The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Macaulay

  • Fayoade: Changing policing narrative

    Fayoade: Changing policing narrative

    It seemed too good to be true. But it was good and true. Unprecedently, the Lagos State Police Command, under Commissioner of Police (CP) Adegoke Fayoade, provided refreshments to protesters during the recent Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)-led two-day mass protest against the rising cost of living.

    The protesters had moved from ‘Ikeja under bridge’ to the Lagos State government house at Alausa via Obafemi Awolowo Road, on February 27. At some point, police officers distributed packets of biscuits and bottled water to the protesters.  Unlike in the past when protesters jeered at police officers, the appreciative protesters cheered them. 

    Understandably, viral videos showing the goodwill gesture aroused public curiosity about the man who heads the state police command.  CP Fayoade, who assumed duties at the Lagos State Police Command in December 2023, was at the centre of the unique good deed by the police. He explained to journalists: “I provided water and biscuits because I don’t want anyone to collapse on the way. We have to use water to strengthen everybody. That is the least we could do.” It was ironic that the organisers of the protest allowed the police to steal the show regarding supply of refreshments to the protesters.

     He added: “The protest went on as agreed with the NLC leadership. We promised them protection from the beginning to the end.” He said the police would provide the same protection on the second day of the protest, and he would be “part of the operation.”

    The public was possibly unprepared for Fayoade’s positive approach to policing, given the long-term negative image of the Nigerian police. He had painted a picture of progressive policing to be expected under him at the handing/taking over ceremony held at Ikeja, Lagos. He said the police would “collaborate with the judiciary to ensure swift prosecution and conviction of criminals to serve as a deterrent,” and strengthen “intelligence-gathering capabilities.” He also said “the clampdown on commercial motorcycle operators in prohibited areas, which has led to a drastic reduction of crime and accident cases, will be sustained and intensified.”

    On cleansing the police, he pledged to strengthen “our internal disciplinary mechanism to swiftly and impartially investigate any allegations of misconduct by our personnel.” 

    On police-community relations, he said: “Members of the public will be actively engaged in community events, holding public forums and neighbourhood watch programmes. This will help to build a relationship as the community works together with the police.” 

    On human rights, he said the police would “conduct regular, unannounced spot checks at police stations and holding cells. These checks will encompass a thorough review of weapons and ammunition to ensure strict adherence to recommended regulations.”

    According to Fayoade, “Police stations and front desks must be made attractive for more accessibility and visits of citizens to report matters or make complaints. Unnecessary bottlenecks in receiving complaints shall be removed.”

    He walks the talk. Under him, the police force has intensified efforts to deal with erring officers.  In January, for instance, he was reported to have ordered an investigation into an allegation of bribery against a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the state, and ordered the officer to “step aside” pending the outcome of the investigation. Also, in the same month the force identified three officers who stopped a motorist in Lagos to demand his car’s tinted glass permit without their ID cards and uniforms and vowed to sanction them.

    About a month after he assumed duties, he announced that the police had arrested 37 persons allegedly involved in cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearms and other crimes. He said that 16 firearms, including 72 live cartridges, 75 live ammunition and one expended cartridge, were recovered from the suspects. Also recovered were one pistol magazine, a toy pistol, six axes, four daggers, five cutlasses, two vehicles, one Point of Sale (POS) machine, fake vehicle number plates and charms.

    According to him, those arrested included three suspected leaders of a notorious group terrorising residents of Ikorodu, and three members of an armed robbery gang wearing military camouflage. He said the fake soldiers were arrested by the 9th Brigade of the Nigerian Army and handed over to the police. He also said 1,050 commercial motorcycles were seized for contravening traffic rules and regulations.

    Fayoade’s posting to head the Lagos State Police Command demonstrated the high level of confidence that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun has in him.  Known as ‘Centre of Excellence,’ Lagos State, the country’s former capital and economic and commercial nerve centre, demands exceptional policing. 

    An indigene of Ila-Orangun, Osun State, he joined the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on May 18, 1992. He has a first degree in Education/History from Lagos State University and a master’s in Public Administration from the University of Lagos. He also has a degree in Law from National Open University of Nigeria.

    Read Also: Seven facts about new Lagos CP, Adegoke Fayoade

    He attended several professional courses in the country and abroad, and served in Taraba, Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Ondo, Ogun and Lagos states, and Abuja, before he became police commissioner in Lagos State. He has won notable awards that testify to his exemplary professionalism. He was a two-time winner of Best Divisional Police Officer in Africa, awarded in The Hague, Netherlands and Nairobi, Kenya in 2007 and 2013 while he was DPO at Ilupeju and Victoria Island, in Lagos State.  He was a recipient of the Lagos State Government Honour Award for Excellence in 2013 while he was DPO Victoria Island. Also, he was a two-time winner of Meritorious Award on Crime Fighting from the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria; and Youth Motivation Award by National Association of Nigerian Students.

    After his promotion to the rank of Commissioner of Police in September 2022, he became CP Armament, Force Headquarters, Abuja from where he went to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.

    In three months as police boss in Lagos State, Fayoade has shown what he’s made of. His efforts to change the narrative of policing in the country are noteworthy. Nigeria needs more of such a narrative-changing police officer.

  • Omatseye’s special combo

    Omatseye’s special combo

    A remarkable book grabbed the headlines as Sam Omatseye unveiled Beating All Odds: Diaries and Essays on How Bola Tinubu Became President in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on March 12.  Predictably, the event created a buzz.

    The book shows the journalist as a historian, and the historian as a journalist. Omatseye, an effervescent columnist and Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nation, studied History at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State.

    As the title of the book indicates, it has a diary section possibly inspired by a historian’s instinct.  From August 19, 2022 to February 17, 2023, he wrote private diary entries documenting the various political dramas that preceded Nigeria’s presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023. He kept the diary for seven months, ending his record-keeping a week to the elections. “There was so much to document,” he noted in an interview, adding that he limited his diary entries to “500 to 600 words.”

    In the build-up to the event, a TV interviewer asked him why he kept a diary in the period. His answer: “I thought this election was going to be really turbulent, and I told myself I really need to be taking these things down week after week… I didn’t know I was going to make it into a book. I didn’t know what I was planning to do with it, but I knew it was an interesting thing to do. I don’t think anybody had done it, a diary of Nigerian election campaigns. I thought that was an innovative way of looking at the events. I tracked them up to the very day of the election. After the election I stopped keeping a diary.”

