The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

2026: The Alpha, the Omega and Jagaban’s mandate!

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.”

We start with the well-known first stanza of Robert Frost’s iconic poem, ‘The Road Not Taken.’ With 2026 already upon us, Nigeria itself stands at a crossroads, contemplating which path it must take in transitioning into full nationhood and its accompanying national ethos.

Perhaps we should take the road we have avoided for the past six decades; if we do, it may finally yield the much-needed difference. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, by strategic design, has chosen the path less trodden and largely ignored by past governments. Many of these reforms will be validated in the coming decades as truly game-changing.

The stabilization of the foreign exchange market, in particular, is a game-changer. It sends encouraging signals regarding the restoration of fiscal stability – the vital ingredient for attracting ‘patient’ capital as opposed to fly-by-night ‘hot money’ portfolio investments. This is a significant gain!

In addition, despite the expected resistance, the reforms spearheaded by Zacch Adelabu Adedeji in the tax sector are another example of a sensible government initiative to embark on a positive path. Leaving aside partisan politics, this is precisely what should be expected of a reformist administration.

In the motto of the elite British SAS, ‘Who Dares Wins.’ On several fronts, leaving the initial pains aside, the government has dared and is winning. However, the communication of these positive gains must be recalibrated to emphasize that the benefits are real and already yielding a trickle-down effect. The communications strategy must answer the fundamental question: ‘How has this benefited me and my family?’ The answer must be succinct and convincing to the man and woman in the ‘Korope’, the markets, and the farms across the various ecosystems and focus groups within the six geopolitical zones.

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In the pre-election year of 2026, this has become the decisive battleground. It is a pivotal crossroads because, as the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci observed, the true essence of politics lies in the ‘war of position’ – the strategic effort to shift the very terrain of public debate in favour of one’s own vision. In light of this, the government must harness every instrument of influence to secure this intellectual ground, following the blueprint of arguably the most astute political theorist since Niccolò Machiavelli.

Gramsci is famously associated with pioneering the concept of ‘Cultural Hegemony.’ This theory finds profound applicability in a nation so multi-ethnic and multicultural – a landscape defined by a myriad of languages, mores, and traditions, and situated at varying levels of development where no universal consensus on the definition of “progress” exists. The communications strategy must be anchored in these lived realities. If the government can master this alignment, it will, in my considered opinion, achieve a position of unassailable political and moral authority.

Across the board, Nigeria must slay its demons. We find ourselves returning yet again to the illuminating thought of Antonio Gramsci. Observing the chaos of Italy in his time, Gramsci noted: “The crisis lies in the inability to jettison a system of social and economic relationships which have clearly failed. For this reason, a new society cannot be born; in the interregnum, all manner of morbid symptoms unleash themselves – we are in the age of monsters.”

In plain terms, the historic burden on Tinubu is to be the iconoclast who finally crushes the spirits of insecurity, mass poverty, and institutional decay. These interwoven challenges have stood as a barricade, stalling Nigeria while peers like India, Brazil and Singapore took their giant strides. Tinubu must be more than a reformer; he must be the architect and the builder of a reinvigorated Nigeria.

To borrow from the wisdom of Frantz Fanon, every generation – and indeed every leader – has a historic mission that must either be fulfilled or betrayed. President Tinubu possesses the intellectual depth, the economic foresight, and the political grit to see this mission through. Putting it succinctly therefore, how his administration treads across the minefields of 2026 will ultimately decide whether his name is etched in the halls of greatness or lost to the footnotes of time.

These hurdles require more than raw power; they demand tactical mastery. In this arena, Tinubu stands on firm ground. The fractured opposition has yet to produce a rival capable of grasping such complexities, let alone one with the seasoned political instincts of the Jagaban of Borgu.

But beyond the cold logic of statecraft lies a deeper reality. As we welcome this new year, we turn to the Divine. Our Father and our God, hedge us about with Your protection and cover our nakedness. Strip away every garment of reproach, silence those who would devour our progress, and stand as our Champion while we still draw breath in the land of the living.

Heavenly Warrior, You are the Strong and the Mighty, You are the One who sees wars but does not flee from wars. You are the One who remained in the fire, unconsumed, because You are the Consuming Fire. Just as You stood in the path of Balaam, stand in the way of any counsel that would lead this nation towards ruin. Open our eyes to see the unseen dangers, and redirect our steps towards the path of peace and prosperity.

Lord, heal the ancient fractures that divide us and mend the seams of our national fabric where they have been frayed by distrust and hardship. Let us not be a people of separate paths, but one nation, bound by a purpose that transcends the temporary storms of the interregnum.

You who performed surgery in the Garden of Eden – removing a single bone to fashion a woman – You are still in the business of restoration! In Your mercy, bless our young shoulders with wisdom, cancel the invisible plots that seek to hollow out our achievements, and expose the whited sepulchers who attempt to crush our dignity. Where we are unable to receive, let Your authority prevail!

Jehovah El-Shaddai, who would have believed that Abram could become Abraham? Who would have believed that Sarai would be renamed Sarah? Or that Jacob would transform into Israel? If Naaman could believe and witness his own restoration, the Good Lord, turn the schemes of the destiny-perverters to naught and rescue us from the power of error.

This year, we take a stand against the long shadows cast by hypocrites, “notorious for their long prayers which they recite as a show.” Lord, let their hollow echoes die in the air. Let their ‘performance’ no longer block the path of our destiny or drown out the Spirit’s true voice. Bypass the theatre of the insincere; hear instead the raw, silent groans of the faithful. Tear down their religious masquerades, so the Mandate of Heaven can finally speak over this nation, clear and undisturbed.

El Olam, You are the Alpha and the Omega, the very Beginning and the absolute End! Condemn the accuser, trap them by their own words, and vindicate the just. In the New Year, deliver us as You delivered Jacob from Laban’s house, and grant us the speed to recover lost ground. O Stone of Israel, open every closed door, and let the conspirators against our national glory face the righteous judgment of God! And because You live, may we not be making noise while our mates are making points!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

January 3, 2026
Chelle needs match readers

Eric Chelle‘s tactics, game management, substitutions and match reading initiatives leave much to be desired, with due respect. He is usually bewildered once the games begin. At best, he stands on the sidelines, his lips moving and gesticulating with his hands, which translates to nothing in terms of how well or badly the teams play. One can’t see how his muttering translates to good displays. Rather, the players continue with their side passing game, leaving the fans yearning for goals.

The Super Eagles have played three Group C matches with nothing to cheer. Rather than fans sit back to eat their cherished meals and wash them down with their choice drinks, they sit back in astonishment watching a team leading in a game tottering while they pray for the referee’s final whistle. Super Eagles were too poor in the three games, considering their pedigree and the European clubs they play for.

Super Eagles were awake for only 30 minutes of each of the six halves played against Tanzania, Tunisia and can you beat it, a ten-man Uganda that had her first choice goalkeeper sent off. Instead of tearing the Ugandans apart with goals and scintillating ball artistry, our players stood hands akimbo when a ten-man Ugandan side opened up our defence with one pass from the midfield which left Uzoho stranded as he rushed out to remedy a situation in vain.

