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Author: The Nation

  • How Nigeria can get out of poverty trap, by AfDB adviser

    How Nigeria can get out of poverty trap, by AfDB adviser

    In this chat with reporters, Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of African Development Bank, Prof. Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, explains fundamental structural issues President Bola Ahmed Tinubu needs to tackle to move the country from low-level equilibrium, get the country out of debt trap and sustain economic growth, Assistant Editor BOLA OLAJUWON was there.

    What should the new government and other stakeholders do to get the country out of poverty trap?

    My proposal is that the new President must aim very high: target a minimum of seven percent growth rate so we can double our GDP in 10 years. How? There are short-term macro-economic issues to quickly deal with, but what I will be emphasising are fundamental structural issues. To move from this low-level equilibrium means a structural shift of the economy. Typically, a country’s economy has three main sectors: agriculture, industry and manufacturing and services. Poor countries are mired in low-level agriculture unlike advanced nations with extremely modern and productive agriculture. These countries have “industrialised” agriculture. The Netherland, a highly advanced industrialised nation, exported over 90 billion euros of agribusiness products in 2019.

     Agriculture is where Nigeria has comparative advantage, but technologically, it is decades behind. It is the sector with the lowest hanging fruit, but we must systematically invest in greater mechanisation, inputs such as fertiliser and at the heart of high productivity are seeds. Nigeria, with other African countries, signed the Agricultural Delivery Compact at the conference organised by the AfDB and the African Union in Dakar in January. Faithfully implemented, the country can stimulate rapid growth of the agribusiness sector. This way, we will re-ignite the long delayed structural transformation and accelerate economic diversification in ways that lead to food security. From our calculations, this kind of growth will lead to national food security while creating at least 12 million jobs.

     As you may already know, the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ), a flagship programme of the AfDB adopted by the Federal Government of Nigeria, aims to make Nigeria competitive in agriculture by promoting agro-industrialisation through value-addition and export of processed agricultural commodities. The first phase of the programme is being implemented in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory.

    How Nigeria can become a production nation?

      Let me provide a simple illustration; it is an example of a country that evolved from years of devastating conflict, moved from a beggar-bowl in hand nation to a major player in global value chains. Vietnam exported an estimated US$348 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2020, a ten-fold difference compared with Nigeria’s exports in the same year.  In macroeconomic terms, Vietnam’s total exported goods represent 30% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2020. Given Vietnam’s population of 97 million people, its total $348 billion in 2020 exports translates to roughly $3,600 for every resident.

    Read Also: Katsina seeks AfDB’s support on agric, renewable energy

     In contrast, Nigeria’s total export of around $34 billion represents less than 8% of its GDP of $432.3 billion. Why the huge difference? Nigeria’s revenue basket remains constrained due to its export revenue concentration. We depend on crude oil and few primary commodities. Nigeria records high food imports with most processed foods coming from outside the continent. To record high economic growth rate, Nigeria should do the following: First, move away from crude oil dependence by urgently prioritising economic and trade diversification, including exploiting our vast gas resource that is being flared. Second, the country should aggressively aim for food self-sufficiency through a combination of land intensification and massive expansion of food production over the next five years. It is a matter of urgency that Nigeria reduces dependence on imports to enhance food security and to develop markets for its farmers and firms that will engage in adding value both for local consumption and for exports.

     Growth comes from a diversified portfolio. Contrasting Nigeria and Vietnam, although Vietnam’s export revenue these days come largely from non-oil products such as phones and electronics goods, which are now exported to the world. It also remains a major exporter of agricultural products.

    Why is the Federal Government always investing in projects that would not yield any return like the Ajaokuta Steel Company and others?

    The conception, design and implementation of complex industrial programmes have strong relationship with the capacity of the state. The state here includes the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. The term “state capacity” refers to the state’s ability to get things done or the capacity to implement state-initiated policies. The question you raise has to do with the nature of the state and leadership and capacity of the Nigerian state. The state is either weak/fragile or strong; fragile states are also known as weak states. A state is fragile when it is incapable of meeting key needs of their citizens especially their security and economic wellbeing. A strong state capacity has been strongly associated with long-term economic development. This includes the capacity to establish law and order, enforce private property rights, defend a country against external threats, as well as support development by establishing a competitive market, transportation infrastructure, and mass education.

     The political, bureaucratic and corporate elites must agree on the vision. In poor countries, not just Nigeria, the attitude and actions of political and bureaucratic elite tend to determine the rate and direction of the country’s progress. So, the new President should sit down with political and corporate elites and agree with them on what I term his “Strategic Presidential Flagship Initiatives” to appeal on behalf of Nigerians to ring-fence them from cronyism and corruption and execute them (initiatives) using competent people. This is what General Park Chung-Hee did with the Chaebols in South Korea in the 1960s. 

    The new leadership needs an assurance of agreement by the elite. Our problem is not policy and plans; our challenge is the people and their purpose. Imagine the news trending in the last few days. Nigeria is groaning under lack of power supply yet a minister entrusted with fixing it is alleged by the EFCC to have stolen N340 billion! The AGF who was entrusted to help keep our money, he and his collaborators allegedly stole N109 billion. Somehow, like thousands of cases, it seems nobody is talking about it again. It’s not policy; its people.

    How Nigeria can double its GDP in a decade?

      Yes this is my proposal. Fast and sustained economic growth is the main route to raising living standards and creating decent jobs. China did so, why not Nigeria?  In 1953 when the Korean War ended, the nominal GDP of Korea was $1.3 billion; it grew rapidly for six to seven decades; to 1.65 trillion in 2019. The GDP/capita rose to $32,000 from a mere $158 in 1960. In contrast, Nigeria hardly diversified its economy. The country got locked-in into petroleum export for export earnings to the detriment of value-added agriculture and manufactures. The result is low contribution of the manufacturing sub-sector which fluctuates between 5% to 8% to aggregate output in Nigeria compared with its peers in Asia (Korea about 30% in the 1990s) is staggering.

     What is the recipe? First, economic progress comes only to producers, especially those that manufacture and add value to raw materials and export. Poverty has become the lot of our country as it is with those that always buy from others. Nigeria is in a state of stalled industrialisation. This is the root of poverty. Nigeria has experienced structural transformation trap. After four decades of policy implementations and effective governance, China successfully lifted 770 million of its citizens out of poverty.

