The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

SNAPSONG 224

All hail NEPA

Nigeria‘s God of Darkness (II)

NEPALAND. Blackout Country.   Outage Hell.

Candles.   Lanterns.   Flashlights,

Ancient oil-lamps and their yellow peril:

The cock of our early lights has not begun to crow

Generator country and its deafening madnesses

Where the noise-bomb shakes marble mansions

To their golden bases; an ounce of light

Ten tons of detonating terror

Generators: diesel-driven, petrol-powered,

To every person their own silence-slayer

In a country where noise is the national anthem

In which tribe and tongue consistently differ

Everyone has their share of our national darkness

From the porter who sweats beneath the nation’s yoke

To the rich and ruthless whose private greed

Compounds the public need

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Ruler after ruler, from multi-medaled Generals

To tall-capped undertakers of our democratic hoax

Have passed brave budgets to end the national shame

Budgets which never rise beyond their bottomless pockets

NEPALAND   NEPALAND   LEPERLAND

Grand Distributor of our national darkness

Our rulers grope and grab in patriotic frenzy

The people stumble and slip on their lightless trails.

•Formerly published on July 14, 2024; compelled into re-use here by the persistence of the same Nigerian incubus

•NEPA: National Electric Power Authority; now re-named Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

February 8, 2026
Kwara massacre belies end of Mamuda/JNIM terrorists

In August 2025, National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu enthused about the capture of Ansaru terror leaders, Mahmud Muhammad Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar) and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Mallam Mamuda), as signifying the end of Mamuda terror masterminds in Nigeria. As he put it: “Abu Bara’a was the self-styled Emir of ANSARU and coordinator of various terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria. He was also the mastermind of several high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to finance terrorism over the years. The second was Mallam Mamuda, Abu Bara’s proclaimed Chief of Staff and Deputy. He was the leader of the so-called ‘Mahmudawa’ cell hiding out in and around the Kainji National Park, straddling Niger and Kwara States up to Benin Republic. Mamuda trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadist instructors from Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, specialising in weapons handling and IED fabrication.”

Mr Ribadu continued: “These two men have been on Nigeria’s most-wanted list for years. They jointly spearheaded multiple attacks on civilians, security forces, and critical infrastructure. Their operations include the 2022 Kuje prison break, the attack on the Niger Republic uranium facility, the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, and the May 1, 2019 kidnapping of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba (Magajin Garin Daura). They were also behind the abduction of the Emir of Wawa, and they maintain active links with terrorist groups across the Maghreb, particularly in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.”

The exultation has proved to be short-lived. Barely six months later, the same group, having replenished and rebranded itself as a Boko Haram affiliate and produced vicious successors as well as rearmed its foot soldiers, has attacked Kwara State again and massacred dozens of people in Woro community of Kaiama local government area. Casualty estimates range from over 75 to over 170. The scale of the slaughter has shocked not only Nigerians but the rest of the world. The Kaiama attack was, however, not the first in the Borgu area of the state, and despite the continuing arrest of terror leaders, it may not be the last. Far beyond the discouraging scale of last week’s killings, and beyond the episodic and desultory response by Nigeria’s security agencies, it is time for a comprehensive review of the country’s security paradigm. The existing one, this column continues to argue, is simply not working. Whether in Kebbi, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger, Plateau, and now Kwara, the response to terrorist attacks has been chaotic and ineffective, achieving occasional triumphs, but in general unable to stanch the flow of blood in those theatres.

A security paradigm review is sorely needed, for the mere act of arresting or neutralising terror leaders in the Northwest, Northeast and now North Central has become an insufficient deterrence. Here are a few suggestions: (1) Nigeria must refuse to resign to the fatalism of accepting terror attacks as a way of life. It implies embracing, like Pakistan, Somalia, and DR Congo, the idea that the problem is insurmountable. (2) While the country rapidly expands military recruitment, it must recognize that it will never have enough troops to deploy to trouble spots. So, it needs winning strategies. (3) But it is time the country and its government realise that Nigeria is at war, and the country must be put on a war footing. It is futile thinking a few deployments here and there will be enough to pacify trouble spots that began in the Northeast, has spread to the Northwest, is now effectively in the North Central, and appears set, with probing attacks already taking place, to spread to the Southwest. (4) The new security paradigm must be firmly anchored on the right military doctrine that produces strategies, tactics and principles to guide how Nigeria battles and counters centrifugal forces encircling the country and gnawing away at its central nervous system.

Specifically and tactically, while the security paradigm must encompass all other threats, including providing for hybrid warfare, it clearly knows that the terror attacks on Nigeria have been largely asymmetric. This requires Nigeria to also be highly innovative, mobile, and equipped with diverse platforms. Consequently, among other measures, it is urgent to do the following. (1) The threat areas must be saturated with surveillance and intelligence gathering to locate and neutralise terror cells, regardless of the inhospitable terrains involved. (2) Divide the attacked states into operational sectors for monitoring and action, and equip troops with the most modern and secure communications gadgets to alert intervention forces. (3) Create rapid deployment intervention forces capable of deploying forces quickly and in all terrains and in all weather in response to alerts from forces near the epicenters of attacks. (4) Assign local commanders to the various sectors for close monitoring and control, reconnaissance patrols, initial interdictions, and capacity to link up with nearby sector commands for cordon, search, and elimination of enemy forces. And (5) enshrine the doctrine of hunting attackers down until they are eliminated, not repel, secure the release of abducted people, or keep attackers at bay. The best form of defence is always attack.

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President Bola Tinubu has responded to the attacks by ordering the deployment of a battalion of troops in the Kaiama area. But what is the size of the battalion? The Woro community recalled a previous deployment of 15 soldiers who were eventually withdrawn after an attack by the Mamuda/JNIM terrorists. The beleaguered community fears that local informants and collaborators might have aided the attackers and compromised the safety of the entire area. Why would there be no collaborators where terrorism has festered for too long? Indeed, the confidence rebuilding that must be done and the infrastructure needed to combat Ansaru will be much bigger than whatever had been mustered in the past or the current desultory approach. The president must get the security agencies to come together and plan a final assault. Enough of the pussyfooting. It is time to take the battle to the terrorists, as is being done in the Northeast, after many years of dithering and hand-wringing. Delay can be fatal to the country’s existence.

