The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Hurray! $40b reserves: $180b needed

    Hurray! $40b reserves: $180b needed

    Foreign reserves are not just a number but a ‘cash rock’ on which nations are built or fall as demonstrated by our current suffering. Some entrusted with such cash funds steal and misuse their position because they are small-minded myopic persons with no national pride despite medals and national [dis]honours.

    Nigeria’s accumulation to $40b as foreign reserves from the ashes of our recent disastrous financial mega-mismanagement and corruption is therefore especially worthy of applause for the CBN team led by Governor Yemi Cardoso. Foreign reserves are only grown by persons of vision, professional responsibility, national pride and a passion to pave the way to a brighter financial tomorrow for the street children they see through their bullet proof glass daily on the street. They are driven to try to turn a rag back into the rich cloth as it was in the beginning when our currency was a proud N1=£1. Such persons work for the citizens, not for themselves.

    To further their success, the CBN governor and his team must take on a new task. The CBN governor must lead and prod Nigeria further down the economic road to foreign reserves stability  and project a roadmap to meet timelines for a national target of foreign reserves, (FR), at least $180b at $1b/1m population to strengthen the naira ‘in the beginning’ years. For CBN figures to be the masterclass in relevance, FR must be compared with other countries and their populations.

    Nota Bene that our population may not be more than 160-180m judging from our historical corrupt census inflation for political reasons. Our voting numbers and other statistics do not add up to more. Does Nigeria have 20-40 million ghost citizens?

    Our fellow travellers in this economic journey can teach us something. South Africa has foreign reserves of $63b for 60m citizens, $1b/1m citizens; Morocco has FR$37b for 36m citizens, $1m:1m citizens;   Algeria has  FR$72b for 46m, $1b/0.6 m;  Egypt has FR$46b   for 112m, $1b/2.4m;  Ghana has FR$7b for 34m citizens, $1b/4.8m citizens.  Nigeria has $40b foreign reserves for maybe 180m citizens i.e. $1b/4.5m. So, we have a lot of good governance, anti-corruption and wasteful spending to curtail to build up to $1:1m a developing country’s target minimum ratio.

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    This headline of FR $180b would have been achieved years ago with a strategic published and publicised economic roadmaps with re-education of the political parties and politicians and their special assistants and properly articulated plans by our presidents and CBN past governors since the 60s. That action would have saved the CBN funds from being so recklessly looted by in-house complicit CBN directors and other staff and carpetbag politicians and private sector moguls and rich but common thieves especially in our banking system who seem to think that all money must be ‘stolen not saved’. Stop stealing saved funds. 

    The calculated $180b would merely make Nigeria’s foreign reserves levels close to international developing country levels and massively strengthen the naira. The CBN governor needs to instruct its CBN Public Enlightenment Division to engage and enlighten the National Orientation Agency to, in turn, articulate regularly and publicly the causes and the cures for our deplorable disease of poor naira: dollar value. This enlightenment should repeatedly target the legislature to cure their delusional demand for ‘Political Salaries and Perks and Pension Grandeur’ and ‘all knowing over-sabi’. This enlightenment drive may get a more cooperating political and public response and support for its policies than in the past since we are all every man, women and child is passing through this 1+year of the shadow of financial death!

    Growth in our FR is a main key to rescuing our naira, traumatised by greed-driven unbridled political acquisition of enormous cash through ‘legal and illegal incomes’ requiring changing to forex for ease of carrying and concealment. In addition, there is a historic massive general corruption and a historically arrogant and wayward unbridled ‘black market’ in foreign exchange. We must add a disregard of ‘naira pride’ as a national symbol by successive governments and the ‘cash splashing’ political and rich classes who stopped spraying in favour of throwing naira bricks! Spraying, stomping and squeezing the naira do not affect the economic value of the naira, already less value than toilet paper! They spray dollar now. Did the dollar fall in value on the floor? No.

    Government, citizens and political class must address all the above as well as our careless over-dependence on imports even of toothpicks. Unfortunately, instead of nurturing, we have lost manufacturing capacity. Poor, third world, asymmetric costly power generation, multiple taxation and negligent supervision of weaponised and road security personnel remain stumbling blocks to economic development.

    The sooner our FR reach and pass the required important milestones of $45b, $50b, $55b, $60b to $100b, the better for the exchange rate. This will force the vulture forex traders, in banks and black market, to find productive jobs. An example of banking negligence of supervision… ‘A bank staff laundered N70b and forfeited N120b to federal government as part of a plea bargain’. Ditto for billions of CBN funds.  

    So, let us support Governor Cardoso and his team and tell everyone especially politicians  that for Nigeria to grow, Nigeria’s CBN and banking system must be ‘closed for corruption business’, ‘lock the corruption shop’ and achieve a target of $160-180b in foreign reserves just to be on par with South Africa and Morocco, our football foes.

  • When last did you hear from your Governor?

    When last did you hear from your Governor?

    When last did the Governor of your state call a press conference to give an account of the situation of the state, beyond occasional appearances, for example, to address the insecurity situation or launch a project? Has your Governor ever disclosed how much money came into the state treasury from Federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue the previous month, quarter, or year? In short, how accountable has your state Governor been to the people he was elected to serve?

    There are many factors responsible for the Governors’ lack of accountability. They include (a) lack of an effective system of accountability; (b) illiteracy; and (c) poverty.

    There is no standardised system of evaluating state governments or otherwise hold them accountable. In the absence of such a system, the electorate use elections as a system of evaluation. Those who look promising are voted in, while those who performed are reelected. Not in Nigeria, though, because such evaluation is mitigated by other factors. Governors exploit this lacuna to maximum advantage through deception and other mischievous exploits.

    Take, for example, the case of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau (2015-2023), who claimed that he bought 400 tractors for N5.6 billion for farmers in his state as part of the state’s agricultural production scheme, even after each participating farmer paid a deposit of N1.5 million to the state for the equipment. However, upon investigation by Premium Times, it was discovered that only about 90 tractors were bought and fewer (just 40) were displayed when President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the project in 2018. Yet, the unknowing electorate was recruited to sing and dance on the occasion in praise of the Governor (see The true story of ‘400 tractors’ ex-Gov. Lalong claimed his govt bought for Plateau, Premium Times, July 4, 2024).

    Illiteracy prevent the public from pressing for accountability. I use the term illiteracy here in two senses: One, in the sense of stark illiteracy, that is, inability to read and write, which applies to about 40 percent of the Nigerian population, much more so in the North than in the South, and the other in the sense of political illiteracy, despite the dual ability to read and write. Many literate Nigerians are politically illiterate in this sense. Some of them may know that Governors should be accountable, but they will not hold the Governors to account either because they are “eating” or because they hope to “eat” from the Governors’ government or they don’t care at all. Both groups of illiterates take part in singing and dancing in praise of Governors for doing their duty, such as tarring a road or building a public facility, such as a school, hospital, or clinic. This practice has the inverse effect of making the Governors feel they have achieved, and they use the praise singing as a surrogate for accountability.

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    Poverty also prevents voters from holding their Governors to account.  is poverty, which makes them satisfied with tokens, such as rural roads, boreholes, or a poverty alleviation measure, such as N5,000 or a scoop of rice. Many of them have no idea that whatever they get from their state government is their right and that it is the Governor’s duty to provide them. Unfortunately, the illiterate and poor electorate have been led to believe that whatever problems they have are from Abuja, and that their enemy is the federal government and not their Governor or state government. That’s why protests are directed at the Federal Government instead of state governments.

    It is the dual scourge of illiteracy and poverty that makes vote-buying central to our electoral practice. Save for occasional investigative journalism and a few civil society organisations, which demand accountability, sometimes by going to court to demand some records, little or nothing is heard about the performance of state governments.