     The new government, in addition to my earlier suggestions, should do the following: Maintain security and political stability at all costs; I mean by every means possible. It must also maintain macro-economic stability. The current exchange rates regime discourages investment. A non-transparent exchange regime creates uncertainty that impact investment performance.

     Focus on rural modernisation through programmes like the SAPZ. SAPZ are located in peri-urban areas. This is how to use a policy to force structural transformation of the economy. This is a bottom-up reform starting with transforming agriculture while still building the necessary industrial value chains, and manufacturing logistics; and promoting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) both farms and firms to be more efficient; and support the country’s large companies to become regionally and globally competitive firms. Where will South Korea be without the humble origins of its Chaebols, family businesses that we now know globally? One of them is the Korean giant Samsung electronics that has now surpassed Japan’s Toshiba and America’s Intel to become the world’s top chip producer by revenue. Beyond South Korean semiconductors we have Hyundai Motors, which recently became the world’s third largest carmaker after Toyota and Volkswagen – with quality to match. It is a matter of intention. Rather than ridicule Nigerian businesses, let us support and incentivise them to raise our nation’s flag. Great countries are branded by their corporate ambassadors: Amazon, Microsoft, General Electric, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz etc.

     The government must incentivise the production of manufactured goods by giving strong support to local firms instead of relying only on natural resources; provide consistent government support for infrastructure buildup and ensure ease of doing business across sectors. The power sector challenges need a military-like solution and the wellbeing of Nigerians has suffered enormous degradation, so we need to prioritise, especially the first three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – namely poverty, hunger and disease.

    The labour market is the most potent force for solving these challenges: create decent jobs especially for youth and embark on genuine and massive social housing programmes. The national health insurance scheme should be overhauled and made to serve the purpose for which it was created. The young people deserve explicit attention because of their energy and creativity. When a country views youth as an angry segment to be kept quiet, it shoots itself in the foot. We need new initiatives to support and drive youth entrepreneurship. For example, the AfDB President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, with the former Vice-President, recently launched a programme called Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (i-DICE). It is an initiative of the AfDB and the Federal Government of Nigeria to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the digital technology and creative industries in the context of efforts to create jobs. So far, that initiative has raised over $600 million and ready to be rolled out.

    Who should be in Tinubu’s cabinet?

    At the individual level, he must look for people with high level of competence accompanied by character, creativity and compassion for the poor. You need humble men and women who see this country as a legacy garden to tend and beautify. Not haughty and arrogant people who think citizens are doormats. We must in addition aim deliberately for good governance and strong institutions. These are essential to creating an enabling environment for economic growth. When you look at the Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) index of the World Bank, which captures governance and institutional behaviour in Nigeria on all counts, Nigeria scores extremely low on governance.  Nigeria scores extremely low on anti-corruption.

     More importantly, good governance thrives on good leadership made up of a commitment to integrity, a strong vision and plan for their nation’s future, and the ability to make the most of their available resources. Good government looks beyond short-term political cycles and quick policy fixes. The actions, behaviour choices, and the ability to keep promises made will influence the level of trust that citizens and businesses have in government. A transformational leadership which premises decisions on what structurally transforms the country is what Nigeria needs now. There is little time for the government. A friend of mine calls it: One Chance! If we miss this chance, we have big troubles.

  • With LAMATA, multi-modal transport takes shape in Lagos

    With LAMATA, multi-modal transport takes shape in Lagos

    Commuters in Lagos are increasingly becoming spoilt for choice on how they want to move within the city as transportation becomes multi-modal, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    For decades, the movement of people and goods within Lagos has remained a major challenge for the government and businesses. With a population of about 24 million, and over 22 million round trips per day by over three million private and 200,000 commercial vehicles, commuters and private vehicles struggle for space on over 5,000km of roads in the smallest state in Nigeria.

    Saying transportation was a problem is an understatement. Not only is huge man-hour lost, experts have argued that traffic leaves its costs in billions.

    For instance, if just 20,000 vehicles trapped in traffic had to consume N1,000 extra fuel daily, it would amount to N20 million and in five days that amounts to N100 million. In a month, it would be N400 million and in a year, about N5 billion would have been wasted on extra fuel guzzled in traffic by motorists.

     With people spending more time in traffic than they do in productive ventures, it behoves the government to become more serious about improving traffic flow in the state.

     The way to go as reasoned by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration is to prioritise transportation planning and traffic management under its THEMES Agenda which evolved a number of road traffic reforms as part of a robust Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP) that aimed at introducing multi-modal transportation–rail, road, water and air travel alternatives in moving the people from one point to the other.

    The reality today is a vastly improved public sector transportation architecture that pushes the mantra of change without coercing any operator or stakeholder but silently reflecting the rickety rutted and inefficient vehicles with modern alternatives that are providing the same services cheaper, safer, more reliable and in a more congenial atmosphere.

    Read Also: Oando, LAMATA seal electric buses partnership deal

    While the roads are being expanded and road infrastructure that had long gone is gradually returning, the government has embarked on the introduction of First Mile and Last Mile Buses (FMLM) to replace the commercial motorcycles taking commuters from their homes to the bus stops from where they connect with the bus rapid transit (BRT) buses to their various destinations.

    Added to this is the introduction of taxi services with the injection of the Lagride taxi fleet, which gives riders a more pleasurable experience on the roads.

    The BRT system, which the government started on March 17 2008, keeps getting more exciting as the government, through its private sector partners, only recently took delivery of large-capacity electric buses, which would be added to the ones already converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which aims at achieving a NetZero carbon emission thereby making the state more environmentally friendly.

     The BRT drove into extinction during the molue era, in the Lagos transportation ecosystem. Gradually, a new generation of residents is evolving who never knew or rode on the molue ubiquitous buses that were once the poster face of Lagos.

    All these are being complemented with a functional Rail transportation system fast emerging.

    More significantly, however, the government is injecting new ferries, making the state’s over 4,000 kilometres of coastline and navigable waterways a better alternative to commuters especially those living in riverside communities to relieve the road stress.

    All these strategic reform plans are being coordinated by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) agency which has the responsibility of actualising the desired transportation architecture of the state, and its diligent execution of the vision and objectives of the Lagos Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP).