    Read Also; Immortalise late Olubadan, PDP urges FG

    He was particularly interested in the presidential election, and his favoured candidate was Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who won the election and became president. The Special Guest of Honour at the event, Vice President Kashim Shettima, noted that the election “certainly was the most divisive in the history of this country.”

    In the book’s second section, the diarist becomes a columnist. His weekly column in The Nation, ‘In Touch,’ is known for its colour and assertiveness. This part is a collection of some of his columns written before the elections and after. In an important sense, the selected columns are records of sorts.

    Omatseye’s column on the eve of the event was an excerpt from the book, in which the author describes Tinubu as “a man of politics,” and ascribes his triumph in the presidential election to “the ineluctable force of destiny.”

    His words: “I knew the president – Muhammadu Buhari – did not want him. The peacocks and vampires around him did not want him. Some stakeholders in the country did not only resent him, they were afraid of him. The plot thickened quickly. Conspiracies festered in sewers and in the open. And it began with the party’s top brass.”

    On the role of inscrutable destiny in Tinubu’s electoral victory, he makes observations that are food for thought. His words: “He did not have a hand in all his victory… For instance, he was not the one who coerced the northern governors of his party, some of them with ambition to be president, to coalesce to endorse a southern candidate.

    “Tinubu was not there when the party chairman was throwing tantrums over the choice at a party stakeholders’ meeting with President Buhari. Not a shadow of Tinubu was there when the northern governors were summoned to defend the idea of a southern candidacy to President Buhari. It was not he who was on Lalong’s lips when he defended the justice of having a southerner.

    “It was not Tinubu who set Peter Obi on a collision course with his PDP. He did not set the party on fire with five governors led by then Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. Or Kwankwaso who turned the Kano tide against PDP.”

    The book would have been incomplete without his August 2022 article titled ‘Obi-tuary,’ which provoked a menacing response from the camp of one of the presidential candidates, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), whose supporters believed he had gone too far.

    “It was a pun but they did not see the fun,” he says in a June 2023 essay titled ‘I Pardon All,’ which captures his endangerment following the publication of ‘Obi-tuary.’  “When I wrote the piece, ‘Obi-tuary, ’ there was a tempest in the land,” he recounts. “It was a hectic time for me and my loved ones. I did not go to the office for four months. I was a hermit, except for my trips for the TVC Breakfast show, and I had got here in disguise. I attended no parties, no public events, and restaurants. I was as Americans say a home buddy. But I forgive all. I forgive those who did not understand English enough to know that I was using a figure of speech.”

    Indeed, this combo of diary entries and essays on Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election and Tinubu’s rise to power has special dimensions. This is the first time that the election journey of the country’s president has been tracked, documented and published in such a book form. It redefines record-keeping.

    Interestingly, the concept of the book meant that it was being written as relevant events developed. It can be described as a ready-made book. According to the author, “Immediately the election was over, it was then I knew I was going to publish this book. It was already written. The only thing I had to do was the author’s note.”  He told an interviewer that he did not know Tinubu would win the presidential election. He could not have known. Understandably, he admitted that the book would not have been published if Tinubu had not become president.

     So, Tinubu’s electoral victory indirectly produced the book. The author must be commended for presenting a record of his path to victory. Omatseye says he expects the book to create “an atmosphere to look back at the election, to put everything in perspective, for all of us to know how we got here.”  That is the significance of his book.

  • Dele Giwa: Justice overdue

    Dele Giwa: Justice overdue

    All eyes are on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to see whether they will carry out the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on February 16, directing the Federal Government to “investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of all attacks against journalists and other media practitioners, and ensure that all victims of attacks against journalists have access to effective remedies.”

    Justice Inyang Ekwo also made an order directing the Federal Government to “take measures to prevent attacks on journalists and other media practitioners.”

    This judgement was the outcome of the suit instituted by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a non-governmental organisation, in 2021, seeking to enforce the fundamental rights of journalists to safety as stipulated in the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

    The NGO had named journalists in the country who were killed extrajudicially. The list included Dele Giwa, the colourful, high-profile journalist and founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine who died from injuries inflicted by a parcel bomb with Nigeria’s coat of arms on it, which he received while having breakfast in his home in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 19, 1986. He was 39.

    Others were Bolade Fasisi of the National Association of Women Journalists, killed in March 1998; Edward Olalekan of Daily Times, killed in June 1999; Omololu Falobi of The Punch, murdered in October 2006; Godwin Agbroko of Thisday, December 1999; Abayomi Ogundeji of Thisday, August 2008; and Edo Sule-Ugbagwu of The Nation, April 2010.

    The judge noted that the Federal Government “neither denied that these killings have taken place or that these persons were not journalists or media practitioners.”

    Unsurprisingly, reports of the court judgement highlighted Giwa’s murder, which was a unique case and perhaps the most devastating of the unresolved cases of journalists murdered in the country.

    In 2015, 29 years after Giwa was killed, a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police who investigated the murder, Chris Omeben, was reported saying his efforts to interrogate a “principal suspect” failed due to interference from “high places.” He was in charge of the Research Department of the Police CID when Giwa was murdered.

    The gruesome murder happened under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida military regime, which was accused of the killing in some quarters. In 2001, Babangida rigidly refused to appear before the Human Rights Violations Commission, popularly known as the Oputa Panel, concerning the Giwa murder. He demonstrated desperation for silence by going to court. Babangida, Col. Haliru Akilu (retd) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in his regime, and Lt. Col. A.K Togun (retd), who was the Deputy Director of the State Security Service (SSS), obtained an order barring the commission from summoning them to appear before it.  It was puzzling that the three men rejected what was a golden opportunity to prove their claimed innocence.  

    An astounding travesty of justice followed as the commission’s chairman was reported saying while it had powers to issue arrest warrants for the trio, it decided against such a move “in the overall interest of national reconciliation.”

    A 360-page book titled Honour for Sale, described by the author, Major Debo Basorun (retd), as ‘An Insider Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa,’ caused a stir when it was launched in Lagos, in November 2013.  Basorun served in the Babangida regime as Press and Public Affairs Officer (Military Press Secretary) to the Military President of Nigeria between 1985 and 1988.

     He dropped a bombshell.  In the prologue to his autobiographical book, he said of the explosive volume:  “It is a laborious attempt at documenting over twenty-one years of a kaleidoscopic but exciting career – a gaudy reminder of the sweet days at the pinnacle of power and how a miscalculation on the part of the powers-that-be led me to uncover the truth that, in concert with his Intelligence Chief, Colonel Haliru Akilu, Babangida has not come clean with the Nigerian people – nay the world – concerning the duo’s roles in the mindless assassination of a foremost Nigerian journalist of his time, Dele Giwa.”

     Basorun added: “I am hopefully looking forward to the day when General Ibrahim Babangida, Colonel Haliru Akilu and myself would be brought before the people’s court to answer all we know pertaining to the cruel murder…”

    The campaign for justice for Giwa has been relentless. It’s been 38 years since he was killed. But the matter is alive, despite the years that have passed since the killing.

    The other listed media victims of extra-judicial killings deserve justice as well. According to a 2021 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 278 journalists were killed in Nigeria in the 10 years prior to the report. It is unclear whether any of these cases was resolved.

    Read Also: Again, who killed Dele Giwa?

    The court order directing the authorities to reopen the unresolved murder cases involving journalists is a powerful legal and moral statement.

    It is said that there is no perfect murder. The failure of the authorities to bring the perpetrators of the stated extra-judicial killings to justice amounts to a failure of law enforcement and a contradiction of that assertion. The failure of past investigators, and previous investigations, should be investigated towards resolving the unresolved murders.

    It is also said that the law is no respecter of persons. Fagbemi and Egbetokun must carry out the court order by reopening the unresolved cases of extra-judicial killing involving journalists, particularly the ones listed by MRA, and pursue justice for the victims. The momentous judgement demands nothing less.

    A notable quotation attributed to Giwa in another context has an enduring relevance. He was quoted as saying, “No evil deed can go unpunished. Any evil done by man will be redressed, if not now, then certainly later; if not by man, then certainly by God, for victory of evil over good can only be temporary.”

    The court order demands justice by man now, not later. In Giwa’s case, justice is long overdue.  The same thing can be said of the other named media victims of extra-judicial killings in the country.   

  • Naira abuse: Selective enforcement

    Naira abuse: Selective enforcement

    Two recent cases exposed a double standard in Nigeria’s fight against naira abuse. In one case, actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was sentenced to six months in prison, with a fine option, for spraying and stepping on naira notes at a party in Lagos. Curiously, in the other case, which involved a traditional ruler, the Olu of Owode Egba, Ogun State, Oba Kolawole Sowemimo, the naira abuser has not been prosecuted.

    According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the actress, “on the 28th day of January 2023, at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos… whilst dancing during a social occasion tampered with the sum of N100,000 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same,” and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act, 2007.

    She was arrested by officers of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on February 1, 2023, in Ikoyi, Lagos, following a viral video that showed her spraying and stepping on naira notes at a party, and handed over to the EFCC the next day for further investigation.

     In her statement, she had stated that she attended a friend’s wedding on January 28, 2023, and that she sprayed N200 and N100 notes on the occasion. She was first arraigned on February 13, 2023, and granted bail two days later.

    Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on February 1, 2024, convicted her, and sentenced her to six months in prison with a N300,000 fine option.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007 (As amended) stipulates that “spraying of, dancing or marching on the naira or any note issued by the Bank during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute abuse, and defacing of the naira or such note shall be punishable under the law by fines or imprisonment or both.” Abuse of the currency attracts a penalty of not less than six months imprisonment or a fine of not less than N50,000 or both.

    The CBN is supposed to work with the EFCC, Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), among others, to curb the abuse of the naira. It is unclear whether they are operating with a sense of collective mission concerning the issue.

    Considering Omoseyin’s prosecution for naira abuse, and her punishment for violating the law, it is puzzling that Oba Sowemimo has not been arraigned for the same violation.

    In January, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) issued a statement, calling the traditional ruler’s attention to “an online video where a garland of the national currency was used by you to spray on one of the musicians who played at the event.” The agency said, “for us that was an abuse of one of the national symbols of our dear country,” noting that his action was punishable under the law.

    Its Director General, Lanre Issa-Onilu, who signed the statement, implored Oba Sowemimo “to join the NOA in finding a solution to the indiscriminate abuse of the currency by enlightening your community members on the legal consequences of the abuse of the Naira and promoting the integrity of all our national symbols.” It was strange that the agency appealed to an unreformed naira abuser to support the campaign against naira abuse. 

    A month later, the Egba Traditional Council suspended Oba Sowemimo for two months without salaries following the recommendation of its Ethics Committee, which had examined the viral video and reached the conclusion that his action was unethical.  The video showed the traditional ruler, during the celebration of his 13th coronation anniversary, adorning a popular Fuji musician, Wasiu Ayinde, with new N1,000 notes shaped like a garland. The committee observed that his action contravened the law, and encouraged derisive comments about Yoruba traditional rulership.

    “They said the suspension was due to the way I spent money on one musician,” Oba Sowemimo was reported saying. “And when I was asked if I had anything to say, I stood up and apologised for whatever I had done wrong and the suspension which was earlier announced to be for three months without salaries was reduced to two months.” He added that he “totally” accepted the decision of the council.

    According to the council, while under suspension, he must not parade himself as a traditional ruler, must not be invited to any government or public function as a traditional ruler, and must not attend any such event as a traditional ruler.

    Read Also: Lagos Police warn intending protesters against road blocks

    It is unclear if the actions of the NOA and the Egba Traditional Council were meant to make his prosecution unnecessary.  It is said that the law is no respecter of persons. But the different treatments of the naira abusers in these cases suggest that the actress faced trial because of her comparatively low status, and the traditional ruler has not been tried because of his high status.

    Omoseyin was sentenced to six months in prison, with a fine option. Oba Sowemimo was suspended for two months without salaries. It is unclear how much his salaries for two months amount to.  In the first case, there was enforcement of the law. In the second case, the law was not enforced. Enforcing the law through arrest and prosecution sends a serious signal that cannot be achieved through the methods of the NOA and the council of traditional rulers in the case of Oba Sowemimo.

