The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Mediating political disputes

    Mediating political disputes

    Political disputes can benefit from the mediation process if parties submit to an experienced mediator to settle their disputes. Even high profile cases making the headlines like the dispute between the suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, versus members of the state House of Assembly, and even that between Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan versus Senate President Godswill Akpabio can benefit from mediation instead of the long-winded adversarial adjudication offered by the courts. But who will bell the cat considering the untrammeled ego at play?

    What constitutes mediation? The Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse Neutrals’ Handbook, defines mediation as “a process by which a neutral third party assists two or more people to address issues in conflict in order to give them an opportunity to reach a mutually agreed solution.” It went on: “The mediator uses a variety of skill and techniques to help the parties negotiate but does not make any decisions for them.” It concluded: “Some of the more common types of mediation are “interest based facilitative mediation” and “evaluation mediation.”

    Of course, while practitioners of mediation undergo training to learn modern skills associated with its practice, and are more susceptible to neutrality and successes, non-trained persons can mediate disputes. As I like to say while mediating disputes, mediation was originally the African way of settling disputes between parties before the introduction of the litigation based approach. And in mediation, the parties agree on the terms of settlement, while in litigation, a judge is authorized to impose a settlement on parties.

    Take for example the dispute between Fubara and the legislators. Before it got entangled in unconstitutional conducts, it was principally a dispute about the contending interests of the parties. To untie the knots, whoever is asked to mediate needs to go back to those issues in dispute and help agree to a resolution through the process of give and take. If the original issues in contention are resolved between the parties, that standard will be used to deal with all the issues that may have arisen since the disputants refused to agree.

    While untying the knots of the disputes, it would become clearer to the parties, where and how they derailed from either an express agreement or expected standard of engagement in political relationship. The mediator would help all the sides understand what were the expectations that were not met, and help the offending party explain why or how the expectations were met. In disputes, sometimes the real issue that is important to one of the parties may not be known to the opposing party, and through a mediation process the issue crystallizes and a resolution applied.

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    And in professional mediation, unlike in litigation, a contending party is free to negotiate a settlement and if the mediation does not succeed, the concessions made during the mediation process would not be held against him in court. For example, if in a dispute over a contract sum due and payable, one of the parties offers to pay a certain sum to end the dispute, if the opposing party declines, that offer cannot be pleaded as a reference benchmark in court. So, the offer fails or succeeds at mediation.

    Of course, under the rules of mediation which the parties have to submit to, the mediator cannot be called to give evidence of what the parties said or agreed to at the various sessions. And the mediator is not expected to keep records of the mediation. So there will be no opportunity for subpoena ad testificandum to compel the mediator to testify, or subpoena duces tecum to compel the mediator to produce a document before the court.

    Professional mediators are persons who are preeminently neutral in any dispute they are called to mediate. So, at the beginning, the mediator declares whether he/she has an interest in the issue he/she is called to mediate. If the mediator has an interest, a neutral mediator is assigned the dispute. Again, because mediation is party driven, where any of the party objects to a named mediator, he/she is changed, since the cooperation of the parties are fundamental to a successful mediation. Where either of the party don’t agree with an ongoing process, the mediation fails.

    Another important factor is that when an agreement is reached and parties sign off on it, it becomes binding and efficacious as the judgment of the court. The Natasha versus Akpabio dispute which is already in court would enjoy that benefit, should the matter be sent to mediation either by the court suo moto, or upon the request of either of the parties. Of course, while many would want the lugubrious allegation against Akpabio to continue to tantalize their dry sense of humour, the parties can choose mediation to end the saga.

    The parties can agree on the terms of settlement, including an agreement to keep the terms secret from the general public. A party can agree to settle a dispute for its nuisance value, not necessary out of guilt as alleged. Again, despite the titillating allegations of sexual harassment, the diatribe from the parties shows that there are other undulating forces and factors at, beyond the salacious details of alleged sexual advances. And if the parties resolve that open opera through mediation, it can cinch all the tales.

    Even electoral disputes can be a subject of mediation as some of the causa belli for approaching election petition tribunals can be settled at mediation, instead of the resource-wasting approach to the tribunals. In some instances, a party may be aggrieved that the resources expended in the electoral process have been wasted and he/she approaches the tribunal to vent the anger. Through mediation, that anger can be assuaged, through some form of appeasement. There are instances where a simple apology satiates anger, while in some, monetary or other form of comfort help resolve a dispute.

    In discussing the benefits of mediation, the LMDC Handbook, noted: “Mediation allows parties to come to a resolution of their dispute within the context of their relationship. This is particularly important when the relation is going to continue, such as the relationship that parents have with one another even after a divorce, the relationship of one business partner with another, the relationship of employer and employee, the relationship of neighbors, etc.” Of course, in the two political cases referred to, both parties are likely to have a relationship for some time to come.

    The dispute in Rivers State is one that the principal parties should by now have realized the urgent need to submit to some form of mediation in the interest of all the parties affected. As should be clear to the suspended governor and the legislators, the country would move on without them, instead of allowing their dispute to upend the economic well-being of the nation.

  • Bokkos massacre: The buck stops at the president’s desk

    Bokkos massacre: The buck stops at the president’s desk

    If the essence of government is the security of life and properties of citizens, President Tinubu must take responsibility for last week’s massacre of over 65 innocent Nigerians in Bokkos, Plateau State. This is not just because the buck stops at his desk or even because of what former vice president, Atiku Abubakar described as: “The failure of Bola Tinubu’s security architecture which has now become an endemic nationwide phenomenon …” Nigerians are proud of their military’s heroic battle with insurgents in the last two years compared to preceding eight years of daily harvest of death when Buhari from commander in chief became ‘mourner in chief’. As a mark of their faith in the military, survivors of last week dastardly act who spoke to the press have nothing but praises for the military’s heroic confrontation with the marauders.

    But the buck stops at the president table because of the choices he made. President Tinubu understands the historical antecedent of the quest for self-actualization by different Nigerian groups especially the Ijaw of south-south and the people of the Middle Belt region that at different times after independence embarked on insurrection that had to be suppressed by the Nigerian military. He is aware of the confiscation and sharing of Hausa land among Uthman Dan Fodio’s 12 Fulani kinsmen and one Hausa appointed as emirs following Uthman Dan Fodio Jihad of 1803-1808; the decision to hold on to the land despite the 1903 Frederick Lugard’s “the power once exercised by the defeated caliphate had reverted to the British” after sacking of Sokoto Sunni Muslim and Herbert Macaulay’s 1908 successful campaign against the Hausa Land Ordinance. The president understands the quest for distributive justice without which a nation decays.

