The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

Open letter to President-elect Bola Tinubu
- By Abiodun Ladepo
Let me join the people of goodwill who wish Nigeria well and have congratulated you on your hard-won victory at the polls. May the next four years actualize the renewal of the hope that Nigerians have in you and vindicate your teeming supporters in their reposition of trust in your capacity to excel in governance.

I will start with the most important area in which we need to, as a matter of urgency, regain momentum.

Security

The serious dent we put in the activities of Boko Haram, for-ransom kidnapers, and murderous herders under President Buhari have been turned into huge bulges with the level of insecurity in the southeast. I won’t bore you with the details of some of the goriest atrocities in that part of our country. Your administration must tackle the IPOB/UGM/ESN menace with a carrot and stick approach, the stick taking prominence. You must lay down the marker from May 29, that your administration will not tolerate armed agitation for any cause. The possession of illegal firearms should attract the stiffest of penalties, to include the perpetual confiscation of all properties at which such weapons are found and expedited prosecution of all terrorists.

Read Also : Tinubu: From renewed hope to change

You should consider setting up a weapons buy-back programme whereby, within a grace period of not more than 60 days, anyone currently in possession of illegal firearms can voluntarily surrender such weapons without penalties.

I am aware of your promise to decentralize the police force. I hope that means the creation of state police. I am aware that we need to amendment our constitution to make this happen. I trust that you will take advantage of the honeymoon period you will enjoy from Nigerians in general and the legislature in particular, to expend some political capital on this matter. Our democracy is now matured enough to handle this. Whatever fears we have about state police – the tendency by state executives to abuse it and the cost of running it – exist with the federal police system we have now. States will continue to fine-tune and improve as the years go by. But we desperately need: (I) a huge surge in the quality and number of police officers, probably triple the force that we have today in order to improve the police-citizens ratio, and a drastic improvement in their overall general conditions of service; (ii) police officers who will share the same culture with the community they are policing; and, (iii) police officers who will likely plant roots – raise children and plan to build homes in the community they are policing.

Our country does not face an imminent threat of invasion by any of our neighbors or any other country for that matter. But we continue to be threatened by non-state actors from within and from without, whose modus operandi require non-conventional tactics, techniques, and procedures for them to be successful. A conventional force, designed to defend against conventional enemies will only achieve marginal success against such non-state actors. It, therefore, goes without saying that our military must be re-organized to de-emphasize large, lumbering, heavy, lethargic units in favour of small, light (lightning speed), lethal units that will exemplify intelligence-based, full-spectrum performance.

This means heavily fortified bases may have to be moved closer to threat areas in a maximum, show-of-force deterrence posture and for overwhelmingly successful preemptive strikes when necessary.

And just like the police force, we desperately need the following:

1. Increase in the quality and number of our military personnel – the combatants, the combat support elements and the combat service support elements – with a view to drastically improve their general conditions of service

2. Invest in “shock and awe” state-of-the-art weapons systems and support equipment that will simplify their missions, make them safer, put them at an advantage over the enemy and embolden them to initiate contact with the enemy

3. Institute, at a minimum, a weekly televised press briefing led by the Ministry of Defense during which the week’s engagements with terrorists are highlighted

Intelligence

Very rarely do security agencies initiate deadly engagements without prior actionable intelligence. For the military, the police and the other security agencies, a robust intelligence agency, organized based on unique tasks and focuses as we already have, is a must. Admittedly, the outgoing administration has made great strides in improving the services. Your administration needs to do more in the area of offensive covert actions as well as overt counter-subversion actions against fifth columnists and home-grown terrorists. Obviously, we will need to invest more in Human, Cyber, Signal, Geospatial, Imagery, Technical and Open-Source intelligence collection capabilities to get up to speed and provide needed

Electricity

Your job is cut out for you in this area. Whatever improvement you bring to Nigerians in other spheres will not be fully appreciated unless you are able to provide regular (even if expensive) supply of electricity. Nigerians deserve a dependable power supply. Individuals and businesses want to be able to plan their survival on dependable supply of electricity. So many businesses have been lost or stifled; so many bright ideas have been stultified because of the epileptic nature of power supply in our country.

If any president can solve this issue, it is you. Nigerians believe you can pull off magic. Do not disappoint.

Appointments

Please do not take six months to put a respectable cabinet in place. Do not even take one month to have 60% to 65% of your key appointees before the Senate. You asked for this job. You have had decades to prepare for it. You campaigned hard for it. From your antecedent, it is clear you understand that while political partners should be compensated for their support, competence should not be sacrificed at the altar of political patronage.

Look beyond the APC for a combination of brain and brawn. Make deliberate efforts to find talents in other parties (believe it or not, there are good people even in the PDP, maybe even in AAC) and appoint them to, not just inconsequential positions, but key positions that will task their intellect and vigour. Look beyond active politicians for skilled people because many of them want to serve and can serve very well but for myriad reasons, could not participate in politics. Spread your appointments across the nation as fairly as possible. Put the right pegs in the right holes, regardless of what part of the country from which they come. Endeavour to switch some positions that appear “zoned” to certain sections of the country. For instance, find a non-northerner for the FCT. Find a non-southerner for the economy.