Importantly too, it is time the military reappraised their tactics. It is not enough to foil terrorist attacks, especially when the attacks target communities, or rescue abducted victims; they must, in addition to developing intelligence on enemy movements and camps, urgently develop the capacity to isolate the enemy and conduct large-scale encircling operations against them until they are choked and destroyed. Yes, there may continue to be a few collaborators and infiltrators, but these must also be ferreted out and terminated. Everyone in Kaiama Knows where the terrorists camp in the Borgu Reserve and Kainji National Park areas are located. Nigeria’s security agents can’t claim ignorance of those locations, especially after the Woro community passed on the threat messages sent by the terrorists. The massacre in Kaiama is inexcusable. It is time to do something about Mamuda/JNIM terror groups, whether they are affiliated to Boko Haram or Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. There is no reason to allow the terrorists stay in those locations for much longer, not to talk of planning the next set of attacks, except compromisers have hollowed out the security services and are calling the shots. Hopefully, Nigeria’s military top brass and Defence ministry officials will visit the massacre scenes and be prodded into finally addressing the country’s intelligence failures and slow response time, both of which are costly and unpardonable.

February 8, 2026
PDP: Wike gets upper hand again

Nyesom Wike, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, has an uncanny ability to stay on the right side of the law in nearly all his litigations within and against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Unlike his opponents in the party, many of whom are not lawyers, his law education appears to confer some advantages on him. On January 30, a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan voided the party’s November 15-16, 2025 national convention held in Ibadan. In the judgement, Justice Uche Agomoh held that last year’s convention was conducted in disobedience to two court orders, insisting that factional national chairman Tanimu Turaki’s effort to secure legitimacy for both the convention and the executives produced by the convention was an exercise in futility. Justice Agomoh was of course referring to the October 31, 2025 decision by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja halting the convention, and the November 14, 2025 decision by Justice Peter Lifu ordering the suspension of the convention in a case brought by former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido complaining against exclusion.

The Seyi Makinde-led PDP inanely conducted the convention citing a November 4, 2025 ex-parte order issued by an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan and presided over by Justice Ladiran Akintola. By early November, the dispute over the convention had virtually resolved itself through the two Federal High Court judgements, but the Makinde faction had spent too much to make a U-turn of fail to clutch at a straw by procuring the ex-parte order. But responding to the faction’s adamantine resolve to hold the convention, Mr Wike had sarcastically retorted that the intransigent party members were on a jamboree. The former Rivers governor, it turned out, was right, regardless of the causticity of his remarks. While the Makinde faction still continues to talk tough, Mr Turaki has sensibly headed to the Court of Appeal to see whether his faction could secure legitimacy. He won’t get his wish. Mr Wike, like him or hate his guts, has woven a tight web around the legal neophytes of the Makinde faction, so tight they can’t even wriggle. They are already suffocating, in contrast to the tough jurisprudential talk by the Forum of PDP chairmen who assert their determination to forge ahead notwithstanding court judgements.

Last Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rubbed it in on the Makinde faction by proceeding to recognise the Wike faction. At the quarterly meeting between the Commission and leaders of political parties, Caretaker Chairman Abdulrahman Mohammed and Caretaker National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, both of the Wike faction, were invited. Shutting out the Makinde faction executives may not sound the death knell to their leadership of the party, especially considering that they had lodged an appeal, but legal experts are not optimistic about a reversal of fortune for them. Leading PDP chieftains anticipated this conundrum long before the November 2025 dates for the convention were fixed. All warnings, however, fell on deaf ears. Now, with the neutering of the convention and the enthronement of the Wike faction in the PDP saddle, estranged PDP leaders will either have to swallow their pride and begin to deal and negotiate with Mr Wike or abandon the party altogether. It is not certain what kind of suicide they might opt for.

What is beyond controversy, however, is that because of his legal fleetness, Mr Wike has regained a party that former vice president Atiku Abubakar and his cohorts tried to snatch, after first leaving it for dead in 2019. To regain control of the opposition party, the FCT minister had played his politics right by declining to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that made him a minister, staying the course knowing full well that Alhaji Atiku and his crowd were feckless and inattentive, and lending the party character, style and purpose. Party chieftains like Bode George may find Mr Wike somewhat objectionable, and former senate president and Kwara governor Bukola Saraki may be unnerved by the FCT minister’s mannerisms; but both of them, and perhaps many more, recognise that Mr Wike’s doggedness, combativeness, and charisma were best suited to help the party survive the blitz that swept over it in the past few years.

Many times this column had advised the PDP to rebuild and reform and prepare itself for the 2031 polls, but the urgency of regaining power in the short run had always transcended the sensibleness of reclaiming its leading position in the medium to long run. It was that urgency, plus the indecipherable desire of Mr Makinde to run for the presidency in 2027, that led to the serial blunders of the past few months. Mr Wike, despite his flaws, not to talk of the collapse of his ambition in the 2023 elections, suspected that getting the PDP to root for 2027 was a far-fetched proposition. He had labored to stay in the PDP against his better judgement when Alhaji Atiku took the presidential ticket, but once the chance of a southerner winning the presidency arose in late 2022 and early 2023, his instincts led him to offer support to another candidate across party divides. He seems to believe that abandoning the self-sustaining logic that took a southerner to the presidency would be fatal to everything he stands for. If he appears to treacherously keep the PDP in subjection, it is less because he loathed his party than because he senses that it would be dangerous to fiddle with the logic that propelled Bola Tinubu to the presidency.

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In the months ahead, Mr Wike will continue to bask in the legal euphoria his court victory has rightly gifted his faction. His faction will win over many state chairmen who had backed the Makinde faction because they initially thought it was impossible for the pendulum to swing in any other direction. The Wike faction has set a timetable for the PDP national convention; it will follow it scrupulously, probably with a few amendments. They know it is inconceivable for the courts to backpedal, and they know that even if the other stray PDP faithful were to return home, they would be incapable or agile enough to upset the Wike apple cart. The Wike faction will consequently produce the next PDP executives. But whether the executives and party members will be united enough to queue behind his ginger straddle on the national scene or not is hard to fathom. For the many elected lawmakers and the few governors left in the party, some of whom are too galled by the politics of desperation of Alhaji Atiku’s African Democratic Congress (ADC), it will be a relief to finally reclaim the PDP, get their election forms properly and legally signed, and compete for offices, particularly at the lower levels.

The survival of the PDP is not really in doubt. It will bounce back after 2027, and will probably give a good account of itself before and during the 2031 elections. If Mr Wike survives the Rivers scare personified by the flighty Siminalayi Fubara, and if he continues to play his politics calculatingly and with less agitation and hysteria, he will not only hold on to Rivers, he will continue to find significant relevance in the Tinubu cabinet, where he is a performer, and will ultimately offer PDP the leadership it badly desires in the years ahead. While he is growing into a fairly endowed political tactician, his triumphs have so far seemed entirely fortuitous. To hone his political skills, and to continue to matter in the PDP in Rivers and nationally, he will have to eschew the impulsiveness and naivety that propel his choices, whether of succession at the state and party levels or his options at the national level. He has successfully encircled his remaining enemies in the PDP, after first indirectly getting rid of his more unappeasable foes. If his image is not to be sullied, and if his influence is to last for as long as he dreams, he must now find value in making more friends than enemies, being less brash and imperious, and developing the immense capacity to tolerate dissenters as much as his brittle image can sustain. But in all, Mr Wike has so much to be grateful for, for no politician in these parts and in recent years has so consummately run with the hare and hunted with the hounds.

February 8, 2026
Division in political dynasties

Psychologists believe that in human relationships, familial bonds are stronger than any other outside the regular human relationship unit. They postulate that man prioritises the survival of close kith and kin over non-kin. In their studies of “survival fitness” behaviour, psychologists maintain that blood is thicker than water.

Familial bonds and relationships are said to be stronger, more important, and more enduring than bonds with friends, associates and acquaintances.

The implication is that no matter the situation, and even in the face of intense conflicts, family loyalty should take precedence.

But some other studies have thrown up rare cases of relationships that jettison family for personal benefits. Partisan politics and cult allegiance often break this norm. Differences in political views may not strengthen family bonds, leading to a sort of split loyalty to backgrounds and interests. Since interests ultimately define goals and directions in politics, the features of competition and antagonism are expressed, resulting in hostility and mistrust.

While people are born into families, they are moulded by the wider environment through education, learning, and exposure. Individuals from the same household begin to exhibit unique personality traits that distinguish one person from another due to the development of intelligence and skills as they move up in life. They form attitudes and respond differently to the socio-political milieu, reflecting diversity of orientation, aptitudes and beliefs.

Some prominent families associated with vast business empires are perturbed by the choice of their offspring opting for careers in entertainment instead of the boardroom. That is the manifestation of individual differences.

Many legal luminaries with successful practice sent their children to the law school, only to realise that the lawyer-son came back home as a D-Jay due to the non-alignment of interests.

However, political differences between father and son, husband and wife, and among siblings tend to generate attention, as it currently does in the case of Abba Atiku, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Abba recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). His father is one of the bigwigs in the opposition platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

It is because Atiku, who has been nursing a presidential ambition since Abba was a toddler, has yet to realise his dream. Ahead of next year’s poll, the former vice president is on the queue again, and his son appears not ready to ride in the same partisan boat with his dad. Or is it a decoy?

Abba is just one of the 30 children of the Wazirin Adamawa. No law forbids him from supporting his father as a member of another party, even if the PDP or ADC views it as an anti-party activity. His father is unperturbed by the shift in alliance because as an adult, he is at liberty to choose his path. Atiku, the likely presidential candidate of the ADC, said: “The decision of my son, Abba Abubakar, to join the APC is entirely personal. In a democracy, such choices are neither unusual nor alarming, even when family and politics intersect. As a democrat, I do not coerce my own children in matters of conscience, and I certainly will not coerce Nigerians.”

Abba has defected. But the heir, Umar, a commissioner in Adamawa State, is still in PDP. It is a consolation.

Abba’s case is not the first in history. But he is not contesting against his father as Dr. Samuel Ikoku did in the late 1950s. The scholar and ideologue, after returning from the London School of Economics and Political Science, joined the defunct Action Group (AG) and became the main rival of his illustrious father, Dr. Alvan Ikoku, a member of the Eastern Regional House of Assembly seeking a second term on the platform of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). The young man defeated his old man, who accepted his fate. The episode drew the curtains on the political career of the eminent educationist and statesman.

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In Ikenne, Ogun State, a prominent lawyer, Chief Kehinde Sofola of NCNC, opposed his cousin, Awolowo. Asked by a reporter when he turned 80 why he took a different path, he said it was based on principle, adding that he hated pomposity, intimidation and timidity.

Although the NCNC and AG carried their 1951 feud to the independence year and could not agree on a workable alliance, ‘Unbreakable’ Oluwole, son of the jailed AG leader, Obafemi Awolowo, later teamed up with the NCNC in 1964 by joining the campaign train of Chief Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale (TOS) Benson.

While politics can be a divisive factor in the family, the tension can also be managed by the exhibition of maturity. It was that level of maturity, tolerance, and understanding that enabled Dr. Clement Gomwalk and his wife, Hellen, to cope as a couple despite their contrasting political leanings. The husband was the National Secretary of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), and the wife was a top notcher of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) from Plateau State.

It was a different ball game in the large Shitta-Bey family, where the two siblings, Sikiru and Rasheed, fought to a standstill for the Lagos Central senatorial ticket of the UPN in 1979. Both were household names in the country. Sikiru, a lawyer and Secretary of Action Group Youth Association, led by Ayo Fasanmi, was a House of Representatives member in the First Republic. His younger brother was an outstanding student leader who ventured into business and became a resounding success.

Pleas to them to step down for each other fell on deaf ears. The party leader, Awolowo, intervened. Eventually, Sikiru got the ticket to the Senate and Rasheed to the House of Representatives. For a very long time, they were not on talking terms. Efforts by the then-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to settle the inexplicable rift during Sikiru’s 75th birthday in Lagos failed.

In the current dispensation, the two deceased siblings were politically separated after the collapse of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). But the political difference did not affect the relationship between or among their wives and children.

Even, two Tinubus – governor and former Head of Service – also had their quarrel in Lagos. The retired civil servant later drew up an imaginary family tree and excluded his brother to spite him. It paled into a hoax. The book presentation was shunned by all and sundry. The objective was defeated.

It was worse between the two Dosunmu brothers – Dr. Wahab and Rasheed – who were locked in rivalry between 1979 and 1983 in Lagos State. The younger brother, Wahab, was NPN’s Minister of Housing; his elder brother was a prominent UPN chieftain in Lagos. The feud degenerated into a shouting match and violence, fuelled by the rival parties and supporters. The language of warfare was fabricated by supporters who claimed that a sibling said if his brother died in the process, he would be around to cater for his widow and children.

