The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Tinubu, Wike and APC

    Tinubu, Wike and APC

    President Bola Tinubu can’t seem to resist taking a dig at the floundering Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In his inaugural State of the Union address before a joint session of the National Assembly on June 12, the president suggested that the opposition should put their house in order instead of crying wolf over one-party state. “It is indeed a pleasure to witness you in such disarray,” he quipped. But a more telling quip came when he commissioned a road project undertaken by FCT minister Nyesom Wike. He said: “We have somebody in Nyesom Wike. He’s not a member of my party, not yet, but the day he changes his mind and registers with progressives, we will welcome him because we will enjoy him singing ‘as e dey pain them, e dey sweet us’.”

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    The president may be openly enamoured of Mr Wike, but as long as the FCT minister can continue to engage successfully in the most disingenuous political straddle ever in Nigeria, nothing will compel him to make a choice between his concupiscent attraction to the APC and his cuckolding of the PDP. It suits his unorthodox politics to have his cake and eat it too. The PDP is incensed to be openly and contemptuously cuckolded, and the APC is beside itself having a piece of the Casanova. But with two lovers flanking him, Mr Wike is delirious. There is indication the PDP is nearing the end of its tether, and may soon damn the consequences and get rid of the FCT minister; but they are sobered by the fear that it might amount to cutting their nose to spite their face. Yet they must do something.

    If the APC can tease nature to keep the PDP disquieted until a little later, or at least until it sunders irreparably, then they would feel accomplished. It is useless guessing how the dice would roll. After all, all sides to the ongoing farce know they are gambling, and will continue their indulgence until the crisis comes to a head sooner or later.

  • The Fubara/Rivers snafu defies resolution

    The Fubara/Rivers snafu defies resolution

    Before May 29, some Rivers State indigenes entertained high hopes that the suspended Rivers State governor Siminalayi Fubara would be reinstated. Since 1999, May 29 has become symbolic in Nigeria’s political calendar. It was, therefore, expected that President Bola Tinubu would be inspired by that symbolism to end the proclamation of a state of emergency in the state. The suspension was, however, not lifted. Newspapers then gave wing to stories of Mr Fubara’s reinstatement on June 12 as a fitting gift to Rivers to mark Democracy Day. Indeed, days before, after visiting the president in Lagos, the governor had enabled stories of imminent restoration of his governorship. That also didn’t happen. The governor, not to say his aides and supporters whom he has begun to restrain from their customary loquaciousness and cantankerousness, may begin getting desperate as time goes on.

    That would be a mistake. First, after privately but unsuccessfully energising agitations to defeat the emergency proclamation, Mr Fubara later expected that somehow, by some political sculduggery, he would be restored in less than a month. It was obvious he missed the real reasons for his suspension: the impression he gave that he was above the law, that he could defy and subjugate the legislature, and also determine what parts of the Supreme Court judgement he would comply with, redact or implement with considerable abridgement. The federal government simply read mutiny into his doings and statements, especially when he began to caress amateur revolutionaries clumsily borrowing from the rule book of pipeline sabotage. To secure reinstatement, he would need to prove fealty to the constitution and the rule of law, and demonstrate by words and actions that he had a lofty appreciation of the two concepts.

    In many respects, however, Mr Fubara is not cut from that cloth of deep cogitations. He has a distorted comprehension of the rule of law, and has not shown indication of any readiness to take lessons on, or abide with, the provisions of the constitution he took oath to execute, in fact justifying his aggression and defiance on the grounds of the democratic malfeasance and excesses of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike. His peace moves have so far been desultory, reflecting his desperation rather than his conviction. In April, in company with a few Southwest governors and political leaders, he had audience with his nemesis Mr Wike in the search for peace. His host reflected upon that meeting on April 18 and hinted at a subsequent media chat where he holds flamboyant and sometimes inquisitorial court that he was unsure he saw genuineness in the governor’s intentions. Despite being guarded in his comment on Mr Fubara’s shuttle diplomacy, if not subtly intransigent, Mr Wike has nonetheless been more perceptive.

    As part of his peace efforts, the suspended governor has since gone on, perhaps symbolically as his enemies argued, to direct his supporters to stop complicating his rapprochement with his bitter mentor by their verbal fusillades. Mr Fubara has found it difficult restraining his fanatical supporters. They may comply with his wishes, but they have privately seethed with resentment. But needs must when the devil drives. The governor has intensified his peace moves, even travelling overseas to confer with the president during his last presidential trip. Their discussions have, however, been kept relatively sealed, with some unnamed sources suggesting that both parties were near a resolution. Nearly three months after emergency rule started, there are again suggestions that the whole crisis might be sorted out finally. Mr Wike’s supporters scorn the suggestions, insisting that it would amount to building something on nothing, for according to them they are yet to see any genuine moves for reconciliation. They are not any more right than Mr Fubara is pretentious.

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    President Tinubu, not Mr Fubara or Mr Wike, is probably in a quandary. Both the FCT minister and governor understand the travesty of their roles in the emergency proclamation, and are cocksure they are baiting each other. As the referee, however, the president may probably be truly under pressure to blow the whistle to end the game one way or the other. He could cut to the chase and decide to end emergency rule for the sake of democracy, or he might resist pressure and seem to side with Mr Wike whom he has consistently praised to the heavens for both his work ethic and loyalty. Whatever he decides and whenever he does it, it is unlikely he or the FCT minister can really mould the governor into what he is fundamentally not. Mr Fubara, this column has consistently maintained, is flawed, truly and tragically flawed. But so, too, is Mr Wike who consistently undermines his own position by his tactless and unedifying approach to his combat with the governor. The president can’t leave the problem unresolved; for even if he does not end emergency rule after three months or before the six-month expiry date in the first instance, he still cannot leave it intractable. No one envies the president. While he may find Mr Wike an asset, and has rhapsodised him repeatedly for being the ultimate civil servant, he cannot imbue his ministers’ style of combat with any nobility whatsoever, just as he cannot genetically reengineer Mr Fubara.

    What is certain for now is that the president will remain unperturbed by any consideration of round dates – three months anniversary or any other anniversary for that matter. It does not of course require any gift of clairvoyance to know that the president will end emergency rule sometime in the future; but given the seemingly irresoluble dilemmas he must contend with, he will do so with a heavy heart. In the end, the two combatants, complete with their agitated and instigative supporters, not to say the president who is at the moment on the horns of a dilemma, will call time on their wars and help sustain a tentative peace for the duration of Mr Fubara’s tenure. The Rivers crisis is a thoroughly bad case the combatants must both manage gingerly and learn to live with, even if it gives them nightmares.

  • Combustible Middle East

    Combustible Middle East

    To every perceptive international relations expert, it was clear that when the Palestinian group Hamas stepped on the tail of the Israeli adder two Octobers ago, the Middle East would change in ways no one could have predicted years ago. With Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Houthis serving as Iran’s proxy armies and imperial teeth in the region, Israel has picked up the gauntlet and struck all the proxies and their master severely in the past few months. But it is getting much worse, and the Middle East may change more radically than it has done so far.

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    Last week, by blitzing Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities and decapitating a section of its military leadership and injuring its national pride, Israel has in short declared war. Iran’s response, including how the tit for tat escalates, will determine just how fundamentally and radically the region will change. The notable thing about this latest fiery exchange is not who is right or wrong, but how immoderately Iran talked itself into a bind from which it cannot easily extricate itself, especially being encompassed by neighbours fearful of its imperial agenda than Israel’s zionism. Expect political tragedies, including endangered governments, at the end of this crisis as the situation gets very costly, bloody and messy in both Iran and Israel.

  • Nigerian democracy more threatened than acknowledged

    Nigerian democracy more threatened than acknowledged

    It is inaccurate to suggest that since 1999 most Nigerians have found their country’s democratic record fascinating. When ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo won the 1999 poll, the opposition secretly harboured the desire for poll abortion. When Umaru Yar’Adua won a fractious poll in 2007, admitting along the way its failings, condemnations rang out that democracy was troubled and undesirable. When Goodluck Jonathan won a bad-tempered poll in 2011, massacres broke out in parts of the North, with the losers indirectly instigating the crisis. And when Bola Tinubu won the poll in 2023, beneficiaries of past poll victories, including Chief Obasanjo who ruled between 1999 and 2007, worked for the abortion of the polls or, worse, a revolution. Incited and tormented, opposition supporters and religious and ethnic bigots seized the opportunity to call for a coup d’etat or revolution. Nigerian politicians and past or party leaders who advocated for drastic actions to undermine democracy because of defeat reflect the uncomfortable truth that despite achieving 26 years of unbroken democracy, the idea of civil government is yet to take firm root. To them, democracy is dispensable.

    In celebrating more than two and a half decades of democracy last month, a few Nigerian political leaders and commentators promised that democracy had come to stay. They are wrong. Neither the passage of time nor the purity of a democratic system promises the survival or longevity of democracy. Under the Weimer Republic system (a federal system comprising 18 states, and electing a president every seven years), Germany turned to democracy in 1918 after the disastrous World War I that led to the collapse of the Second Reich. Fifteen years later, in 1933, German democracy was gone, its death knell sounded by the events that followed the Wall Street crash of 1929. As the election of Donald Trump is showing in the United States, with his relentless demyelination of the US constitution to wear it down in favour of the rule of the strongman, nothing guarantees the permanence of democracy. Russia also enjoyed a brief period with democracy, starting with a parliamentary election in 1989, and on to the election of Boris Yeltsin in 1991 and 1996, Vladimir Putin in 2000 and 2004, and Dmitry Medvedev in 2008. By the time the presidency reverted to Mr Putin in 2012, after he had made Mr Medvedev a placeholder for four years, the office and all pretence to elections had turned Mr Putin into a dictator. Democracy in Russia simply suffered escalating denudation.

    Nigerians may be celebrating 26 years of democracy and promising themselves that it had come to stay, the truth is, however, a little different and more unnerving. Since the 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential poll victory, opposition leaders and closet ethnic champions have refused to accept defeat despite clear evidence they had no path to victory. They argued implausibly that the poll was grossly undermined by electoral fraud. They also turned a blind eye to the fact that the winner, President Tinubu, lost his base, Lagos, lost his predecessor’s base, Katsina, lost his presumed state, Osun, and equally lost Kano and Kaduna where he was backed by powerful party chieftains, all pointers to the integrity of the process. The controversy over Rivers votes did not indicate that the overall presidential election result would have been substantially different nationally. Nevertheless, the opposition has kept up a barrage of incendiary messages likely to be sustained in 2027. Worse, the opposition is laying the foundation for deploying ethnic and religious propaganda as well as threats of violence in the coming poll.

    If Nigeria surmounts the opposition’s general lack of sensitivity to the delicateness of its democracy and the overweening politics of the ruling party, it will still not guarantee the survival of democracy. Tragically, there is the axis of revolt going on in parts of the country: banditry is laying the Northwest waste, foreign and even local herdsmen attacks are pursuing their genocidal and land seizure goals in the Middle Belt, Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency is suffocating the Northeast, and unknown gunmen are bleeding and retarding the Southeast. These agents of destabilisation are all ramping up their attacks, and it may be safe to assume that should they not be sufficiently checked in the months ahead, they will constitute a huge threat to the integrity of the coming polls, not to talk of the peace and stability of the country as a whole. In fact there are days when it looked dangerously possible that both the political opposition and insurgents would have the upper hand. In an election year, if the tactics of the insurgents and the political opposition are not altered, it could spell disaster.

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    The problem of Nigerian democracy is not so much its imperfect constitution, which is admittedly more unitary than federal; the problem is the political elite who are unable to sensibly gauge the troubles assailing the rest of the world in order to moderate their often disruptive and fanatical quests for power. The US has abandoned its traditional role in the preservation of world order, thereby rendering the world less safe; the Sudan has imploded after uncertain steps in the direction of democracy, while the Darfur is ravaged by genocidal militias pursuing ethnic cleansing agenda; Somalia has proved difficult to weld back together after decades of chaos; Russia and Ukraine are at daggers drawn, with no hope of peace in sight; and the Middle East has in the past two years been turned into a killing field, threatening to get far worse than projected. If the global economy, now subjected to repeated stress, should tank and create the kind of conditions the world experienced in 1929, world peace would be significantly impacted. Unfortunately, the Nigerian political elite are unable to read the signs of the times. Their exuberance and general political dereliction have created a national powder keg waiting to explode at any moment.

    It is cold comfort that the Nigerian economy is on the path of recovery after hovering for years on the edge of collapse. But the fallout and harsh impact of economic crisis on the lower and middle classes have become fodder for the opposition. For a democracy that continues to teeter dangerously on the brink, it is catastrophic to see the Nigerian political elite engage in brinkmanship capable of triggering a huge explosion. In addition to the role being played by the political elite, it is also frightening to imagine all kinds of apocalyptic possibilities that could shatter a democracy undergirded by a weak constitution and even weaker institutions. Democracy is not an abstraction; it is in some ways the sum total of a people’s cultures and ambitions. It will not survive simply because it is 26 years old, or because the people wish it to survive, or because God so loved Nigeria. It will survive if the country would stop living in denial, and embark on erecting powerful guardrails for its survival, including creating a balanced and durable political structure that factor in ethnic, religious and regional differences.  