    President Tinubu, more than anyone else, understands the issues at stake because he spent 20 years preparing for his job. That was the source of his confidence when on the eve of the 2023 election, he declared without restraint ‘emi l’okan’ (it is my turn). 

    And if there was anything he forgot, Nigerian stakeholders especially the leaders of ethnic nationalities, the real owners of Nigeria, the Afenifere, Ohaneze, MDF etc. were on hand to remind him that  Nigeria needs “a restructured Nigeria with constituent parts having power over law and order, education and public information; a restructured Nigeria where there is freedom and justice for all; a restructured Nigeria that protects the right of indigenes as enshrined in the UN charter;  a restructured Nigeria that puts an end to an orgy of killing of helpless women and children at night in the Middle Belt region by unidentified herdsmen”.

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    The president also had the privilege of hosting the ‘Patriots’, a group of credible Nigerian stakeholders led by Pa Emeka Anyaoku, the former Commonwealth Secretary General.

    The president while not disagreeing with these Nigerian patriots who want the best for our nation said he would like to first pursue his economic agenda to bring prosperity to all Nigerians. But many have warned that it would amount to putting the cart before the horse since our problem is politics and not economics. Prosperity for all, will not resolve the national question neither will it eliminate peoples’ desires to have control over their lives, their culture and education of their children.

    If short-sighted opponents of federal arrangement that have often benefited from our tragedy cannot see how the social system ended centuries of intertribal wars in Europe, it cannot be lost on them how nations like Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Netherlands that currently top the list of the ‘happiest nations in the world’ only yesterday took control of their lives after negotiating peaceful federal arrangement.

    Tragically, today as it was in 1951/52, we are still being haunted by the national question. It was the resistance of Yoruba to attempt by newly emergent Igbo leaders of Lagos urban immigrants to take over the west in the name of democracy, the newly imported god that earned the Yoruba the bastion of tribalism in Nigeria and fraudulently promoted by otherwise enlightened Igbo intellectuals including Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian ‘sun’ (apologies to Saro Wiwa).

    From 1999, leading Igbo politicians and intellectuals including Kalu Uzor Kalu and Obiageli Ezekwesili sold the idea of ‘citizenship’ as answer to the national question even when it was obvious to the Yoruba whose First Eepublic leading NCNC leader, TOS Benson, could not secure a plot of land from Governor Sam Mbakwe to erect a building to bury his Igbo first wife and who today knows it will be an impossible task to get a market stall in Onitsha market.

    In 2023, some Igbo elements in Lagos openly canvassed for Lagos governor of Delta origin on account of their population and business investments in Lagos. In fact, Peter Obi who left Anambra like a war-ravaged state after two terms as governor attempted to impose an untested candidate on Lagos. The natural reaction from Yoruba discriminatory voters, who unlike the Igbo don’t exhibit herd behaviour while voting, was to mobilise for their performing Yoruba son. With propaganda and manipulation of the social media, some Yoruba were labelled anti-democrats with their names presented for sanctions to the US administration and the UN which incidentally has clause in its charter for the protection of indigenous groups.

    Those who truly love our country know that adopting any variant of federal arrangement we operated in the first republic will allow state governors take control of their states, provide security through state and community policing, defend their states against mindless killers described by ex-governors Masari  and El Rufai as ‘disgruntled immigrant Fulani herdsmen’, and of course have death sentence clause in their state statutes to take care of importers of killer fake drugs devastating our urban centres.

    There are other reasons why the president must take responsibility for the Bokkos massacre. The president’s policy since assuming office has been about appeasement of elements responsible for mindless killing of Nigerians as against pursuit of justice for victims. Mindless killings have therefore continued because criminals hardly get sanctioned for their heinous crimes.

    As Garba Shehu, President Buhari’s senior media adviser puts it in his July 21, 2020 statement ‘the problem in Southern Kaduna is an evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds’. Echoing this point was Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, who at a meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council (NTRC) and Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) insisted that violence has continued to thrive in northern Nigeria and Middle Belt because ‘no one is punished for the criminal doings they commit’.

    Wole Soyinka, in one of his messages to Buhari while in office had also said: “Crimes against our humanity have been committed, and restitution must be made. Nothing less will restore confidence in government, and reassure the people of its integrity, its commitment to equity in internal relationships and the rightful custodianship of ancient resources”.

    To many of us the governed who do not know the challenges of government, the least the president could have done upon assumption of power, was to return those forcefully uprooted from their ancestral land back to their homes , if necessary, protected by our soldiers instead of being abandoned in IDP camps.

    Since no one is above the law , the Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who openly encouraged herdsmen in Benue to disobey Benue State anti-open grazing laws, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, which encouraged his mostly foreign Fulani herdsmen to reject modern grazing methods while insisting that open grazing is part of Fulani culture, its Secretary- General, Saleh Al- Hassan  who haughtily insists herders can graze in Nigeria since herders ‘do not recognize international boundaries’; Bala Mohammed, Bauchi State governor  and Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation who publicly promoted the invasion of reserved forests in the south by armed immigrants Fulani herdsmen should have been questioned in the interest of justice.

    And finally, with the near unanimity of all the 36 states on state and community policing, Nigerians don’t believe the president needed two years to appease the hegemonic power in the north that see state and local policing as threat to their stranglehold on power.

    Political enemies of the president insist if he could mobilise the National Assembly in 24 hours to support his Rivers State Emergency declaration, he must take full responsibility for the Bokkos massacre which they believe could have been averted with state and community policing.

  • The general and shadowy kidnappers

    The general and shadowy kidnappers

    Where are the kidnappers of retired Brig. Gen. Maharazu Tsiga, former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who was kidnapped from his Katsina State home on February 5? The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said nothing about the kidnappers when he reunited Tsiga with his family at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Abuja, on April 3. He had spent more than 50 days in captivity before he regained his freedom. He narrated his hellish experience in captivity, saying he endured “beatings.”

    Eighteen other kidnap victims were reunited with their families at the event. They included Amb. Gideon Yohanna, former Deputy Chief of Mission to Pretoria, South Africa, who was kidnapped in January, in Kaduna State.

    Ribadu said: “We have done a couple of handovers in the past as a result of the work of our armed forces and other security services, we are able to rescue and bring back.

    “Now we have done it again. This time, it involves very powerful and important personalities…  We are grateful to those who made their rescue possible.”

    He added: “These people have been rescued, but those perpetrators of this evil will pay for it, dearly. The work we are doing today is a work in progress. We are not there yet.”

