The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

Still on Armed Forces Remembrance Day

Last week’s Remembrance Day activities, particularly the interviews some television stations had with retired military personnel and widows of fallen heroes, should be an opportunity to reflect on the enormous sacrifices men in arms have made to the stability and defence of the country’s territorial integrity. It should also be an opportunity to examine whether the nation has done or is doing enough to appreciate serving, retired or fallen military personnel. The many insurgencies in some parts of the country make this examination more urgent. Daily, soldiers are either killed, maimed or psychologically impaired for life, implying lives truncated, families and family ties disrupted, and ambitions delayed or destroyed. Despite the sometimes difficult relationship between military and civilians, and the appalling records of particularly murderous military regimes, it is time to focus attention in the right direction of making military service worthwhile for soldiers.

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Far beyond building barracks or adequately funding educational and health institutions run by the military, it may also be time, especially at a time of grinding economic upheavals, to establish and fund highly discounted markets and supermarkets for military personnel, where they could buy necessities for approximately half the price. Then the government must find the right formula that continues to cater for retired personnel as well as shield, within acceptable and reasonable limits, families of fallen heroes from economic vicissitudes. The government can of course not underwrite these changes alone, but they have a duty to lead the effort and campaign. Sometimes, little things matter. Soldiers at the war front need to know that sacrificing their lives, or ambitions in case of lifelong injuries, for a noble cause would not be in vain, and that their loved ones would not end up holding the short end of the stick.

January 19, 2025
Emir Sanusi takes offence

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, was unsparing of the Bola Tinubu administration’s economic management style last week in Lagos when he gave a few remarks at the 21st memorial lecture of Chief Gani Fawehinmi organised by the Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Without his effervescent and controversial remarks, it is doubtful whether the NBA (Ikeja branch) lecture would have attracted the kind of publicity it received in the following day’s media reports. The emir, whose throne is still disputed in court following his deposition by former governor Abdullahi Ganduje and reinstatement by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, can be trusted to attract newspaper headlines any day.

In his remarks at the NBA lecture he seemed unsure he still had friends in the administration, perhaps because he doubted their commitment to his efforts to reclaim the stool he believed he lost unfairly when the then governor, Dr Ganduje, who is now the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, deposed him. When he spoke of their lack of commitment to him, it was an oblique reference to the protractedness of the court cases barring him from being the undisputed Kano emir. When he spoke about the administration’s controversial and unnerving economic reforms, it was also an indication that he still recognised them as friends who were nevertheless reluctant or unwilling to behave as friends. If they were reluctant to requite his love, he would not feel bound to help them, he said, inferring both their absolution and their pigheadedness.

Said he: “I have decided not to speak about the economy or the reforms, nor to explain anything regarding them. If I explained, it would only benefit this government, and I don’t want to aid this government. I can stand here today, to be honest, and give a few points that are contrary, a few points that explain perhaps what we’re going through and how it was totally predictable—most of it, and maybe avoidable. But I’m not going to do that. They’re my friends. If they don’t behave like friends, I don’t behave like a friend. So, I watch them being stewed, and they don’t even have people with credibility who can come and explain what they’re doing. But I’m not going to help. Let them come and explain to Nigerians why the policies that are being pursued are being pursued. Meanwhile, I’m watching a very nice movie with popcorn in my hands. What we are going through today is, at least in part—not totally, at least in part—a necessary consequence of decades of irresponsible economic management.”

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The administration’s response was rather copious but also tame. They do not need his approval, Information minister Mohammed Idris said, suggesting pointedly that the administration understood that the emir was unable or unkeen to subsume personal interest under national interest. Indeed, apart from justifying their economic measures and proving that they had the competence to explain themselves, contrary to the emir’s cavil, the administration centred its rebuttal on the shocking fact that for Emir Sanusi, it was all about his person, not strictly the policies of the administration nor presidency staff. In his remarks at the NBA lecture, the emir deployed pungent satire to capture the administration’s troubles with Nigeria’s long-suffering public. Hear him: “I don’t want to aid this government; I’m watching them being stewed; they don’t have people with credibility who can explain their policies; I’m watching a very nice movie with popcorn in my hands…”

Emir Sanusi has always been controversial and impetuous. The problem, as the Information minister said, is not that he took issue with any government policy, the big problem is how he failed to realise that his statements show the disturbing inner workings of his mind: his immense self-centredness, his obsession with his ‘immaculate’ worldview, and his incredible willingness to sacrifice anything, including friendship and patriotism, to achieve his private and limited objectives. He is probably right that despite pursuing the right course and policies, the administration has been awkward in explaining themselves. He is also probably right that some of the administration’s policies have been blunted or even inadequate in tackling the country’s socio-economic crisis. And who can refute the emir’s conviction that some of the administration’s officials have been ill-equipped for the tasks at hand. Yes, the emir has ample reasons to be cautious about his optimism, but he also probably flaunts and exaggerates his eloquence which he sometimes substitute for substance, as his alleged profligate first term on the Kano throne indicated, not to talk of his equally controversial and partially undisciplined tenure at the CBN also showed.

In his NBA lecture remarks, Emir Sanusi may have displayed uncommon candour, but he probably underestimates the intelligence and character of many of his listeners, some of whom would have been dismayed at how petty he sounded. To withhold advice to the nation, if not an administration he confessed was staffed by his friends, simply because he was spurned, is to display the crassest measure of self-importance and meanness anyone is capable of exhibiting. His audience would have seen him for what he truly is, a man and traditional ruler strangely lacking in wisdom and noblesse oblige. If he didn’t see the pitfalls of being viewed as a man lacking in generosity of spirit, then he is in fact overrated, regardless of his intellectual profundity and eloquence. When he made the statement of not being eager to help the administration, the applause was muted, and the snickers subdued. His audience probably shuddered at his confessions and shrunk at his lack of circumspection. Indeed, there is a limit to candour and selfishness.

Emir Sanusi forgets himself very quickly. He may disregard the reasons behind his dethronement, but it will be baffling if he also downplays the superficial and crassly political reasons for his restoration to the throne. He is a ready and clearly willing tool in the fight between New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former governor of the state, and Dr Ganduje, Gov Yusuf’s predecessor. The combatants can’t stand each other, and will deploy anyone or tool in the service of prosecuting the war. This is why the restored emir is useful, probably only or mainly as a battering ram. But few Kanawa can forget that Dr Ganduje managed to carry out his wish against the emir through a process that passed muster. There was a query, an inquiry, then a dethronement. The inquiry was largely hinged on the emir’s alleged profligacy and refusal to be accountable, a strange behaviour for someone who rose to the position of Governor of the nation’s Central Bank. Had the emir been less voluble and critical of the governor’s policies and style of governance, Dr Ganduje, who was immersed in controversies of his own, would have been sparing. But the emir displayed immense sense of entitlement, not responsibility, and he further scoffed at the efforts to remove him, culminating in his deposition in March 2020.

