The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Re: Is Tinubu relocating Nigeria’s capital to Lagos, piece by piece?

    Re: Is Tinubu relocating Nigeria’s capital to Lagos, piece by piece?

    By Victor Okebunmi

    “When a man is cursed by the gods, they strip him of peace, deny him sleep, and turn him into a midnight town crier shouting at his own reflection.” – African Proverb.

    This proverb captures, in full, the strange and unfortunate spectacle Nigerians witnessed in the late hours of Christmas Day (11:34pm to be precise). At a season when the nation was largely at peace with itself, families travelling freely without fuel scarcity, markets bustling, parents shopping for their children, homes filled with laughter, food, prayers, goodwill, and the spirit of love, one former unfortunate governor, named Nasir El-Rufai @elrufai, chose to spend the season consumed by bitterness. Instead of joining millions of Nigerians in celebrating a rare festive period without panic buying or endless petrol queues, he sat awake in what can only be described as political discomfort, amplifying an opinion piece attacking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. The coward lacked the courage to write the piece himself, too timid to put his name to the bile. Instead, he outsourced his bitterness to a hired hand and then, in a fit of nocturnal anxiety, rushed to post it on social media at midnight on Christmas night, a timing that exposes restlessness, suppressed rage, and a profound inability to accept a political reality he no longer controls, one that has permanently confined him to the graveyard of irrelevance.

    This rejoinder is not written to trade insults, but to restore facts, logic, and perspective, and to do so in clear, simple language that most will understand. Context matters deeply here. The opinion article titled “Is Tinubu relocating Nigeria’s capital to Lagos, piece by piece?” was not written by disgruntled El-Rufai. He merely amplified it. Men with conviction write their arguments openly, attach their names to them, and defend them publicly. Men unsure of themselves hire others, hide behind borrowed words, and then distribute those words quietly in the dead of night. If El-Rufai truly believed in the substance of the claims, he would have written them himself, signed them boldly, and stood by them. Instead, he outsourced the task and chose the most symbolic night of goodwill and peace to push division. That choice alone speaks volumes about motive.

    The national atmosphere at the time makes this even more revealing. Nigerians are, for once, enjoying a festive season without the familiar stress of fuel scarcity. Petrol stations are open and orderly. Transportation is moving. Food prices are trending downward in many markets compared to previous months. Traders are smiling, buyers are bargaining, and families are travelling to villages and cities alike. Terrorists and bandits are being decisively neutralised, sent to their final reckoning under sustained and precise aerial bombardment. Children are home from school, parents are present, and people are sharing meals and laughter. Churches and mosques are preaching love, forgiveness, and hope. In sharp contrast, El-Rufai appears locked in a personal war with reality, obsessively fixated on President Tinubu’s success, unable to rest or celebrate, and seemingly determined to poison a season of peace with bitterness. The contrast is not accidental; it is instructive.

    At the heart of the opinion piece is the claim that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is quietly relocating Nigeria’s capital from Abuja to Lagos. This claim is not just wrong; it is fundamentally dishonest. Nigeria’s capital remains Abuja in law, in practice, and in reality. The President lives and works in Abuja. The Presidency is in Abuja. The National Assembly conducts its business in Abuja. The Supreme Court sits in Abuja. All foreign embassies remain in Abuja. No bill has been proposed to change the capital. No constitutional amendment has been debated. No referendum has been contemplated. In simple, everyday terms, nothing about Nigeria’s capital has moved. The article deliberately confuses administrative efficiency with constitutional relocation, hoping readers will not notice the difference.

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    Lagos has always been Nigeria’s commercial and economic nerve centre. This is not a Tinubu-era development. It was so under military rule. It was so under Obasanjo. It was so under Yar’Adua. It was so under Jonathan. It was so under Buhari. Businesses, banks, ports, airlines, manufacturers, investors, and markets are heavily concentrated in Lagos and its surrounding corridors. That reality did not suddenly appear in 2023. Federal agencies operating actively from Lagos are responding to economic gravity, not political favouritism.

    Take FAAN, for instance. Lagos airports handle the overwhelming majority of Nigeria’s passenger and cargo traffic. This is a statistical fact that predates the Tinubu presidency by decades. Keeping operational decisions closer to where most flights, passengers, and revenue are generated is common sense. It reduces delays, improves coordination, and saves costs. Nobody described this as “relocating the capital” when similar operational dominance existed under previous administrations.

    The same applies to the Central Bank of Nigeria. Financial regulation, banking supervision, payments systems, and consumer protection naturally gravitate towards where financial institutions operate. Nigeria’s banking industry is concentrated in Lagos. This is how global finance works. New York is home to Wall Street, yet Washington remains the capital of the United States. No serious analyst claims those countries secretly relocated their capitals. To suggest otherwise in Nigeria’s case is either ignorance of global norms or deliberate misrepresentation.

    The Bank of Industry exists to support industrial growth, manufacturing, and private sector development. Industries, factories, investors, and supply chains are clustered heavily around Lagos and the South-West industrial corridor. Locating operational headquarters closer to industry is a governance decision rooted in practicality. It does not strip Abuja of its status, nor does it transform Lagos into a capital city. These agencies remain federal in mandate, funding, and reach. The idea of “institutional drift” is a narrative invention, not a factual development.

    The most glaring intellectual failure in the opinion piece is the attack on the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. One must ask plainly and without apology: was El-Rufai expecting a coastal road in the North? The project is called a coastal road because it follows Nigeria’s coastline. Coastal literally means along the coast of a sea or ocean. The North, by geography, does not have a coastline. Geography is not discrimination. Nature is not biased. You cannot accuse a shoreline project of regional favouritism simply because the shoreline exists in one part of the country. That argument collapses the moment it is spoken.

    The coastal highway is designed to protect Nigeria’s fragile shoreline from erosion, connect coastal states, unlock tourism potential, facilitate maritime trade, and open up new investment corridors across the South-South and South-West. It serves national economic interests, not regional sentiment. At the same time, substantial infrastructure investments are ongoing in the North, including roads, rail expansion, agriculture, power projects, and massive security spending concentrated in northern theatres due to ongoing insecurity. These realities are ignored because they do not serve the narrative of grievance. Bitterness has a way of narrowing vision.

    The misuse of budget figures in the article is another example of deliberate distortion. Comparing the cost of a multi-year, multi-state federal infrastructure project to the annual budgets of individual states is dishonest, if not criminal. Federal projects are designed to last decades, serve millions of people across state boundaries, and are financed through layered funding mechanisms. State budgets, on the other hand, primarily fund salaries, pensions, healthcare, education, and basic services. They are not meant to deliver national-scale infrastructure. By the logic of the article, no country should ever build highways, bridges, railways, or dams, because such projects always cost more than provincial budgets can afford. That is not economic reasoning; it is propaganda aimed at stirring resentment.

    The article also expresses sudden concern about poverty, insecurity, displacement, and low literacy rates in the North. These problems did not emerge overnight, and they certainly did not begin under President Tinubu. The obvious and uncomfortable question is: who governed Nigeria over the last forty years or more, who shaped national security policy, and who sat at the centre of power during that time? Rapscallion El-Rufai was not an outsider either. He was a key participant in recent history, hobnobbing and sneaking from one bedroom to another, backstabbing his fellow executives, according to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, alongside his catastrophic, inglorious, poverty-generating tenure in Kaduna. To speak as if he has just discovered northern suffering is political amnesia. You cannot preside over decline, contribute to policy failure, and then rebrand yourself as a shocked commentator when the consequences become undeniable.

    The most dangerous aspect of the opinion piece is not its poor logic, but its intention. It seeks to reduce governance to ethnic arithmetic and development to regional rivalry. It attempts to pit North against South, Lagos against the rest of Nigeria, and geography against national unity. This is not statesmanship; it is mischief. It is the politics of division deployed by those who can no longer shape outcomes constructively.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is governing pragmatically. He is placing institutions where they function best, investing based on geography and economic logic, stabilising the economy, and confronting inherited challenges with realism. That approach is producing visible results, including relative fuel stability, improved market confidence, enhanced security, and renewed economic activity. That success is the nightmare that leaves our Man Friday frozen in envy, suffering acute erectile dysfunction, and the vertically, intellectually, and politically stunted El-Rufai completely unhinged.

    Nigeria’s capital is not being relocated. Nigeria is being rebuilt. And that, more than anything else, explains the anger. El-Rufai is not fighting for federalism. He is fighting irrelevance. When a man loses power, he fights geography. When he loses arguments, he hires writers. When he loses peace, he posts at midnight on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, Nigerians are moving forward, shopping, travelling, celebrating, reconnecting with family, spreading love, and finding Renewed Hope. And that reality is the loudest rebuttal of all.

    • Okebunmi is Senior Special Assistant (Publicity), Renewed Hope Global.