  • ‘Tinubunomics’ as last chance for the Nigerian bourgeoisie? (2)

    ‘Tinubunomics’ as last chance for the Nigerian bourgeoisie? (2)

    One of the most insightful assessments of the last two years of the President Bola Tinubu administration was undertaken, perhaps understandably, by the Chairman of the BUA Group, a leading investor in diverse productive sectors of the Nigerian economy, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu. As a practical business operative at home with the realities of running functioning companies in Nigeria that engage in production, he was able to demonstrate with concrete examples the positive impact of the administration’s key reform policies including removal of fuel subsidy, merger of the parallel exchange rate markets and the consequent devaluation of the Naira, massive investment in infrastructure and temporary waiver of tariffs on agricultural imports among others on economic growth and development. Alhaji Rabiu ‘s hands -on understanding of the economy reminds one of the late Alfred Chief Alfred Rewane, another astute businessman, in his very public disagreements with the late Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, the brilliant but essentially theoretical economist, who was one of the academic pillars of military President, General Ibrahim Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).

    Unlike Mr Peter Obi, for instance, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections who is a substantial player in the Nigerian economy but only as a trader,  importer and financial speculator with tangential involvement in production, Rabiu appreciates the critical significance of the Tinubu administration’s policies in expanding and strengthening the productive capacities of the economy. According to Alhaji Rabiu, “In infrastructure, the difference is also clear. Look at the Lagos-Calabar highway. Look at the Sokoto-Badagry road. Look at the Kwara projects we are executing under the tax credit scheme. Look at Kano-Kongolam. Look at the Okpella to Kogi State corridor. These projects are progressing because of the savings from subsidy removal and FX unification. With more revenue, Nigeria is building”.

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    Continuing, Rabiu states that “These roads and others being built are critical because logistics have become a major challenge. Transporting goods from Lagos to the North is very expensive due to bad roads. Now, the President is addressing this. With better infrastructure, logistics will improve, and businesses will grow. These reforms have enabled long-term planning and serious investment”. When he gives concrete examples of how the reforms have enhanced the investment capacity and activities of the BUA Group in the Nigerian economy, you readily understand why Rabiu, just like Alhaji Aliko Dangote, another development -oriented capitalist, cannot indulge in the unproductive fantasizing of a Peter Obi who loves to travel the world to spread his delusional gospel of a non-performing Tinubu administration armed with manufactured statistics of dubious provenance.

    In the words of Rabiu, “Since President Tinubu took office, BUA Group has invested over one billion dollars in the Nigerian economy. We are expanding our food business, doubling our flour and pasta facilities in Port Harcourt and building another one in Lagos. Demand is increasing. People are earning more. Confidence is returning. We have also completed the first POP plaster manufacturing plant in Nigeria which is now operating and are soon starting construction of a 300 MW solar energy project in Sokoto State. In the oil and gas sector, we are completing our LNG project in Ajaokuta, Kogi State. These investments are possible because of stability that has been brought about by President Tinubu’s reforms. We can plan now. The exchange rate has been fairly stable for almost a year. FX is accessible. Money is coming in from different sources, and investors are responding. If you want 200 million dollars a week for trade, you can get it without lobbying anyone at the Central Bank. These are the results of good policies”.

    Speaking this week at the inauguration of the access road to the Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos, Alhaji Dangote expressed similar sentiments. According to him, “Your leadership has been both decisive and reassuring. Your actions have reignited hope for a prosperous Nigeria of today and of the future. From the very start of your administration, Your Excellency has worked tirelessly to foster an enabling environment for private sector -led growth”. It is perhaps people like Rabiu and Dangote that Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was referring to when he said the Tinubu administration’s policies were benefitting the rich who are being made richer. It is not known when the Waziri Adamawa became a fire -belching revolutionary. But at least the two businessmen are contributing phenomenally to the growth of the Nigerian economy and generating mass employment through aggressive and unceasing investment in diverse sectors. Most of those of his friends to which several of Nigeria’s public enterprises valued at billions of Naira were auctioned for peanuts when Atiku statutorily supervised the privatization programme were criminally enriched without adding value to the national economy.

    Dangote and Rabiu are not the only inspiring examples that suggest that the sustenance and consumation of the ongoing economic reform policies of the Tinubu administration may offer the last chance for the creation of the conditions to enable the Nigerian borgeosie become catalysts for national development. Any failure this time around may make ever more imperative  far more radical and hardly peaceful or democratic options to force the country to break out of what is becoming to be perceived as an irresolvable developmental dead-end. This is why it is heartwarming that at least 22 manufacturing companies have so far benefitted from the disbursement of N16.1 billion loans of the N75 billion provided for under the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme to strengthen their productive bases and expand their distribution lines at nine per cent interest rate annually. But it is now 14 months after the policy was first announced in December 2023 and it’s slow pace of implementation has been attributed to government bureaucratic delays.

    The Bank of Industry (BOI), which is the vehicle for implementing the policy must surely devise strategies for companies to have accelerated access to these critical funds without compromising procedural rigour and integrity. This is particularly so as the plan as announced also includes provision of another N75 billion for 75,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to obtain loans of N1 million each to support their businesses and cushion the adverse consequences of the reforms. The earlier the affected companies obtain and begin to utilize the loans, the better for the reforms and the brighter the prospects of achieving the objectives for which the fund is being injected into the economy will be.

    Radical political economists make a distinction between waves of transient economic crises in African countries and the more fundamental challenge of underdevelopment. Unfortunately, Orthodox economists tend to conflate the two. Thus, they often pursue policies that address the economic crisis in the short term, may achieve an appreciable rate of growth but still do not promote development in any concrete or meaningful manner. The radical political economist, Professor Okwudiba Nnoli, made this point in the late 1980s with regard to the SAP then being implemented and his submission remains valid. As he put it then: “The SAP is addressed to a steady and balanced growth, not to development. Therefore, it emphasizes changes in the indicators of growth, such as the gross domestic product, balance of payment, exchange rates, money supply, interest rates, privatization and liberalization of trade. It ignores the qualitative changes in society induced by changes in these parameters.”