The quarrel only subsided after the collapse of the Second Republic. In political adversity under the military rule, they reunited.

Also, In the last three months of the Second Republic, Omololu Olunloyo and Oye Olunloyo, had a disagreement. The governor announced that the past administration would be probed. He turned his attention to the Ibadan Municipal Council, firing salvos at the former chairman, Oye Olunloyo, reiterating his plan to probe its finances. The governor said family consideration and Ibadan solidarity were out of it. Military intervention in politics truncated the probe plan.

Around 2006, a certain Oyinkansola surfaced with the claim of a biological link with the Kwara kingpin, Dr. Olusola Saraki. The semblance could hardly be disputed. The media attempted to feast on the fact that another Saraki, who had joined the Action Congress (APC), had elected to oppose her elder brother, Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, and father who were the custodians of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. It paled into a feeble attempt.

But both Bukola and Gbemisola had to part ways in 2011 when the Second Republic Senate Leader sponsored her for governor and Bukola insisted on the candidature of Abdulfatah Ahmed. The old man, who mounted the podium in aid of his beloved daughter, found out too late that he had been displaced by his son. The campaign had become hectic in the face of diminishing agility.

Gbemisola, who ran on the platform of ACPN, lost to Bukola’s candidate.

The rivalry continued, with Gbemisola, who later defected to the APC, becoming a minister in the Muhammadu Buhari administration. Bukola remains the Kwara PDP leader. But two years ago, when a Saraki building was demolished by the state government in Ilorin, both momentarily put their differences aside and came together to defend the legacies of their father.

To a lesser degree, divisions in political dynasties are better managed these days through sheer tolerance and mutual understanding. Thus, no ripple was generated when Blessing Onuh, daughter of David Mark, made an adventurous journey to APGA.

Also, while former Governor Ayo Fayose of PDP campaigns for APC, his siblings fire salvos at him from other opposition platforms. It is now comical.

In Kaduna, Mohammed Bello of the House of Representatives and son of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, is in APC, which his father dumped for the ADC. No strain relationship is decipherable.

In Edo, the Igbinedion siblings distribute themselves into APC and the PDP, and there is no discord.

Political maturity goes on display where families see partisanship as ephemeral and family bonds as permanent.

Politics can be terminated and participation brought to an end. Party office can be deserted, but nobody can ‘decamp’ from his family to another.

February 7, 2026
Once upon an FCT Minister

After God na government! That pithy pidgin English statement succinctly captures the awesome powers of government at any level. No matter how powerful or wealthy an individual may be they are quickly brought down to earth when they confront the government of the day.

Not many today remember that once upon a time in the 80s and 90s, a certain Chief M. K. O. Abiola was one of the richest and most influential Nigerians. He was courted by the high and mighty, sought after by countless others who craved his benevolence to address their challenges.

For most of his time in the limelight, the mogul was a friend of the most powerful people in government. That was until he decided to cross the divide and seek political power. It was a fated move, it would also prove to be fatal.

Sentry was recently regaled with a true tale about the powers of government that played out a couple of decades ago back when the military ruled the roost. At that point an influential general from one of the Northern states was the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister.

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At that time there was a massive construction boom in Abuja as the young capital city began to take shape. A key player in the industry was another Northerner who had built a thriving business renting out earthmoving equipment of all kinds. His operation was almost comparable to a monopoly because no one else had his array of equipment.

But gradually the upstarts started encroaching on his turf by also acquiring some of the construction equipment as they had capacity to do so. In no time these little competitors mushroomed to the extent that the market leader began to feel the impact on his business.

Alarmed, he ran to his kinsman for help. After laying out his predicament, he was assured that something drastic would be done to restore his near-monopoly.

Not long afterwards, the minister issued an order directing that no one should operate in the earthmoving equipment business in the FCT unless they had the complete works. In one fell swoop the bit players were knocked out of business, while the monopolist was restored to his gravy train. Talk about the awesome powers of government!

February 7, 2026
Robert Orya: Blessed are the greedy…

On Thursday, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Abuja convicted a former managing director of the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank, Robert Orya, sentencing him to 490 years in prison over a N2.4 billion fraud.

The judgment delivered by Justice F.E. Messiri sentenced Orya to 10 years imprisonment on each of the 49 counts filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for abusing his position to fraudulently obtain more than N1.4 billion from the bank. The former boss of NEXIM Bank was also said to have incorporated a company while in office, using the names of non-existent persons and others, without their consent, to secure from the bank loans that were never repaid.

Of course, any rational mind would be alarmed at the news that a multi-billionaire who is obviously above 60 would spend that number of years inside the prison walls. Yet a careful look at the weight of his alleged sins would show that the length of his jail term is not anything above what he deserves. Even a judge with the heart of Jesus Christ would find extenuating considerations hard to come by. Justice Messiri deserves nothing but commendation for his faith in believing that a man already in his 60s can endure a stay in confinement for half a millennium.

The import of his judgment is such that could warrant making a case for an amendment to the biblical contents of Matthew 5:3-12. Inheriting the earth can no longer be an exclusive right of the meek when a greedy billionaire is availed the chance to endure 490 years in a country where life expectancy is less than 57.

Needless to say the historic judgment is a win-win for the parties involved. For the boss of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, it is a vindication of his vow to prosecute the war against corruption in the country to the very best of his ability. Those who have made a job of dragging him and the agency on the social media over the seemingly slow pace of known corruption cases like that of former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, may have to do a reassessment of the anti-graft agency’s efforts on account of Orya’s conviction.

Still, Orya needs not shed tears except they are for joy. Didn’t the sage say there is a silver lining behind every cloud? If Olukoyede is beating his chest in a gesture of personal triumph, the former NEXIM boss’ sentence could also be a blessing in disguise, all things considered. If nothing else, he should be grateful for the benefits that are bound to accrue from the new life experience that beckons.

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To begin with, his long jail term is a massive opportunity for self introspection in a serene world away from the hurly-burly of Lagos or Abuja. It is a rare privilege to experience life in an atmosphere the iconoclastic afro beat exponent Fela Anikulapo-Kuti called the inside world. In Orya’s new world, his needs will no longer be limitless as to warrant the situation that led him to dip his hand into the exchequer. They will now be restricted to basic one like food, clothing and shelter, on which he may not even need to spend a dime because the government is under obligation to provide them free of charge.