Put simply, the Eagles lacked the stamina to last for 45 minutes of each of the six halves they have played. The big boys in the team failed to track back to do some defensive work each time the team lost possession of the ball. The big boys chose to trek back to avoid being caught offside than be actively involved in the transition play, having regained ball possession from our opponents.

Chelle’s Eagles have the penchant for conceding late goals in matches. It didn’t start today. Nigeria was lucky with the 2-1 victory over Tanzania. The Tanzanians were a better team tactically. I wasn’t surprised the Tunisians and Ugandans couldn’t neat them. Tanzania’s Argentine coach comes highly recommended when next Nigeria is scouting for a good coach.

Tanzania’s gutsy 1-1 draw with Tunisia saw the Taifa Stars reach the knockout stage for the first time in their history. They will play host nation Morocco in the Round of 16.

Chelle’s game management from the bench is awful. It is either he doesn’t have a renowned match reader or he has one whose views he doesn’t take seriously. Otherwise, how do you explain how a team with a three-goal lead suddenly becoming clueless, leading to them conceding two goals against Tunisia (3-2) and a goal against Uganda (3-1) in the last two Group C’s matches?

Having watched the three group matches, one cannot but commend Chelle over the composition of the 28-man squad. This list threw a string of forgotten young boys who had done well for the country at the age grade cadre. Of particular mention is Onyedika who had been exceptional for his European club at the UEFA Champions League scoring goals with aplomb. He only enacted this goal-scoring prowess as a midfielder playing for Nigeria against Uganda. Onyedika should walk into any Nigerian side at the ongoing AFCON matches, except Chelle wants to fail. Goals win matches and Onyedika represents the league of goal-scoring midfielders, which is what any coach needs to untie highly defensive teams as we have seen in Morocco.

The Eagles are conceding goals because the opposition capitalises on the sloppiness our upfront players exhibit when tracking back to regain ball possession. Indeed, these attacking forays come through the Eagles’ right back position manned by Samuel Osayi. No fault of his since he joins the Eagles’ attack whenever he gets the ball. Ordinarily, the right player should come back to mark when they are defending in the same way that Osayi does when we surges forward in search of goals. This is where the Eagles are missing Ola Aina, whose strength and resilience on and off the ball covers up for this flaw on our right back position.

Chelle should roll up his sleeves and dig deep into his tactics bag to produce good results with the Eagles because he would be facing the winner of the Round of 16 game between DR Congo (do you remember them) and Algeria.

But Nigeria must beat Mozambique next Monday in an epic clash that would decide how far the Eagles would progress, especially as South Africa, Cameroon and Morocco would produce the eventual semi-final opponents for Nigeria. Mighty challenge, if you ask me. But it is surmountable with right tactics and quest to excel on the players’ part.

Of their five previous confrontations, Nigeria have been victorious on four occasions against Mozambique, including their only AFCON encounter way back in Lubango, Angola in January 2010, in which the Eagles ran away with a 3-0 win. Nigeria won a friendly match in Maputo in August 1999 by the odd goal and won another one in Portugal in October 2023 by 3-2, while 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches ended 0-0 in Maputo and 1-0 in Abuja, with Obinna Nsofor scoring five minutes into added time to keep alive Nigeria’s World Cup hopes.

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Monday’s confrontation inside the Complexe Sportif de Fès is expected to be explosive, as the young Mambas have demonstrated capacity to stand toe-to-toe with the big teams and pull something out of the inferno whenever they need to. The 35,000-capacity Complexe Sportif de Fès, which has been home to three-time African champions Nigeria in their entire Group C campaign, will be the venue for the encounter that will commence at 8pm on Monday.

Nigeria will take on Mozambique national football team on Monday in Fez, while DR Congo face Algeria national football team on Tuesday in Rabat. Victories for both sides would set up a quarter-final showdown in Marrakech on January 10. The fixture would echo their tense encounter last November in Rabat during the final CAF playoff for the World Cup. That clash ended 1–1 after extra time, forcing a penalty shootout in which DR Congo triumphed.

However, it is remarkable to note here that the NSC chieftains have learned lessons from past experiences with the Super Eagles by paying their entitlements promptly, leaving the players and coaches to deliver the trophy to Nigeria at dusk on January 18 in Morocco. The coach got $20,000 for each of the three matches won. This presupposes that the players each pocketed $10,000 for each of the three games won against Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda. Equally commendable is the swiftness in nipping in the bud another players’ show of shame by accepting to double what they offered the players initially.

Now we know who to blame if things go awry in Morocco, God forbid. The players and indeed the coaches owe Nigerians a trophy, having broken their hearts with their shambolic outings during the matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The time to change the unholy narrative of our football at the senior level is now by winning the 2025 AFCON diadem. This is not forgetting that Nigeria finished as runners-up in the last edition held in Ivory Coast. Good luck Super Eagles. Up Nigeria.

January 3, 2026
For BKO, another diadem of excellence

For millions of viewers of Television Continental (TVC), what is immediately striking about the medium’s undoubtedly pre-eminent professional, Babajide Kolade Otitoju, popularly known as ‘BKO’, is his unparalleled capacity for hard work. He regularly and constantly produces and airs qualitative documentaries on developmental strides and challenges across the diverse states of Nigeria.

Not content with academic, ‘armchair’ analyses of contemporary issues and events, BKO routinely leaves the comfort of the studio to track actual reality on the ground for the benefit of viewers. The lead anchor of TVC’s flagship programme, ‘Journalists’ Hangout’, BKO’s grasp of issues, scrupulous adherence to facts, forthright explication of issues, bold and unpretentious articulation of his convictions, fair analysis of news, decent use of language as well as uncompromising commitment to the public good have attracted large numbers of admirers to both the journalist and the medium.

An expert who has won awards on security reporting, BKO has severally staked his life by going to the front lines of the insurgency in such states as Borno, Niger, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, among others, to report on the ongoing war against terror. His fluency in Hausa and intimate knowledge of the territory and culture of the North, where he was born in Zaria, have greatly aided the depth, credibility and authenticity of his war reports.

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He is as adept in discussing all facets of music or sports as he is in interrogating serious political or security issues.

Watching his exploits on television, it is difficult to believe that BKO made a transition from the print media, where he served as trail-blazing Editor of PM News and later The News magazine, in a career that spanned over three decades. It is a testimony to his professional versatility and intellectual dexterity. When he was recently elevated to the position of Director of News of TVC, there was jubilation across the various departments of the organisation and widespread acknowledgement in the industry that it is indeed an eminently deserved recognition.

ILLUMINATIONS wishes this indigene of Ekirin Adde in Ijumu LGA of Kogi State, as well as an outstanding alumnus of the ‘best by far’ University of Ilorin, success in his new assignment and greater distinctions ahead.

