#SAVEJABILAKE#: Only a United and Sustained Struggle Can Save Jabi Lake From Wike and Private Property Interest

No to the privatisation and commercialisation of Lagos’s Jabi Lake

By DSM Abuja

 Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has announced plans to hand over the Jabi Lake Park to private developers. This is not completely surprising, going by the history of Wike in ruthless demolition of property and land grabbing, something that has rendered many working and poor people homeless and stranded. Already, Wike has revoked the land allocation to the areas around the park, and there are concerns that an MoU has already been signed between a private firm and the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA). The Jabi Lake Park is a free-access recreation centre serving many residents of Abuja for recreation and relaxation.  There are also vendors whose daily economic sustenance is tied to the park, including those rendering different services. The question now is what would happen to these people. To this, the response from Wike has been to arrogantly dish out insults to many who are asking questions about the activities of government over an issue that affects their wellbeing and livelihood. On many occasions, Wike had thoughtlessly come out to vow to go ahead with the project despite public outcry.

This is happening against the backdrop of years of demolition and land grabbing; thousands of residents have been displaced and left homeless, while big business estate developers continue to profit from building houses the working masses dare not dream of acquiring or renting. The same fate is about to befall the Jabi Lake Park; it is about to be transformed from a public space into a luxurious space that will be exclusively available to the rich, while the poor are left out. In fact, the words of Wike were that the park would be built to a world-class standard and commercialised. To be clear, we are not opposed to development or transforming the park into a better standard. Our disagreement is with the pro-rich and anti-people approach of Wike, which will mean that the responsibility of building a public space for the people will be handed over to private firms, which will only make the space accessible to the rich in society, while poor people are shut out of it. We believe that it is the responsibility of the government to build public spaces, protect green lands and ensure that they are accessible to all.

There have been agitations against the decision of Wike to commercialise the Park. The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), has been part of these agitations through the broad platform of the Network of Abuja Left Groups. On June 30, 2026, we joined other residents of Abuja in a protest to the Federal Capital Development Authority to express our dissatisfaction at the agenda to shut out poor people from Jabi Lake Park. Also, the criminal demolition and land grabbing by the Wike-led administration were raised at the protest. While there were promises by the representatives of the FCDA to look into our concerns, we are not disillusioned by this. What is needed to defeat Wike and his principal President Bola Tinubu is a united and persistent struggle of working people, youth, traders and all users of the Jabi Lake Park. In this regard, we are calling on all civil society groups, activists, the trade unions and members of the public to join the effort to build a formidable and united struggle to the commercialisation of Jabi Lake Park, as well as other anti-masses policies of the Wike-led administration that have thrown many communities and poor people into deeper hardship.