Downsizing federal government

The federal government is a behemoth that’s filled with too many employees who do practically nothing, and too many parastatals that do not add value to the system. Many of these parastatals and employees are holdovers from tasks and duties long discontinued; yet, government is paying salaries, pensions and other associated costs to maintain the obsolescence. With expected devolution of powers to states and local governments, you must ensure a commensurate reduction in federal employees and offices. There are just too many people in the FCT who do not need to be there.

Cut down on the number of people traveling out of town and out of country who collect estacodes and allowances for doing practically nothing on such trips. Then invite the Senate Leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ask them to lead their respective legislatures in taking drastic cuts both in salaries and in other emoluments. Nigerians find it unconscionable that a Senator earns more than the President of the United States.

What we have in very short supply in our country is fidelity to our nation as a corporate entity and to each other as distinctive ethnicities. Just because our tongues differ does not mean we cannot unite to make our country better. But slogans alone do not and cannot make one a patriot. Citizens develop love and pride for their nation if the nation gives them hope and dreams and fair opportunities to accomplish those dreams. If you provide reasonable security to Nigerians – an atmosphere where criminals of all classes have reasonable expectations of severe consequences for the crimes they commit – if you provide stable electricity; if you provide opportunities for folks to actualize their dreams; if you make every part of the country feel equal and important; if you embark on a massive mobilization effort to drum up support for the country from the citizens, and you are out there yourself engaging the populace from time to time, Nigerians will breathe a sigh of relief. They will exhale. They will come together to help continue the building up of our country.

Fuel Subsidy Removal

With the commissioning of the Dangote refinery recently, it would appear you are primed to fulfill your promise of removing subsidy without inflicting too much pain on Nigerians. I understand that even if the cost of fuel in Nigeria is increased by 40% today, we would still be paying less than every country in sub-Saharan Africa. But most Nigerians don’t understand this. You must do a better job of engaging Nigerians on this matter and sensitizing them to the reasons for the removal and how the most vulnerable citizens impacted would be compensated.
- Ladepo writes via Oluyole2@yahoo.com
May 25, 2023
Lagos and Nigeria Police

Sir : The decision by the Lagos State Government to collaborate with the Lagos State Police Command in rebuilding, regenerating, and remodelling 25 dilapidated barracks is commendable and praiseworthy. It should be noted that this act of benevolence isn’t the first of its kind. Over the years, the Lagos State government has done a lot for the Nigeria Police Force, especially through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) established in 2007. Virtually all sections of the Lagos State Police Command — Mobile Police, Marine Police, Mounted Police, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), etc. have sipped and are still sipping from the state’s well of generosity. In 2021 alone, the state government spent a whopping N3 billion to equip the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), in its quest to ensure the safety and security of Lagosians.

Police barracks are the worst of the lot among the security agencies in Nigeria. Many of them which were built decades ago are now in shambles. They look more like habitation for prisoners than for those tasked with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the society. Lack of maintenance has led to the collapse of some in Lagos and Ibadan. The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has certified that some of these barracks as unfit for human habitation.

A befitting accommodation is one of the basics of life that every human should aspire to, more so police officers. When officers of the law live in a conducive environment, it would enhance their productivity. A befitting barracks signals to police officers that they are valued and appreciated by the government. It positively affects their relations with members of the public as well as shape public perception in their favour.

The contributions of the Lagos State government to the police through LSSTF has contributed significantly to the relative peace and security witnessed in the state despite its population density. Security is a collective responsibility and governments at all levels including the citizenry should endeavour to give adequate support to the security agencies when necessary. It shouldn’t be left for the federal government alone to handle.

•Peter Ovie Akus,

New Jersey, USA.

May 25, 2023
Appointment of Minister of State an aberration, says Keyamo

Should Festus Keyamo and Hajiya Ramatu Aliyu have their way; the office of the Minister of State will be scrapped.

Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Hajiya Aliyu are ministers of State (Labour and Employment) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The ministers expressed displeasure with their experiences in office.

They spoke during the valedictory Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Keyamo told the President that the creation of the office of the ‘Minister of State’ was a constitutional aberration.

His counterpart in the FCT Ministry described the office as a limiting factor on the capacity of the ministers of State.

Read Also : FEC approves N226b, $592m for power projects

Keyamo, who thanked President Buhari for enriching his Curriculum Vitae, through the appointment, noted that some other Ministers of State, have been grumbling and afraid to speak out.

He said it was difficult to assess the individual performances of the Ministers of State since their discretion was tied to the discretion of the ministers as any original ideas developed by a minister of state are subject to clearance by another colleague in the cabinet before they can sail through for consideration by the Council.

The senior advocate said: “What I am about to say, therefore, is not and should not be construed as an indication of ingratitude. Far from it, what I am about to say is just my own little contribution to our constitutional development as a relatively young democracy and to aid future governments to optimize the performance of those they appoint as ministers.

“Mr. President, the concept or designation of ‘Minister of State’ is a constitutional aberration and is practically not working for many so appointed. Successive governments have come and gone and many who were appointed as Ministers of State have not spoken out at a forum such as this because of the risk of sounding ungrateful to the Presidents who appointed them. However, like I said earlier, this is not ingratitude.”

On the way forward, he said: “Many ministerial retreats have been held to try and resolve the issues between ministers and ministers of State. President Obasanjo held four of such retreats, with the last one holding at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, from 23rd to 25th February, 2001. Yet, the problems persisted.

“Mr. President, unknown to many, successive Presidents and the general public, these conflicts gravely affect the optimal performance of Governments. What is the way forward?

