The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • NYSC and the rest of us

    NYSC and the rest of us

    • By Moyosore Shittu

    As it appears, we’re slowly forgetting that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) uniform was never meant to be a suit of armour. The initiative was designed to ensure unity, and is indeed a plausible measure that was conceived, following the historical civil war. The mission was to reconstruct and rebuild the nation by promoting common ties among citizens, by making graduates serve in states far from their homes, in an attempt to dismantle the walls of prejudice and ethnic discrimination. 52 years later, the NYSC khaki has become a vestment of fear, and today, the question that hangs heavy in the air is this: Is the pursuit of cultural unity, no matter how pertinent, worth more than the lives of citizens?

    Unarguably, the philosophy behind the NYSC initiative is beautiful and it is an acknowledgment that Nigeria’s strength lies in her diversity. We’ve read heartwarming stories of bonds that have been formed across various states, and have paved the way for many people. However, what was once grand and impressive has become a lottery of fate, because in the twinkling of an eye, the vision of a united Nigeria goes down the drain, as the scheme that was once an agent of integration, has become a mirror that reflects the failure of Nigeria to protect her citizens.

    For the Nigerian corp member, opening a posting letter feels like waiting for a sentence to be pronounced in a law court, because the euphoria is replaced with fear once the letter is opened and the name of the state is read out loud, revealing a region that is notorious for banditry, kidnapping, and violence.

    For the Nigerian corp member, the service year immediately goes from being a promising career springboard to being survival exercise, because they do not just learn new cultures; they also find themselves learning new security measures: Do not travel at night. Do not wear flashy jewellery. Do not walk alone. Always notify your friends of your location.

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    As a matter of fact, the NYSC’s controversial security handbook, once advised corp members to have a contact person ready to pay a potential ransom, and this is definitely the most visceral admission of the state’s failure. It’s not just a safety tip or preparation measure, but an outright resignation to the possibility of abduction.

    For parents and family members, the service year is a 365-day prayer session. Every news about an attack, every unreturned phone call causes their blood pressure to spike, and as the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has rightly appealed, no national programme, regardless of what it seeks to achieve, is worth the life of the Nigerian youth.

    When corp members are abducted, as has tragically happened time and time again, the ransom paid by distressed families, often with little or no government intervention is nothing but an indictment of the state’s security structure and a paradox of the whole initiative.

    It is important to reiterate that the core mandate of NYSC is defeated when actions are dictated by fear. Today, many graduates use ‘connection’ and every considerable means to ensure that they are redeployed to ‘safe’ states, or metropolitan centres like Lagos and Abuja. Now, it is more glaring than ever that the initiative is no longer unifying the nation, but exposing the systemic failure in the country, while the original unifying vision is sacrificed on the altar of fear.

    National unity must be pursued, but not at the expense of human life. One of the government’s obligations to citizens, which is enshrined in Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the provision of security and welfare, and this fundamental obligation must supersede any other policy, no matter how important.

    Experts like Chief Niyi Aborisade have called for a structural change, and indeed, concrete steps must be taken, because life is worth more than tradition. We cannot ask people’s children to be the cement of our nation if the foundation is crumbling and the cement mixer itself is a trap. We deserve the opportunity to serve the country without having to sign a contract with death; we deserve to live, and return home in one piece, after playing our part in building the unified Nigeria we desire.

    • Shittu contributed this piece from the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).

  • Institute appoints rector to Advisory Council

    Institute appoints rector to Advisory Council

    • By Sanusi Opeyemi,

    The Lagos Youth Development Institute (LYDI) has intensified its youth empowerment and leadership development agenda with the appointment of the Rector of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Dr  Ibraheem Abdul, as a member of its Advisory Council.

    The development followed a courtesy visit by the management of LYDI, led by its Director-General, Dr Jamiu Ademosu, to the  Rector, where both institutions explored areas of strategic collaboration aimed at deepening youth capacity building in Lagos State and Nigeria at large.

    Speaking during the visit, the Director-General described the institute as a youth-focused platform established under the aegis of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Lagos State Chapter, chaired by Adebo Ibrahim. According to him, LYDI is dedicated to grooming young people for leadership, entrepreneurship and civic responsibility.

    He explained that a flagship initiative of the institute is its three-month, cohort-based fellowship programme which annually selects 30 outstanding young people from across Lagos State’s three senatorial districts.

    The fellows undergo intensive training in leadership, entrepreneurship, digital and financial literacy, civic engagement and capacity building.

    The programme, he said, also exposes participants to real-life governance and development processes through field trips to key institutions, including government ministries, local government councils and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) offices. At the end of the fellowship, participants execute capstone projects aligned with the developmental agenda of the Lagos State Government.

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    The LYDI boss disclosed that the 2025 cohort had successfully graduated, with fellows already making significant impact in various sectors, while preparations are underway to recruit another set of 30 fellows for the new session.

    He added that the institute has recorded notable successes through partnerships with local and international organisations.

    “Through our collaboration with GIZ, over 600 young people have been trained in digital skills such as software engineering, data science and product design. We have also partnered with Bukahot Restaurant to facilitate job placements for young people in Lagos State,” he said.

    He noted that the visit to YABATECH was informed by the institute’s assessment of Abdul as a youth-friendly leader whose vision aligns with LYDI’s mission. The Rector, had earlier been formally nominated to serve on the institute’s Advisory Council as a mentor and guide.