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    Was this a hint that the kidnappers had not been captured? If that is the case, why is it so? To say the victims were “rescued” suggests that they were taken from their abductors. If that was the case, what happened to the abductors?  A rescue suggests physical action on the part of the rescuers.  If the abductors released the captives, possibly after the payment of ransom, that can’t be strictly described as a rescue.

    A “Note of Appreciation,” dated April 4, 2025, signed by Brig. Gen. Ismaila Abdullahi (retd), surfaced online. It gave an insight into how Tsiga regained his freedom. Abdullahi said after the abduction, Tsiga’s friends and associates had created “a WhatsApp platform that we named simply “TSIGA.” He stated that the kidnappers had demanded N400 million as ransom.

    “We decided to solicit donations on our TSIGA PLATFORM. The response was overwhelming. On this platform, we had over 300 members,” he said, adding, “I feel fulfilled as our collective efforts have finally yielded a very positive outcome.”

    Does this mean that Tsiga was released after his kidnappers had collected ransom? This contradicts the official narrative that he was rescued by security agents.

     When the authorities are silent about kidnappers in kidnap cases in which kidnappees regain their freedom after the intervention of security agencies, it suggests that the kidnappers are free and may well strike again. That’s dangerous.

    It is disturbing that kidnappings not only continue in the country but are also on the rise.  More than 3, 600 people were kidnapped in Nigeria last year, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data figures; this was described as “the most ever” recorded.  

    More than 2,000 people were reported kidnapped across 24 states of the country between January and July 2024, according to SUNDAY PUNCH. The newspaper’s research focused on reports of kidnapping published in four Nigerian newspapers in the period, namely The PUNCH, The Guardian, The Nation, and Vanguard.

     The research showed alarming figures of kidnap victims in the seven-month period: 193 people in January, 101 in February, 543 in March, 112 in April, 977 in May, 97 in June, and 117 in July, totalling 2,140. Among these were 280 pupils and teachers kidnapped by bandits from Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State, in March; and about 500 people abducted by bandits from 50 villages in Zamfara State, in May.

    Also, the research showed that the families of 62 kidnap victims paid N389 million as ransom to kidnappers for the release of their relatives in the period. The cases of ransom payment included N60 million paid to kidnappers for the release of five sisters abducted from their house in Abuja, in January; and N50 million paid to kidnappers in May before the Paramount Ruler of the Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Ogwong Okon Abang, regained his freedom.

    Notably, in August 2024, the kidnap story of 20 medical students made the headlines. They were kidnapped by gunmen in Benue State, on their way to a conference, and freed after more than a week in captivity. The authorities said no ransom was paid for their release.

    The range of kidnap victims indicates that those involved in kidnapping for ransom are no respecter of persons. The gravity of the problem prompted a law in 2021 that controversially prescribed at least a 15-year imprisonment for paying a ransom to free someone who has been kidnapped. The law also made the crime of abduction punishable by death in cases where victims die.

    Last year, the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, inaugurated officers of the new Special Intervention Squad, saying it was created “to confront the most formidable challenges that beset our nation today — challenges like kidnapping, banditry, and other violent crimes that have sown discord and fear across various regions.” 

    The creation of the 169-man squad to fight kidnapping and banditry further underscored the country’s security crisis, and also suggested that the authorities were taking the issue more seriously. However, it was unclear how the new security squad will operate, and whether its operations will make a difference.

    Egbetokun said the officers had been trained for “advanced tactical operations, intelligence gathering, crisis negotiation, and community engagement,” among others, and described their work as a “critical national assignment.” They were trained for seven weeks in Lagos and the Police Mobile Force Training College, Ende Hills, Nasarawa State.

    The scale of the country’s security crisis, which includes kidnapping and banditry, demands more than establishing a new ad hoc squad of less than 200 officers. In August 2023, Egbetokun was reported saying the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) “requires an additional 190,000 personnel to be at par with the United Nations (UN) recommendation,” adding that inadequate manpower had resulted in “low police presence.” The UN-recommended ratio is one police officer to about 450 citizens.

     There is no doubt that the country needs to increase its police personnel, particularly in the context of a complicated security crisis. Nigeria is critically under-policed, which is bad for security as well as law and order.

    Ultimately, there are more questions than answers on the Tsiga kidnapping incident and its resolution.  Who will answer the questions?

  • The Uromi killings

    The Uromi killings

    The killing of 16 travellers of northern extraction by a vigilante group in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State, has exposed the dangers in the quasi security outfits that emerged in response to the festering insecurity in the country.

    More than anything, the chilling incident highlights scant regard to law and order, due process and sanctity of the human life. In it can also be located a culture of violence that is increasingly enveloping this country and increasingly threatening its social fabric. If this culture of violence, mistrust and easy resort to self-help is not urgently stemmed, it may soon begin to define us as a people.

    But can we afford the relapse to a state of anomie without dire existential consequences? That is the searing question thrown up by the circumstances of the killing of the travelling hunters in the most dastardly and callous manner by the vigilante group. What were the issues?

    A group of northerners now officially identified as hunters were travelling from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Kano State in a truck. Somewhere in Uromi, Edo State, their vehicle was flagged down by a vigilante group ostensibly for a routine security check. They ordered the driver and passengers down and proceeded to search the truck. In the process, they discovered some locally made guns and hunting tools.

    The discovery sparked off suspicion with the vigilante concluding that the travellers were kidnappers especially as some undisclosed sums of money were found in their possession. They may have also been influenced in their conclusions by incidents of kidnapping for ransom rampant in the country including the axis the travellers were accosted.

    What followed defied rationality and will continue to assail public sensibilities for a very long time. The vigilante group descended heavily on the travellers beating and visiting jungle justice on them even as their pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears.

    Soon, a mob gathered, lynched and set fire on the bodies of the travellers. It was a despicable scene to behold even as it raised questions as to what has become of our collective senses of empathy and regard for the sanctity of the human life. Sadly, as this act of bestiality and man’s inhumanity to his fellow man was going on, nothing was heard of the intervention of the security agencies to save the situation.

    Neither is there any record that the vigilante group alerted the security agencies on their discoveries and suspicion. In matters of this nature, the right thing is for the vigilante group to hand over the suspects to the police authorities for profiling and further investigations. Nothing of such happened. The laws of this country do not permit any person to take human life. Only the courts have that right as guaranteed by the constitution. But the vigilante group opted to take laws into their hands and levy jungle justice on the travellers.