    Any wonder then that corruption is rampant in the states, and it takes various forms, including bribery, inflated contracts (to disguise cutbacks), and outright embezzlement of public funds, often through diversion into private or business accounts associated with politicians, political appointees, civil servants, and/or their surrogates. To be sure, corruption is not unique to Nigeria. It is everywhere across the globe. What is peculiar about corruption in Nigeria is twofold, namely, the impunity with which corrupt practices thrive and the degree to which the practices are condoned, especially by the respective local communities of the politicians, political appointees, and civil servants in question.

    Most state Governors are corrupt. Once elected, they are either looking for campaign funds for reelection or for running for Senate or for supporting a Presidential candidate for expected reward, such as a Vice-Presidential pick or ministerial nomination. Some even accumulate funds to run for President. For incumbents, the state treasury is often the starting point, using various methods, including the so-called security vote, which, in some states, is as high as N1 billion a month, which the Governor is not bound to account for.

    Some of them may also want to retire from active politics once they feel that they have accumulated enough money to sustain them and their family for the rest of their lives. Remember that, besides their savings, they are treated to a fat severance package and monthly pension, which varies from state to state. In addition, they keep several vehicles, drivers, police escort, kitchen staff, and other assistants for which their states or the relevant government agency, such as the police, allegedly continues to pay.

    It is against the above backgrounds that the Governors’ performances since May 29, 2023, should be assessed. It is pertinent to emphasise that since fuel subsidy was removed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the inception of his administration, state allocations have more than doubled. Yet, there have been no corresponding improvements in people’s lives, despite the distribution of funds and other resources for palliatives, including cash distribution, agricultural development, transport facility, and infrastructural development.

    How will the Governors be made accountable? The answer lies with residents of each state as the Federal Government has no power under the constitution to interfere in the affairs of the states. True, the EFCC and the ICPC are under federal control, but neither institution can act in the absence of credible petitions or prompted enquiries. It is time for citizen action, not necessarily to go to the streets but to seek alternative ways, including litigation, to make their Governors accountable.

    •An earlier version of this essay was published on September 4.

  • Misguided war against Niger Delta leaders

    Misguided war against Niger Delta leaders

    Last week, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, the former governor of Delta State was arrested by EFCC over an alleged N1.3tn fraud. If you asked me, I will say this, once again, is another evidence of war of attrition by Nigerian state against Niger Delta whose leadership has come under intense scrutiny since the birth of the 4th republic. EFCC’s periodic attempt at dragging leaders of the region to court over corruption charges, when we, the assumed victims, never asked outsiders for help, is seen as an attempt to cause disaffection between the people and their leaders.

    A people, as it is often said deserve the leadership they get. I am sure the leaders of the Niger Delta who are about the most educated, most sophisticated, professionally accomplished, leaders in the banking, entrepreneurship and the media where they maintain a complete monopoly cannot be said not to know what is best for their impoverished people. In any case, the poor but proud people of the Niger Delta whose leaders often say “Warri no dey carry last’ have not sought for help.

    The problem with our successive leaders who are ill-trained in the art of governance since the collapse of the first republic has been their failure to appreciate the fact that as a multi-cultural society with groups at different level of cultural development, no one group can impose its own value system on the other. It was for this reason, Sir Ahmadu Belo in the run-up to independence warned Zik that rather than forget our differences for the sake of independence, they, the founding fathers  must first try to understand them.

    Awolowo unfortunately learnt this lesson too late.

    He had gone to the Middle Belt and north-eastern regions of Nigeria to preach egalitarianism and free education. Ahmadu Bello at their last meeting held in the house of a common friend in Ikorodu insisted those Awo wanted to liberate were his great grandfather’s slaves. And this became very clear after Tarka’s death when successive leadership of the Middle Belt chose to align with northern conservative parties from NPN to PDP rather than Awo’s progressive UPN.

    And as if to prove Ahmadu Bello right, the Middle Belt that had always provided soldiers of fortune for the northern jihadists, had Yakubu Gowon, Theophilus Danjuma and other Middle Belt officers. leading  the war which at the beginning was essentially between the north and the east until it became ‘war to keep Nigeria one”’ when the attack on the West and Midwest by the secessionist convinced the two regions that sitting on the fence would only turn their regions to theatre of war.

    It is the same story with the Ibibio, Efiks and the minorities in the East whose battle Awo carried on his head to the London Constitutional Conference. The people of the area after independence probably realized their best safeguard against their more aggressive Igbo neighbours was an alignment with the north and that has been the trend till today.

    Nearer home, except for the Benins that are culturally related to the Yoruba, the Urhobos, Ijaws and the Isokos have since independence aligned with the northern conservatives. In fact Pa Edwin Clark while trying to play politics of identity not too long ago, was reminded by a prominent northern leader that, he, Clark must remember he was always at the head of Ijaw group seeking coalition with the north.

    What history has taught us therefore is that no individual or groups can impose their values on others who are not ready for change. Change can only be effected from inside when the people are ready for it. This universal truth is no less true of the people of Niger Delta, a microcosm of Nigeria. And this explains why EFCC’s periodic indictment of Niger Delta leaders for corruption has led to no uprising or even condemnation of their leaders.

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    Instead, the people remain unequivocal on their demand for a revenue sharing formula, based on derivation as was the case in the first republic and in the worst scenario, a sharing formula that provides succour for farmers, fishermen and youths who no more have access to land, rivers and employment opportunities.

    In any case, corruption, for the people of Niger Delta according to President Jonathan is not a big deal. “What many Nigerians refer to as corruption is actually stealing.  Stealing is not the same thing as corruption”. And even if you ignore Jonathan’s Freudian, slip, the impoverished people of Niger Delta have demonstrated to our anti-corruption crusaders from Obasanjo to Buhari who like the proverbial undertakers cry louder than the bereaved, that the more the billions of their monies converted to personal use, the more the honours such vilified leaders get.

    Let us start with Alfred Diette-Spiff. He was at 25, the first governor of Rivers under the administration of Gowon. Following Murtala Mohammed’s coup against Gowon, the governor was missing for three days. When he was eventually located, it was on the high seas where he was cruising with his friends in his private ship. Although he was demoted by Murtala Mohammed regime and a number of houses seized from him in Port Harcourt, Alfred Papapreye Diette-Spiff has gone on to become the Amayanabo (king) Twon Brass and remains one of the most powerful voices from Balyelsa.

    The case of Chief Diepreye Alameyeseigha, Governor- General of the Ijaws and the brain behind rampaging Niger Delta militants in the Creeks was more intriguing. In fact, he was being groomed by his people as Obasanjo’s potential successor. But that was before his successful contest for the PDP presidential primaries after which Obasanjo declared him morally bankrupt to aspire to lead Nigeria. He was chased from Germany to France and to Britain from where he escaped to Nigeria dressed like a woman.

    Following mobilization of Britain, USA, South Africa, Bahamas and Seychelles and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes and the World Bank under the stolen Assets Recovery by President Obasanjo, we were told of his accumulated properties , bank accounts, investments in cash of up to 10 million pounds in five banks in the UK, Cyprus, Denmark and the US;  his four London properties acquired for a total of four million pounds; a Cape town Harbour penthouse acquired for one million pounds, houses in the US and  about one million pounds stored in one of his London properties.

    Living a lavish ostentatious life style at the expense the people, as it turned out, only endeared the Ijaw governor general to his impoverished people. Then Ribadu committed an affront by securing his conviction. An attempt was not only made on Ribadu’s life, he was demoted and forced to flee the country. And his judicial victory was a pyrrhic one as President Jonathan who declared “when God gives us power, we must use it for the glory of his name” wasted no time in granting his ‘Ijaw Governor General and former boss, presidential amnesty.

