s Gaduwa District, attracted national attention.
The order, according to another unidentified civil servant, is unworkable and ineffective. The majority of us communicate professionally using our phones. He questioned, “How can we operate efficiently without them?”
The Federal Capital Territory Administration had not yet released a formal statement or explanation in response to the public outcry over the contentious policy as of the time of publication.
View the instruction below:
