The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Matches without television is witchcraft

    Matches without television is witchcraft

    In Nigeria, we enjoy copying trends which characterise human endeavours without reflecting on why and how these innovations we copy were taken and their consequences. We are serial bandwagon followers forgetting that change is the only constant thing in life. Stylishly, those in whose hands the letters and spirit of the beautiful game in Nigeria have been placed by the world soccer ruling body rose from one meeting last week to highlight the leading man’s view that it wouldn’t be out of place to retain abridged league in our football lexicon and practice.

    Indeed, the abridged league system has been a child of circumstance used to paper the failure of leadership at the Dankaro House by those who run the game here. Each time we resort to this shameful face saver, we gloat with the idea that we want to make the Nigeria football calendar to be in tandem with the European game. All manner of analysts disturb our airwaves with paralysed analysis of the way forward and its benefits as if it would be the first time such rants would be made by sadly, the same set of people.

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    Some of the other reasons these trumpeters of change remind us of, to justify the sickening abridged league system is the poor outing of Nigerian clubs in the annual CAF inter-club competitions where our representatives are beaten groggy by better-prepared football countries with thinking soccer administrators. Our continental opponents’ league competitions are in tandem with what obtains in Europe, ours as at this period may just have ended, truncated by the fallouts of the shenanigans of the previous season(s) or still struggling to commence due to either lack of sponsors or the delay by state governments, the real owners of the clubs to fund their activities. Reasons for these delays are legendary especially the issue of having the games live on television. Only God knows when the Nigerian league system would embrace the compulsory Club Licensing requirements.

    According to the NFF’s President, Ibrahim Gusau while inaugurating the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL’s)  nine-member board in Abuja on Wednesday: “Club Licensing is a fundamental football development trajectory that the new Board must take very seriously. Therefore, I charge the new board to set a target which must be met by all Clubs as a prerequisite for participation in the League. I also want you to set percentage compliance on Club Licensing requirements for each Club, so that every season, you can measure the extent of adherence by each Club.” What is in name to necessitate any controversy? In Nigeria, since there aren’t any rules to qualify anyone to administer the game at any level, small minds resort to crying wolf where there aren’t. Indeed, Gusau reiterated how such nomenclature can be acquired stressing that: ”On the issue of change of name, the NFF President insisted that the option must be tabled before the Congress of the Nigeria Football Federation for approval, and the necessary processes undertaken for a change to take effect.”

    Why would any club deliberately refuse to make the issue of paying their players, coaches, officials and ancillary staff their wages and entitlements promptly yet they expect them to perform optimally during matches? It is important to ask the league board members what happened to the pre-season requirement where clubs are required to clear all debts to their players, coaches, officials and ancillary before they can qualify to participate in the new season’s competition.

    This issue of graduated measures of the fulfilment of the Club Licensing requirements is simply a failure of leadership or should I say witchcraft which shouldn’t be tolerated. Professional football began in 1990 in Nigeria and it is despicable to note that 33 years after the league still wears diapers in implementing basic rules of the game. It is equally disappointing that league boards can sit at meetings in the past, make pronouncements about the commencement of the competition’s kickoff dates yet won’t stick to it. Indeed, it is customarily for previous league boards to announce kickoff dates like the new NPFL Board chairman  Gbenga Otolorin Elegbeleye has done by promising an August 26 date.

    Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja after the inauguration of the NPFL board, Elegbede revealed: “The kick off-date is definite, we have taken that will ensure the smooth sailing of the new season with the intention to align with the European season. We hope the season ends on schedule with consideration of other football programs of the Nigeria Football Federation.”

    “Last season, the league winners got N100 million as prize money. This season, we are offering an improved package of N150 million with some of the prize money earmarked for facility improvement and players’ welfare. We want every club to update their stadia and improve their players’ remuneration for better performance.

    “All the stadia classified as unfit to host NPFL matches remain banned, subject to inspection while that of the newly promoted clubs will also be inspected before the season starts. Any stadium that doesn’t meet the set  standard will not be allowed to host any league game.”

    Well said Elgebeleye, but we hope that the participating clubs won’t come up with some of their pranks that they haven’t been able to sit with their state governments to discuss the cash to run tier clubs. It is common knowledge that more than 90 per cent of the league clubs are owned by the state governments. Need I state the problems that these clubs face when there is the usual cold war between the clubs’ chairmen and their states’ commissioners of sports? The team suffers in this needless fight for superiority.