January 3, 2026
Professor Bolaji Akinyemi and Trump’s wake-up call

Whatever may be President Donald Trump‘s motives for his strongly expressed desire to intervene militarily in Nigeria’s protracted insecurity conundrum or his distorted reading of the pattern and character of insurgent bloodshed in the country, the United States’ precision drone strikes against terrorist bases in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria, on Christmas Eve, cannot be described as unjustified.

The insurgency has become an existential threat to the Nigerian state. It has grown ever increasingly more protracted over nearly two decades, with the glaring incapacitation of the Nigerian state to effectively check the menace. Unacceptably large numbers of citizens across ethno-regional, religious, gender and age categories have continued to be murdered on an industrial scale, even though allegations of targeted killing campaigns to eliminate Christians because of their faith are entirely misbegotten.

Emboldened by the obvious fragility and inefficacy of state response to their treasonous challenge since 2009, the terrorist groups have continued to mushroom as the criminal non-state actors gnaw at the sinews of Nigeria’s sovereignty with blood-curdling relish. To invoke sovereign pride in rejecting external military aid to curb terrorism running rampant would be to court national suicide. Nigeria, analysts point out, has in the past offered military assistance to sovereignty-challenged polities within and beyond Africa, and there is no shame in accepting such support in our own hour of vulnerability.

The problem has been the gung-ho, paternalistic and starkly contemptuous terms in which President Trump has framed his country’s interventionist intent, not to talk of its divisive religious characterisation of the crisis, which has considerable potential to complicate and worsen an already parlous situation. Trump’s initial response was to threaten that his military would intervene ‘guns blazing’ in a ‘now disgraced country’ in defence of ‘our cherished Christians’.

Luckily, the American leader’s dramatics was aimed at his domestic evangelical base. In reality, America’s Christmas Eve military strike in Sokoto was undertaken in coordination with the Nigerian military and with the cooperation and support of the Nigerian State. However, Trump did not indicate this collaboration in his social media post on the strike, leaving it to his Secretary of Defence, Pete Hesgeth and the US Africa Command to inform the world that the strike was coordinated with Nigeria.

It is exactly the undisguised disdain, contempt and disgust exhibited by Trump and some other far right ideologues across the West towards Africa; an attitude partly rooted in unabashed racism, that raises troubling questions about the safety and security of vulnerable countries like Nigeria or South Africa, both atrociously and unfairly traduced by Trump, in a world that, more than ever before, approximates a feral jungle.

Right before our eyes, underdog Ukraine is about to lose prime territory and resources to a rampantly aggressive Russia, even though the West, in my view, shares responsibility for provoking Putin’s military adventurism in what he arguably considers his country’s ‘sphere of influence’. With her profusion of raw materials, natural resources and rare earth minerals endowment, how safe or secure will Nigeria be in a world in which might is increasingly equivalent to right and hideous predators are free to feast on the meek sheep and lambs even as the rest of the world mind their business unconcerned?

Concerns like this make even more relevant eminent political scientist and statesman, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi’s impassioned advocacy for the acquisition of nuclear capability as an unavoidable policy imperative for Nigeria in his 2016 Convocation Lecture at the University of Ibadan. Let me repeat here a quote from that lecture, which I cited last week: “As shown in table 14 (The World Factbook), as of 2015, the GDP per capita of Nigeria was $6,100.00, India was $6,200.00, and Pakistan was $5,000.00. The three countries were within the same range. Yet, Pakistan and India are nuclear powers with an incredible underbelly of poverty…

“Nigeria will not secure respect from the world, the kind of respect extended to Pakistan or India or even North Korea, which has a per capita income of only $1,800 but has a nuclear programme. At the moment, no country will speak to India or Pakistan or even North Korea the way Nigeria is spoken to or spoken about.” This is surely not a question of misguided patriotism or nationalism on the part of Professor Akinyemi. Those who perceive the proposition as another exhibition of the ‘leisure of the theory class’ (apologies to Billy Dudley), will refer to the level of corruption, poor governance records or high poverty rates as obstacles to any credible nuclear aspiration by Nigeria.

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But those countries which possess nuclear capability today did not wait to overcome the eternal challenges of corruption, good governance deficits or poverty and inequality before acquiring what amounts to military insurance to minimise external threats to their sovereign integrity. Even the most advanced among them still grapple with problems of considerable corruption in their private and public sectors; institutional autonomy and governance quality in the US in recent times, for instance, has hardly risen above third-world standards, and the level of poverty remains indefensible relative to the capacity of their productive forces to generate a volume of wealth unprecedented in human history.

In any case, a country must first of all continue to exist as a viable entity before it can meaningfully fight corruption, alleviate poverty or improve its quality of governance. This column had described Trump’s contemptuous attitude toward Nigeria as a wake-up call on the political class across party lines to remove the sources of the country’s weakness and impotence in the global community. These include internal partisan fractiousness often actuated by gross material acquisition rather than ennobling philosophical differences; endemic corruption; wasteful and unethical governance across partisan lines, and mass discontent arising from embedded poverty and inequality.

Apart from utilising the opportunities of the democratic space to address these challenges within the context of competitive party politics, Professor Akinyemi also stresses the imperative of pursuing nuclear capability at least as a medium- to- long term strategic objective. In his words, “Nuclear weapons create an aura of their own which no wealth can create. I was a student of international relations in the United States in the 1960s when China was spoken of with such contempt and derision. The day China performed its nuclear test, the tone changed overnight to one of awe and respect and yet China, at that time, had a per capita income of only $103.00.”

•Concluded

January 3, 2026
Resilient Professionals, Resilient Nation
- By Thabit Wale Sonaike
I am delighted to be here with you today on the occasion of your annual convention 2025 themed: Resilient Professional: Resilient Nation. I can tell you that there has never been a more important time to advocate for resilience than this very moment in the history of our fatherland. Many thanks to the leadership of this great guild of Muslim professionals who have done quite well in coming up with such thought provoking theme that hinges on RESILIENCE as a core component in the matrix of nation building and at such a crucial time of ours.

So, what is RESILIENCE?

According to Luther, 2006. Resilience is simply positive adaptation during adversity. That is, the process of developing favorable adjustment patterns and beneficial outcomes when navigating challenging terrains. If we expand this definition to capture a nation as an entity, then it becomes the ability of a nation to protect itself from threats by adjusting to an evolving reality.

In a recent report on the Global Investment Risk and Resilience Index of 2025, seven out of the 10 least resilient countries in the world are from Africa, these includes: Egypt, Mali, Ethiopia, Burundi, Chad, Sierra Leone, and our very own Nigeria.

Yes, Nigeria, the giant of Africa. The truth is that Nigeria is frequently ranked within this bracket due to a convergence of intense and overlapping crisis that limits Nigeria’s ability to absorb shocks and adapts to changes as a nation even in the face of individual adaptive characteristics of an average Nigerian. Factors like infrastructure deficit, economic vulnerability, high poverty rate, debt and fiscal constraints, insecurity amongst others have compounded the situation even further. Worthy of particular mention is Nigeria’s structural dependence on the oil and gas sector which drives roughly between 80-90% of foreign exchange earnings and about 60% of government revenue. This fundamental structural weakness is exacerbated by several interconnected systemic issues including weak governance, endemic corruption and price volatility.