     Abdul welcomed the LYDI delegation and expressed the college’s readiness to collaborate with the institute in advancing youth development.

    He described collaboration as critical in addressing the challenges facing Nigeria’s growing youth population.

    “Our mandate aligns perfectly with what LYDI is doing—developing young people for usefulness and national development. The space is large, and collaboration remains the key,” the Rector said.

    He highlighted several Centres within YABATECH that could support joint programmes, including the Comrade Hassan Sunmonu Centre for Leadership and Governance, the Centre for Women’s Leadership and Governance, and the Folawiyo Entrepreneurship Centre, all of which are focused on leadership development, governance and innovative thinking among youths.

     Abdul formally accepted his appointment to the LYDI Advisory Council, pledging to provide mentorship, guidance and institutional support to help the institute achieve its objectives.

  • Ethics and integrity failure

    Ethics and integrity failure

    • A sad commentary on MDAs

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related Offences Commission (ICPC) has lamented the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) and 12 other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government failed its Ethics and Integrity Compliance assessment for 2025. The ICPC stated that of the 357 MDAs screened, “the NNPC ranks last with zero across all four key pillar indicators.”

    While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission scored 91.83 percent, their midstream and downstream counterparts came a distant 278 on the list with a poor score of 38.25 percent. This should worry Nigerians, given the value of oil to the Nigerian economy.

    The ICPC instituted the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard (EICS) as a diagnostic and accountability tool to strengthen transparency, ethical conduct and institutional resilience within the Nigerian public sector.

    The scorecard takes cognisance of management culture and structure, financial systems, administrative systems, and anti-corruption and transparency unit. All these add up to the critical measurements of ethics and governance within the public sector.

    The ICPC stated that “the assessment exposed widespread weaknesses in the ethical standards and institutional integrity of most government agencies.” Of all the agencies evaluated, 48 (13.95 percent) recorded substantial compliance, 132 MDAs (38.37 percent) achieved partial compliance, and 141 MDAs (40.99 percent) showed poor compliance. Twenty-three MDAs (6.69 percent) were classified as non-compliant.

    Integrity and adherence to ethical conduct are the pillars of public service, and they determine the level of trust the people have in institutions and governments.

    The global benchmarks for integrity in the public service are usually very high. This accounts for the respect or disdain institutions and individuals that drive them often attract. In many countries, heads of governments and institutions often resign or are sacked when they lower the bar or are caught acting below standards.

    The public sector is the heartbeat of governments and the drivers are expected to make sure there is no trust deficit from the citizens. We are worried that the MDAs under review are too many and too critical to the development of the country. When MDAs lack ethical conduct and integrity, there must be worries across the board: governments, institutions and citizens. It means there are barricades to systemic functionality, trust, social responsibility and cohesion, accountability and effective governance.

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    For an agency like the NNPCL that provides the greater part of the country’s GDP, it is sad that their ethical and integrity quotients are too low. This possibly accounts for the fact that even as one of the global highest oil producers, the country’s citizens are in the global poorest category in terms of income distribution and other indices of a poor nation like unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, low life expectancy, maternal and child mortality. 

    What the lack of ethical conduct and integrity in the MDAs means is that their corruption is rife, inequality gets the fuel to multiply, there is total trust deficit in government at all levels, and the people feel alienated in the country.

    We commend the ICPC for bringing their findings to the public domain. The details of their analysis show some diligence and commitment to national growth.

    The public service in most countries recruits the best of the citizens in terms of professionalism and personal integrity. Questions must be asked about how the public servants that head these institutions are hired. When people are qualified in character and learning, when they head institutions and begin to fail, the system must have a way of purging such public servants.

    The findings of the ICPC must point a very bright torch into the dark tunnel of the executive and legislative arms of governments at all levels, especially for a country running a democracy. How are public servants hired? In the past, public servants used to be some of the most respected individuals in the country. People like Chief Philip, Asiodu, the late Dora Akunyili, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the late Lateef Jakande, Alhaji Gidado Idris, the late Maitama Sule, all have their names in the public service hall of fame.

     In recent times, looking for exceptional public servants has become a herculean task. The recruitment process seems to have undergone some political metamorphosis in ways that people with less personal integrity often get recruited and the result is what the ICPC has published.

    We are worried that both state and federal legislators seem to be failing in their oversight functions. We wonder how they can be earning salaries and allowances more than most legislators across the world but cannot as much as perform their oversight functions. The seeming rot in the MDAs is not an overnight issue. If the legislative arm had been thorough and consistent in their duties, we would not have what the ICPC has published.

    The country’s development is dependent on the value the people place on the systemic functionality of the public service. As is obvious from the report, most institutions of government are performing below par. We cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different result.

    There must be a deliberate effort to investigate reasons for the lack of adherence to ethical behaviour and integrity in the public service. There must be a willingness to punish or reward those who have either excelled or failed in their duties in the public sector.

    The recruitment process must be more stringent and result-oriented. A situation in which poor performance is not enough reason to lose a job cannot produce the best result. Our global reputation is at stake; the ICPC report does not help our image internationally.  Public servants, through their actions, become good or bad ambassadors of the country.

     In a highly digitalised world, this ICPC report is in the public domain and investors cannot have confidence in an economy with a public service with zero in ethics and integrity. The situation demands a comprehensive cleansing. 