    Critical as these technical considerations are in economic policy formulation and implementation, they must be supported by the most crucial factor in achieving national development, which is the mobilization of the popular energies of the people to engage as active agents in the development process. Unfortunately, this is where liberal economics is deficient and it is in the direct engagement of the people physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually to participate actively in and contribute concretely to the development process that ‘Tinubunomics’ can truly realize its potentials. For instance, with regard to food availability to curtail stratospheric prices, Alhaji Rabiu noted that the temporary tariff waivers on food imports granted by the Tinubu administration for six months, “allowed rice to be brought in and milled immediately. The hoarders were cut out. Prices began to drop. It was a short-term solution, but it worked”.

    But then, what happens when the tariff waivers expire after six months? Agriculture is one sector where large numbers of people can be mobilized to grow food on an expansive scale. The country has an abundance of fertile land.  In most parts, the climate is clement for productive agricultural activities. Already, considerable investment is being made made in the procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs such as seedlings, fertilizers and insecticides. Orders placed for tractors, harvesters and other mechanical appliances are being delivered. But these are not sufficient conditions to achieve munificent food production. Equally critical is the appropriate mobilization and organization of the people to engage in mass food production.

    As has been advocated in this space a number of times, the organization of Nigerian farmers into viable Cooperatives has become an indispensable categorical imperative. It is hard but unavoidable work if we are to develop a thriving and vibrant agricultural sector. As Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who had thought deeply and written extensively on the issue, submitted in one of his lectures, “To this end, the oft-repeated and sound policies of the Federal and State governments towards Nigerian farmers of (1) organizing them into virile, viable and prosperous Cooperatives; (2) subsidy in kind, cash and services; (3) provision of finance and technical know-how; should now be pursued and translated into realities with unabating dispatch and vigour”.

    Even the requisite security without which displaced farming communities cannot fully return to active work on their farms in a safe and conducive environment can only be achieved with the active involvement of the people. The people, organized to secure their communities but armed to a level not below that of those who ceaselessly attack and seek to seize their land, must be the basis of an effective community policing system under federal or state control. The proposed ‘Forest Rangers’ recently approved by the President must thus be essentially people and community-based. The President should urgently give a deadline for its recruitment, training, equipping and take-off as the restoration and sustenance of security across rural and urban communities across the country is critical to the ultimate success of ‘Tinubunomics’.

    •This article was first published June 7, 2025

  • Lessons learned from Europe

    Lessons learned from Europe

    The European game of soccer is always enchanting to watch. It also always has the trappings of the big events – gripping, nostalgic feeling; beginning with the preparatory events outside the arena and all side-kicks as the fans in their numbers flock into the stadium through the gates as we call them here, but turnstiles as they are called over there.  These days, most stadia have massive lifts to quicken the movement of fans out of the venues. Will anyone here dare to use lifts in Nigeria with our chaotic electricity? No chance.

    The scenes within and outside the stadium are electrifying, which puts you in the mood wherever you are seated before, during, and after the game.

    I always cherish the media coverage of the big games, especially the moments that captured how the fans, kids, young boys, girls, adults, and the aged troop into the stadium wearing shades of the two sets of jerseys depicting when they started watching the two teams play. In Europe, all competitions have television coverage pacts to beam games live. And media personnel made the most of the television rights.

    Among the distinguished fans and their families are the yoyos, urchins, hooligans, and drunkards clutching to their glasses of beer with one hand, and the other hand holding the bottle of booze. In other climes, the security architecture ensured the operatives carried canisters of tear gas, not guns to ward off those roughnecks eager to disturb public peace. Neatly dressed and polite operatives ensured that nothing untoward happened.

    One read in amusement how the foreign press wanted to call out Lamine Yamal in the previews, equating the European Nations Cup between Spain and Portugal at the Allianz Arena in Germany to Cristiano Ronaldo versus Yamal. Ronaldo had already scored his 46th career goal compared to the enterprising but immensely talented Yamal.

    Some mischievous fans started whispering the Greatest Of All Times (G.O.A.T) argument, which was made famous in the heydays of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

    What stands out in the execution of the plans to host events rests in a lot of training and rehearsals. Where one facet’s powers end is where the next begins. In the chain of strategists is the high levels of professionalism they bring to the stadium to stop any form of fracas until the events end. The security architecture trains and retrains their operatives; and they are polite and ready to help you locate the entry points into the stadium.

    One only hopes that the NFF chiefs can appreciate the fact that policing the stadium on match days starts three days to the event; policing the stadium on match days is guesswork.

    Once you have gained access inside the stadium, you will find out the level of preparedness to address the processes responsible for effective crowd control. Inside the stadium, you see trained stewards who at the snap of your fingers would walk towards you, asking what the issue was. The European Nations Cup final game gave the fans something to cherish in the years to come. On paper, nobody gave the Portuguese a dog chance to lift the trophy. Punters placed bets on Spain to lift the trophy. Yes, Spain’s new kids didn’t anticipate any upset from the Portuguese. They had the right to feel that they could lift the trophy, which didn’t happen.

    Kudos to the two finalists who played their hearts out, resulting in the 2-2 draw after 120 minutes. When Morata shot the ball tamely towards Portugal’s goalkeeper, Costa, he stretched full length to save the ball from entering. The Portuguese scored their final kick from the penalty spot to win the trophy. Having beaten the Spaniards, this writer searched in vain for Portugal’s Minister and indeed their soccer federation chieftains to see if they would celebrate the way their Nigerian counterparts did at the end of the pointless competition.

    The story of the commission’s bigwig being invited to watch the Unity Cup final game wasn’t enough reason for him to storm the field to take pictures with the trophy. Retired defender Pepe was invited by UEFA as a guest and we saw the role he played in accompanying the trophy to the dais, where he placed it.

    We saw how the Portuguese celebrated one of their own. It wasn’t surprising when the players beckoned on Pepe to dance with them on the podium.

    Let us hope that our sports administrators learned a few lessons from watching the European Nations Cup with the Portuguese emerging as victors, with Renaldo in tears at 40 years old. Ronaldo scored the second goal to tie the game at 2-2 in regulation time. It was his 938th career goal and a befitting glory for him.

    Nigeria’s previous ugly league

    When in 1990 some respected Nigerian soccer administrators conceptualised the Nigeria Professional League body, they were responding to the new trends in the beautiful game in other climes. These men couldn’t stomach the mediocrity associated with the Nigerian game. They wanted a departure from the tardy past to embrace the new dawn where very good players could earn a living outside the country. The wise men foresaw the future, where with a new mentality to matches, the country could one day play at the senior World Cup.