  • Restoring mercy

    Restoring mercy

    There is new opportunity for Presidential clemency for Maryam Sanda

    The Supreme Court of Nigeria recently affirmed the death verdict passed by lower courts on Abuja-based housewife Maryam Sanda for killing her husband in a 2017 domestic dispute. Sanda, daughter-in-law to a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was sentenced to death by hanging in January 2020 by the High Court in Abuja, which found her guilty of fatally stabbing Bilyamin Bello at their home in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Following her conviction by the trial court, Sanda had headed to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the death sentence. She approached the Supreme Court with a further appeal, on which the justices delivered their verdict on December 12, 2025.

    The apex court, in a split decision by four justices against one, dismissed Sanda’s appeal and resolved all issues she raised against her conviction as being without any merit. In the lead judgment, Justice Moore Adumein held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, and that the appellate court was right in affirming the trial court’s verdict.

    Against the backdrop of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu having commuted Sanda’s death sentence to 12 years imprisonment, the Supreme Court further held that it was “wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide in respect of which an appeal was pending.”

    Referencing several past judgments, Justice Adumein noted that the court had consistently criticised the executive arm for granting pardons to those convicted of capital offences while their appeals were pending. He said the clemency extended to Sanda did not strip the court of its jurisdiction to hear her appeal and issue appropriate orders.

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    “By Section 233(2)(d) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction, to the exclusion of any other court, to hear and determine appeals from the Court of Appeal where, as in this case, a death sentence was affirmed. I do not think that this jurisdiction can be affected by the grant of pardon by the Executive when an appeal against the death sentence is still pending in the Supreme Court of Nigeria. When an appeal against a death sentence is pending, it is better and safer to delay granting amnesty or pardon to the convicted person. The grant of pardon during the pendency of appeal does not prevent the court from proceeding to determine the appeal on its merit,” the justice argued.

    The Presidency had in October commuted Sanda’s sentence to 12 years, following public outrage over wholesale pardon granted her. There were 174 other beneficiaries of the presidential prerogative of mercy.

    According to a federal gazette of October 23, 2025, the presidential prerogative was exercised in pursuance of Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). It explained that Sanda’s sentence commutation was on compassionate grounds.

    The gazette, released by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, read: “Maryam Sanda, whose offence was culpable homicide, sentenced on 27/01/2020 to death by hanging, having served six years and eight months at the Medium Security Custodial Centre (MSCC), Suleja, will now serve 12 years based on compassionate grounds.” The gazette said this was in the best interest of her two children, and for her “good conduct, embraced new lifestyle, being a model prisoner and remorsefulness.”

    Corroborating the gazette in a statement, Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) said the presidential prerogative that earlier granted Sanda and others clemency was reviewed following consultations with the National Council of State. He explained: “This exercise underscores the President’s desire to balance justice with compassion and the belief that justice must not only punish, but also reform and redeem. The review was undertaken with meticulous commitment to due process to reinforce the administration’s broader commitment to justice reform and humane correctional practices in line with international standards.”

    No matter the good intention of the prerogative of mercy, however, due process was certainly not followed. Sanda’s appeal had already been heard by the Supreme Court on October 2, 2025 and reserved for judgment, before the President commuted her sentence. That is to say, the judicial process was ongoing when the executive arm butted in with the sentence commutation. It is absurd to think the apex court would let go of its constitutional duty because the President purported to commute Sanda’s sentence while her appeal was pending.

    We consider it obvious that Mr President was badly advised. It was the act of the special duties office. Justice Minister Fagbemi stepped in after this embarrassing misstep.

     Now that the judicial process has been exhausted, the President could do a fresh commutation of Sanda’s sentence – if only for process tidying. Separation of powers, observance of rule of law, and respect for judicial process, particularly that of the apex court, is key to strengthening our democracy.

  • Language activism V

    Language activism V

    Now that this series on language is coming to an end, it is only appropriate for me to give some background information about the subject that I have been discussing.

    This series is an extended typecast of the keynote address I delivered at a colloquium in honour of Niyi Osundare (he needs no introduction) at the Ekiti State University in Ado Ekiti on the occasion of the poet’s seventy-eighth birthday. It was a grand occasion made even grander by the presence of the celebrant, his natural  exuberance not  diminished an iota by advancing age. As usual in the crowd that turned up on the day, there were a large number of those who had encountered Osundare in classrooms and on the pages of books and newspapers over a long period of time. They had all come to celebrate a life of achievement. This  was a celebration of a life in drama and literature and a great time was had by all. In the background however, the seriousness of the occasion was appreciated by all as it was also an interrogation of language; that score that is shared by all humankind even if there is a multiplicity of languages which in any case, is an indication of human diversity. And really, that is a cause for celebration as it is a sign of human adaptability to the various environments which have been colonised by human beings most of whom spread out of Africa about 50,000 years ago.

    There is no gain saying the fact that Osundare is an accomplished writer in the English language, a language which has, over the years, become wired to his very bones. And yet, I can confidently wager that he did not speak a word of English until he was eight, if not ten years old. He belongs to a generation which was made literate through the medium of local languages. I know because I belong to that generation myself. Looking back, I think we all derived great benefit from that system, a system which acknowledged our cultural and linguistic roots and hardly exposed us to the language of the oppressor in our infancy. Interestingly, this policy was designed by the oppressor, perhaps because we were considered not worthy of introduction to the master’s language until we had proved our mettle. But really, that is unlikely. Yoruba in our case was used as an introduction to learning and it worked admirably, not least in the case of Niyi Osundare whose command of the English language is in the class of legend. It comes to him without effort in the manner of Athena who sprang into the world fully grown from the head of Zeus, her divine father. He has been a writer in English for close to sixty years, so long and so well that his works have outgrown that language and have been translated into more than a dozen languages all around the world. This means that his genius has not been restricted to the more than one billion speakers of English but extended to other billions going through life without the benefit of the English language in their baggage.

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    There has been a great deal of debate about the desirability of African writers writing in English or French. Ngugi wa Thiongo stands out as a prominent African writer who turned his back on the use of English and took to writing in his mother tongue, the language spoken by the Kikuyu people of Kenya. They were one of the few African people who rose up in rebellion against British rule and paid for their independence with impressive amounts of blood, sweat and tears. It can be said that under their circumstances their language deserves to be admitted to the table of global languages. Ngugi was only making that claim on behalf of his people. Most of us are content to write in English in an attempt to reach the rest of the world but ironically, Ngugi was not denied that privilege because the world had been introduced to him through translation in the same way that Osundare has been able to speak to the world through through the medium of translation into many other languages.

    Osundare speaks to the world through the use of the English language. Under the dense foliage of that language, his message is rooted to the soil of his native Ekiti dialect from which it has extracted a peculiar richness which has complimented the richness of his English. Without those nutrients, the flavour of Osundare’s tremendous contribution to the English language could have been in some dispute. And, this cannot be restricted to Osundare because we see the same adaptation of other Nigerian languages in the writing of practically all Nigerian writers including Achebe and Soyinka. Gabriel Okara, perhaps the oldest of that lot, has left a body of work dripping with his native Ijaw. It should not be forgotten that the English language lends itself to such interpretation or, if you like, misinterpretation because of her natural flexibility. The English language must not be allowed to set any boundaries of our own use as this would only be a restriction of our freedom to contribute our own quota to that language, to its detriment. Amos Tutuola is an example of this. An extreme example but an example all the same. There is no limit to the number of people who, like Shakespeare can bend the English language to their will.

     It must be pointed out however that there are not many people with the facility to do this. Osundare and a few other Nigerians have amply demonstrated their ability to manipulate the English language as the fancy directs them and that is just a fact. With the availability of excellent translation facilities, does it really matter in which language literature is produced? I have been able to enjoy a large number of authors in translation without any feeling of being deprived and so have many other people. This is why I am intrigued that there is hardly any translated literature available in Yoruba or any other Nigerian language for that matter. Osundare writes in English but his work has been translated into practically all the major languages of the world. Very little of it has so far been rendered in Yoruba. I am certain that Osundare’s poems would be as resonant in Yoruba as they are in English and they could even be better mined for context, after all, most of them are set locally. We just don’t know and can’t know. This problem is put in proper perspective for me when the only major book in world literature that has been translated into Yoruba is the Bible. Food for the soul, not so much for the intellect. None of the many science books that our students read or pretend to read, has been found worthy of translation into Yoruba. None of them have of course been written in Yoruba. This can only be as a result of our collective lack of confidence in our post-colonial status as second class global citizens. It has nothing to do with the sophistication or the lack of it of the language.