    The LAMATA journey

       Following a law passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law on January 13 2002, by the then Governor of the State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, LAMATA was established as a semi-autonomous corporate body with perpetual succession and an independent board responsible for the formulation, coordination and implementation of urban transport policies and programmes in the Lagos metropolitan area.

     LAMATA’s mandate which remains till day is “to provide a world-class, sustainable integrated transport system that satisfies stakeholders and drives the growth of Lagos.”

     To better understand the essence of LAMATA as distinct from the state’s Ministry of Transportation, the Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Dr Frederic Oladeinde clearly makes the distinction that “…while the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation develops policies, LAMATA develops strategies around those policies, converts them to plans, and proceeds to implement the infrastructure required.”

    The STMP as a compass

    To succeed with its mandate of enabling a more efficient and sustainable public transportation system, LAMATA developed for the state a robust Strategic Transport Master Plan and ensures it is strictly followed by the government.

     This is the compass that details the requisite infrastructure required to achieve the desired transportation architecture for the state, as well as the guidelines on how and when to implement it. This is the plan that has been at the core of the development of Public Transportation in Lagos since the inception of LAMATA itself in 2002, because it envisages, factors, and integrates all modes of transport including rail, road, and water.

    The STMP provides for six rail lines and one monorail; 14 bus rapid transit routes; 485 independent bus routes; and over 20 water terminals, with regular upgrades every 10 years to accommodate changing populations and realities.

    Today, as obtained in successive administrations in Lagos State, LAMATA has moved the centre of excellence that much closer to the public transportation dreamland envisioned over 20 years ago. 

    Bus reform initiative

    Given the highly metropolitan nature of Lagos and the humongous challenges that come with the congestion occasioned by the large population it attracts, LAMATA figured rightly that making transportation easier on the people would require an attempt at solving public bus transportation.

     This focused approach has seen the conceptualisation and implementation of the Bus Reform Initiative (BRI), the part of the STMP that addresses the transformation required in public road transportation.

    This has led to the continuing development of the BRT system which now moves up to 200, 000 passengers daily and has conveyed over 100 million passengers in the first three years of the present administration.

    Part of the bus reforms is the construction of new and modern bus terminals at strategic hubs across the state such as Oyingbo, Yaba, Ikeja, Oshodi, Agege, Ojota and Ajah, among others areas, as part of efforts aimed at changing the face of public bus transportation towards a modern world-class system deserving of Nigeria’s economic capital.

     In addition, there is the successful introduction of over 500 First and Last Mile buses since their inauguration in August 2021, by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration as part of efforts at ridding the state of the ruinous menace of the motorcycle operators (okada).

     In the first year of the First and Last Mile Bus Scheme, over 3.5 million passengers have been moved to and from their homes to the BRT bus stops and major bus terminals.

     Another accomplishment of the BRT is the automation of fare collection through the Cowry Card, an e-ticketing system that has been integrated to work on all modes of transportation – land, sea and soon, rail. This is a most innovative accomplishment and is a massive departure from what was obtainable until recently. With a single swipe of the Cowry card, commuters can pay for their bus, and will soon be able to pay for train, and boat rides conveniently.

     The system helps to check revenue leakages and enables LAMATA to accurately project, plan; budget and effectively advise the government on future moves, and investments, counting on the reliable revenue projection model.

     As of the end of 2022, over 2.2 million Cowry Cards have been registered and are effectively in use in the state.

      Lagos rail mass transit

    The Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) is part of the STMP that seeks to bring the dreams of successive Lagos administrations to life, with regard to the development of modern rail transportation. It envisions six functional rail lines and one monorail to meet the huge urban transportation needs of Lagos today and in the future.

    The six lines have been colourfully named to cover different parts of the city as follows: Blue Line to run from Marina to Okokomaiko: Red Line – Marina to Agbado; Green Line – Marina to Lekki Free Trade Zone; Orange Line – Ikeja to Agbowa; Purple Line to run from Redemption Camp, Mowe to Ojo; and Yellow Line to run from Ota to the National Theatre.

    Working steadily to surmount multi-various challenges, including funding and topography, LAMATA has displayed commendable diligence in bringing the Blue and Red Lines to life before our eyes with both metro systems close to the commencement of commercial operations.

     The 37 km Red line is being implemented in two phases. The construction of all infrastructure of the first phase from Agbado to Oyingbo, a 27km stretch is about 90% done with stations at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege, Iju, and Agbado, as well as four overpasses constructed and retrofitted. The rolling stock for the Red line is in Lagos and will be operational in a matter of months.

    The second phase, which will extend from Oyingbo, via Iddo and all the way to the iconic Marina station and will include a sea-crossing with a 5.2km elevated rail bridge across the Lagos Lagoon, is expected to follow immediately.

     The Blue Line, however, has been the infrastructure generating the most excitement among Lagosians, Nigerians, and indeed all of Africa with the completion of the infrastructure of the 13km first phase in December 2022, and its official commissioning by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 24, 2023.

     Like the Red line, the Blue line is being implemented in phases one and two. The 13km first phase will run from Marina to Mile 2, servicing 5 stations in total including Marina, National Theatre, Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2. When completed, the Blue Line will be 27km from Marina all the way to Okokomaiko.

     With the Blue Line, LAMATA and the Lagos State Government have recorded many firsts in the annals of history: the first metro rail system by a sub-national in the world; the first rail system to be powered 100 per cent by electricity, making it a 21st Century green infrastructure that is environment-friendly and no carbon emission. All these further affirmed Lagos State’s undoubted position as the crown jewel of sub-nationals in Africa.

     Since the inauguration of the Blue Line by President Muhammadu Buhari in January this year, LAMATA is on record to have transported about 16,000 Lagosians on the Blue Line as part of an ongoing test of the infrastructure, system and processes ahead of expected commercial operations in the second quarter of the year.

     From the infrastructure and facilities being implemented across road, rail, and water transportation and the positive transformation all these are bringing to urban transportation in Lagos State, LAMATA is a great example of what smart visioning and diligent execution can bring to a city desirous of progress.

     The agency is showing that a decent, affordable, comfortable, and timeous transportation system with best-in-class infrastructure and technology for a best-in-class mobility experience is possible for Lagosians.