    One of the victims who managed to escape narrated how they were made to lie down and mercilessly flogged by their traducers. He said he ran away when some of the people that gathered, probably out of sympathy, shouted that they should run for their lives. According to him, as he made to run, two of the vigilante men pursued him. But he outpaced them and hid in an uncompleted building from where he saw all that happened. He saw how his friend was so beaten that he could not run, only to be killed by the vigilante in the most inhuman manner.

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    The circumstances of the killings raised tempers and have been roundly condemned with demands on the security agencies to fish out the culprits to face the raw teeth of the law. Security agencies were quick to swing into action following President Tinubu’s directive to that effect. Arrests have been made and 14 suspects have been taken to Abuja to ensure proper interrogation.  Two other suspects said to be key to the investigations have also been apprehended.

    The swiftness and prompt response of the high echelon of the police to the incident is reassuring. That should be their standard response to such infractions anywhere they happen in the country.

    Before then, Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo had embarked on peace building mission to douse tempers inflamed by the incident. He visited his Kano State counterpart and families of the victims most of whom hail from two local government areas of Kano State. He also promised to aid the bereaved families.

    These are very reassuring measures that go to show the various levels of government can still rise up to their primary duty of maintaining law and order. It is also instructive that the response came at a time cascading insecurity across the country had begun to erode public confidence in the capacity of the government to maintain law and order; guarantees the sanctity of lives and property.

    But the investigations must be thorough and comprehensive for the country to identify and realistically address the issues that incubate incidents of this nature. One is the immediate response of security agencies in the areas where such killings take place. Nothing was heard of the role of the police and other security agencies in Uromi as the situation escalated.

    How come all the hullaballoo unfolded in the manner they did without any form of intervention from them? The role of the security agencies is a critical lead in the investigations. The responsible officials should be interrogated on the issue. They will definitely have something of value to the investigations.

    The role of the vigilante is another issue. Understandably, they were set up by the state and local governments to provide some form of security assistance in the wake of the assortment of security challenges that have continued to assail the country. It may be uncharitable to dismiss their place within the security architecture. But their operations in some states have lent themselves to brazen abuses with heavy toll on human lives.

    The Uromi incident is a serious case of such costly and avoidable abuses. There was also the killing a few years back, of seven wedding guests returning to their community in Otulu, Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State by gunmen suspected to be operatives of the Ebubeagu security outfit. They were riding back home on motorcycles when from nowhere, bullets were rained on them on suspicion that they were members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB.

    Such has been the excesses of quasi security outfits that go by various names across the country. This is in addition to many cases of unaccounted killings and disappearance of persons that are often blamed on them. This is the time to interrogate the type of training and mandate given to these quasi security outfits. Investigations will unravel whether their excesses and resort to jungle justice are as a result of weaknesses in their training or part of their brief. Such findings will aid in refining their operations for better effect and permanently put a stop to the brazen abuses that have taken serious toll on human life.

    The nature of hunting that brings a group of armed men from one far-flung state to another is a key issue of investigation. The Uromi vigilante discovered local guns and hunting tools in the vehicle and erroneously concluded that the travellers were either kidnappers or terrorists. All efforts to explain to them that they were hunters returning to Kano from Port Harcourt failed to convince them.

    They were apparently not convinced that people could travel from Kano to hunt in Rivers State that is predominantly a riverine state. It was a cultural mismatch and misunderstanding. Incidentally, this is not the first time such claims of hunting by a group of people wielding guns together with dogs marching into the forests in southern parts of the country has been challenged by the local communities.

    Not long ago, the Amotekun security outfit in Ondo State arrested 149 suspected criminals posing as hunters in three local government areas of the state. Even as they claimed to be hunters, they were at the time of their arrest found with different weapons concealed inside their luggage and kept in the truck. There was an earlier arrest and profiling of a similar incident in Delta State with the police authorities clearing them as hunters.   

    There was discomfort and outcry in Imo State when a group of northerners earlier offloaded by a trailer in some parts of Owerri, Imo State together with their dogs headed into the forests for what was said to be hunting expedition without clearance from the authorities. It is clear from these arrests, suspicions and mistrust that the manner of hunting that takes a group of northerners to states in the south for hunting expedition without clearance from the local authorities is largely misunderstood by the host communities.

    That may have been the situation in the Uromi incident. The people of Uromi may not be that heartless as the leader of the Arewa community in Edo State Badamasi Sally admitted: “it was the people of Uromi who rescued some of the victims from the assailants”. Rampant cases of kidnapping for ransom by criminals taking advantage of the forests may have played a role in the ensuing confusion. It is vital to highlight this dimension for the security agencies to interrogate. The times are dire and dangerous. Suspicion is everywhere as insecurity reigns supreme. Any activity capable of injecting a modicum of suspicion of complicity into the cycle of violence that has enveloped the country must be avoided at all costs. But the authorities must fish out and bring to book all those fanning embers of discord despite measures to douse tempers frayed by the unfortunate incident.

  • Trump and the Nigerian Christian

    Trump and the Nigerian Christian

    It is a pity that we have to discuss the Nigerian surrender to tyranny in another land. But that is the case with Donald Trump. He just released for the world a slew of tariffs. For Nigeria, he gave us 14 percent. When I read it, I had pity on Nigerians in diaspora.

    I pity more the Christians who voted for him. They were the persons who thought they were voting for God. Rather they were voting in their hater, hugging the demon. For one, the tariffs will jack up the cost of their food. So, the garri, ewedu, ogbono and goat meat will now force them to dig deeper into their pockets to secure a seat on the dinner table.

    That will take some slice away from the money they will send to pay that school fee or that rent in Lagos or Enugu. It is not that alone that worries this essayist. It is the result of a delusion.

    The church leaders told their folks to vote for the party of God, apologies to Saint Augustine. Nigerians abhor racism because they are victims. They voted in a racist. The reason, and genuinely too, they were afraid of the scourge of the gay, and the ferocity of abortions. Some of their children had begun to change to lesbians, and their boys are liking boys. Their girls are sweet on girls. The scripture won’t have it. The parents won’t stomach it.

    Therefore, forget the fear of race. Take shelter under the shadow of the almighty. But they were mistaken. First, they did not know that race, and people like Nigerians who are now in the Japa mode are making the bigots like Trump quake. They are afraid of a post-racial society.

    They want a Lilly-white paradise. Trump was going to give it to them. But while the blacks and many Hispanics were voting on one side of culture, that is a genuine love of Christ, the whites were voting on another. They had a genuine fear, not of God, but of a society where Trump himself feared when he said, “we won’t have a country anymore.”

    The whites were voting for man in the name of God. The same blacks, by no means a majority, voted for God but ended up endorsing a white supremacy. It is the irony of democracy. We can call this the great delusion.