“Obviously, the argument that two Ministers are cramped into some ministries in order not to unnecessarily proliferate ministries and therefore save government’s money is no longer tenable. This is because government does not need any extra infrastructure or more money to maintain all Senior 36 Ministers or even a bit more appointed as is now the custom.

‘This is because the present ministers and ministers of state have their separate offices, cars, security personnel and personal aides. So, what is the point?”

Hajiya Aliyu said: “If you are appointed, if you serve your state, if you underwent the same training, you attend the same FEC representing your people. Why then is your voice hinged upon another minister’s voice? Why is lack of planning on another minister’s part an emergency on yours? Why is the label ineptitude now the label you will carry if he should fail?

“All these should be looked into by the next administration to put the country in the good path of trajectory. Let me tell you this, if and only if, and that is the little minus I saw in this administration, all ministers were allowed to perform, the performances of the government and the achievement of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, I’ll beat my chest they cannot be equaled.

“But, if one plus one becomes one, then there is an issue. Why then have a minister of state, whose capacity, no matter what is brought forth, will be weighed and will be debated upon will be decided to go or not go to FEC by a colleague. So that does not do justice to the appointment, it doesn’t do justice to the people represented, it does not even do justice to the persons presenting themselves”.

“But by and large, it was fantastic is worth an experience, because you know what that did to me? It also built my thick skin. It built my endurance level, it built my capacity to understand what is not and what does not. And it has built me largely to operate within the level availed to me and hopefully there will be an unknown another opportunity, sometimes somewhere God’s grace to be able to unleash the potential of so many untapped representing ministers”, the minister said.

May 25, 2023
As Dangote commissions world’s largest single-train refinery
- By Akintayo Balogun
It brings great joy and glad tidings that Nigeria would finally have a working refinery after several years of failed promises from successive governments. I recall that this project was announced at Aliko Dangote’s 55th birthday celebration and today, the project that was still on the drawing board as of that day has become a reality.

The business mogul has achieved a feat that the entire democratically elected leaders of Nigeria have not been able to achieve in the 24 years of Nigeria’s democracy despite pumping so much funds into existing refineries. One of the promises of the outgoing administration during its campaigns in the general election preceding 2015, was to build a refinery for Nigeria every year for four years. Unfortunately, not a single stone has been laid on another in the building of a refinery or fixing of existing ones. Instead, all we saw were humungous amounts being proposed for the repair of existing refineries which never came to light.

Today, Nigeria can be proud of having the largest single-train refinery in the world with a single crude oil distillation unit. It is also noted that at full production, the facility will process about 650,000 barrels of crude oil daily, transported via pipelines from oil fields in the Niger Delta, where natural gas will also be sourced to supply the fertilizer factory and be used in electrical generation for the refinery complex.

We know without being told that the emergence of the refinery will create several jobs for Nigerians as it is being estimated that about 135,000 persons will be employed permanently and several others will also be employed in various capacities in the refinery.

Read Also : Petrol, diesel, others to flow from Dangote Refinery July

It is estimated that this refinery can take care of the entire demands/needs of Nigeria for refined petroleum products and would still have more than enough for export. This is indeed a remarkable achievement and will go down in history as one of the biggest exploits, achieved by a private individual since the existence of Nigeria.

We are hopeful that the full commencement of activities at the refinery would bring an end to the importation of refined petroleum products that has haunted and impoverished the Nigerian purse and economy for nearly 40 years now. The burden of having to even export crude oil to other countries would greatly reduce as Nigeria can now process its crude oil without having to export and then repurchase same as refined products from other countries.

We are also hopeful that the subsidy era would most likely come to an end, except if the government of the day wants to play politics with it. Ordinarily, since the crude is now being refined within our borders, the government should not have to bear the burden of paying for fuel subsidies again. Nigeria can even decide the price of its crude without the interference of the international market to save the economy from the burden of paying fuel subsidies.

We are hopeful that the prices of all products emanating from the refinery will be reasonable, stable, and affordable to Nigerians.

It is reported that the facility is expected to produce Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), diesel (Automotive Gas Oil), aviation jet fuel, and Dual-Purpose Kerosene (DPK), amongst other refined products. Of particular interest to this writer is the availability and affordability of kerosene amongst other products, which is largely being consumed by the lower class and downtrodden in the society. This would go a very long way to make the existence of the refinery a breakthrough for the Nigerian people who live largely below average standards.

Challenges ahead

As we eulogize the achievement of bringing home a working refinery, I however have entertained certain fears as to the conveyance of the refined products from the factory to the various corners of the country. One of the major concerns that lock through my mind is the gridlock that would most likely be caused by reason of the activities of one refinery feeding the entire nation. The import of this is that the entire petroleum trucks in Nigeria, from the six geo-political zones would be moving to and from Lagos State.

I want to believe that there would be an arrangement to move refined products along the outer waterways to other states within the coastal lines of Nigeria. However, refined products coming into inland states (which are in the majority), would most likely be transported by trucks and tankers. Unfortunately in Nigeria, we have a very poor railway network that would have assisted in the movements of these refined products across the states of the federation. Furthermore, our leaders have verbally and politically dredged the Niger River since 2009, and till today, we are yet to see any major ship make an entry up the Niger. Our pipelines have not enjoyed much capacity either for them to be able to transport refined products across the country. This situation now leaves us with the singular option of transporting the majority of these products through the bleeding roads.