  • Inauguration: Guard your health, six mafia ‘wars’ likely (2)

    Inauguration: Guard your health, six mafia ‘wars’ likely (2)

    Please grant me one minute to talk about The Key to Peace And  Happiness. I coined this title from the advice of a wise one to suffering people who did not know their condition was caused by their thoughts. The Wise One said: “Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure. By so doing, you will bring peace and happiness”. The hearth of any thought is the foundation of that thought. In my speech making days,THE KEY TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS was my favourite subject for turning upward the listener’s gaze. I reasoned that keeping the thoughts pure at this time would be a Balm of Gilead when petrol price is above the roof and instigating a riot of other prices under its canopy.

    Before I proceed, please excuse another minute to quickly detour to the second of six mafia ‘wars” I mentioned last week  (June 8, 2023) were likely to follow the inaugural speech of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023. This second battle field is the abrogation of the foreign currency black market.

     Currency war

    To avoid the currency war, there are three options…

    • Expand foreign currency earning,

    • Curtail foreign currency expenditure,

    • Confront the cabal or mafia which has created a black currency market out of the official currency market.

    Read Also: Why healthcare strategy needs fresh thinking

    I have been imagining for more than 20 years a bone breaking “war” in this area. This may involve hundreds of thousands or millions of persons who are knee deep in “black currency” business. Government success in this” war ” should enable foreign  companies who do business with Nigeria to have easier access to foreign currency on better terms. But it will be despised by Nigerians abroad who “sow” little foreign currency into the Nigerian economy but reap “bumper harvests” from them , in the local currency, the naira. Many of them emigrated just to be able to return in a few years to take commanding heights of the economy. Of what benefit will be their suffering abroad if their home  remittances amount to little or nothing? should the US Dollar begin to exchange for, say, N250, their dependants at home, too, may not wish the naira well. What about the bank managers who round trip foreign currencies? Can we forget those young Nigerians back home who, unemployed for years, have learned to do internet businesses which pay them in foreign currency? There are several armies the President is going to do battle  with within this sector. They all want Nigeria to become better. But do they realise that Nigeria becoming better means that the naira has to be rescued from the strangulation of other currencies and that, doing so, will pull the carpet from under their feet?

    About 32 years ago, I had the privilege of having lunch with Gen Aliyu Gusau (rtd) then national security adviser (NSA).

    I was Editor of The Guardian newspaper. Soon, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’adua (rtd) showed up in the room. Gen Gusau introduced us. I knew they wanted to sound me out over election- season promises of presidential candidate, one of whom was  Gen. Yar’adua. The economy was in distress and the “black market” was a major cause of it. Was he ready to take on the “black market?” If he was, would he accept my suggestions? The police and the armed forces should hatch a secret crack down plan as follows:

    • Principal operational zones of the “black market ” nationwide should be pre determined

    • At zero hour nationwide, security operatives should crack down on them

    • Black market currency hawkers should be arrested, handcuffed and bundled into police Black Maria and other vehicles.

    • Next day, they should appear in magistrates courts on holding charges, pending further investigations. They should state the sources of foreign currency found on them, and these “sources” should be immediately arrested for prosecution

    •Regular and unexpected mop up operations nationwide should continue indefinitely.

    • The foregoing should sanitise the banks and the currency market. But the government should expect a backlash from the unseen “hands of Esau”. These persons are the currency “black market” mafia.

    Understandably, Gen. Yar’adua did not warm up to the suggestions. Who would deliberately step on the tail of the cobra in his backyard? He looked at me, flashed a pretentious smile, nodding and puffing a cigarette and coughing.  Even garrulous President Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired army general, avoided the terrain as though it were a quagmire or minesfield. His successor, the younger Yar’adua was too sick to bell the cart. President Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan avoided brinkmanship and Gen Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general, was not a  man who could look his kinsmen or friends straight in the eyes and  square up with them. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a “make or break man”. For 22 months as Governor of Lagos State, he defied the garrulous President Obasanjo who denied him of federal funds to run the state. But Tinubu found money elsewhere and Lagos State did not know a President Obasanjo existed in Abuja or in Nigeria! Was Lagos not robust enough to be a country? If it was, would it need  Obasanjo’s money outside its frontiers to survive? That is the man who, now as  President of Nigeria, has declared war on the “black currency” mafia! It is yet unclear if the suspension from office last Saturday of Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele had to do with other matters or a single market drive or both.

    Yet another interesting battle brewing is in the electricity sector. President Tinubu wishes to double capacities on electricity generation, transmission and distribution in a country where capacities are crashing almost everyday (more about this next week)

    The key to peace and happiness

    We are back to the advice to “Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure. By so doing, you will bring peace and happiness”. The HEARTH of your thoughts is the FOUNDATION of your thought.  This message is not original to me. It is the message of a wise one about 100 years ago to suffering people. It sprang from the knowledge that you are what you think. Many people erroneously believe that thoughts are free and that it is the tongue that we should always discipline. People who think like this may not realise that the tongue merely expresses abundance of the mind and that the starting point of any action, be it the spoken word or physical action, stems from the thought. There is fleeting thoughts which, like rolling stones, may gather no moss, as the English man says. There are also serious thoughts which may gather such large amounts of moss that they may become a VOLITION, the driving motif of one’s life, or a propensity which, like one’s shadow, may be difficult to detach from. I say “difficult” because propensities may also be the easiest things to knock off our lives if we understand them for what they are, where they come from, and if we have the courage and the will to shake them off.

    Many of us have the propensity for the blame game. We blame other persons for whatever befalls us. That is why the modern day priest smiles to the bank. If you listen to FM radio in Lagos from about 4.30am everyday, you may understand what I am saying. I never knew we would ever degenerate spiritually to the point that a so-called prophet would set up testimonials on radio, dictate his account number to listeners who want him to ask their Creator to expedite action on their prayers, even if they do not deserve what they are praying for. That’s not where I am heading.

    In the first part of this series, I outlined the possibility of the subsidy mafia exploiting the pains of pump price deregulation to defend their interests which is above N400 billion naira  every month.

    Thoughts

    We humans are wired up,  as though we are radio and television receiving sets or even the cell telephone sets on which we make wireless telephone calls or send text or voice messages. When we send astronauts to the moon, we communicate with them and they with us. This idea was borrowed from the universe, from worlds higher than ours.