As a result of the foregoing, development is hugely hampered, stability is stifled and implications for future posterity seems unfavourable. Such situations trap the government into series of quick fixes and short term survival strategies rather than a long term strategic planning that will promote growth and stability. This is where we have found ourselves within our recent history.

So, having mentioned briefly the state of the Nation in the face of resilience or the lack of it, how do we then navigate our path to permanent posterity, particularly leveraging on the assets of our people as professionals?

Let me quickly say here that RESILIENCE as we used to know it has transitioned from a bouncing back mentality to a pro-active strategic game changing value that thrive on set backs as a catalyst for positive growth and development. Such type of resilience is built upon the strength of organised and well structured professionals that cut across sectors including Digital Infrastructure, Health care services, Engineering and Technology, Energy Management etc. All of which can work together as a driving force for a highly efficient mechanism that will power a resilient nation.

To break this down a little, upon taking office in 2023, the new government faced low growth and rising poverty. Between 2014 and 2023, real per capita GDP declined on average by 0.7 percent annually. In 2023, the poverty rate stood at 42 percent. This difficult situation was compounded by limited access to dollars, which meant that people had to turn to the parallel currency market and thereby pay a much higher price than the official rate. In the meantime, public finances were strained by an opaque fuel subsidy system, which also caused recurrent petrol scarcity. And central bank financing of the fiscal deficit pushed up inflation.

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In response to these challenges, government embarked on a series of bold reforms over the last two years. In 2023 the new government and the Central Bank of Nigeria liberalized the foreign exchange market, stopped central bank financing of the fiscal deficit, and reformed fuel subsidies. The government also strengthened revenue collection, which is still one of the world’s weakest.

Since these reforms were implemented, international reserves have increased, and anyone can now access foreign exchange in the official market. Nigeria successfully returned to international capital markets last December and was recently upgraded by rating agencies. A new domestic, private refinery is positioning Nigeria up the value chain in a fully deregulated market.

While progress has been encouraging, significant challenges remain. Inflation still exceeds 14 percent. Poor infrastructure, especially for electricity, inhibits economic activity. Poverty and food insecurity remain high. Nigeria lacks an effective social safety net to cushion the impact of shocks on the most vulnerable.

In addition, the global environment is posing new challenges with elevated uncertainty and high borrowing costs. Nigeria is especially affected by volatile international oil prices since oil revenues account for a large proportion of government revenues—a figure that stood at 30 percent in 2024.

To address these challenges, Nigeria should focus on three key priorities:

First, the country needs stronger and more sustained growth to lift millions of people out of poverty and food insecurity, this does not happen overnight, it takes proactive and deliberate strategies.

Second, as an essential ingredient for economic development, Nigeria needs an effective budget framework. Delivering effective investments in people and infrastructure requires realistic budget assumptions, strong expenditure management, and transparent implementation and reporting—which, in turn, can strengthen accountability. For its part, monetary policy should continue to decisively tackle inflation and reduce economic uncertainty.

Third, the government should continue to increase domestic revenues. This is essential given Nigeria’s substantial funding needs in growth-enabling areas such as agriculture, digital technology, infrastructure, including access to electricity, and climate adaptation.

Central to all of these is a resilient workforce acting as the foundational engine for economic recovery and social stability.

In today’s world, the ability to adapt and thrive amidst constant change is critical. A key component of this essential strength is a resilient workforce who are adaptable, flexible, and equipped to handle the pressures and uncertainties of the modern workplace

A resilient workforce is a foundational pillar in nation-building, enabling a country to adapt to economic, social, and environmental challenges without halting progress. A resilient workforce contributes to stability, continuous productivity, and faster recovery from crises.

BENEFITS OF RESILIENT PROFESSIONALS

Sustained Economic Growth and Stability: Resilient workers help maintain productivity during economic downturns, market volatility, and operational disruptions. By lowering employee turnover and reducing burnout, they ensure long-term stability and competitiveness in a dynamic market.

Rapid Crisis Recovery: In the face of national emergencies—such as pandemics, natural disasters, or conflicts—a resilient workforce is better equipped to adapt and recover quickly.

Enhanced Productivity and Innovation: Resilient employees tend to be more engaged, motivated, and solution-oriented rather than focusing solely on problems. They are more likely to seek new opportunities and develop innovative solutions to challenges.

Improved Public Health and Reduced Social Costs: By effectively handling stress, resilient workers experience better mental and physical health, leading to lower absenteeism and reduced healthcare expenditures, which alleviates pressure on public resources.

Adaptability to Structural Shifts: As industries change due to technological advancements or shifting demographics, a resilient workforce is more willing to upskill, reskill, and adapt to new roles, ensuring the nation remains relevant in a global economy.

Stronger Social Cohesion: A resilient culture fosters stronger relationships and teamwork, reducing internal friction and promoting collaboration.

Let’s consider the following case studies.

Case Study 1:

The Finland’s Model.

Finland’s strategy, refined from a history of geopolitical challenges, treats national resilience as a shared responsibility across government, businesses, NGOs, and individual citizens.

Integrated Workforce Roles: The private sector is deeply embedded in national preparedness. Through the National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA), companies are organized into “pools” to ensure the continuity of critical infrastructure, such as food supply, energy, and digital payment systems.

The “72-Hour” Citizen Readiness: Resilience starts at the individual level. Citizens are educated to manage independently for at least 72 hours during a crisis, ensuring that the emergency workforce can focus on the most critical recovery efforts.

Psychological Resilience: One of Finland’s seven “vital functions” is psychological resilience. This involves proactive media literacy programs to counter disinformation and national defense courses for leaders across all sectors to ensure a unified response.

Case Study 2: The Singapore’s Model.

Singapore focuses on “Employment Resilience” to maintain national stability amidst economic volatility.

Adaptability as a National Asset: The nation views worker adaptability as the core of its resilience. Initiatives like the SkillsFuture program and the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 plan aim to keep the workforce employable despite rapid technological shifts or global disruptions.

Adaptive Business Practices: Following the pandemic, Singaporean firms accelerated flexible and remote work models, creating “fresh reservoirs of resilience” that allow the economy to function even during restricted movement.

These are some of the models across the world showcasing resilient professionals as a prime driver of a resilient nation.

ACTIONABLE STRATEGIES FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE

Strategic Upskilling & “Future-Ready” Development

Resilience in 2026 will be increasingly tied to digital fluency and human-centric skills.

Targeted Reskilling: Organizations are prioritizing training in AI literacy, big data, and cybersecurity—the fastest-growing skills needed for national competitiveness.

Skills-Based Hiring: Move toward “build-versus-buy” decisions by investing in internal talent marketplaces that open new career pathways, reducing national unemployment and skills gaps.

Dual Education Models: Governments can adopt successful models (like those in Switzerland or Germany) that combine classroom learning with hands-on vocational training to ensure the workforce meets modern industry demands.