    “All through last season, we ensured that match officials got their dues two days before a game. We shall continue like that this season and will not hesitate to recommend any referee found wanting to the appropriate authorities for disciplinary actions,” Elegbeleye stressed further.

    It is quite interesting reading Elegbeleye’s promises most of which were achieved when he was the chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) last year. But he must be reminded that issues concerning the referees in all their ramifications are done at the behest of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The Referees Appointment Committee and the Disciplinary Committee members must be men and women of proven integrity not lackeys of the NFF members or known club supporters. Playing matches without the television camera beaming the games live for everyone to watch and possible reference when there are controversies translates to witchcraft. It can be likened to winking in the dark. One wonders how previous league boards were able to market the competition to investors without playback of recorded matches of the leagues.

    League matches played in stadia without CCTV cameras fitted in strategic areas make the referees easy prey for hoodlums to attack them and inflict bodily harm on them. The organisers can improvise by getting gadgets which can record scenes not captured by the human eye especially fitted in discreet places which they can revert to for crystal clear visual evidence on anyone who takes the laws into his hands. Urchins mustn’t be allowed to wreak havoc at match venues and walk away freely on the streets while the recuperating referees gnash their teeth on hospital beds. It won’t be out of place to encourage the battered referees to seek redress in court, if the league board can’t prosecute the matter to logical conclusion. We must send culprits to jail than negotiate how the hoodlums can get a slap on the wrist.

    Should referees take their cases to the law courts for justice? You tell me.

  • Nigeria in a lean period

    Nigeria in a lean period

    The hand of fate is heavy on Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country; potentially great but perpetually unable to guarantee prosperity for its anxious and weary citizens.

    Its mates in the march of history across the Asian continent have left it behind. Nigeria and those other nations are more or less equally endowed with human talents and natural resources.

    Also, the crises of nation-building that confronted them in their teething stages were similar. The point of departure was leadership. While post-First Republic Nigerian leaders were fond of thinking about their pockets, leaders of the Asian Tigers thought more about their countries, their future and place under the sun.

    Nigeria wobbles on in its unitarist journey to perdition. It has to be pulled back from the brinks. The country has a new government, but where should it start from?

    There is a need for reforms across sectors. More importantly, a moral revolution is urgent. Clearing the Augean stable is an uphill task for the Tinubu administration. Yet, to reposition Nigeria is an inevitable priority.

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    To most observers, this is the baseline for the abolition of ‘business as usual’. The socio-economic and political sanitation requires courage, patriotism, resoluteness and dedication. The task also requires speed because a delay could be dangerous.

    Lush days under the democratic dispensation have been elusive, but there is no nostalgic feeling for the sordid military past, owing to the restoration of some human rights under civilian leaders. The prospect of doom is being averted by the new administration. But, obviously, the new government cannot be a magician.

    National debt, depleting external reserves, mismanagement among the states, waning investment, foreign exchange imbroglio, deteriorating infrastructure, and general insecurity are worrisome. Under the harsh economy, the number of poverty-stricken people soars in geometric proportions.

    Money is scarce. Jobs, either meant for skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled labour, are thinning out. Inflation is now close to 26 per cent. Thousands of our youths – the greatest percentage of qualitative and productive population – leave their fatherland in droves. Although most of them now pass through lawful routes, unlike when they ventured on the journeys of pains through harsh deserts and wild forests, the trend still pierces the hearts of empathic parents. It has led to brain drain and loss of attachment to the home that cannot guarantee minimum comfort.

    The cause of the present national burden is the mismanagement of God-given opportunities by successive governments. Nigeria’s advantageous position has often drawn the envy of neighbouring West African countries. This country is highly endowed, blessed with crude oil in large quantities and other mineral resources that were ignored or mismanaged.

    Our national fortunes have become misfortunes. We bear our anathema with a widening division. Nigerians work in and walk through anxiety and embarrassment. No one is offering a rational explanation for our collective drift and national tragedy.

    The four refineries are incapable of turning our God-given crude oil into finished petroleum products for domestic consumption due to incapacity and deliberate sabotage over the years. The crude has to be ferried abroad, repurchased at exorbitant price, imported and sold to the populace at prohibitive prices as finished products.

    The state has invariably maintained a cult of sleaze. Few privileged businessmen discovered a loophole and profited maximally from a fuel subsidy regime that has left government with little or no resources to fund other critical sectors. None of them was moved by the regression to multiple borrowings to fund the subsidy, their cash cow. The urge for profits at the expense of the masses made them pull the wool over our eyes.