    In the universe, there are several spheres of existence which we may call Power Centres. We may call them so because the nature or characteristic of everyone in a power centre is homogenous or similar. Thus, there is a concentration of likeness in everything everyone does there. Grumbletonians stick together. So do murderers, thieves, kidnappers etc. On earth, there is a mingling of propensities, although we may sense tendencies towards homogenuity in families, tribes and unpolluted nationalities.

    When we  think, we connect with power centres homogenous with the nature of our thought. It is like when we switch on our laptops and we call out to GOOGLE, WHATSAPP or to PLANET, ZOOM, and now, OTRACKER Or O CONNECT or O VARSITY. The laptop takes us to wherever we connect with. If the network provider is not playing funny, my cell phone cannot take me away from Jide Ogundele, who is on my contact menu, when I dial his number and connect me with John Smith, who does not know I exist and who is also unknown to me. Should this happen, it means mankind or the internet service provider has not perfected an idea it borrowed from higher regions of the universe.

    What I am saying in effect is that our thoughts link us with those regions of the universe we are homogenous with.

    Subsidy aches

    Petrol price deregulation is provoking different thoughts in all of us and, accordingly, connecting us all to different climes in the universe. There are some persons who believe the deregulation will crush them. Each time they so think, they would generate thought forms of their worries and fears and these would team up with similar, ugly thoughts generated by other persons. The combined thought forms will re-enforce one another and, together, they will be sucked up by homogeneous power centres in the universe. These power centers must be  negative power centres which, in turn, connect with the negative souls, feeding them with negative ideas about why and how they must find existence more difficult than hitherto. If they are hateful, the hate in their souls will be reinvigorated. Poor, fearful soul, a supposed Lord in the universe who has been  giving  dominion over everything, including petrol prices and paper money. The negative power centre will re-inforce the worries, ideas, fears and self-created helplessness of such negative persons through feedback. Thus, they would be trapped in the quagmire of their thoughts which, through intensification by the power centre, would become larger, stronger, self entrapping and socially disrupting. It is of such persons the Yoruba elders say:TI A BA  GUN IYAN NINU ODO, TI A BA N RO OKA NI INU EPO EPA ENI MAA YO A YO! (If we pound yam in a mortar and make eba in groundnut shell, whoever will have the stomach filled will  have it filled). So, while the negative person delimit their potentials and enlarge their physical encumbrances and psychic entanglements, positive persons will be connected to power centres which would dispense positive ideas to them. Whatever their situations, our forefathers did not diminish themselves with negative thought. They did not know about Norman Vincent Peale and his books, The Power of  Positive  Thinking  and Amazing Results of Positive Thinking, before they deducted their knowledge of survivalism from the universe based on their experiences. Why are we such indolent souls in our generation, always dependent, hardly able to find ways out of a quagmire, always playing the blame game? Do lizards, ants, birds or butterflies talk about subsidy problems?

    Charles Idehor

    In a long, long while, I haven’t listened to a positive interview as I did the Charles Idehor programme on Jordan FM radio in Lagos on May 4, 2023. Maybe the personalities of Gbola  Oba and Adeniyi Adesina made the difference. Gbola Oba is the son of a womanly fish seller now of blessed memory at the  Baba Oloosa Market in Mushin, Lagos. He has been the victim of kidnapping and spent several days in a forest. He supports principles, not persons or political parties. Adesina is the Editor of this newspaper, The  Nation.  Both were effervescent  and electrifying and positive, and the otherwise bellicose regular callers agreed with them. Adesina said we would never know why politicians take their decisions and challenged all of us to say our decisions are not survivalism propelled. Gbola Oba said we all needed to readjust our lives. He was spending  about N40,000 every week to entertain his friends at their Hangouts in Surulere. But since petrol prices went up , he had stuck more to his bed at the weekends. He challenged women in particular to adjust their lives. Nigerian women were spending as much as six billion U.S. dollars every year on Brazilian human hair. Indian women were cutting and selling their long hair for this market and regrowing them for more deals. To catch some of the market, says Gbola Oba, the Chinese are making artificial human hair from bamboo. The direction women are going is the direction the nation will follow. If Nigerian women are fashion spend thrifts and economy destroyers, women are no more than what men see in them and want of them.

    Beyond this, neighbourhood life is what we should encourage. Children should attend schools nearest to home, to cut transport costs. Young persons should find jobs that are walking distances from home. There is no point earning N40,000 a month 30 kilometers away, which transportation and stress will erode, when a N20,000 job is next door.

    Poor Charles Idehor

    He spends N17,000 in these subsidy days to arrange a telephone interview with Gbola Oba and Adeniyi Adesina. The credit finished midway and he had to recharge. I wondered if he had not heard of O connect from ONPASSIVE, which I have been informing my professional colleagues about. O connect is cost saving in these times. It is a telephone conference application which can host about one million persons or more. The credit purchase is once for life because the application is self crediting. O connect is so designed because Onpassive, the newest, biggest and best internet business company in my view, shares 50 per cent of its profit with users of its applications and recharges for them from this account. Therefore, subscribers to O connect would not only earn bonuses every month from ONPASSIVE, they would never have to recharge the credit from out of their pocket once they have purchased this application.

    Self confession

    I admit to being negative until 1994 when Gen Sanni Abacha upset my apple cart. I was director of publications/Editor-in-chief of The Guadian newspaper. Gen Abacha shut it for one year on claims of anti-government publications. I had three school age children and a wife to look after. She worked as an academic at the Lagos State University (LASU) which was on ASUU strike, one of the longest ever, during which she earned no pay. I was on half pay, and had to sell egg, chewing stick, ice block and palm oil, largely to mallams, for survival. I was helped by the story of Bhudah, the Prince who lost his throne and became a happier and more successful person as a truck pusher and snake charmer in foreign lands. Whenever I lost a customer or two, I had sleepless nights. Then, one day, the thought occured to me that there were more than 180 million Nigerians. Why should I be unable to sleep over one or two of them? I learned to pray to be connected to persons who needed my services. Mrs. Beatrice Oloyede, one of my family friends since then, introduced me to piggery. In under one year, I raised about 300 pigs and piglets. I sold about 300 crates of eggs every week to mallams who sell bread and tea at road junctions. I bought vegetable from farms and sold them to market women. I sold honey from Obudu Town and from Ago Are, near Shaki. I began to sell herbs, starting with Patminger, Bitterleaf, Vervain and Lemon grass which I grew in the backyard of my residence. Whenever I took my children back to their boarding house at Kankon Model College, after Badagry, I picked up coconut which I sold in the Lagos Market. What did I not sell? I learned from this experience that the average Nigerian worker needed a second stream of income. Many people are inwardly immobile or are too status concious to make them explore survivalism in the informal market. My children were never sent home on account of school fees. We ate whatever we desired and to cap it all, I began to build a house before General Abacha released The Guardian newspaper from under his jack boot.