My mind draws to the terrifying gridlocks that always occur at Kabba junction and the River Niger Bridge at Kotonkarfe, both of Kogi State. Trucks heading to or coming from the cement plant at Obajana, Kogi State are often held up in some pathetic traffic jams that leave commuters in frustration and terrible anguish. Vehicles are forced to take alternative routes through bad road portions, which are usually mounted by touts and sometimes armed robbers, who take advantage of the situation to levy commuters are even rob them of their belongings.

The dread of going through that route always comes to mind each time there is a journey to be embarked on in that direction. This has been the situation for several years now. This situation probably added to the unfortunate crisis between the management of the factory and the Kogi State government.

Lagos State is already endemic with the traffic crisis. It is regarded as the third most stressful city in the world due to the traffic situation. The inflow and outflow of trucks laden with petroleum products will definitely add to the already cumbersome situation in town. It is in view of this possible development and the most likely gridlock that is underway that I write to implore the leadership of the Dangote group to prepare the operations of the refinery for this development. We don’t want Lekki-Ibeju and its environs to become another Kabba junction; we don’t want our youths to have reasons to block a major highway due to an accident involving a Dangote truck that might have claimed the lives of commuters. We don’t want to have to manoeuvre between heavily loaded fuel tankers to be able to find our way around town.

The situation is a dicey one and we hope that this should be handled with astuteness. We are hopeful that the management of the refinery would find a way to make our waterways and railways useable for the movement of refined products, to avoid or reduce the use of our already burdened and dilapidated roads to the barest minimum.

We remain hopeful that the coming in of this refinery would drastically, if not bring an end to several challenges that have faced the oil sector and the Nigerian economy at large. We remain proud of this initiative and we hope that Nigerian politicians can also learn to execute projects that Nigerians and Africa at large can be proud of.
- Balogun Esq., is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.
May 25, 2023
Averting adversarial 10th Assembly

1oth parliamentary democracy and the presidential system advertise the doctrine of separation of powers between the three arms of government viz, the executive, legislative and the judiciary as antidote to tyranny. But in the real world of politics where political parties, 18th century ingenious creation of intellectuals, have to cope with intrigue of party members and balance interest of pressure group against public interest in shaping public policy, separation of power remains an illusion or a mere picture in our heads.

But for the politicians to whose versatility and brinkmanship we owe our survival as an organized society, what matters as long as the goal is to serve humanity, is the spirit and not the letter of the law.

Having known the nature of man, the concern of enlightened and ambitious politicians is the cultivation of a harmonious relationship between the three arms of government that are in theory independent but in reality interdependent. For instance while the doctrine of separation of powers locates the power to make laws within the legislature, it ignores the fact that the executive/president, as the institution that initiates most of the executive bills needed for successful implementation of ruling party’s manifesto, in reality is the chief lawmaker. But beyond this, we also know the executive or the president has the powers to veto other bills that are not originating from its department. But that is only when there is a harmonious relationship as against adversarial executive/legislative relationship between the two arms of government. And since the objective is to serve the common interest of the people, the three arms of government in most advanced democracies and even in those societies where both powers reside in one institution, always strive to work for the greatest satisfaction of the greatest number of their people.

Read Also : 10th Senate: Sani Musa denies working for Lawan’s re-election

In the US whose constitution we copied, to ensure the success of party policies, elected lawmakers of a ruling party are ideologically stuck with their president. In Britain, the executive and legislature are closely entwined with the Prime Minister and a majority of his or her ministers as Members of Parliament

Unfortunately, Obasanjo who emerged in 1999 was not a social engineer but a military dictator. The country paid dearly for his war against the legislature. Although the impasse led the removal of three senate presidents in three years and the labelling of lawmakers as ‘pen robbers’, but that was not until the disharmonious relationship had created a fertile ground for the legislature’s cornering of 25% of the nation’s budget, making Nigeria’s lawmakers the highest paid in the world. Beyond paying themselves humongous salaries, it was under Obasanjo with Bukola Saraki as budget special assistant that budget padding in the name of often-abandoned constituency projects started.

Because of the frosty relationship between the two, the lawmakers also frustrated the Obasanjo fuel subsidy policy which was exploited by lawmakers, PDP stalwarts and their children to defraud the country of about N1.7trilion without importing a pint of fuel. Also frustrated was Obasanjo’s privatization policy through which Nigeria’s total investment of about $100b was according to a house report, given away at a paltry sum of $1.5b. There was also Obasanjo’s monetization policy through which many lawmakers and other public servants including Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Senate President David Mark and CBN governor Chukwuma Soludo allegedly bought their official residences at a fraction of their real costs.

It was not much different during Buhari’s first term, 2015-2019 when the legislature was defined by impunity as a result of the frosty relationship of between the executive and the legislature. Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, driven by greed, sold the victory of their party to the opposition. Buhari’s infrastructural development programme was derailed as the senate diverted the budget for the completion of all important Lagos-Ibadan expressway to their constituency projects. Of about 515 mostly self-serving bills passed by Saraki’s 8th senate, only few were given assent by President Buhari.

On the other hand, precisely because the principal officers of the 9th assembly were the choice of the ruling APC, there was a harmonious relationship between the executive and the 9th assembly. Unlike the 8th assembly, Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, roundly criticized for leading a rubber stamp Senate and House respectively, managed to pass many landmark bills including the highly applauded electoral law and Petroleum Industry Act that had been with the Senate for over 20 years.