    We are no longer colonial subjects but we are still waiting for our liberation. This can only be the reason the Federal Minister of Education can, at a forum organised by the British Council of all such bodies, announce the ban of all local languages from the Nigerian educational system. Henceforth, the only language worthy of being heard in any Nigerian school is English. Never mind the lame excuse he gave for this language policy. It is simply shameful that a system that produced the likes of Niyi Osundare is now receiving official and public condemnation for the almost systematic destruction of the entire Nigerian educational system. The Minister is advised to take an educated look at the system over which he is expected to preside.

  • Bridging the gaps in budget implementation

    Bridging the gaps in budget implementation

    By Tunde Rahman

    To state that there are gaps in the implementation of the 2024 and 2025 budgets is actually stating the obvious. One does not need to be an economist or an expert in fiscal matters to know this. Top government functionaries charged with budgetary matters have all made the point and confirmed that the budgets were not fully funded for apparent reasons. This admission reflects an attribute typically rare in government – transparency.

    In August, at a stakeholders’ engagement on the implementation of the 2025 capital budget and related issues in Abuja, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, pointed out that the Federal Government was funding the capital component of the 2024 budget using revenue accruing under the 2025 Budget. He also noted that the 2025 revenue projections in the budget had been underperforming because the country had not met the oil production quota.

    Questions, therefore, arose in some quarters about the level of budget implementation. President Bola Tinubu’s announcement in August that the administration had met its 2025 non-oil revenue target even triggered more questions.  What then was the issue regarding budget implementation? 

    It must be noted, however, that there are additional revenue sources for funding budgets beyond Internally-Generated Revenue. These include funding by development partners and foreign and domestic loans. If the IGR performs and there are gaps in other revenue sources, there could also be limitations in budget implementation. In that seemingly innocuous statement, President Tinubu was referring to the non-oil revenue component of the budget for the year. 

    Following the below-par performance of the 2024 Budget, the National Assembly approved the rollover of the budget into 2025. The parliament later also approved the rollover of 70 percent of the 2025 capital projects into 2026.  Given this background of poor budget execution, some had suggested a holistic review of the budgeting process to upend the cycle of rollovers and non-implementation. Dr Muda Yusuf, the CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, among others, proposed that rather than discard projects that were approved but not implemented, it would be more prudent to consolidate outstanding projects, clear the accumulated backlog and re-present them within a more coherent and credible framework. 

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    Two weeks ago, President Tinubu moved decisively to address the implementation problems associated with the 2024 and 2025 budgets by using the practical template of the 2026 budget. Presenting the N58.18 trillion 2026 budget proposals to the National Assembly on Thursday, December 18, 2025, the President declared an end to budget rollovers and multiple budgets. Despite the challenges, the 2026 budget aligns well with the December-January budget cycle. 

    Aptly titled “Budget of Consolidation, Renewed Resilience and Shared Prosperity,” this new budget is essentially anchored on fiscal planning, discipline, resilience and sustainable development in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda. With the budget, President Tinubu plans to consolidate macroeconomic stability, improve the business and investment environment, promote job‑rich growth, reduce poverty and strengthen human capital development, while protecting the vulnerable.

    But rather than appreciate the government’s challenge, the courage demonstrated in accepting the fact of poor implementation of the budget and the firm resolve to correct the anomaly, the opposition African Democratic Congress took the notoriously mischievous route to upbraid President Tinubu. The party described the new budget and the government’s remedial plans as “a copy and paste” of previous years’ spending plans. The party’s interim National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said ADC’s economists reviewed the budget, claiming that “it reflects fiscal recklessness and unrealistic projections.” Propagating a doomsday theory, ADC opined that, like its predecessors, the 2026 Budget would end up as another unimplemented document.

    It is fair to argue that the 2025 budget faced the challenge of transition and competing execution demands. But presenting the 2026 Budget to the lawmakers, President Tinubu assured that the budgetary situation would be different this time. The President said: “As of Q3 2025, we recorded: 18.6 trillion naira in revenue — representing 61% of our target; and 24.66 trillion naira in expenditure — representing 60% of our target.

    “Let me be clear: 2026 will be a year of stronger discipline in budget execution. I have issued directives to the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, the Honourable Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Accountant‑General of the Federation, and the Director‑General of the Budget Office of the Federation to ensure that the 2026 Budget is implemented strictly in line with the appropriated details and timelines.

    “We expect improved revenue performance through the new National Tax Acts and the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector — reforms designed not merely to raise revenue, but to drive transparency, efficiency, fairness, and long‑term value in our fiscal architecture,” he added.

    President Tinubu recognises the importance of fiscal guardrails, as evidenced by his clear directive to Government‑owned Enterprises and to the heads of all agencies to meet their assigned revenue targets.

    To support this, he said:  “An end‑to‑end digitisation of revenue mobilisation — standardised e‑collections, interoperable payment rails, automated reconciliation, data‑driven risk profiling, and real‑time performance dashboards — will be deployed so that leakages are sealed, compliance is verifiable, and remittances are prompt.”

    These targets, President Tinubu noted, will form core components of performance evaluations and institutional scorecards. “Nigeria can no longer afford leakages, inefficiencies, or underperformance in strategic agencies. Every institution must play its part.  In short: we will spend with purpose, manage debt with discipline, and pursue broad-based, sustainable growth.”

    These are grand plans and clear directives from President Tinubu. The National Assembly, too, has a vital role to play in ensuring the successful implementation of the 2026 budget. Many of the unimplemented projects in the 2025 Budget, for instance, were constituency projects, the brunt of which was borne by lawmakers who tended to allocate the jobs even when the projects had not been cash-backed. Beyond approving the 2026 appropriation, therefore, the lawmakers must show greater restraint and prudence in handling their constituency projects.

    The 2026 budget has other notable aspects. One, it re-presents a defining moment in the national journey of reform and transformation. The 2026 Budget, as President Tinubu said, “reflects the government’s determination to lock in macroeconomic stability, deepen competitiveness, and ensure that growth translates into decent jobs, rising incomes, and a better quality of life for every Nigerian.”

    Two, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda and the practical needs of Nigerians, the budget prioritises five critical sectors: defence and security – N5.41 trillion; infrastructure – N3.56 trillion; education – N3.52 trillion; and health – N2.48 trillion. As the President rightly said, these priorities are interlinked: “Without security, investment will not thrive. Without educated and healthy citizens, productivity will not rise. Without infrastructure, jobs and enterprises will not scale.”

    To all intents and purposes, the government has drawn appropriate lessons from the drawbacks of the 2024 and 2025 budgets. That is why the 2026 Budget is guided by three basic principles: better revenue mobilisation, better spending by prioritising projects, and better accountability through strengthened procurement discipline, monitoring, and reporting. There is a strong optimism that it will yield outcomes that benefit all, which hopefully the perennial cynics would acknowledge.

    • Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Special Duties.

  • Insecurity: President Tinubu recalibrates

    Insecurity: President Tinubu recalibrates

    The declaration forms part of the Tinubu administration’s broader effort to overhaul Nigeria’s security and criminal justice systems amid persistent challenges posed by banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and organised violent crime across several regions of the country”.

    Since he assumed power over two years ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s security strategy has involved a multi-pronged approach, including kinetic pressure through modernised military capability

    and intelligence-driven operations, as well as the much criticised

    non-kinetic measures like restoring governance in underserved communities, counter-radicalization programs, and economic stabilization initiatives.

    The administration has also emphasised inter-agency cooperation, technology-driven intelligence gathering, and community engagement.

    Unfortunately, these have not stemmed insecurity which some lazy Northern governors

    inflicted on Nigeria when, rather than provide education, good health care delivery and proper governance for their people a decade and half ago, hid under the Sharia, flee their state capitals and went to  live, mostly a lecherous life at Abuja, consuming both women and alcohol.

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    Insecurity was further worsened in the country during President Muhammadu Buhari’s laizerfaire eight years when his seeming love affair with all manner of Islamic terrorist groups was so fervent Boko Haram could proudly nominate him as their representative in an interface with the Goodluck Jonathan government.

    Now Tinubu says no more.

    The President has  vowed to classify violence by armed groups as terrorism, allocating $3.7 billion to defence and security. The 2026 budget prioritizes security, with a N5.41 trillion allocation for defence and security.

    Tinubu’s approach to security is centered around discipline, enforcement, and accountability.

    He has abandoned euphemism, declaring that any armed group operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists.

    This doctrinal reset removes political, ethnic, or semantic cover from violent non-state actors, signaling to security agencies that ambiguity will no longer be an operational excuse.

    Details of the new order also include the following.

     Recruitment:

    50,000 new personnel to be recruited by the Police, with a 20,000 additional to the Army;

    Forest Guards Deployment:

    Trained guards to be deployed to flush out terrorists and bandits from all forests;

    State Policing: National Assembly to review laws to enable states to establish their own police force;

    Military Modernization: Procurement of advanced weaponry, surveillance systems, and force multipliers

    Community Engagement: Initiatives  to resolve herder-farmer conflicts and promote social investment.