  • Save Radio Nigeria, Kaduna

    Save Radio Nigeria, Kaduna

    • By Ibrahim Mustapha

    Sir: Radio Nigeria Kaduna stands as a historically significant broadcast institution in Nigeria. Founded in 1962 by a regional government and later integrated into the federal broadcasting system, it played key roles in national communication and development, spreading educational and cultural programs across the Hausa-speaking world.

    Despite facing infrastructure and relevance challenges in recent decades, its legacy as one of Africa’s most influential radio stations remains widely acknowledged.

    Radio Nigeria Kaduna (also known as Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN Kaduna) transmits its programmes using different types of radio broadcast technologies so people can receive the signals on ordinary radio receivers.

    Historically, Radio Nigeria Kaduna used shortwave (SW) frequencies to cover very long distances — reaching listeners across northern Nigeria and even other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Its Kaduna station broadcasts on medium wave (often called AM), which uses lower frequencies and cover a wide area, especially at night just as the FM frequencies serve local and regional audiences in Kaduna and nearby areas.

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    However, the shortwave service which covers wide range of services has largely collapsed and have not been operational thereby robbing the wider audiences the benefits of enjoying the hitherto various Hausa services provided by the station across the length and breadth of the country. Instead of focusing on rehabilitating the short wave transmission, the management now places more emphasis on online streaming through which listeners can access the station’s programmes anywhere via internet. With high cost of data, many regular listeners who relied on short wave (SW) transmission to enjoy their daily broadcasting programmes have been shut out of the station.

    The zonal director should go beyond lamentations or creating an alternative channel for Hausa, Nupe, Kanuri, Fulfulde listeners to fix the short wave (SW) transmission which covers wide areas. Radio Nigeria Kaduna is a historical station and a household name not only within Kaduna but entire northern Nigeria. Despite its   importance, radio station has continued to lose listeners due to the collapse of the Short wave (SW) transmission.

    With the Tinubu government’s policies and programmes, the need for sensitisation and passing of information to Nigerians in the language they understand and through the medium that is accessible to everyone is of paramount importance. It has therefore become imperative to quickly fix the SW for wider coverage. I am hereby appealing to the minister of information and communication to come to the aid of this historical and educative radio station by prevailing on the zonal director to do the needful and save the station before it collapses.

    •Ibrahim Mustapha,

    Pambegua, Kaduna State

  • Before we crucify Victor Osimhen!

    Before we crucify Victor Osimhen!

    • By Ogungbile Emmanuel Oludotun

    Sir: Victor Osimhen is not just Nigeria’s striker. He is Nigeria’s first defender; Nigeria’s first presser. Nigeria’s emergency midfielder when the shape collapses. He tracks back when others jog. He presses centre-backs built like trucks. He harasses goalkeepers into mistakes. He runs channels that are never rewarded with passes. He fights for second balls no highlight reel will ever celebrate. For these few years, Osimhen has done the work of defenders, midfielders and strikers combined and still gets reduced to a villain because he dared to shout.

    Let us also talk about sacrifice. Real sacrifice, not online patriotism. Osimhen has played through pain more times than Nigerians care to remember. He wore a protective mask not as fashion, but because his face was literally broken in service of club and country. He rushed back from injuries. He showed up for qualifiers others quietly missed. He chose Nigeria again and again despite chaos, politics, and dysfunction. Yet the moment frustration leaked into his body language, Nigerians behaved as though he had committed treason.

    And let me be clear, I am a fan. And if we are being honest, being a fan does not mean loving only the goals, the highlights, and the celebrations. Being a fan means taking the mess too. It means standing with your player on the good days and the uncomfortable ones. So to those who call themselves Osimhen fans and were part of Monday’s shame, a simple question must be asked, where are you now? Where are the loud hype merchants who sing his praises when he scores but disappear the moment he shows fire? What kind of fandom evaporates at the first sign of imperfection?

    It is therefore unsurprising that reports have begun to circulate suggesting Osimhen is considering walking away from the national team. Whether true or exaggerated, pause and ask yourself this: after what Nigerians showed him on Monday, what kind of non-human would not at least consider it? At what point does emotional abuse stop being called “criticism”? At what point does loyalty become self-harm? We demand unconditional commitment from players, yet treat them as disposable the moment they fail our emotional comfort test.

    What makes this hypocrisy even more insulting is how selective we are. In Europe, we worship players with “ego.” We call them monsters. Mentality kings. Serial winners. Diego Costa was chaotic. Zlatan was arrogant. Cristiano Ronaldo sulks, gestures, demands, fumes. Luis Suárez bites and still gets defended. These players are excused because their hunger is seen as greatness. But when Osimhen shows the same obsession, Nigerians suddenly discover moral standards they do not apply anywhere else.

    Monday also exposed something Nigerians refuse to confront; we are uncomfortable with players who demand more from us and from their teammates. Osimhen did not react because Nigeria was losing. He reacted because Nigeria could be better. That is not indiscipline; that is expectation. Serious teams are not built on silence. They are built on standards, friction, and accountability.

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    And context matters. This Super Eagles team is still evolving. Chemistry does not fall from the sky. Voices will be raised. Emotions will spill. That is football at the highest level. Pretending otherwise is dishonest. Yet Nigerians froze one moment and used it to construct an entire personality profile, complete with insults, boos, and character assassination.

    What happened on Monday was not “constructive criticism.” It was bullying. Booing your own player in the middle of a tournament is not love, not support, not standards, it is self-sabotage.