    The resultant economic hardship has since taken its toll on the masses. The little savings made are wiped off by the hike in fuel price. There is a threat to payment of school fees and feeding in households.

    The peace of nuclear family in low socio-economic status homes has been replaced with quarrels over three square meals between husbands and wives. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. The rich get more and the poor have none, banking on elusive hope. Yet, when a new government came to redress the economic imbalance and reduce the gap, hell was let loose.

    Our industrialisation drive is bedeviled by a litany of abandoned projects. The epileptic power supply has grounded businesses. The manufacturing sub-sector has collapsed. Investors ultimately had to relocate to other countries to survive. This has produced two consequences. Nigeria ceased to be a productive country. Its products are no longer in the market. To an elementary student of economics, it means the country has forfeited the advantage of foreign exchange earnings.

    There have been unending job cuts, corporate stagnation and torturous unemployment. Churches have sprung up from industrial estates of old. Many of the churches are camouflaged business centres where general overseers without divine calling manipulate and milk the already pauperised congregants dry to live like emperors. It is double jeopardy for the ailing nation.

    From the worldly temples, fake pastors terrorise the people’s psyche and steer them into confusion with spurious predictions about elections, all borne out of malice for the rivals of their preferred candidates.

    Today, the whole country has become a nest of killers. Insecurity, particularly terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, ritual killings, and armed robbery are becoming the new normal. Eternal vigilance has become the watchword of the citizenry – at home, in the market, at workplace, on the farm, in school, church, and public transportation outlets.

    But the motivation for terror remains largely unknown. The perpetrators appear invisible. Much havoc is wreaked on innocent citizens. The dimension of violence is worrisome.

    Hapless Nigerians resort to seeking refuge in the church where many of them become victims of bombing that has turned the spiritual arena into a graveyard. Up till now, many people are held captive by merchants of kidnapping.

    There is a business boom for the denizens of the forest who demand ransom for the liberation of their captives. But not all victims have returned alive: some are killed, or lost forever, without trace.

    Children are not insulated from the terrible experience. Kidnapping for ransom, having become a culture, pastime or trade is now being attempted by young people who fake their abduction to fleece their agitated relations.

    Now, an entire geo-political zone, the Southeast, is in distress. Invincible enforcers of sit-at-home are on the prowl, crippling the economy of five states.

    The government promises the people safety and security but cannot even stave off the desperate marauders from unleashing terror on cowed residents. It is incapacitated by inadequate resources to provide effective security for the citizens.

    Governors have become decorative chief security officers of their beleaguered states. It is risky to open shops in major cities and towns across the five states. Even, school activities are disrupted on Mondays. There is no respite. There is momentary loss of faith in government. Also, the minimum wage is incapable of giving minimal comfort. Strikes loom in critical sectors – from resident doctors to other workers who subscribe to the impatient Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    Federal hospitals are paralysed by strikes. Patients are dispersed. In the melee, emergency cases are compounded by the emergency labour crisis.

    The Tinubu administration has inherited huge burdens in all sectors, but Nigerians want quick fixes. They do not want to know the genesis of the problems. They are only interested in immediate solutions that will bring relief.

    Those in government need an adjustment of style. They cannot ask the ordinary people to endure pains or adapt to consistent adversity when they continue to swing, recklessly, in condemnable opulence made from the collective sweat of the masses. There is a need for a surgical operation from top to bottom.

    This is a trying period for the country. Nigerians should be hopeful nevertheless.  They should invest confidence in the new administration, show understanding for its bold policies designed to turn the country around and support it effort to bring a new lease of life.

  • Sanwo-Olu’s second term

    Sanwo-Olu’s second term

    His now widely applauded generosity of spirit, large hearted-ness; liberal disposition and non-antagonistic political and leadership style were in evidence during his immediate predecessor, Mr Akinwumi Ambode’s recent landmark 60th birthday. Despite whatever political friction had transpired between them in the less than cordial transition between the two administrations in 2019, when Ambode unexpectedly failed to secure a second term, governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu led a delegation to celebrate with the trained accountant who had risen to the apex of his public service career as a Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of Lagos State before ascending the exalted office of governor in 2015.

    The amiable incumbent was munificent in his laudation of his predecessor who responded in kind with no less charitable encomiums on his successor. The perhaps unanticipated fallout of that gesture of Sanwo-Olu, as many analysts have pointed out, was Ambode’s presence at the reception held for newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the Lagos State government, the first time the former would be seen publicly or privately in the company of his predecessors and successor since 2019.