    Now, the same Republican Party that invited a Nigerian gospel singer to entertain them, mostly white audiences in Trump’s inauguration, is now sending their dogs after the Christians in New York. They worship in fear, not the sort of fear that God said we should fear Him with. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. This fear is evil.

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    It is the archaeology of the past that we are seeing today in the United States. Those who belonged to a time of fear and tyranny, the whips of slavery and suffocation of racial contempt. We cannot say the Nigerians knew that they will also work in fear, eat their garri while thinking whether the ghouls are at their doorstep, or work and expect the call of the wild man of the ICE.

    During the elections, many of those polled said they were going to vote mainly because of cost of living. The cost of things were too high. Costs had dwarfed their paychecks and bank accounts. They loathed Biden for making life so hard. But a few months in, the man says costs would continue to go high, yet the man’s approval rating is still holding up. What does that say? That they like what he is doing by sacking a top black military general, they cherish the fear in the streets, the hounding of those who lashed out at the American government in the media, immigrants who protested Israeli carnage, universities who continue to bring the foreigners into their country.

    Trump is avowedly against democracy, but he needs democracy in his own image. Hence he despised the elections he lost and exaggerates the one he won. Some are afraid he might outlaw an election. He is after lawyers, media, judges. He does not care if the system fails, so long as he succeeds.

    This is the flipside of democracy. It does not always work as democracy. Hence Winston Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Humans are not natural democrats. Democracy has been a blip in human history, and it may leave us if we do not protect it. As Maxim Gorky wrote, “the only people who deserve freedom are those who fight for it every day.”

    The church in America is divided, and it has always been so. But today, it is showing a side of victory that is appalling. This is because systems are more about people than about law, justice and institutions.  When a human acts like Hobbes’ leviathan, systems pack up, as we saw under Hitler, Franco and Mussolini. Some of the colourful tyrants of today were voted in, like Putin, Erdogan, Duterte and Orban. Democracy voted out democracy in ancient Greece. We are seeing it in America today.

    Hence the church should be careful how it endorses candidates. The Nigerian church leaders who counselled voting for Trump are struggling with church attendance with the implication for faith, especially for tithes and offerings.

    In the US, the white church leaders see their mission to save the culture for Christ. In his book, The False White Gospel, Jim Wallis demonstrates how white church leaders choose career over integrity. If they support a multi-racial ethos, they will lose their jobs. The spiritual takes a back step to money. Some live in denial. In his new biography titled: Reagan, Max Boot says Reagan said he was not aware of racism in the 1930’s. This is the same man who campaigned in Mississippi decades later to proclaim, “I believe in state’s rights,” a coda for racism.

    When big men take over democracy, they must act like beasts. They must also be populist beasts. It is populism that brought Trump, Duterte, Erdogan and Orban. It is populism that lionised Hitler. When beasts take on democracy, they are worse, just like Samuel Johnson defined them. “He who makes himself a beast gets rid of the pain of being a man.”

    Hence Trump is tearing apart people’s lives and is still playing golf. It is variety of madness. Michel Foucault, the tormented genius, tracked the history of mad people in his classic Madness and Civilisation. He showed that definitions of madness have changed from age to age. I wonder how he will characterize madness of the trump iteration.

    Shakespeare and the Greek Playwrights knew some of them, playwrights like Sophocles and Aeschylus. But Shakespeare gave us King Lear about a father and king who gives inheritance to the daughters who loath him and dispatches the only one who loves him. In creative tour de force, he makes Lear in sync with a fool as he loses his sight.

  • Eyes on Ojulari

    Eyes on Ojulari

    What observers have missed out about Nigeria’s new oil helmsman Bayo Ojulari is not just that the caps fits, which is a gorgeous cliché. It is that President Bola Tinubu has chosen the right man for this moment in Nigerian oil. After the oil act, the country needs a man of industry steeped in the commerce and mechanics of oil. As Mele Kyari passes on the torch as a transitional figure, Ojulari now has the chance to light the tinder of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPCL) as Nigeria’s fortress of oil.

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    The president picked him because Ojulari has the past for the present. He is an engineer who has traversed such mainstays as Shell where he worked at the very top, straddling policy and commerce, mechanics and philosophy. This is a well-rounded way of taking on the state of oil with its grappling with prices, the revving up of two refineries and many that are small and modular. With a behemoth like Dangote in the mix, he has the heft and pedigree to relate. It is also a time to confront further the power of crude cabals stealing in the creeks. He can now rejig the sector and set out, barreling ahead with our output per day.

    He is gifted with good executives, including Rowland Ewubare and Adedapo Segun. Ewubare is an old boy of Government College, Ughelli.

    Ojulari has swum in oil at the world stage. He has been in the upstream and downstream sectors. He knows the ins and outs of the industry. He can now set it onstream.

  • Wema Bank’s ex-employees hold 80th  anniversary reunion

    Wema Bank’s ex-employees hold 80th  anniversary reunion

    Former staff of Wema Bank Plc are organizing their second reunion to celebrate 80th anniversary of the financial institution.

    The former employees under the aegis of Wema Ex-Colleagues Group have lined up a series of activities to commemorate the milestone achievement of the Bank.

    The reunion tagged “Oluyole 2025” with the theme: “Wema @80: Navigating the intersection of past, present and future- A stakeholder centric approach to sustainability and growth” will hold on Saturday, 26th April, 2025 at Jogor Event Centre, Ibadan.

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    Mr. Demola Adebise, former Group Managing Director of Wema Bank, will speak on the theme as the guest speaker, and will be supported by seasoned guest discussants

    According to a statement by Dr. Eddy Ademosu, the Group’s Brand Consultant, the Chairman, Odu’a Group of Companies, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, is the special guest of honour while High Chief Olu Okuboyejo and Alhaji S.T Adepoju are Fathers of the day.

  • The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XIV)

    The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XIV)

    I honestly did not think that South Africa, because of her small size as well as her distance from the epicentre of global capitalism, was going to consume as many column inches as she has done so far in this series. I am even now still wondering how South Africa has, so to say, slipped my creative leash such that I can only follow helplessly in her wake. However, after some reflection it is clear that South Africa, needs to be regarded as a special case because at different points of her existence she has demonstrated the many characteristics of rampant capitalism. She can therefore be cited as an index case for the rise, rise and rise of capitalism. All the indices of unapologetic  capitalism; imperialism, colonisation, exploitation, brutal resource extraction, punitive societal stratification, recourse to extreme violence, relentless pursuit of inequality and racial compartmentalisation as well as stark racism have all been part  and parcel of the history of South Africa for five centuries. That story is compelling and deserves to be told. It needs to be told.