    James Ibori was another Niger Delta governor widely celebrated by his impoverished people for converting their commonwealth to private use. He was dragged before an Asaba High Court over financial malfeasance against his people by EFCC. The case was thrown out for lack of substance. But the same case, with the same evidence, the Metropolitan Police in London secured James Ibori indictment and jailed him for 13 years.

    But the ancient Asaba town and its environs were literally paralyzed in jubilation, when the news of his release from London prison where he had served 10-year jail term for money laundering and other offences filtered into Asaba and its environs.  The event was described by one newspapers as follows: “Thousands of supporters, admirers and friends of the ex-convict, James Onanefe Ibori, converged Sunday morning for the thanksgiving service at First Baptist Church”. “Various Quarters’ residents, especially Asaba youths, rolled out their drums to celebrate the man they described as “Odidigborigbo.”

    The youths sang Asaba-Ibo songs along Nnebisi Road, Summit Junction; they danced freely to drumbeats, causing serious traffic gridlock. Popular Ogbeogonogo Market Women were not left out in the jubilation. Chief Ibori who wore Urhobo traditional attire, a gold-coloured lace top with blue wrapper to match, arrived at the church in an unmarked Lexus SUV at exactly 10.20 am, amidst cheers from his admirers”.

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta who many believed was single-handedly installed by Ibori, as “a way to show gratitude to Chief Ibori” allegedly bankrolled the elaborate church thanksgiving service and reception to the tune of N350m.

    Uche Secondus, the then national chairman of PDP confirmed Okowa’s indebtedness to Ibori when he spoke in March 2018 at a thanksgiving and grand reception organised by Olorogun John Oguma, in honour of Ibori at the Ibru Unity Square, Ovwor-Olomu, Ughelli South Local Government According to him, “Before the 2015 elections, I received a call from our leader (Ibori), and I asked him the direction. He (Ibori) told me Okowa should be supported.”

    We don’t need a soothsayer to know that with the support of his impoverished but proud people who detest outsiders reminding them of the inhumanity of their leaders, Okowa corruption case will end like those of his predecessors.

    Let us all hail Niger Delta leaders for keeping faith with their people.

  • LG: first Soludo, now Lagos…

    LG: first Soludo, now Lagos…

    “The military correct one problem but create sundry others” —EM Forster, A Passage to India.

    The quote above is not exactly the words of one of the characters in EM Forster’s famous novel on the British Raj (1858-1947).  But it captures the exact sentiments.

    The issue here is not even the military — brave souls! — and their sweet-sour image, either in junta rule, or when unleashed beyond war and gore, their core competence.

    It’s rather applying such military tactics to the Supreme Court verdict on council “autonomy” — hailed, by many, for stopping governors’ pilfering of council funds.

    But it is also ardently questioned by a few —Ripples included. That “autonomy” makes Nigeria more unitary than federal, despite the zesty howls over a so-called “third tier” as a federating partner.  It is not.

    Beyond military whims, unfortunately codified in the 1999 Constitution, there is nothing like local governments partnering the Federal Government for the Nigerian federation — or any federation for that matter. That’s a travesty — and that explains the fight back from the states.

    First, it was Chukwuma Soludo’s Anambra.  Next, it’s Lagos — incidentally, the first under Governor Bola Tinubu (now President of the Federal Republic), to secure judicial validation for states to create and manage their local governments.

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    Back then, the Supreme Court found for the state, after bullying President Olusegun Obasanjo had seized Lagos council funds: because Lagos had the temerity to create additional 37 local governments (added to the 20 that the 1999 Constitution listed).

    The apex court upheld the constitutional right of states to create local governments. 

    But it dubbed the exercise “inchoate”, until the National Assembly passed a “consequential listing”, so the new councils could be added to the 774, which the 1999 Constitution had listed.  That Supreme Court verdict was on 9 December 2004.

    Enter then, the Lagos Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) — until the National Assembly did the needful.  But since 2004, no consequential listing had come — and it couldn’t have been otherwise.

    “Consequential listing” means the right of the new Lagos councils to draw federal cash.  By that, the matter would have morphed from law to finance: and other states, citing Lagos, would have created extra councils, for extra federal cash!

    It’s realpolitik: the ugly face of Nigeria’s parasitic federalism, in which the central feudal lord, with gruff unitary temper, feeds the states, but on its own damn terms!

    So, the LCDAs — with many states copying that concept — had stayed inchoate, until the “autonomy” verdict of 2024 (by the way, a conceptual opposite of 2004: 20 years later), which just spurred them out of their deep slumber!

    Indeed, in his November 3 back-page piece, “LGs in more trouble than Nigerians thinks,” Palladium, The Nation on Sunday columnist, moaned, griped and hissed over how governors were plotting to subvert the Supreme Court’s “autonomy” verdict.

    Palladium, as many avid fans of this judicially induced “autonomy”, see the governors as rogues; and Abuja as saint in this matter. From strict morality, maybe yes: soulless governors have diverted council funds for much too long for the owners not to notice!           

    The proof? Municipal, suburban and rural services, the core duty of local councils, have lagged behind the funding poured down there from Abuja.  Too true.

    Besides, why near-hysterical reactions, to the verdict, by some governors? Seyi Makinde, the Oyo governor, openly blew his tops. He even tried to instigate an anti-verdict road show by newly (s)elected Oyo council chairs.  Futile. Impotent.

    Latterly, Soludo’s Anambra again hit its sour anti-”autonomy” mode.  A newly elected council chair from Anambra was nabbed in the United States for alleged romantic scams.  But Governor Soludo’s Information commissioner threw the poor guy under the bus, claiming Anambra had no dog in the fight — but the man’s electors had — since councils now enjoyed “autonomy”!  Talk of chronic sour grapes!

    Meanwhile, in the same story — as told in The Nation of November 10 —  the nabbed suspect is not only a member of APGA (Anambra’s ruling party), he was also among the candidates Soludo allegedly handpicked prior to the polls, which APGA swept!  So, what APGA — and the governor — have put together, “autonomy” has put asunder?

    Before the Supreme Court’s July judgment, when the issue came up for discourse at The Nation Editorial Board, Ripples had told co-members that Abuja would likely win the “autonomy” war.  Whether it would win the peace thereafter was another question.

    So, the current challenge by the states is all about winning the peace. 

    Abuja used the courts to force out a malady crippling local government administration and development.  Noble judicial legerdemain?  Hardly ignoble!  If the states roar back, by same systemic ploys, it’s hardly ignoble — nor illegal — too!

    Indeed, it’s the real war of the federating partners, gaming each other to preserve their turf, under the equal-opportunity eye of the law!

    Besides, the Supreme Court’s verdict is hardly a theocracy’s holy grail that must be worshipped and venerated by all, at the mortal risk of heresy!  That would appear the view of the pro-”autonomy” lobby.  But that’s hardly valid in a democratic republic.

    It’s rather the latest legal document, which contesting partners, in a secular federation, can — and should — question.  It’s all about thesis and antithesis providing a new synthesis that could work for all.  In a competitive federation, that’s hardly a crime.

    Let it be clear: governors gypping local governments of their due funds are execrable. But no less damning is a long-term sweet poison to Nigeria’s federal cause. 

    Whereas the Supreme Court’s 2004 judgment backed states’ federal rights to create own local governments, the 2024 verdict — by implication — all but took away such rights: all to push Abuja’s right to monitor its cash. 

    Yes, it does solve the problem of governors pinching council funds — or does it?  But in doing that, it creates a more fundamental breach that can’t be explained away by the so-called “third tier”.  Again, beyond military caprice, that’s hardly federal.

    Take the Lagos challenge.  It rolled back the LCDAs into the original 20 councils.  But it also gave the governor the power to appoint heads and councillors for the inchoate LCDAs — to be funded from allocated federal funds to the Big 20.

    How does that appointee power play against the constitutional guarantee of elected local governments?  Yet, not even the Supreme Court could “adjudicate” Lagos out of making laws for own councils!