    Selective enforcement of the law is not the way to fight naira abuse. Indeed, the authorities should target the high-ups who break the law by abusing the naira, and are regularly seen in viral videos doing so. Such naira abusers should be prosecuted and punished. That is a more effective way to fight naira abuse.

    Fighting naira abuse and naira abusers demands much more than the conviction of an obscure actress. Naira abusers are all over the place, in high places and low places. These two cases demonstrate that reality. Regular viral videos show the high scale of naira abuse in the country. The violators carry on because those who should stop them allow the violation to continue. More people should be arrested and prosecuted for naira abuse, irrespective of their status.

  • Materialism and Methodist Church Nigeria

    Materialism and Methodist Church Nigeria

    A materialistic church is a contradiction in terms because a church is expected to be non-materialistic. “The love of money is the root of all evil,” says the Bible.  Reports of money-driven deeds by the Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN) concerning the Methodist Boys’ High School (MBHS), Lagos, are a cause for concern.

    Interestingly, following viral reports that the MCN had, on January 29, employed thugs to enforce its moves to build extraneous structures on the school grounds at Sinari Daranijo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, The Rt. Rev. Dr Babatunde Abiodun Taiwo, Secretary of Conference and Secretary, Incorporated Trustees of Methodist Church Nigeria, issued a “Pastoral Letter” on February 8, addressed to “The People called Methodists.”  The defensive statement defined the position of the MCN on the controversy. But ironically, it also exposed the underbelly of the defenders. 

    In the communication titled “The facts concerning Methodist Boys’ High School Lagos,” the MCN said the MBHS Lagos Old Boys’ National Association had “alleged untruthfully that the Church brought thugs onto a land that it owns and is in possession of.”

    The MCN also said: “On account of the false witness against the Church by certain gentlemen, (said to be speaking for the Old Boys Association of MBHS), gaining currency in the public space, and tarnishing the image of the body of Christ, the Incorporated Trustees of Methodist Church Nigeria met at an Emergency Meeting on February 3,2024, to re-examine and assure itself of the true state of affairs concerning the ownership and use of Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos to ensure the public does not get drawn by untruths, reaffirm the dignity and uprightness of the Church, and assist the traducers of the Church to know the truth, and repent of their errors.”

    In its effort to present the truth, the MCN shot itself in the foot.  The statement said: “In accordance with its Constitution, upon resolution of Conference, and in order to leverage some of its assets Conference wide, it was resolved inter alia to build a befitting block of flats in an idle and dead part of the land – using income therefrom in enhancing and upgrading Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos; two new planned schools and other needs of the Church.”

    This is the crux of the problem. The MBHS Lagos Old Boys’ National Association is opposed to the use of any part of the school grounds for non-educational purposes. In a previous communication to the MCN, it had described the school as “bereft of infrastructure.”  For instance, an old boy complained: “No hostel for the students. Excess classrooms, in view of low student population, are currently in use as dormitories.”

     The MCN, which boasts about its ownership of the school, should be embarrassed that it is poorly developed. Developing the school should not be tied to using its land to raise money for development purposes. This is counter-productive. Where will such land exploitation stop?

    MCN’s ownership of the school should not mean it has an unchallengeable right to use the school grounds for non-educational purposes, shrinking the space available for the school’s development.  

    It is curious that the MCN described part of the land as “idle and dead,” in order to justify its materialistic move to build luxury flats in the space. The part about using the income to develop the school, among others, sounds like seeking justification for an unjustifiable plan. If the MCN succeeds, this would set an undesirable precedent, allowing it to resort to the use of school grounds for money-oriented schemes.

    It is puzzling that political and education authorities in the state apparently endorsed the MCN’s intention to convert part of the school grounds to a non-educational cash cow. According to the MCN, “application was made by an organ of the Church for (a) change of use of a small portion of the land for the block of flats, (b) proper carve out of the land for that purpose, and (c) building permit for the said block of flats and all were granted, consented to and registered, by the relevant agencies of Lagos State Government, after payment of requisite fees.”

    Why did the relevant state agencies allow the change?  Would the MCN have taken such actions concerning land not located in such an upscale area?

    Read Also: Surplus coming soon, Methodist Church assures

    The battle to preserve the pristine purpose of the school grounds began in 2012 when the then leadership of the MBHS Lagos Old Boys’ National Association met with the then Prelate of the MCN, Dr Sunday Ola Makinde, to resolve the issue.   According to the minutes of the meeting, it was “not conclusive as the issues that were critical to the meeting were not discussed and no disclosure was made of what Methodist Church Nigeria has in mind on part of MBHS LAGOS land.”

    After Makinde’s tenure, his successor, Dr Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, who was in office from 2013 to 2022, did not resolve the issue. From all indications, the current Prelate, Dr Oliver Ali Abah, who was elected into office in 2022, is sticking to the controversial plan. 

    The MBHS Lagos Old Boys’ National Association has announced that it is going to court to stop the MCN from pursuing the commercial building project on the school grounds. It remains to be seen what will happen in court.

    Founded in 1878 by the Methodist community, the Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos, was the second secondary school established in Nigeria. It started on Broad Street, Lagos, its site for over 100 years, before moving to its current location on Victoria Island. Its planned relocation to a 60-hectare parcel of land in Ojoo, Lagos – Badagry Road, allocated to the school by the Lagos State government, did not happen because the government took the land back for the establishment of Lagos State University.

    To partially compensate the school for the reclaimed land, the state government, in 1983, gave it a new 5.7-acre parcel of land located at Victoria Island, Lagos. That is the root of the ongoing conflict between the MBHS Lagos Old Boys’ National Association and the MCN, which seeks to opportunistically and materialistically repurpose part of the school grounds. 

  • Ransom payment or rescue?

    Ransom payment or rescue?