It is therefore to be expected that the incoming administration of Bola Tinubu, the president-elect would be interested in those who emerge as principal officers of the 10th assembly. First, Bola Tinubu, unlike Obasanjo and Buhari is a politician. He understands the paradox of having to meet the rising expectations of those condemned to poverty by owners of society whose interest he must also protect. He more than any of his predecessors also clearly understands a rancour-free 10th NASS he needs to prosecute his programme will depend on the quality and character of its principal officers.

As expected, on Monday, May 8, the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), after consultations of party stakeholders confirmed the endorsement of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as Speaker of House of Representatives for the 10th National Assembly.

Members-elect, including Idris Wase and Alhassan Doguwa, who felt short-changed by their party’s position, have threatened to go the Saraki treacherous way. Claiming allegiance to the country before his party, Wase said they “will not allow this parliament to be hijacked or be made a lame-duck”. On his part, Doguwa insists “choosing their own leaders without input from their party was “in defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” However, for Kalu, the APC’s preferred candidate for the position of Deputy Speaker, “party must play a key role in determining who emerges Speaker or deputy in a “democratic environment like” Nigeria.

As it was in 2015 when journalists either out of mischief or ignorance about the political process, hailed Saraki and Dogara’s treacherous act against their party, so it is today as they deceitfully aver that the effort of the president-elect and his party to influence those who will emerge as principal officers will lead to a rubber stamp 10th assembly.

Commenting on this misrepresentation last Tuesday on ARISE TV’s Morning Show, an irritated Senator Ali Ndume accused journalists of often misleading the public. He then went on to ask his interlocutors if American senate whose system we copied will suddenly become a rubber-stamp senate just because Vice President Kamala Harris as Senate President decides to vote for her democratic party in case of a tie in the 50- 50 Republican/ Democrat Senate.

As for those seeking power and justice out of a sense of entitlement and their sponsors driven by a desire to sow seed of discord and disharmony among uninformed Nigerians, they should be reminded of Charles Dickens’ admonition: “charity begins at home, justice next door”.

May 25, 2023
Tinubu: The ambitious shall live by faith

He didn’t ask me not to attempt and pursue my ambition, which is a lifelong ambition – Tinubu after informing Buhari of his presidential ambition in 2022

Today, President-elect Bola Tinubu will take the first major step towards his inauguration as the nation’s 16th leader on May 29. Before an august body, he will be conferred with the highest honour in the land, Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR), by outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari. For Tinubu, it is the path to the fulfilment of a dream; a lifelong ambition becoming reality.

He is lucky. He is not the only one with such an ambition. Indeed, he is not the only one with an ambition. We all have ambitions. It is natural to be ambitious, but its fulfilment is another thing. It takes grace to fulfil ambitions and it is this grace that the Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaban Borgu has enjoyed.

By the time he is decorated with the sash of GCFR, Asiwaju Tinubu would join the exclusive club of Nigerian leaders who hold that distinguished honour. If my memory serves me right, the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is the only member of the club who was not president. Yet, he earned the honour because of the inherent qualities of a leader found in him by no less a person than his political rival, former President Shehu Shagari.

Shagari’s stock grew by conferring Awo with GCFR. He did not allow their political differences to affect his decision to honour Awo. Not many leaders would do what Shagari did, not after the bitter presidential contests between them in 1979 and 1983. It is a matter of course that the president be given GCFR on coming to office, but it is not so in the case of anybody who never attained that position, no matter his innate attributes. This is why what Shagari did for Awo is outstanding,

Read Also : Ortom: Tinubu will do better

As Tinubu takes his place in the pantheon of leaders, it signifies the beginning of his journey with Nigerians to lead them well and turn around the country for good. It is, therefore, not only the fulfilment of a dream, but also the birth of his covenant with the people. The hood, they say, does not make the monk. So, it is not the GCFR that makes the president, but the president that proves to his people and the world that he is deserving of the honour.

This is why a school of thought believes that the conferment of GCFR on presidents should not be automatic. To this school, the honour should only be given to those who excelled while in office. For now, their argument is academic, until something happens that changes the modalities for giving the award. Tinubu’s leadership pedigree speaks for itself. For a man who governed a state like Lagos for eight years (1999-2007), he comes with an experience that should put him in good stead in leading the country from Monday.

The process began long before today. As his confidant and ally, Chief Bisi Akande, said some days ago, Tinubu is well-prepared for the task ahead. Akande should know. As someone not known to be flippant, the former All Progressives Congress (APC) interim national chairman and Osun governor certainly has some privilege information about Tinubu’s preparations for the Presidency which the public is not privy to. From the little he said about the president-elect’s plans for Nigeria, one can conclude that the country will better off under Tinubu.

The incoming president knows too well that to plan is one thing, execution is the real Mccoy! Many who are still aggrieved over the outcome of the February 25 presidential poll are waiting by the wings to see what he will do. Nobody needs to tell the Jagaban this. As a strategist, thinker and doer, he is not unaware of all these side talks about his age and health. It is not a sin to become old, which is what we all pray for anyway. Why then should being old count against Tinubu when his faculties are intact? What he still does at his age, 71, many younger than him cannot do.