Emir Sanusi possesses the capacity to always reenact his overreach, sermonising against his unfriendly friends as well as his enemies with equal passion. In the NBA lecture, he trained his guns on the current federal administration, revealing to everyone’s amazement that he was doing so because the administration refused to acknowledge him in certain ways and over certain issues. This style has become, for him, idiosyncratic. He will repeat the NBA-like harangue now or in the future when anyone, friend or foe, crosses his path. He can’t help it. There is no altruism in his methods, and he does not care. Consumed by self-consideration, he will not be denied what he thought heaven and tradition, not to say intellect and aristocracy, has vouchsafed him. It is just as well that one of his closest friends is the stormy petrel of Kaduna politics, the inimitable Nasir el-Rufai, a former governor. Both are incurably entitled, and both can be appallingly acerbic when denied. They do not think they are ever wrong; indeed they do not think they can be wrong. Intelligent, courageous, proud of their Fulani heritage, and imperial and ruthlessly vindictive, all that remains for them, as their chequered years in politics and monarchy have exposed, is to develop the character necessary to produce the staying power they covet and the pillars to anchor their tall ambitions.

January 19, 2025
State courts troubling, undermining democracy

Sooner or later, the Bola Tinubu administration will have to focus on state courts, far beyond the laudable feats of raising the pay of judicial officers and driving the financial autonomy of the judiciary. The reason is simple: at the states level, judges and magistrates are overweeningly beholden to governors and senior state officials. Many of the judges lack any sense of independence and judicial rectitude. Judgements from state courts in Rivers (Governor Siminalayi Fubara V. Nyesom Wike), in Kogi (In the heady days of the pretentious Yahaya Bello), and in Kano (The battle of the emirs) have been troubling and depressing. There are of course many other examples elsewhere in the states, examples designed to stymie justice and fair play, but in recent months and years, the Kano, Kogi and especially Rivers examples of far-fetched legal interpretations or outright perversion of justice take the biscuit.

Reforms are desperately needed to curb the malady. Nigeria’s various judicial regulatory authorities, including the National Judicial Council, Federal Judicial Service Commission, and State Judicial Service Commission, have only made a partial dent on keeping judicial appointees on the straight and narrow path. In addition, neither the Nigerian Bar Association nor the Body of Benchers has been able to aid the effort to make judicial officers models of rectitude. There is plenty of work to be done, not only in sanitising the judiciary and raising its competence level; there is also quite a lot to be done to get state judicial administrators, working by themselves or in league with state executives, to institute fairness in the administration of justice. In fact, and sadly, many state judiciaries have managed disreputably to suffuse their operations with ethnic and religious colourations.

In the months Mr Bello of Kogi State played hide-and-seek with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when they sought him, one or two state courts startled everyone with their ill-considered judgements. In Kano, the courts are stalling and playing ducks and drakes with its emirs’ stability and composure. And in Rivers, the courts forsook reason, abandoned their independence, and are playing the harlot with the executive branch. They cannot be trusted to self-regulate, regardless of what the law says. They are too far gone in their excesses and harlotry. The Tinubu administration cannot pretend that these dire problems do not exist, and he can also not attempt to dive into the quagmire and directly reform and recalibrate the judiciary. Yet, it has a duty not to leave the judiciary as it met it. Everyone knows that the third arm of government is in trouble, and is also troubling Nigerian democracy. The administration must, therefore, first empanel a group of legal experts to study the problem and get to the root of the crisis before proposing lasting remedies. Yes, Nigerians have a fair idea of what is wrong, but the panel should be able to dig deeper. Secondly, the administration should thereafter sponsor legislation, not too dissimilar to the new tax reform bills, to tackle the rot. Here it will need the help of retired but incorruptible jurists who have tracked the decay and decline in the judiciary for years, if not for decades.

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The Tinubu administration cannot afford to leave the judiciary as it is, abandoning the third arm of government to appointees who lack the intellect and character needed to preserve, promote and strengthen the judicial arm. Nigerians sneer at the tainted process of appointing judicial officers, which are sometimes carried out in flagrant disregard of competence, and sometimes to promote ethnic and religious agenda. Nigerians are exhausted with the operations of their courts, and they need to be succoured, not palliated with cosmetic changes. The National Assembly could attempt a fundamental remake of the judiciary through novel lawmaking, but lawmakers are either too distracted to pay attention to the problem or too tainted themselves to exercise both the gumption and character needed for a comprehensive overhaul. Much more, the legislature does not have the kind of courage President Tinubu summoned to back the tax reform bills to the hilt. The lawmakers seem prone to wilt in the face of the most perfunctory and tepid of challenges. That leaves only the executive branch, assuming President Tinubu can be encouraged to turn his attention to an arm of government certain to doom Nigerian democracy if it is left to its own devices.

It would be a relief if the president can be persuaded to turn his gaze upon the judiciary. Would it be certain that whatever reforms he proposed could do the job of repositioning the third arm of government? No one can tell with certainty. Hopefully, he will get it right, as he has done with the tax bills, and indeed with so many of his other policies, despite initial misgivings and hiccups. The operation of the rule of law upon which investment in any country is hinged depends on the justice system. But Nigeria has only a form of justice system; it is sadly crippled by incompetent and cowardly judicial officers. Their problem is, however, not a lack of brilliance; the problem is that in the Nigerian judiciary, often competent and courageous judges are endangered species weeded out by perverse forms of natural selection. Hopefully, the reforms, if and when they come, will repair the breaches.

January 19, 2025
IGP and insurance snafu

Two factors informed the rather unusual and direct intervention of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, in the looming enforcement of Motor Third Party insurance cover for vehicles on Nigerian roads. One, according to him and estimates by insurance experts, only about 30 percent of vehicles plying Nigerian roads are insured. Two, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has itself entered the insurance business by establishing the NPF Insurance Limited, and was recently granted licence, according to a business newspaper. So, when the IGP announced the beginning of enforcement from February 1, it is clear what the motivations are.