2. Holistic Well-being as a National Asset

A resilient nation requires a workforce that is not mentally or physically depleted.

Proactive Mental Health: 81% of employees in 2025 prioritize mental health support. Strategies include implementing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and normalizing “mental health days” to prevent widespread burnout.

Flexible Agility: Officially adopting remote, hybrid, or four-day workweek models allows for business continuity during national disruptions while supporting worker work-life balance.

3. Fostering Inclusive & Transparent Culture

Trust between the workforce and leadership is a prerequisite for national stability during crises.

Transparent Communication: High-performance leaders use “realtime sentiment capture” to understand employee concerns and share organizational/national goals openly, which reduces anxiety and misinformation.

Psychological Safety: Build environments where individuals feel safe to innovate and report risks. This “risk-aware” culture helps prevent minor issues from escalating into major national or economic shocks.

Diversity as Strength: Embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into core strategies broadens the talent pool and fosters the creative problem-solving required for complex national challenges.

4. Strategic Partnerships & National Infrastructure

A resilient workforce cannot function in a vacuum; it requires a robust supporting ecosystem.

Public-Private Collaborations: Join national movements (e.g., Singapore’s SkillsFuture) where the government, employers, and individuals share responsibility for continuous learning.

Support for Small Businesses: MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) are the backbone of local stability. Governments can streamline regulations to allow these businesses to focus on job creation and community resilience.

Infrastructure Redundancy: Resilience is bolstered by protecting “lifeline” systems like the power grid, water, and digital access, ensuring economic activity can continue even during acute shocks.

Finally, I strongly believe that if we can be deliberate about the action points that I have shared here today and with the kind of initiative, energy and resilience that organisations like Guild of Muslim Professionals continue to put into action, I strongly believe that we can beat our chest proudly to say that the Nigeria that lies ahead is the resilient Nation that will take her rightful position among the giants in the committee of Nations.

Alhaji Sonaike, the Deputy President II of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), delivered this lecture at the 13th Annual Convention of the Guild of Muslim Professionals (GMP) at Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
January 2, 2026
Local government autonomy critical to national development

“When you are in local government, you are on the ground, and you are looking into the eyes and hearts of the people you are there to serve.” – Valerie Jarrett, a former Senior Advisor to former President of the United States, Barack Obama

About two weeks ago, on the 18h of December. 2025, during the15th National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress, held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja; President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming the financial independence of local governments is implemented.

Mr. President, stated that the failure of the governors to fully comply with the Supreme Court’s judgment may force him to take other executive decisions.

I commend and support Mr. President’s position on the autonomy of the 774 local government in Nigeria, and decisions he will take in this regard. It is trite in law, that local governments are Should be funded directly from the Federation Account. But for over 40 years since the second republic, Governors have been taking the funding allocations on behalf of the local government administrations in violation of Section 7 and other relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution as amended. By approaching the Supreme Court last year and securing the judgment in favor of local government autonomy which is an affirmation of Section 7 and other relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution as ammended, surely, Mr. President has cleared clear the way for accelerated growth and development and the grassroots of Nigeria.

It is worthy of note that President Tinubu is living up to his campaign promises as outlined in his Renewed Hope campaign Manifesto build-up to the 2023 presidential elections. In Page 69 of the manifesto, Mr. President promised to, “Embark on a review of the federation revenue allocation system to recalibrate the division of funds amongst the three tiers of Government: Federal, State and Local. More funds should be allocated to the States and Local Governments so that they can better address local concerns and fulfill their expanded constitutional obligations to the people……. This promotes stronger governance at the state and local levels, thus reducing political congestion and competition for resources at the federal level. The performance of federal, state, and local governments shall improve while the people will benefit by having more political democracy and economic development more closely at hand.”

Taking Development closer to the people:

It is worthy of note that according to the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the current revenue-sharing formula is as follows: The Federal Government takes 52.68 % of the revenue share, states get 26.72 %, while local governments get 20.6 %. So far, Governors have taken 46.78%, i.e. 26.72% + 20.6% – with no commensurate tangible impacts to show for the masses of Nigeria, i.e. the grassroots.

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A very worrisome situation in Nigeria is the lack of deepening commitments and impacts at grassroots levels where the majority of Nigerians reside and live. The acceleration of the provision of basic infrastructure like pipe-borne water, basic roads, waterways, culverts, health care facilities, agriculture support systems and investments, etc. have eluded our people at the local governments and hinterlands due to a lack of direct funding to our local governments. Therefore, we must ensure effective financial and operational autonomy at our local government levels, going forward.

A good example of the importance of the role of local governments is that local governments remain the critical platforms for our Agricultural value chain and its socio-economic contributions. There is currently no active development process flow between the Federal Government interventions and direct local government initiatives.

I am very glad to hear that the perennial issue of undercutting or stifling the cash flow of local government administrations in Nigeria will come to an end soonest. Because this has been one of the key banes of the progress of this Country. For over 40 years, the State Governors have been holding the local government administrations hostage, and rendering them at the beck and call of the Governors. Suffice it to say that the refusal of successive state administrations is a testament to the hypocrisy of our expectations as a nation.

The sustained choke-hold of the Local Governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by State Governors is not just for the control of the financial inflows of the Local Government Areas (LGAs), but also to ensure continuous political control of the local government areas to perpetuate their control of the political structures of the local government areas for political supremacy, while and after leaving office as governors. The choke-holds on the LGAs have further stunted the growth of local government areas across Nigeria, and more importantly blocked the delivery of good governance. Over time, the local government administrations have become voiceless, powerless, and almost useless. The local government management and operations have been almost comatose, and therefore, they have not been able to add tangible values to the growth and development of Nigeria. The LGAs are mere appendages of the State Governors, while their offices are more or less liaison offices of the Governors. That is why the local government chairmen/ sole administrators sit out their tenures without making any impacts on the communities.

Due to the aforementioned reasons, there is so much opaqueness in the administration of local government administrations in Nigeria. Most of the local government chairmen also end up helping themselves from the remnant of funds credited to the coffers of the local government – that is what bad leadership at the top does – i.e., “when the head is rotten the body subsequently rots away. In the end, the citizens of Nigeria are systematically and consistently short-changed. Consequently, year-on-year we do not see any serious developments taking place at local government levels; rather, what we see are multi-dimensional retrogression and poverty.

Indeed, a visit to local government headquarters around Nigeria will evidence how bad things are; the offices are shadows of themselves, the operations are comatose and there are basically no structures for people to lean unto in demanding the delivery of good governance. Therefore, I am very happy to hear that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is ready to deliver one of his campaign promises to ensure that local governments do not just get autonomy on paper, but that the autonomy is actualized and made fully operational.

Furthermore, one of the key reasons why we do not witness major and tangible developments at state levels is because the inactivates at local governments are due to undue interference by the state Governors to the extent that, it is only the local governments that are of interest to the Governors that experience of measure of development.

