The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Unmasking the cabals

    Unmasking the cabals

    There is a Yoruba aphorism that says ‘no true born sets out to deliberately destroy his father’s house’. Most often, we are defined by our actions. Jesus Christ, our Lord and the greatest teacher the world has ever known while explaining the process of identifying false prophets also applied a similar metaphor: “By their deeds you will know them”: (Matthew 7:16)

    Some two weeks back, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna spoke of a cabal in the presidency working against the interest of APC and its presidential candidate.  And when Babajide Otitoju of TVC wondered whether it was not time to unmask members of the cabal, he literarily asked him to read his lips by saying ‘we will do that by defeating them in February election just as we did during last year APC primary when an attempt to foist a candidate on APC was thwarted’ by a coalition of progressive northern governors. 

    And if that lead is not enough to expose those behind the war of attrition in APC, interrogating those behind APC war that has now been extended to all Nigerians with or without bank account, will confirm that with Godwin Emefiele’s currency swap fiasco, Lai Mohammed’s double talk and Abubakar Malami’s political subterfuge, APC and the rest of us need no enemy. For selfish political consideration, they seem determined to stand against all efforts by men of goodwill to save APC from itself and the rest of us from collateral damage.

     The 36 state governors, under the aegis Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), having observed that “The speed of implementation of the policy is a recipe for anarchy in the country”, and therefore in its February 6, 2023 letter, “urged President Buhari to extend the deadline for the implementation of the old naira notes swap”.

    There was a World Bank warning that the “inability of Nigerians to access the new naira notes may influence uncertainty ahead of the February 25 and March 10 elections in the country.” There was also the Supreme Court seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro, who in a unanimous ruling, granted an interim injunction “restraining the federal government, CBN and their agents and commercial banks from implementing the February 10 deadline.” 

    The National Council of State, professional bankers and economists have spoken in the same vein especially with Emefiele’s reported admission that our local mint lacks the capacity to print more new notes beyond N400b already injected into the system after mopping up about N2 trillion.

    The three APC stalwarts are however unimpressed. And rather than listen to voices of respected opinion leaders including the Sultan of Sokoto who has called on President Buhari to “douse tension because  ‘people are hungry and angry because of lack of money’, and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia who has warned that  ‘the crisis may lead to anarchy if not addressed quickly”, Godwin Emefiele,  Lai Mohammed and Abubakar Malami seem to have more faith in their APC political foes.

    And those encouraging them to keep digging deeper into the hole include their sympathetic media, PDP stalwarts including Abubakar Atiku, and Governor Obaseki who says “Edo State government has no problem with the policy”. Others include ‘the Civil Society Central Coordinating Council (CSCCC) led Obed Okwukwe,  the 14 of the 18 registered political parties and Justice Eleojo Enenche (FCT), High Court who ruling on a motion by four Action Alliance (AA), Action Peoples Party (APP), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and National Rescue Movement (NRM) restrained President Muhammadu Buhari from further extending the deadline.

    By ignoring the Supreme Court judgment which many have described as an opportunity for APC to avert an impending anarchy as frustrated depositors openly attack banks and bankers while allying themselves with an order that restrained Buhari from ending the nightmare of Nigerians, Mohammed, Malami and Emefiele who have now painted a picture of Buhari as a leader with no empathy for his people, seem to be on a mission.

    Nigerians still remember that following the sack of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over his alleged sympathy for APC, the major consideration for Emefiele’s appointment as CBN governor by President Jonathan was his presumed PDP sympathy. And President Buhari has retained him. And in office, it has all been more of politics than economics. His response to the deteriorating state of the economy was to register as a card-carrying member of APC in his Delta State ward. His sponsors rumoured to include a serving minister and a media mogul understands very clearly that by offering its platform to a sitting CBN governor to contest for presidency, APC as a party was doomed.

    But forced out of the race by combined forces of public opinion of those who worry about the health of our nation including APC northern progressive governors, Emefiele came up with his currency-swap brainwave ostensibly to fight corruption and insurgency, which of course he knew would be music to President Buhari’s ears. Emefiele after falsely attributing the currency swap fiasco to currency hoarding by commercial banks was to admit misleading the president and the nation.

    For Lai Mohammed, the strategy was to assault our sensibilities. After showing no enthusiasm in the Supreme Court judgment, that allows his principal to do the right thing, he has now come alive with a high court ruling that tied the hands of his principal. He now blames the opposition for APC self-inflicted crisis saying “their actions are a clear evidence that the opposition has turned this whole issue into a political game, preferring to make Nigerians suffer more on the altar of an unconscionable political gamesmanship.” He now describes them as “unscrupulous opposition parties who have decided to legally hamstring (his principal) from providing any relief for Nigerians suffering from the cash crunch”.

    Can someone tell Lai Mohammed to give us a break? Since President Buhari will not talk, ministers including those driven by selfish ambition give the impression they are reflecting his mind-set.

    Malami is tarred with the same brush. As Attorney General and Minister of Justice, he has always misled the president. Whether it is the issue in of pre-independence grazing routes, Amotekun, comparing immigrant armed herdsmen illegally occupying southern reserved forests with Igbo traders in northern cities, selective ‘sting operations’ including midnight invasion of houses of Supreme Court justices, etc., he continues to falsely swear in Buhari’s name.

    And now long after his senior professional colleagues have stated the true position of the law in relation to the Supreme Court ruling, Malami, as in character, is looking for technical reasons to undermine the judgment. “What we have at hand is a situation where the central bank was not joined as a party”. “So, we have given considerations to diverse issues, inclusive of the issue of jurisdiction … within the context of compliance, we shall challenge the ruling… it is all about the rule of law,” Malami rambles on.

    If these men are not serving other tendencies in Buhari’s government, the true test of their love for the president and the country will be finding a way to lift the ongoing siege on Nigerians who are starving because Emefiele confiscated their monies.

    In the ongoing war of attrition among APC stalwarts who are prepared to pull down the country along with themselves, we have all become victims. But we know those ministers who by their actions have shown they are not part of us.

    For close to two weeks, I have succeeded only once in transferring N20,000 from my bank while I am indebted to different people including my mechanic who spent N65,000 of his money to repair my car.

  • Supreme Court and the Emefiele affront

    Supreme Court and the Emefiele affront

    We even had to dispatch all our old currency on Friday to the Central Bank. We obey our regulators, not the Supreme Court – Bank worker

    HE WHO feels it knows it. The people, especially, the commoners, are feeling the heat of the naira redesign policy. They took their money – what we now call the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes – to the bank as directed, but could not get the new ones of the same denomination in return.

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, who is pushing the policy as if his life depends on it, had promised heaven and earth that they would get the new notes once they brought in the old ones. It was all talks. Many are regretting the day they did that. They no longer have access to their money, whether old or new. It is now easier to look for a needle in the haystack than to get back their money.

    The people believe that they have been taken for a ride. If not, they ask: why can we not access our money? The question is directed to the Federal Government and Emefiele, but no response is forthcoming. How did the country get to this pass? It all began with the CBN’s recall of over N2 trillion and the pumping in of N700 billion into circulation under the new policy regime. To Emefiele, the action was to mop-up the excess fund in people’s homes. Money, he said, should be in the bank and not at home!

    According to him, as at October, N3.23 trillion was in circulation, out of which N500 billion was in the bank. It was to correct what he called this economic imbalance that Emefiele pumped in N700 billion after mopping-up over N2 trillion. Economists are still wondering what informed his decision.

    They argued that he should have considered that the country has a gross domestic product (GDP) of over N271 trillion before determining the amount of cash to have in circulation. With a government that allows him to run riot all over the place, Emefiele does whatever he likes, in consultation with only President Muhammadu Buhari. Between them, they have made an economic mess of an otherwise good policy, which process of implementation should have been graduated.

    The country is where it is today because Buhari and Emefiele listen only to themselves. The governors, the Council of State (CoS) and the Supreme Court have all spoken and said almost the same thing – suspend for now, the February 10 deadline for phasing out the old notes. The President and Emefiele would have none of that. They won’t listen to experts; they won’t listen to politicians and they won’t listen to statesmen.

    And now, they won’t listen to the court and not any court for that matter, but the Supreme Court. The President and Emefiele are carrying on as if there is no Supreme Court order restraining them in respect of the policy. CBN is trying to hide under the premise that it was not joined in the suit brought by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states against the government to flout the order.

    In the suit, the states are contending that the policy has brought untold hardship on their people and asked for an interim order barring the government from going ahead with the now expired February 10 deadline for stopping the use of the old notes. The February 8 order was clear and succinct:

    “…an order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government of Nigeria, either by itself or acting through the CBN and/or the commercial banks… or through any person or persons (natural and artificial) howsoever, from suspending or determining or ending the timeframe within which the old notes will no longer be legal tender”.

    Rather than comply immediately with the order, Emefiele started looking for a lacuna in it. He found none because the order was well couched that there is no hiding place for him. Yet, he refused to comply with it.

     On Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting with the Diplomatic Corps, Emefiele flagrantly disobeyed the apex court when he said there was no going back on the February 10 deadline. If that is not contempt of court, I wonder what it is. Emefiele spoke in clear contempt of the Supreme Court order restraining ‘…CBN or any person…’ from giving effect to the February 10 deadline. His words: “there is no need to consider any shift trom the deadline of February 10th”.

    His statement was a slap on the Supreme Court face. All he was saying is that the apex court could go to hell with its order for all he cared. It is unwise of him to have spoken like that before an enlightened gathering of envoys. Emefiele was undiplomatic at a diplomatic forum where decorum, good upbringing etiquette, respect for rule of law and order are expected to hold sway.

    What impression of him did the diplomats go away with? One can only imagine. I am sure that there is no way the governor of the central bank of any of those envoys’ countries would have spoken that way in the face of a subsisting court order. Can we blame Emefiele when the government itself is dilly dallying over the order? Emefiele was only taking a cue from the government.

    What is the meaning of the government’s statement that it would make its position known after yesterday’s proceedings at the Supreme Court? If it says either it or CBN has not done anything preemptive to vitiate the Supreme Court order, what should the public then make of Emefiele’s statement? So, it is now the government’s prerogative to decide when and which court order to obey! Can you hear the government? Can the government too hear itself?

    There can be nothing more preemptive an action than what Emefiele did. What he told the nation in effect was: no matter what the Supreme Court says, the naira policy has come to say. This is why the Supreme Court should come down hard on Emefiele and other public officers like him who think that they are above the law. Unfortunately, this column cannot await the outcome of yesterday’s proceedings because of its deadline (ha, this word again!) for submission.

    I know that the court will be firm and fair. It will certainly not allow anybody, no matter his status, to treat it contemptuously and get away with it. If the Supreme Court does not act now, it risks losing face before the public. Just imagine, a bank worker telling a reporter: “we obey CBN, not Supreme Court”.

  • Cashless economy by fire by force

    Cashless economy by fire by force

    As I write this piece, I have N500 on me which is what I have had for a week because at my age I could not participate in the struggle at the ATMs from which Nigerians are getting money sometimes after queuing up for a whole day. Last week, the banks in my area shut their doors against the public for fear of their staff being beaten by irate Nigerians who have been made insane by the government policy of Naira colouring and withdrawal of old notes without adequate supply of the new notes. I was able to enter two banks in my area the week before and I was convinced that the new Naira notes were just not available by the looks on the faces of the bankers and by their aggressive demeanour in some cases. Only the women bankers from my experience showed some feelings of kindness to the public especially to the elderly people who they treated with courtesy. Even GTB which has a tradition of according courtesy to older people could not maintain their traditions because you can’t give what you don’t have.