Holding meetings all day long and standing on his feet to attend to people, no matter the time of day belie his age. Tinubu is a workaholic and he has proved this fact over time. He has not been idle since he left office 16 years ago at the age of 55. In the intervening years after leaving office, he devoted time, energy and money to building people and bridges across the country for a day like this. The day is here, at last. No matter the misgivings of the naysayers about Asiwaju, it is the nation’s gain that he will mount the saddle as president and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces for the next four years beginning from Monday, which is just 96 hours away.

Asiwaju’s four-year journey in the first instance begins with the first steps he will take on Monday after inauguration. As a Chinese proverb says, no matter how long a journey is, it begins with a first step. His investiture with the rank of GCFR is a turning-point in his political journey which will ultimately lead him to building the blocks for a greater and better Nigeria in our lifetime. On his shoulders lie an onerous task.

The consolation is that he is well-prepared for it, even though, as they say, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. May the burden be lightened for him to deliver on his promises.

May 25, 2023
Tinubu: Towards smooth sail of national ship

Come May 29, Asiwaju of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be sworn in as president of Nigeria. This will be a remarkable achievement for the man but also a challenge for all of us to ensure that he succeeds in resetting Nigeria for the great task ahead. Elections have come and gone and the challenge of governance begins. He may not be everyone’s choice but as our people are wont to say, he is the man of the moment and short of an undemocratic revolution, he will remain president of this much abused country for the next four years God willing.

Only God knows the end from the beginning but if Tinubu acts as expected, he will assemble one of the best cabinets in recent times to govern this country that is too big and important to fail. We are in a political situation but he must rise above politics and provide exemplary leadership that will be very difficult to fault. His choice of ministers and assistants and his Secretary to the Government of the Federation must not only manifest meritocracy but also reflect a total commitment to national unity and healing of the bruises of a hard won and bitter election. A bold effort must be made to bring in the Southeast to the centre of government without alienating his core supporters in other parts of the country. If we want to build a virile country with a bright future, every part of the country must be on board whether members of the ruling party or the opposition. This has to be done to show to the whole nation and the world that this is the beginning of a new dawn.

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The president must have well-reasoned priorities such as in security, education, infrastructure and electricity generation and distribution. All aspects of our national life should be a priority. But the truth is that the task of government is never finished in one term or even in our own lives. We just have to begin from somewhere. It is better to have an area of concentration rather than diffused energy and activities all over the place. I am a supporter of restructured Nigeria and fiscal federalism but we must be realistic that this can only be a distant goal in the context of the present political reality of Nigeria where there is no consensus. This is why I think we should use the present administrative instruments available to government to press in its policies in the area of priority identified above.

The new government should set up small working committees on education, infrastructure, electricity and security. Without security, the country will not move forward. If we have to enlist the support of friendly countries to achieve this we must not be shy about it. This is not a case of ideology; we must take help from where it is offered. We are in emergency.

On education, we need a total overhaul of our educational system from the collapsed primary and secondary levels to tertiary levels. It is a shame that government primary schools have been abandoned even by the poor in urban areas who now patronise private schools because of the abject malfunction and failure of government primary schools. What exists at the primary level is also found at the secondary level. The university and other tertiary levels are going the same way. We must resuscitate these levels of education without abandoning quality.

If the private sector must participate in education, it must not be the only body offering quality education. The present situation of homogenised university education where all universities offer the same syllabus must be discontinued and universities must reflect regional, environmental and cultural peculiarities without sacrificing uniform standards of intellectual offerings.

This point needs elucidation but here is not the place to go into the nitty-gritty. As for electricity there is need to decentralise generation and distribution of electricity and to be replaced by regional and zonal bodies reflecting available local natural resources of gas, hydro and coal. Without abandoning our commitment to clean energy, we cannot at the present level of urgency neglect any available source of energy including coal. The South-south of our country including some states in the Southeast and Ondo and Ogun states in the southwest should emphasise power from gas and coal while the central part of Nigeria and the northeast should lay emphasis on hydroelectricity while the northwest will be a combination of water and gas.

The point is that it must not be a centralized generating body. Each company or power board will be independent but able to sell power to areas that may not have enough. This is what is done in developed countries where there are no generalised black out as we have in this country. On infrastructure, we must continue with our new railway age which most countries experienced in the 19th century. Thank God zonal railways are now permitted in the constitution. Our roads which currently are the dilapidated mode of moving of goods and people around must be thrown open to public and private participation. We need to have roads running laterally from Sokoto to Badagry, Kano to Lagos, Maiduguri to Port Harcourt and laterally from Lagos to Port Harcourt, Ibadan to Calabar, Kaduna to Enugu and Kano to Maiduguri. We as users must be ready to pay.

The zonal group of states must be encouraged to pull resources together to build highways connecting them together while the federal government intensify the building of roads that are permanent in nature not subjected to the vagaries of weather. In all this, the people must be made to appreciate government efforts by paying for services rendered whether in the provision of infrastructure, education and electricity.

For the government to be successful, the calibre of people in government must be such as will naturally draw support to government because they will be seen for their selflessness and national commitment. Emphasis must be on competence and meritocracy without abandonment of the principle of geographical and ethnic justice. There is no state in the country that does not have exceptional and excellent people. In any case, one of the best ways of reining in corruption is to ensure that there is no ethnic domination of any ministry or department of government. The plural make-up of departments and ministries would be a break on rampant corruption and the erstwhile looting of national resources.