It is an established fact that “politics is local”. That is why everywhere democracy has thrived, and everywhere leadership has been effective and impactful; it is because the local governments are autonomous and fully operational – across the three arms of government at that level, i.e. Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary. It is because politics is local that is why LGAs are where the votes are garnered to ultimately achieve political success. Accordingly, the grassroots should not be abandoned after campaigns and elections. The people at grassroots levels MUST be catered for, if we want this Country to make any form of progress. The only way growth and socio-economic development can be achieved at grassroots levels is to eliminate poverty and strife by fully operationalizing the independence of local government.

Sadly, most of the projects we witness at state levels are around the State capitals with a lot of “white elephant” projects situated at the local government levels. This is why most of the Councillors are not making impacts, but basically exist by titles they hold and by the little “change” and “crumbs” they pick out of whatever remains from the “financial leftovers” that trickle to their pockets from the coffers of the local government administration.

It is important to note that, just operationalizing the local government administrations and giving them full autonomy will not enough to ensure the delivery of good governance at the grassroots level. Citizens should also actively demand for good governance from Governors and local government administrations – to put the local government chairmen on their toes so that they do not feel entitled and take things for granted.

Nigerians look forward to a fully autonomous, and functional local al government administrations in line with the provisions in the 1999 Constitution, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and ensuring that the local government administrations are rescued from the stranglehold of the State Governors of Nigeria. I am very hopeful that when that is done, we will witness better performance of President Tinubu’a and subsequent administration, while as citizens we will directly hold the local government administrations to account.

January 2, 2026
2026 Nigeria: Looking forward backward

It Is the first day of 2026, the year that looked far away at the dawn of 2025, 12 months ago. It is now here and as I type this, I do so in awe of the unseen God, who rules in the affairs of men. If you are reading this, it means only one thing: you are alive and well. Compliments.

For the living, it is a great joy to be alive, especially on New Year’s day on which people place a lot of premium. What is it about the first day of a year that makes people so sentimental and spiritual about it? How is January 1 different from February 1, March 1, April 1, May 1, June 1, or any other first day of a new month for that matter? May be January 1 is special because it is the first month and the first day in the 12-month Gregorian calendar.

Worldwide, the coming of a new year is celebrated with fanfare. It is heralded with music and fireworks at the stroke of midnight, depending on the time zone of a country. Beyond the celebrations is what the new year may have in stock for the individual and his country. Ahead of a new year, plans and projections are usually made, with targets and timelines set.

A new year is also a time for resolutions by individuals and predictions by men who believe that they can see tomorrow. These Nostradamuses are already at work, telling the world what they said they heard from God. What did God say about 2026, the year that will set the tone for the election year of 2027? Their predictions for the year ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Before we look at what those predictions, let us take things in our own hands, beginning from the known to the unknown.

The unknown is the forte of the prophets. It is the realm in which they operate because of their so-called direct access to God. According to them, they hear from God clearly and all they do is to pass His messages to us, the undiscerning. I tell you, we heard a lot from them last night as 2025 rolled away. Some of them ran ahead of themselves by releasing their prophecies long before yesterday. They have been changing those prophecies as situations demand to meet the exigency of the time.

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If you like, call it a prediction or whatever! For a start, the implementation of the new tax law begins today. It will not take off, only if today is not January 1, 2026. The tax law has its benefits for the hoi poloi, who have over the years borne the brunt of government’s economic policies. They have been made beasts of burden working with nothing to show for it. This new tax law brings them relief. As low-income earners, they will henceforth, pay nil tax. Middle income earners will pay marginal (lower) tax, while high income earners will pay more.

For long, high income earners circumvented the tax net. They paid little or nothing as tax, yet they made billions of naira every year. Their salary was not proportional to their income tax, commonly known as pay as you earn (PAYE). Taxes are major sources of revenue for government globally, especially in Europe and the Americas, with high income earners paying heavily to subsidise the poor. Next is the war against terror which will be intensified. The controversy over the purported doctoring of the law will fade away. This is not because of its implementation, but the inability to substantiate the claim of its alteration made by lawmaker Abdulsamad Dasuki

The Christmas Day bombing of Tangaza in Sokoto State, said to be a base for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists, may be child’s play, considering what awaits them and other related groups in the epicentres of terrorism and insurgency in parts of Northeast and Northcentral. The joint Nigeria-U.S. operation in Tangaza shocked intelligence analysts who had thought that such assault would begin either in Borno or any other state in Northeast known as hotbeds of insurgency. The world has seen the first strike. It was deadly, with colossal and collateral damages in farflung places.

The next one will be deadlier and the damages more stupendous. The collateral damage will also be massive, as there is no control over how far the debris from the fired missiles will go. So, in taking down the terrorists, many innocent bystanders may also be killed or maimed. It is unfortunate; very, very unfortunate. As usual, politics and economy will shape the nation’s outlook in 2026. As a petrol-dependent economy, developments at the international oil market will impact the economy. Oil price will remain a key determinant of the success of the budget.

Locally, Dangote Refinery will remain a dominant force in the downstream sector, as regards the pricing of petrol. For now, the plant has brought down the price to N739 per litre to the annoyance of many marketers. Consumers are enjoying the fallout of this power play as they get Epo Dangote (Dangote petrol) at MRS outlets for N739. Will the romance endure? This is the fear of many, who have advised that an eye be kept on the plant to ensure that it does not become too big to control and regulate.

Dangote is having a field day at the expense of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which has been commercialised in name only. Its four refineries in Port Harcourt, where two are located; Kaduna and Warri may remain comatose, despite the billions of dollars spent on them. The nation cannot afford to continue to waste scarce resources on those refineries. As declared by former Rivers State governor and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike last December, ‘politics will start in 2026’.

He was talking about the 2027 elections. Indeed, preparations for the elections will start this year. The parties will be holding their congresses and conventions to pick candidates for the polls. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it would hold its convention in March, which is just two months away. None of the other parties has made such a categorical statement because of their internal crises. With the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) losing virtually all its governors to APC, the months ahead of the elections will be interesting.

Will PDP have a presidential candidate for 2027? What I am seeing in the crystal ball is not good at all. A chef knows that you cannot make omelette without breaking an egg. Likewise, PDP may not have a presidential candidate if it does not put its house in order first. The portents are not good for the party, as can be seen from what has happened to its candidate for the June 20 Ekiti State Governorship election. The morning, they say, shows the day. I am sorry, if I sound like one of those prophets. Happy New Year, dear readers.

January 1, 2026
Happy New Year 2026

We had a merry Christmas or shall I say we had a merry Christmas until we were woken up on Boxing Day with the news that the American government of garrulous President Donald J Trump had bombed somewhere in Sokoto as part of their war against terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head! We settled down when our own government made it clear that the raid was coordinated with our armed forces and that our government was in the knowledge of it and had our approval.

What first came to my mind is that it is the responsibility of government everywhere to protect the interest of its citizens and that for 15 years our government had been struggling to do this without success and that if they had to do it now with the cooperation of a friendly government, it is proper for it to do it as long as Nigeria’s interest is protected. There is no reason why the Nigerian government would not want to protect our interests right now especially when the country that it cooperates with it, has no ostensible or clandestine interest in destabilising Nigeria.

