The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Money, Money, Money

    Money, Money, Money

    It is not difficult to imagine that as man began to accumulate wealth and property, the need to devise a means of keeping track of one’s property became increasingly pressing. It was well and good to have fifty head of cattle but what were they worth? Maybe using cattle as an example in this case is not ideal because even now,  some peoples around the world measure their wealth in cattle and are doing very well. It is for this reason that in certain parts of Africa, bride price is paid in cattle. For example in Zimbabwe where the rate of inflatioin has climbed above 300%, enterprising people are setting up cow banks in which trading is in cows rather than the local currency which over the years has become a sick joke. As long as the cattle are properly looked after, they appreciate in value and because the investment appreciated through reproduction, a hedge against devaluation is built up over the years and since it can be a life long investment the appreciation over the years can become quite considerable making an investment in cattle rearing a worthwhile proposition. The next time you come across a herd of cattle unconcernedly and rather contentedly cropping grass  by the road side, or sadly on somebody’s farm,  what you are looking at is a bank on the hoof. The difficulty in investing in such a bank is the lack of transferability of such funds into other accounts to buy something as mundane as a newspaper as you can easily do with paper money.

    Money as we know it did not always exist. It had to be invented to enhance commerce, the movement of goods and services within and between communities. In the simplest form trade developed between neighbouring people who needed to satisfy their mutual needs by exchanging goods among themselves. For example people in riverine areas exchanged their fish for the agricultural produce of their neighbours who lived some distance away from any substantial body of water. Some other examples are a lot weightier than fish, yams and other products, because of their scarcity, assume the quality of currency. There was a time when salt was so precious that it was an important article of trade. It had a scarcity value that transcended it’s utility value and the people who had access to salt guarded this resource as jealously as they could because it was worth more than it’s weight in gold. The humble pepper was at one time a very important article of trade and served as currency in some parts of the world. As a matter of fact, the Europeans had, after their exposure to spices including pepper during their Crusader misadventures were so desperate for a reliable source for their fux that they sailed west in their quest to find a route to the spice fields of the East, mainly India. This need had arisen because their route to the Orient had been blocked by the Ottomans.They sailed west in order to get to India and came to the New World. Believing that they had arrived at their destination, they called the people they encountered, Indians! Not long after, the Spanish under the leadership of the Italian, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. Vasco da Gama sailing under the Portuguese flag sailed all the way to India round the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa to correct the earlier error of sailing west in search of India. This ushered in the era of European exploitation of Africa, an era which has spread to the present. All because the Europeans were desperate to lay their hands on the spices of India. They went in search of spices but found gold all along the way striping every territory along the way of any gold that could be found under their sub-soil.

    Gold has been the most trusted repository of wealth in the world and in all probability it will always be. At the slightest hint of economic distress, there is a precipitous rush to acquire this precious metal if only as a hedge against damaging inflation. So great has been the lure of gold that it has been the reason for the greatest crimes against mankind throughout the history of the world. On the other hand, it has, in equal measure been the greatest spur to human development. For example, the greatest impetuous to American development was provided by the discovery of gold in California in 1849. This led to the development of the railway from the east coast to the West and later on the opening of the Panama canal which allowed ships to go through the isthmus of Panama rather than go through the perils awaiting them in the Straits of Magellan at the tip of South America. The story of gold cannot be complete without the mention of the effect of this metal on the peoples of South Africa since it’s discovery in the area of Johannesburg (City of gold) in 1886. All the crimes which the White people in that country have committed against Blacks from that time on has been caused by this discovery. All the development associated with South Africa has also been achieved on the back of this precious metal as well as it the diamonds mined in Kimberly.

    Ironically, gold is useless for all practical purposes except as a reserve commodity for storing wealth. Even for this purpose gold has not exercised this function since the Americans under the presidency of Richard Nixon took the USA off the gold standard. In other words, there is nothing holding up the dollar and as much of it can be printed as the controlling authorities decide but what this means is a continuous depression in the value of the dollar. The consequence of this for the global economy can only be imagined but it is all bad. It is for this reason that the global economy has not recovered fully from the effects of the crash of 2008 when the financial institutions responsible for the administration of global finance crashed spectacularly and governments had to bail them out. It does not look as if the world has learnt anything from that crash and is waiting for an inevitable repeat in the future which could be quite near.

    Gold has, more than any other metal with the possible exception of silver been associated with currency as far back as the dynasties that ruled Egypt so many centuries ago. Before and since then some rather exotic substances have been used as currency in many different parts of the world. Long before the coming of the Europeans to the Americas and their incessant and tireless foraging for gold, the indigenous peoples of that continent had used various things as currency. This is in spite of the abundance of gold and silver deep under their feet. Those precious metals were used for the manufacture of exquisite jewelry and other decorative items which dazzled the first Europeans who in any way had come so far away from home in search of Eldorado, the mythical city of gold. They did not find Eldorado but found gold which they straight away looted and carted off to Spain to strengthen their own currency.

    The Aztecs and Mayans who had built impressive, centrally administered political units in different parts of Central and South America used various things as currency in spite of their access to large quantities of gold. There was a time when in some parts of their continent feathers, admittedly, very beautiful feathers plucked from the quetzal bird was the repository of the wealth of the people.

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    Cocoa was so highly priced in that region that it was also used as currency. This commodity which later on became the source of both public and private wealth in certain parts of Nigeria (echoes of Cocoa House) was generated by the Mayans and the beans obtained from the fruit was considered as a gift to mankind from Quetzacoatl, the god of wisdom, making these seeds sacred. Only the best seeds were used as currency, and the smaller ones were consumed as a beverage or fermented into alcohol. Cocoa beans, in spite of several difficulties including the guarantee of supplies as well as perishability were used as currency in Mesoamerica for more than a millennium.

    At the time that the Spaniards were eviscerating the ancient empires of Mesoamerica, the Portuguese were doing the same thing in Africa. Those two European powers were extracting so much wealth from their respective areas of influence that, to reduce the possibility of conflict between them, the Pope, at that time, the de facto ruler of Western Europe divided the world into two halves and awarded the Americas to Spain whilst Africa was handed over to the Portuguese. The Spanish wasted no time in wasting the indigenes in their area of the New World and began to replace them with Africans captured mainly from the Portuguese half of the world. Since the Papal Bull of demarcation prevented the Spanish from operating in Africa, they issued contracts called the Asiento to other Europeans, notably the English, the Danes and the Dutch for the supply of African slaves to Spanish territories in the New World thereby imbuing African bodies with the property of currency since they could be used to purchase goods and services.

    The direct use of people as currency was not very convenient and so the slave trade led to the development of a special currency which was called the manilla. This was a horseshoe shaped trinket which was struck mainly in Britain, more specially Birmingham, Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Denmark. The different varieties of manillas which were used over several hundred years were struck from; copper, brass, an alloy of copper and zinc and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. Interestingly, recent studies have shown that the famous Benin bronzes were cast with manillas  struck in Germany and are actually composed of brass. Apparently, the manillas were melted by the Benin artists to produce those exquisite works of art for which Benin is even now, justly famous. For four hundred years manillas were exchanged for slaves in Africa and shipped under the most appalling conditions imaginable to the New World and into a short lifetime of unremitting toil and suffering. Their unpaid labour laid the foundation for the American economy which is now by far, the largest in the world. Apart from a few works of art which were looted anyway and carried of the Europe Africa got nothing, absolutely nothing from the the horrors of the slave trade.

    Manillas did not fade away at the end of the slave trade as the commodity traded just shifted from people to palm oil. The Europeans produced the mantillas used in trading with Africa and just as it was with the Roman dinar, the manilla lost weight steadily over five hundred years but surprisingly, it continued to be a widely used currency in many parts of West Africa until it was decommissioned by the British as recently as 1949.

  • Adamu Fika and persona of the old-school bureaucrat

    Adamu Fika and persona of the old-school bureaucrat

    I had started to write this piece before I became the subject of national news. This tribute is therefore a convenient point to sign-off OP-EDs, which has been a pastime extension of my life mission as a governance cum institutional reformer and scholar. Indeed, Nigerians had by now reconciled to the demise of Alhaji Adamu Fika, Wazirin Fika, former secretary to the federal government, and an extraordinary public servant. My reaction to his death, at a good old nonagenarian age of ninety, is to reminisce not only on my perception of his status as a public servant (bolstered by the few association we had), but also on his significance in understanding the trajectory of the Nigerian civil service in its unfolding dynamics and attempts to become a truly reformed value-based professional institution that complements democratic governance in its effective service delivery to Nigerians.