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With the entry into the fray of the police insurance company, the police are clearly out to make money and profits, especially as third party premiums are virtually free money to operators. That the motoring public would conclude that most police enforcements are profit driven, including the illogical annual revalidation of vehicle proof of ownership, is not an exaggeration. The police are clearly underfunded; but to engage in brazen measures that earn the police economic profit in its interactions with the public during law enforcement may indicate that the Ministry of Police Affairs and the National Assembly have abdicated their responsibilities to the public, and have shown a debilitating misconception of the philosophy of law enforcement and national security.

Like military chiefs under the last administration who instigated the siting of tertiary institutions in their homesteads, the police are setting themselves up for a dangerous enactment of conflict of interest. They have always been accused of extortion during law enforcement, but they have consistently denied the allegations and even punished malfeasant officers who ran afoul of service regulations, now they will lack the legitimacy to argue their innocence. At a time when insecurity has multiplied by leaps and bounds, the police appear determined to be distracted. It remains to find out who will nudge them to retrace their steps and increase and sharpen their professionalism.

January 19, 2025
Institutional decay and the ancient tradition
- Towards a reform of the Yoruba kingship system
A royal drama of succession has just wound down in the storied metropolis of Oyo. While it lasted, the whole world waited with bated breath to see which way the pendulum would swing. This is not the first time people would be witnessing such fierce and bitter contention among royal siblings who can trace their genealogy to the same primogenitor, and it will not be the last time as long as the authorities fail to do the needful to reflect changing times and their changing ethos.

The Yoruba royal institution has suffered so much battering and indignities in recent time that it will take years if not decades to redeem its image and return it to its old prestige and pristine grandeur. Luckily, traditional rulers do not die every day. So, there is plenty of room for much needed reforms of the Obaship institution. All this may just be warning signals or indications of an approaching end of an epoch. The fact that three major Yoruba towns, namely Ogbomosho, Ilesha and Oyo, have been plagued in quick succession by much discord and rancour particularly among the ruling elite of the cities is a dire omen which should not be ignored.

   When you combine inevitable institutional decay with the irreversible onslaught of modernity, this is the most likely outcome and it is often so bizarre and fanciful that the audience can no longer be separated from the drama, like worshippers hypnotized into mass frenzy in a religious revival. The drummer no longer communicates with the dancer and the wondrous symphony of shared cultural affinities is lost. Disharmony and disruption of rhythm reign supreme and mere confusion is unleashed on the community. Sometimes, we have seen the process work perfectly and seamlessly, that is if the voice of the oracle is also the voice of the most powerful, most influential and richest in the land. But all hell is let loose when there is a rupture of consensus; when the oracle is seen to be misled and misleading to the bargain leading to a crisis of spiritual confidence.

In certain communities, this oracular confusion or mendacity is viewed with such displeasure that both the oracles and the ancient deities were assembled for summary execution. Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God opened with such apocalyptic bloodletting when the people felt that the old gods could no longer pass muster and promptly took them out for open dismemberment. Surveying the Homeric gore and other indignant infractions of the sacred procedure from the optics of his myth-ridden and god-suffused Yoruba people, Wole Soyinka chided Achebe for a dogged and relentless secularization of the profoundly mystical.

   Well, let the profoundly mystical beware. And let those who casually dispose of their gods and oracles also beware. These ancient curios are nothing but ideological state apparatuses with which the old pre-colonial state instilled terror and compliance in the populace and through which they contain the murderous mobs and the hysterical masses. It is not out of frivolity that Peter Morton, an early visitor to the new Egba settlement of Abeokuta, described members of the Ogboni Confraternity, those grizzled custodians of the Yoruba Deep State, as “mystery-mongering greybeards”. Little wonder that these ideological apparatuses retain a lingering efficacy beyond the superannuation of their material and historical basis.

But human memory is short and brittle indeed. Those who accuse Seyi Makinde of a political sleight of hand and of reaching for a metaphysical deus ex machina to leverage his secular authority in this matter might have succumbed to habits of forgetfulness. It is not the first time this will be happening in the checkered history of the Yoruba people. At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, the oracle is made for humankind and not the other way round. Makinde has not discarded it. But in the circumstance, he has done the wisest and most politically savvy thing to reach the oracle through a different spiritual medium, in this case, the distinguished and much garlanded spiritualist and Ifa priest, Professor Wande Abimbola. According to his school mates at Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, the professor was known as Wande Iroko in that youthful incarnation, a storied cognomen which bespoke the native prowess of his forbears.

   Almost sixty years ago after the incumbent Alaafin, Oba Gbadegesin Ladigbolu, joined his ancestors, the struggle to produce the next Alaafin became so rancorous and hate-filled that the military government of Western Nigeria was forced put a lid on the deadlocked process citing the civil war and the need for all hands to be on deck. Upon resumption of the search immediately after the civil war, the authorities jettisoned the old spiritual mediums and went for a new one in the person of the much revered Oni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, who immediately went into spiritual seclusion. After seven days of deep consultation, the great man emerged to inform the emissaries that the oracle was in favour of any of the contestants whose father ”has done it before”. (Omo eniti o ti seri)

The royal cap fitted Prince Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi and from that point, he became the last man standing. Nobody could fault the old Oba because of his matchless integrity, his unimpeachable character and sterling reputation for fairness and justice. Please note that the Ife monarch had no business extending any sympathy to the son of a man who was his stubborn political adversary and an unwavering NCNC supporter. So far, nobody has faulted Professor Wande Abimbola’s equally fearsome reputation for honesty and integrity. By his own admission, he was approached by members of the Oyomesi in council to juggle with the finding of the oracle, a move which he stoutly rebuffed. Had he compromised or succumbed in any manner, the whole thing would have been an exercise in futility and there is every possibility that the ancient town would have erupted.

   That possibility can still not be lightly discounted. The sparse crowd that accompanied the new king to his royal domain suggests a deeply divided royal metropolis. It is a long time the new Alaafin’s branch of the royal household produced an incumbent. He himself has been away in the Diaspora for quite some time without any sterling connection with the home crowd. He is acceding to the throne of his forefathers in an emergency, so to say. He will need to reach out to numerous former rivals in the extended Atiba dynasty. This is not the first time a leading Yoruba monarch has been forced to master the ropes while on the throne. He will need to assemble a team of first class royal groomers. An obviously humble and unassuming fellow, he will need to stamp his authority on his domain as quickly as possible. There is some need for improvement in mien and carriage. Oba Akeem Abimbola Owoade will not be the first leading Yoruba monarch to learn on the job and to go on to excel, surpassing all expectations. The polity is surfeit with glorious examples.