No longer for him the culture of chasing exotic cars and other luxuries of life responsible for the sins that culminated in his change of abode. It will no longer be his headache if the traffic on our highways and neighbourhood streets are crawling like a three-month-old baby or even stagnate like the Peoples Democratic Party. What the DISCOs or the GENCOs do with electricity will no longer be any of his business.

His guiding books are no longer Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves or James Hardley Chase’s The Guilty Are Afraid. The Holy Bible, the only source of knowledge guaranteed within the walls of Kirikiri, will now become his definitive text. In the Old Testament, he will learn about the 10 Commandments, especially the verse that says thou shall not steal. In the New Testament, he will also learn about the verse that admonishes us all not to be selfish but “love thy neighbour as thyself”.

He will realise, too little too late, that there is no wisdom in one public official cornering billions of naira from the public purse in a country of more than 200 million people where the average citizen does not know where his or her next meal will come from.

In an age when the competition to break into the Guinness Book of World Records has become fierce and stiff, Orya could well beat his chest in self-adulation for the potential to break into not just the Guinness book but also dim the biblical record of Israelites’ 400 years sojourn in Egypt.

February 7, 2026
Nigeria’s economy: What is to be done?
Using the phrase ‘What is to be done?’ in the headline to this analysis is deliberate. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin used the title in a brilliant 1902 treatise to outline the strategic methodology needed for a successful transformation of the state. It is a question that remains hauntingly relevant whenever a nation faces structural decay. ‘What is to be done?’ is important because out of it came solutions which, through their focus on organizational discipline and ideological clarity, continue to illuminate the path for any leadership seeking to dismantle a dysfunctional status quo.

We must now look ahead to what ought to be done in a Second Term for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Surely certainly, Tinubu will obtain a convincing victory in next year’s presidential election, but the question becomes how that victory will be turned into a consolidation of the gains of the First Term, as well as a decisive forward march towards building a new, enduring society for which history will be positively in his favour.

In a Second Term, Tinubu will have the political clout to finally face the real issue: the structural dysfunction inherent in the Nigerian state, whose genesis was the ill-advised, infantile suspension of the 1963 Republican Constitution. That Constitution was backed by the legitimacy of an era that saw a turnout of 82% of registered voters in its formative plebiscites – the highest in Nigeria’s history from 1923 to date. A Tinubu Second Term must speak to the tenor and ethos of the 1963 Constitution. The suspension of that document turned Nigeria from a country whose political economy was based on production into a consumptionist state, with predictably disastrous results. Nigeria succumbed to the tempting froth from the cup of easy oil rents, and that left a majority of its citizens outside the loop of opportunity. The data is heartbreaking!

On October 1, 1960, Nigeria was the 57th largest economy in the world. Sixty-five years later, by October 1, 2025, we had slipped to 59th. Had we maintained the 1963 Constitution, even under the most incompetent governments, Nigeria would not have been anything less than the world’s 25th largest economy. Had the country enjoyed competent leadership at all levels, there is no doubt that our dear fatherland would today be the 14th or 15th largest economy in the world. We truly lost our way, and a Tinubu Second Term must lead us back to it.

In 25 years’ time, India – whose federal model mirrors Nigeria’s 1963 structure – will likely have displaced the US as a global economic leader; and the heavens will not fall. The performance of India as a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and religiously diverse entity should provide the blueprint for a Tinubu Second Term.

India since 1947 has faced much of the dysfunction affecting the Nigerian state, but it stayed the course with positive results because its constitution, unbroken since independence, has been anchored on production. This is why a Tinubu Second Term must focus on how political skills and modernization can be used to recreate a modern adaptation of the 1963 Constitution. Frankly, the country has no alternative.

For example, Nigeria must create at least 27 million new jobs by the year 2030. Whatever macro- and micro-economic policies are pursued by even the most competent government or an independent Central Bank, it is difficult to see how even half of this figure can be achieved without a return to the spirit of productive interface embedded in the 1963 Constitution. We ignore this path at our peril!

On January 27 this year, we had another national grid collapse – a perennial feature of our economic landscape. Sadly, no modern economy since the Industrial Revolution has been built without a cost-effective, regular supply of electricity. ‘Cost-effective’ is the key phrase!

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In the 1950s and the early 1960s, the power needs of the tin mines in Jos, Plateau State, were fully met; Jos was arguably the only place on the African continent where a 24-hour electricity supply was guaranteed. Had we stayed with a federalist constitution in which you ‘eat what you kill’, it is inconceivable that Nigeria would be generating, transmitting and distributing anything less than 70,000 megawatts of electricity, which, in truth, is still no great achievement for a population estimated at over 200 million people. For instance, Lagos State alone – if it is to be competitive against places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Johannesburg – cannot possibly be a viable economy while generating, transmitting, and distributing anything less than 25,000 megawatts. Without a constitutional revamp, no amount of ‘increased revenue’ can solve Nigeria’s problems, for that revenue will only go to fund the activities of a parasitic establishment while the citizens become more and more hapless.

In the context of the struggle for our national soul, Ayo Opadokun’s recently published book, The Gun Hegemony, is deeply relevant. It is one of the most important analyses of Nigeria in recent decades. The septuagenarian valiantly – and with patriotic vigour – debunks the self-serving deceit that the January 15, 1966, coup d’état was born of nationalistic fervour. It was not! It stood in stark contrast to the epoch-making Free Officers Coup in Egypt in 1952, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, or the earlier reconstitution of Turkey out of the Ottoman ruins by Mustafa Kemal, whom a grateful nation venerated into immortality as Atatürk (The Father of the Turks). The 1966 putsch (was it actually a coup?) did not liberate; instead, it has hamstrung the Nigerian federation and debilitated its prospects for development.

Both Atatürk and the Free Officers in Egypt had clear programmes and an ideological vision. The vacuous postulations made by those who seized radio stations on January 15, 1966, cannot in any way be described as programmes of liberation, let alone development. If there was any ideological base, it can be traced back to the 1950 Constitution of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which called for the creation of a unitary state – a clear absurdity in a multi-ethnic entity. The NCNC manifesto of 1950 divided the Western wing of the party to the extent that notable figures like Mojeed Agbaje, A.M.A. Akinloye left to form the Ibadan People’s Party. The only person left standing was the brilliant Adegoke Adelabu (Penkelemesi).