    Thus, Alhaji Fika had been there all along, and all through the emergence and historical trajectories of the Nigerian civil service system. In many of my public commentaries, I have celebrated him, alongside those whom I placed in the golden era of public service in Nigeria; the likes of Simeon Adebo, Jerome Udoji, Francesca Emmanuel, Allison Ayida, Phillips Asiodu, Sule Katagum, Grey Longe, Ahmed Joda, and many more. This golden era refers to that period in Nigeria’s administrative history when the civil service system was eminently set and capable of delivering optimal performance that could transform positively the postcolonial expectations of the Nigerian state. I identified three fundamental conditions that made that period possible. The first has to do with the availability of a set of individuals, schooled in the value-based institutional parameters of the colonial public service framework and values, who were eager to lay the foundation of an indigenous national development in Nigeria. The second condition references the existence a development-sensitive national dynamics rooted in a proper federal framework consisting of a centre and regional arrangement motivated by inter-regional competitiveness. And the third condition consists in the values-propelled development atmosphere in Nigeria, around the twin imperatives of nation building and economic development.

    In my critical assessment, Alhaji Fika’s professional persona embodies a lot about the administrative praxis that defined Nigeria’s administrative emergence at political independence. Both in my encountering him at several juncture in my years as a Federal officer and in my interrogation of the public service ethos and dynamics, Alhaji Fika was the direct incarnation of the old-school bureaucratic methodology: the typical no-nonsense and mercurial public officer who knew his onions and stood by the rules. He was the apotheosis of Sir Humphrey Appleby in the popular British political satire sitcom, “Yes Minister”/ “Yes, Prime Minister,” which ran from 1980 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1988 on BBC2. In that series, Sir Appleby defends the bureaucracy, its procedures and rules, and the administrative status quo with all his ingenuity as a staunch bureaucrat. He blocks and impedes Hacker, the Minister, at every point even though he is highly deferential and respectful. And he always reminds subordinates who want to side with the Minister that their career progression depends ultimately on their civil service superiors. The series demonstrates the adversarial relationship between the executives and the civil service. On the one hand, Sir Appleby frustrates proposals by the minister through series of clever administrative strategies, while on the other hand, the minister also undermines whatever proposal Sir Appleby supports.

    I will leave the reader to be the judge of this, but the Hacker-Appleby adversarial encounters in “Yes Minister” reminds me of the strained relationship between Chief Olu Falae and Alhaji Adamu Fika during the Babangida regime that eventually led to Fika’s forced retirement from service. The Babangida administration had separated the office of the secretary to the federal government (OSGF) and the office of the head of service (OHCSF), what used to be the same since 1960. Olu Falae became the SGF while Fika was made the Head of Service. And that created the series of hostile engagements that brought about unsavory consequences, especially the missed opportunity that could have benefitted the civil service system as well as the Babangida administration. For example, when Babangida, as part of his civil service reform agenda, insisted that ministers should take over the responsibilities of accounting officers from permanent secretaries, Alhaji Adamu Fika resisted that move. And his argument is simple: the training of the permanent secretaries ensures that by the time they got to that post they would have internalized the dynamics of keeping federal government funds according to the financial regulations. There was also the tension between the head of service and the SGF. Olu Falae, working with Ojetunji Aboyade, Chu Okongwu, Kalu Idika Kalu, and others, had wanted to leverage on the Babangida administrative reforms and his expansive and analytics approach to governance. And he definitely would have loved to collaborate with the head of service especially with the possibility of drawing from the planning and economic policy pool of expertise (where Falae retired) to articulate an existing talent and knowledge management tools in civil service manpower planning and capacity utilization. Unfortunately, the head of service misinterpreted this as an administrative intrusion that demonstrates the lack of wisdom in bifurcating the two offices. Well, the president must have thought about Fika’s resistance as an affront. Of course, Alhaji Fika was well apprised about the old role of the Gowon-era super permanent secretaries and their capacity to speak truth to power. And he was too much of a sound, intelligent, well-trained and solid public servant not to have possessed the audacity to speak up against what he felt to be unpalatable about Babangida’s reforms.

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    These administrative clashes were symptomatic of what has become a fundamental underbelly of what is wrong with the public service in Nigeria since it began reforming. And that is the hostile relationship between the old Weberian administrative methodology and the new managerial revolution. Indeed, the “Yes Minister” sitcom threw up the very basis on which the 1968 Fulton Report challenged and sought to overcome the Weberian methodology in favor of the new public management and its managerial revolution. Between the Udoji Commission of 1974 and the Dotun Phillips study report of 1984, there were strenuous and well-founded attempts to redirect the Nigerian civil service system away from the “I-am-directed” administrative model that privileges civil service rules compliance over and above performance and productivity, and the input-process orientation under a generalist framework. The reform assumptions and recommendations of both the Udoji and the Phillips report were geared towards transforming the system into a flexible, entrepreneurial, effective and efficient institution with the capacity readiness to enhance performance and productivity.

    However, and quite unfortunately, that managerial trajectory was, quite systematically, dismantled in 1995 by the Allison Ayida review panel set up by General Sani Abacha. To juxtapose the fate of two failures, the Fulton Report of 1968 suffered the same Sir Appleby-style reaction of rejection that attended the Udoji report, and by implication the Phillips’ recommendation. Outside of the historical resurgence of the neoliberal consumerist economy and its motivation for public choice theories, institutional economics and the good governance discourse, the new public management (NPM) derived from the global disillusionment with a non-performing bureaucracy that has become not only so much destabilized by its own administrative regulations, but has also, as a result, failed to keep up with democratic governance and the imperative of efficient service delivery to the citizens.

    And this managerial revolution is even more urgent in countries like Nigeria where the civil service system is forced to confront all sorts of indices of underdevelopment and authoritarianism. The objective of managerialism—a results-based management that focuses on outputs and results rather than only inputs and processes—encompasses a range of approaches to the running of the business of government, especially through the adoption and adaptation of private sector practices; with reform emphases on customer service and the centrality of citizens as customers, decentralised service delivery models, outsourcing and human resource function; identification of targets, design of KPIs, their tracking, monitoring, measurement and evaluation based on performance benchmarks, metrics and contracting, etc. 

    I submit that in spite of the significant roles that Alhaji Adamu Fika played in the consolidation of the administrative successes in Nigeria, and the influence he exerted deeply on the civil service system, the figure of the “I-am-directed” Weberian public servant that could muster the courage to speak truth to power is still key to the bureaucratic culture that still persists in the Nigerian public administrative system. Since the unfortunate reversals instigated by the Ayida panel review, the system has been floundering between stagnation and reformability and performance visioned by the National Strategy on Public Service Reform (NSPSR) and succeeding reform strategies and actions. The result is that there are so many defining reform changes from 1999 without the efforts to push them through to critical institutional determination. We have, as key examples: the irreducible SERVICOM innovation that has not yielded its fundamental fruits; the multiyear budgeting initiatives—MTSS and MTEF, for instance; the M&E and other basic elements of project management that lacks critical managerial bites; an evolving performance management framework of accountability hitched to an ineffective tenure in appointment; an active training investment without evidence of tasks-rooted training needs and post-training impact assessment; wage and incentive structures properly indexed to market relativities and to productivity indices; adversarial industrial relations with scant space for technical-rationalism in collective bargaining; the contributory pensions and national health insurance schemes requiring innovative deepening and consolidation, etc.

    As we celebrate the eventful life and professionalism of Alhaji Adamu Fika, my erstwhile boss and towering figure of the civil service system in Nigeria, it is again time to use his illustrious lifetime and professional credentials to reflect on where we are in administrative rehabilitation of a system that is key to making democracy works for Nigerians.

    •Olaopa, Retired Federal Permanent Secretary

    & Professor of Public Administration

    tolaopa2003@gmail.com

  • Our Punch years

    Forty-seven years ago on November 1, 1976, the first edition of The Punch Daily rolled off the press and since then the paper has not ceased publishing except on those days and months when the military administration banned the publication. The Sunday edition of the paper was launched three years earlier.

    That the paper has continued to publish and remain the most widely read newspaper in the country, while others launched after it are no longer in circulation is a tribute to the vision and commitment of the founding fathers and staff through the years.

    When I joined the newspaper in May 1987, the company was recovering from some crisis and was battling to pay the few staff that had survived being sacked like some others.

    The situation however improved and I ended up working for about 13 years without being owned any salary or entitlements.

    From being a young graduate I served in various capacities and acquired various experiences that have shaped my fulfilling media career to date. Being assigned to be a Ogun state correspondent as my first posting seemed initially daunting but the years I spent in Abeokuta turned out to be a great learning experience that sharpened my reporting skills.

    While I was covering politics I had the opportunity of travelling around the country and appreciating the diversity of our culture and people. The Punch was also where I had the first opportunity to travel abroad for a three-month training in the United Kingdom.

    My Punch years remain memorable and I am grateful for the opportunity to work in the company along with many colleagues who have become accomplished in various endeavours.

    Our various experiences have been documented in a soon-to-be-published book titled Our Punch Years: Reminiscences and Insider Accounts of former editors and Staff of Nigeria’s Most Widely Read Newspaper at 50.

    Considering the rich history of the newspaper, which other journalists and organizations can learn from, it occurred to me that it would be nice to read what the experience of the former staff. In my call for contributions I asked about: What company was back in their days. What they learned and benefited from, The good times and not too pleasant ones, Lessons that have helped former staff in their career after exiting, The intrigues, politics and fun and Secrets of the success of The Punch.