    Anambra already passed a law that compels its councils to deposit part of their direct federal cash in a state pool for common services.  Hardly an unreasonable move too!

    But Lagos has even thrown the LCDAs back at the National Assembly. To ensure elected local governments at LCDAs, pass “consequential listing” the LCDAs had awaited since 2004 — quid pro quo!

    This piece will end as the original salvo (See “Autonomy — against who?”, June 18): let Abuja quit its military-messianic complex, charge council funds to states and leave the states to expand — or shrink — their local councils as they deem fit.

    Councils are strictly states’ business — no one else’s.

  • Debt of a decade

    Debt of a decade

    Exactly today, November 12, 2014, my dearest father, Paul Oni Meduna, passed to the great beyond. As if in a movie playback, I could recall the bits of the details as if it happened yesterday. Three days before he slipped into the coma from which he never ‘returned’, I had spoken to one of the doctors treating him only to be told that he was doing ‘just fine’ as if that was any reassuring. With no visible signs of improvements days after, my siblings and I, convinced that the man deserved every care in modern medicine that money could buy, decided to move him from the place of his primary care in Kogi State to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Shortly after, I secured the ambulance to take him down to Ilorin the next day along with the temporary nursing aid taking care of him. I then told my driver to get ready for the trip from Lagos to Ilorin the next day. To ensure that nothing went wrong, I offered that he take my car home so he could arrive latest by 5 am for the six-hour long journey from Lagos to Ilorin.

    My mistake. I got ready at 4 am the next day and thereafter put a call to the driver only to have all his known telephone lines switched off! By 5 am, it was the same story. That I was in panic was an understatement. Not sure of what to do, I left the house confused. Twenty minutes later, I was on the way to the airport, where mercifully the 7 am Overland Airline was on tarmac ready for its early morning Ilorin trip. Somehow, I found myself on the flight and by 7.45 am, landed in Ilorin! I headed for the hospital to find the old man already settled in the ward. A gentle touch and the old lion stirred if only to acknowledge my presence, his first son.

    Meanwhile, the hired private ambulance from Kogi had, I was told, arrived some 25 minutes earlier, and, many thanks to some of the doctors who were my younger brother’s classmates in the medical school, the patient was immediately taken in to be followed by preliminary examinations.

    Soon after, my driver called to inform me that he had just arrived! This was long past 8 am! Without betraying any emotions, I quietly requested him to hand over the car keys to my wife, not forgetting to add that the trip was no longer necessary since I had already arrived at our agreed destination!

    And then my mission began, starting, expectedly with the bills; then the long to-do lists of tests, some to be conducted at the Kwara State government-owned diagnostic centre some 20-25 minutes away, and then ancillary instructions. Although past caring what the procedures cost or how much time it took, I managed in between, to steal furtive glances just to be sure he was still around.

    Sometime around 4 pm, we returned from the diagnostic centre to the hospital where the doctors took their turns to examine him. I then turned the nurse, who, by now, extremely fatigued from lack of sleep and the tortuous journey, could barely stand. I requested that she took out some time to rest till about 8 pm since she would have to spend the night at the hospital, after which I could retire to the hotel.

    Moments after being finally left alone with him, memories of everything he has been to me and my siblings came flooding in.

    Here was a man, who never saw the four walls, of a formal school, yet grasped the import and value of education in his adolescence. While his peers thought little of formal education, he taught himself how to read and write; did a number of correspondence courses in religious education with nearly a dozen certificates elegantly framed in his living room as attestation. He was a regular subscriber to the Yoruba Challenge, the Yoruba publication of the Jos-based Challenge Publications founded by the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) better known now as Evangelical Churches Winning All (ECWA). A community leader, his life exemplified service. He would travel miles on his Raleigh bicycle to attend weekly community meetings and then stay behind for church service.

    A bridge builder and intense family man, he taught by his sheer force of example the virtue of sacrifice and giving. He was the go-to whenever knotty issues in the family and community arose. To his immediate family, he ensured they never lacked; his children’s education came first, second and possibly third in his order of priority. Often derided by his friends for spoiling them, he never took offence; his argument was that the choice he made was in farming – and so his children, being entitled to theirs, and having already made their resounding choice with their good grades, deserved every encouragement to stay the course!

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    Known to be strong willed and decisive – a firm believer in not sparing the rod of discipline no matter who was involved, I often took pride in being able to access the genial side of his intrepid personality.

    Did he laugh last?

    Lying there almost lifeless, I needed no medics to appreciate that the omens were far from good. Then, the tears came, slowly. Surely, at 84 and in a country where life expectancy was barely 50, it was not a question of being too young to exit. But then, I recalled that he had cheated death, not once but twice before this time.

    First was a ghastly motor accident on January 5, 1978 from where he not only emerged as a lone survivor but left him with a lifelong limp after several rounds of surgical interventions. The second, a gripping drama of sorts, could best be described as a case of quackery by a so-called doctor. That was in 2002. He had called to complain of being unwell and was immediately directed to see a doctor. The latter had put him on a drip, but rather than improve, his condition got worse. My younger brother Temitope, also a doctor, had called the doctor in charge (a private hospital) from his South African base to inquire not just about his condition but the course of treatment. He would call to request that I take my dad from that doctor of death – something to do with the doctor giving a patient with high blood sugar intravenous sugar solution!

    Was he going to be lucky the third time?

    This was the question on my mind as I left the hospital that night. Time was 9 pm. Arriving  the hotel 45 minutes later, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t eaten all day and so immediately called the restaurant. No sooner had I dropped the intercom than my phone rang – and with it the message I dreaded to hear: Papa has gone to sleep.

    Just like that. And then the flood of tears came.

    It’s been 10 years since. His body was committed to Mother earth on April 3, 2015. Today, as my family celebrates the decade of his passing, there remains, for yours truly in particular, a pile of debts remaining to pay. From the people who freely gave of their resources to those who risked the trip amidst the heavily militarised highways as the 2015 elections reached crisis point, the moment affords me the singular opportunity to finally say – thank you. May God bless you all.

  • Exacerbating poverty in northwest

    Exacerbating poverty in northwest

    Every effort should be made to pulverize the so called Lukarawa terrorists, mutating in the northwest in its infancy considering what the nation went through in the hands of the Boko Haram. The news that a new terror group has metamorphosed in the country broke last week, after the group killed 15 persons in Mera, Augie Local Government Area, of Kebbi State. The Defence Headquarters announced that the group moved into Sokoto and Kebbi states, from Niger and the Sahel region.

    Expectedly, the governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, has called on the military to save the people from the danger posed by the terrorist group. Unlike in the past, nobody is playing politics with whether the invaders are mere bandits or have metamorphosed to terrorists. Even without waiting for the federal government to take steps to formally declare the group as a terrorist organization, the Kebbi State government and the socio-political organization, the Arewa Consultative Assembly (ACF), are united in calling the emergent group a terrorist organization.

    In the past, politics would have overshadowed the looming danger posed by the armed terror group. According to Prof Tukur Mohammed Baba: “The Arewa Consultative Forum is deeply concerned about the emergence of a new armed terror group, Lakurawa, in northwest states of Kebbi and Sokoto, as confirmed by local authorities as well as the DHQ.” He went on: “Lukarawas, at this incipient stage of its emergence, must not be tolerated or allowed to entrench itself to be embedded in our communities through benign neglect and/or kid-glove treatment, as was the case with Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes and banditry in the Northeast, North-central and Northwest areas, respectively.”

    It is interesting that the farmer-herder clashes in the North-central is now lined up together with other terrorist acts, in other parts of the north, instead of the prevailing attempt to label it as mere economic dispute between pastoralists and farmers. And yet, the people we call herders, wantonly kill hundreds, in communities across the Northcentral, in many instances seeking to wipe out entire residents of villages and communities. The ACF which is quick to call for action when herders are attacked, usually keep mum and ask for understanding when mayhem is visited on the farming communities.