    This strange phenomenon of having money in the bank but not in your pocket has for me come with some silver lining. First of all, it has forced me to realize that I don’t have to carry about some money with me whether I need them or not. I have become frugal and unusually miserly because I can’t give out money that I don’t have. I am told that even beggars are no longer expecting money from passers-by and because of this they are no longer pestering us with their demands for alms. I have also experienced generosity from a few persons who out of pity have stretched their helping hands to me and I will not forget when things come back to normal.

    Let me give two examples of two people who have been helpful during this time of cash scarcity. A former student of mine called me to find out how I was doing and I honestly told her my experience of going cashless by force and by fire and how I had been going round the banks in my area without collecting the new Naira. She was not happy that somebody like myself should be expected to go and struggle in some cases for N10,000 or N5000 twith young people of my grandchildren’s age. She, without letting me know, told her young husband to find me money by all means. The young fellow got N15,000 old Naira and gave this to the wife who simply sent her older sister to give me the money. I was actually expecting new money but in the situation I found myself, money whether old or new, was money. I got the money with much gratitude and the money went very far in buying stuff for the house.

    Of course, I have credit cards and cheque books but nowadays some shops and filling stations don’t accept cards and the claim of no internet is a common refrain. Secondly nobody takes cheques these days and I don’t know why though banks continue to sell cheque books to us older fellows. It is also not everyone who can transfer money. Some banks advise elderly people not to do so for fear of our accounts being hacked! This is where elderly people have found themselves in the policy of cashless economy by force. Apart from my old student’s generosity, I have found help and solace in my church where one or two people have found out what I was going through and like old time Christianity of communal living and help, have come forward to help me source for money to keep my car and generator running.

    Who says teacher’s reward is in heaven I am a testimony that if you are a good teacher your reward is here and now. The kingdom of God that we pray to come every day has really come in Christian fellowship to one another as I have found during these weeks of cash scarcity.

    The question to ask is what is the aim of this government imposing needless suffering and pain on the governed? It is strange that a government would deliberately do this. It reminds me of what Jean Jacques Rousseau said in one of his philosophical rantings that our rulers can force us to be free even if they kill us! It seems our government without adequate consultation with us the citizens has decided to impose a cashless economy on us for the overall good of the economy and presumably ourselves. We are told this is the way to go and this is the way of the modern world.

    In fact China from where the whole world learnt about paper money is ways ahead of every country in adopting a cashless economy. There are some provinces of China where people have not seen for months and years paper money. People have even moved away from cards and transfers to using their phones and wrist watches to transact business. I have personally seen my children doing this abroad with admiration. But do we have the structures, internet, and computer infrastructure to do this? Anybody who has travelled abroad recently will discover that banks will soon be ancient history because they will no longer be needed. I pray we move smoothly to this Eldorado. But we must make haste slowly.

    Nobody can fault all the reasons given by the CBN for the cashless economy.  They said it will reduce fakery of the Naira. It will make it easier to monitor the economy. It will reduce the temptations of criminals to request for millions of Naira from their victims and it may also bring the inflation down and stabilise the exchange rate of the Naira. All these aims and goals are desirable but we must plan for it and not jump into a moving stream. At the rate at which we are going we will destroy the rural economy if not the urban economy as well because the percentage of those of us nationally with accounts in the banks is not more than 40 percent. This means in effect that our economy is a cash economy and it will remain so for some time to come.  

    This is not the first time we have changed our currency notes. We did this in 1968 or thereabouts during the civil war. We also did this in 1973 when we moved from pounds to Naira and decimalised our currency. We also did this in 1984 when this same Muhammadu Buhari was head of state. We did not go through this hell then because the changes were better planned and secondly the economy in Nigeria since then has more than quadrupled. We cannot use the strategy of 50 or 40 years ago and apply it today and expect it to work smoothly.