    Nigerians demand loyalty from players but offer none in return. Today you are king; tomorrow you are disposable. We have done this before. We will do it again. Then we will rewrite history and pretend we were always supportive.

    Victor Osimhen is not perfect. He never claimed to be. But perfection has never been the standard we apply to ourselves, so it is dishonest to demand it from him. Nigerians complain endlessly about players lacking elite mentality, yet panic the moment one behaves like an elite competitor. We want winners, but only the obedient, quiet, apologetic kind.

    Victor Osimhen did not fail Nigeria on Monday. Nigeria failed Victor Osimhen, again. And until Nigerian fans learn that loving greatness means enduring its rough edges, we will keep asking the same tired question in the future: “Why don’t our stars love us anymore?”

    Maybe the answer has never been far away. Maybe it has always been us.

    •Ogungbile Emmanuel Oludotun,

    <thedreamchaser65@gmail.com>

  • Bauchi: Prioritising titles over classrooms

    Bauchi: Prioritising titles over classrooms

    • By Yasir Shehu Adam

    Sir: The Bauchi State government has announced the appointment of 142 District Heads across the 20 emirates and chiefdoms in the state, describing the move as an effort to strengthen traditional governance and grassroots administration.

    The chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, Abubakar Wabi, disclosed this during a media briefing at the Government House in Bauchi. According to him, the exercise followed the Bauchi State Chieftaincy (Appointment and Deposition) Law, 2025, which led to the creation of 20 emirate councils and chiefdoms and, consequently, the establishment of new districts.

    With this development, Bauchi State now has over 140 newly created districts, added to the already existing ones, bringing the total number of districts in the state to well over several hundreds.

    While government officials argue that the appointments will enhance coordination at the grassroots, many Bauchi residents are asking more urgent questions: Is this the most pressing problem of the state? Does the creation of new districts and appointment of district heads solve the crisis in education, health care, or youth unemployment?

    Across Bauchi State today, public schools lack basic learning materials, classrooms are overcrowded or dilapidated, and many children are still out of school. Health facilities remain under-equipped, understaffed, and inaccessible to rural dwellers. At the same time, thousands of young people roam the streets without jobs, skills, or hope for the future.

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    These are the real challenges confronting the people.

    Yet, instead of prioritizing education, health care, job creation, and social welfare, the government continues to expand political and traditional structures that place additional financial burden on the state. The key question remains unanswered: How does this appointment boost the economy of Bauchi State? How does it reduce poverty, unemployment, or insecurity?

    In a democratic system, government is often described as “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” In this situation, many citizens are struggling to see how these appointments directly serve their daily needs or improve their standard of living.

    This is not an attack on traditional institutions, which have played vital roles in community leadership and conflict resolution. Rather, it is a call for clear priorities. A state with weak education cannot develop. A state with a poor health system cannot protect lives. A state with unemployed youths cannot sustain peace and stability.

    Illiteracy does not bring development. Poor health systems do not save lives. Idle and frustrated youths do not build peaceful societies.

    Year after year, I have consistently emphasized in my writings that education, health, and job creation are the foundations of human development and sustainable growth. Any government that truly seeks progress must place these sectors at the centre of its policies and spending.

    The people of Bauchi deserve honest answers from decision-makers: Why now? At what cost? And to what direct benefit to ordinary citizens? Leadership is not measured by the number of titles created, but by the number of lives improved.

    •Yasir Shehu Adam (Dan Liman),

    Bauchi

  • Maduro’s capture and the breakdown of international order

    Maduro’s capture and the breakdown of international order

    On January 3, at about 1300hours, the president of Venezuela, his wife Cilla Flores, and his only biological son, Nicolas Ernesto Madura Guerra, were captured in one of the presidential safe houses in Caracas and spirited to New York on an American gunboat and are now facing trial in New York for drug running involving millions of tons of cocaine into the USA and narco-conspiracy.  He was additionally charged with gun running.

    He was born on November 23, 1962 in the capital city of Caracas to a trade unionist father. He was a previous bus driver and transport unionist before becoming a member of parliament in 2000 and five years later, he became president of the National Assembly and foreign minister from 2006 to 2012 and vice president from 2012 to 2013. He became interim president after his mentor, Hugo Chavez, died in 2013. He became president after a snap election in 2013. In 2018 and 2024, he was re-elected in what his opponents called sham elections and repression of democratic forces, following which most Western countries refused to recognize his government.

    His regime moved closer to Cuba, China which buys 70% of its production of crude oil, and Russia and Cuba buys the remainder at premium prices. The country is sitting on about 40% of global known oil reserves. The exploitation of crude petroleum was largely developed by giant American oil firms before all of them, with the exception of Chevron were nationalised and expropriated by the Hugo Chavez socialist government in the 1970s. Those American oil companies nationalized included Standard Oil Company, now Exxon Mobil, Gulf Oil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips. From the 1970s nationalisation and expropriation of major American companies, the production of crude oil, either by design or incompetence, declined to just about one million barrels daily. The capture of Maduro came after months of an American armada of ships, air force, aircraft carriers air force aircraft of different types from stealth bombers, to helicopters naval assets of all kinds from submarines to attack naval crafts and deployments of FBI and CIA operatives. The apparent easy way the operation was conducted belied the fact of the cost and efficiency and effectiveness of American coordinated armed and security forces.