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    This saddening attitude was displayed by former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who called on communities at the risk of genocide by rampaging herders, to show compassion for their fellow citizens seeking a means of livelihood. Instead of dealing with the terrorists masquerading as herders, the government sought some form of appeasement, which was called RUGA. With the government and influential leaders showing lack of neutrality in the incessant crisis, government policies to ameliorate the crisis always meet with a brick wall.

     Sadly, the insincerity of purpose has made it difficult for government to deal with that crisis which has contributed greatly to the food insecurity facing the country. The Boko Haram crisis followed a different trajectory, but almost consumed the entire Northeast. The insurgency which started in 2009, as a rebellion against the secular government in Borno State, eventuated into a terror machine ravaging parts of Northern Cameroun, Southern Niger and Western Chad. Even with a combination of forces across the affected countries, defeating the group has become an uphill task.

    The result is that about 38,683 lives have been lost, 244,000 turned into refugees and 952,029 children made to drop out of school. Of course there is massive destruction of communities and devastating effects on the social, economic and general lives of the people. According to the World Bank, the conflict has significantly destroyed physical infrastructure, disrupted social services and dislocated social cohesion among the people.  These challenges according to the UNDP, further affected the precarious lives of people, with a poverty rate of 69 percent and a literacy rate of 28 percent.

    Sadly, the Northwest, the emerging epicentre of the new terror group, despite its political advantages since independence, is the second most underdeveloped region of the country. It ranks very poor in human development index and has the highest population amongst the regions, in Nigeria – a combination that makes recruitment of followers for the new terror group easier. The region has 75.8 percent of its population entangled in multi-dimensional poverty; slightly lower that 76.5 percent for the Northeast. And on state basis, Sokoto has the highest, at 86.10, Jigawa – 83.30, Zamfara – 82.70, Kebbi – 79.10, Katsina – 77.50, and Kano – 68.80. 

    The three regions in the north make up more than 70 percent of the Nigeria’s total multidimensional poor. According to the UNDP, “the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) represents the number of people who are multi-dimensionally poor and the deprivations such people face at the household level. It is the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor adjusted by the intensity of deprivation.” It went on “Poverty is not merely the impoverished state in which a person actually lives in, but a lack of real opportunities due to social and other constraints and circumstances that inhibit living a valuable and dignified life.”

    With the destructive tendencies of terror groups, if the nascent terror organization in the northwest is allowed to fester and expand, the already bad situation would only get worse. The responsibility to ensure that Lukarawas do not gain foothold in the region is that of the community and traditional leaders, local government authorities, state governments and the federal government. Sadly, the maladministration of the past and perhaps the present, exacerbated the level of poverty in the region, and thus a potential nest for the terrorist group.

    If the level of literacy and other social indices in the region were better, the group would never have contemplated making the region a potential base. But apparently, after looking at all the indices, they may have come to the conclusion, that their terror group would do well, in such a nest of poverty and underdevelopment. As this writer has argued recently, the northern region must wake up to the numerous challenges facing it, and by extension, the entire country. The age-long attempt to curtail the spread of western education is at the root of the poverty in the region.

    Unfortunately, some of the leaders instead of making a differentiation between education and religion, lumps the two together, and in resisting the spread of other religions, also build a bulwark against education. Yet, Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate have leaders who trained in western countries. Even local leaders in Nigeria, attended schools in western countries, yet, the ordinary people are encouraged to treat western education, as haram.

    The northern leaders already campaigning to take over power in 2027 may be behaving like the proverbial man chasing rats while the roof of his house is on fire.

  • ‘Living minimum wage’

    ‘Living minimum wage’

    Ironically, as a number of states get set to implement the new N70,000 national minimum wage law, there are indications that workers across the country consider the new wage old and needing a review.

    Indeed, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero was reported saying the NLC may be forced to demand a review of the new minimum wage.  “We demand a review of our salaries in lieu of its eroded values,” he said at the 8th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) in Abuja, on October 30. He added: ‘’We must together demand the re-commissioning of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries in keeping with the agreement we had with the federal government on the 5th day of October, 2023.”

    The high cost of fuel resulting from the removal of  fuel subsidy is among the main factors responsible for the cost-of-living crisis in the country; and making the government-owned local refineries operational is expected to lower the cost of fuel with accompanying amelioration of the cost-of-living crisis.  

    President Bola Tinubu, who removed fuel subsidy in May 2023, signed the N70,000 minimum wage bill into law in July 2024, after months of intense negotiations with labour leaders who had demanded a much higher minimum wage.  The labour unions had initially demanded over N600, 000 monthly, arguing that the country’s cost-of-living crisis warranted such a high figure, compared with the old N30,000 minimum wage.  

    Disturbing figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated relentless inflation in the country. According to its latest Consumer Price Index report, month-on-month food inflation rate, for instance, increased in September, notably affecting prices of staples such as rice, maize, beans, and yams. There were also significant price increases in housing rentals, transport, and medical services.

    Responding to the NBS report, the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, was reported saying, “The reality is that the dynamics driving inflation are yet to be effectively subdued.” He observed that these factors include “the depreciating exchange rate, surging fuel price, rising transportation costs, logistics and supply chain challenges, high energy cost, climate change including resultant incidents of flooding, insecurity in farming communities and structural bottlenecks to production.”

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    Taming inflation demands tackling these challenges, which are mainly the consequences of reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.  The World Bank recently said the reforms were crucial for the country’s long-term stability. “Turning back or opposing the reforms would only make things worse,” said Ndiame Diop, World Bank country director for Nigeria, at the launch of the Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report in Abuja.

    Predictably, the World Bank’s position drew public criticism in a country struggling with a crushing cost-of-living crisis. However, Diop added that the ongoing reforms “must be accompanied by reforms enabling the private sector to create more and better jobs. With targeted support to youth and women.” This was a way of saying that the hard results of the Federal Government’s reforms can be softened. The World Bank report also noted the need for structural reforms, such as reducing trade barriers, improving infrastructure, improving the business environment and supporting household businesses for inclusive growth.

    If the ongoing reforms were inevitable to achieve a better future for Nigerians, the authors and promoters of the reforms should understand that it is counter-productive to carry out such reforms without considering and implementing sufficiently ameliorative measures.

    The alarmingly deteriorating cost-of-living crisis in the country is a bad advertisement for the Federal Government’s reforms. It is important to ask what the three levels of government have done, and what they are doing to save Nigerians from hardship occasioned by the reforms.  They are expected to urgently find solutions to the cost-of-living issues in the spaces they govern.  

    No argument that reforms negatively impacting Nigerians are a necessary means to a positive end will make sense if the people can’t breathe. At the Distinguished Personality Lecture organised by the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) in Abuja, on October 30, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State, noted that Nigerian workers were poorer now, despite the increased minimum wage.  “Inflation severely impacts purchasing power, making it difficult for workers to maintain a decent standard of living,” he observed.

    An interesting development underlined the reality that the minimum wage boost is not only cosmetic but also ineffectual. Sensationally, Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago made the headlines after announcing that the state would in November not only begin paying a minimum wage of N80,000 to its workers, which is N10,000 more than the stipulated new national minimum wage, but also aim to “eventually achieve a minimum wage of one million naira.”

    According to him, “The N80,000 approved is sustainable, and with our progress in agriculture, we are confident we can increase it further in the future.” He added: “We are establishing civil service farms so that our workforce can be more productive. With this approach, we could eventually achieve a minimum wage of one million naira, but for now, we are starting with N80,000.” This can be interpreted as a subtle admission of the inadequacy of the new wage.