    What our government has done is to withdraw close to N3 trillion of the old currency notes while printing N300 billion new notes much of which had been given to the commercial banks while withholding some of the new notes with the expectation that without enough notes, people will be forced to use bank transfers, debit and credit cards and presumably cheques without regards to how prepared Nigerians are for this sea change. Now it seems the people have rejected this imposed and forced change. The government may not have expected this and it does not seem there is a plan B. The advice by the National Council of State that met in emergency meeting last week in Abuja recommending that both old notes and new notes should run concurrently is based on if the old notes have not been destroyed. I hope not. Because if they have been destroyed then what do we do? We have heard from the grapevine that the Mint does not have the paper and perhaps the ink to print additional new notes. Efforts to secure this from la Rue Company in Germany or Switzerland has met a brick wall because there appears to be a backlog of countries importing the same security paper for their own currencies. This means if we need to print new currencies we have to wait for a while.

    The way out to me seems to permit the liberal use of good old cheques as before as well as continued reliance on the use of debit and credit cards and bank transfers while waiting for new currencies to be printed. But in all this, the government must take the lead and talk to the people without hectoring them and put their cards on the table. Planning to prevent politicians from using the Naira during electioneering campaigns and elections proper is a waste of time. Is it possible anywhere in the world to hold elections without oiling the system with money whether cash or otherwise? Imposing a draconian policy on the whole nation because we want to prevent politicians from using money during elections is not the best way to uphold the sacredness of our elections. Are the judiciary, the police and the electoral commission so abjectly weak that only a cashless policy can do the job for them? Saying this policy is designed to curb the power of money in our nations politics is the greatest height of ridicule and foolishness.

  • CBN’s bad example

    CBN’s bad example

    SIR: In the old Nigeria, Nigerians were law-abiding citizens. They would always love to do things that would portray them as good nationals. But one has been wondering why this has become a history today. The cause of this decadence and degeneracy cannot, of course, be far-fetched.

    During this period, Nigerian leaders led by example. If a leader admonished the young ones, for instance, to always stand still whenever the national anthem was being sung, that leader must be ready to show this by example. But is this the case today? How many of today’s leaders can beat their chests, and affirm that they remember to remain motionless whenever the national anthem is being recited today?

    Nigeria of today is full of disobedient young ones not because these young ones are unwilling to obey; they’re not willing to abide by the law because those who are in the position to lead the way are law breakers.

    Recently, the Supreme Court refrained the Central Bank of Nigeria from implementing the February 10 for the currency swap, and gave a verdict to stop CBN from the decision to end the spending of the old naira notes owing to the fact that the apex bank had failed in its responsibility to print enough new notes to ease the stresses the common Nigerians go through each day in getting the scarce new naira notes.

    Like some today’s leaders normally do, CBN did not only arrogantly neglect the Supreme Court verdict; it also threatened the helpless Nigerians to either comply with its difficult-to-meet decision or lose their hard earned money.

    Now that the CBN had gone ahead to implement its February 10 deadline in disregard to the supreme court decision, can Nigerians again believe that the apex court is the last institution to rescue them from any injustice being meted out to them?

    Our people in position of authority crave decent society, but are they ready to lead by example? Or, how do we explain a situation where the apex bank – without thinking of the consequence or the impact their action (disobedience) could have on most especially young Nigerians – disregarded the last order of the apex court?

    What has really gone wrong in the system? We were thought in schools that there was supremacy of law, and that no one was above the law of the land. Is this affirmation still true today? 

    Seeing the arrogance the CBN had displayed over the redesign of naira notes, can a teacher boldly tell his/her inquisitive students today that the law of the land is above all Nigerians? Going by what the CBN had done, isn’t the saying that some people are untouchable in this country true?

    What the heads of the CBN had just done – failure to obey the order of the court to refrain from disallowing people to continue to spend the old naira notes until new ones are sufficient – was a bad precedent that needs to be discouraged if we really care to have law-abiding Nigerians in abundance.

    •Ademola Babalola.

    Ibadan, Oyo state.