    Strikingly, two conflicting accounts further highlighted the question of ransom payment to kidnappers in Nigeria, and the question of rescue of kidnappees in the country. These issues came up yet again concerning the recent kidnapping of 23 persons, including five daughters and a niece of a civil servant, Mansur Al-Kadriyar, on January 2, in the Bwari area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

     Bandits who invaded Al-Kadriyar’s residence, and abducted him and the girls, got away after an exchange of gunfire with the police. They later released him to look for money to get the girls released. They demanded N60m ransom. Impatient to receive the money, they killed one of the girls after about two weeks in captivity, and threatened to kill the others too if the ransom was not paid. The girl’s killing gave a troubling insight into the murderous desperation that drives desperadoes who kidnap for ransom. She was Nabeeha, 21, a final -year Biological Science student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

    News of the girls’ ordeal on social media triggered a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for their release. The move to raise funds for ransom payment from the public through an online platform was unusual in the history of kidnapping in the country. The pathetic story of the Al-Kadriyar girls encouraged the option. A former minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami, got involved, and said his friend had offered to donate N50m towards their release.    

    Interestingly, a statement by the police gave the impression that ransom payment did not happen before the girls regained freedom. The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, said: “Following the relentless advancement of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command Anti-Kidnapping squad in a concerted effort with troops of the Nigerian Army, on the heels of the kidnappers that struck the Zuma 1 area in the Bwari Area Council on January 2, 2024, the FCT police has rescued the victims and reunited them with their families.” She added that “The operatives successfully rescued the victims around Kajuru forest in Kaduna State at about 11:30 pm on Saturday, January 20, 2024.”

    But it turned out that the police misrepresented what happened. The girls’ uncle, Abbas Al-Kadriyar, was reported saying, “We paid a ransom for the release of our girls. A ransom was paid, and the police were not involved.” His account: “The children called me, and I went to pick them up. On my way, I saw soldiers at the junction, and the bush is a very thick bush along the Gurara Dam, so I had to call the attention of the soldiers to follow me to the spot where we could locate our children.

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    “The bandits left them there to call us to come and pick them up. But we paid a ransom, and no police were involved. The children were not rescued by anyone, the soldiers only assisted me in locating where they were and they provided cover for us.”

    The police have not discredited this account from the Al-Kadriyar family.  Ransom payment by the family to get the girls freed contradicts the claim by the police that they were rescued from the kidnappers.

    Sadly, the bandits had killed four abductees, including Nabeeha, before 19 others regained freedom. It is unclear whether others also paid ransom, apart from the girls.

    Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru condemned the use of crowdfunding to raise money for ransom payment in the country, saying it would “only worsen the situation.” According to him, the approach “is not productive at all and should be discontinued.”

     He said: “On crowdfunding, we all know there’s an existing law against payment of ransom. So, it is very sad for people to go over the internet, radio asking for donations to pay ransom.”

    The Senate had passed the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill, 2022, into law and particularly amended Section 14. The section says: “Anyone who transfers funds, makes payment or colludes with an abductor, kidnapper or terrorist to receive any ransom for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped is guilty of a felony and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years.”

    Badaru argued that if people stopped ransom payment, “over time kidnapping will not be profitable,” and kidnappers would be forced to stop the crime. But he admitted that his solution was “not easy.”

    So, what should the families of kidnap victims do when kidnappers demand ransom? It is predictable that families would try to save the lives of their members when they are unfortunately kidnapped for ransom by paying the kidnappers. That is the logic of survival.   

    If kidnapping for ransom is thriving because the authorities responsible for security are underperforming, who is to blame?  Ransom payers are not to blame for the crime, but the structures of power that seem powerless against kidnappers. 

    For instance, bandits, kidnappers and other criminals terrorising the FCT and neighbouring states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger are known to be camped in the Kajuru forest, in Kaduna State.  The authorities responsible for security should not continue to demonstrate impotence in the face of clear defiance by such criminals.

    Criminalising ransom payment is ultimately futile. Is it enforceable? For instance, why have the authorities not tried to arrest and prosecute those who contributed money to pay ransom in the case of the Al-Kadriyar sisters?   State incapacity encourages ransom payment in kidnap cases. When the government fails on security, it should not expect the people to forget survival.

    True, not all kidnap cases end in the release of the victims after payment of ransom. Some kidnap victims lose their lives in captivity, despite the payment of ransom. But cases in which the victims are freed after payment of ransom show that it can achieve the desired result.  

    Even the sponsor of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Bill that criminalised ransom payment, Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi, at the time observed that “government should provide adequate security and strengthen the economy as a matter of urgency, accelerate its poverty alleviation programmes, provide employment opportunities targeting youths who are mostly involved in abductions and kidnappings, strengthen our law enforcement agencies, and provide the necessary support to end the menace of kidnapping.” This may well be the ultimate solution.

  • A scam and a murder

    A scam and a murder

    For the umpteenth time, the unsolved murder of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige was recently in the news. He was shot dead at his home in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, 22 years ago, on December 23, 2001.  He was 71.

    Tragically, the case had gone cold because those who should have pursued its resolution were ultimately cold in their approach to finding the killers and possibly the puppeteers behind the scenes.

    The puzzling murder case came up yet again following Nobelist Wole Soyinka’s intervention in the corruption-related case involving a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, who was arraigned in Abuja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with a $6bn Mambilla hydropower project contract.

     Soyinka fiercely objected to the court order that Agunloye be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre, pending resumption of his case, saying it prompted “justifiable, high-level concern for his safety.”

    According to Soyinka, “Bola Ige’s murder was not unconnected with the Mambilla scam. Olu Agunloye worked closely with me, both within and outside routine police motions, to unmask Ige’s killers. It would therefore amount to unpardonable complacency to propose that there are no forces sufficiently desperate to accord him the same fate as Bola Ige. That goal is made easier by the abrupt decision to remand him in prison.” This protest did not stop Agunloye’s detention at Kuje. He was released last week after meeting his bail condition. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

     It was revealing that Soyinka linked Ige’s murder with the Mambilla scam. Ige was Minister of Power and Steel from May 1999 to January 2000, before he became Minister of Justice. What was the connection between the scam and the murder?

    Read Also: Betta Edu: Don’t link Gbajabiamila with financial scam, CSO warns

    Notably, Ige’s protégé and former governor of Osun State Chief Bisi Akande captured Ige’s murder in his autobiographical book, My Participations, launched in December 2021, 20 years after the killing. He drew attention to the case again. Akande was governor of Osun State at the time Ige was murdered under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. 