    The Americans say none of their troops was wounded or killed but Cuba claimed that 32 of the intelligence officers in Venezuela were killed during the operation. After the success of Maduro and his wife’s capture, then what follows is the big question. From what President Donald Trump, the president of the USA and his foreign minister, Marco Rubio have been saying since the invasion of Venezuela, it does not seem there is a well thought-out plan for post invasion than his saying simply that he was planning to bring back the American oil companies that were driven out in 1970s out of Venezuela to come back after the success of the invasion. President Trump indicated the oil companies will come back to rehabilitate the degraded facilities to make America and Venezuela people rich. This will be under American administration. He also went further that Marco Rubio was already talking to Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez who had been appointed by Maduro as his vice president since June 14, 2018 and apparently retaining the other key elements of the Maduro government in office which will negate the whole purpose of the invasion of Venezuela in the first place by retaining the Maduro’s criminal infrastructure. It seems the Americans would be happy with remnants of the Maduro administration if it can run the country to the benefit of American oil interest.

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    Perhaps America has learnt from its previous mistakes of totally disbanding of the Iraqi troops after capturing Saddam Hussein, thus creating a security vacuum which criminals filled.

    I personally felt very sorry for President Trump to have been left to commit so much blunder while addressing the world press after the glorious military exercise. He ought to have been given a cryptic statement to read instead of his rambling about producing crude oil to pay off American oil companies following nationalising of the oil companies. There was no need to spell out what his victory would entail and anger not only the Venezuelan citizens, but also large measure of radical American and global population and people in neighbouring countries like Canada and Mexico.

    As somebody with some experience in government, we would not have allowed our president to commit this kind of blunders while addressing the global community. One of these blunders committed by Trump was his dismissal of the democratic opposition in Venezuela and particularly his comment on the Nobel Laureate, Maria Corina Machado as not being popular and effective. By this statement, the potential American supporters are being alienated.

    He is opening his country to much opposition from the global community to his rather abrasive policies and pronouncements. The Mexican and Colombian presidents are already shouting at the roof tops that Trump should perish the thoughts of similar actions against their countries. The president of Iran whose people are demonstrating against his regime and Trump’s statement that its guns are ready and loaded against the Islamic Republic should it attack the demonstrators against its regime. The Danish government owners of Greenland being publicly demanded by Trump for American security say over and over again that the large Arctic island is not for sale. Some enemies of our country and its current government are urging Trump to direct its action to Nigeria.

    Whoever thinks this kind of pleas will be considered because one is against the current administration in Nigeria should ask himself under what justification that would be legitimately considered. In the meantime, opposition against American intervention is gathering support from US Democrats in Congress, the UN Secretary General and generally the governments of global South which Trump’s policies and action had angered, irritated and generally put at arm’s length. The Security Council of the UN has been meeting to discuss the American government’s action but it is known by most people that the structure of the UN would militate against the UN because the USA, like the remaining four permanent members of the UN has the veto power against all possible action of the Security Council which requires UNANIMOUS action of the five permanent members. This is because structurally, the UN is handicapped and will be unable to do anything to the US, and not even a condemnation because decisions in UNSC are taken by unanimous decision and even if Great Britain and France are unhappy about the US action, they will not join China and Russia to unanimously condemn the USA and if they do the USA will veto it.

    The consequences of the actions of the USA would empower Russia to intensify its actions against Ukraine and China would use the same USA forceful action to take over Taiwan and India may be emboldened in her policies towards Sri Lanka and Jammu and Kashmir thus opening a Pandora Box of desire by bigger and more powerful countries to forcefully run over and annex neighbouring states they had hitherto claimed leading to a breakdown of international order and war will become acceptable for settling international relations.

    The world is entering a phase where national power would be the most important lever of the engine of international relations.

  • Celebrating Hassan Sunmonu @ 85

    Celebrating Hassan Sunmonu @ 85

    • By Issa Aremu

    Yesterday, January 7, comrades, progressive forces and well-wishers converged in Abuja for the 85th birthday celebration of Comrade Hassan Adebayo (HA) Sunmonu OON. Comrade HA was the pioneer founding president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), twice elected NLC President (1978 to 1984). He was   the longest elected secretary-general of Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) based in Accra (October 1986 to December 2012, some 26 years and two months). He was a regular delegate at conferences International Labour Organization spanning decades. The high point of the 85th birthday celebration was the formal presentation of his memoirs titled “Organize, Don’t Agonize”.

    Born with his identical twin brother, Engr Hussein Sunmonu on January 7, 1941 at Osogbo, in Osun State, the Sunmonus are the most spectacular identical twins to see any day! It seems age sharpens their similarities in mannerism and outlook. I recall in  2010, HA was honoured by Micheal Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies ( MINILS), Ilorin with a fellowship in recognition of his consistent promotion of labour education. His twin brother Hussein represented him. As a privileged reciter of the profile of the recipient, only myself and the then Director General of the Institute, John Olanrewaju knew it was Hussein Sunmonu who took the centre-stage and NOT Comrade HA! Many were in disbelief when Engr Hussein disclosed he was receiving the award on behalf of his twin brother who could not come in person! The difference was not clear in their voices, gesticulation and jokes.

    HA is an acknowledged, tested, committed trade unionist, a patriot, a pan Africanist and a global citizen of profound integrity. He was raised and mentored in a developmentalist Nigeria; a product of the then functional public schools.