  • Towards a decade of the National Health Act

    Towards a decade of the National Health Act

    SIR: By next year 2024, a decade to the signing of the National Health Act 2014, would have been recorded. The NHA (2014) was enacted after a long battle of advocacy for Nigeria’s health system to provide a law that can guarantee the right to health of Nigerians.

    Like so many other significant laws with beautiful provisions, the National Health Act has so many beautiful provisions which unfortunately have not translated to efficiency and effectiveness in Nigeria’s health sector.

    For instance, one of the progresses recorded is the allocation of one percent Consolidated Revenue Fund for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund. Thankfully Since 2019, the federal government has been allocating one percent of the CRF for the BHCPF despite this progress, the allocation of the fund have several challenges.  First is that the equity funds that is expected to come from the sub-national governments to execute the mandates of the funds across the states have not been remitted by the state governments. The non-remittance has made it difficult to achieve progress in provision of facilities, health insurance coverage and consumables at the states and local government.

    Secondly, there seems to be lack of accountability mechanism in tracking the use of the funds disbursed to the states. There are still cases of Health Care Facilities demanding for down payments before attending to patients on emergencies, despite the provision of five percent emergency fund for victims of emergency. Part of the challenge in the NHA 2014, is the lack of enforcement of the certificate of standards. Under the law, without being in possession of a Certificate of Standards, a person, entity, government or organization shall not: (a) establish, construct, modify or acquire a health establishment, health agency or health technology; (b) increase the number of beds in, or acquire prescribed health technology at a health establishment or health agency; ( c) provide prescribed health services; or (d) continue to operate a health establishment, health agency or health technology after the expiration of 24 months from the date the Act took effect.

    This provision is meant to eliminate quackery in the health practices. Nine years to the implementation of the Act, most health establishments still operate without certificates of standards. Some Private Health Clinics, Hospitals and Chemists operate without certificates thereby endangering the lives of health seekers. The law provides that any person, entity, government or organization who performs any act stated under section 13(1) without a Certificate of Standards required by that section commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than N500, 000.00 or, in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or both.

    An improvement of the NHA (2014) led to the enactment of the National Health Insurance Authority Act 2022. The establishment of the NHIIA 2022 does not give rise to the abandonment of key provisions in the erstwhile law. Provisions such as the full implementation of the BHCPF must be given required attention. There must be enforcement of certificates of standards on all health establishments. Other provisions that should not be ignored include the establishment of a National Strategy on Health Research. The law makes provision for the promotion of health research by private and public health authorities to focus on solving Nigeria’s health priorities. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, it is expected that the committee in charge of health and information, facilitate move for adoption of home grown solutions in preparation to combat national and global pandemics such as covid-19, Ebola and diphtheria etc.

    •Victor Emejuiwe,

    Centre for Social Justice, Abuja.

  • Another pandemic hits Nigeria

    Another pandemic hits Nigeria

    SIR: The world has indeed experienced pandemics- the recent ones being Ebola and Covid-19. The memory of the latter leaves one cringing, as it crisscrossed the whole globe, conveying majority of its victims to the world of the dead. Up till now, the world has not recovered from the perilous grip of Covid-19. In Nigeria, Covid-19 struck hard; everyone could not guarantee their immunity against it. This probably informed the aggressive strategies and policies put in place by the government to combat the deadly viral disease otherwise, the masses would have been left to face the monster.

    However, the recent pandemic in Nigeria is neither a global one, nor has it been experienced in any country in historic times: this is because its pathogen is only with us.  The pandemic – cash crunch is vectored by emefe virus.  It may interest you to know that the virus derived its name from an indigenous word (name) which literarily means to be just, fair and impartial. It would therefore be appropriate to identify it as emefe virus since the incidence of the economic disease expresses a contradiction of the aforementioned attributes.