  • Envoy: Akpabio’s victory good for unity

    Envoy: Akpabio’s victory good for unity

    Global Chairman of Bola Tinubu Solidarity Vanguard, Dare Owotomobi, has described election of Godswill Akpabio as  Senate president as patriotic and designed to foster unity.

      Besides, he said, it settled the controversy over Muslim-Muslim ticket and proved those piloting the nation would give everyone a sense of belonging.

    Owotombi noted Akpabio is a pan-Nigerian, who, as Akwa Ibom State governor, ensured all residents lived in peace. 

    “He is not a tribal bigot, even in the last dispensation where such sentiments tore us apart, Akpabio was not in that crowd,” Owotombi said.

    He praised Governor Hope Uzodimma, Osita Izunaso and others, for championing the campaign for Akpabio’s election.

     Group member from Southeast, Simeon Anayo, hailed Akpabio’s style as governor, saying this would aid  his job. He said Akpabio was among those who worked for Bola Tinubu’s victory 

    Read Also: ‘Akpabio should support Tinubu with robust legislation’

    Anayo said: “Despite that Akpabio was an aspirant then and the fact that some people had chosen to go tribal in anointing the candidate of their choice, especially most of APC bigwigs in the primaries, even the ones organising it, had secretly or openly tried to secure what they  termed a consensus candidate, but Akpabio took the risk in the public to step down for the president. This decision by Akpabio became an influence for others, because there was no assurance that the other Yoruba aspirants who stepped down after him would have done so if he  did not. Moreover, if the primaries, out of political maneuvering, had gone the other way, perhaps there would not be any APC today as the negative forces would have ensured their candidates won in the general election while the losing ones would have fought back.’’

  • APC women plead for Gbajabiamila’s seat

    APC women plead for Gbajabiamila’s seat

    Women Supporting Women for Greater Heights has appealed to Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) to use a woman to replace Femi Gbajabiamila in House of Representatives.

    Gbajabiamila represented Surulere Federal Constituency before his appointment as chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu.

    Its request is coming on the heels of a purported statement naming the party’s anointed candidate to take Gbajabiamila’s seat.

    President, Abeke Daramola, in a statement said:  “Having believed in the policy of APC that craves women inclusion in politics, we are seeking the nomination of Jamila Mu’azu-Olukosi to replace Gbajabiamila.

    Read Also: Gbajabiamila resigns as  Rep, resumes as President’s CoS

    “Mrs. Jamila Mu’azu-Olukosi has contested four times, bought nomination forms, mobilised massively, but was told to step down. And this she did because of her belief in party’s supremacy.

    “Aside being a dedicated APC member in Lagos, Mrs. Mu’azu-Olukosi has empowered many people in her constituency.

    ‘’Therefore, now that there is an opening, we appeal she be considered because of her interest and support for the party.

    “Despite always being sidelined and never compensated, she has never had a face-off with anyone. Instead, she continues to work for the party at the ward, local government, state and national levels. Why are women always relegated to the background in times like this?”

    “We call on President Tinubu to intervene. We also appeal to lovers of positive political ideologies to fight this noble battle.”

    ‘When our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was contesting, he openly promised 35 percent affirmative for women inclusion. And we all know that he is a man of his word. Why would cabals who never believed that women are of greater value to nation-building rubbish his vision?

    “Women inclusiveness,  women affirmative; is this how some men who see themselves as cabals will continue to make a mockery of democracy where women are eager to make the desired change and needed developmental political inclusions? This is unfair, “the group said.

     The women’s group disclosed that in the whole of Lagos state, only one female is in the House of Representatives, it therefore appealed that  Lagos State should have more female members.

    Mu’azu – Olukosi is well-read, articulate, bold, loyal to the party, friendly with people, a creator of laudable ideas who has used her personal resources to uplift the grassroots, and is better for the job.

    Mu’asu – Olukosi was a member of the Contact and Mobilization Committee for the Tinubu Shettima Women Presidential Campaign  Team and has trained more than 100 teenagers and women on vocational skills.

    The group further disclosed that other credits traced to her include free health care services, cancer treatments, and support for party and candidates before and after elections.

  • Council greets Tinubu, Shettima

    Council greets Tinubu, Shettima

    Ogulagha Traditional Council of Chiefs in Burutu Local Government of Delta State has congratulated President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima on their inauguration, describing Tinubu and Shettima as redeemers.

    They sent a letter yesterday to Tinubu and Shettima, signed by  Igere William, Bolouwei of Ogulagha; Emaye  Benidiwei, Amatukpa of Ogulagha; and  Tiegberifiewei of Ogulagha, Prefugha Karawei,

    It reads in part: “… the people of the kingdom, traditional council of chiefs congratulate redeemers of our nation on their victory at the polls and inauguration into their offices.

    “It is observed that since your inauguration, the decisions and actions taken so far points to the fact that the redeemers mean well for Nigerians.”

    The letter noted Tinubu’s desire to fight corruption by removing persons who do not mean well for Nigerians as the our resources must not be wasted.

    “It is the wastage and improper direction of our national natural resources that has plunged the nation into a mess where the majority is swimming in poverty. These corrupt and wasteful Nigerians do not seem to know these natural resources (crude oil and gas) are extracted from places where people inhabit.

    “These people do not also care about the suffering of the people inhabiting such places, arising from environmental degradation and so on. Ogulagha is one of such places inhabited by our people who suffer from the menace of crude oil and gas extraction.

    “However, there is no proportionate reward in terms of physical infrastructure and human capital development in the kingdom and we request the Federal Government under your leadership to bring about changes from the status quo,” the letter said.