    The pioneers’ dreams came to pass in 1994 with Nigeria’s Super Eagles qualifying for the USA ’94 World Cup using players who had been exported to Europe to hone their skills which were still lethargic as a result of obsolete facilities across the country. The elite class was structured out of the old order. The quasi-professional league witnessed a lot of improvement, except that the ownership structures didn’t quite change with most of the teams owned by the government. The few private clubs (Leventis United FC of Ibadan, Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta, New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City, Flash Flamingoes FC of Benin City, Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC of Owerri, etc) left their marks, although they were eventually emasculated by the government teams which had tremendous cash which their administrators used to corrupt the system.

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    In fact, games involving these teams and their traditional local rivals threatened public peace, as security operatives had to be at their best to ensure peace before, during and after matches. In one of such needless skirmishes, Bendel Insurance FC’s chairman, the late Major Ojo lost his life in a car crash very close to the stadium while trying to rescue the match referees from being lynched by irate fans. Gallant soldier, if you ask me. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

    The rot in the league was such that we had predictable victories for home teams ably aided by dubious calls of match referees, who most times are cajoled into taking such decisions. Who would blame the referees when their entitlements were being paid by the home side? The administrators further bastardised the league by introducing boardroom points in connivance with officials in the former NFA’s league department. It was that bad.

    During the trying periods of the Nigeria league, IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan (3SC) won the Cup Winners Cup in 1976. They were dethroned as champions in 1977, with the games between 3SC and eventual winners Enugu Rangers International very problematic. The second leg game had to be played on neutral ground in Kaduna, no thanks to the lunacy of the irate fans. NNB and Bendel Insurance at different years won the WAFU Cup for keeps, with Bendel Insurance winning the Confederations Cup in1994 along with the WAFU Cup for the third time in the same year. It must be said that 3SC won the Confederations Cup in 1992; the trophy was donated by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

    Many have called those victories pyrrhic because it didn’t represent how badly the league was organised. In these years, there wasn’t any deliberate plan to train the coaches, officials and even educate the players about new trends in the game, which is dynamic.

    But today, Gbenga Otolorin Elegbeleye and Davidson Owumi have changed the narrative of the league for the good of the game.

  • Many sides of MKO

    Many sides of MKO

    Long after his tormentors and co-conspirators may have been forgotten, his name would continue to ring bells. It will not fade from the hearts of the people from generation to generation, particularly among the lovers of democracy.

    It is because his name is permanently associated with a a novelty;  a model of rigorous, problematic, energy sapping and highly demanding electoral process, which the sit-tight soldiers prescribed. So patient were the voters who endured the storm and stress for the sake of anticipated popular rule. Yet, it ended in fiasco because the shady transition programme was designed to fail.

    In the history of the beleaguered nation-state, no election, either before or after, had met the standard or satisfied the wider criteria of sanity, credibility, fairness, justice, integrity and honour more than the June 12, 1993 presidential poll won by the candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

    Its callous and criminal annulment aborted the dawn of a new era. On that note, the Third Republic collapsed after eight years of dubious experimentation by the hypocritical Evil Genius and military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, architect of the gloom and doom. June 12 paled into an illusion of hope, and it was back to square one, despite the huge mental and financial investment.

    Thirty two years after the colossal setback, elections in Nigeria have remained defective, often trailed by condemnation, disputation and litigations. There is no democratic antecedent to build on. Despite the hues, cries, riots and indignation, the results of the historic poll were never re-validated; the winner was denied and detained, and his corpes were only brought out for burial, five years after languishing in detention. The dream was cut short. It was the end of an era for the business tycoon-turned politician, who was not allowed to reach his potentials.

    But 27 years after his demise, his profile towers above his foes. The charm, grace and magnetism of MKO have endured. He remained an idol of the masses that voted for him against all odds. Up to now, they are bewildered at the truncation of the popular wish. June 12 was the day of victory-turned defeat, a day of triumph that slided into a monumental disaster, a day of valour hijacked by military cowardice, a day of change that transformed into retrogression, a moment of success that ultimately yielded failure, a day of inhumanity of man to man, a day of great betrayal by the gap-toothed General, a day of rage by protesters, and day of war against commonsense by the military cabal.

    The road to June 12 was long and tortuous. Also, the political transformation of the symbol was legendary. In the begining, popular attitude to Abiola in certain quarters was that of ambivalence. But he managed to successfull cross the bridge from the conservative front, where he opposed Awo and reason with his newspapers and other resources at his disposal, to the progressive field, where his previous political sins were surprisingly forgiven by the ‘unforgiving’ Awoists. He was endorsed by all and sundry in his native Yorubaland.

    A household name, his status, wide contact, large heart and philanthropic gestures opened the doors for him in other zones, where he successfully built formidable business and political networks.

    The multi-millionaire attracted envy. Abiola was variously perceived as a self-confident technocrat, a successful accountant who understood the language of money, business mogul, entrepreneur and employer of labour, a socialite who made friends easily without discrimination; a military collaborator and friend of ambitious and power-hungry coup plotters;  a witty and tricky boardroom guru, a smart government contractor.

     A poor lad, he led a band, like a begger, singing in the early morning  during Ramadan, to get coins, and may be, crumbs, to keep body and soul together. He overcame poverty by luck; through manifold academic opportunities that catapulted him to Glasgow University, Scotland where he studied accounting. At work, he was dedicated; full of ideas, ìnitiatives, zest, and vigour. Indeed, a great attribute of his life waa his resolve to succeed.

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    Abiola loved power, and from childhood, he gained political consciousness. However, his false steps in the Second Republic backfired. As the chairman of Ogun State chapter of the banned National Party of Nigeria (NPN), he could not lead the party to governorship victory. The senatorial ambition of his beloved wife, Simbiat, also crumbled. He was later stopped from aspiring to the national chairmanship when he sought to displace the mighty Chief Adisa Akinloye. His presidential ambition also met a brickwall. A top ‘notcher,’ Dr. Umaru Dikko, Transport Minister, said the ticket was not for the highest bidder.

    Abiola retraced his steps and concentrated on his business empire. He made more money and ploughed back to the society. He became the highest donor to homes, churches, mosques, and universities. Monarchs started falling on themselves, scrambling for his attention. Among others, he accepted to be the Basorun of Ibadanland, and the Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland bestowed on him by Alaafin of Oyo. Then, he became a radical or activist of sorts, fighting for reparation. He also turned attention to sports and he became its pillar in Africa.