     ”As was his custom, Ige was preparing to spend the Christmas with his people in Esa-Oke where he held the traditional title of Asiwaju (leader),” Akande says in the book.

    “He would normally hold a feast on Boxing Day, December 26, and all of us his friends would join him to celebrate.

    “That day would be an open house and all members of the Esa-Oke community would troop to Ige’s expansive compound.

    “So, by the time Ige entered Ibadan, preparation for Christmas at Esa-Oke was in top gear.

    “Most of his personal staff, especially those in the kitchen, had moved to Esa-Oke to await his arrival.

    “Instead of going to Esa-Oke, Uncle Bola decided to spend the night in Ibadan.

    “He went to his junior brother, Sir Dele Ige, to have dinner and then, retired home.

    “His wife, Atinuke, was waiting for him. As soon as he got home, his security details and personal staff, learning that they would not be travelling to Esa-Oke again, went out to look for dinner at a nearby restaurant as soon as they dropped their boss.

    “Shortly after they left, some gunmen invaded the Ige residence.

    “The house was at the end of the street. Behind it was a swamp of an undeveloped bush that terminated in a dead-end.

    “They overpowered the only gateman who had been working with Uncle Bola before he took up the ministerial appointment with Obasanjo and marched him upstairs.

    “All the doors were opened and they soon accosted their quarry in his bedroom.

    “There, they shot him and fled. His wife, who was with him, was locked up in the toilet.

    “Muyiwa came in shortly and discovered the horror.”

     Ige’s son, Muyiwa, lives with the memory of the horrific killing. Akande also recounts a telephone conversation with then President Obasanjo shortly after the murder.  

    “Now, you see the lapses in your security! Look at what happened to Bola lge,” Obasanjo was quoted as saying.

    “How can you say lapses in my security when Bola lge was killed in lbadan?

    “I rule in Osun State! I am not the Governor of Oyo State!

    “When his (lge’s) cap was removed at the Ife Palace during your wife’s chieftaincy ceremony, what did you do about it?”

    Akande says Obasanjo hung up. The conversation showed the tensions of the time. The background information on Ige’s humiliating experience at the Ife palace also conveyed a context of contention.   

     It was clear enough that the incident was an assassination. It happened in the middle of Obasanjo’s first four-year term as president. Obasanjo was reelected for a second term, and was president for eight years. This means that he had about six years to find Ige’s killers.

     Ige was a significant figure in the Obasanjo presidency, not only because of the weight of his position but also because of his political weight. Obasanjo was expected to get the killers at all costs. He should have been sufficiently embarrassed that such a high-profile member of his administration was killed in such a manner that suggested contempt for the law. His failure to solve the murder remains a massive minus both for him and the government he headed.    

    Ige’s tragic murder resulted in another tragedy, the death of his wife following signs that the investigation was going nowhere. Justice Atinuke Ige died “within 16 months” of her husband’s assassination, their son observed, saying “She died of a broken heart.”

    She must have sensed that the murder case had reached a dead end when a major prosecution witness, Andrew Olofu, who was Ige’s private security guard, suddenly changed his testimony. He was said to have previously identified one of the killers in an identification parade and had also signed a written statement regarding that.  

    Then the unexpected happened. The same witness was later reported saying in court that he could not recognise any of the three gunmen that invaded Ige’s residence “because at that time, I was in a state of confusion and fear had gripped me.”  

    Sadly, there is still public confusion about Ige’s murder. The Bola Ige for Justice Centre organised a memorial symposium in Lagos on the 20th anniversary of the incident, lamenting “two decades of injustice.”   

    It is unclear who murdered Ige, and why it was necessary to murder him. It is unclear why the Obasanjo administration failed to get to the bottom of his murder. It is unacceptable that there is still no clarity.  

    It was disturbing that Ige’s ghost reappeared. He deserves justice. Will he ever get justice?

  • Policing: Beyond uniform

    Policing: Beyond uniform

    When the Police Service Commission (PSC), headed by Solomon Arase, recently proposed a change of uniform for members of the Special Police Constabulary to make them easily distinguishable from regular officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), it looked like a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

    The commission, in a statement by its spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, painted the special constabulary black, saying there was a “need to overhaul the organisation and operations of the outfit.” According to the PSC, “There have been several reports of unprofessional conduct by officers of the outfit, a quasi-police formation created to assist in community policing. Reports of their unprofessional conduct range from highhandedness in dealing with citizens and bare-faced extortion on our roads and communities.”

    This is bad for the image of the regular police, the commission observed. That is true. But interestingly, the same negatives can be observed regarding regular police officers. The NPF introduced the Special Police Constabulary in 2019. There were plans for the unit to recruit 20,000 personnel within five years. The first set of constables in the outfit were deployed to local governments in 2020, after training.

    There is no doubt that the NPF had an image problem, which has not disappeared, well before it introduced the Special Police Constabulary. Indeed, the negatives highlighted by the PSC in its demand for an “overhaul” of the outfit sounded like the long-term, familiar public criticism of the regular police.   

    The commission proposed a solution to the image problem allegedly caused by the special constables, and called for “an entirely different set of uniforms for officers of the outfit that should be easily differentiated from that of the regular police officers.”  It argued that this “will help to track appropriately the conduct of men of the outfit and that of the regular police officers and free the Nigeria Police Force from blame associated with the misconduct of men of the outfit.”

    Read Also; Operation Rice for Rice

    The PSC is hypocritical. The regular police also have been accused of such misconduct allegedly associated with the special constabulary, and they need not only self-redemption but also reinvention.

    The PSC’s position is possibly connected with the recent dismissal of two police constables in Oyo State following a viral video that showed their involvement in extortion of a foreign tourist. The Police Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the men were not regular police officers but special constabulary personnel.

    How personnel are recruited into the special constabulary may well be part of the problem. In October 2023, for instance, 50 so-called repentant thugs became members of the special constabulary in Kano State. At a ceremony, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Usaini Gumel, announced their recruitment, saying it was “a happy day for the good people of Kano State and the Police Command.”  The move towards enhancing security in the state was a worrying indication of the scale of security challenges facing the authorities, and their desperation to find solutions.

    The new recruits, the CP explained, had “volunteered to work with the police and to contribute to the security and development of the state.” After a two-month training, they were kitted as “members of the Special Constabulary.”  Members of the outfit are used for community policing under the police in the state.  