    He started his education career at Ansar-Ud-Deen School in Osogbo from 1948 – 1950. He attended All Saints School, Osogbo from 1950 – 1954, where he got his First School Leaving Certificate in December 1954; and then in 1955, Osogbo Grammar School and from there to Yaba Technical Institute in September 1957. He obtained General Certificate in Education (GCE) Ordinary Level in 1961, later bagged the Secondary Technical Certificate, moved to Yaba College of Technology from 1961 to 1964 and obtained the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Civil Engineering and the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering. HA proceeded to Italy for a post-graduate diploma course in Highway Engineering. His educational grounding shows that contrary to the false class assumption of the ruling (ruining!) elite, the labour movement is indeed knowledge led.

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    One essential imprint of HA is cultivating a knowledge-based movement. As the founding president of the NLC, he consciously attracted first class, conscious graduate activists to the NLC as full time officers. On graduating in the late 80s, he single-handedly pulled me out of an equally fulfilling media job to the NLC to swell the ranks of the NLC Secretariat ably led by late Dr Lasisi Osunde, supported by tested comrades like Lawson Osagie, Dr Yahaya Hashim, Salisu Muhammed, Femi Aborishade and a number of others. He pioneered the inclusion of labour candidates on the participants list of NIPSS, Kuru Jos.

    A witty wag and a “mobile library”, trade unionists and comrades alike globally cannot wait for his compelling memoir! As the president of the NLC, he was a resource fellow at the seminar series of Senior Executive course (SEC 2) of 1980. After the usual question and answer sessions, he demanded for labour participation at the executive course initiated by Obasanjo military regime meant to build capacity for executives drawn from the tripod of government, business and labour communities with the objective of working towards a better society. Since then, NLC/TUC had sent scores of participants who are now members of the National Institute (mnis).

    HA was almost an activist by birth. And he is still organizing at 85 (a national trustee of Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU!). He was a star veteran speaker at the 2025 May Day rally at Eagle Square in Abuja. Once an organizational man, always one! Comrade Hassan Sunmonu was once an active students’ union leader; secretary, Muslim Students’ Society (MSS), Yaba Technical Institute Branch from 1958 – 1961, national auditor, Muslim Students’ Union Society of Nigeria between 1962 -1967, President, Yaba College of Technology Students’ Union between September 1966 – June, 1967. He was president, National Association of Technological Students (NATS) between September 1966 – June, 1967 and second vice president, National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) between September 1966 – June 1967.

    His unblemished trade union career has spanned well over five decades! He was once the second assistant secretary (international), Public Works Aerodrome Technical and General Works’ Union of Nigeria between August 1974 – November 1977; president, Civil Service Technical Workers Union of Nigeria between November, 1977 – February, 1981; president, Nigeria Labour Congress between February 1978 – February, 1984;, Director of Industrial Relations, Civil Service Technical Workers Union of Nigeria between march 1984 – October, 1986. Until recently he was the Secretary-General, Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) from October 1986. HA’s trade union career was both by popular elections through workers’ votes and also full appointment.

    Following the recommendations of the Justice Adebiyi Tribunal of Inquiry into the Activities of the Trade Unions in 1977, under the military, some unionists including number one labour leader, Chief Micheal Imoudu were “banned” from trade union activities. Under the controversial policy of “guided democracy” and “limited government intervention”, the military regime of Olusegun Obasanjo had aimed at cultivating a tamed and subservient labour centre. However, the workers reaffirmed their preference for independent organization by electing Hassan Sunmonu as the first president of the restructured congress in 1978 with others like D.C. Ojeli, P.O. Ero-Philips, late M. E. Mpamungo, deputy president, treasurer and deputy treasurer respectively. HA’s leadership of NLC from 1978 to 1984 is a compulsory read for today’s trade unionists on how to operate under a new democratic dispensation. NLC under HA fought and won the battle to make May 1 a public holiday, fought and won the struggle for a new minimum wage of N125 ($240) in 1981 after a successful nation-wide strike under President Shehu Shagari’s administration. Given the current poverty of knowledge on the imperatives of national minimum wage among most state governors, legislators, I recommend Comrade Hassan Adebayo and his memoirs for beginners in minimum wage determination through collective bargaining and collective actions.

    Notwithstanding the divisive strategy of the Second Republic politicians aimed at splitting the NLC, into “democrats” and “Marxists”, HA sustained the unity of the trade movement through all-inclusive ideologically-driven movement. He championed similar unity efforts within NLC in 2015 under his respected chairmanship.

    Very few unionists courageously talked straight to power. The historic Charter of Demands under HA leadership remains the first agenda-setting document for decent work by Nigeria’s working class. As a worker, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu had added value to developmentalist Nigeria. As an engineer with Federal Ministry of works, he worked on so many offices and road projects that included Zaria – Kano Road reconstruction; Igolo – Porto Novo Road (Benin Republic); dualization of Denton Causeway (Oyingbo – Iddo, Lagos) by direct labour; construction of the National Arts Theatre, Lagos; and construction of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, among others.  A multi-linguist; he is fluent in Yoruba, English, French, Italian and Twi (Ghanaian language). HA has been honoured nationally and internationally. Recipient of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) on December 18, 2001, he was also honoured with the National Order of Burkina Faso in December, 2009.

    Happy 85th  birthday to both HA, twin brother, Hussein Sunmonu, and providentially his wife, Alhaja Wasilat Titilayo Sunmonu, who shares birthday with him and turns 76 today! Happy birthday to a legendary veteran comrade.