Our country is the only country in our region that has the strength and muscle to operate regionally in our area independently of foreign power. Our recent move to establish stability in our region when there was an attempted coup d’état in Benin points to the credibility of Nigeria. We need to make it known either publicly of by other means that Nigeria would not stand by idle when friendly regimes in our region are overthrown. Our recent move in Benin points to the solid direction of the regime in our country.

There is also no doubt that the Nigerian government was in touch with the American government over the situation in Nigeria that has caused some anxiety in the USA over alleged religious persecution and killing of certain religious groups in Nigeria particularly in the northern parts of our country in the 15-year old terrorist insurgency in Nigeria. The fears of the religious dimension of the problem may have been allayed. But whatever the outcome of the Nigerian discussion with the American government, the decision of the American government to intervene in the terrorist campaign did not surprise the Nigerian government and was coordinated with our government whose armed forces apparently had problems with targeted military especially aerial campaigns.

So, when the Tomahawk missiles were unleashed on the gathering storm of terrorists in a local government area in Sokoto, it was received with welcome relief. This appears to be the reaction of most Nigerians who felt they have had enough with terrorism in the last 15 years and enough was enough. If the American intervention in the campaign of terrorism will extirpate the problem, then we must all welcome it. But we must be careful with involvement of any country in our internal affairs.

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But the point is that terrorism cannot be called internal affairs of our country when we are told that Libya and the same countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar that have been fingered in the destabilization of our sister country of the Sudan are also involved in the situation in Nigeria; and that they have a hand in the destabilization of Nigeria. We cannot just fold our arms and allow the only credible Black Country with the possibility of becoming a great power be destroyed by other countries without reasons to wish us ill. We must therefore wake up and look for friendly countries that can help us to sustain our sovereign independence and if we can find such a secular country with the muscle to do this, we would be foolish not to accept their hands of friendship. This is what politics among nations is all about. We can do this to secure a peaceful end to our internal conflict but this does not have to tie us to the apron strings of that country and we should have the freedom and intelligence to negotiate our way in the complex territory of international relations.

Any observer of international politics would know that sovereignty is not absolute these days. Countries like South Korea, Japan, Germany and good old Britain have since 1945 had large numbers of American troops domiciled in their countries to secure the sovereign independence of those countries in a coordinated defence of global democracy. There are American military bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Kuwait. While I am not advocating this kind of relationship, I would like to add that the above mentioned countries are not the worse for it and they are not complaining because apart from guaranteeing their security, the presence of large American forces have become economic assets there. Whatever comes out of the military cooperation we are forced to have to secure our internal political stability and peace for all our citizens irrespective of their religion, we must ensure correct and respectful management of the situation so that while riding on the tiger we don’t end in it.

I take this opportunity to wish my readers a happy new year in 2026 and hope the hazardous conflictual situations in the world and particularly in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Venezuela will be resolved peacefully so that mankind can witness development in peace.

January 1, 2026
Against the tyranny of small minds

Something broke in the Nigerian psyche in 2025, and it was not a bridge, a budget, or an election promise. It was subtler and therefore more dangerous. I’d call it the ghastly coronation of small minds. Not the smallness of birth or circumstance, but the deliberate dwarfing of thought, empathy, and civic duty.

The same year that paraded bandits in the forests and terrorists in the streets, also enthroned Lilliputian minds in the civic sphere: little men with loud mouths, brittle tempers, and a crippling addiction to discord.

These men are scarcely defined by stature or age but by a meanness of spirit, like the religious and ethnic collective that desperately urged United States’ invasion of Nigeria over fictitious claims of a “Christian genocide.”

Their minds are cramped rooms with low ceilings where no generous idea can stand upright. They speak in absolutes, breathe in grievances, and exhale venom. They are convinced that Nigeria exists to validate their moods, and when it does not, they declare war on reason itself. They are the termites of the civic house: rarely seen, endlessly gnawing, and often mistaken for harmless.

Nigeria has always contended with visible enemies: herdsmen with machetes, kidnappers with guns, bandits with motorcycles, terrorists with flags, and coupists with manifestos. These are brutal afflictions, and their violence is immediate. Yet the greater danger in 2025 manifested in the invisible army of the petty, those who sabotage Nigeria with cynicism and bile. I speak of those who season our hopes with incessant bad faith. They are the ones who poison the well and then complain that the water tastes foul.

This is a civilisational problem before it is a policy issue, as these characters wear different faces across ethnic, professional and religious divides. Ultimately, they share the same impulse: to reduce citizenship to a tribal, political or religious audition. Patriotism, in their lexicon, is obedience to their prejudice. If you do not mirror their anger or chant their slogans, you must be an enemy. They claim ownership of truth and revoke it from anyone who dares to think differently. In their warped republic, disagreement is treason, nuance is weakness, and restraint an unforgivable betrayal.

Their bigotry is not always loud; sometimes it comes wrapped in sanctimony. They speak of nationhood through the smokescreen of ethnicity and religion, insisting that only their pain counts and only their fears are legitimate. They are unmoved by context and allergic to complexity. Every issue must bend to their bias or be broken. And when reality doesn’t comply, they curse it in bad faith.

The same voice that cheers or excuses the daily slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza suddenly becomes hysterical over spurious claims of a Christian genocide in Nigeria. Children, nursing mothers, fathers, sons—entire families—can be murdered elsewhere, and he will gloat, rationalise, or wave it away as geopolitics. But if a rumour surfaces at home that flatters his religious anxieties, he will howl to the heavens in performative grief.

I’d call him a moral speculator; trading in tragedy, he would not mourn deaths that defund his penchant for artifice. To him, empathy is a commodity to be spent only where it profits bias. Such a man is dangerous precisely because he presents himself as principled. He latches onto every movement wired to derail Nigeria’s fragile peace, not because he seeks justice, but because chaos flatters his resentments.

He contributes enthusiastically to the poisoning of minds, offering wildly abrasive and juvenile takes on conflicts he barely understands. Duelling in ignorance and the arrogance of unearned wisdom, he mistakes noise for knowledge and cruelty for courage.

Rather than enlighten, he inflames, amplifying discord while posing as a dispassionate truth-sayer. Yet truth neither trolls nor stalks dissenters across platforms like a hungry ghost. But this creature does. And in doing so, he becomes cancerous to the polity and the intimate lattices of life: family, neighbourhood, and the workplace. Wherever he goes, conversations curdle. Laughter stifles as people brace themselves for his next outburst.

One such character’s wife once issued a weary plea after one of his juvenile outbursts in a public forum, begging forgiveness, she explained that her husband has the build of a grandfather but the emotional maturity of a three-year-old. Beneath her lighthearted joke was a diagnosis. “Age has visited my husband’s body, but growth has skipped his soul,” she inwardly railed.

Yet the culprit persists. His takes are juvenile but abrasive, his certainty loud but thin. He prowls social media like a nocturnal animal, sniffing for disagreement, pouncing on nuance, and tearing at strangers to feel alive. If events or debates do not suit his bias, he comes out guns-a-blazing, lashing out at anyone who dares to think differently. He argues, never to persuade but to harm and conquer.