    A great wowaniser, he could not reject the attention of beautiful ladies. That is typical of those who are extremely driven by such impulses. He married more wives and attracted more concubines from far and near, enjoying life to the fullest. Today, Abiola’s children are too numerous. It is sad that some of them grew up contending with father absence. His Will is still a subject of strife and rancour in the polygamous family.

    As veteran politicians were working hard to establish political associations in the Third Republic, Abiola was only involved in business prospecting. Then, he came back the second time, more fortified, seizing the polity by storm. He saw an opportunity to be on the firing line. As Nigerians yearned for civil rule and competent leadership in those dark days, he offered himself for service.

    Seasoned politicians had been banned. Thus, he became the best aspirant. There was no rival in the real sense of the word. But foes within the party described him as an opportunist, who was watching from sidelines, only to come and reap where he did not sow.

    His involvement brought out the best in him. He was politically sagacious. His economic analysis was superb. The stammerer had much to say. On why he joined the fray, he said “you cannot drive a car from the back seat. The only guy who has any chance of driving a car is the guy who sits by the steering and I want to get that seat. It is then I can drive that car as I want.”

    He deployed his skills of negotiation, rallying behind him influential party leaders and the masses. He was the toast during the presidential debate. Othman Tofa, his colleague in the old NPN, was no match. Nigerians still recall his campaign slogan: ‘Hope 93,’ with the objective of poverty abolition. It was highly captivating. Evidently, the election had been won by MKO before June 12.

    Fear gripped his military friends, the handlers of the transition programme. The election was scheduled for the raining season. But weather was benevolent on poll day. All went smoothly, to the consternation of IBB and his cohorts- the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) of Arthur Nzeribe and Abimbola Davies. The exercise, according to domestic observers and foreign monitors, was free and fair.

    Abiola and his supporters never anticipated the annulment. Therefore, there was no predetermined strategy to confront the challenge. But, he had the masses behind him. They fought. Many sacrificed their lives. The grand battle was coordinated by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) at home and abroad.  Many of the chieftains were targeted for liquidation. Many, including Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria, Prof. Wole Soyinka and General Alani Akinrinade, managed to escape abroad. Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, was not lucky. She was assassinated in Lagos.

    Then, a mistake occured after the Interm Government of Ernest Shonekan crumbled. Wise men became novices. They were surprisingly cajoled by Gen. Sani Abacha, a coup plotter, who lied to them that he would handover to the winner of the historic poll. He reneged and tension rose.

    The military was adamant. The spate of bombings increased. As Abiola jetted out to seek global support for his mandate, the loquacious propagandist and Information Minister, Uche Chukwumerije, yelled, saying that Abiola had become the first Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland to flee from the battlefield.

    He later proved the military junta wrong, returned to the country, resurfaced at Epetedo on Lagos Island and declared himself President-elect. Arrested and detained, he never returned alive.

    But the military also could not enjoy any respite. Apparently, Abiola was underrated by the soldiers as a man who could not dare the guns. He proved them wrong by sustaining the battle. He fired salvos at his friend, saying:”Make no mistake, my opponent was not Tofa in the election. It was President Ibrahim Babangida who is not courageous enough to face me at the ballot.” Later, he added: “I am prepared to face the firing squard of General Babangida.”

    Rejecting the annulment, he said ‘you don’t abort a pregnancy after the baby is born.’

    Abiola had initially rejected the Interm contraption after IBB steped aside. He said: “A sacrifice is necessary only if it will be acceptable to the god.” To those seeking an inexplicable softlanding through negotiation with the military without his consent, he said ‘you can’t shave a man’s head in his absence.’ He insisted on his mandate till the end.

    What killed him? What did he eat or drink? Who killed him? How did he die? Where is the autopsy? The answers remain elusive.

    Conscience is an open wound; an internal verson of punishment. The judgment of history is inevitable. That’s why the ghost of June 12 continues to hunt the deserters and betrayers, including those who arranged the interim malady, the soldiers of fortune who opened fire on protesters, those who said MKO was not the messiah due to ego and envy, and other elements of subversion, who nevertheless, came to power on the ashes of the struggle.

  • MKO Abiola: The untold story of a metaphor

    MKO Abiola: The untold story of a metaphor

    Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (GCFR) has earned the axiomatic ‘good name’ that is better than silver and gold. Even though he died decades ago, he remains immortal not because he won the 1993 presidential election that was annulled by the former military president, Gen.  Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Rtd.) but because of the human he was. Politics did not bring him into prominence. His foray into business, sports, entertainment and philanthropy preceded June 12, 1993.

    As Nigeria celebrated Democracy day on June 12th the focus seemed to have been on the election and the outcome.  It has become the metaphor for the freest, fairest and most credible election in Nigeria’s political history. An M.K.O Abiola won the election. He broke records. He ran with Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, a fellow Muslim from the North. There was no problem with that for Nigerians. He defeated the late Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in his home state of Kano.

    Nigerian politics has been and continues to be plagued by tribal and religious intrigues fired by manipulative politicians across the country. They often fan the embers of hatred amongst the lower rungs of the society often too naïve to understand that religion and tribe have nothing to do with good governance. Manipulative politicians often mask their incompetence and lack of merit to earn the votes of the people by playing the religious and ethnic cards.

    But an M.K.O Abiola emerged in the scene in 1993 and erased totally the clichés and semantic manipulation by politicians in Nigeria. He won the election by a 58% majority. He was of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). While the annulment of the election continues to be debated in the public domain, former President IBB in his recent memoir tried to play with words and somewhat pass the buck.

    However, the electoral umpire, late Prof. Humphrey Nwosu had in many interviews explained that he was not confused about the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections. The result of the annulment of the election was chaos across the country. There were protests and some people were killed, others displaced, many arrested, tortured and jailed while many ran into exile to save their lives.

    As Nigeria marked this year’s June 12 democracy day with speeches and awards of National honours to some of the heroes of democracy owing to their fates or actions about the annulment of the election, the Roundtable Conversation just noted that not much of the personality of the late MKO Abiola was reiterated for the records. Not that the day ought to be about him alone but his persona brought about the victory and the democracy day we celebrate.

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    Historians and Biographers might have documented the life of an Abiola. The event of June 12, 1993 has immortalized him but we have to look at an Abiola pre-June 12, 1993. He was an exceptional human being. He was the true metaphor of grass to grace. He rose from poverty to wealth, used his wealth to empower and nurture  and became a global citizen. His personality was larger than life. He was as versatile as he was humble and humane. His humanity was as enduring as it was endearing. He was not perfect but he was human.