    •Comrade Aremu mni is Director General Micheal Imoudu National Institute for Labour studies, Ilorin, Kwara State

  • Matters arising

    Matters arising

    IT IS EARLY DAYS yet in the new year, but things have been happening at dizzying speed. The American President Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela; the coming of the tax law; the political gerrymandering of Governor Seyi Makinde and former Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun; and the unfolding developments on the political scene have started to shape 2026.

    From nowhere, the United States (U.S.) invaded oil-rich Venezuela last Saturday, snatched President Nicolas Maduro, his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them to New York, where they are now facing trial for narcotic and other related offences. The invasion has defined the beginning of the year like no other issue has.

    Trump is still hungry for more territories. He is eyeing Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Greenland, which is under the sovereignty of Denmark in Europe. The world is on edge as Trump continues in his desperate bid to use the American might to oppress, suppress, and depress other countries. What does he want? His fellow American compatriots too cannot say. Many of them are not happpy with the image he is giving their country, but they cannot do anything to stop him.

    His allies are comfortable with him. Allies like Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller can die for him. They have lauded his invasion of Venezuela, describing him as “a talk and do president”. “When this president says he is going to do something, you had better listen because he will surely do it”, Rubio enthused on television shortly after the invasion, which Trump described as “watching television”.

    How can any person reduce the invasion of another country’s territorial integrity to ‘watching television’. That is Trump for you. He poses as the fighter for the rights of the oppressed in some countries, but does the opposite elsewhere where assets that he wants to acquire are at stake. After the invasion, he says U.S. would ‘run’ Venezuela and has warned its new president, Delcy Rodriguez, to play along with him or suffer a fate worse than Maduro’s. Will the world just watch and allow him to annex Greenland too?

    All of a sudden because of the tax law which implementation began seven days ago, almost every Nigerian has become a bean counter. We now look at everything in terms of the cost of tax. If I do this or that, how much tax will I pay? This is the question they now ask. It is not everything that is taxable. You will not pay tax on food or recharge cards or data. You will only pay tax on your income.

    Anything that does not come to you as income is not taxable. Money transferred to you to help a friend buy a car, build a house or for your personal use is not taxable. The stamp duty for transfer hitherto known as electronic money transfer levy will be paid by the sender. The charge is N50 for every transfer above N10000. The pay as you earn (PAYE) deducted from monthly salary has been reworked to exempt certain class of workers from income tax payment.

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    Those earning N800000 and below per annum are exempted from payment. Workers will now pay tax on salary above the N800000 threshold. If you are earning N900000, N1 million and so on, you pay tax calculated on the N100000, N200000 et al, that is above the N800000 mark. This means that high income earners will pay more tax in order to bring relief to the poor, who earn little or nothing.

    The beauty of the law is its provision for the Tax Ombudsman whose job, among others, is to ensure that none is unduly taxed or ripped off. Government should ensure that the ombudsman does his job effectively and efficiently without delay. Complaints should not be allowed to drag too long, otherwise the purpose of having the office, which I believe will be in all the 36 states and Abuja, will be defeated.

    Makinde is fighting to extricate himself from a self-inflicted problem over the Bodija explosion fund. Former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose said Makinde got N50 billion from the Federal Government. Makinde said it was N30 billion. Whether N50 billion or N30 billion why did Makinde have to wait for Fayose’s exposè  before he told the world about the N30billion? So, if Fayose did not say anything, Makinde and his administration would have kept quiet about the fund and pretended that all is well after spending N4.5 billion out of it, without mentioning the source of the money?

    The affairs of a democratic government are not run like that. Did the governor even tell the House of Assembly about the money? Was the N4.5 billion disbursed with the lawmakers’ appropriation? The governor’s claim that a certain percentage of the N20 billion balance is being demanded before release is an afterthought. Why did he not cry out before the Fayose revelation? Did he undertake the recent changes in his executive council because of a leak about  this development?

    Kemi Adeosun has found her voice years after she resigned as finance minister over a fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate. She said her resignation was not admission of guilt. Is that so? Did she use a fake NYSC discharge certificate or not? Use of fake documents is an offence. If she is sure of what she is saying, she can ask that the case be reopened for investigation. Otherwise, she should let sleeping dogs lie.

    The political scene is bubbling ahead of 2027. Peter Obi has defected from Labour Party (LP) to African Democratic Congress (ADC).Will he get the party’s 2027 presidential ticket? Can he still count on the support of the Obi-dients, the vociferous movement on social media with little electoral value? How many votes can those openly identifying with his defection to ADC give him? How strong politically is the man who says he would withdraw his support for him if he does not get ADC’s ticket? Some people just like to sound off!

    Let’s sign off on Rivers and its potentialities for the 2027 elections. Will Governor Siminilayi Fubara get a second term ticket on his new platform, APC? If he does, can he win? Can his estranged godfather, who is Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike stop him from getting APC ticket or determine who becomes the next governor? All eyes are on the state as to how these issues and the bigger presidential contest will play out in 2027. These are early days yet, but they are pointers to what to expect next year.

  • Nigeria’s dilemma in fight against insecurity

    Nigeria’s dilemma in fight against insecurity

    • By Mike Kebonkwu

    Nigeria cannot defeat insecurity for as long as we continue to call criminals freedom fighters!  We cannot defeat criminality and insurgency if we continue to defend anarchists and terrorists as religious martyrs persecuted for faith. To defeat insecurity we must all see the criminals for who they are; a scourge and enemies of the state to be decisively dealt with. 