    Their recruitment was the culmination of a rehabilitation process that started about three months earlier when the police sought dialogue with some identified notorious individuals believed to be responsible for the escalation of crimes in the state. The outcome of the move was the cooperation of 222 “repentant thugs.” The CP said their details were sent to the state governor, “for them to be supported by way of engaging them in some life-changing programmes.”

    According to the police chief, “All the 222 influential youths that surrendered themselves were properly profiled. The state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who already gave them amnesty, directed us to profile them and find out where they can fit in for skills acquisition and human empowerment.”  That was how the new recruits who had volunteered to join the special constabulary emerged.

     Governor Yusuf, obviously pleased with the arrangement, was reported saying “Kano is setting the pace as the first state in the federation to use a non-kinetic approach in bringing down the wave of crime.” It remains to be seen whether the new recruits will improve security in the state. They are from Dala, Fagge, Ungogo, Municipal and Gwale Local Government Areas of the state. They were expected to be posted to their communities to boost the state government’s security efforts.  

    The police in the state defended the idea of recruiting “repentant thugs” for law enforcement, rejecting the description of the recruits in some quarters as “hardened criminals.”  But security is a serious issue, and law enforcement is too serious for experimentation with strange ideas involving so-called repentant volunteers with a history of lawless behaviour.  

    The PSC’s reaction to the development, at the time, reflected its position that special constables and regular officers should not wear the same uniform.  The commission stated “categorically” that the special constabulary were not police men and not recognised as such by the commission and the government. It noted, however, that the constabulary operations were covered and recognised by the Police Act, and were useful and needed, particularly in the context of rising criminal activities across the country.

    Another part of the problem, which the PSC highlighted in its recent call for a review of the special constabulary, is the failure of some states to address the welfare of special constables.  This is condemnable. The commission called for the disbandment of the outfit in states where they were “not salaried and taken care of,” adding that it was wrong for states to set up security outfits and not fund them. According to the PSC, “these set of men have descended on innocent Nigerians for their daily upkeep through forceful extortion and intimidation.”

    Indeed, in June 2023, the Oyo State special constabulary staged a protest to draw attention to their poor welfare conditions. General Number 1, Taofeek Akinpelu, also known as Awise, was reported saying, “Out of 36 states in Nigeria, only two states pay the Police Special Constabulary in the state, Akwa Ibom and Lagos states while the Police Constabulary in Abuja were given stipends too. We therefore appeal to the federal government to remember us because we as well have families we feed.”

     A change of uniform will not solve the problems of the special constabulary. The NPF changed the uniform of its personnel in the past, without solving its image problem, among others.

    It’s easy and convenient to accuse the special constabulary of “unprofessional conduct” and “misconduct,” and propose a change of uniform.  This is a narrow approach to policing in the country, which demands a holistic re-evaluation.

  • Musawa’s cultural correctness

    Musawa’s cultural correctness

    As the base of the Federal Government, it can be described as a massive political theatre. But politics is never enough. The space also needs a cultural theatre, and its civilising essence.

    This is why the announcement of plans to build a National Theatre and a National Museum in the Federal Capital Territory (FTC), Abuja, attracted attention.  The Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, unveiled her dream when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy concerning the 2024 Appropriation Bill. 

    She was reported saying the two projects were top on the list of the ministry’s priorities, observing that the ministry “has been grossly underfunded and we will be unable to achieve anything of significance without the right funding.”  She added that the ministry required adequate funding and support “to achieve our vision within the roadmap, to be able to achieve the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President.”

    It is curious that the FCT lacks a National Theatre and a National Museum, more than 30 years after it replaced Lagos as Nigeria’s administrative and political capital in December 1991. 

    Today, the National Theatre in Iganmu, Surulere, Lagos, which was built by the Federal Government in the 1970s, when Lagos was the country’s capital, and which hosted the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in 1977, remains the country’s primary centre for the performing arts, despite the place of Abuja as its capital city.

    The National Theatre, Lagos, was “established for preservation, presentation and promotion of Arts and Culture in Nigeria.” The objectives of the National Theatre include: “To be relevant to the public that it serves; to be a tourist attraction; to contribute to the economic vitality of our nation, while promoting Nigeria as a vibrant cultural destination; and to enhance the good image of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    Read Also: EWL 2023: Hannatu Musawa sets Nigeria’s creative renaissance in motion

    Following a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-led rehabilitation effort involving the public and private sectors, the National Theatre, Lagos, hosted the 2022 edition of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Global Conference.

    The status of Abuja is enough justification for building a National Theatre in the space. The city is also an important capital in Africa because of Nigeria’s continental influence, and notably hosted the 2003 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and the 2014 World Economic Forum (Africa) meetings.

    The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), headquartered in Abuja, was established “to manage the collection, documentation, conservation and presentation of the National cultural properties to the public for the purposes of education, enlightenment and entertainment.”  There are more than 52 National Museums across Nigeria, but, ironically, there is none in Abuja, the country’s capital city, where the NCMM has its headquarters. 

    Perhaps the fascinating story of the Dufuna Canoe illustrates the need for a National Museum in Abuja. In March 1998, over a decade after its discovery in May 1987, the canoe, billed as “Africa’s oldest known boat,” was eventually lifted out of the ground. An obscure Fulani herdsman, Mallam Yau, had struck the dugout canoe buried in the earth while digging a well on the outskirts of Dufuna village.

     News of this discovery travelled fast and reached the government of the old Borno State, which at the time included Dufuna, now part of Yobe State in northeast Nigeria. Abubakar Garba, an academic and archaeologist, who was then based at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, was contacted “to make a full investigation.”

    Two separate tests on chips taken from different parts of the canoe, carried out on different occasions at Kiel and Cologne universities in Germany, gave similar dates of over 8,000 years.  “There is no reason to doubt the broad date of the boat,” according to Peter Breunig, an archaeologist then based at the University of Frankfurt, Germany, who participated in its excavation.

     The lab results redefined the prehistory of African water transport, ranking the Dufuna Canoe as the world’s third oldest known dugout. The dugouts from Pesse, Netherlands, and Noyen-sur-Seine, France, were older. But evidence of a tradition of boat building in Africa, more than 8,000 years old, threw cold water on the assumption that maritime transport developed much later there in comparison with Europe. 