    They hoped Tinubu’s government will bring dividends of democracy to its  people.

  • Beyond sagacity

    Beyond sagacity

    It took a great deal of spirit for Bola Tinubu to assert the legend of his sagacity, en route to the presidential polls. Now that he is President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is easy for him to trash it and all of his associated mystique. He probably wouldn’t.

    From the get-go, President Tinubu dared to assert his mettle. By iterating the removal of the fuel subsidy, he drew flak from far and wide; detractors huddled to have a blast at his expense, claiming the resultant hike in fuel price attested to his detachment from the people. But if anything, Tinubu’s initial actions suggest he is driven by an earnest wish to serve the people from the trenches of governance.

    Just two weeks into the job, he has made rousing pirouettes signing the student loan bill into law and promising to review the N30,000 minimum wage to reflect current global realities thus tugging on the people’s heartstrings.

    Pundits aver that he has pulled the right levers by ridding the country of a harmful fuel subsidy, removing a controversial Central Bank administrator, and promising to amalgamate a web of disparate exchange rates.

    Tinubu’s deft handling of the markets has inspired foreign investors and boosted the main equity index to a 15-year high on Tuesday, the first day that stocks traded after he suspended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, the Bloomberg avers.

    From dousing the threat of industrial action by a partisan and corrupted labour union, suspending the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to investigate weighty allegations of abuse of office, to his prompt appointments of key State House officers, President Tinubu expresses his eagerness to hit the ground running with the right calibre of staff.

    His opening acts are emphatic of his will. Tinubu wields the decisive lance of audacity like he means to rid Nigeria of the affliction of the parasitic cabal that hitherto misappropriated the fortunes of the oil and finance sectors and Nigeria’s commonwealth.

    Yet passion is never enough to survive the storms outside and within the corridors of power. Tinubu must assert his integrity of intent, unwavering in the face of random and organised animosity. If he intends to be taken seriously, he must shun subtle and barefaced artifice.

    He understands perhaps that no matter how adroitly a leader cartwheels on moral fibre, if he feigns altruism as a necessary rite of perfidy, he would fall splat in the court of posterity. President Tinubu must shun such recreant retreat. If not, he would be forging another bad karma – for Nigeria and himself.

    Man’s karma travels with him, like his shadow. But karma is on nobody’s leash. The universe’s agent of cause and effect, deterrence, and retributive justice can neither be owned nor tethered. Unlike life, it doesn’t suffer the affliction of man’s dubious acquiescence to daunting, baleful bestiality oft summed up by the terse, intense statement: ‘Life’s a bitch.”

    Karma remains our open secret. In Nigeria, it is our sacred, secret space ignored in plain sight. Call it temenos, our ritual precinct of reward and just desserts. In this divine, marked-off terrain, the moral code of the universe operates at its darkest and most mechanical – there are no emotive shingles of pardon or persuasion, just causes, and effects, actions, and consequences.

    In 1932, the great developmental psychologist Jean Piaget found that by the age of six, children begin to believe, that, bad things that happen to them are punishments for bad things they had done. The Nigerian society, however, fights to subvert the karmic laws of cause and effect, and thus insulate individuals from the injurious effects of their vices and poor judgment.

    There is no gainsaying politics is rigged to reward greed, savagery, indolence, illegitimacy, and so on. For instance, en route to the March 2023 polls, Tinubu’s ordeal in the hands of perfidious systems, proteges and lackeys was quite instructive.

    Nigeria’s woes originate from her moral lapses. Endemic poverty, substandard healthcare and education, ethnic and religious bigotry, bribery, and other forms of corruption manifested by the society’s poverty of morals and humane ethics.

    The frightful blooming of Nigerian karma is a brazen incantation of debauchery’s triumph over morals. Desire trumps ethics on the watch of supposedly invincible oligarchs.

    The latter espouse raptorial power in rebuttal of patriot magic. Their awful energy incites the flurry of Medusa’s reptilian hair locks, entangling everyone and everything. From treasury looting, sponsorship of terrorism, to the elevation of random bigotries, the incumbent ruling class manifests as Nigeria’s worst comeuppance.

    Until recently, there was no punishment for the wicked and no deterrence for the corrupt. Nigeria has been pilfered silly. The country has been persistently disrobed and debauched by self-seeking industrialists and cabals.

    There was no good or evil. The cult of moral greyness bloomed through previous dispensations. Thus our reality of chronic indebtedness and bankruptcy.

    In the ensuing moral sepsis, the ruling class treats equality as an ethical baseline even as it establishes prosperity and poverty as fortunate and unfortunate draws in Nigeria’s cosmic lottery. Thus public office metamorphoses into moral insult and government officials make concerted efforts, daily, to subvert progress.

    Enter President Tinubu; Tinubu must commit to building a just and truly progressive order. Until then, Nigerians would assess his administration with a quizzical eye.

    The most prescient portrait of the Nigerian character and our ultimate fate as a nation, clearly, resonates with Hedges’ take on Herman Melville’s allegorical portrayal of the American character in his literary classic, “Moby Dick.”

    Melville makes our murderous obsessions, hubris, violent impulses, moral weakness, and inevitable self-destruction visible in his chronicle of a whaling voyage. He is our foremost oracle. He is to us what William Shakespeare was to Elizabethan England or Fyodor Dostoyevsky to czarist Russia, he argues.

    In truth, Nigeria is likeable to the fictional ship, the Pequod. The ship’s crew is a mixture of races and creeds which is reflective of Nigeria’s heterogeneous society. The object of the hunt is a massive white whale, Moby Dick, which, in a previous encounter, maimed the ship’s captain, Ahab, by biting off one of his legs. The self-destructive fury of the quest, much like the Nigerian society’s inordinate scramble for unearned wealth, assures all of the Pequod’s fate.

    While Ahab and his crew eventually gained awareness of their imminent doom, very few Nigerians appreciate from experience that our prevalent culture of acquisition fostered by insatiable greed and based on cutthroat politics, extreme corporate profit, and devastation of farmlands by oil exploration accelerates doom.