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    The contributions by 37 other colleagues are very insightful and revealing for anyone curious about knowing what makes The Punch what it is.

    Veteran journalist CEO/Editor -In- Chief of Diamond Publication Limited, Mr Lanre Idowu who wrote the foreword gave an insight into what to read in the book. 

    “In various essays, they tell the story of The Punch with pride, regret, and a tinge of anger, but overall, with a generosity of spirit that The Punch occupies a hallowed place in their media journey and development as human beings.

    “From their accounts, the reader gleans nuggets of useful information on the recruitment processes at The Punch, the culture of the newsroom and the news management process, the joy and pain of journalism, the evolution of media technology, management obsession with excellence and its zero tolerance for mistakes in the quest to build a brand identity, and the attendant worrisome concerns about commensurate reward and punishment.”

    Recalling his Punch years, Chief Innocent Adikwu who was the third editor of The Punch and former Editor of the Sunday Punch wrote: “My days in Punch were fulfilling. When I joined the newspaper as a sub-editor in 1976 I didn’t expect to get the topmost positions in the midst of the Southerners who have a rich history of excellence and dominance in journalism.  At the Punch there was unflinching pursuit of excellence and any performance that enhanced the quality of the newspaper was rewarded regardless of tribe, religion and political leaning of the journalist.”

  • Unfair tackle

    Unfair tackle

    • Why would Justice Dattijo wait till  after 47 years  to criticise the judiciary?

    The darts thrown at the Supreme Court by retired Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, during his valedictory, on the structure and operations of the apex court, has left critical stakeholders scampering for cover. The social media that has been dragging the justices of the apex court in the mud over some of its decisions, has been feasting on what it considers as worm-infested cracks in the court.

    No doubt, Justice Muhammad’s scathing remarks have portrayed the judiciary in bad light. We urge a thorough  investigation of the issues raised by the retired justice.

    But we also wonder why it has taken this long for him to see the light.

    Unfortunately, the present Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, is made to look as the culprit for all that Justice Muhammad complained about. We don’t agree with that, however, at least with regards to some of the systemic issues raised by the learned justice.

    Some have argued that the former justice was driven by bile, considering that the system of preferment in the apex court did not treat him like a deputy chief justice of Nigeria, a position unknown to the constitution. There are also muted reports that he is angry he was not appointed to head the presidential election appeal tribunal.

    One of the issues raised by the retired justice  is the over-concentration of powers in the office of the chief justice. The retired justice mentioned important institutions like the National Judicial Commission (NJC), Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC), National Judicial Institute (NJI) and Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), all enamoured with immense constitutional powers, which the CJN heads.

    He warned that absolute powers corrupt absolutely. We agree.

    The systemic challenge of the nation’s judiciary is further compounded by the fact that whereas we are framed as a federal republic, we are welded together as a unitary state. There are instances when state governments fall out with the centralised judicial organs, sometimes for good, and sometimes for bad, making a mockery of the federalism we profess to practice. With command and control of the federal and state judiciary in the office of the CJN, the potency of abuse truly abounds. 

    Another issue raised by Justice Muhammad is the constitutional expectation of diversity in the apex court. He narrowed his complaint to the composition of the presidential election appeal tribunal, which to us is absurd. We agree with him that more justices should be appointed as much as possible from all the zones with depleted representatives, to ensure adherence to the federal character enshrined in the 1999 constitution (as amended). As we have also complained here, the depletion in the number of justices of the apex court deserves urgent attention.

    We however do not agree with the ethnic colouration of judicial pronouncements, which should reflect the laws of the land, and not tribal affiliations. Such postulation can only do harm to the sanctity of the judicial process, since there are other cases apart from election petitions. To agree to Muhammad’s proposition will mean that when litigants approach the apex court, they should be looking at the ethnic nationalities of those constituted to hear their cases, instead of the interpretation of the law, with respect to the issues raised before the members of the panel. The integrity of judgments should depend on the integrity of the justices, not on tribal affiliations.

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    There are strong arguments that the justices of the Supreme Court should be populated by intellectuals, and those who have distinguished themselves as legal practitioners, instead of the current practice of elevating only Justices of the Court of Appeal to the apex court.

    No doubt, infusing law professors and senior advocates into the apex bench would deepen the jurisprudential potency of that institution, with grave constitutional powers.

    However, ordinarily, when Justice Muhammad, an immediate past  member of the apex court laments at his retirement ceremony that “this is not the judiciary I loved and aspired to serve in”, there should be cause to worry. Indeed, when the public make a caricature of the judiciary that should naturally be held sacred, and call out justices as delivering cash and carry justices without fear of contradiction and consequent retribution, stakeholders must awaken to the cries in the wilderness. To pretend that all is well with our judiciary is to play the ostrich.

    But more worrisome is the fact that it took Justice Muhammad about 47 years to see these logs in the eyes of the judiciary. This is the same judiciary he had served in several capacities before being elevated to the Supreme Court of Nigeria on July 10, 2012, till his retirement last month. Indeed, he was appointed Deputy Chairman, NJC in June, last year.

    We therefore see his outburst against the judiciary on his retirement as opportunistic. He would appear to be playing to the gallery because, as a top member of the judiciary for years, he was a part of the so-called rot in the system. He had ample opportunity to contribute to measures to improve on the situation but chose rather to see no evil and hear no evil while in service.

    While we agree that there are issues to be addressed in the judiciary, we think it does not lie in the mouth of Justice Muhammad to denigrate the judiciary the way he did. The issues he complained about did not just crop up during the time of the incumbent CJN. They had always been there, even when Justice Muhammad was in service.

    We therefore see his comment against the judiciary as an unfair tackle that is unbecoming of a justice of his stature.

    All said, while we do not subscribe to the practice of using executive powers to intimidate the judiciary in the guise of fighting corruption, we believe there is the urgent need to weed out corrupt judges from the system. The NJC should be at the vanguard of self-cleansing, and if it requires tinkering with the constitutional provision on its membership, then let’s do it.

  • At seven, is Paris Agreement already on life support?

    At seven, is Paris Agreement already on life support?

    • By Karim Elgendy

    Nov. 4 marked seven years since the Paris climate accord came into force after it was adopted in the French capital in December 2015.

    The landmark climate treaty represented a watershed moment in climate change governance and became the moment when all nations committed to doing something about climate change. However, it had a hidden flaw.

    The agreement aimed to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5C, compared to pre-industrial levels, build resilience to climate effects and align financial support with the scale and scope needed to tackle the climate crisis. However, national commitments under the agreement are entirely voluntary, as countries are required to submit pledges called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) on how they will reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Those NDCs never added up to the needed emission reductions.

    To address this, regular reviews – known as the Global Stocktakes – were mandated by the agreement to check if the world is on track to meet the goals of the accord and to advise nations on whether they need to revisit their pledges.

    First health check

    Just a few weeks ago, the first Global Stocktake report was publicly released. To no one’s surprise, it offered a sobering assessment. It found that while the Paris Agreement has spurred near-universal climate action, much more is needed now on all fronts as emissions are not falling nearly fast enough. The NDCs submitted so far would still lead to around 2.5C of warming this century. Implementation of current pledges is also lagging. Meanwhile, climate impacts are accelerating, and adaptation support remains fragmented, uneven and insufficient to deal with rising climate impacts and risks.

    The report called for steeper emissions cuts this decade across all sectors, capacity building, international cooperation, a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels starting with coal, boosting adaptation, scaling up climate finance, and aligning all financial flows with the Paris Agreement goals.

    Scientists say the window is closing fast and that our carbon budget for a 1.5C warmer world will run out before the end of the decade if emissions continue as they are today. However, limiting warming to 1.5C is still feasible if the monumental effort required is put in. This includes peaking emissions by 2025, reducing emissions by 43% by 2030, reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century, all necessitating an all-hands-on-deck effort. Countries have agreed to update their NDCs in 2025. This offers an opportunity to get on track.

    But this opportunity can only happen if we are all rowing in the same direction. Emissions in most nations are still rising rather than falling, stronger national policies and more finance for developing countries are not materializing at the scale or speed needed, vested interests are slowing the clean energy transition, and rhetoric is not always matched with real action.

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    The Global Stocktake highlights that while the Paris Agreement has strengthened climate consciousness, the grave prognosis demands emergency intervention before it is too late. Paris may not be dead yet, but its pulse is dangerously faint. Radical strengthening of commitments cannot come soon enough.

    Leaving fossils in the ground

    The Global Stocktake recommendation of phasing out fossil fuels is perhaps its least straightforward to galvanize action behind. The report notes in no uncertain terms that there can be no new fossil fuel infrastructure in a world committed to keeping warming in check, including phasing out the existing coal industry in a just manner by 2040 and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.

    Later this month, delegates from around the world will gather in Dubai for UN climate change conference COP28 to negotiate a number of pending issues. Among those issues are interrelated ones, such as the way forward in light of the Paris Agreement’s poor report card, and the contentious issue of the phase-out of fossil fuel.