    Was the governor serious? Did he expect the public to take him and his words seriously?  The chairman of NLC in Niger State, Abdulkarim Idris Lafene, observed that the N80,000 minimum wage which would be paid by the state government “is not fully aligned with the current economy, considering the high cost of goods and living expenses.” However, he added, “We are hopeful that the minimum wage will eventually reach one million naira, as the governor has indicated.” Unbelievable!

    Governor Bago of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is 50 and became governor in 2023. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.  He may be dreaming of a second term which would take him to 2031. So, he may have time to reach the point of possibly paying one million naira as minimum wage in his state. But he sounded like a politician saying what he thinks the people want to hear.

    Reports say 22 states are about to implement the new national wage law, with some of them ready to pay their workers slightly above the stipulated N70,000 minimum wage. The states are: Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Jigawa, Gombe, Ogun, Kebbi, Ondo, Kogi, Ebonyi, Delta, Edo, Borno, Kwara, Kano, and Kaduna.   

    Fifteen states adjusted the fixed minimum wage upward, possibly to give the impression that their governments are worker-friendly.  They include Lagos and Rivers (N85,000); Bayelsa, Niger, Enugu, and Akwa Ibom (N80,000).  Others are: Delta and Ogun (N77,000), Ebonyi and Kebbi (N75,000), Ondo (N73,000), Kogi and Kaduna (N72,000), Gombe and Kano (N71,000). But the variations are tokenistic.

    Evidently, the new national minimum wage is not a living wage in the country’s current circumstances. Nigerian workers in the public and private sectors deserve what some describe as a ‘living minimum wage.’

  • A government counsel and freed minors

    A government counsel and freed minors

    It emerged as a disgusting spectacle in the social media space. The first video clip depicted a scene of malnourished and worn-out children in their numbers, arraigned in an Abuja federal high court for alleged treason and related offences.

    Some of them collapsed on the dock, crying and gasping for breath while their equally haggard-looking colleagues held on to them. Some lawyers, apparently standing in their defence were also seen in the dock jittery and furious at the unfolding but seriously embarrassing development.

    They were heard calling on the prosecutor to, “take them to the clinic, take them to the clinic. Where is the prosecutor. Imagine, how can you arraign children”, amidst the wailing of some minors desperately in need of medical help. It was a chaotic and touching scene to behold as other minors watched on.

    The scene undoubtedly, ruffled public sensibilities attracting immediate condemnation notwithstanding the offences for which the minors were charged. The fact that the small boys had stayed three months in detention since the #EndBadGovernance protests in August, was enough to assail the conscience of even the most callous.

    Surprisingly, a second video clip also made a quick appearance. This time, it was a counsel to the federal government, Rimazonte Ezekeil addressing the press, apparently to correct the negative impression created by the court scene. But he spoke in a manner that left many bewildered and more angry.

    Hear him, “These boys we brought to the court today, all of them are adults. Most of them are married men. None of them is a minor. Some of them are university graduates. The small, small kids you are seeing here, they came with some of their parents to great their loved ones. They are not even the real suspects standing trial in this case”.

    He dismissed the claims of the defence counsel that they are school children and minors and alleged they were meant to tarnish the image of the police.

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     Ironically, the children he said were university graduates and married adults had been paraded and seen by the public. Their ages as recorded in the charge sheet ranged from 14-17 years.

     If it was a desperate attempt to pull wool over the eyes of the public, it turned out a colossal disaster. His statements created more problems for the government than the embarrassment mere arraignment of sick and malnourished children in court had engendered.

    But the government counsel was not alone in this disappointing voyage in self-deceit. The Nigerian Police Force also spoke of the incident in very disappointing manner. In a statement, its Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi claimed the court incident was stage managed; scripted.

    “Today (Friday), an unexpected incident in court saw six of the suspects suddenly rush out and faint, drawing media attention in a deliberate and scripted manner to draw negative attention.  Medical aid was promptly provided to those individuals” he said. But he was quick to add that under the Nigerian law, individuals who have reached the age of criminal responsibility are answerable for their actions, regardless of their age.

    The dismissive and offhanded manner the Nigerian police and the government prosecutor viewed the fate of the minors, was in sharp contrast with the outrage it generated both within and outside the shores of this country. Without prejudice to whatever offences the minors were alleged to have committed, it was deemed callous and insensitive for the police to have detained the minors for three months only to arraign them in the very decrepit and dehumanising manner they were seen in court that fateful day.

    The weight of empathy and sentiments evoked by that court outing were such that no responsible government, especially one that derived its mandate from the people could afford to ignore. Sadly, those who brought the minors to court in the manner they appeared, completely lost sight of the possible backlash.

    Something went awry with their reading of the situation. The difficult bail conditions set by the presiding judge further narrowed the chances of the minors for temporary reprieve. It aggravated the outrage.

     It came as a bold relief when President Bola Tinubu ordered immediate release of all the minors and the setting up of an administrative committee to examine all the issues surrounding the arrest, detention, treatment and release of the minors.

    That was not all. The president further directed that all law enforcement agents involved in the arrest and the legal processes be investigated, and if any infractions are found to have been committed, disciplinary action should be taken against the person.

     The court process has since been discontinued and the charges struck out by the trial judge. This paved the way for the immediate release of about 119 minors to the governors of Kano and Kaduna states. Vice President Kashim Shettima who presided over the release, said it was an act of magnanimity by President Tinubu despite “incontrovertible digital video and photographic evidence of the perpetrators and actions, some of which were uploaded by the actors themselves”.

    The reprieve for the minors has since drawn applause from so many quarters.  The president must have been touched by the spectacle of malnourished children who ordinarily should be in school, arraigned in court for offences many of them may never have heard of in their lives. He saw through the facade of  excuses presented by the prosecuting counsel and the police.

    Even if that scene was stage managed and scripted to attract media attention and portray the government in bad light, the scene succeeded in achieving that. But the fault is that of the police and the prosecuting officials. They should have known ahead of time, the predictable outcome of bringing those children to court in the conditions they were seen. If they faked fainting, their malnourished and sickly mien gave out the treatment they got in detention.

    That is where the probe directed by the president cues in very appropriately. It has been argued with varying degrees of plausibility that one of the major challenges leaders face is that of bad advisers. The case in point may be a vivid example. It is obvious from the response of the president that he may not have been properly briefed on the detention and circumstances of the minors. His quick directive for their release and investigation of all those that played a role in it suggests that.

    The police have serious questions to answer on the handling of the minors in detention. They claimed the fainting was stage managed, yet they took the sick and fainted minors to get medical attention. They were also derelict for not anticipating that arraigning those children in the manner they were seen in court, was bound to assail public sensibilities. So it is not just a matter of their action being scripted and in any case by who?

    There is no attempt to justify acts of lawlessness either by adults or minors. But these minors are victims of the system, often manipulated by the elite to achieve ends of self-serving or political colouration. Many of them were arrested allegedly waving Russian flags. They may not even know the difference between Russian flags and any other.

     Some of them were also rounded up indiscriminately during the protest, going by their accounts after their release.

    It is a mark of intelligence failure that within the three months the minors were detained, the police was unable through discrete interrogation, to unmask their sponsors and source of the flags some of the minors waved.  Maybe that is part of the puzzles the investigating committee will resolve. But, some lessons have definitely been served. 

  • Our boys

    Our boys

    The saga of the boys who “collapsed” in court reminded me of Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. In the immortal tale, it is not clear what the crime is and what the punishment should be, and the criminal, to many readers, was actually the hero.

    It reminds me also of the paradoxes of life. The pretender becomes the contender, and accepted as such. The innocent becomes the victim and the victim the innocent. The underdog is the big dog, the street urchin leaves the tale with a royal treatment, walking on red carpet, given a royal bath, a table was prepared for them in the presence of their enemies with one of them battling with epic victory over a large chicken part. Their cups run over, not only with drink from such lordly cups but they don’t even drink such juices or minerals or even such clean water. I hope the delicacy and hygiene do not startle their body order into shock and then illnesses.