    Sanwo-Olu’s exhibition of humility, charitableness, and affability that was largely responsible for this rapprochement is symptomatic of his signature political style. He does not allow the immense powers of the office he occupies to induce in him a sense of hubris. The picture of the President and his three successors relating amicably on that occasion was amply publicized in the media and Lagos is most likely the only state with this kind of governance continuity where the four governors since 1999 could still affect that degree of cordiality despite the albeit brief break in ‘political transmission’ with Ambode since 2019.

    While Sanwo-Olu has received considerable accolades for his unaffected and unobtrusive leadership style as governor during his first term, others have not failed to point out what they perceive as a weakness of this disposition to politics in a complex, cosmopolitan mega city-state like Lagos where leadership can not afford to be perceived as a popularity contest and the governor must be prepared to take some hard decisions to enforce the law and public order.

    Those who argue for a tougher governance stance on the part of the governor contend, for example, that even though Sanwo-Olu was responsible and responsive in reacting to the massive #EndSars protests that rocked Lagos along with some other urban cities across the country in 2020, exhibiting commendable emotional intelligence in handling the situation, he did not firmly communicate to the agitated youths that the state would not tolerate a descent to anarchy. After all, the nationwide protests were against the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the police is a federal, not a Lagos State government agency.

    As events would turn out, Lagos witnessed a level of destruction not experienced in other states, a horrendous loss from which she is yet to fully recover. But then, this criticism may be unfair as, despite the goodwill extended to the protesters by the governor who bent over backwards to accommodate them and be the courier of their messages to the federal government, he was still accused of calling out soldiers to disperse the demonstrators even when it is obvious that a governor has no operational control of the military.

    But let no mistake be made about it. Sanwo-Olu has on occasion taken and abided by some tough decisions when it was absolutely necessary for him to do so. The best example is the ban on motorbikes popularly known as ‘Okada’ on major highways in a number of Local Government Areas in the metropolis. The ban has been strictly and firmly enforced with salutary effects on the level of fatal accidents, avoidable injuries, and even traffic crimes in affected parts of the state. It is expected that in due course, the administration will widen the Okada ban to encompass other parts of the state even as it continues to enhance and expand alternative and less dangerous means of transportation particularly in the hinterlands.

    The battle for the governor’s second term was hotly contested and heated. This was no function of a less-than-exemplary performance by his administration. Indeed, across sectors, the administration embarked on landmark projects with Lagos becoming a virtual construction site across Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas. His adroit handling of the Coronavirus pandemic early in the life of his administration was a pointer to his no mean leadership capacities. Because he kept his eyes firmly on the ball, his administration successfully midwifed the delivery of such epochal projects as the light rail schemes, the giant rice mill in Imota, and the substantial completion of the Dangote refinery some of which had been conceived by preceding administrations.

    The intensity of the electoral contests in Lagos this year was influenced largely by ethnic factors, religious propaganda, misdirected youth angst, and complacency on the part of ruling APC cadres that had become too used to seemingly effortless success in previous elections since 1999. This also resulted in the party’s alienation from many of its traditional high-vote constituencies that displayed apathy to the polls. That the governor still won a reasonably emphatic victory at the polls on March 18, was indicative of the satisfaction of large segments of the electorate with his leadership and performance despite constraining primordial tensions and sectarian pressures.

    What then do we expect of Sanwo-Olu’s performance in his second term? As all tiers of government earn significantly more revenue in Naira terms with the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Tinubu administration, there will be more focus on the performance of the sub-national units of government, and Lagos, the jewel among these entities, will be the cynosure of all eyes. The anticipation of the people is high and the governor seems to know it. If the morning of the commencement of the second term is an indication of what the day will bring, we may expect a less pacifist, more activist, and no-nonsense Sanwo-Olu this time around.

    Already, he has dispensed with the services of chief executives of some key agencies and parastatals of government indicating that he will set officials to a higher standard of performance in his second term. Some of the agencies affected include the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA), Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC), Lagos Television (LTV) and Lagos State License Plate Authority among others.

    The governor’s body language appears clear that he will not tolerate the news of poor corporate governance, irresponsibility, and managerial incompetence emanating from some of these agencies. A good example is LASAA where, according to authoritative information, the solid foundation work done by previous Managing Directors of the Agency such as Mr. Tunji Bello, immediate past Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, as well as Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi, a lawyer, managerial psychologist and journalist who was in charge between 2015 and 2019, resulting in a considerable boost in revenue earnings, significant debt mitigation, enhanced staff welfare and elevated corporate governance, have been significantly diminished and eroded by alleged managerial ineptitude.