    Not surprisingly, all manner of Northern characters , probably including terror financiers, have risen in opposition to this brave determination by the President.

    This is why I continue to commend the President for removing fuel subsidy, quite unexpectedly, on day one because had he wasted time, some enemies of state could have made it impossible and thereby turn Nigeria to another Venezuela.

    Further details of the President’s NEW ORDER are as follows:

    According to the President, “the new framework will end the practice of treating banditry, militancy and related crimes as isolated criminal activities.

    Instead, such acts will now fall squarely within the scope of terrorism, with harsher responses from the state”.

    “Under the new security architecture,  bandits, violent cults, militias, armed gangs, forest-based criminal groups and foreign-linked mercenaries would no longer be viewed as standalone criminal elements but as terrorist threats to national stability”.

    “We will usher in a new era of criminal justice. We will show no mercy to those who commit or support acts of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping for ransom and other violent crimes”.

    The President further explained that his administration was restructuring the nation’s security system around a new counterterrorism doctrine designed to improve coordination and effectiveness across security agencies.

    “Our administration, he said, is resetting the national security architecture and establishing a new national counterterrorism doctrine — a holistic redesign anchored on unified command, intelligence gathering, community stability, and counter-insurgency.

    This new doctrine will fundamentally change how we confront terrorism and other violent crimes.”

    He also indicated, very clearly, that the designation would apply broadly to all armed groups operating without state approval.

    “Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists”.

    “Bandits, militias, armed gangs, armed robbers, violent cults, forest-based armed groups and foreign-linked mercenaries will all be targeted”.

    “We will go after all those who perpetrate violence for political or sectarian ends, along with those who finance and facilitate their evil schemes.”

    The President also stressed that increased security spending under the 2026 budget would be tied to measurable outcomes, insisting that funding must translate into improved safety for Nigerians”.

    “We will invest in security with clear accountability for outcomes — because security spending must deliver results”.

    Concluding, the President added:

    “To secure our country, our priority will remain on increasing the fighting capability of our armed forces and other security agencies and boosting the effectiveness of our fight”.

    Let me conclude by wishing my loyal and incredible readers happy New Year in a much safer Nigeria.

  • Much ado about a bombing

    Much ado about a bombing

    The recent military strikes carried out by the United States against Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in Tangaza, Sokoto State have generated considerable debate, with some quarters viewing the intervention through a distorted lens of suspicion rather than recognizing it for what it truly represents: a significant victory in Nigeria’s ongoing battle against terrorism. The operation, which decimated multiple terrorist camps, should be celebrated as a landmark moment in international cooperation against violent extremism that has plagued Nigeria for far too long.

    For years, ISWAP and its affiliated terrorist groups including bandits have unleashed unprecedented sorrow, tears, and blood upon innocent Nigerians. Communities across the Northeast and Northwest have been terrorized by these merchants of death who have shown no mercy to their victims—whether Christian or Muslim. They have burned villages, kidnapped people , even schoolchildren, displaced millions, and created a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions.

    The unrestrained and unprovoked violence has disrupted agriculture, education, and commerce, leaving entire regions in perpetual fear. Against this backdrop of sustained brutality, the US airstrikes represent not an infringement on Nigerian sovereignty but rather a much-needed reinforcement in a battle that demands every available resource and capability.

    President Donald Trump and the United States deserve commendation for such decisive action and, perhaps more importantly, for the manner in which this operation was conducted.

    Rather than acting unilaterally—which would have been problematic—the Trump administration demonstrated respect for Nigerian sovereignty by fully coordinating with Nigerian authorities at the highest levels. Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar’s account of the coordination process reveals a textbook example of how such operations should be conducted: Nigerian intelligence formed the foundation of the strike, consultations occurred between the foreign ministers of both nations, and President Bola Tinubu personally authorized Nigerian participation before the operation proceeded.

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    This is not colonialism or imperialism, as some critics would have us believe. This is a partnership. This is the international community exercising its responsibility to protect populations from mass atrocities while simultaneously respecting the sovereignty of nations. Nigeria maintained full agency throughout the process—providing intelligence, granting permission, and participating actively in an operation on its own soil. The terrorists were eliminated, no innocent lives were reported lost, and Nigeria’s territorial integrity remained intact. This is precisely what win-win cooperation looks like in the 21st century.

    The United States, in carrying out this operation, fulfilled its obligations under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine—a principle that recognizes that sovereignty is not a license for governments to abandon their populations to mass atrocities, nor is it a barrier to the international community assisting when such threats emerge. Nigeria, for its part, demonstrated the maturity and pragmatism of a nation that recognizes its own limitations and is willing to accept assistance from capable partners. There is no shame in this; there is only wisdom.

    Moving forward, this operation should serve as a template for expanded cooperation between Nigeria and the United States. The fight against ISWAP, Boko Haram, and affiliated terrorist networks is far from over. These groups remain entrenched in multiple states, and their capacity for violence remains substantial. Nigeria needs more than occasional airstrikes—it needs sustained intelligence sharing, advanced surveillance equipment, tactical training, and yes, arms and ammunition that can match the firepower that these terrorists somehow continue to acquire.

    The United States should be urged to deepen its commitment to Nigeria’s security. Intelligence sharing should become routine rather than episodic. Nigerian security forces need access to advanced technology—drones, night-vision equipment, armored vehicles, and precision weaponry—that can tilt the balance decisively against the terrorists. The Nigerian military has shown courage and dedication, but courage alone cannot compensate for technological and logistical deficits. America has these resources, and providing them to a strategic partner in Africa’s most populous nation serves American interests as much as Nigerian ones.

    Yet, predictably, there are those who have chosen to criticize rather than celebrate this development. Among the most prominent of critics is the voluble purveyor of nonsense, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, whose posturing about American “unclean hands” makes one genuinely wonder whether the Islamic cleric is becoming senile or simply willfully blind to reality. Gumi’s suggestion that only nations with “clean hands” should conduct such operations is not only impractical but reveals a staggering ignorance of history that one would not expect from someone of his supposed learning.

    The sheikh’s implication that certain nations possess moral purity that qualifies them to combat terrorism while others do not is laughable when subjected to even cursory historical scrutiny. He mentions China, Turkey, and other nations as somehow preferable alternatives, apparently oblivious to their own extensive records of violence and oppression. China’s brutal occupation of Tibet, its intervention in Korea, and its ongoing persecution of Uighur Muslims are well-documented. Turkey, as the Ottoman Empire, perpetrated the Armenian genocide—one of the twentieth century’s most horrific mass atrocities—and its military operations in Cyprus resulted in substantial civilian casualties and displacement. Every major power has blood on its hands somewhere in history. Now, this is not to excuse American foreign policy mistakes nor misdeeds, but rather to point out that Gumi’s standard—if applied consistently—would disqualify literally every nation on earth from conducting counterterrorism operations. It is a standard designed not for practical application but for rhetorical grandstanding. One must ask: does Sheikh Gumi prefer that ISWAP terrorists continue their reign of terror unimpeded? Does he believe Nigeria should refuse all international assistance until it finds a nation that has never committed any historical wrong? Such a position is not principled; it is absurd.

    Equally risible is the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its attempt to politicize this security intervention. The ADC should know that not everything is about partisan advantage. Not every development should be viewed through the narrow lens of domestic political competition. Nigeria and Nigerians—regardless of party affiliation, ethnic identity, or religious background—benefit when terrorists are eliminated. The question should not be whether the ruling party gets credit, but whether Nigerian lives are saved and national security is enhanced. The answer to that question is unambiguously yes.

    The ADC would do well to remember that terrorism recognizes no party lines. ISWAP nor bandits do not request party affiliation or voter registration cards before attacking communities. When terrorists are destroyed, all Nigerians are safer—whether they support APC, PDP, ADC, or Chop and Quench Party. To oppose effective counterterrorism operations because they might reflect well on the current administration is to place political calculation above national interest, and it is a position that deserves nothing but contempt.

    The US airstrikes in Sokoto State represent a significant achievement in Nigeria’s fight against terrorism. They demonstrate that international cooperation, when conducted with mutual respect and proper coordination, can deliver results that serve both partners’ interests. Rather than engaging in misplaced criticism or cynical politicization, Nigerians should recognize this operation for what it is: a down payment on the security and stability that our nation desperately needs. The path forward is clear—deeper cooperation, enhanced intelligence sharing, and sustained commitment to eliminating the terrorist threat. Much has been made of this bombing, but the real story is simple: terrorists were destroyed, Nigerian sovereignty was respected, and both nations are safer for it. That is worth celebrating, not criticizing.

    Happy New Year my dear readers, we go again in 2026, in our prime desire for a better, prosperous and progressive Nigeria.