Not surprisingly, the apeing of the NCNC fantasy about the constitution of a unitary state led to the military’s imposition of the destructive unification decree of 1966. Although later repealed, the damage had been done because the genie had fled from the bottle and has never been put back! For Nigeria, it has been downhill all the way – a gladiatorial clash between darkness and light, hypocrisy and truth. This decline reveals itself in underperformance, a lack of basic industries, and the inability to develop a productive, modern, and competitive economy.

Tinubu recently ended a state visit to Türkiye. Were it not for Atatürk, Türkiye would have remained a backward nation. Today, it is a modernized, advanced power. Beyond its status as a contemporary society, the country is built on real programmes. But what policies and programmes did Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his colleagues actually have for Nigeria – those for which their adherents have been making noise all these years?

It is early days yet, but Opadokun should be a frontrunner for ‘Man of the Year 2026.’ His book will always be a key strategic intervention in redressing the lies, concoctions, and negative revisionist perspectives which continue to distort what has led to today’s painful reality.

Kudos to Ayo Opadokun!
- May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!
February 7, 2026
South East Development Commission Forum For Vision 2050: Politics or economy?
A few years ago, this column challenged the South East Governors to be more pragmatic in the way they handle issues concerning the region. It recalled that over the years, several organizations and corporate bodies had organized several economic summits, conferences and other events geared towards developing the region that has seemingly become the weeping child of the Nigerian project.

More often than not, politicians from the region are tempted to regurgitate the post-war marginalization song that saw the region abandoned despite the vague promises by the Gen. Gowon (Rtd.) administration of the three Rs of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. As it turned out, nothing was done about the promise of the three Rs but he told the world that the post war petro-dollars was so much for the country they never knew what to do with same. Fifty five years after, the same Gowon is blaming late Emeka Ojukwu for lying about the Aburi Accord and surreptitiously sparking off the war. The response to the ‘praying’ former Head of state is left to historians. But I digress.

In talking about the South East development issues, it is pertinent to always put our minds back to why we should be talking about the development or lack of same of regions and states that make up the Nigerian federation. There is a place where like the great literary legend, late Achebe said, the rain started beating the South East.

The first and visible presence of the Igbos in post-civil war Nigeria was in 1979 when Chief Alex Ekwueme became the Vice President to President Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria. In his home state, Anambra, Chief Jim Nwobodo, a member of the Nigeria Peoples Party was the governor. That was the beginning of the developmental challenges that has plagued the region till today.

Historians and avid readers of politics in Nigeria can recall with a certain level of disbelief how these two sons of the region ‘fought’ each other for supremacy in that republic. One son was number two at the federal level, the other a governor of a state that comprised; Enugu, present day Ebonyi and Anambra states. The supremacy battle sipped down to developmental projects. The issue was basically who takes credit for what? Would credit go to Chief Ekwueme as an NPN man or to Chief Nwobodo of the NPP? The fight was as devastating to the region as it chronically affected the development of the region. The legendary crying of the then governor of Imo state, late Chief Sam Mbakwe, a member of the NPP party for the sorry state of federal presence to his state would be a reference point to generations for the impact of divisive politics in the region.

Since 1999, the South East region has been an economic victim of divisive political strategies by the politicians who have represented the people both at state and federal levels. From 1999 to 2011, the region had the privilege of producing several Senate Presidents as the region got the post zoned to it by the ruling PDP. It had the shame of having the greatest turnover of Senate Presidents based on intra-regional intrigues. While other regions plan well politically, the bulk of the politicians from the region display dizzying levels of individualism and selfishness. It hasn’t waned in the 4th republic.

Beyond the battle for the Senate presidency, the governors and the National Assembly members started their own supremacy battles. Who was more politically relevant, the governors, or their representative at the National Assembly? We had the Ebeano political group in Enugu created to identify with the then Chimaroke Nnamani against his former mentor, Senator Jim Nwobodo, then governor Sam Egwu of Ebonyi was at daggers drawn with Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, then in Imo, it was governor Achike Udenwa vs Senator Ararume, in Abia, former governor Orji Uzor Kalu was slugging it out with Senator Adolphus Wabara and in Anambra, governor late Chinwoke Mbadinuju was on a parallel line basis with the NASS members as the cry of godfatherism brought the state to its knees. The South East region is the only region with five states as against other regions with six. The agitation for a 6th Anioma state would ultimately help to balance the equation.

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So with so much individualistic ego trips by politicians, the South East has never been strategically calculative to drive any solid economic program in a region with the best educated, entrepreneurial, diligent and commercially savvy individuals on earth. The tragedy of the region is not lack of cerebral capacity or diligent manpower, the region is plagued by people who are too vainly egocentric plan for regional economic development.

While other regions’ politicians are very non-partisan in their strategic politics, the South East has self-aggrandizing if not almost mercantilist players in politics. The political players are often very peripheral players who assume that associating with certain power brokers validate their relevance. That is why on every election year, there are politicians of the region who lead other politicians to make often very vacuous promises of projects that are never actualized till the next campaign.This has led to politicians from other regions joking that the politicians from the zone have a price. The gaping holes in the development index of the region should be blamed on the politicians who play selfish politics and have refused to pull resources together to develop the region in spite of politics and its divisive tactics.

A few days ago, politicians, technocrats and policy advocates gathered again for the South East Development Commission (SEDC) Forum for Vision 2050 in Enugu which was facilitated by the office of the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima. While this column applauds the SEDC and those who planned and supported the forum, we advocate that it should not be subsumed by the noise for 2027 strategies. The region must not be continually thrown under the bus by its own politicians. The people want politicians to work for them not work against them. Let’s hope the message can sinks in.

It was interesting listening to some of the the governors’ speeches. The host governor, Peter Mbah insisted that the region would no longer beg for a seat at the table, they are ready to build the table. He reminded his colleagues that there is a need for regional infrastructural development to enhance movement and commerce, security cooperation built on information-sharing and a centralized response hub. Recognition of the value of the regional economic hub to him is a valid aspiration. He stated his commitment to the vision 2050 project.

With his success with governance in Abia state one anchored on infrastructure, Governor Alex Oti proposed a coordinated regional energy strategy to drive industrialization leading to job creation and rapid industrialization. Aba is presently a poster child for effective power and infrastructural development. Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra state proposed a marshal plan for regional security, infrastructural development and institutional framework.

The President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Senator John Azuta Mbata believes that a strong financial support for the SEDC by the federal government would be of immense development and reconciliation value. Despite the great contributions of the South East to national development, feelind of exclusion and a sense of marginalization still persist. The SEDC Managing Director, Mark Okoye insists the vision 2050 is intended to produce a long-term development framework for te South East. The zone must work toards transforming into an industrial hub leveraging strategic leadership, regional cooperation and deliberate investment to end decades of underdevelopment.