    The Boers fled from the Cape following the abrogation of slavery in all parts of the British empire in 1834. They did this in an attempt to put themselves outside the reach of British rule which was cramping their bigoted style. With the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley and gold in the Witwatersrand however, their independence became untenable as the British, their predatory style in full display, moved in to take what they regarded as their fair share of those precious minerals. As they had always done wherever they went around the world. Clearly, the situation demonstrated a high potential for violence which duly arrived when the Boers who had steadily built up a powerful arsenal of contemporary weapons went on the offensive against British towns leading to the Boer war which raged furiously for more than two years and seriously tested British resolve to continue to add new territories to the surging British empire on which the sun was never supposed to set.

    At the beginning of the war, the Boers, for all their early aggression were not expected to stand up to the might of the British army for very long. Against all odds however, they did. They were able to do this not only because of their fighting qualities but also because of their use of guerrilla tactics with which the superior British forces, used to conventional warfare as they were, could not cope until an effective strategy could be developed to counter the potency of this method of fighting. In the end, vast resources in men and material had to be committed to the fight before the Boers could be removed from the field.

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    In the first place, there had to be a general mobilisation within Britain in order to bring enough men under colours. To the dismay of the recruiting authorities, the general physical condition of the typical British male of our species at the time was so poor that the majority of men caught up in the recruitment net were declared unfit for service. The British working class was almost as a rule badly under-nourished and suffering from one or more diseases, many of which were endemic and were more or less incurable. The riches which had been pouring into Britain for more than three centuries had not percolated down the social ladder for the benefit of the majority of those at the bottom of the pile. According to one commentator, the British master race could not find enough men that were considered fit enough to be sent out to be killed by eager Boers on the hills of South Africa or anywhere else for that matter. Capitalism could not guarantee the provision of the minimum condition for human growth in the most advanced capitalist country outside the USA at the turn of the twentieth century. Fortunately for the cause, the authorities took this as a wake-up call for the enhancement of living conditions in Britain at that time. The steps taken at that point in the light of what needed to be dealt with, made it possible for the supply of all those millions of young men who were slaughtered wholesale on the Western front and other killing fields of the First World War some fifteen years later. Members of that generation were no more than fatted sheep ready made for sacrifice to Mammon and its acolytes.

    As far as the Boer war was concerned, the ability of the British to put many men in the field was not a guarantee of success. Their commanders had to develop the proper strategy to deal with the enemy. What they came up with was fiendishly brilliant. The Boers in the field needed to be continuously supplied with food and other such necessities over short supply lines and all that was needed to thwart their military ambitions was to cut those supply lines. What the British did was to herd, mostly women and children into what they called concentration camps within which they died in their thousands, of hunger and disease. Thus, the British, to the fury of their opponents, were waging all out war on women and children. Later on, during World War II, the Germans had developed this strategy into and art form and used it to deadly effect all over Europe. The bitterness engendered by the use of this strategy against the Boers lingered on within South Africa for so long that many Boers were eager to fight on the side of Nazi Germany at the outbreak of World War II even though as part of the British empire, they were committed to supporting Britain in that conflict. And these antipathies are still being nursed today. This is why contemporary times the game of rugby is still associated with the Boers, cricket with the English and football abandoned to the blacks. The coloured fit in everywhere as best they could. Not too long ago, the different races that make up the Republic of South Africa did not share the same playing fields. They did not in fact share anything. Not even the air they breathed.

    Another factor of the Boer war is that British settlers in Australia, Canada and to some extent, New Zealand were dragged into the fight. This set a tone for what has followed all British military engagements ever since, right down to their recent misadventure in Afghanistan. In the unlikely event of British involvement in  Ukraine, you can be sure that their overseas cousins especially the Australians will accompany them into battle.

    The British were also influenced to some degree by their experience in South Africa. For many of the soldiers who were sent to war, this represented their first opportunity to see anything resembling life outside Britain and they came back home with many stories to tell. To them, war was an eye opener to many things including the poverty that the had to cope with everyday. Of course, this being war, not all of them survived to tell their stories. Today, Liverpool FC fans occupy a portion of the stadium at Arnfield which is known all over the world as the Kop. I wonder how many of them know that the original occupiers of that stand were veterans of the Boer war. They were those who survived the fighting on Spion kop, a small hill on which regiments raised in Liverpool fought and died in South Africa. The survivors of that battle came home and named a portion of the stadium which had a steep hill-like incline, the Kop, in honour and memory of the many that fought and died on the Spion kop. Their gallantry in defence of the rise of imperialism, colonisation and capitalism is all but completely forgotten now.

    Britain may have defeated the Boers but it was at considerable cost to the imperial order. It may even have marked a turning point to the march of imperialism and should have been a warning to the imperialists. Right up to when they were confronted by the Boers, the British had won a series of easy victories against rabble armies which were armed with antiquated weapons which had no business on a modern battlefield. The warning that should have been heeded was that colonial conquests were likely to become much more expensive in men and material than they had been before. Another danger which was not heeded was that further expansion in many parts of the world could only be against well armed modern armies against which victory could not be guaranteed. But these warnings fell on deaf ears. There were resources which the capitalists needed to exploit for their natural resources and markets which were to cultivated as consumers of their manufactured goods. The hope was that the results of the Berlin conference was going to prevent the Europeans from going to war with each other over disputed territories in Africa. Whilst this limited objective was successful, events within Europe led to such sharp divisions that the First World War was precipitated and ferociously fought for four destructive years.

  • In defence of Humphrey Nwosu: Correcting Oshiomhole’s misconception

    In defence of Humphrey Nwosu: Correcting Oshiomhole’s misconception

    Within the pantheon of Nigeria’s experiment with democracy and it’s ideals, few names stand as tall as Professor Humphrey Nwosu’s. Yet, recent comments by former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomole now a Senator  diminishing Nwosu’s contributions to Nigeria’s democratic evolution represent not just historical revisionism but a dangerous attempt to rewrite and perhaps reduce the sacrifices made during one of Nigeria’s most turbulent political periods.

    It much surprises me, that a “Stand Well Well” comrade like Senator Oshiomole, one who had a series of standoffs against civilian dictators seems not to understand the magnitude of Professor Nwosu’s actions during the June 12, 1993 elections. To do so,  one must first understand the context. The Ibrahim Babangida military regime was not merely authoritarian; it was sophisticated in its brutality. This was an administration that had perfected the art of silencing opposition through the most extreme measures. Critics were dispatched mysteriously, vocal journalists were imprisoned or worse, and the state security apparatus had been transformed into a terrifying instrument of repression.