    The message from scientists, the 80 nations calling for a phase-out, and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is unambiguous – phasing out coal, oil and gas is make or break for 1.5C. Failure to do so will mean irreversible harm to lives and livelihoods. Yet oil and gas producers are pushing back.

    This sets the scene for a showdown in Dubai. Entrenched positions and no compromise in sight mean a challenging COP awaits. With just seven years remaining to nearly halve emissions, the stakes could not be higher. The lack of a negotiation track on phasing out fossil fuels complicates the progress. Unless a landing zone is found, another year could be lost with no new commitments or actions.

    The upcoming COP28 summit has been one of the most important climate milestones since the Paris Agreement. It is also the moment to bring it back from the brink as its pulse fades away. With the prognosis so dire, a radical action cannot come soon enough to revive the ailing climate treaty and steer the world away from climate catastrophe.

    •This article was originally published in www.aa.com.tr with the headline ‘Paris Agreement turns 7 years old today, but is it already on life support?’

  • Duty and citizenship – the Social Contract

    Duty and citizenship – the Social Contract

    • By Babatunde Raji Fashola

    In spite of difficult economic challenges of the time, like the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which affected the price of the Naira to the Dollar, which increased the cost of living and feeding on campus at the time; and in spite of the reign of terror unleashed on this city by the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini, I still lack the full complement of words to describe how pleasant my memories of UNIBEN and Benin were.

    I would not have gone to any other University; and when I was posted back to the then Bendel State and Benin City for my NYSC service year and primary assignment, my joy was boundlessly immeasurable.

    I was here about three decades ago when the first Idigbe memorial lecture was delivered by no less a personage than the Honorable Kayode Eso of the Supreme Court in 1985, and I sat where many of you are seating today listening with rapt attention to every word and made sure I did not leave the hall until I got a printed copy of the lecture which I am sure I still have, but cannot currently find.

    This is part of the context that underpins my delight to be here today as lecturer in honour of a truly outstanding Nigerian, jurist and patriot, the late Justice Chukwunweike Idigbe, who sadly left us on 31st July 1983, about 43 years ago.

    What then was it about this Nigerian whose legacy is imperishable?

    Indeed, it was many things, from a family that continues to celebrate him, to colleagues whose professional trust and respect he earned, to success as a professional and I dare say he was fairly rewarded as a legal practitioner so he was not poor.

    But perhaps the reason for his reverence and celebration in life and in death was his service and sense of duty to Nigeria and his fellow citizens.

    That is why I have exercised the latitude given to me to choose my topic, to title my speech: “Duty and Citizenship – The Social Contract.”

    Justice Chukwunweike C. Idigbe, JSC was a dutiful citizen and worthy Nigerian patriot.

    When I was invited to intervene at his memorial lecture earlier this year, I was asked to review his judgement in the case of Bucknor-MacLean vs Inlaks report in (1980) 8 11 SC 1.

    That case for me demonstrated Justice Idigbe’s humanity, compassion, sense of justice and fairness to his fellow citizens.

    On the face of it, it looked like just another case about the interpretation of Section 14 the Registration of Titles Act, and the matter seemed foreclosed because the Supreme Court had decided cases like Shell BP Petroleum Company v Jammal Engineering Nigeria Ltd 1974 (1 ALL NLR 542) and Owunmi v Paterson Zochonis & Co Nigeria Ltd 1974 (1 ALL NLR 107.)

    These cases had decided that any transfer of title under the Registration of Titles Act must use the Forms prescribed under the Act to be valid.

    I can only imagine what Justice Idigbe was thinking? The people who came to challenge the validity of the interest created in land under the Act, were successors of the person who created the interest.

    In other words, they sought to nullify an interest they had created by relying on a non-compliance that they had been part of after collecting money.

    It smelt of fraud at the worst and inequity at its fairest.

    Justice Idigbe would have none of it and proceeded to persuade a full panel of the Supreme Court to reverse their previous decisions which were binding precedents and constraints to doing justice in the case under consideration.

    Needless to say, all his brother Justices unanimously agreed with him.

    Idigbe, JSC enforced the law by using the law and this is one of our duties as citizens; and I will talk about this later.

    It can be tempting for some to think about when another Idigbe will come and also to think that probably they don’t make them like that anymore.

    As an optimist those thoughts don’t find a place with me. In the faces I see in this hall, many more Idigbes and indeed better versions of him will emerge for the sake of Nigeria.

    How then does all this connect with the topic of Duty, Citizenship and the Social Contract?

    I believe that many of us are familiar with the concept of the social contract first propounded by a Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, sometime in 1762 about the relationship between the state, and the Government on one hand, and the citizen on the other hand.

    That contract implied confers certain expectations and benefits on citizens in exchange for certain service to be performed by the state in the conduct of their affairs.  These expectations and benefits are expressed as rights, some of which are classified as fundamental and set out in the case of Nigeria, in Chapter 4 Section 24 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    Those rights which are fundamental, are expressly conferred on “every person” as listed in Sections 33, 34,35,36,38,39,40 while there are other rights, which inure to the benefit of citizens of Nigeria only, which are conferred on “Every Citizen” as distinct from “Every Person” are to be found in:

    A)   Section 37, which guarantees and protects citizens of the privacy of their homes, correspondence, telephone, conversations and telegraphic communications;

    B)  Section 41 (1) which entitles citizens to move freely throughout Nigeria, to reside in any part thereof and assures them of full protection from being expelled from Nigeria or being refused entry into Nigeria subject to the qualification in sub-section (2) about laws which are justified in a democracy to impose restrictions of movement on suspects of crime;

    C)   Section 42 (1) and (2) which protects the citizen from discrimination;

    D)   Section 43, which confers the right to own immoveable property on citizens.

    The point to make at this stage about these rights is that they are enforceable in the same way as those other fundamental rights, except with the added bonus that Section 46 (4) (b) also confers additional benefits on citizens only, where they are indigent, to get financial assistance to engage a legal practitioner.

    Now let me state in an advisory way that if the University of Benin has not incorporated citizenship and the duties that pertain to that status in her constitutional law class, it would be helpful to do so without further delay in the interest of national development.

    This is the heart and matter of the social contract. Citizens enjoying certain rights over and above every person, as I have shown earlier. But those rights do not come alone, they come with duties, spelt out in Section 24.

    My constitutional law curriculum did not teach me citizenship and was silent about my duties.

    Happily, it left me in no doubt about what my rights were, and limitations on them prescribed in Chapter IV (Fundamental Rights) of the constitution.

    But large sections of Nigerians have asserted their rights which is good, but sometimes without the understanding that they had duties, and sometimes without the awareness that those rights are not absolute.

    This has not been helped by the rapidly multiplying tribe of so called “constitutional lawyers” and experts whose knowledge of the constitution probably does not extend beyond the sections pertaining to Rights in the Constitution.

    This is not helpful for our National Development, and I will attempt to demonstrate this shortly.

    But permit me to quickly pivot to the issue of citizenship.

    I will adopt for my purpose, the definition contained on Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary which defines a citizen as a: “native or naturalised person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it.”

    As can be seen from the definition, it envisages a two-way relationship, as I postulated about the social contract.

    The definition says that a citizen as a native or naturalised person “owes” a debt or duty of allegiance, which entitles the person, to a right of protection.

    Very interestingly, the definition puts the “allegiance” or “duty/debt” before the “protection” or “right.”

    This is the first impact on National Development that I alluded to.

    The question to ask in our relationship as citizens, is whether we have consciously acknowledged that we owe a debt/duty of allegiance to Nigeria in our relationship with her when we assert our rights?

    Have we asked for our rights first instead of discharging our allegiance?

    Indeed, what constitutes our allegiance to our country?

    But before I proceed further, let me highlight a few examples of some of the protection that citizenship has afforded us in recent times.

    During the Covid-19 pandemic, we all recall that the Nigerian Government closed the international borders to all traffic as many other Governments did in their countries in order to contain the pandemic.

    But I recall vividly that whilst some countries, for fear of spreading the virus further, refused entry to their own citizens, Nigeria’s government granted entry to Nigerian citizens who were returning home even at the risk of bringing in the virus to the country.

    That was, for me, a profound expression of citizen protection offered by our country, in contrast to the seeming status of statelessness other countries dealt to their citizens when they refused them entry at that time of extreme vulnerability.

    During the outbreak of war between Russia/Ukraine, Nigeria arranged the evacuation and return to Nigeria of her citizens caught in the war. She had no business with citizens of other countries.

    But did this and many similar acts resonate with us?

    Or were they just what was expected of our country and government?

    Put differently, were we more focused on those instances where government and the state dropped the ball, and there are such instances, that we missed the significance of those instances where government protected us?

    On the domestic front, how many of us have been saved from criminals, by law enforcement, or have had the fire brigade come to put out fire in our homes or places of business, or benefited from healthcare in a government facility?

    These are instances of government offering its protection in exchange for our allegiance, even if admittedly there is scope for improvement.

    The question is whether we understand that these acts are acts of protection because we are citizens, and are we aware of our allegiance when we get these services?

    Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to then proceed to what makes us citizens.