Where in recent times there has been preponderance of certain ethnic group in a ministry or parastatal, corruption has been the order of the day because people steal because they know their ethnic cohorts will not leak out their looting secrets. The coming government must tighten up the internal security and police system to make sure that governments get value for monetary allocation. The situation where 50 percent or more of the amount allocated for projects are stolen is what is responsible for the sordid level of our underdevelopment. Nigeria is the most underdeveloped of all the countries in OPEC. This is not a good place to be and we must change this narrative if we are to avoid bloody revolution. If we do not succeed and the poor masses revolt, there will be no distinction between people of different parties, ethnic groups and people of different religious affiliations in the face of blind fury of the anger of the hungry and the have-nots. So we are all together in trying to salvage the situation of our country. This is why all hands must be on deck and we cannot say we were not in government. We will all be answerable to the poor when trouble breaks out.

Our situation has gotten to a point when we must all show interest in how our country is governed. We must develop this national consciousness that will not permit state capture by a few that would ruin the future of all of us. If our country is well governed, the sky is wide enough for all the birds to fly without collision. It is poor governance that has generated ethnic tensions in recent times. There are countries with as many ethnic dimensions and disparities as our own that because of their strong economy are not as challenged as we are. India with many languages and civilizations and religions has in recent times embarked on rapid development which has reduced ethnic tensions.

The point I am making is that money and development do not necessarily have ethnic colours and boundaries. If we deal with the problem of underdevelopment, our ethnic problem will become manageable and not a threat to the unity and survival of our country as it is presently.

May 25, 2023
Reflections on Buhari’s eight years in power

Sir : On Monday May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure as president will come to an end with Bola Ahmed Tinubu taking the oath of office as president.

Buhari’s political odyssey began in 2007 when he contested the position of president under the platform of APP. That bid was unsuccessful as late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua emerged president under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) banner. Subsequent quests in 2007 and 2011 were futile. It was not until 2015, when progressive politicians came together to float a new and strong opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, that his bid became successful.

In all of these times, his campaign promises were premised on fighting insecurity, corruption and above all formulating good policies to stabilize the country’s economy.

Now that the administration is making its exit, the posers begging for answers are: Have these promises been fulfilled? Has the country’s security situation improved in the last eight years?

What about the war against corruption and the condition of our battered economy? Have these areas fared well under Buhari’s watch?

To the credit of the Buhari administration, the war against Boko Haram insurgents recorded tremendous and appreciable success. The dreaded and murderous group has been largely tamed by our gallant soldiers with the remnants resorting to attacking only soft targets. However, while Boko Haram has been degraded in the northeast states, the emergence of bandits in Northwest, killer herdsmen in north-central and IPOB in Southeast have exacerbated tensions in the country. Non-state actors and other terrorists have continued to unleash terror on hapless Nigerians. The attendant consequences of their incessant attacks are humanitarian and food crises. Farming communities have fled their ancestral homes due to frequent and coordinated attacks from these criminals.

President Muhammadu Buhari enjoys the reputation of being a no-nonsense leader who corruption. This quality has endeared him to many Nigerians. Regrettably, corruption appears to have blossomed under his watch. Indeed, some of his ministers have been fingered in multi-billion corruption. The corruption charges against the former Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, are one among many.

While the anti-corruption agency, EFCC and its sister agency ICPC, have been allowed to operate without let or hindrance, the pardon granted to former Plateau and Taraba State governors, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame shocked Nigerians and mocked the administration’s war against corruption. Undoubtedly, official corruption has risen astronomically under Buhari eight years.

In the last eight years, the administration initiated and implemented various social investment programmes through CBN and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, yet poverty has reached its frightening peak. The multi-dimensional poverty index report which puts 133 million Nigerians below poverty line attests to this. Unemployment has jumped up exponentially. The inflation rate has also risen to unprecedented levels, thus eating up the purchasing power of Nigerians.

On the economic front, the Buhari administration has performed woefully and below the expectation of Nigerians. Added to the burden of our fragile economy is huge foreign and domestic debt incurred by the government.

No wonder, President Buhari recently asked Nigerians for forgiveness. True, the eight years he spent in power have failed to transform the country into an Eldorado.

The incoming administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu should brace up for the challenges ahead. Interestingly, his antecedents as tax guru who governed and transformed Lagos State to a mega city speak volume about his capability. If the giant strides recorded in Lagos could be replicated in the country, Nigeria will achieve greatness within the shortest period of time. This is possible, if he can hire and assemble competent and capable team to help him to drive the country forward. The challenges of insecurity can be tackled through massive recruitment of security personnel. There is no gainsaying the fact that job creations and poverty reduction are elixir for building a resilient and prosperous nation. The president-elect needs to embrace this formula wholeheartedly.

•Ibrahim Mustapha,

Pambegua, Kaduna State.

May 25, 2023
Matawalle Vs Bawa: Why EFCC needs to evolve
Sir: When Bello Matawalle, the outgoing governor of Zamfara State accused the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa of requesting for bribe, I knew we were in for another possible cycle where the commission’s heads usually get ‘embarrassed out of office as a result of one scandal or skirmish or the other. This is an early smoke to a usually heavy fire that would follow, if the commission’s historical trend is anything to go by.

Groups of ‘civil society’ organizations have also published damning allegations against the chairman, calling for his head immediately. The chairman’s supporters will be quick to call the recent campaign as corruption attempting to fight back, since the outgoing governor of Zamfara, is said to be under investigation by the commission, for the possible diversion of N70 billion of the pillaged state’s funds.