    It was in this climate of fear that Professor Nwosu, as Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), took a stand that could easily have cost him his life. When it became clear that Chief M.K.O. Abiola was winning the presidential election by a landslide, Nwosu attempted to release the results despite immense pressure from the military junta. This was not a small act of defiance; it was an extraordinary display of courage that put him directly in the crosshairs of a regime known for its ruthlessness.

    As Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president, once famously remarked, “Only a madman would challenge a man with a gun.” By this measure, Professor Nwosu’s defiance was either an act of madness or exceptional bravery. History has vindicated him, confirming it was the latter.

    The consequences of Nwosu’s stand were swift and severe. He was removed from office and placed under surveillance by that administration and the other two that succeeded it. His family faced harassment, and his safety was constantly under threat. Yet, even under these circumstances, he refused to recant or disown the election results. Decades later, the trauma of those days remains evident in his recounting of events – the fear, the isolation, and the very real understanding that his life hung in the balance.

    The military regime knew that silencing Nwosu was not enough; they needed to erase any evidence of their unfairness. But Nwosu had anticipated this. Prior to his removal, he had ensured that results from polling stations across the country were documented and preserved. This foresight meant that even before the infamous annulment speech by President Ibrahim Badamosi Babaginda, Nigerians already knew that Abiola was the eventual winner.

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    Beyond. June 12 as an event, that is if we are forced to accept Senator Oshiomole’s flawed premise which is that Nwosu’s stand during the June 12 crisis was not extraordinary – a premise that is historically inaccurate – there remains the undeniable fact that under Nwosu’s leadership, Nigeria conducted what is widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest election in its entire history as an independent nation.

    The Option A4 voting system introduced by Nwosu revolutionized Nigeria’s electoral process. The system introduced a transparency that significantly reduced the possibility of electoral manipulation. This innovation alone represents a monumental contribution to Nigeria’s democratic development.

    Furthermore, Nwosu’s insistence on announcing results at polling stations before they were collated at higher levels created multiple verification points that made wholesale rigging much more difficult. Many of these reforms continue to influence Nigeria’s electoral system today, a testament to their effectiveness and Nwosu’s foresight.

    Senator Oshiomole again forgets that an event as historic as June 12, may not have occurred had Nwosu not insisted on that faithful day of June 11th before stern looking generals and an Attorney General (Clement Akpambo) who was stoutly against Abiola’s emergence, that the June 12 elections be allowed to go on. Historical records note that it was Nwosu’s strong arguments before the National Defence and Security Council NDSC that forced the hand of the junta to allow for the conduct of the elections.

    Nigerians must recall that at this point in the life of the Babaginda administration, IBB was at his “maradonic” best, having shifted the handover dates and the return to democracy on four occasions 90,91,92 and then 93, now while the nation was already fatigued with his democratic game of chairs, how can we know that a shift in the election date would not have affected an Abiola win, or a constitutional impasse of sorts or even another cancellation, ban and unbanning witnessed in the last exercise before the process that produced Abiola and Tofa, his rival.

    Given these contributions, the Nigerian Senate’s treatment of Professor Nwosu during a recent hearing was not just disrespectful but a disservice to Nigeria’s democratic history. For a man who risked everything to protect the sanctity of the ballot, the dismissive attitude displayed by some senators, including Oshiomole, was unbecoming of the institution.

    The Senate, which owes its very existence to the democratic transition that Nwosu’s actions helped facilitate, should have accorded him the respect befitting a national hero. Instead, he was subjected to questioning that seemed designed to minimize his contributions and cast doubt on his integrity.

    What makes Nwosu’s story particularly remarkable is that he was not a politician seeking popularity or power. He was a civil servant, an academic thrust into a position where his commitment to institutional integrity was tested in the most extreme circumstances. When faced with a choice between personal safety and upholding the democratic will of Nigerians, he chose the latter.

    In a country where institutional weakness remains a significant challenge, Nwosu’s example is particularly relevant. He demonstrated that institutions are ultimately only as strong as the individuals who lead them. His refusal to compromise on electoral integrity, even when faced with threats to his life, serves as a powerful reminder of what true institutional leadership looks like.

    If Oshiomole and others fail to see the extraordinary nature of Nwosu’s actions during the June 12 crisis, they should at least acknowledge his contributions to electoral reform in Nigeria. The improvements he introduced to Nigeria’s electoral system, many of which remain relevant today, deserve recognition and appreciation.

    Moreover, in an era where Nigeria continues to struggle with conducting credible elections, Nwosu’s expertise and experience should be valued rather than dismissed. His insights into electoral management, gained through practical experience in one of Nigeria’s most challenging periods, could prove invaluable to current efforts to strengthen the country’s democratic processes.

    Adams Oshiomole’s attempt to diminish Professor Humphrey Nwosu’s contributions to Nigeria’s democratic journey is not just factually incorrect but morally misguided. Nwosu’s courage in the face of a brutal military regime, his innovations in electoral management, and his unwavering commitment to institutional integrity make him a towering figure in Nigeria’s democratic history.

    The true measure of Nwosu’s contribution is not just in what he did but in what he risked. In standing up for democracy, he put everything on the line – his career, his freedom, and potentially his life. Such sacrifices deserve not just acknowledgment but profound gratitude from all who benefit from Nigeria’s democratic system today.

    As Nigeria continues its democratic journey, it would do well to remember and honor heroes like Professor Humphrey Nwosu – individuals whose courage and integrity helped pave the way for the democracy the country enjoys today. Anything less would be a disservice not just to Nwosu but to Nigeria’s collective memory and democratic aspirations.

  • What is going on in Nigerian universities?

    What is going on in Nigerian universities?

    Not knowing he was  only dealing with the very tip of a can of worms, I thought I have heard the very worst of the state of putrefaction in the Nigerian University system this past week when Osita Chidoka, former minister of Aviation and now Chancellor of the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, opened up on the details of a report by his centre.

    We would have to quote him at some length in an interview where he described Nigerian Universities as an embarrassment to the nation.

    Excerpts:”

    “Nigerian institutions are a very big embarrassment to the country. These are institutions that are going to breed the future leaders of Nigeria. Today, they are the bastion of opacity and lack of transparency. All over the world, we did a survey and just said, how much does the universities get? I am one of those who feel that our universities are poorly funded. And I was asking how much they really get and spend.

    To our chagrin, that information was not available, not on their website, not on surveys we sent out to the universities to find out.