  • Channels Television and the mosque bombing

    Channels Television and the mosque bombing

    In Southwestern Nigeria, which is the heartland of the Yoruba ethnic group, it was commonplace for families to be religiously heterogeneous and harmonious. In the circumstance, the husband could be a practising Muslim and the wife a practising Christian; a mother could be a practising Muslim and the father a practising Christian; and a father could be the adherent of an indigenous religion while the child could be a Christian or Muslim. This heterogeneity created conditions in which various religious festivities were jointly observed.

    This harmonious living was at its peak before the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 by the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida military administration inspired by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a means of restructuring the Nigerian economy to create sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty. Features of SAP included the reduction of government spending on social services (including education), trade liberalisation (which meant commodities could be imported into Nigeria without measures to protect the national economy) and the devaluation of the nation’s currency.

    These measures came with a sharp rise in inflation, reduction in purchasing power and a lot of economic hardship. In other words, SAP created the direct opposite of the advertised benefits of its adoption. To cope, some citizens had to embark on different kinds of activities. Some of these activities led to aggravated corruption. Some others saw an economic headway in establishing commercially-oriented religious centres, complete with business models and business ethics. This developing entrepreneurial religious culture came with rabid competition for members and the employment of strategies which were not particularly morally edifying.

    This led to intra-or-inter-religious conflicts in Southwest Nigeria, and remarkably undermined the religious harmony for which the region was reputed. As the saying goes, “If gold rusts, what shall iron do?” So, inter-religious conflicts, especially between adherents of Christianity and Islam, festered in the other less religiously harmonious regions of Nigeria, and it is widely acknowledged that the media played critical roles in such conflict or potential conflict situations.

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    In the April 2006 pamphlet by Andrew Puddephatt titled Voices of war: Conflict and the role of the media – commissioned, edited and published by International Media Support – the phenomenon is described as follows: “Mass media often play a key role in today’s conflict. Basically, their role can take two different and opposed forms. Either the media take an active part in the conflict and have responsibility for increased violence, or stay independent and out of the conflict, thereby contributing to the resolution of conflict and alleviation of violence. Which role the media take in a given conflict, and in the phases before and after, depends on a complex set of factors, including the relationship the media have to actors in the conflict and the independence the media have to the power holders in society.”

    These views are relevant for Channels Television which is a privately-owned Nigerian media outfit with a Christian proprietor who is not known to be particularly close to the current leadership of the country. The views are also relevant for conflicts in, especially, Northern Nigeria, which some see as primarily motivated by contests for land, pure criminality and herders-farmers issues, but which some others see as primarily motivated by the desire to launch genocidal attacks against Christians in Nigeria. With time, probably aided by some sections of the media, the allegation of ‘Christian genocide’ gained resonance with some Christian politicians in the United States, and President Donald Trump declared Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”. He also threatened to invade Nigeria in a war that would be “fast, vicious, and sweet”, to protect Nigerian Christians.

    The Nigerian government has countered the ‘Christian genocide’ narrative, and US and Nigerian officials have met with the Nigerian officials assuring their US counterparts that there is no genocide against Christians in the country. The meetings have also discussed strategies for combating the agents of insecurity who have been indiscriminate in their choice of targets and victims.

    In the same vein, in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Christmas Day broadcast to the nation on 25 December, 2025, he said: “As your President, I remain committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect all people of different faiths from violence. … Throughout the year, I have had the privilege of engaging with prominent leaders from the two major faiths in the country, particularly amid concerns about religious intolerance and insecurity. We will build on these conversations to strengthen collaboration between government and religious institutions, prevent conflict and promote peaceful coexistence.”

    It was in the context of these efforts to promote religious harmony that a mosque in Maiduguri was bombed during Maghrib (early evening) prayers on 24 December, 2025. The BBC’s headline of the report on the attack was “Bomb blast in packed Nigerian mosque kills five”; Al-Jazeerah’s was “Explosion rocks crowded mosque in Nigeria, killing at least five; Deutsche Welle (DW)’s was “Nigeria: Explosion rocks Borno mosque during evening prayers.”; The Cable’s was “Five worshippers killed, 35 injured as suicide bomber attacks mosque in Maiduguri”; The Guardian (Nigeria)’s was “Deadly explosion rips through Maiduguri mosque, at least 7 killed”; and Daily Trust’s was “Many feared killed as suicide bomber attacks Borno mosque.”

    However, Channels Television’s headline of the same event was “BREAKING: Many feared dead as bomb blast rocks Maiduguri on Christmas eve.” In a swift response to this misleading headline, an impassioned commentator on X, Boss kitty kitty @Aashfinn, on 24 December, 2025 wrote: “How are we supposed to be fighting terrorism when we’re also forced to fight stupid, bigoted Nigerian media that thrive on twisting facts to inflame religious tension? Terror has no religion, but manufacturing a Christian genocide narrative is sickening, irresponsible and dangerous.”

    Moreover, in a 25 December, 2025 release, the Executive Chairman of MPAC, Disu Kamor, said in part: “The Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC), Nigeria, strongly condemns the misleading, insensitive, and deeply troubling editorial decision by Channels Television in its reportage of the bombing of a mosque at a market in Maiduguri, Borno State. … Channels Television, in its caption and framing of the story, deliberately omitted any reference to the mosque and the Muslim identity of the victims, while introducing an entirely unrelated and inflammatory reference to ‘Christmas Eve.’ … Evidence shows that the report was initially published without any reference to Christmas, only for the phrase to be inserted later – clearly to drive engagement, provoke emotion, and potentially inflame religious tensions in an already fragile national context.”

    MPAC further stated: “This action raises serious concerns about intentional manipulation, institutional bias, and the weaponization of language in media reporting. MPAC notes with deep concern that this is not an isolated incident. Channels Television has, on multiple occasions, demonstrated intense hostility against Islam and a tendency to downplay, distort, or obscure stories involving Muslim victims, often erasing their religious identity while amplifying narratives that invite suspicion, fear, or hostility toward Islam and Muslims. When Muslim lives are lost, their identities are muted. When Muslim spaces are attacked, the spaces are unnamed. When Muslim pain is reported, politics is inserted. This is unacceptable in a plural, multi-religious society such as Nigeria.”

    As a Christian-oriented media outfit, Channels Television threw itself into the religious fray through blatant media bias, which according to Mediatheory.net, in a 2024 account, “refers to the systematic favouritism or prejudice present in the dissemination of information by news outlets. It can manifest in various forms, affecting the way news stories are framed, sources are selected, and also how language is employed.” In other words, as Provalisresearch.com rightly noted in 2025, “Media framing often manifests itself by the choice of some key words, key phrases and images that reinforce a particular representation of the reality and a specific emotion toward it, and the omission of other elements that could suggest a different perspective or trigger a different sentiment.”

    In a 23 May, 2025 article in Dextermanley.com, titled Editorial framing choices: How headlines shape public perception and drive engagement, Jessica Hughes noted: “Framing choices often manifest in headlines, where brevity meets persuasion. Compelling headlines utilize keywords to attract clicks, steering readership toward particular narratives.” Hughes also noted: “News outlets often reflect specific ideological perspectives through their editorial choices. Language selection influences audience perception, as certain terms can evoke particular emotional responses aligned with political views.”

    In a 23 March, 2025 article titled, How headlines shape public opinion and hide bias, Media Moogle noted: “[H]eadlines serve as gatekeepers of information, filtering what we consider worthy of our attention. They tend to highlight conflict, controversy, or novelty – elements that attract clicks and shares. This focus can distort the overall context, emphasizing sensational aspects while downplaying nuance or complexity. The result is a simplified version of reality that fits neatly into a headline, but may mislead or misrepresent the full story.”

    In this regard, the Channels Television’s misleading headline aptly exemplifies ‘confirmation bias’ which the platform, Catalogue of bias, defines as follows: “Confirmation bias occurs when an individual looks for and uses the information [gathered] to support their own ideas or beliefs. It also means that information not supporting their ideas or beliefs is disregarded. Confirmation bias often happens when we want certain ideas to be true. This leads individuals to stop gathering information when the retrieved evidence confirms their own viewpoints, which can lead to preconceived opinions (prejudices) that are not based on reason or factual knowledge. Individuals then pick out the bits of information that confirm their prejudices.”

    In a 26 December, 2025 sobering counsel on the Channels Television’s grand error of judgement, a commentator on TikTok, @mrabdulreacts, asked: “How can we heal our fragile unity when our own media fuels division?” He also noted: “Narratives can be more dangerous than bullets … A bomb may destroy a building in seconds, but misleading headlines can destroy trust for generations.” This note is critical when it is considered that a widely held position in media studies is that most people only read headlines, but also go ahead to share, widely, the often misleading and sensational headlines like the Channels Television’s Maiduguri bombing one.