As the 4-day event came to a close, the Roundtable Conversation believes that this would not be just another talk shop or a strategically expedient partisan move. No region develops through economic or political rhetoric. There must be the readiness to commit to action. The political elite in the region must walk the talk. Development is merely the idea of working towards enduring legacies that uplift the people. When the region remembers the Akanu Ibiams, the Micheal Okparas, the Ojukwus, the Mbakwes and others it is because they left admirably lasting legacies. The time to start is now.
- The dialogue continues…
February 7, 2026
Professor Michael Akpan and man as homo economicus (2)

A wide ranging discourse in his area of expertise, Professor Michael Akpan ‘s inaugural lecture titled ‘Being an Economist: The Homo Economicus’, delivered at the Bingham University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, examines the philosophical make up of man and his attitude to life; his psychological disposition to maximize his pleasure and minimize his gain; his pursuit of what he perceives as his rational self-interest and his commitment to his survival which necessities the prioritization of his economic well-being including his capacity to care for his needs as well as that of his family.

From a lay man’s perspective, it could be argued that although man is a multidimensional being in his motivations, inclinations and actions, Professor Akpan ‘s perception of man as essentially ‘Homo Economicus’ is justified because of the indisputable reality that man must first and foremost earn a living, eat, shelter and clothe himself among other vital material needs before engaging in politics, worship, entertainment, philosophical reflection, writing among other activities.

The professor’s methodology for the lecture, which he describes as the technique of exploratory studies, seems akin to the deductive scientific method which proceeds from broad generalizations and, through systematic exercises in validation and/or elimination, narrows down to proven particular specifics of knowledge. According to him, “This means that the focus is initially broad. It later becomes progressively narrower as the research progresses, and the researcher is willing to change their direction as a result of new data which appear and new insights which occur to them”.

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Utilizing this analytical tool, he thus strives to demonstrate among other postulations that “the homo Economicus’ is not just one of the models in economics, constructed to suit observed economic realities in his activities at the time he was created; But that he is also in existence, his exemplars exist, his assumptions and knowledge are real and his economics are not all nonsense dogmas”.

Professor Akpan’s dogged defence of economics as a discipline, the economist as a professional and man as fundamentally a rational economic being is spurred by an academic critic like Professor Abdul-Ganiyu Garba who in his inaugural lecture at the Ahmadu Bello University contended that Economics was ‘A Discipline in Need of A New Foundation’. He is also reacting to another critic, Dr Tope Fasua, who not only disputes the concept of the economic man but also questions the content and methodology adopted in teaching economics in Nigerian universities.

Even though the lecturer fiercely defends the content of its subject matter as well as the method of its teaching, he is himself no less scathing in his criticism of aspects of quantitative analysis and sophisticated model- building in economics epistemology. In his words, “One other factor that shaped the title of this lecture is the intellectual falsehood that some economists and econonetricians have built around econometrics to make it look larger than just one of the quantitative tools of analysis in economics which I believe is even lower in efficiency than economic statistics and applied statistics. For a long time they have dismissed descriptive statistics as irrelevant in economic analysis, but lately in about 2024, they suddenly realized that their econometric analyses have gotten them on to some dubious grounds (as Keynes described Marshall’s analysis of the multiplier), and descriptive statistics now takes precedence in results presentation over the results of their econometric analysis”.

Professor Akpan enrolled at the University of Benin for his B.Sc degree in Economics in 1981/82, graduated in 1984 and undertook his mandatory national youth service in 1984/85. He obtained a master’s degree in Economics and Statistics also from the University of Benin in 1995. This period spanned not just Nigeria’s disruptive switch from civilian representative government to a succession of military regimes but also the descent into economic austerity, later the full blown Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the protracted depression the country has never fully come out of. All these experiences no doubt went into the shaping of his consciousness as an Economist later in life.

Prior to his switching to academics, his job experiences included an ad hoc employment with the defunct Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) as a Polling Units Presiding Officer in the series of elections that ushered in the Second Republic in 1979; employment as a Library Assistant with the Institute of Administration, ABU in 1980; a public works team leader with the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) in and a Career Project Officer and later Investment Officer in the Agricultural Development Bank in 1987.

Professor Akpan discusses in detail a series of developments that informed his decision to leave the bank in 1999 and commence the transition to what has blossomed into a full scale, life long academic career. As he narrates it, “With a master’s degree in economics and statistics I obtained from the University of Benin in 1995, my plan A as a homo Economicus’ was to settle into private consultancy. A career in academics at the nearest university was the plan B in case plan A failed. Yet, exiting the bank was a very tough but a rational decision which I did not discuss with members of my family. Rationality of the economic man demands that tough decisions are not discussed with family members; Abraham did not discuss with Sarah, his decision to sacrifice Isaac even unto God”.

In the course of his career as an academic economist, Professor Akpan has published books, papers and reports relevant to burning and pertinent issues in the management of the Nigerian economy. These include ‘An Essay on Deregulation of the Downstream Sector of the Nigerian Petroleum Industry (2003); ‘The IMF/World Bank and Nigeria’s Economic Reforms: Readings on 25 years of economic and political Reforms in Nigeria (1986-2012); ‘Keynes, 63 Years in Memory 1946-2009: His policy relevance in the 21st Century and ‘ Ceteris Paribus in Economic Theory and Econometrics: What is its Real Meaning and what happens when Ceteris is not Paribus?”.

In his various writings as well as television discussions, Professor Akpan had vigorously defended such policies as devaluation of the Naira, Deregulation of the Petroleum Industry and removal of fuel subsidy even when it was not popular to do so. His inaugural lecture is, not unexpectedly, a periscope of the evolution of economics as a discipline, dissections of the various controversies within the discipline while also providing some interesting insight into the politics of academia at Bingham University. Large portions of the lecture are riddled with complex statistical and mathematical theorems which are of little interest to the non economist.

February 7, 2026
Economic reforms, ASUU and national development (1)

On the surface, it may appear that there is a negligible discernible link between the ongoing far-reaching economic reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration, the newly signed agreement between the administration and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the fundamental challenge of achieving enduring, autochthonous national development in Nigeria. Not surprisingly, dominant sections of the traditional and social media have treated the newfound amity between the Federal Government and ASUU as being of only tangential and ephemeral significance. With the distorting influence of unbridled partisanship on the part of key sections of the media, it is so easy to forget or downplay the deleterious impact of frequent and protracted strikes by federal and state public universities over the last one and a half decades on education, the economy and the country’s development in general.