    The symptoms of this pandemic are not farfetched: weeping in the banking halls, starvation, mammoth queues at ATM points, closure of banks, customers going naked at the banks, hunger; and any other form of privation one would never wish to imagine.  Though the policy was supposedly formulated for economic benefits, it has transmuted to a gambit launched for a political vendetta.  While people are crying and experiencing grave hardship, the concerned authorities seem to have been thrown into narcolepsy.

    Just as it is characteristic of any viral disease to abate at the effluxion of time, cash crunch will definitely pass away.  Nigerians have been vaccinated ever before now (not with hoax-vaccine). The people are in possession of their vaccination cards – PVCs. Nevertheless, it is highly expedient for the government to rise to the situation and abate the suffering of the populace; otherwise this parting gift will greatly asperse the image of the transiting administration.

    •Oluwole Salahudeen Adedeji,

    Port Harcourt, River State.

  • Wrong mindset

    Wrong mindset

    • We can’t make progress if Fed. Govt continues to pick holes in TI’s rating of our anti-corruption efforts

    It’s not surprising that the Transparency International (TI) report for 2022 indicates that Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The country is rated 150 of the 180 countries surveyed.  Our country was scored 24 per cent, showing that there has been no improvement over the years.

    As in previous years, the Federal Government dismissed the report as contrary to the reality on ground. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,  said the government has done a lot in the fight against corruption and suggested that Transparency International should check the parameters it is using to score the nations. Incidentally, the words used by the Obasanjo and other preceding administrations were similar. 

    At the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, whereas there were only 99 countries surveyed,  Nigeria was ranked 98. The excuse then was that the report was a reflection of the corruption situation under the military government.  It was, however, shocking that by the end of the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government, Nigeria remained above only Bangladesh as the most corrupt countries. 

    Successive administrations have only paid lip service to fighting the monster that has been sucking resources that would have helped in enhancing national growth and development. Today, no thanks to the monster, the country is rated the second poorest country in the world. Open defecation is still rife, even in our cities, and the National Bureau of Statistics  (NBS) came out last year with an embarrassing report that 139 million are in the multi-dimensional poverty net.

    Nigerians were so expectant that the Muhammadu Buhari administration was best placed to save them from the clutches of corruption, given his military background,  his War Against Indiscipline as military Head of State and the campaign rhetoric of sweeping the nation clean within his first term.  The current government has tried but its efforts in just eight years cannot wash the country clean of sleaze.

    The forthcoming change of government by the ballot box is another opportunity to cleanse the public sector and save the citizens of the embarrassment of being portrayed as corrupt by other countries. The electorate has a duty to scrutinise contenders for executive and legislative offices closely to determine those who may be selfless.

    Chairmen and operatives of the two main anti-corruption agencies owe it a duty to this and the next generations of Nigerians to change the narrative. Abdulrasheed Bawa of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission  (ICPC), should think of the legacy they will bequeath to the nation.

    There is a lot going for Nigeria. –  the most populous black country in the world, a country blessed with abundant natural resources, the largest economy in Africa and well exposed human resources.

    All hands must be on deck by the next administration. The legislature, working with the judiciary and the Nigerian Bar Association, should take a critical look at the legal framework and judicial processes to ensure that offenders are speedily brought to justice. The President as Chief Executive should be resolved to appoint persons of impeccable integrity to offices. Besides, anyone found to have compromised his office should be removed immediately and prosecuted where necessary. This is the way forward instead of blaming Transparency International which former President Obasanjo was its co-founder.

  • APC PCC kicks as police invite Fani-Kayode

    APC PCC kicks as police invite Fani-Kayode

    The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) yesterday frowned at a new invitation by the Nigerian Police to its Director of New Media, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, over a matter being currently investigated by the Department of State Services (DSS).

    The former Minister of Aviation had been grilled on Monday by the DSS for about five hours over a tweet on an alleged meeting a presidential candidate had with some military top brass in Abuja.

    The security agency asked him to return yesterday for further interrogation.

    But on Tuesday night, the Federal Investigation Bureau (FIB) of the Nigeria Police Force sent him an invitation.

    In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the APC PCC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, asked the police to allow the DSS to complete its work and leave the former minister alone.