His tragedy was domestic before it became public. At home, he is the toxic relative who notices the speck in every eye except his own. Declaring himself as the only voice of reason in a room full of fools, his truth is the only truth and the final word. Unsurprisingly, he is tolerated out of politeness and avoided out of self-preservation at home, in the neighbourhood and the workplace.

For all his pretensions, he affects only a mood ring that changes colour with his interests. He gloats over recorded atrocities when they inconvenience his enemies, then performs the most tiresome form of virtue-signalling when tragedy aligns with his agenda. This does not make him brave or informed. It makes him morally hollow.

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Like a hunter who dares not enter the wild to hunt big game because he is past his prime and lacks the courage to fail, he scurries instead to hunt tadpoles and sewer rats. He attacks the vulnerable, the thoughtful, the moderate—anyone he deems unlikely to fight back with equal savagery. His bravado thrives only where the risk is minimal. In this, his smallness is complete.

How, then, does Nigeria survive men like this? Not by silencing them—that would flatter their persecution fantasies—but by starving them of the attention they crave and confronting the culture that enables them. The first remedy is civic humility: the recognition that no single tribe, faith, or ideology owns the nation. Citizenship must be reclaimed as a shared burden, not a sectarian trophy. Nigerians must learn again to argue without annihilating one another, to disagree without demonising.

The second remedy is moral consistency. Grief must not be selective. Justice must never be tribal. A life lost anywhere should trouble us everywhere. Until Nigerians reject convenient compassion and affect inward integrity, the petty will continue to masquerade as principled.

Third, we must rehabilitate public conversation. Social media need not be a sewer. It can be a school, where voices with reach model restraint, context, and empathy. Families, too, must stop indulging the toxic relative. Silence brokers no peace when it enables harm. Sometimes, love demands correction.

Finally, the Lilliputian mind must be challenged to grow, reading beyond echo chambers and listening without preparing to strike. Accepting that being wrong is not death. Nigeria’s survival depends not only on defeating armed enemies but on outgrowing emotional infants masquerading as patriots.

Nigeria will endure, not because of the loud and the petty, but despite them. When enough of us grow tall in mind and spirit, the tyranny of small minds will collapse under the weight of its own insignificance.

January 1, 2026
Theft from one is theft from all Nigerians: Stop corruption!

Now this is 31-12-2025 New Year’s Eve, NYE, for 2026. It is a time of turmoil if you are a known terrorist no matter how strong your political protection. It is one of cautious optimism if you are one of the 2,500,000 documented Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in camps or one of the probably another 2,500,000 undocumented IDPs across Nigeria seeking work and education, self-respect and dignity denied them by the evil takeover of their ancestral lands and homes by the terrorists.

Pray for the emotional recovery of the thousands of kidnap victims.

Nigeria’s terrorist/herder mayhem is not a small matter or fallout among friends. What has friendship got to do with wanton killing and destruction of homes and livelihood be it farms, crops or work opportunities?

Today’s NYE is one of celebration if you are alive, well, expect or have money, or a job or a pension which pays more than the naira value collapse.

It is one for good riddance if you or yours suffered stress or loss especially related to kidnapping, terrorism or the economy.

The seemingly disgracefully huge number and high monetary value of corruption cases revealed this year especially with the ‘trusted’ top echelon of the recent past government are probably the tip of the ‘corruption iceberg’ which has repeatedly hit and threatened to economically sink Nigeria. We all, unknowingly, suffer from every kobo stolen. It reveals past government political suppression and underfunding of EFCC, ICPC and Police, crippling effectiveness of any preventive measures, pre-emptively discourage, detect and prosecute office holders until after they have left office. We should be able to ensure the collection of all our stolen money.

Sadly, there is even repeated controversy over the fate of recovered funds and items bought with stolen funds like vehicles, houses, cash, clothes and contents of recovered homes and offices…little or no transparency.

Some claim the original thieves get much of the recovered property back ‘through the corruption-ridden secret auction or opaque corrupt plea bargain backdoor’. These need transparency and better monitoring.

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Even if we cannot collect all our stolen wealth and property from 2025 and earlier, and we should, surely, we must, in 2026 resolve to, and implement every corruption-preventive and early corruption-detection means to prevent forever one individual, minister or military or messenger from stealing a kobo while in office. They are already so well paid.

Nigeria is at war. Certainly, Boko Haram, ISIS and other terrorist groups, bandits etc. and certain violent herder groups are at war with Nigeria. The evidence is in plain sight, five million IDPs, are not there by choice but by fear.

A country at war cannot fight the enemy and also the giant corruption enemy within. This is why every effort must be made to curb the already demonstrated unbridled ‘Corruption Lust’ of many of our big men and women and even down to the extortion of transport workers by union and uniformed road security organisations. They have repeatedly proved that they are untrustworthy. They steal tooooo much, leaving too little for services and developmental growth.

What possesses fellow Nigerians, elected or selected, to sit in office of service, shouldering grave responsibility and knowingly, willingly and cruelly delay, pad and inflate budgets and contracts, demand enormous bribes and expect briefcases of forex just for sitting in the office? Yes, corruption is worldwide but there is low liveable corruption worldwide and maniacal corruption devouring Nigeria. Each person answers individually to God who will weigh the effect on the poor and punish accordingly.

Your ‘Honesty vs Corruption’ policy is personal and depends entirely on you, not any other human being. Simple test: If you would be ashamed if your action was announced on NTA, it is probably a corrupt action. Stop!

For 2026 we should step back and think about why Nigeria is not where it should be. We all agree that one of the reasons why we have failed is that the corrupt people have failed us. This is easily correctable. ‘Theft from one Nigerian is theft from us all.’

Thieves in public office, corrupt individuals, cartels and even corrupt stop-and-search checkers constitute the ‘Corruption Army’ which has held sway for too long. Like it or not, this thievery, this corruption, can cost more than a war effort and it is cumulatively crippling Nigeria from year to year and must stop or be stopped before there is nothing left to steal. It has taken two years of current government’s CBN efforts to recover the dignity of a decent foreign reserve which can easily be squandered and stolen again. The naira value is still a national disgrace.

Nigeria cannot afford to lose its ‘Nigerian Sustainable Development Democracy Dream-2026’ yet again to forces which are motivated, to systematically re-enforce corruption and take that 2026 Dream from Nigerians. The ‘Corrupt Persons Army’ ignores the fact that every naira stolen, every budget not met, every project not completed or below standards has in the past and will continue to punish by depriving babies of their mothers dying in childbirth, depriving pupils of adequate teaching, depriving workers of a living wage, depriving travellers of pothole-free roads, and depriving hospitals of quality equipment.

The president can stop the corruption war against Nigeria. Set up a pre-emptive and proactive EFCC and ICPC and stamp out the public face of Nigeria’s corruption- road corruption.

Happy New Year 2026.

December 31, 2025