It is no surprise that the academics have commended the determination, sincerity of purpose and tenacity of the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, in spearheading the breakthrough recorded by the Tinubu administration in resolving the deadlock between ASUU and successive preceding administrations on the implementation of the stillborn 2009 agreement. Highlights of the new agreement reached on December 24, 2025, and which took effect on January 1, 2026, include a 40% upward review of salaries for academics; a new Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) of N1.74 million and N840,000 million annually for full Professors and Readers respectively; enhanced pension benefits that allow professors to earn a pension equivalent to their annual salary on retirement at the age of 70 and the enhancement of research funding through the provision of at least 1% of Nigeria’s GDP for the National Research Council (NRC).

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Of course, the most critical challenge is for the government to commence and sustain the implementation of all aspects of this agreement to boost the morale of the country’s academics and unleash their hitherto trapped potentials to contribute exponentially to the attainment of national transformation goals. But there is cause for optimism. As the BusinessDay newspaper put it in a report, “The agreement marks the first time a sitting Nigerian President directly took ownership of the prolonged dispute and prioritised its resolution. Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, said the agreement is intended to restore trust, guarantee uninterrupted academic calendars, and end the cycle of strikes in public universities. ASUU said the agreement is the outcome of a renegotiation process that began in 2017 and passed through multiple failed committees before the current administration inaugurated the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiation committee in December 2024.

Structural reforms undertaken by successive governments, civilian and military, in post-colonial Nigeria have addressed the country’s economic crisis, often at a superficial level, without confronting the more daunting problem of transcending the conundrum of underdevelopment. It is impossible to achieve the latter without taking maximal advantage of the knowledge, skills, creativity and cerebral energy of the country’s intellectuals. And the latter will remain a mirage with a depressed, demotivated, largely neglected and demoralised intellectual class. This is why the new agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU must be built upon to usher in a new era of mobilising Nigeria’s intellectual resources to achieve national developmental goals.

Over the last two and a half years, the Tinubu administration’s reforms, external and internal assessors agree, have gone a long way to address the severe, multidimensional economic crises it inherited as a result of years of structural distortions, misplaced priorities and indulgent policies that purportedly subsidised the disadvantaged but facilitated the criminal enrichment of a parasitic minority. Examples were the fuel subsidy and parallel exchange rate markets meant to boost the value of the Naira but provided avenues for humongous self-enrichment through arbitrage for the well-connected. The abolition of these policies by the Tinubu administration, measures acknowledged as imperative by its predecessors but incessantly pushed forward, led to immediate hardships through inflationary spirals and attendant spike in living costs.

But the bitter pills are evidently having the desired recuperative effects on the ailing economy. It is apposite to quote the latest edition of The Economist magazine at some length here. Stating that the administration’s painful reforms are beginning to show results, the magazine notes that “It is difficult to overstate the mess Mr Tinubu inherited. When he took office in 2023, the country’s Central Bank had $7 billion (equivalent to 1.4% of GDP at the time) in obligations it could not meet, prompting international investors to flee en masse. The bank’s credibility had been dented by a recklessly loose monetary policy, its mismanagement of dwindling foreign -exchange reserves and efforts to maintain an unsustainable tiered exchange -rate system. In 2022 alone, the cash-strapped government spent some $10 billion, equivalent to 2.2% of GDP, on a ruinous fuel subsidy”.

After reiterating the painful remedial measures undertaken by the Tinubu administration to reform and restructure the economy, The Economist observes that “Nearly three years on, Nigeria’s 230 million people, especially the poor and the middle class, are still reeling from increases in fuel and food prices. Poverty has risen. But it looks as though Mr Tinubu’s bitter medicine is helping. The annual inflation rate, which hit a nearly 30-year high of of 35.8% in December 2025, fell to 15.2% in December 2025. Growth is returning. The IMF expects the economy to expand by 4.4% in 2026. Following two steep devaluations in 2023, the Naira has stabilised. The Central Bank’s foreign -exchange reserves have risen to $46 billion, their highest level in seven years. Improvements in macroeconomic stability are restoring investor confidence”.

The challenge before the Tinubu administration is to push through these reforms till they become sustainable and irreversible, but, more importantly, to ensure that impressive statistical indices are translated into concrete improved welfare and living standards for the vast majority of Nigerians. Even if these goals are achieved, however, the administration would have addressed the problem of the economic crisis and must still lay the foundation for transcending the protracted crisis of underdevelopment. And this is where the intellectuals and the unique labour union that ASUU has become are indispensable.

In the final analysis, no country or people can develop another political entity. All meaningful development is ultimately self-development. In its Nigeria First policy, which emphasises local raw materials, expertise and technology in production processes, Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda realises this. And so it is with its efforts to break the country’s food dependency and boost local agricultural productivity, even though continuing unacceptable levels of insecurity remain a major obstacle in critical food production zones. However, the administration must fundamentally redefine, refocus and restructure the country’s theory and practice of development.

Relying on external expertise, inputs and technology for the installation of major artefacts of development and modernity, such as railway tracks and trains, express roads and coastal highways, ultramodern structures, model stadia, and petroleum refineries are inevitable in the short run but do not constitute development on a long-term, sustainable basis. As one of the country’s eminent political economists, Professor Okwudiba Nnoli, puts it, “What is needed is a concept of development which is neither viewed as catching up with the advanced countries nor fixated on the procurement of artefacts. Under certain conditions, artefacts emanate from the development process and reflect it. This is so only when they are the end products of the efforts of the population to apply their creative energy to the transformation of the local, physical, biological and socio-cultural environments. This is the case in the advanced countries. They cease to mirror development when they are provided by foreigners; the local population merely acquires the products of other people’s development.”

Over four decades ago, ASUU, in its landmark publication, ‘The Nigerian Economic Crisis: Causes and Solutions,’ made the same point with regard to the country’s industrialisation process. In its words, “By industrialization of the country, we mean the process of developing the capacity of that country to master and locate within its borders, the whole industrial production process: production of raw materials; production of intermediate products for other industries; fabrication of machines and tools required for the manufacture of desired products and of other machines; skills to operate, maintain and reconstruct machines and tools; skills to manage factories and to organize the production process”.

• To be continued

February 7, 2026