Lastly, it must be noted that this less than edifying episode is a confirmation of the institutional decay and decline of the royal rampart which was the pride of the entire Yoruba race and the old Oyo Empire. First, the empire succumbed to the feudal cavalry mounted from the new Sultanate outpost of Ilorin. But this only resulted in displacement and disparagement rather than total destruction. However, if the colonial irruption stripped it of the power of enforcement and coercion, the relentless onslaught of modernity has shorn it of its feudal prestige and aura of invincibility. In the event, any selection process anchored on these pillars of legitimacy is bound to end an unworthy charade. This is what has just played out. There is an urgent need for a reform of the process.

The role of the Oyomesi in this royal fiasco is not particularly ennobling. They have come to see the selection of an Alaafin as a once in a lifetime bazaar and royal round tripping. The Ifa oracle itself must be exhausted and impoverished after the latest round of royal extortion. This would have been unthinkable in generations of yore when the empire was at the zenith of its power and glory. They would have tasted the swift retribution meant for those in breach of royal regulations. But it must be remembered that they are products of their age and time, just like the fabled Elesin Oba who refused against the demand of timeworn tradition to follow his principal to his final resting abode. No single individual however exceptional and heroic, or class, or creed, or guild or caste can be made to bear full responsibility for institutional decay or systemic unraveling. Everybody must have made their contribution either in fault or by default. This is why Governor Makinde must give the Oyomesi some breather by dropping the threat of prosecution once the old men have indicated a willingness to buy into the new order.

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It is in the light of the institutional degeneracy that many critics are calling for an outright abolition of the whole indigenous ruling system. This is akin to throwing the baby out with the tub water and the tub itself. This is not possible or feasible except in a situation of momentous revolutionary upheaval and total convulsion which opens the door to anarchy and chaos. Except we are enamoured of the situation in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the CAR, the subsisting multi-ethnic and multi-identity framework of postcolonial Nigeria does not admit of such violent disruptions. The traditional institution is the least of Nigeria’s problems. As a matter of fact, despite its hobbled nature, the institution has been closest to the pulse of the people. When the local rulers are drivers of the process as farmers or traders, they foster accelerated agricultural growth and development. This is a process yours sincerely has monitored in several Yoruba communities. When blessed with wisdom and judgment, indigenous Obas and Baales also settle communal strife and douse inter-communal friction in a way that is beyond the vision and capacity of the political class.

Given the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nature of the nation, the performance of its indigenous rulers is bound to be mixed and uneven, even when it is true that they were all put in the colonial slammer. Whatever the systemic infirmities and frailties, it will be difficult to persuade an average Yoruba person to let go of the system. The same is also true of people in the ancillary states of Kogi, Edo, Delta and Benue who share some cultural affinities with the Yoruba people. In the last century since the collapse of the old indigenous order and triumph of colonialism, Yoruba Obas have become endlessly resourceful in political matters and ceaseless self-inventing when it comes to crowd psychology.

Of these remarkable sovereigns, none was more versatile and gifted than the last incumbent to occupy the Oyo throne. The late Alaafin was a scholar, a journalist, a historian, a boxer with a lethal left hook, a dancer of exemplary skills and an occultist of great power.. He was also a man of immense personal charm and electrifying magnetism. Barely five years after acceding to the throne of his ancestors both Ebenezer Obey and Sunny Ade, the two leading Yoruba musicians, were already singing his praises to high heavens. It is a tough act to follow and the new Alaafin should not even bother. He should follow his own instincts and lay down his own example through his God-given endowments. There lies the path to distinction.

As we can see from the above, it is not over yet for traditional rulership in Yorubaland, despite the tumult and turbulence occasioned by the onslaught of modernity. But some fundamental tinkering with the process of selection is imperative at this point. To the various princes of the Atiba clan, it is apt to remind them that but for the quick thinking, bravery, farsightedness and capacity for reform and innovation of the founding father, the entire dynasty and perhaps the throne itself could have perished in the ruins and rubble of the old capital at Oyo-Ile after the empire finally crumbled. To fight bravely and to retreat courageously is the hallmark of the Oyo people. It must not be said that a lion gave birth to lizards.
January 19, 2025
FOR MARK NWAGWU

(Forever Chimes)

Forever chimes

That guileless smile on your lips

Cordial like a cool, refreshing breeze

Forever chimes

Your laugher, clear and vigorous

Like the music of a friendly wind

Forever chimes

Catholic in their protean possibilities

Inclusive in their ecumenical span

Forever chimes

The plural capacity of your tent

Its wide and wondrous canvas

Forever chimes

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The polyphony of its quests

The rousing rainbow of its dreams

Forever chimes

The Science of your being

The Being of your Science

Forever chimes

Of that double helix

At the crossroads of our biding essence

Forever chimes

Its spiral song, crimson chorus

And vital complexities

Forever chimes

The seeker’s relentless search

The microscope’s Eureka moments

Scientist, Poet, Scholar without Borders

The season rocks to the music of your Muse

Forever chimes….

Title of one of Professor Nwagwu’s literary works

January 19, 2025
Transience of power (2)

Power is alluring. Public office at whatever level is captivating. At any gathering, the presence of men of power and influence is usually electrifying. Power opens doors; power is the key to the doors. Indeed, power is the door.

But the exercise of power could also entrap. It could become risky for those who allow power to corrupt them and draw the wool across their eyes. The first casualty of power is humility. It takes wisdom for those in authority to appreciate that power is ultimately transient and that no condition is permanent. Even kingdoms and empires have expiry dates.

When a man falls from the Olympian heights of power, discerning mortals take caution; they heed the mute echoes of precaution. The lessons are plenty for those willing to learn. Learning, as it is said, implies a change in behaviour due to experience or exposure.

Also important are the psychological tools of realistic self-assessment and public perception of those who exercise power and authority. Wise leaders always avoid getting themselves used by power instead of using it for all good.

Lagos State has produced five Speakers – Olorunnimbe Mamora, Joko Pelumi, Yemi Ikuforiji, Mudashiru Obasa and Lasba Meranda. If Obasa had learnt useful lessons from the fate of two of his predecessors, perhaps, he would have been wiser. Pelumi, a lawyer, was kicked out after two years. Ikuforiji spent 10 years as a Speaker only to spend the next 10 years answering charges in court. Up to now, there seems to be no respite in sight.

Those who survive in politics are rated as assets, but those who fall are perceived as liabilities. In some settings, it is always difficult to rise after a fall from power. This is the reason those wielding the power of incumbency should tread softly because theirs is a more slippery ground than that of the people they lead.