    The answer is to be found in the provisions of Sections 25-32 of the constitution as amended in 2023; and I must repeat my advice that this should be taught in constitutional law class, and I dare say from primary school in a manner that people of that level can understand it.

    As we have seen from our Merriam-Webster’s definition of citizenship there are two broad types of citizens; native and naturalised. This is largely applicable in many countries of the world where citizenship is conferred on people who are naturalised citizens, and the Nigerian constitution also provides for naturalised citizenship as is provided for in Section 27 of the constitution.

    While this class of citizenship does not derive from being a native and has some limitations for example such persons cannot be President of Nigeria under Section 131(a) of the constitution, their duty of allegiance is no less than those of native citizens.

    It is therefore about native citizens I wish to speak, but before I do so, the limitation that naturalised citizens have, is itself another subject of education that commands the teaching of the broad subject in all our schools.

    Going back to native citizens, there are two broad classes on the subject, classified under the Latin phrases jus soli and jus  sanguinis.

    The former refers to citizens by birth acquired from being born in the territory of the state or country while the latter refers to citizenship of birth by having one or both parents who are native to that state or country.

    Nigeria has adopted the sanguinis route in 25 (1)(a)(b) about people born before 1960, the date of independence, such that if you were born in Nigeria before that date with parents or grandparents who belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria you were automatically a Nigerian citizen by birth.

    And in section 25(1)©, the sanguinis right to citizenship by birth is reinforced by providing that even if you were born outside Nigeria to at least one parent who is Nigerian, you were a Nigerian citizen by birth.

    This explains why under the 1999 Constitution, Nigerians, for the first time, could have dual citizenship under Section 28(1) of the constitution because they may have been born in countries where the jus soli applies to Nigerian parents.

    But this protection of dual citizenship is not afforded to those who acquired citizenship of Nigeria by registration or naturalisation; on the contrary only citizens by birth, jus sanguinis, can be dual citizens under our constitution.

    Having discussed some of the rights of citizens, the basis and nature of citizenship albeit very briefly, I now proceed to examine our duties as citizens.

    These are set out in the provisions of section 24(a) – (f) of the constitution.

    But before I examine them, I wish to point out two things which appear instructive to me.

    The first is the similarity between the definition of a citizen by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary where it speaks of “allegiance” before it refers to “protection.”

    For some reason, the drafters of the constitution have similarly set out our duties first in Section 24, before proclaiming our rights by way of protection in the latter parts of the constitution in Sections 33 – 46.

    The second instructive point is that whereas between sections 33 – 46 there are 14 (FOURTEEN) provisions of the constitution dealing with rights and how to benefit from them, Section 24 (a)-(f) which deals with our duties only asks us to do 6 (SIX) things.

    Now what are those 6 (SIX) things that Section 24 ask of citizens of Nigeria:

    (a) abide by this Constitution, respect its ideals and its institutions, the National Flag, the National Anthem, the National Pledge, and legitimate authorities;

    (b) help to enhance the power, prestige and good name of Nigeria, defend Nigeria and render such national service as may be required;

    (c) respect the dignity of other citizens and the rights and legitimate interests of others and live in unity and harmony and in the spirit of common brotherhood;

    (d) make positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of the community where he resides;

    (e) render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order; and

    (f) declare his income honestly to appropriate and lawful agencies and pay his tax promptly.

    A public presentation of this nature that is limited by time does not permit an exhaustive analysis of each of these duties, and this perhaps reinforces the suggestion I made earlier for this to be a part of our educational curriculum.

    Nevertheless, I will briefly undertake an examination of each duty and attempt to utilise real time examples of how we have complied and where the room for improvement lies.

    OUR FLAG AND OUR ANTHEM

    With regard to section 24(a), I will focus only on the part dealing with the National Flag and the National Anthem and our respect for them, by advocating that we all adhere strictly to the colours of green, white and green on the national flag.

    I have seen many flags purporting to be Nigeria’s flag, even in Government offices with a coat of arms placed in the white portion of the flag. This is not the Nigerian flag; on the contrary it is a desecration of our flag and disrespect for it.

    Similarly, I have seen attempts to attach colourful frills and embroidery to the flag. Again, in my view, this desecrates rather than respect the flag as we are duty bound under the constitution.

    Without offering advertisements on their behalf, I know that the National Orientation Agency (NOA), with offices in all the states of the country, produce and sell authentic Nigerian flags.

    The National Anthem is another vexed issue. The best that I can say is that it is the expression of our sovereign might and this is why we will see that at global events, especially sporting events, the anthems of participating or victorious nations are rendered.

    While this is a good forum to urgently appeal to the National Assembly to enact legislation to delimit events and occasions at which the national anthem can be rendered, it is my humble view that the National Anthem as the expression of our sovereign presence, should not be rendered for Governors or Ministers as has been the practice, or for the President when he is not performing a state function.

    As for what would qualify as a state function, this will be a matter for some consultation, but I do not think that weekly FEC meetings, symposia, and those kinds of events qualify.

    POWER,PRESTIGE AND GOOD NAME OF NIGERIA

    Perhaps the place with the greatest improvement in the performance of our duties to Nigeria, lies with regard to section 24(b) which invites us as citizens to “help to enhance the power prestige and good name of Nigeria…”

    I say this because I am of the opinion that the most derogatory things about Nigeria have been said by us as citizens rather by than by non-Nigerians, we have described our country in the most negative of terms; and undervalued it by the negative conduct of some of us.

    At every occasion when some officials of government have made public appeals for us to stop “demarketing Nigeria” some of the perceptions in response are cynical and misunderstood that government is defending its inefficiency.

    The point I make is that we can be angry with our government and with representatives of government, we can condemn them in the strongest of words, after all that is a right to expression subject to the limits of the law of defamation. However, our disagreements, discontent or displeasure with government is no reason to scandalise Nigeria.

    Nigeria has not offended us; let me accept that our Governments and office holders may have more to do in making us happy.

    No person who seeks greatness throws stones at their home.

    Some of the grievance has been expressed in words so the effect that “Nigeria is not a nation.” While I respect the rights of those who hold that view, I hold a different view.

    My view is that perhaps we conflate nationhood with the idea of a country.

    Nigeria is many nations that perhaps need to be forged into one country. Those nationalities are ethnic as they are tribal or religious. They are matters of identity rather than an idea or dream.

    It is my view that what we need urgently is to forge from those nationalities, a country built on a creed, away from tribe, ethnicity, language or religion.

    This would not be easy but it can certainly be done. Can all of that diversity converge around an idea or shared dream that supplants our diverse ethnic, tribal, language and religious identities without extinguishing them?

    The question to ask is what is the Nigerian creed?

    This is a subject for another day, but it seems to me that we must stop valorising the modest successes of other countries while not even acknowledging ours.

    Why are the dreams of others bigger than our dreams when there are scores of grass to grace and rags to riches stories around us?

    I am of the view that unless we begin to own and amplify our stories instead of those of other countries that are even smaller than some of our states, for that long do we fail in our duty “to enhance the power, prestige and good name of Nigeria” for after all, international reputation is public relations from the home front.

    RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF OTHER CITIZENS

    As for the duty to respect the dignity of other citizens and the rights and legitimate interests of others and live in unity and harmony and in the spirit of common brotherhood, I would use what now goes on some social media platforms in the name of freedom of expression as the barometer to assess our performance of this duty.

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    As children, there were some people whose company we kept that our parents disapproved of, and as a parent I have had course to express similar concerns and I believe and it is the experience of many in the gathering as children and parents.

    Parents disapproval were often expressed in words like: “I don’t want to see you with that person,” or “I don’t want that person to come to this house.”

    Children often responded by saying to their parents: “But they are my friends,” to which parents will retort: “What do you know about friendship?”

    This must sound familiar in homes where parents were attempting to pass on the right societal values of behaviour and conduct as distinct from homes where there may have been a total lack of breeding.

    I have news for all of us and I regret that it is not good news.

    Those parents were right then when they scrutinised the companies we kept and they are right today.

    Those children they admonished us to keep away from have grown up and their numbers have increased.

    They have found an identity on social media platforms, and their identity is anonymity.

    With that identity they concoct the most bizarre of stories in the vilest of languages and dare us to do what we can because they are “trending.”

    This is a big platform to breach the duty to respect the dignity of other citizens; this is where they threaten our unity and harmony, and do violence to the spirit of common brotherhood.

    But let me be clear, the social media platform is not of itself the problem, it is the family from where they came, and this is where the reform must start to optimise the benefits that social media offers our civilization.

    POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE…COMMUNITY

    As far as our duty under section 24(d) is concerned about making “positive and useful contribution to the advancement, progress and well-being of the community where we reside,” the preliminary observation to make is that the well-being of our communities is connected to our individual well-being and that of our whole communities.

    Communities help to shape conduct and behaviour of those within it and ultimately defines their quality of life.

    It is no surprise therefore that the constitution demands of us the duty to usefully contribute to the well-being of our community; because in the way that poverty, disease and squalor can be propagated from within a community, so can prosperity, wellness and cleanliness be created from communities.