    As Andrew Puddephatt suggested, as quoted earlier in this piece, an independent medium may decide, perversely though, to work at cross-purposes with the leadership of the society with respect to conflict. As President Tinubu was trying to encourage peace through his, usually pre-announced or pre-released, Christmas Day message, Channels Television appeared to be trying to exacerbate mutual religious suspicion and hostility. Did Channels Television decide to be pulling in the opposite direction as a counterforce to the government’s efforts to guarantee social cohesion in the country?

    Meanwhile, is level of religious bigotry a consideration in the awards Channels Television has been obtaining?

  • When the quiet weeks speak loudest

    When the quiet weeks speak loudest

    There are weeks in the life of a presidency when the noise is deafening, rallies, foreign trips, emergency meetings, declarations issued in quick succession. And then there are quieter weeks, when public appearances thin out and the headlines seem dominated by greetings, goodwill messages and courtesy visits. Last week fell firmly into the latter category for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yet beneath the surface calm, the machinery of government was grinding steadily forward, translating ideas long articulated into systems now taking physical and institutional form.

    For those watching closely, the week offered a revealing snapshot of Tinubu’s administrative philosophy at work: define priorities early, design the architecture patiently, and then allow the state to move, sometimes noiselessly, towards execution. Security and social cohesion framed the President’s few public engagements, but what truly stood out was the acceleration of an automation agenda that has been central to his thinking since he assumed office.

    Tinubu has never hidden his belief that Nigeria’s most stubborn governance problems, leakages, inefficiency, opaque processes, are sustained by manual systems that reward discretion and obscure accountability. Long before his inauguration, he had argued that data, technology and transparent workflows were the surest antidotes to corruption. That conviction, tested during his years in Lagos, is now being scaled nationally.

    Last week, the federal civil service crossed an important threshold. The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation formally went live on the 1-Government Cloud Enterprise Content Management System, a move that signals more than just another ICT launch. Under the supervision of George Akume, the SGF’s office, Nigeria’s policy coordination nerve centre, has begun transitioning from paper-laden processes to a digital environment where records, approvals and inter-ministerial communications are traceable, time-bound and auditable.

    The symbolism is hard to miss. If the office that manages Federal Executive Council business and harmonises government actions can function digitally, excuses for analogue inertia elsewhere thin out rapidly. Backed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, the move aligns squarely with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, which targets a paperless bureaucracy by the end of 2025. This is Tinubu’s doctrine in motion: reform not as rhetoric, but as system design.

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    The same logic surfaced in the management of public finance. The circular issued by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, warning Ministries, Departments and Agencies that failure to render statements of accounts would result in suspended funding, fits neatly into the automation narrative. Financial discipline, in this context, is no longer a moral appeal but a technical enforcement mechanism. Upload your data, reconcile your numbers, or the system locks you out.

    By insisting that revenue reports and operating surpluses be captured on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, the administration is shrinking the space for creative accounting. Over time, the effect is cumulative: fewer ghost figures, clearer fiscal visibility, and a treasury that knows, in near real time, what it has and what it is owed. Tinubu’s preference is evident: rules embedded in platforms are harder to bend than circulars filed away in drawers.

    Even Nigeria’s most politically sensitive sector is not exempt. The Ministry of Petroleum Resources’ move towards full automation and paperless operations last week marked a significant departure from decades of opaque workflows. For a sector that has long symbolised discretion, delay and rent-seeking, the embrace of enterprise content management is a quiet but consequential shift. With digital approvals and secure electronic correspondence, the petroleum ministry is being nudged, firmly, into the same accountability framework as the rest of government.

    To be sure, automation alone does not solve governance. But Tinubu’s strategy is cumulative: technology to narrow discretion, enforcement to compel compliance, and leadership signalling to sustain momentum. It is telling that these steps are unfolding even as the President spends the season at home in Lagos. The centre, in this design, does not need to shout daily to remain in control.

    Security, however, remains the emotional core of Tinubu’s public messaging, and rightly so. His engagements during the week, though limited, were carefully chosen. At the Eyo Festival, he spoke less as a politician and more as a custodian of social order, linking cultural celebration to peace, discipline and restraint. In his Christmas message, he returned to a theme that has increasingly defined his presidency: religious coexistence as a security imperative.

    Nigeria’s experience has taught painful lessons. Where faith becomes a fault line, violence is never far behind. Tinubu’s insistence on sustained engagement with Christian and Muslim leaders is not cosmetic outreach; it is a preventive security strategy. By reaffirming constitutional protections for religious freedom and condemning intolerance, he is addressing one of terrorism’s silent accelerants, communal mistrust.

    That thread ran clearly through his meeting with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria. Assuring them that community and state policing would materialise once the National Assembly completes legislative inputs, Tinubu framed security reform as both structural and participatory. The state can deploy hardware and doctrine, but vigilance and cooperation at community level remain indispensable.

    Critics may still point to timelines and outcomes, and those questions are legitimate. Yet what last week demonstrated is consistency. From digital governance to fiscal discipline, from interfaith dialogue to sub-national policing, the administration is working off a coherent blueprint. Terrorism, banditry and religious friction are being confronted not only with force, but with systems designed to outlast personalities.

    In politics, noise often masquerades as action. Tinubu’s quieter weeks suggest a different rhythm—one where the absence of spectacle does not mean the absence of progress. Sometimes, the most consequential work of governance happens when the cameras are few, the statements sparse, and the systems, finally, begin to run the way they were designed.

    Meanwhile, across the week, President Tinubu deployed a familiar but effective tool of leadership: recognition. From Ekiti to Kano, from Lagos to Abuja, the President used moments of celebration and condolence to reinforce values his administration consistently projects, service, integrity, professionalism and national cohesion.

    On Sunday, his tribute to Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on his 58th birthday went beyond pleasantries. By recalling Oyebanji’s long climb through public service; from the struggle for Ekiti State’s creation to senior roles in government, Tinubu underscored continuity in governance and rewarded institutional memory. In the same vein, his commendation of the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Adeola Ajayi, for a press-freedom award subtly reinforced an important balance: that security and civil liberties need not be mutually exclusive.

    Monday’s celebration of retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Cecilia Ugowe, at 90 added another layer. In saluting a trailblazer who broke barriers in a male-dominated force, the President aligned himself with a narrative of inclusion and professionalism, an echo of his broader reform agenda within state institutions.

    By Tuesday, the focus shifted to culture, as Tinubu honoured Otunba Biodun Ajiboye of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation. The message was clear: national unity is not built by policy alone, but by a deliberate nurturing of culture, identity and shared values, especially in a diverse federation.

    Midweek carried a more solemn tone. The passing of elder statesman and former UN envoy, Chief Arthur Mbanefo, drew a tribute that celebrated integrity and patriotism, reminding Nigerians of an era where public service was worn as a badge of honour. Yet Wednesday also revealed Tinubu the party leader, inaugurating a high-powered APC committee to resolve internal disputes ahead of 2027. It was a quiet but strategic move, signalling that cohesion within the ruling party remains central to governance stability.

    Thursday’s roll call of birthday felicitations; to Abdullahi Ganduje, Segun Adesegun, Abubakar Bagudu and Bimbo Ashiru, read like a who’s who of Nigeria’s political and economic class. But beneath the surface was a consistent theme: loyalty, experience and service still matter in Tinubu’s political calculus.

    The week closed on a more assertive note. The $1.26 billion financing milestone for the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway provided concrete evidence of the administration’s infrastructure ambition, while his presence at Jumat prayers in Lekki reinforced the President’s engagement with faith leaders and moral voices. Even in mourning, over the deaths of Kano lawmakers and education icon Professor Adamu Baikie, the President stayed anchored to empathy and national solidarity.

    Taken together, the week complemented the earlier narrative of automation, security engagement and religious harmony. It showed that even when the spotlight dims, governance continues, through symbols, structures and steady hands at the helm.