Perhaps, Obasa now understands the meaning of reality. He had jetted to the United States, obviously with pomp, as Speaker. Disrobed in absentia, he will now be returning to the hallowed chamber, not as the presiding officer, but as a floor member, having been rejected by his colleagues and majority of party leaders.

A month ago, a vote of confidence was passed in him by all the lawmakers, but the same lawmakers have drawn the curtains on his tenure as Speaker through an impeachment. He had his eyes on the Governor’s Office in 2027, so it was said. In the first month of 2025, the ambition collapsed like a pack of cards. His flame of ambition suddenly flickered into a nightmare.

The handwriting was boldly on the wall; perhaps, the former Speaker chose to ignore it. Obasa’s sins include the delay in passing the budget and screening of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) members. Open confrontations with colleagues who are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and his disdain for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu have never gone well with key party leaders. The media report on the feud between Obasa, who wielded the big stick, and his four colleagues – who were made to crawl before him – drew negative attention to the Lagos Assembly.

Obasa had suddenly announced the removal of two principal officers of the Assembly: Chief Whip Rotimi Abiru (Somolu II) and Deputy Majority Leader Olumiyiwa Jimoh (Apapa II) and pronounced indefinite suspension on two other members – Moshood Oshun, now a federal legislator, and Raheem Olawale. The offices of two of the lawmakers were sealed on the order of the erstwhile Speaker.

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The Governance Advisory Council (GAC) leader, Prince Oluyole Olusi, was inundated with multiple complaints about the cracks in the House. He reasoned that the timing was bad, as it coincided with the period some party stalwarts were plotting to remove the then National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, in bad faith.

Olusi felt that insinuations might be made that the Lagos APC had also been seized by internal contradictions and a self-inflicted crisis. He berated the lawmakers for their insensitivity. In his view, if the crisis persisted, it would be illogically interpreted as an implosion in Tinubu’s Lagos political base by “frenemies” who deliberately planned to blow the matter out of proportion. Also, the former state chairman of the party, Tunde Balogun, reiterated that the punishment was too harsh because the lawmakers were loyal party members. Nevertheless suspended lawmakers were not allowed to return to their principal offices.

In the last five years, evidence of friction between Sanwo-Olu and Obasa abounds. This is known to the party leadership and other stakeholders. The former Speaker had always shunned most state functions, fueling the feeling of ruptured Executive/Legislative relations. The governor has been absorbent and reticent about the brickbats the erstwhile Speaker had been hurling at him in the public glare. The public was not unmindful of the governor’s uncommon maturity and philosophical calmness. Sanwo-Olu never allowed the direct parliamentary onslaught to cause any distraction in his focused style of governance. He demonstrated top-notch leadership traits.

The miniature gap in the list of commissioner-nominees was capitalised upon due to the fugacious uproar it initially generated in some local governments. To observers, the sensitive issues could have been ironed out indoors in an atmosphere of brotherhood. But the list was thrown out in mockery and an unnecessary tension was created between the community of politicians and comity of technocrats. The former Speaker, in a derisive manner, created a scene in social media where he made unguarded statements against the governor.

The drama in the House during the budget presentation was an eyesore. That day, cordiality was thrown overboard the ship of camaraderie. It was as if Sanwo-Olu and Obasa came from different political parties. The governor’s advance party was dazed when it discovered that the parliament was not welcoming. When the lawmakers arrived, the usual conviviality was absent. Although they are not cultists, the honourable members appeared in customised dark goggles. They did not accord the state Chief Executive the conviviality he deserved on such an auspicious occasion. It was a raw deal he got instead, something akin to what is called in parliamentary parlance the treatment of a “stranger”.

Sanwo-Olu walked in, like an ordinary figure, while a lawmaker was making a speech. The lawmaker tried to pause; the Speaker beckoned on him to continue. The ‘Budget of Sustainability’ was delivered in an atmosphere of obvious discord.

After the House had passed an imaginary vote of confidence in the Speaker, he made a fairly long speech, which implied the arrogance of power and parliamentary recklessness.

It was one moment of intimidation, ignorance, rascality and failure. The former Speaker likened the Lagos House of Assembly to “a sanctuary and temple.” Obasa said no one would violate any temple and expect the gods to accept his or her sacrifice. He added: “If such happens, there must be an appeasement to the gods to accept such atonement. This institution remains resolute. We will never be disgraced, abused, or ridiculed in the name of creating a seamless working ambiance.”

Then, discarding any kind of pretensions or diplomacy, the ex-Speaker retorted: “Those who live in glass houses must not throw stones, as the saying goes. This also brings to my mind, according to our people: eni ba yara l’oogun ngbe – meaning: the god of iron aids the swift).”

The interpretation any observer would give the statement is: “Attack is the best form of defence.

Then, Obasa spoke on his governorship aspiration, which he said he had not given serious thought to, despite the complaints by “blackmailers”, “detractors” and “naysayers,” who he claimed had distorted facts and “misconstrued” his intention. He said the focus of his mobilisation was to build support for the Lagos APC on the platform of Mandate Caucus, a rival to the older and influential “Justice Forum”.

Obasa boasted that “nevertheless, that does not mean I am too young or lack the experience to run,” adding that after all, “those who have been before me are not better off”.

Many were taken aback because those who have been elected governors of Lagos are: Lateef Jakande, Michael Otedola, President Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola, Akinwunmi Ambode, and Sanwo-Olu. Past military governors are: Brig-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson, Col. Adekunle Lawal, Admiral Ndubusi Kanu, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, Group Captain Gbolahan Mudashiru, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, Brig-Gen. Raji Rasaki, Brig-Gen. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and Brig-Gen. Buba Marwa.

To critics, who alleged that Obasa was trying to rent a family through bribery, he said: “I do not need local validity to contest or run. If eventually I am contesting, I will do so from Agege.”

The outburst was the last straw. The Party Leader reportedly lamented that an emperor had emerged in the Lagos Assembly. Also, the GAC suddenly realised that the privilege of a long tenure as head of the legislature had been abused. On that note, Obasa’s days were numbered as Speaker.

But the impeachment is not the end of the matter. The burden of labelling and indirect ostracism is real. It may lead to adjustment difficulties due to the sudden status change and loss of treasured privilege as a power broker. Already, there is a predictable threat to his structure, and it is unlikely Obasa would be relied upon by the party as their Agege pointsman.

The erstwhile Speaker would need to be reconciled with the governor, who has said he has no hands in the removal of the embattled lawmaker. Obasa also needs to appease the party elders who felt that he had disrespected them by disrespecting the governor.