What is readily obvious about his outburst is that, while the governor is apprehensive about spending days in the commission’s detention centre and answering series of queries, he would rather that the commission also queries members of the outgoing federal government. Moreover, even the chairman of the anti-money laundering watchdog is not clean, according to him. By this logic, we would have in our hands an ‘orgy’ of detentions and investigations, so much so that his accusation will be hidden under bigger scandals. This is being clever by half.

Well, I am neither among the EFCC chairman’s supporters nor that of the governor’s. I am more concerned about the strength and integrity of the watchdog as the protector and regulator of the country’s ‘economic sanity’. If elected governors can be justifiably protected from prosecution by the immunity clause of the constitution, why are there no provisions to protect the anti-corruption agency from undue political interventions, distractions and intimidation?

The EFCC is not only engaged in fighting with and recovering funds from thieving politicians and civil servants, they are effectively in charge of protecting the economy of the country from sabotage and mismanagement. Terrorism, human trafficking and illicit drug dealing deal more with funds than in anything, which falls more under the jurisdiction of the EFCC more than any other agency.

It is agreeable that the agency, just like any other organization, is bound to have bad eggs, which could include its head. This does not in any way imply that the EFCC as an institution should be dragged into the mud. No individual should be free from prosecution; as a matter of fact, however, some positions should be immune from probe and intimidation. The EFCC perfectly fits this profile. Therefore, Bawa may be prosecuted for any allegation, but not while he is chairman of the EFCC. This protection should last for the duration of his tenure as chairman, of course.

In England, for example, the National Crime Agency (NCA) which is in charge of the response to serious and organized crime, set up an agency akin to our EFCC, called the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), which also contains several other law enforcement agencies that collaborate to fight economic crime. What this sort of formation does is that it has effectively (or inadvertently) eliminated any ‘figure heads’ that may be an easy target for political attacks or interferences.

Moreover, a mix-grilled inter-agency collaboration will also mean that each unit will act as watch-dog over the other, and also under another anti-corruption centre, and not reporting to their original law enforcement agencies.

What am I implying? The EFCC needs to evolve and match these challenges of political interference and possible executive excesses, to make the agency very complex and difficult to access. Giving the commission a complex, multi-level and non-linear organogram, for starters, will assist in achieving that. Each member of the organogram will have a clearly defined performance indicator and reporting line which should be simple enough to fathom. At the same time, the powers of the chairman or head of the commission are protected, as well as monitored.
- Aliyu Sulaiman,
Katsina.
May 25, 2023
Vote more than pray
- Zamfara unpaid civil servants do not need divine means to hold government to account
It reads like a script for a comedy of errors play or the absurd. But that, at times, is the story of Nigeria. The news report that civil servants in Zamfara State turned spiritual in their quest to ferret out their unpaid salaries would have been comical if the spectacle was not real.

The civil servants gathered at the Eid Mosque in the state capital, Gusau, for a solemn hour. They wanted the governor, head of service, members of the state house of assembly and other top government officials to yield to a divine call to redeem their pledge to serve the people. They received their salaries last in January this year, and have since been working without pay.

“We have suffered enough on account of this struggle. Many lost their lives too and we want it no more. We have gathered in unison, devoid of religious affiliations to sincerely seek God’s intervention for all,” one of the civil servants who spoke on condition of anonymity was reported to have said.

Bello Matawalle is the governor of the state, and he has kept mum in spite of the absurdity of the situation. He lost his re-election bid, and has been accused of not handing over any notes to his elected successor. He is said to be avoiding him as he has not been in the state for most of the time since he lost his bid to be governor for a second term.

Perhaps such an attitude is responsible for his failure at the polls. But the people are at the receiving end of his incompetence. He, it must be noted, is not alone in the failure to remunerate workers. Many states are owing salaries and the chief executives are either continuing in office or are handing over to successors under the weight of unpaid wages.

Some of them are paying part salaries, and others have lived with non-payment with a sense of resignation. The irony is that some of them have not upgraded to what we call new minimum wage, even though it has been in effect officially for a few years now.

The debate still flares as to whether it is the failure of the imagination that some states pay handily and some struggle. Or is it the burden of a federal system that stifles freedom to experiment and invent?

But a state like Zamfara is laden with gold. Rather than prosper, it is a terrain of bandits and brigandage. A Sahara Reporters’ investigation showed that Governor Matawalle spent billions of Naira to install governor lodges in all the local governments in the state. This is not only extravagance. It is cynical egotism.

“The amount earmarked and released for each local government differs, and the projects were shared among different contractors for execution. There were full payments made in some cases and over 90 per cent of payments were made to some contractors without the corresponding projects on the ground. For instance, some projects were abandoned halfway through in some local government areas,” reported the online medium.

This sort of ineptitude complicates the view that a skewed federalism is our bane. Wastefulness of this sort, corruption and an abuse of priorities expose many leaders. Voters punished Matawalle. And here lies the absurdity of the prayers. Prayers are good, especially for a religious society like ours. But the people have the power to force the hands of their elected officers with their greatest weapon: the ballot.

We hope that the incoming administration will learn from the fate of Matawalle and oblige the voters. Yet we understand that the resort to prayers was less an appeal to heaven than a statement of impotence before their leaders. They have already exercised the power in the last vote. All they need is nurture it.
May 25, 2023