    He was grounded and versatile. He was at home with business as he was with entertainment, politics and international politics. His passion for humanity was expressed through his practical expression of his love for and support for various sports not just in Nigeria but across the continent. When people say that sportsmanship exemplifies large heartedness, that saying had full expression in an M.K.O Abiola. He was a sportsman who loved and supported sports across board. He invested in football, athletics, boxing, table tennis and many others.

    The Roundtable Conversation has noticed that many Nigerian politicians assume politics is a sport and they tend to play it to the hilt. Most have no second addresses. They are neither interested in people nor in sports except for political expedience in some instances. An Abiola was different. He loved and invested in sports and humans. Most Nigerian politicians are so bare of any affecting quality that they earn only skepticism from the people. This is reason there is huge trust deficit in the political class. This in turn gives birth to apathy during elections and the rejection of most politicians by the people which impacts on the flawed electoral processes that have made Nigerian elections the most litigious in the world.

    We decided to talk to two veteran sports journalists that had close interactions with late M.K.O Abiola about their assessment of the person they conferred with the highest sports award not just in Nigeria but Africa as a continent. The African Sports Journalists Union (ASJU) had awarded an M.K.O Abiola the ‘Pillar of Sports in Africa’ in 1980. He remains the sole awardee till date. On January 11, 1992, the African Football Hall of Fame had his name etched by CAF with the Order of Merit in Gold.

    Mr. Kunle Solaja, ace sports journalist that holds the enviable achievement and honour of covering about nine World Cup tournaments, who not only worked in Abiola’s Concord newspaper but has been in the business of sports (especially football reporting) ever since traversing the Sun Newspaper as Sports Editor and now the Vice President/Editor in Chief at Extra Time Communications LTD./Sports Village Square.  He says he was honoured to have been in vantage position to have seen firsthand the passion that the late Pillar of Sports in Africa expressed for sports in general across Africa.

     Solaja said that not only was the late MKO a sports enthusiast, he was as versatile in business, politics, entertainment as he was in philanthropy.  He was not just interested in sports in Nigeria alone,  he was a regional and intercontinental lover and investor in sports not for any profit or political expediency but just as a global communication tool. He was at home investing in Zambia as he was enthusiastic about Algeria, Ghana etc. To an MKO, sports is a universal language of love and entertainment. He invested with no anticipation of returns. To Solaja, unlike most politicians that saw invitations to sports events as ego trips, an Abiola, initiated, sponsored and participated in sports activities that spurred others to attend. He founded the defunct Abiola Babes and Concorde  football clubs that made waves in Africa and nurtured some of the best names in football at the time. 

    As a journalist at the time, sometimes editors had a hard time casting headlines because an Abiola often made headlines in business, Sports, national and global politics. He was one of the pioneer advocates for the payment of reparations by the colonial and trans-Atlantic slave trade proponents.  He was as much a patriot as he was a Pan Africanist. His humanity was evident in his extensive philanthropy across Africa.There was no doubt that his passion for sports was a product of his inner sense of sportsmanship not just as a social rhetoric but as a choice. 

    Onochie Anibeze is an award-winning veteran sports journalist who is presently the Vanguard Newspaper Saturday Editor . To an Onochie, there is no African living or dead that matches the late M.K.O Abiola’s interest and investment in football, boxing, athletics and table tennis. He was a great sportsman who put money and time in sports promotions. He didn’t just throw money into sports, he was present in the real sense. He loved and lived sports and it was no surprise when in 1980, long before he thought of contesting for the Presidency, he was crowned the Pillar of Spirts in Africa, an honour yet to be bestowed on any other individual living or dead.

    His humanity shone like a million stars through his sponsorship and presence in the support of various sports across the continent and even beyond. He recalls an incident in 1987 when they were travelling together to Tunisia with Abiola Babes team. Suddenly the team doctor  fell ill on air and the late MKO joked that the doctor was now at the mercy of journalists’ healing hands if they had any.  That was how hilarious and human an Abiola was. He was a hands on human whose large heart touched many in and out of sports.  His humility knew no bounds as he could travel in the same plane or bus with players and other individuals covering any sport he was interested in. his sponsorship of sports was across regional lines as he was as present in Senegal as he was in Algeria. He was very close to most players and journalists and related to them as a father.

    Onochie recalls that an Abiola showed unique qualities that were endearing.  He was always travelling for and sponsoring sports events with his late wife Simbiat who equally had her own Simbiat Babes football club. In fact, journalists nicknamed the amiable couple Papa and Mama Sports respectively due to their parental-like involvement in sponsoring and supporting sportsmen and women across board. An M.K.O almost knew most sports journalists on first name basis and related closely with them. Not many billionaires with his stature was that magnanimous and charitable.

    So an Abiola to us was more than the winner of an annulled election. his image and humanity were rare. He easily won the election because he earned the love of the people. He did not win because he used thugs or shared money. He was loved across tribes and religions. His personality was very endearing and people rewarded him with their votes in an option A4 Open secret ballot that defied rigging. He earned the love that won him the election. That should be celebrated and copied  by politicians in Nigeria beyond the commemorative June 12  Democracy Day celebrations.

    •The dialogue continues…

  • Disasters and our response to warnings

    Disasters and our response to warnings

    “It pays to invest in reducing risks before they lead to disasters”…United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

    Commendable leadership responses to the Mokwa flood

    The predicted flood that enveloped communities in Mokwa Local Government Area in Niger State, Nigeria two weeks ago and the devastating consequences is a stark reminder of the clear and present dangers of global climate change.

     I commiserate with the people of Mokwa Local Government Area in particular, the entire people of Niger State and indeed the Government of Niger State over this calamity. May Almighty God Console and strengthen all those who are affected. Ameen. 

    I also commend the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for his swift intervention by donating N2 billion for the immediate provision of relief materials and relocation of those affected and the 20 Trucks of assorted food items, which was undertaken on his behalf by Vice President, Kashim Shettima. 

    Furthermore, I also commend the Governor of Niger State, His Excellency, Mohammed Umaru Bago, one of the most pragmatic Governors in Nigeria, for his swift response to managing the crisis, from Saudi Arabia where he was performing Hajj, as he coordinated through his Deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba who was immediately on ground as a first responder providing support, while the governor quickly returned to Minna. Governor Bago has demonstrated the trademark of excellent leadership when he visited Mokwa immediately upon his return, where he announced the donation of N1 billion to the victims, pending when resettlement begins. He also announced that the roads and bridges connecting Raba and other communities with Mokwa will be reconstructed at the cost of N7 billion, and his government will also provide 50 Trucks of grains (rice, beans, maize, and sorghum), inclusive of donations from other states.