  • Tunji Olaopa and the reimagined bureaucracy

    Tunji Olaopa and the reimagined bureaucracy

    By Paul Onomuakpokpo

    When the German writer Franz Kafka directs his narrative genius at the civil service – after spending a princely part of his working life in it – he leaves us with a dark and tragic vision of a bureaucratic system inexorably trapped in detachment from its duty to serve the people. This is inevitable since in his reckoning, the system that Max Weber brands the “iron cage” is bereft of the capacity to even cater to the interest of its loyal devotees who have been desouled per In the Penal Colony, The Trial, and The Castle. We appropriate the above backdrop to properly situate the reform trajectory of the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, who , like Kafka, spent a huge part of his working life in the civil service. But unlike Kafka, while admitting being confronted with what he has identified as bureau-pathologies which are markers of the resistance to reform, and thus the degeneration of the civil service, Olaopa does not consider it fated to a cul-de-sac. For Olaopa, what is embedded in these is an urgent summons for reform, rather than a wholesale consignment of the bureaucratic system to a mould of a machine that is insensitive to its handlers and those it is meant to serve. Olaopa is clearly alert to the fact that although the civil service is in need of reform, it remains what is commonly referred to as the engine room for translating government’s transformative values – which receive expression through policies and programmes – to realities for the people. This quest for the transformation of the civil service has been the leitmotif of Olaopa’s professional preoccupation whether in the civil service or in academia of his post-civil service life. Thus, whether by serendipity or a master stroke of an uncanny genius for identifying talent, President Bola Tinubu was able to recognise this throbbing reform impulse in Olaopa when he appointed him the Chairman of the FCSC and gave him the charge: Transform the Federal Civil Service Commission. This charge became two-year old on December 13, 2025. In this period, the prosecution of this charge has been manifestly expressed through the tripodal mandate of the FCSC, viz: recruitment, appointment and discipline. Before Olaopa’ leadership of the FCSC, it was bereft of a reputation that would allow the citizens and institutions to deal with it with a measure of confidence that their trust would be creditably requited . For those who knew it, it was perceived as a haven of corruption where only those with the right connections got government jobs. Olaopa has changed all that perception . The FCSC has become a government agency that citizens can trust with their quest to be employed in the civil service. The era of jobs being paid for is gone. Under Olaopa, there is the overarching quest to bring the best and brightest to the civil service, without undermining the federal character principle. His credibility has invested his leadership with an imprimatur of believability. Through credible promotion examinations, the career progression of the most qualified civil servants is guaranteed. Civil servants are no longer apprehensive that they need to look for millions to bribe their way to rise to the top. Olaopa has demonstrated the courage to stop the promotion of those who do not merit it no matter the pressure from different quarters. The avenues for questionable promotion examinations such as leakage and sub-standard examination questions have been blocked. This has saved the commission from wasting time, money and other resources on court cases. Those who fail no longer bother to contest the grades they have been awarded as they rest assured that the system is now credible. Olaopa’s streak of firsts at the FCSC has received a boon with the introduction of the computer-based test ( CBT) mould for the conduct of recruitment and promotion examinations in the civil service. This novelty imposes on civil servants the salubrious necessity of computer-savviness that is reflective of technological developments in a world where those who have demurred at bracing for artificial intelligence and others are faced with the present danger of consignment to corporate and professional backwaters. It has also shrunk the space for the manipulation of examination results that impugn the credibility of the commission. Olaopa has also robustly activated the guardrail for a credible disciplinary process. There is a deliberate process to ensure that civil servants are not unduly punished and witch-hunted. The matters of discipline are thoroughly investigated and fiercely debated by Olaopa and his federal commissioners who represent the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory before a conclusion is reached. No one is allowed to use their influence to frustrate their subordinates out of the civil service. Through a robust deployment of emotional intelligence, Olaopa has been able to forge an unequalled cordial working relationship with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation ( HOCSF ). Indeed, Olaopa aptly captures his working relationship with the HOCSF as that of Siamese twins who operate with unequalled synergy. Unlike some agencies of government, there is no rivalry between these two agencies of the government that are responsible for the leadership of the nation’s civil service. They both adhere to their boundaries to ensure that the civil service delivers only only the best to the public. At the state level, civil servants have equally benefited immensely from Olaopa’s leadership. Drawing from his rich experience as a former federal permanent secretary and as a professor of public administration, Olaopa has offered himself as a mentor to many managers of state civil service commissions. This finds exemplification in Olaopa’s revitalisation of the National Conference of Civil Service Commissions after an over 10-year hiatus. The last two conferences which were held in Katsina and Abia states birthed declarations that outlined the challenges that state civil service commissions need to overcome to optimise their performance. Olaopa has also extended his mentorship to local government service commissions as he delivered the keynote address to them during their last yearly conference in Abuja. For years, the voice of the Nigerian civil service through the Federal Civil Service Commission was silent on the global stage. But within two years, Olaopa has forged alliances that have returned the voice of the civil service to the global stage. This is so especially at the continental level where under the leadership of Olaopa, Nigeria has become an active voice in the Association of the African Public Service Commissions (AAPSCOMS). In its last meeting in Kenya, Olaopa was elected the Vice President of AAPSCOMS for West Africa.To underscore Nigeria’s influence in AAPSCOMS through Olaopa, the country has been scheduled to host the organisation in 2026 in Abuja. Successful corporations like great nations have strategic plans that define certain directions that they would go in a given time frame. Yet the FCSC for over 70 years of its existence was bereft of such a strategic plan. But within the two years of Olaopa’s leadership , the FCSC now has a strategic plan that spells out the direction the commission would go from now till 2030. Beyond clinking glasses at two years in the saddle, Olaopa’s achievements within this brief period are an auspicious reminder of the gains that accrue to the society when the appointment of people to public office is blind to considerations other than their suitability on account of competence and their readiness to serve. They also signal a determination to bequeath to succeeding managers of the civil service a world-class bureaucratic system that has been made to yield itself to renewal in order to effectively deliver service to the public. Onomuakpokpo, PhD, former Acting Editor, The Guardian, is the Special Assistant on Strategic Communications to the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission.

  • Digital learning widens gap of educationally disadvantaged children

    Digital learning widens gap of educationally disadvantaged children

    • Lack of access to power supply, internet connections set hordes of pupils backward

    • Digital policy deprives pupils of level playing ground – Experts

    The deployment of technology in education and public examinations is no doubt widened the gap of educationally disadvantaged children. Many pupils, especially those in rural communities lack access to power supply and internet connections and yet, they are expected to write the same examinations with those who have unfettered access to all this all year round. Is the digital policy in any way fair to these pupils? Innocent Duru asks.

    Hilda, a public school pupil in New Ekuri, a suburb of Cross River State isn’t computer savvy. Her community lacks power supply and internet connection which are crucial for her and other pupils in her community to be in tune with the aggressive digital learning and examination policies being canvassed by leading examination bodies like JAMB and WAEC.

     “We have never had power supply in our community. We also don’t have internet connection. We cannot do whatsApp chat or call. There is nothing like internet here.Many of us don’t even know how to power a computer let alone knowing how to use it to write or answer examination questions,” the young girl said.

    Hilda and her peers in New Ekuri are not alone in this.

    The World Bank in its 2025 report put the number of people without access to electricity in Nigeria at 86.8 million, the highest world-wide. The GSMA also in a report early this year noted that 130 million Nigerians are not connected to the internet.

    In fact, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, earlier in the years said only 23 percent of rural communities in Nigeria have access to the internet compared to 57 percent in urban areas, a situation the NCC said  continues to widen the country’s digital divide.

    From the statistics provided by the NCC, it means that about 77 percent of rural communities, often populated by the young ones of school age don’t have access to the internet.

    One of Hilda’s teachers, Okon who should be in the best position to prepare the students for digitaI education and examination still leaves in the past. “I cannot read online because we are not connected. If there is an opportunity online, I cannot apply for it because there is no internet facility here,” he said.

    Aside from not having access to internet, Okon also has serious difficulty reading to prepare for classes. “It very sickening teaching without power supply. I rely on torch to see in the house. I use torch to read or better still, I will read in the afternoon. There is a torch I used to tie on my head to read. But the challenge is that it causes headache after a while.”

    In spite of his meager salary, Okon sometimes uses generator. “I manageably spend about N10, 000 on fuel monthly from my meager salary of N20, 000. I am sustained by what I get from my farm and small business. A litre of fuel is N1,500. It used to be about N2000 and above before now but the price has dropped to N1500.  When there is no money to buy fuel, I do go out to power my phone at a charging point. It costs N300 to do that.”

    A leading member of the community, Pastor Louis said: “There is no internet access here. They mounted an antenna that carries just 2G and that is to enable our people make calls and it is not regular.  Because there are some certain times the service will no longer be there and you will wait until that service is restored before you can make calls. And if you have emergency at that point then you are lost out completely.

    “There was a time they came to upgrade it to 4G and because of the bad road and with the load they were carrying, they could not access New Ekuri.  They had to end halfway and return back again with the equipment.  And since then till date New Ekuri is still managing with 2G.You can’t do internet calls because you need data to do that.And your data cannot be effective.”

    For people in New Ekuri to use internet, Pastor Louis said they have to travel out of the environment.  “If you have anything, even if it is photographs you want to send, you have to travel out of the environment, at least get up to 18 kilometers out of the community before you can access internet in the nearby area.

     “The young people who have these Android phones, they only use it to play pre-recorded music.  It is when they leave the environment for the city that they can have access to internet services, to connect to Facebook and connect to WhatsApp and all others.  So which means that, in that environment, all the jobs that people do online, they cannot access it.

    They can’t do all this TikTok. They can’t do anything there. Even to access your WhatsApp, nothing happens. The moment you enter New Ekuri, you will just shut down everything that has to do with internet activities.”