    It is no secret that many Community Development Associations (CDAs) have been formed across the nation to harness the power of citizens for the common good and it is in our interest and indeed a matter of constitutional imperative to take them more seriously.

    From within those communities, we can improve our personal and collective security and safety, we can manage refuse and pollution and we can support ourselves without necessarily waiting for the officialdom of government.

    Let me pause here to share some of my experiences with you, regarding the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Law with you. That law was enacted by the State House of Assembly in the undoubted exercise of their constitutional powers.

    Parts of the law restricted the movement of residents/citizens for a few hours up till 12 Noon or thereabouts once every month, for the purpose of ensuring that we cleaned our homes and communities to ensure public sanitation and by extension promote public and communal health.

    At the time that I was Governor, a European Prime Minister visited Lagos to understudy how this law operated and also how our Government was getting residents to pay taxes.

    An African President sought our help by writing to request that we send our refuse and sanitation team to help train their own.

    Another African President that some of our people have now found very attractive, sought to meet with me to learn about this sanitation law.

    Like the proverbial prophet that has no value at home, the sanitation law and its public health benefit was seen by some only in the limitation to their “rights” of free movement.

    Off they went to court in the famous exercise of their rights, seeking to declare the law unconstitutional because it offended their rights under Section 41 (1) which provides that “Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria…”

    Clearly, they did not read Section 45 (1) which says that “Nothing in Section…41 of this constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of…public health…”

    Sadly, the court of first instance agreed with them, but happily the Court of Appeal has reversed the decision and upheld the law.

    This is how it should be. Individual rights sometimes have to be subjected to the overall interest of our community and nothing is unconstitutional about that if it is reasonable. That is part of the essence of the social contract.

    As is to be expected, these protagonists of “rights only” are not done. They have gone to the Supreme Court as they are entitled to do, and we all await the outcome.

    RENDER ASSISTANCE TO…IN THE MAINTENANCE OF LAW AND ORDER

    This takes me to the duty prescribed by Section 24(e) to “render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order;”

    This duty is clear enough and perhaps requires no further explanation

    One of the most shocking breaches of this duty was reported in the news sometime last year when some members of a community reportedly attacked officers of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who were trying to effect the arrest of a drug suspect.

    If we understand the damage that those who peddle illicit drugs do to our society by way of wealth without real work to undermine the societal value and virtue of industry, or by way of damage to our young people who become dependent and addicted and unable to contribute to national development, then such attacks on law enforcement as reported must outrage us.

    Perhaps more pertinent is the impact of successful law enforcement on our collective safety.

    The capacity of law enforcement to protect us, our families, businesses and communities depends on their investigative capacities and the support we give to them.

    As a much younger lawyer when I was involved in criminal litigation, I used to visit the Force CID Alagbon to interview clients who had been apprehended on suspicion of crime, I was fascinated by a plaque placed on a conspicuous wall in one of their offices. It read “Nigeria Police: In God we trust, everybody else we investigate.”

    The relevance to our subject is to highlight the investigative aspect of the work of law enforcement, in contradistinction with their powers of arrest, which has been alluded to in the NDLEA attack earlier referred to.

    The efficiency of investigation depends on what we as citizens offer. Did we see something, hear something or know something?

    Are we ready to offer statements and information about what we saw, heard or know in order to assist with law enforcement?

    This is what gives teeth to investigation and crime prevention for our collective safety.

    In other jurisdictions, law enforcement has made advances by criminalising and severely punishing those who not only refuse to offer information to resolve crime, but also those who give false information.

    These rigorous punishments have become strong foundations for enlisting citizen support for law enforcement agencies.

    They have proven to be very useful in helping law enforcement apprehend, prosecute and confine those who threaten the safety and security of law-abiding people.

    Our duty under the social contract to assist law enforcement agencies shows that it is a two-way relationship. If we assist them, they can protect us.

    Investigation is not a mystery. It is the ability to obtain information from those who know something, saw something, heard something or who did something.

    DECLARE OUR INCOME…PAY TAX PROMPTLY

    The final duty imposed on us as citizens is prescribed in section 24(f) which obligates us to “declare his (our) income honestly to appropriate and lawful agencies and pay his (our) tax promptly.”

    I don’t know how many of us realise that payment of tax is a constitutional duty not just one imposed by any ordinary legislation. The highest law of the land compels it, and I am not sure whether we are aware that a deadline of 31st of March every year has been set by another law, in order to enable us understand what “prompt” payment of our taxes actually means.

    These are collateral matters to what I wish to address about this duty.

    Like the other duties that I have discussed, it underlies a two-way relationship between Government and citizens which is the heart of the social contract.

    In essence nothing is free. Government has no money of its own except that which it collects from citizens directly or on their behalf.

    So, when government offers a free service like health or education, or subsidises a service or product like petroleum, it may be free to the recipients, but somebody is paying somewhere.

    I understand that money is hard to make and much harder to part with, but our quality of life is impacted by how much we pay as taxes to give government the resources to serve us and how easy or expensive it is for government to collect from those who do not want to pay at all, or who do not do so promptly.

    There is enough evidence to show that even in West Africa we have one of the lowest if not the lowest tax to GDP ratio.

    Our huge debt profile cannot be totally disconnected from our low tax collection base and the unforgiving demand by all of us for the provision of services by Government.

    I am not by this advocating an increase in tax rates, which may well become necessary but instead, I am canvassing that more of those who do not pay at all and those who pay less than what is due should do the right thing.

    Shortly after I was declared Governor in 2007, one of the opposition parties who lost in the election mounted a campaign against our Government asking residents not to pay taxes.

    It was a foolish campaign to say the least about it; it was criminal in the worst.

    I chose a public forum to reply him by telling him that payment of taxes was a stipulation of Law and that his statement amounted to instigating people to break the Law.

    I then said that if he dared to repeat the statement again, I would ask the Attorney General to consider prosecuting him for inciting people to commit a crime.

    That was the last we heard of him about the matter and Government’s revenue from taxes grew in leaps and bounds peaking at N21 Billion monthly when I left.

    Our system of government is a representative one and this supports the saying that “it is taxation and representation.”

    Having dealt with ‘rights’, ‘citizenship’ and ‘duties’ in that order let me now go to what I think is the purpose of it all.

    This is the promise of the government or the state. What we were taught is that these provisions are not justiciable; in other words they’re not enforceable in a court of law against the state, as our rights are.

    That is the current state of the law and it is good teaching.

    But there is more to Chapter II, the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy beyond enforceability in a court of law.

    There are things in there that ennoble us. Perhaps there are things that can become the creed of our country, the common dreams we can all share, valorise and continue to hope upon.

    The things for which we want to be citizens, the things for which we wish to project the good name of Nigeria, the things for which we will support law enforcement and the things for which we will pay our taxes promptly.

    These things which are provided in 11 (ELEVEN) items under sections 13 – 23 preceding the sections on citizenship, duties and rights, constitutes the 4th (FOURTH) quadrant of the social contract.

     It is here that the duties of the states/country are set out along with the ‘powers’ (not-rights and duties) of the citizens.

    The most important of those powers is that of sovereignty in Section 14(2)(a) which says that Government will derive its authority from us, and Section 14 (2)(b) which says that our security and welfare, shall be the primary purpose of Government.

    I have spoken earlier about the need to develop a creed for our country as an idea or dream different from our ethnic, language, tribal or religious identity.

    The ingredients for this identity are generously provided in sections 13 -23 of the constitution.

    Only a proper class can teach these provisions in addition to those I have urged earlier. My suggestion is that the curriculum be taught not just as lectures but as projects and tasks for teams of students to be challenged with in developing ideas and “dreams” for Nigeria.

    There is an amazing lot to work with here.

    From the provisions that seek to ensure that, there shall be “no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or sectional groups in government..” in Section 14(3), to “loyalty to the nation shall override sectional loyalties…” in section 15(4), to the economic objectives in pursuit of an “efficient dynamic and self-reliant economy…”  in Section 16 (1)(a) and of course “… , the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity…” in section 16 (1)(b ), you will agree that there is a lot here around which the ideals and dreams of a country can be propagated.

    Ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, let me place on record my thoughts about section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution which provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government;”

    This has often been understood or dare I say misunderstood as suggesting that this is the responsibility of a particular level of Government.

    The first point I wish to make about this section and the way some of us have perhaps chosen to misunderstand it is that the word “government” used in that section is a small ‘g’ not in capitals.

    While this is not a discussion on interpretation of statutes for lawyers, it is helpful to the general public to point out that “government” used in that section refers to all levels of Government and not one level.

    Further readings of the responsibilities of Governments set out in the second and fourth schedules of the constitution for Federal, State and Local Governments will show that no particular one of them bears responsibility for “security,” although the Federal Government has responsibility for the Army, Police and Arms.

    This is not the same as having sole responsibility for security.

    I expect that this point will be further examined in constitutional law classes for the benefit of all of us.