    Advocating for negotiation, rehabilitation, compensation and political engagement with bare-faced criminals and terrorists makes crime attractive. Insecurity in Nigeria has become like Octopus, cut one appendage, it continues with other legs; it is migratory and communities are sometimes complicit, and unwilling to give information about their presence. 

    How does the nation tackle the scourge of insecurity in a complex and divided country like ours? While some politicians and elites prefer appeasement and negotiation, others feel that it should be confronted with necessary lethal force which will force them to surrender. We got to a point that many Nigerians felt that the government should engage private security contractors and mercenaries to fight the insurgency in the Northeast that was fast spreading to other parts of the country.  I know from personal experience that the Nigerian military has the capacity to rein in the criminals and terrorists if the necessary leadership and political will are made available. 

    The entire country has become theatre of operation and the criminals have become more daring and reckless. The bandits are operating in the Northwest with ferocious force and bloody campaign.  Every other day, there is a splinter group with equal violence like the Lakurawa.  Whether the insurgents and bandits tormenting the country are zealots driven by religious ideology or not, they are criminals and enemies of the state; their tribes notwithstanding.  We should stop reducing the argument to labelling and stereotyping of tribes and focus on dealing with the scourge. 

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    Insecurity is a complex industry and a huge business with equally complex networks.  We are also contending with killer herdsmen and kidnappers in the Middle Belt down to the South.   It has been agonizing for the Southeast who are under the yoke of bloody campaign by unknown gunmen and militant agitation for self determination.  Some analysts have been loud, demanding that the government should engage friendly countries for defence and intelligence supplies and support. 

    It has taken the threat of the maverick narcissist, Donald Trump the president of the United States of America who promised to come gun-a-blazing to attack the “ISIS” (The Islamic State of Irag and Syria) backed terrorists in Nigeria after designating Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) on account of perceived persecution and genocide of Christians to rekindle the fire on the government on the urgency to act. 

    By the way, President Donald Trump is not a Christian religious crusader. He is an uncontrollable power drunk and  the scourge of the 21st Century civilization like the Biblical Nebuchadnezzar.   He is an impulsive tyrant who does not recognize any rule of engagement.  He unleashes America’s military might on countries and organizations he suspects to be supporting global terrorism and political dictatorship in Third World countries. He may have bowed to the pressures of some evangelicals to intervene in Nigeria to halt the haemorrhage which has become common place in the country.  At last, Donald Trump made good his threat and on December 25, 2025 the United States military launched missiles from their platform warship off the coast of Guinea into Jabo, an obscure town in Sokoto State. We are told that it was a joint operation with the Nigerian government supplying the intelligence. Nobody appears to know the extent of the casualty suffered by the insurgents and terrorists.  However, the missile attack has sent real jilters and has recalibrated the fight against insecurity with the Nigerian military becoming more offensive.  However, some elites and religious fanatics are up in arms that the missile launch  on the terrorists is targeted against  Muslim north, while some errant activists see it as a violation of our sovereignty. 

    It is intellectual dishonesty to argue that the American strike is a violation of our sovereignty after the government as openly explained it was at its approval in joint operation.   In any case, one wonders what is actually left of our sovereignty when terrorists and non state actors collect taxes in the ungovernable spaces and some local councils in the north, while militant agitators for self determination impose and enforce restrictions in states in the Southeast. 

    In saner climes, the spy agencies should have full dossiers of every person in public space especially the political elite and religious clerics spreading incendiary and inciting discontent in a secular state.  They are to be picked up for questioning where it is clearly they have become complicit and acting as mouthpiece for the criminals. The security agencies should also have the profile of all those driving the criminal underworld instead of chasing protesters, critics and political witch-hunt.  We do not want bandits to be killed because they are our bandits; we do not want terrorists to be killed because they are our terrorists, martyrs of faith.  We do not want kidnappers and marauding killer herdsmen to be killed because they are our kinsmen.   Yet we offer the poor masses as sacrificial lambs and ransom to the deities of these criminal cartels daily on the roads.  

    We cannot defeat insecurity and criminality by arming tribal militias with military grade weapons. We cannot defeat terrorism with proliferation of firearms and light weapons in the hands of non state actors. The country is awash with weapons. We are creating and arming every paramilitary organization and agencies.  Very soon we will ask that the Boys Scout should be armed.  We have militarized the entire political space of Nigeria without safety and protection.

    The role and responsibility of the National Security Adviser (NSA) in relation to the coordination of operational issues and arming of paramilitary organizations and tribal militias should be interrogated.  We are inadvertently drifting towards arming tribal armies and militias without command and control which in no distant time will plunge the nation in another phase of security crisis.

    To make the country peaceful and engage in socio-economic activities again, the criminals terrorizing the country should be eliminated by all means possible. How do we achieve this?  Leave that to the military and equip them with clear marching order.  Nigeria should not be allowed to become the nest and haven or operational base and headquarters for global violent terrorists’ organizations.  We either agree and deal with the scourge of insecurity collectively as Nigerians and stop the divisive rhetoric and protection of criminals, or risk the inevitable historical solution of dissolution of the republic, God forbid!

    •Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney. He writes via mikekebonkwu@yahoo.com