    It is a classic Nigerian narrative. We have the underdog and we have those who say they will always stand for the underdog, even if that underdog is like Jas, a little girl in the puzzling novel and winner of the International Prize for fiction, The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. Jas is abused but she is also, at age 10, an abuser under a delusion of self-innocence and who who must flee the suffocation of her parents and the puritanical tyranny of the village. I recommend the novel, A spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo, for local context.

    It is a tale of instant amnesia. We forget when we call them malnourished that they were never well-fed in their whole life. Atiku and Obi wept at their lean looks in court but when did they say anything about them on the streets of Kano or Katsina or Jigawa before then? Suddenly, they were the heroes of the street poor.

    It was a time to act. The theatre began with the boys who fell in court. A person who falls from hunger does not cry. It is because he has lost all energy that he falls. In one word, he has fainted. It is just as though the critics lost all sense of biology or even drama. One of them was rolling on the floor. Faint and rolling? Does not add up. So the real actors were the cheerleaders, begun by Atiku and Obi and followed closely by the NGOs who must impress their international donors so they, too, should not faint from hunger. It is not that they are blind, but that they chose not to see or chose not to say what they saw. There was also the part of the lawyers, especially a SAN called Dauda, who says the boys should not be tried for treason, and that they should be tried only in their states. I remember a dialogue with Gani Fawehinmi. He said if he has a case between the rich and the poor, “I will find the law for the poor.” Gani’s heart was in the right place. But who will find the law for the poor, especially if it is about a dozen boys recently killed by the armed forces in the north for banditry, and they were in the age bracket of the minors in court.

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    Attorney general Lateef Fagbemi said there was enough law to sue the fellows. But from what the AG said, we see another part of the drama: amnesia. We forget that these boys stole, broke into homes and shops and impoverished some hard workers forever, destroyed a tech centre, torched buildings. In Kano, they did not see the books but eyed the computers, bathrooms accessories, etc. They called for the army; they hoisted Russian flags. I wonder why those lawyers and civil agitators who love this society so much have not wondered who paid for and sewed the flags? Who taught the boys who never saw a soldier in office or could not read about them to suddenly become lovers of the jackboot? Who were the politicians behind them?

    The NSA said N6 billion was traced to politicians. Has anyone addressed what Fagbemi said about having enough material to prosecute them? What happened was just a long and grueling drama about a society that loved to lie to itself.

     It calls to mind the ironic title of the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, All the Light You Cannot See about the Second World War. The author propounds a poser: the brain resides in a dark place in our heads but can make a lot of light. Which contrasts to Jose Saramago’s novel, Seeing, about those who have eyes but cannot see. A report in a mainstream newspaper dramatised the hunger by interviewing one of them. In one paragraph the “minor” said they did not give them food for days. In the next paragraph, he complained about having poor breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you know al majiris, they are happy if they have a meal a day. Remember when El Rufai was governor? They attended school just for food and then, they were gone!

    It is the drama of sight and ignorance, joy in self-deceit and the grandiose posing as grandeur. When the president said the boys should be set free, it was a way of completing the drama for a country that was in search of a climax. If you watched or read Luigi Pirandello’s play, Six Characters in Search of An Author, then you appreciate the chaos and self-indictments of the hour, especially from opportunists. It was many countrymen in search of a climax. When President Tinubu released them, he said it was out of a paternal compassion. Yes, that was part of it. But unwittingly, he mocked all of them who critiqued. By feeding, he said, when did you ever feed them like this? Atiku, Obi answer. When he bathed them, he asked, when did you get clean shower for them? When he gave them new clothing, he asked when did you visit a tailor for the poor? It was, in a sense, like Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 25. Of course, President Tinubu has a right not to use his right to prosecute. And if the boys commit an offence again, it will be, well, you said we should not prosecute. So have at it. The critics created the cynical part of the presidential benevolence. It is what Apostle Paul wrote, “God will send them strong delusion so that they can believe a lie.”

    Other than Fagbemi, the best response came from the Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani when he said he received them, and he predicated their embrace on their sense of contrition, and would bring them into a skills acquisition centre. The governor is already building three acquisition centres at Soba, Rigachukun and Samarun Kataf in the Northern, Central and Southern senatorial districts. It is part of his Skills City.

    I recall in my days in Wudil, Kano, our NYSC training camp. An almajiri, named Aminu, was always there to run errands for me. I became fond of him, and I learned a few Hausa words from him, like abinchi, Rua, yauwa, kyau, daadii, madalla. Also, he knew some English, hence we could communicate. During the training month, malaria overwhelmed me. He showed so much compassion during that period before I left the camp for treatment. When I returned, I didn’t see him again. But he defined for me a special understanding of the almajiri till today. It is that sort of comportment that those set free should evince and all should encourage, rather than the hysteria over phony fits of hunger.

    Atiku’s exam ‘expo’

    When Atiku came out with his economic package, I thought he would give us food for thought that will bring food for the poor.

    But what we saw was poverty of thought. He could not deny that President Tinubu ought to remove fuel subsidy and collapse the foreign exchange regimes, rather he said it should be phased gradually.

    He was either insincere or lacked a sense of history.

    Did Jonathan not try to phase it? Did it work? To phase it is to create a scenario of trying to bail water out of a kitchen through the window while the tap is still running. It is like trying to redeem a threadbare cloth. Once you sew a part, the other part tears open. I tackled it in my recent talk at Cambridge University. They forget that everyone will expect another phase after the first and after the second, and the prices will anticipate the decisions. What you will have is a giddy, runaway inflation. Economics is not only about economics but sociology and psychology.

     Hence, Kissinger wrote during the economic depression of the 1980’s that “the economy is too important to be left in the hands of economists.” Especially those who helped Atiku to draft his. In fact, Atiku and his team were not original but copycats who were listening to half-baked analysts in newspapers and television. If Atiku could not get his certificates right in primary school, at least he should not act in public like one who likes exam ‘expos.’

     He even repackaged Tinubu’s economic stimulus plan by calling it social protection.  It was what philosopher Michel Foucault called narrative of discourse, where you want to change the focus by a subterfuge of language.

    This is another act of fraud from Atiku. If you must do an exam expo, please limit it to the classroom.

    Trump and White Trash

    The presidential election victory of Donald Trump reminds me of the two consequential presidents of the past 50 years and how they have the same things in common. I refer to both himself and Ronald Reagan. In a biography on Reagan by Edmond Morris, he referred to the United States former president as an airhead.

    The charge stormed the media. How could anyone describe the president for whom an era is named an airhead, that is empty upstairs?

    Yet, that is the claim that many will say of Trump. And both have great and enthusiastic following, and are defining an era in American history, and possibly the world.

     Like Trump, Reagan hardly knows the Bible but leads a groundswell of evangelicals. He is rich, but leads the poor.

     They are racists, but are embraced by even the minorities who they poohpooh. During his campaign for president, Reagan entered Mississippi and declared his support for “state’s right,” which is an echo of the fight to save slaves from the south.

     It was a coda for racism. Reagan asked those who did not have jobs to go to MacDonalds, where the pay is miserable. In his Book, Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff narrates a time, Trump was flying to a place in New Jersey and somebody said it belonged to white trash, and a naïve person asked, “what’s white trash?” Trump said, they are like me. The difference is that they are poor.” You can understand why he backs the poor whites, though he does nothing for them.