    Having reviewed these provisions of the constitution relating to the promise of our state, our duties, our entitlement to citizenship and our rights, I think it must be eminently clear that the social contract is an offer of duties by us, in exchange for the protection of the state and not the other way around.

    If I may say so, the country that some of us choose to denigrate with our words and actions really owes us nothing because there is no social contract if we offer no duties.

    A food for thought to those citizens by birth who dislike Nigeria is to bring to their attention the fact that citizens of other countries have preferred to call Nigeria their home and treat her with the respect she deserves, and they perform their duties in exchange for Nigeria’s protection.

    Almost on a yearly basis, Presidents of Nigeria approve these requests for citizenship by registration or naturalization from citizens of different countries of the world including from those countries that our citizens rank higher than Nigeria.

    I know these because as a former Minister I had the privilege of sitting in Federal Executive Council meetings where these requests are considered, debated and approved in their hundreds every year.

    This is an example if any is needed that our glass is half full and not half empty.

    This is what must commend the life and times of Hon. Justice Chukwunweike Idigbe of blessed and noble memory, to us as citizens.

    Like him we must offer service and duty in private and public capacities to Nigeria first, before we can expect protections and assertion of rights.

    This is the proper order for the working of the social contract.

    Thank you for listening.

    Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN

    Wednesday 1st November 2023

    •Text of the 19th Justice Idigbe Memorial Lecture, delivered by Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, on November 1, 2023, at University of Benin.

  • Karim Adeyemi: Why I’m Supporting Nigerian Youths

    Karim Adeyemi: Why I’m Supporting Nigerian Youths

    Prominent Europe-based football stars Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund) and Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester FC) were the highlight of Saturday’s tour of the new Ajegunle Maracana Sports Complex.

    The Super Eagles ball stopper Ndidi and German player of Nigerian descent Adeyemi are instrumental to the latest to the Grade A youth facility; two hostels that can accommodate 96 players at once.

    On the day, Chairman and brain behind the sporting complex, Chief Yemi Idowu, conducted the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, alongside the Oniru of Iru, HRH AbdulwasiuOmogbolahan Lawal; Chairman, AjeromiIfelodun Council, Fatai Ayoola; Olu of Iwa and Apapa kingdom, Oba MohammaduOluwa; Lagos State Commissioner of Youth and Social Development, MobolajiOgunlende, and other dignitaries, to a tour of the facility.

    The entourage lingered more in the two hostels which have a combined 96 fully air-conditioned beds, 24-hour power and solar backup, treated water supply, and top-notch shower and changing rooms.

    Named after their benefactors, Chief Idowu, noted that the hostels were facilitated by Ndidi and Adeyemi, as a way to give back to their roots.

    While, Ndidi is not a new face in the environment, having developed from Nath Boys Academy, a football institute on the stable of Nathaniel Idowu Foundation (NIF), Adeyemi was born abroad, but recently set up his foundation in Nigeria to give back.        

    Ndidi has continued to give back to the community following his ascent to a top player in Europe.

    WILFRED NDIDI

    On Sunday, October 22, 2023, Ndidi took to his official social media platforms to express his involvement in a football project.

    According to Ndidi, he teamed up with Adeyemi to provide the new facilities at Ajegunle Maracana Stadium.

    He said, “I am very proud to be part of this journey and very grateful to Nigeria for supporting my sports development drive. On October 21, the Maracana Stadium in Ajegunle welcomed a special visit from Nigerian Sports Minister Senator John Enoh, HRM AbdulwasiuOmogbolahan Lawal, Oniru of Iru Land, and AjeromiIfelodun LGA Chairman Fatai Ayoola. They toured the new facilities donated by myself and Karim Adeyemi. They were impressed by the two residential buildings named after myself Karim Adeyemi, each housing 96 fully air-conditioned beds, 24-hour power and solar backup, treated water supply, and top-notch shower and changing rooms. It was an honor to have the Minister share his vision for youth sports development in Nigeria with us. The day ended with an 11-a-side football match in honor of the Minister. I want to give my thanks for the support and belief in our vision for sports in Nigeria!”

    Ndidi made the announcement after he assisted his team in beating Swansea. He provided the assist for Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal that sealed a 3-1 victory.

    KARIM ADEYEMI

    For Adeyemi, the Ajegunle gesture is in furtherance of his passion to help up-and-coming footballers and youths in Nigeria to achieve their dream.

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    According to the Chief Operating Officer, of Karim Adeyemi Foundation (KAF), Olaolu Adedayo, who described the footballer as an Omoluabi who though born abroad understands the ethos of being a Yoruba boy said the KAF was created to put smiles on the faces of the downtrodden and people without opportunities in the society.

    “We have three areas of intervention- football, education, and general environment. Last year he was in Nigeria and stopped at Ibadan to show his support with up-and-coming footballers. We have a football club, Adeyemi FC, that is professionally registered with Oyo FA and NFF. What Adeyemi has done in Ajegunle is in line with what KAF is all about, and he is happy to do it. The collaboration with NIF is a good one and we are honoured to be part of it.”

    ESSAY COMPETITION

    Adeyemi also bankrolled an essay competition among Oyo State secondary school students with a combined cash prize of N750,000, this year.

    Adedayo said the essay competition was aimed at promoting national peace, unity, and social inclusion through sports, particularly football.

    “The competition, which is exclusive to secondary school students in Oyo State, encourages young people to reflect on the role of sport in promoting peace and development and to share their ideas on how to use sport to create positive change in their communities.”

    The 500-word essay is themed, ‘Uniting a Nation: The Role of Football in Promoting Social Inclusion and National Peace in Nigeria.’

    This month, the three finalists of the essay competition organized; AjalaFaheezah, a student of OladipoAlayande School of Science, Abiola Khalid from Oke-Ado High School, and Ogundele Emmanuel from Ikolaba Grammar School, were presented with cash prizes of N300,000, N250,000 and N200,000, respectively.

    The trio were also awarded certificates of achievement, and branded books from the KAF and partners.

    In addition to the cash prize and gifts, the winners of the essay competition were awarded scholarships until the completion of their secondary school education.

    Adedayo said the 21-year-old star is willing to offer more support to the sports complex in any way that will be beneficial to Nigerian youngsters. 

  • Sports Minister John Enoh: New Maracana stadium future of sports development policy

    Sports Minister John Enoh: New Maracana stadium future of sports development policy

    Sports Development Minister Senator John Enoh could not hide his emotion after he was conducted around the new Ajegunle Maracana Sports Complex.

    He said: “All I want to say is wow. The Maracana Sports Complex, for me, is both a showpiece and a showcase and this is the way our sports should go. It was Oba Oniru who first mentioned this complex to me and I now understand why people kept talking about this place. And it is significant that it is in Ajegunle. When I told people I was going to Ajegunle, they were asking me what I was going there for. It’s also quite astonishing that you can find something positive, something that you can showcase to the rest of the country located here at Ajegunle; it speaks volumes.

    “This shows what you can achieve by having sufficient will, commitment, and passion. I have been told that this place used to be a dump site. So, there’s a lot about here. Not just the fact that it is in Ajegunle but located in a former dump site. So, from a dump site, you can such an edifice like this. It is gratifying

    “I have seen so many kids here today. I mean this complex provides an opportunity for young kids to come to engage, be happy, and to play football and relate with them. And like I said this is the future of our sports development policy.  I thank Yemi Idowu and the local authority.

    “When we talk about promoting private-public partnerships (PPP), this is it. I have been told how the Lagos State government has provided the enabling environment to make this happen. So, when you have the government making things happen and you find willing people who have a passion for developing the sport, this is what you find. This becomes the product of such a relationship. So, I speak to people; private investors, industrialists, captains of industry, my reference point is going to be the Maracana Stadium Ajegunle.”

    “Going forward the approach we are going to adopt now is to go back to all those lovely policies that were not implemented and see how we can implement them. What I can assure Nigerians is that there is the will on my part, there is the commitment to see how we can engage the over 60 percent of youths making up our population meaningfully through sports, and I will gladly do it. While not making any promises, I will look into how much of this we can have in our local communities all over the country. We are starting from there.”  

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    Shedding more light on the facility, the Chairman,  Nathaniel Idowu Foundation Yemi Idowu, said the dream of setting up the sports facility is gradually becoming a reality.   

    “We are grateful to have the Sports Minister here and all the dignitaries. Ajegunle is a lovely place and I’m so proud we have this facility here. I love Ajegunle and the reason we chose here is because Ajegunle has got the heartbeat and the children are here.

    “They are ready and they have received us. The Royal father, and the local government. Everyone has been part of this and that is why it had to be Ajegunle. We are on a long journey and this is the beginning. We’ve got the infrastructure for football in place, there’s the hostels. Other facilities like the swimming pool, table tennis, tennis, and basketball will come on board.

    “We will have a recreation hall, a canteen, kitchen and all of these are still coming. We believe that the more we have such facilities inside here, the less social vices we will have outside,” added Idowu. 

    HRH Lawal, whose idea was to site the complex in Ajegunle, commended the Nathaniel Idowu Foundation for keying into the idea, while also eulogising the minister for visiting the edifice.