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    Technology should be a bridge, not a barrier – NAPPS

    National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools decried what it described as uneven availability of infrastructure in the country.

    Responding to questions from our correspondent, the National President, Chief Yomi Otubela, said: “Digital education and examinations in themselves, are not the problem. In fact, they hold great potential to improve learning outcomes, expand access to quality content, and prepare our children for a technology-driven world.

    “However, the reality in Nigeria today is that the uneven availability of basic infrastructure has meant that the benefits of digital education are not being enjoyed equally.”

    He averred that “there is no denying that the digital shift has exposed and, in some cases, widened existing inequalities between students in urban or well-served communities and those in rural or underserved areas where power supply, internet connectivity, and access to devices remain major challenges. When a child cannot log in simply because there is no electricity or network, that child is already disadvantaged, not by ability, but by circumstance.”

    That said, the NAPPS chairman stated that  it would be unfair and counterproductive to roll back digital progress, adding:  “The issue is not whether digital education should continue, but how government and relevant stakeholders can ensure inclusiveness. This requires deliberate investment in rural electrification, affordable internet access, community digital hubs, and targeted support for disadvantaged schools and learners.”

    As private school operators, he said:  “we believe digital education must go hand in hand with strong equity policies. No child should be left behind because of where they live or the economic status of their parents. Technology should be a bridge, not a barrier, and achieving this demands coordinated action from government at all levels, the private sector, and development partners.”

    Students no longer assessed on knowledge preparation, but on access to infrastructure CONUA

    The Congress of University Academics (CONUA)  in a response to our inquiry bewailed the aggressive shift to digital education and education without considering the less privileged ones.

    The body regretted that students are no longer assessed based on knowledge and preparation, but on access to infrastructure.

    CONUA’s National President, Comrade ‘Niyi Sunmonu,  said the body recognises that digital education and computer-based examinations are inevitable components of modern learning systems. However, It said “we are deeply concerned that the current pace and manner of implementation in Nigeria risk widening existing educational inequalities rather than reducing them.”

    He strongly noted that digital education and examinations, when introduced without universal access to stable electricity,affordable internet connectivity, functional devices, and adequate digital literacy, disproportionately disadvantage students from rural, peri-urban, and low-income communities. “In effect, students are no longer being assessed solely on knowledge and preparation, but on access to infrastructure they do not control. This contradicts the principle of equity that should underpin any credible education system.”

    CONUA therefore maintains that digital education reforms must be phased, inclusive, and infrastructure-led, not policy-led alone. Government at all levels must first close gaps in power supply, broadband penetration, ICT capacity and student support systems before enforcing full digital transitions. Until these fundamentals are addressed, Comrade Sunmonu said digital examinations risk becoming instruments of exclusion rather than progress.

     “Our position remains consistent: technology should level the educational playing field, not tilt it further against the already disadvantaged. CONUA will continue to advocate for reforms that combine innovation with fairness, access, and social justice in Nigeria’s education sector.”

    Community without digital connectivity is functionally invisible, cut off from modern education, healthcare, markets, opportunity – NCC

    Speaking during the Rural Connectivity Summit, organised by the Rural Connectivity Initiative in Lagos, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, validated the  widening gap concerns caused by deployment of technology in public education and exams.  He noted that a community  without digital connectivity is functionally invisible, cut off from modern education, healthcare, markets, and opportunity.

    He said the disparity in access remains one of the biggest obstacles to inclusive development, stressing that without deliberate intervention, millions of Nigerians would remain excluded from education, healthcare, and economic opportunities that rely on digital connectivity.

    Maida, who delivered the keynote address titled: “Leaving Nobody Behind: Leveraging Regulatory Advantages to Bridge Nigeria’s Digital Divide,” said the lack of connectivity in rural areas is not just a development issue but a national security concern.

    According to him: “A community without digital connectivity is functionally invisible, cut off from modern education, healthcare, markets, and opportunity. This ‘digital invisibility’ is an unacceptable situation we must act decisively to end.

    He said: “Nigeria’s broadband penetration currently stands at 48.81 percent, and research has shown that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration can boost a country’s GDP by up to 1.38 percent. This shows clearly that connectivity is not just about speed, but about economic growth and national development.”

    According to him, the Commission, through its Universal Service Provision Fund, USPF, has continued to implement targeted interventions to expand digital access in underserved and unserved communities across the country.

    He explained: “Through programmes such as the Rural Broadband Initiative, RUBI, and the Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion, AMPE, we are supporting infrastructure deployment in commercially non-viable areas. The USPF has also implemented more than 2,500 education projects and delivered over 100,000 computers to schools nationwide.”

    WAEC to conduct exams online from 2026

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has reaffirmed its readiness to fully implement Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by 2026.

    The Head of National Office, WAEC, Dr. Amos Dangut, disclosed this while speaking during the sensitisation on computer-based WASSCE for members of the National Assembly Committee on Education in Abuja.

    Dangut, who explained that the rollout of CBT examinations had already begun, assured that no candidate would be left behind in the transition.

    He stressed that the move to CB-WASSCE was motivated by the need to safeguard the credibility of Nigeria’s certificates and to align assessment practices with global standards.

    On preparations for students, he noted that WAEC would introduce mock sessions and online practice platforms to enable candidates familiarise themselves with the system before the main examinations.

    He recalled that WAEC successfully conducted Nigeria’s first-ever CB-WASSCE in 2024 for private candidates in a hybrid format, combining paper-and-pen with computer-based responses.

    Building on that experience, he said that the council had deployed the system for the WASSCE for school candidates in 2025, recording significant progress.

    “The Federal Government has directed that we carry out our exams using the computer testing mode and by the grace of God, we have started it.

    “We are up to the task and that is our intention. We have started it and there is no going back, it is going to be on a large scale.

    “We have done five exams now; four exams for the private candidates and one exam for the school candidates.

    “And for 2026, we are going to do it massively, we are going to deploy it massively, just like JAMB, there is usually mock exam preparatory to the main exam,” he said.

    Addressing concerns about infrastructure and connectivity, Dangut assured lawmakers and stakeholders that no student would be disadvantaged, regardless of location.

    “We are taking our sensitisation and demonstration to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

    “We have conducted exams even in hard-to-reach areas, so infrastructure will not stop this programme. All registered candidates will sit for their exams,” he stated.

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had introduced the Computer-Based Test (CBT) in 2013 and made it mandatory for all candidates in 2015.

    Previously, the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was conducted as a Paper-Pencil Test (PPT). The transition to a mandatory online (computer-based) format was implemented to enhance the examination process and curb malpractice. Since May 17, 2014, all administrations of the exam have been entirely computer-based.

    The challenge here is that no attempt has been made to find out the number of students who don’t participate in the examination because of the aforementioned challenges.

    Nigeria mimicking global trends over addressing local needs – Activist Orji

    Also frowning at the disadvantaged position that the deployment of technology has placed less privileged pupils, Activist Orji said the shift to digital education and exams in Nigeria risks widening the gap between students with access to power, internet, and computers, and those in communities without. “This development meant to be an advantage, highlights the disparity in our education system.Nigeria’s approach to education seems to prioritize mimicking global trends over addressing local needs. We’ve adopted computer-based testing (CBT) without ensuring infrastructure and equity. This is absurd. Education should be tailored to local contexts, not imported wholesale.”

    Going down memory lane, he said: “Before Western-style education, Africans had robust systems equipping youth for community roles. For example, apprenticeships in farming, fishing, or craftsmanship ensured young people had practical skills. Now, we churn out jobless graduates, disconnected from their roots. CBT exams will exacerbate this, ignoring unequal access to technology, power, and internet. Not all Nigerians have computers or reliable connectivity.

    “In rural areas, students struggle with erratic power supply and limited internet access. Urban counterparts, often more affluent, have better resources. This digital divide will deepen inequalities, undermining the purpose of education.

    “The gap will grow unless we rethink our approach. Education is local and location-based. We must prioritize practical skills, community needs, and inclusivity. Let’s walk before we fly – plan based on local realities, not global pressures.”

    While  commending  Minister Dr. Morufu Alausa for reversing counterproductive policies, he said: “ Let’s craft an education system that serves Nigeria’s diverse communities, equipping learners for success. This means investing in infrastructure, training teachers, and developing context-relevant curricula.

    We must recognize that education is not one-size-fits-all. Localizing education will help bridge the gap and foster development. It’s time to rethink our priorities and build an education system that truly serves Nigeria.”

    Ministry yet to respond

    When contacted on what the ministry is doing to address the gap created by the deployment of technology in public  examinations, the spokesperson of the  Ministry of Education, Folasade Boriowo requested our correspondent to send his questions through text message.

    She hadn’t responded to the questions at press time.