     I also commend the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum, who I consider one of the most consistently proactive Governors in the current dispensation in Nigeria, and all other Governors that made donations to the good people of Mokwa in this time of crisis. Indeed, this is a reciprocity of the support given to Governor Babagana Zulum and the good people of Borno State during the aftermath of the Alao Dam disaster that occurred last year, which is still fresh in our memory.

     Mitigation Imperatives

     “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. This quote by the late Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, resonates with me and reflects on how we govern and conduct our affairs in Nigeria and most parts of Africa.

     According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), “every $1 invested in making infrastructure disaster-resilient in developing countries saves $4 in reduced disruptions and economic impacts.”

     Therefore, having stated the above well-deserved accolades. I wish to, with profound respect, remind the governments (at federal and state levels), citizens, and residents of the importance of our individual and collective preparedness to effectively respond to crises and disaster warnings. This is so that we can efficiently and effectively mitigate the impact of such force majeures, which aligns with Pillar 4 (“Preparedness to respond to warnings) of the UNDRR’s Action Plan, on the early warning chain on disasters.

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     I worry about the state of our national and subnational preparedness to respond to warnings in mitigating the impacts of the ensuing crises/disasters. By this, I am not referring only to the current administration at the Federal and State levels, but I am referring to a national societal culture of “reactions”, rather than “proactiveness”, by both the governments and the citizens. Truly, as a people and governments, our preparedness to respond to warnings is mostly reactive, rather than proactive. We mostly wait until things happen before we react, even when the warnings are early and clear enough. Hence, there is no effective mitigation, and when crises or disasters occur, the impacts are overwhelming and multidimensional.

    On Friday, 20th September, 2024 (Last year), I wrote in this Column about the importance of proactive steps to mitigate disasters and crises with the title, “Lagdo Dam Alert- Are Warnings Good Enough?”. In addition, from 6th October 2023 to 28th June 2024, I wrote six episodes in this weekly column under the topics “Agriculture, Food Insecurity”, “Climate Change, and Cost of Living Crisis” topics; wherein I was calling the attention of governments at federal and state levels to the projected floods in 2024, other climate change variables, and the looming socio-economic impacts, especially on food insecurity, health, cost of living, etc. However, I did not see a concrete action plan to mitigate the impending threats as they were, until the disastrous bursting of Alao Dam in Borno State, which had shown signs of deterioration for decades (without interventions), and other floods across states in Nigeria. 

    In those writeups, I spoke about the importance of planning, having a strategy, and importantly taking proactive actions to forestall, effectively contain, and significantly reduce the impacts of the onslaught of floods on one hand, and also the need to improve risk assessment, disaster mitigation and management practices on the other hand. We never seem to learn from past experiences.

     There should be a template with clear pathways for individuals and families to prepare for and manage such situations, with Dos and Don’ts guidelines to guide people. Such communications should continually be coordinated at the federal and state levels from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Environment, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the National Orientation Agency (NAO), and other relevant government agencies.

     Way Forward – Recommendations

    The Lagos State Example

    Over the years, Lagos State has consistently been proactive in mitigating threats and risks such as flood; in terms of enforcement of regulations on building plans, construction of drainages, culverts, and other waterways, sensitization of citizens and residents, etc. Other States and Local Governments also need to be proactive in this regard.

     Governor Bago’s Example on Resettlement in Niger State

    Moreover, I align with Governor Umaru Bago’s position that IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps are not a proper relocation, rehabilitation, and re-integration strategy. Certainly, the dehumanizing condition of IDP camps and the way we abandon our people there as if they are accursed raises the question of how we are really our “brothers’ and sisters’ keepers” in Nigeria.

     Accordingly, I applaud the decision by Governor Bago, that the N1billion Naira he donated on behalf of Niger State Government will be given to the Mokwa flood victims so that they can get temporary shelter, while an alternative location will be given to them so that they can relocate from the waterway (where applicable).

     Also, Governor Bago, has already given instructions to the Niger State Ministry of Lands and Survey to issue for certificates of Occupancy (C of O) to the Federal Government to facilitate the immediate construction of the resettlement homes for the flood victims.

     Additionally, he intends to work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursement of relief materials, money, and the rehabilitation process.

     The above-mentioned examples set by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago demonstrate his pragmatism and other excellent leadership qualities. I therefore urge other Governors to emulate such sterling leadership style, as those also consistently exemplified by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State.

    Key recommendations/ points to note on Action Planning

    •Leaving citizens and residents to the elements and just telling them to do their parts is not good enough! The cost of living crisis and insecurity also give fewer options for citizens and residents who could barely feed, talkless of have money for relocation and logistics. Therefore, support for logistics should be provided early (before the disaster) to the vulnerable citizens to enable them to move in time to mitigate impacts.

    •I urge citizens and residents of Nigeria to align and support all government initiatives that have to do with disaster management, especially the early warning and mitigation action plans at the federal, state, and local government levels.

    •Inter-States collaboration amongst the States that are along the flood pathway to ensure synergy in managing the crises/disasters is crucial. Because this issue has to do with the security, safety, and economy of these States. The floods have the capacity to ground the supply chain and economy of the entire Country.

    •Erosion control and valley settlements management.

    •Protection of green belts and creating new ones by the ministries at the state and federal levels.

    •Interagency collaboration, policy coordination, infrastructure protection strategies, data management, security coordination, risk advisory, and strategic alliances in the management of disasters are critical.

    •Creation of “Buffer Dams” can take overflowing water from major dams, which can also create irrigation platforms for all-year-round farming, dam-silting dams clearing tributaries

    •Continuous environmental impact assessments and acting on issues that are flagged.

    •Transparency and accountability for sharing palliatives and interventions.

     The crux of my intervention in this memorandum is that without a robust, actionable, scalable, and measurable mitigation action plan, processes, and system, the perennial climate-driven disasters and other crises will continue to overwhelm us with increasingly brutal and devastating socio-economic consequences, especially on children, women, and the youth.

  • El-Rufai: My error

    El-Rufai: My error

    In this space last week, I reported that Justice Hauwa’u Buhari of the Federal High Court ordered former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai to pay nine Adara community elders led by Awemi Maisamari N900 million for violation of their rights. I have since learnt that the court never made such an order. The error was inadvertent.

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