  • A solemn week on account of Lagbaja

    A solemn week on account of Lagbaja

    It was a very emotional week for the nation, more especially for the House Number 1 and its current landlord. Nigerians woke up on Wednesday to the news of the demise of the Chief of Army Staff (CoAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, who was said to have died Tuesday evening. Lagbaja, who had been out of circulation for some weeks due to an undisclosed illness, was appointed to the position by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in June of 2023, shortly after he was sworn in as President. Since Lagbaja was his appointee, who was considered to have held the position very well, President Tinubu took on the responsibility of informing the nation of the tragic development.

    As it is standard with his weeks, a schedule had been out and had run its course for Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was meant to have the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. However, having announced the death of Lagbaja earlier that morning, it was no surprise when Vice President Kashim Shettima announced to a well attended Council that the President had decided to call off the meeting they were all there for. “Honourable ministers, this is a message from the President, he has suspended today’s Council meeting in honour of the Chief of Army Staff. May his soul rest in perfect peace. Let’s observe a minute silence in his honour”, the Vice President said.

    Besides calling the meeting off, President Tinubu, in a statement issued almost about the same time the meeting was being called off, directed that all flags be flown half mast nationwide for a week, signifying the importance of the man Lagbaja and how much his death hurts the nation, if for no other reason, for the fact that most Nigerians will remember him as the CoAS who was already achieving significant success in the fight against the various murderous criminal groups terrorizing different parts of the country.

    Ironically, earlier on Tuesday, the President decorated the acting Chief of Army Staff, Major General Olufemi Olatunbosun Oluyede, with the Lieutenant General rank at the Presidential Villa. Oluyede was on October 30 appointed to act in Lagbaja’s absence. The unfortunate situation, that’s the untimely death of Lagbaja, pretty much halted normal weekly activities for the President because right from the moment he called off the Council meeting on Wednesday he went low-key, doing whatever was left for the week away from the office.

    However, before Wednesday other very important activities on his schedule had happened. For instance, on Monday, he swore in seven new ministers, those whom he had previously nominated in his cabinet reshuffling, which he did a few days back. You will recall that the President finally commenced the long anticipated changes to his cabinet; he dropped five persons, redeployed ten to new positions and nominated seven new persons, whose names he sent to the Senate for screening. All the seven nominees were screened and approved for the cabinet. He swore them in on Monday at a colourful ceremony at the Council Chambers of the State House.

    Those sworn in were Idi Maiha as Minister of Livestock Development; Yusuf Ata as Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development; Dr Suwaiba Ahmad as Minister of State for Education; and Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Others were Dr Jumoke Oduwole as Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (Trade Investment); Dr Nentawe Yilwatda as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; and Muhammadu Dingyadi as Minister of Labour and Employment.

    The swearing ceremony was the opportunity he needed to prepare the minds of those he was just recruiting. He would not allow then just come in to face shock. He told them that they will be criticized, insulted and some will even call for their heads over developments that have defied answers or solutions for ages.

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    However, even as curiously difficult as the assignment may seem, he reminded them this is an assignment that will be requiring them to sacrifice. The import here is that though you will be giving your time, freedom and cares, which ordinarily you will want to get appreciated and paid for, this one is not likely to come with the expected, as a matter of fact, the situation is so precarious you will have to see all you will give to the office as a sacrifice and when it is a sacrifice, you should know it will cost you and you will not get an immediate return.

    He remembered to remind them that they are coming into public office at one of the most challenged times of Nigeria’s history, so their service is actually meant to be a sacrifice, working with all their strength, not expecting much in return, immediately. This is a time their best will be required, working at break-back speed and rate, without looking back or resting because much work is required. At the same time, he made them aware of the fact that it is not all for nothing because at the end of it all, by the time the stability and good country are achieved, there is going to be a reward; names written in gold, to be remembered as the builders of the new, prosperous Nigeria.

    “You will… (face) criticism and abuse. Don’t worry, stay focused, stay resilient. Your thanks will come with the history of growth and prosperity for this country. It is my joy and honour to be part of you, to be responsible for over 200 million people in this country. I appreciate the fact that you have taken the Oath of Office and ready to serve your nation at the time we are facing the challenges of economic growth and others like security challenges. It is not easy to find just the unique people that will surrender their lives, freedoms and other responsibilities to serve their nation in this time of challenges. The moment is challenging, the present situation calls for a very serious commitment, yours is a duty to serve and that is what you’ve got to do.

    “We have stopped the scavengers, we are going to stop completely the profiteers and smugglers of our resources across the country. We are not going to run away from our responsibility, we are going to face it as we have been facing it head long. With you as members of this team, I am proud and honoured that I am leading you and we will lead to success and prosperity. I am sincerely happy that you are here today to be part of this very committed team of Nigerians who have been working tirelessly since 17 months when we assumed the responsibility of governing this country. You are called upon to join the team to rescue this country. Service is the hallmark of this human endeavour, you are being called upon to serve”, he said.

    Same Monday, the President stepped into a situation that was already escalating into a serious national crisis, which was already setting the stage for another north/south disagreement scenario.

    You will remember the #EndBadGovernance protest and how it panned out. The protest wore some colours not really recognizing what we have always known with protest patterns in the country. In the past, protests were usually a southern thing, defined along the public/government disagreement line, basically local.

    However, the August protest became more profound and rather violent in the north this time around. Then for the first time, protesters introduced a strangely foreign dimension to it; in Kano and Kaduna especially, protesters were seen wielding Russian flags, passing a subtle message. From hindsight, it was easy to decode where the Russian message was coming from; northerners have some affinity with our Sahelian neighbours; cultural, linguistic and religious affinities, factors that informed the sympathies found among northern Nigerians for Niger, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided to isolate and sanction them when they fell under military rule.

    These are countries colonized and still being largely run under strong French influence, a factor which informed the coups, coups believed to be clandestinely sponsored and aided by Russia, for whatever reason. So when during our August uprising we suddenly started sighting Russian flags in the hands of our compatriots close to the Nigerien borders and not too far from the other military junta-led neighbours in the Sahel, it was not difficult to decide what was happening and the response of security forces was swift, arresting both the flag-wielders and those sewing them.

    That was how it started, all capture in pictures and videos, however, the story changed during the week when the media started depicting a new narrative; the Nigerian government arraigning minors as protesters. The CNN report was the most vivid of all, seeming like intended to achieve an agenda. A report by the American news channel, published on Sunday, November 3, had the headline “29 children may be sentenced to death for protesting against cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria”. The agenda seemed to work because on Monday the President directed the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to work for the release of the offenders.

    “You saw what happened in the courtroom and as a result of that Mr. President, because of his very deep commitment to democracy and the rule of law, and without prejudice also to whatever legal processes there are and on the other hand, on the human part of it, he has directed that some

    announcements be made. I recall that I had short briefing with Mr. President early this evening and he has directed the immediate release of all the minors that have been arrested by the Nigerian Police. Without prejudice to whatever legal processes there are, the President has directed that all of them be released immediately”, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, announced at a briefing on Monday in the State House.

    That was followed up on Tuesday with a handing over ceremony of the discharged 119 accused persons, among whom only about four or five minors could be sighted, to Kaduna and Kano state governments. Later on we started seeing pictures from Kaduna, of state government officials handing off N100,000 cash and iPhone handsets to the discharged.

    You can still search for videos and pictures of the carnage visited on Kano, Kaduna and some other northern states by some of these persons. But then, those in the vanguard of the narrative, aimed at inciting another crisis, whipping the regional/ethnic sentiments, got their prize because Tinubu saw through the agenda and would not allow it fester, thus his swift response.

    There were visitors on Tuesday, like the Bayelsa State political and traditional leadership, led by Governor Douye Diri, who said they came to thank him for the appointments given to some of their sons and daughters, like that of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, now occupied by Mrs. Didi Esther Wason-Jack. There was also the visit of the Delta All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Chief Ayirimi Emami, who also came with a file of concerns for his Itsekiri people, also on Tuesday.

    It is a new week and we need to wait to see what it will hold.