His colleagues have said he was sacked due to alleged gross misconduct: misappropriation of funds, high-handedness, and lack of transparency in the management of the Assembly’s affairs. Therefore, the former Speaker also needs to mend fences with his colleagues whose support and forgiveness would facilitate his adaptation to his new role as a floor member of the House.

January 18, 2025
The crisis of tertiary education funding in Nigeria

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, faces a critical challenge in its tertiary education sector. The persistent underfunding of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education has created a cascade of problems that readily threaten the nation’s academic standards, workforce development, and its potential for economic growth.

The roots of Nigeria’s tertiary education funding crisis can be traced to the 70’s when the military began making significant cuts in the budgets for tertiary education. By the 80’s, this had become the norm which then led to a number of disagreements between the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU , other academic pressure groups and the Federal Government. Alongside these cuts came the establishment of more tertiary institutions leaving many Nigerians puzzled as to the rationale for the creation of more institutions while the existing ones were largely underfunded. While the number of tertiary institutions has grown substantially since Nigeria’s independence—from just one institution as at 1947 to in over 670 today— funding has not kept pace with this expansion. The federal government’s allocation to education consistently falls below the UNESCO-recommended 26% of national budget, often hovering around 7-8%.

This funding gap has created a severe strain on the system. In 2023, Nigerian public universities received less than 60% of their budgetary requirements, forcing many institutions to operate with deteriorating infrastructure, outdated laboratory equipment, and insufficient teaching resources. The situation is even more worrisome in our state universities, where funding is even more precarious due to competing demands on state resources.

The implications of this funding shortage are far-reaching and multifaceted. First, the quality of education has suffered significantly. Overcrowded lecture halls, where students sometimes stand or sit on windows to attend classes, have become commonplace. Laboratory sessions in science, engineering and medicine programs often involve students watching demonstrations rather than gaining hands-on experience due to the dearth of equipment.

The funding crisis has also led to a “brain drain” among academic staff. Unable to secure competitive salaries and research grants at home, many qualified Nigerian academics have sought opportunities abroad. This moden day exodus of talent has created a shortage of experienced lecturers, particularly in specialized fields like medicine, engineering, and technology.

Again, there is the negative impact on the quality of research output, which is a crucial indicator of academic excellence, has been severely affected. Nigerian universities struggle to fund quality research projects, maintain current journal subscriptions, or participate in international academic conferences. This limitation has affected the country’s propensity to effectively contribute to global knowledge production and innovation. According to recent data, Nigeria’s research output per capita remains significantly lower than other major African economies like South Africa, Egypt and Tunisia.

Such lack of research funding has particularly impacted postgraduate education. Many potential graduate students either abandon their studies or seek opportunities outside the nation’s shores, creating a gap in the pipeline of future academics and researchers. This brain drain perpetuates a trend of declining academic standards.

The underfunding of tertiary education in Nigeria also has broader socioeconomic consequences. With such limited resources, universities cannot adequately prepare graduates for the modern workforce. Employers often complaining about the wide skill gaps among Nigerian graduates has become a recurring discussion, these employers now have to add training investments costing them more than what they ought to expend, such mismatch between education and industry needs is an indicator of the country’s high youth unemployment rate.

Furthermore, the funding crisis has scapegoated the ordinary Nigerian who now has to pay through his nose to acquire an education as the schools transfer the costs to students and their families. As institutions struggle to cover operational expenses, they often transfer these costs to students through various fees and charges. This has made higher education increasingly unaffordable for many Nigerians, making worse the existing state of social inequality.

Read Also: ASUU warns against abolishing TETFund, says it’s a threat to tertiary education

Various attempts have been made to address the funding crisis. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was established to provide additional funding through a 2.5% tax on corporate profits. While TETFund has made some impact, its resources are stretched thin across the growing number of institutions. Private universities have emerged as an alternative, but then their high fees also make them inaccessible to most Nigerians.

Addressing Nigeria’s tertiary education funding crisis requires a multi-faceted approach. Firstly, there needs to be a significant increase in government spending on education to either meet or cap the UNESCO-recommended benchmark, accompanying this should be thorough reforms in fund allocation and utilization to ensure efficiency and transparency in the tertiary education sector.

Again, there is also need for our institutions to diversify their funding sources through research commercialization, partnerships with industry, and alumni networks.

The consequences of continued underfunding will remain severe towards our nation’s race towards development and self sufficiency. Without ensuring that tertiary education is matched with quality funcing, the nation’s desire for development will be nothing but a fleeting illusion and we risk falling further behind our peers.

January 18, 2025
PBAT, hunger and the fierce urgency of now (2)

The radical political economist, Professor Claude Ake, wryly noted in his classic, ‘The Political Economy of Africa’ that “It is true that man cannot live on bread alone. But it is a more fundamental truth that man cannot live without bread”. Although Ake was taking a subtle dig at the Lord Jesus Christ’s contention that man needs spiritual nourishing as much as material sustenance, the truth is that implicit in Christ’s cryptic assertion is the realization of the vitality of food to human existence. Such is the degree of hunger in the country today largely as a result of the soaring prices of food items beyond the rich of the vast majority of Nigerians that a special report in the Vanguard Newspaper yesterday that many families are being forced to resort to desperate, unhygienic and dangerous means of feeding themselves with negative consequences for their physical, psychological and mental well-being.

The insufficiency and unaffordability of food can constitute a huge security risk in a fragile democracy like ours where elements of the opposition are all too eager to exploit all means to discredit not just the government in power for which they harbour visceral hatred but also delegitimize democracy and destabilize the polity. For instance, the Tinubu administration’s implacable adversaries attribute the unfortunate deaths as a result of stampedes for food palliatives in some parts of the country during the last festive period to the degree of poverty created by the government’s policies while others derisively refer to the queues in front of the President’s Bourdillon residence in Ikoyi, last December waiting to collect Christmas and end of year handouts as indicative of the negative implications of his policies.

Yet, this had been the practice during festive periods since the inception of this dispensation in 1999 long before Tinubu became President. Indeed, I recall that in the 1970s in the GRA area of Ilorin along Police Road where the late Senator Olusola Saraki had his residence at the time, large crowds always gathered at his house both at festive and other periods to benefit from his generosity. I am sure that this practice has been replicated across the country over time and has as much to do with our cultural orientation as a people as with the unacceptable degree of material deprivation and inequality in our society.