    Nigeria, like the Pequod’s crew, rationalises insanity, scorns prudence, and bows slavishly before hedonism and greed. Society yields to the seductive illusion of unbounded luxury, wanton idolatry, limitless power, and acclaim. Thus we unfurl to degenerate forces and systems of death.

    Those who foresee the impending doom lack the fortitude to rebel. Thus moral cowardice makes hostage all.

    The movement towards the illicit, as Camille would say, produces a violent movement outward in desolation. We see the same pattern in the finale of Moby Dick, where Ahab’s attempt to pierce the heart of nature by harpooning the whale ends in tragedy and vast, empty silence.

    Moby Dick eventually rams and sinks the Pequod. The waves swallow up Ahab and all who followed him, except one. Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark.

    May Tinubu steer Nigeria to safer shores.  

  • Boris’s comeuppance

    Boris’s comeuppance

    Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson quit his House of Commons seat last Friday, saying he was being forced out of the parliament over ‘partygate.’ Partygate is the codename for the scandal triggered by media expose showing that the former premier presided over a series of boisterous parties at 10 Downing Street in 2020/21 at a time the rest of the United Kingdom and, indeed, much of the global community were on lockdown over the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Johnson’s administration had enacted rules mandating social distancing for all Britons, whereas he and close associates were holding booze parties and weren’t at all observing social distancing. Partygate was key among reasons there was a ministers’ revolt that forced Mr. Johnson to resign his premiership in September 2022.

    After seeing in advance a report by the Commons Privileges Committee that probed whether he lied to the parliament over the lockdown parties, the ex-premier who had retained his Commons seat representing Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency in west London, threw in his resignation. Effectively though, he only jumped before he was pushed. The damning report would most likely have resulted in his being suspended from the Commons as punishment for misleading the parliament.

    In his 1,000-word letter of resignation, Johnson berated the Commons panel as a “kangaroo court” whose purpose “has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts.” He said the draft report he had seen was “riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice,” adding that the panel used its proceedings “against me to drive me out of parliament.” He added: “They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.” The ex-premier had previously admitted to misleading the parliament when he gave evidence during the hearing in March, though he denied doing it on purpose.

    Defending itself against M `r. Johnson’s tirades, the inter-party committee of MPs, which has a majority of its membership drawn from the Conservative Party to which Johnson belongs, said it had “followed the procedures and the mandate of the House at all time and will continue to do so.” A spokesperson of the panel was reported adding: “Mr. Johnson has departed from the processes of the House and has impugned the integrity of the House by his statement. The committee will meet on Monday to conclude the inquiry and to publish its report promptly.”

    The former prime minister has been an MP since 2001 – though not continuously, having served as mayor of London between 2008 and 2016. His exit from the Commons climaxed reprisals for his poor leadership showing in making regulations for everyone that he himself broke. He had this coming to him.  

  • Businessman seeks support for SMEs

    Businessman seeks support for SMEs

    Small businesses need support because they contribute to employment, Chief Executive Officer of Jordan FM in Lagos, Lanre Johnson, has said.

    Johnson spoke yesterday at a programme for Automobile Technicians and Fashion Designers on E-Naira and Digital Economy, organised with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos.

    He said small businesses are contribute 80 per cent of jobs.

    “Our research showed there are over 40 million small businesses in Nigeria. Their contribution is very low yet they are major contributors. For instance, small businesses provide 80 per cent of jobs, and their contribution to employment sector is about 85 per cent.

    “Now, in terms of GDP, if merchants who have not been captured into mainstream economy are incorporated, a lot will happen to our GDP. This means we must  empower small merchants and develop local content.”

    Johnson noted the E-Naira will play a huge role in taking small businesses to the formal sector.

    “They can do what big businesses do and, as a radio station, we proposed a programme, ‘DTABSS, to CBN’, on how small businesses can optimise by adopting digital technology. We believe the power of any economy lies in small businesses. If they key into the programme, and adopt technology, we believe they will add more to the economy.”

    Chairman of Nigerian Automobile Technician Association (NATA), Egberoungbe Moruf, said artisans will embrace the E-Naira because it will ease their business transactions.

  • 10th NASS: Nigerian envoy to Guinea-Bissau congratulates Akpabio

    10th NASS: Nigerian envoy to Guinea-Bissau congratulates Akpabio

    The Nigerian Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, John James Usanga, has congratulated Senator Godswill Akpabio on his emergence as the President of the 10th Senate.

    A statement by Usanga described Akpabio’s emergence as well-deserved and victory for Party supremacy.

    According to him, “Akpabio is a very audacious, visionary and loyal Party man with uncommon leadership qualities and a readiness to lead a united, vibrant and cohesive National Assembly that will further heighten the tempo of the renewed hope mantra of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

    He urged all the elected Senators, as the representatives of the people, to cooperate with Senator Akpabio on the enormous task of bringing enduring positive change to the lives of Nigerians.

    He said, “I proudly extend my warmest congratulations to Sen. Akpabio, our former Commissioner, Governor, Senate Minority Leader and Minister for his remarkable emergence as the Senate President of Nigeria.

    “His election to this prestigious position is a testament to his doggedness and unwavering dedication, as well as his unparalleled track record throughout his distinguished political journey.”

    According to Ambassador Usanga, “Take it or leave it, Akpabio has demonstrated without doubt, his steadfast commitment to public service. He has consistently championed the causes that matter most to the people.

    “Using Akwa Ibom State as a blueprint of his capabilities, we need to remind ourselves of those days of his Uncommon Transformation as an Uncommon Governor when he turned things around for our State and succeeded in setting a standard of performance in office for his predecessors and successors alike.”

    “With a proven record of tireless dedication, he has earned the trust and admiration of both his constituents and fellow lawmakers.

    “With his wealth of experience, astute political acumen, and a deep understanding of the complexities of politics and challenges faced by our nation, I have no doubt in my mind that Sen. Akpabio will lead the Senate well. In fact, he has already started.”

    While expressing his unwavering support for Akpabio as he assumes his new role as Senate President, Usanga expressed his desire to see him use his position to unite Akwa Ibom.

    He encouraged him to remain committed to working hand-in-hand with the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Senate to advance the shared goals of renewed hope of progress, prosperity, and the welfare of all citizens of Nigeria.

    He prayed for Akpabio, that the Almighty God will grant him uncommon wisdom and protect him on this delicate national assignment.