    The statement reads: “Despite the well-publicised invitation of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode by the DSS and the report that the secret police asked him to return for further investigation today (Wednesday), we were surprised that the police have also jumped into the same matter.

    “On Tuesday, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) for Federal Investigation Bureau also invited Fani-Kayode for questioning.

  • Tinubu will reform education, health, other sectors, says wife

    Tinubu will reform education, health, other sectors, says wife

    Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday assured Nigerians that the Tinubu/Shettima presidency will revolutionalise the health, education and agricultural sectors, if voted into power on February 25.

    Senator Tinubu spoke at the Government House in Kano after she and her entourage paid homage to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero.

    Replying to the demands by women drivers in education, health, agriculture, business and entrepreneurship at a town hall meeting held for women leaders across the 44 local government areas of the state, the Lagos Central senator promised that the Tinubu/Shettima administration would give women grants for economic empowerment, if Nigerians give them the mandate.

    “The Tinubu/Shettima administration will ensure free, compulsory basic education for all Nigerian children.”

    The wife of APC flag bearer promised that, if elected this month, the Tinubu/Shettima administration would come up with incentives to make the girl-child remain in school.

    “Tinubu/Shettima will not only ensure grants and empowerment for the women, but will also come up with policies that will encourage adult education for the women,” she said.

    Senator Tinubu also said it has become necessary to revamp the Health sector and curb brain drain, which has caused an exodus of Nigerian medical professionals to seek greener pastures abroad.

    The APC stalwart said if voted into power, the Tinubu/Shettima administration would come up with policies that would enable doctors and other health workers to stay back in Nigeria and make the sector viable to discourage medical tourism abroad.

    “Nigerians have the best brains in the Health sector, and we will ensure that Nigerian doctors and other health workers do the best for us,” she said.

    Commenting on the Agricultural sector, Senator Tinubu said Nigeria has the best weather and soil, stressing that Lagos, in partnership with Kebbi State, set the pace in rice production.

    The Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) also said the Tinubu/Shettima administration would revamp the economy through creation of enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

    Praising President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for its achievements in power and other sectors, she said the Tinubu/Shettima administration would build upon the foundation laid by the current administration.

    Senator Tinubu described Kano as the second home of the Tinubus.

    “I came to Kano to thank you for the support you have given to my husband. Kano is the second home of the Tinubus. Forty years ago, I stayed a whole year in Kano.

    “I stayed in Sabon Gari while doing my youth service. I enjoyed myself. I want to thank you for your warm reception. Thank you, Kano.

    “We are grateful to the North. God bless Kano.  God bless the North. God bless Nigeria.”

    Senator Tinubu donated funds, 50,000 pieces of wrappers and unspecified number of bags of rice to women across Kano State.

    Wife of Kano State governor, Prof. Hafsat Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, described the town hall meeting by the Lagos Central senator as very important and historic to Kano women and all the people of Kano State.

    She recalled that on January 4 during the APC presidential rally, Kano stood still for Asiwaju Tinubu for several hours, a proof that Kano residents support the APC flag bearer.

    She urged Kano women to come out en masse and vote for Tinubu/Shettima on February 25.

    The meeting was attended by wives of APC governorship candidate and his deputy, hundreds of the APC women leaders, including wives of commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers, as well as wives of party leaders and stakeholders.

  • Buhari assents to Defence Research,Development Bureau Bill, three others

    Buhari assents to Defence Research,Development Bureau Bill, three others

    President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the Defence Research and Development Bureau Act, 2022 passed by the National Assembly, in line with Section 58 (4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, announced this in a statement in Abuja.

    The Defence Research and Development Bureau Act, 2022, establishes the Defence Research and Development Bureau to conduct and coordinate robust research and development in the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

    The Act provides for a realistic defence policy for basic and applied research on defence items and equipment.

    It is meant to initiate and coordinate the scientific, technological, and environmental research activities of the Armed Forces.