  • LSFA Technical Director Taju Disu: How Lagos Won Football Golds

    LSFA Technical Director Taju Disu: How Lagos Won Football Golds

    New Technical Directorate of Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) Taju Disu was over the moon on the final day of the National Youth Games, which took place in September in Asaba. He is happy because Team Lagos emerged victorious and won both the male and female football events of the games.

    The girls’ team thrashed Team Ogun 5-0, while the boys’ team defeated Team Plateau 2-1 in the finals of the football events to help Team Lagos finish overall second behind hosts Delta State.

    The ex-international who worked directly with the coaches of the football teams to the games, credited LSFA chairman, OgboniFouad Oki for providing guidance and clear objectives to achieving the feat.

    He said: “The feat was achieved through sheer objectivity and undistracted focus under the able leadership of LSFA chairman, OgboniFouad Oki. Worried over the dipping football fortunes of Lagos State, the new LSFA Board resolved to once again make Lagos the hub of Nigerian football, and the best way we felt this could be achieved is by developing the game at the grassroots. We carried out a week-long open screening exercise at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan, where hundreds of youngsters were given ample chance to prove their mettle in boys and girls categories. We were majorly concerned about age and ensured only U15 players were selected. Taking overage players to win gold at the National Youth Games would have rubbished our efforts because the players will fade out when they should be peaking.

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    “The players were taken straight to camp after the selection process. We registered them for the U18 MKO Abiola Memorial Cup in Abeokuta, where they distinguished themselves against older opponents. With these, the players went to the Youth Games battle-ready. We are not surprised that they excelled in Asaba because we worked with unity of purpose and everyone, especially the coaches carried out their duties conscientiously.”

    As the Technical Directorate of the LSFA, Disu said his focus would be on grassroots football developments, training coaches and referees regularly, and giving all stakeholders a level playing field to excel.

    He added: “I am charged with the duty to the formulation of  guidelines, strategies, and policies for the training and the technical development of coaches, providing advice to the Executive Council on coaching and technical development matters in general, for the strategy, development and technical direction of the Technical Directorate, for the preparation and implementation of technical programmes at the grassroots and juvenile, thereby preparing football coaches and footballers for the future, and I am required to build the capacity of the of Technical Directorate of the Association that will include but not limited to the following departments; coach education, referee education, talent identification, performance analysis, technical studies and video analysis, health and nutrition, sports psychology, strength, and conditioning.” 

    AT YOUTH GAMES

  • Oluwaseun Adeyemi: I am driven by passion for craftwork

    Oluwaseun Adeyemi: I am driven by passion for craftwork

    Oluwaseun Adeyemi is the CEO of Betrot Stitches and Crafts. Her designs are inspired by a combination of personal inspiration and the ever-evolving world of fashion. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, she talks about her passion, specialisation, and more.

    Hat inspires your designs?

    I am driven by my passion for using creative ingenuity in craft works. I have always been creative since I was young. I am involved in many crafts like bead making, hair styling, catering, and wire work for jewelry.

    A combination of all these is what inspires me and my designs celebrate the natural beauty, cultural heritage, and global influences that shape Africa’s fashion landscape, and make a bold statement through the language of fashion. This diverse range of influences allows me to create unique and innovative designs that resonate with modern consumers.

    In addition, I aim to create innovative and expressive fashion that celebrates diversity, tells a story, and resonates with individuals on a personal level.

    What was the experience like at the beginning?

    As a fashion designer, the beginning of my journey was filled with a mix of excitement, challenges, and a thirst for learning. It was a time of exploration and self-discovery, where I delved into fashion with passion and determination. Before I got into fashion design, I was into bead and hat making. My creativity in these crafts helped me to navigate the technical challenges in learning the skills of fabric making.

    Just before this, I had the opportunity to work in the banking industry, because that was the industry I did my NYSC. I was offered employment here but my passion for craft work wouldn’t let me. I had always wanted to be an employer of labour and with the support of my husband, I enrolled for an apprenticeship in fashion design. And within six months, I was done with my apprenticeship and graduated. This surprised everyone because it usually takes two years for apprentices to graduate but the level of professionalism I attained when I graduated was amazing. And looking back after almost a decade in the business of fashion designing, it can only be God.

    The beginning was a period of boundless creativity, personal growth, and unwavering passion as I worked tirelessly to carve my path in the dynamic and competitive world of fashion.

    Tell us about your designs, specialisation, and what makes them different from others.

    My designs cut across a wide spectrum, drawing inspiration from both African traditions and contemporary influences. What holds utmost importance in the creative process is the satisfaction of my customers. I strive to merge timeless elegance with a distinctly modern twist. What makes me different is my meticulous attention to detail, a quality that sets my designs apart, whether they be office attire or casual wear.

    Let’s talk about some of the memorable moments in the sector.

    The most memorable moments in my career are when I have the chance to showcase my collections to the world and see the satisfaction of my customers with the designs I make for them. These instances not only validate my passion for fashion design but also inspire me to continually push the boundaries of creativity and innovation in my work.

    What are the challenges you encountered?

    The fashion industry is highly competitive, especially these days where different designs are being created now and then; The industry is driven by ever-changing trends. Maintaining a fashion business requires some financial commitment, which has been a major factor. Financial constraints have always been a key challenge in the business. Without a level of financial commitment, you won’t be able to source quality materials and hire staff, because in the fashion industry if you want to go far you can’t do it alone. However, that does not mean you should not start with what you have.

     What lessons has life taught you?

    Life offers different scales of experiences, each contributing valuable lessons that fortify our determination to persevere. Through these life lessons, I’ve come to realise the importance of resilience and adaptability when confronting challenges and adversities. This has instilled in me an unwavering commitment to nurturing my aspirations. I have always placed God at the center of every circumstance and cultivated a mindset rooted in continuous learning and self-improvement.

     What are some of the other things that occupy your time?

    As a fashion designer, my time extends beyond designing and creating garments. I blend my life, family commitments, and self-care. This balance is crucial because nurturing my creativity and well-being is important to infusing originality into my designs. I understand that a balanced life outside of designing can profoundly impact work.

    What did you study? Has it helped your designs in any way?

    I have a background in accountancy, having pursued a degree in accounting at the University before venturing into the world of fashion design. This background in accounting has proven to be immensely beneficial in my entrepreneurial endeavors within the fashion business.

    Tell us about the people you admire.

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    I admire and appreciate the contributions of numerous individuals within the fashion industry, both in Nigeria and across Africa. The likes of Deola Sagoe, Fola Coker, and Lisa Folawiyo, among many others, have left indelible marks on the fashion landscape. Their enduring influence continues to enrich the industry, serving as an inspiration to aspiring designers like myself.

    Who or what do you consider the greatest influence in your life?

    It’s challenging to attribute my life’s greatest influence to a single source; instead, my journey is a combination of various inspirations and influences. My family background has been very significant. I was fortunate to grow up in a close-knit family filled with love and support. My husband has also played a pivotal role in my life, consistently providing the encouragement and motivation I needed to pursue my passion. Also, my mentors, whose insights and experiences have proven invaluable in guiding my path. Their wisdom and guidance have shaped my growth as a fashion designer. My journey is a collection of these different influences, with each contributing its unique value to my life and career.

    What is your definition of style?

    As a fashion designer, my definition of style extends beyond following trends; it is consistent choices an individual makes in their attire that reflect their personality, tastes, and values. And style is not limited to fashion alone but goes into various aspects of life; from how individuals carry themselves to the way they decorate their spaces. How would you assess the sector today?

    The fashion industry is marked by its continuously evolving and competitive landscape. The infusion of technology and innovation, coupled with creative talent, has transformed the sector. Many fashion designers are now seamlessly integrating technology into their creations, resulting in intelligent designs. Additionally, the influence of influencers and the impact of social media platforms cannot be overstated. They play vital roles in shaping trends and consumer preferences.

    In summary, the fashion industry has gone through a remarkable transformation, fueled by these factors. This ongoing improvement underscores the dynamic nature of the sector, where adaptability and innovation are keys to remaining at the forefront of the ever-changing fashion landscape.

    What are some of the changes that you would like to see in the sector?

    I advocate for a fashion industry that provides better support to emerging designers, with an emphasis on mentorship programs. As fashion designers, we must shift focus towards prioritising quality over quantity and the creation of enduring designs. This attention not only endures the longevity of our crafts but also aligns with sustainable and responsible fashion practices.

     What advice do you have for young people who want to go into the sector?

    To individuals aspiring to pursue a career in fashion design, my advice is to be rooted in passion and unwavering commitment. The fashion industry undoubtedly has its share of challenges, but love for innovation and creativity can serve as a sustaining force during challenging times. Furthermore, the path to success in fashion design necessitates a commitment to continuous self-improvement. Seek out mentors whose guidance and wisdom can illuminate your journey. Attend exhibitions and training sessions to remain updated with industry trends and techniques. Fashion design is a dynamic and demanding field, but with passion, dedication, mentorship, and a commitment to ongoing learning, you can navigate its challenges and flourish as a designer.