    “It has a length of 8.40 metres and maximum breadth and height of around 0.5 metres.  The sides are barely more than 5 centimetres thick,” Breunig described the canoe, adding that it even outranked European finds of similar age. To go by its stylistic sophistication, he reasoned, “It is highly probable that the Dufuna boat does not represent the beginning of a tradition, but had already undergone a long development, and that the origins of water transport in Africa lie even further back in time.”

    Not just a piece of wood, the Dufuna dugout opened a thought-provoking window not only on Africa’s history but also on Nigeria’s past. It is a remarkable piece of evidence that the knowledge and skill to produce such a boat were already available in the geographical area that became part of Nigeria more than 8,000 years ago.

    Today the famous Dufuna Canoe lies at a conservation site in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, where it cannot be viewed by the public. At one time, it was said that the Yobe State government was building a museum where the canoe would be displayed.

    There was a controversy over where the canoe should be exhibited. Garba argued that since the canoe is a national heritage, “the best place for it is the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where it will have high visibility. It will be a real tourist attraction.” 

    Also, another Nigerian archaeologist who was involved in the 11-year excavation project, said: “When an object assumes national importance, it is the prerogative of the Head of State, after being briefed by NCMM, to take a decision on its place of exhibition.”

    Without a National Museum, Abuja cannot be considered in this case, for instance, even though the Dufuna Canoe would be very visible there.

    It may well be a sad reflection of the philistinism of power that a perceptive minister has put the establishment of a National Theatre and a National Museum in Abuja on the front burner after all these years.

  • Wage award and callous spoilers

    Wage award and callous spoilers

    By condemnable inaction, most of the state governments in Nigeria continue to contribute to the increasing hardship experienced by people across the country following the controversial removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government in May. Out of the 36 states of the federation, 34 are still making excuses for their non-implementation of the N35,000 wage award approved for federal government workers with effect from September, according to an investigative report published last month.

     The state governments were expected to follow the example of the federal authorities, and implement the same wage award to cushion the harsh socio-economic effects of the fuel subsidy withdrawal.    

    The Bola Tinubu presidency had reached an agreement with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in October, following the dispute arising from withdrawal of subsidy on the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), and the threat of a nationwide strike by the unions. Based on the agreement, the Tinubu administration approved the payment of a  wage award of N35,000 monthly, for six months, to all federal government workers, starting from September, and “pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.”

    The Federal Government has started payment of the provisional wage award. Reports said federal workers had received payment for September. But in many states, state government workers are still hoping for succour.  State government officials were quoted as saying they were still considering the financial implication of the wage award, or that they were waiting to “see what obtains in other states,” or that they were in the process of arriving at the appropriate support for workers within the available means of the state.

    For instance, Borno State NLC chairman Yusuf Inuwa was reported saying the governor “complained about a lot of issues, and he pleaded with us to let him contend with them properly before any negotiation on any wage grant.” The Acting Osun State NLC chairperson, Modupe Oyedele, was quoted as saying the state government “promised to look into the request and get back to us. We are still expecting to hear from them.” The secretary of the Zamfara State chapter of the NLC, Abubakar Ahmed, was reported saying, “The governor assured us that he would pay the amount whenever the funds are available. We had a meeting with him where he told us that he was only waiting for the federation account meeting in Abuja.”

    As state government workers in the affected states wait for relief, the state governments should demonstrate a sense of empathy and a sense of urgency. Are the state authorities involved unaware that their workers are still facing the unpleasant effects of fuel subsidy removal, or do they believe their workers are no longer facing the said effects?

    The governments of Oyo and Enugu states were reported to have negotiated the payment of N25,000 to their workers. It remains to be seen whether any of the states would be able or willing to equal the Federal Government’s N35,000 wage award.

    Read Also: Delta NLC and wage award for workers

    According to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s annual inflation rose strikingly in September, reaching its highest level in about two decades at 26.72 percent. The country’s headline inflation rate for October rose to 27.33 percent from 26.72 percent recorded in September. The figure marked the 10th consecutive rise in the country’s inflation rate this year. The result is an alarmingly deteriorating cost-of-living crisis in the country. Economic analysts blame the grim situation mainly on naira depreciation, higher food and energy prices, and logistical costs, among others.

    Predictably, the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country may well increase the levels of monetary poverty and multidimensional poverty. A year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report that said 133 million Nigerians were multidimensionally poor. This figure represented 63 percent of the country’s population of more than 200 million.  Three out of five Nigerians lived in poverty, according to the report.

    The data from Monetary Poverty Measurement (MPM) and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) called into question the anti-poverty efforts of the Federal Government, and also raised questions about the seriousness of state and local governments in the fight against poverty.  The findings suggested, ironically, that poverty in the country was governance-driven, with high deprivations nationally in healthcare, food security, and housing, among others.

     It is important to ask what state and local governments have done, and what they are doing, to complement the Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the blows resulting from fuel subsidy removal.  They are expected to address the cost-of-living issues in the spaces they govern.   

     Senator Adams Oshiomhole captured the significance of the Federal Government’s wage award at the 8th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) in Abuja. He said at the event: ”Now that you have N35,000, there are workers from different states. Are all the state governments implementing it? The answer is no. Why should it be no, and why are they at peace?

    “It should not be a selective application. The N35,000 must affect all workers. It has to go around all workers in Nigeria, whether public or private, that is the logic of nationwide strike.

    “Whether such a worker is working for the federal, state, local government or the private sector, that N35,000 must be paid.”

     Of course, there is the question of the employer’s capability.  The current wage award is a temporary measure tied to a situation that is, hopefully, temporary.  The point is that workers in the country’s public and private sectors deserve a wage award in these hellish times.  It can be negotiated, but should not be negated.

    The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed, was reported saying the current N30,000 national minimum wage would expire at the end of March 2024, adding, “Certainly, there is a new wage regime that will come in on April 1, 2024.” According to him, “It is in this wage regime that we will now have a proper salary structure for workers across the length and breadth of Nigeria. We expect that the private sector and state governors will also do the same.” Before this happens, Nigerian workers deserve some succour.