    Then we decided to check out other African countries. From Kenya to Egypt to South Africa, all the universities had the information on their website. We knew how much they internally generated. We knew how much they got from grants. We knew how much they got from research funding. And we knew how much they got from government funding. All the universities got the majority of their recurrent funding from school fees. And then, of course, grants and research grants and other forms of income from alumni and co. But what we find interesting in Nigeria is that we are not able to attract funding to our universities. We are able to attract donations from people who come for doctorate degrees. And even that, there is no accounting for it. How much does it cost to train a graduate in Nigeria? How much do the universities get from the Federal Government or state governments? And how much do they get from internally generated revenue? That information is a black hole. Nobody knows. We do not know with clarity what is costing us. If you look at the whole amount of money the federal government budgets for education and for higher education, you would then be shocked at that level of public appropriation, some universities get as much as N35 billion, N40 billion from federal allocation yearly. Yet, there is no record of how that money is spent.

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    For the visitation panel that visits the universities, we can only see the reports from the Ministry of Education. We do not see it on the websites of the university.

    Compared to foreign universities, we see the strategic vision. We see the plan. We see their hostel accommodation, how much they want to bring in private operators and how much students pay for it. All that information creates the transparency that brings in more funding to the university. In Nigeria, the reverse is the case.

    I told former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega yesterday that when he brought in professors to become returning officers, we all shouted hurray. If I knew what I know today, that the universities themselves are not transparent, I would have known that the professors were going to be worse. Because our electoral system, like I said many times before, is messed up. And partly because the university professors who go as returning officers have no history of transparency. So when we bring them to public office, they come to public office the same way they run the universities. We are in a back cycle”.

    I did not know I was in for a greater shock until I came across the following shocking, and thoroughly distressing, WhatsApp post by somebody we would simply describe as an insider.

    Again I shall quote him/her verbatim so that those who have primary responsibility for education, especially tertiary education – the National Assembly, which should see its responsibility far beyond oversight during which University Administrators are harassed beyond limit, state governments, as proprietors of some, and the federal government which seems to delight more in the approval of more Universities which stand no chance of being better rum than the poorly funded, nearly moribund, ones to which they are being needlessly added.

    Titled: University Education in Nigeria is Collapsing”, which I described elsewhere as a horror story, it reads as follows:

    1. Being a university lecturer in Nigeria is no longer sustainable. Every day is a struggle just to eat, pay rent, and survive. Teaching is what I know and love, but the financial strain is making it impossible to do my job effectively.

    2. When I started teaching over seven years ago, I could afford to drive to school daily in a family vintage fuel efficient car that I subtly colonized, pick up colleagues from their homes, and never asked for fuel money. Today, I can barely afford public transport to work. I now go to work twice a week, if I manage.

    3. Government officials say prices are coming down. Yes, I completely agree. But do we have money to buy it? No. Before, while growing up in a middle-income family, my parents stocked food at home, beans, yam, okpa etc. at these times. Now, you can’t even afford to buy when prices drop. Survival is day to day.

    4. One illness in the family and you plunge into poverty. Rent increases annually. Inflation is destroying us, but the government pretends not to notice. No policies protect ordinary Nigerians. It’s hardship upon hardship.

    5. I once considered sleeping in my office to save transport costs, but senior colleagues warned me. If anything happens, I could find myself explaining things I shouldn’t have to. So, I keep struggling, like many others.

    6. We are so understaffed that I teach five courses in a semester. But the real tragedy? The students.

    They are not being taught. Some barely see a lecturer thrice in a semester. Their degrees are losing value because the system is collapsing.

    7. I recently supervised an exam for 400-level students. Out of 145, about 60% are on student loans. They are paying, but are they getting their money’s worth? No. They graduate with certificates but without knowledge.

    8. HODs come to work once a week. Deans, principal officers, same thing or at most trice. Those who come Monday won’t come Tuesday. Those who come Tuesday won’t come Wednesday. Academic efficiency is dead. But who do you blame? They all have families

    9. A three-unit course that should have three hours weekly barely gets one hour in two or three weeks. I teach five courses so how do I cover my syllabus? You want to teach 400-level students, but they don’t know 300-level material and as much as I pity them, I can only confuse them the more.

    10. After the eight-month strike, owed salaries were paid in bits, spread over months. Inflation wiped out what little we had. Most other service rendering profession adjusted by adjusting their prices. Lecturers can’t. If they take money for textbooks, handouts or worse, grades, it’s a scandal.

    11. We are churning out graduates who are with all due respect, educated illiterates. In 20 years, this country will be in crisis because of it. The government must act now. This is not about lecturers alone, it is about the future of Nigeria.

    12. I asked my students how many want to be lecturers. None. They don’t want to be like me. They see no dignity, no reward, no future in teaching. Universities should attract the best, but now, teaching is a last resort.

    13. Once, first-class students were happy to be retained. Now, even if you force them at gunpoint, they won’t stay. Those who do are mocked for “lacking ambition.” This is the death of academia in Nigeria.

    14. Some lecturers now earn more from side businesses than from teaching. When that happens, even if salaries were to ever increase, they won’t return to full-time teaching and give their best to research. A generation of lecturers is being lost.

    15/ Nigerians are paying the price for necessary government reforms, but not everyone is affected equally. Some are shielded. Meanwhile, the government ignores the suffering of its people. Rent hikes (which state governments should tackle), inflation, job losses, no protection.

    16. This is me joining the #30daysrantchallenge against both the federal and state governments: feel the pulse of the people. University education is collapsing. If we continue like this”.

    It is note worthy that things have not always been like this because some absolutely impeccable individuals were at the helm of affairs: the likes of Professors H. A Oluwasanmi at Ife, Oritsejolomi Thomas at Ibadan, Herbert C. Kodilinye at Nsukka and Iya Abubakar in Zaria.

    In my days in the University – by the way I attended Great Ife – one of the best Universities in the country and graduated on top of my Faculty, to boot, we did not have or see all these filth; these abnormalities.

    And that was as recently as the late 60’s to early ’70’s.

    But then came President Olusegun Obasanjo and everything went south.

    For him, University teachers were like football and could be kicked anyhow.

    His administration, 1999 – 2007 albeit had significant impact on Nigerian Universities.

    He established 12 new Universities and increased funding to the institutions.

    However, like everything Obasanjo, his aggressive privatisation and commercialisation of the Universities did not sit well with ASUU, the association of Nigerian University teachers which has been involved in titanic struggles, including strikes, and negotiations, with the government, to address issues such as funding, salaries, and working conditions.

    To the Obasanjo administration must, therefore, be credited the origins of most of the problems currently bedevelling our institutions of higher learning.