In the same vein, rushing for food or other items as well as our penchant for poor organization during social, political and other activities involving large gatherings of people has been well known and has routinely resulted in avoidable mishaps, sometimes tragic, long before now. Even then, the government in power particularly at the centre will sound like giving untenable excuses if it resorts to offering such explanations. Rather, it should utilize the immense powers of the state to mobilize the people to produce food in abundance and allow the interplay of the forces of demand and supply to substantially force down prices when there is a superfluity of food available. The truth of the matter is that given the munificence of fertile land and Favourable climate in large swathes of the country, there is no excuse for our inability to feed our population or the continued high level of food imports in Nigeria.

True, the administration has made large allocations of funds available to the state governments in several tranches since the removal of the fuel subsidy. As at the first half of 2024, for instance, it was estimated that no less than N570 billion was released by the federal government to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens in addition to the direct distribution of food items and cash disbursement to the vulnerable by the central government. While a few of the states have performed creditably in making food and other palliatives available to large numbers of their people, most of the sub-national units of government have been adjudged as being ineffective and making a negligible impact in this regard. In any case, the distribution of palliatives is too susceptible to corruption and diversion and can, even in the best of circumstances, reach only a limited number of people to be a sustainable policy is all too obvious now.

There is thus no alternative to taking necessary measures by all levels of government but especially the sub-national units to dramatically ramp up food productivity to bring down food inflation considerably thereby mitigating current poverty levels. Here again, the Tinubu administration cannot be credibly accused of not making desirable and well-meaning efforts towards achieving this objective. For instance, during the week, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, disclosed that 255 tractors of the 2,000 to be supplied to the country have been delivered and the remaining are expected to arrive on schedule.

Along with each of the 2000 tractors, he explained, 2000 harrows, ploughs, seeders, planters and boom sprayers will be supplied. Accompanying equipment included in this procurement are 1,200 trailers, 9000 sets of spare parts and 10 combined harvesters of 330 horsepower. According to Senator Abubakar Kyari, “These are huge combined harvesters that will be able to do about one and a half hectares per hour. So, if you just imagine, in one hour you’ll be able to do nothing less than 10 hectares. 10 hectares is like 13 football fields…We also have service vehicles, about 12 service vehicles that will come, it’s a mobile workshop with all the items that will be placed in all these areas that we’re going to have those tractors.”

Again, the Agriculture Minister said work was in progress towards the recapitalization of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), before the end of the first quarter of 2025 to enhance funding of smallholder farming activities. Noting that the recapitalization of the bank had been stalled for several years, Senator Kyari stressed that repositioning and strengthening the bank would ensure adequate funding of commercial agriculture to redress a situation whereby the highest commercial loan to the agricultural sector between 2014 and 2021 was N1.04 trillion, a meagre 5.15 per cent of overall commercial bank loans for the seven-year period. In the words of the Minister, “BoA has branches in all the 109 senatorial districts and can reach out easily to those farmers. Smallholder farmers lack capital. We are reorganizing BoA to support what the government is doing in the sense of public financing in the budget and what have you.”

In a similar vein, the sum of N132 billion was provided in the 2025 budget to support farmers through the National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) being set up to address identified impediments to the effectiveness and productivity of the agriculture sector. The Fund would be channelled to achieve improved seedlings through targeted interventions as well as provide grants and subsidies to promote mechanized agriculture, storage facilities and advanced agricultural facilities.

Read Also: FG, states, LGAs share N1.424trn in January 2025

No less significant is the report by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, that the Federal Government has approved a N30 billion grant to 30 public universities of agriculture to commence mechanized farming. Stressing that agriculture is a key sector that must be integrated into academic and research frameworks by these institutions to address rising food insecurity, create jobs and stimulate the economy, Dr. Alausa said each university would receive a take-off grant of N1 billion. This is indeed a radical initiative that will set the pace for the mobilization of the country’s underutilized intellectual resources to achieve set developmental objectives in diverse sectors. For instance, the expertise in the universities of agriculture can be tapped to promote mechanized agriculture and the much needed storage facilities to address the menace of pervasive food spoilage.

Despite the destructive flooding in some states and continued insecurity that affected agricultural harvest in 2024, experts report a continued impressive level of food production in the country hampered, however, by logistics difficulties in transporting food produce from farms to markets across the country. In a statement during the week, the Nigerian-born founder of the Canadian Black Farmers’ Association, Tosin Ajayi, cited the excessive exportation of food as one reason for the food shortage in the country.

He said that the high demand for Nigeria’s staple food items by the country’s citizens in the diaspora has led to a substantial amount of food produced in the country being exported. The problem with agriculture in Nigeria is thus not insufficient productivity but sustainable preservation and local retention of most of the food produced for domestic consumption.

The government should certainly consider Mr Ajayi’s advice on the need to obtain accurate data on the volume and types of foods exported from Nigeria with a view to putting in place measures to control food exports. But then, the impressive policies and structures being put in place by the administration will not automatically translate into improved agricultural productivity without diligent and meticulous implementation as well as the effective mobilization and organization of critical stakeholders, particularly farmers to be active participants in the process. This much is a lesson to be learnt from public policy in the agricultural sector by successive administrations since independence.

Contrary to the oft-repeated view that agriculture was neglected by government in Nigeria with the discovery of petroleum, considerable resources continued to be channelled into agriculture by various governments with only marginal results and the country remaining as food-dependent as ever. In a review of agricultural policy in Nigeria prior to the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the mid-1980s, Abdul Raufu Mustapha, asserts that “the problem of Nigerian agricultural investment from the 1970s was both relative neglect and wasteful expenditure”.

Mustapha notes that “There was the ‘mass exhortation’ programme, Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), which expended much money and effort in getting ill-prepared university undergraduates to go to the rural areas to ‘teach’ the peasant farmers how to farm. Secondly, there was direct government involvement in production through programmes like the National Accelerated Food Production Programme, the National Livestock Production Company and the National Grains Production Company. Thirdly, massive irrigation schemes were constructed under the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs). Fourthly, World Bank-sponsored Integrated Rural Development Projects (IRDPs) were initiated in many parts of the country. Finally, there was the encouragement of large-scale capitalist farming through the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund…”.

Under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, for instance, humongous funds were pumped into the Anchor Borrowers Programme to boost local rice production and achieve self-sufficiency in the product. It remains unclear if there was any correlation between what was achieved in this regard and the amount of resources channelled into the scheme. The Tinubu administration would do well to study why previous efforts at positively transforming the agricultural sector in Nigeria failed so as to avoid past errors this time around. Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s advice in August 1980 on the urgent imperative of organizing Nigerian farmers into modern Cooperatives must be taken seriously and pursued by the current administrations at the federal and state levels as a necessary condition for enhanced agricultural productivity and self-reliance.

If we are to lift the farmers from the prevailing morass of social degradation and economic miseries in order to make them maximally productive, Awolowo argued, “Firstly, the State Governments should take immediate steps to mobilize and organize our farmers into Cooperative Societies throughout the country. A Cooperative Unit of between 100 and 200 practicing farmers, all depending on the type of crops to be cultivated, could be the optimum. In this regard, it must be borne in mind that the individual farmer, except a rich landowner, is not a viable proposition”. He advised that the cooperating farmers be provided with areas of farmland adequate for their aims and objectives as well as massive financial and technical assistance with the proviso that cooperating farmers must “register their organizations as limited liability companies under the Cooperative Law of the state. “

January 18, 2025
What did Chelle say?

Chairman of the National Sports Commission Shehu Dikko likes exhibiting his neatly knitted national dresses with matching fez caps, shoes, and/or slippers at public sporting ceremonies. I couldn’t, however, understand his presence at the unveiling of the new Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle in Abuja on Monday. I thought Dikko could have waited for the NFF team to bring Coach Chelle to his office instead of crowding the media event on Monday.

Why the hurry, my dear Dikko, in attending the unveiling event? Perhaps, it has become necessary to remind you that you are no longer a member of the NFF. You have been elevated to be the face of sports in Nigeria, not football in your capacity as the NSC Chairman. Your ubiquitous presence at photo ops sessions gave the wrong impression that you are not busy which isn’t true. You are full of ideas to lift Nigeria’s sports into its Eldorado. Please sit in your office and work the talk.

Indeed, when England unveiled Thomas Tuchel as the Three Lions manager, the photo session didn’t have suit-wearing administrators like we do here. Tuchel and his assistants had the day. The pictures were about them, not the crowd that almost choked Chelle at his unveiling. Not so for NFF. Everyone in NFF who was in Abuja on Monday imposed himself on the coach. The picture of the day when Austin Eguavoen was being introduced to Chelle was done behind the federation’s President and the commission’s Chairman, success has many fathers. We wait.

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Back to Chelle’s unveiling. NFF President Ibrahim Gusau disclosed that the tactician had signed a two-year contract, with the option of another year, if he qualifies the Super Eagles to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals. Chelle has also come into the job with three assistants and will work with the crew on the ground to enhance the Super Eagles’ brand. He will be with the Super Eagles B – which is preparing for the upcoming 8th African Nations Championship – only in a supervisory role.

Those who thought that the NFF bigwigs were infallible with their sacrosanct pronouncements should cover their faces in shame. Gusau has reversed himself by saying that Chelle will work with the Nigerian coaches in the Super Eagles. Gusau also stated that Chelle would work with the CHAN team in an advisory role. These two policy reversals have restored the dignity of the Nigerian coaches and recognition of their tactical savvy. After all, they would be paid with taxpayers’ money. How would Gusau have felt if he stuck to his earlier decision that Chelle should handle the CHAN assignment now that CAF has postponed the tournament from February 1 to August this year? Eggs on his face definitely.

Our dear NFF President, is it true that Chelle would be paid $55,000 monthly while his assistants would receive $5000? Will the federation still pay Eguavoen N10 million monthly? Yet, he is the federation’s Technical Director, a position that makes him the boss to the assistants, even if being boss to Chelle would cause chaos. A topic for another day.

Gusau’s statements on Monday truly addressed the issues of the day, except that he didn’t tell his listeners if he had paid the players, team officials, and coaches their outstanding entitlements as he promised in December. Chelle’s problems would start with the players playing the game against Rwanda in Kigali on March 17 with caution knowing that their European club matches tower above playing for the country in terms of handling matters concerning their welfare.

A team that will qualify for the 2026 World Cup needs at least four years to establish its spine through competitions. We can safely call Victor Osimhen in the attack but Wilfred Ndidi is almost gone in the midfield. The Eagles’ defenders have aged and are easily outrun by the opposition’s attackers. Need I highlight the hopelessness in the quality of our goalkeepers? They aren’t world-class and leak goals while manning the goalposts for their European clubs. Ademola Lookman is a different kind of striker from Osimhen, he comes as an addition to Nigeria’s total and has a complete playing spine.

Chelle has only Osimhen in the Eagles’ spine except he wants to draft Ola Aina to the central defence with the believe that Ndidi would find his range and energy to marshal the midfield like he did in the past. I have my doubts since Ndidi is no longer the pivot of Leicester FC’s midfield. Playing regularly for the Foxes helped polish his game in the past. One could easily have drafted Alex Iwobi as the Eagles’ spine even if Ndidi is playing. But it appears that our coaches don’t know how to deploy Iwobi like his Fulham FC England’s manager. One hopes Chelle changes the Iwobi narrative during his reign.

Chelle, Nigeria doesn’t have a reliable goalkeeper. Nwabali isn’t in his best form. He panicked in Nigeria’s last game. And with Francis Uzoho out injured, it is almost certain Nwabali would be Chelle’s choice with Okoye being the reserve goalkeeper. Yes, Chelle must insist on picking those playing regularly for their European clubs to prosecute Nigeria’s remaining six matches, no matter their pedigree in the Super Eagles.

Interestingly, giving the players their dues should be spontaneous not kept in abeyance on the altar of the NFF being broke. How do you plead with players to pay for their flight tickets with a promise to refund monies spent. Then you renege on such payments not for one game but for several matches. The question would be why did the NFF men allow the coaches to invite 24 foreign-based players when only 16 can prosecute each game? I can list at least seven players who have been repeatedly invited to the camp and ended up not playing the matches. The federation looks the other way to such wastage because they want to give the coaches freehand to invite whosoever they like.

“I see in the new Head Coach the right spirit and the right attitude, and I have faith that he will take the Super Eagles to the next level. He sees the job of leading the Super Eagles as his dream job, and that is a huge motivation in itself.

“Coach Chelle recognises and appreciates what is ahead of him, and he says he loves the challenge. We will be there giving him the necessary support all the way,” Gusau said.

Gusau, Chelle is a professional who by the NFF’s reckoning knows his onions. What this writer found interesting was his insistence that he could be unsparing with lazy players and very strict in metting out disciplinary measures. He said he would be fair to all, but we know that the big boys would get a slap on the wrist. It didn’t start today.

January 18, 2025