    With the re-engagement of Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegesin as Managing Director of LAWMA, the computer scientist has a rare second chance to correct any identified lapses during his first tour of duty. There is no doubt that the governor would do well to enhance the supervisory competence of the Parastatals Monitoring Office (PMO) to keep the agencies on their toes and ensure the sustained accountability of their executive management.

    Residents of Lagos State wait with no less interest and anticipation for Governor Sanwo-Olu’s list of commissioners for his second term as Nigerians eagerly anticipate President Tinubu’s nominees for ministerial positions. Given the experience and stature of some of the departing commissioners in a key Ministry like Environment, for instance, the public will expect highly competent and dedicated replacements to build on the achievements of the past and face emergent challenges. The administration is commendably focused on critical infrastructure projects such as big road construction works but must not lose focus of inner city roads many of which are in need of more regular routine maintenance.

    Transportation remains a key Ministry in a sprawling metropolis like Lagos and giant strides have been taken in improving public transportation and traffic management. However, one area that must attract the administration’s urgent attention is the intractable traffic gridlock in Apapa and environs which defied its best efforts in its first term. Sanwo-Olu can certainly do for Apapa what Governor Babatunde Fashola did for Oshodi during his tenure. No less critical is the efficient and proactive management of a ministry like Physical Planning and Urban Development as Lagos continues its accelerated pace towards its mega city-state aspirations.

    If Sanwo-Olu succeeds in at least ensuring the commencement of construction work on the 4th Mainland Bridge, which has been on the drawing board for long, it would be a defining element of his legacy. Expectations are high for a superlative second-term performance from Sanwo-Olu between now and 2027. He has the proven competence, managerial experience, and leadership acumen not to disappoint. Critical in this regard is a more steely disposition on his part and body language that unmistakably indicates zero tolerance for mediocre leadership on the part of critical agencies of government.

    Unending desperation on 2023 polls

    There is obviously no let up in the relentless bid in some quarters to discredit and disparage the 2023 presidential elections at all costs and by all means. After all kinds of bizarre conspiracy theories, fake spiritual prophesies and other amusing antics failed woefully to prevent the swearing-in of the clear winner of the election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of the APC on May 29, enormous efforts are now being expended to intimidate as well as damage the credibility and integrity of the judiciary which is saddled with the adjudication of election petitions. This week the Supreme Court had to dismiss unfounded and unproven allegations that the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Justice Kayode Ariwoola, had any telephone conversations with President Tinubu or judges handling the election petitions. Those who alleged offered no proof. Even before the Election Petitions Tribunal began sitting, there had been the fake report that the CJN had traveled to London for a surreptitious meeting with the President. This again proved to be utterly fictional. And the day before yesterday, another fake news turned up on social media that one of the judges hearing the petition, Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo, had resigned in protest against alleged attempts to compel him to pervert the course of justice. It appears that certain petitioners have no confidence in the rigor and strength of their cases before the tribunal and are resorting to media intimidation, threats and blackmail of the judiciary to have their way. These patently anti-democratic antics will fail catastrophically. Except for the irredeemably prejudiced, it is all too easy to prove, logically and empirically, that the February 25 presidential election is the best and most credible in this dispensation since 1999.

  • Toothless club owners

    Countries measure the growth and development of sports by the number of home-grown sports ambassadors they churn out from the mills – the grassroots or the existing neighbourhood structures who play for them unlike in Nigeria where we depend on snatching athletes discovered, nurtured and exposed to big competitions to represent us at different sporting events such as the Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games etc.

    Schools that usually are the first places where kids embrace sports during break periods have modern recreation facilities. Schools are encouraged to employ coaches to teach the kids about the sport of their interest where the government can’t immediately do so. The communities around also help in maintaining such facilities through levies on the kids’ parents and several schemes provided for them by the government. These pupils combine sports and learning. Here in Nigeria, such open spaces have been built up under the guise of providing more rooms for learning while nothing is done to provide alternatives for these kids to recreate.

    Most times one is taken aback when Nigeria is being referred to as a sporting nation with her nationals unable to identify with those representing her in international tournaments. It is usually heart-wrenching watching our sports representatives chew gums when our national anthem is being played. Those not chewing gums are standing aloof unable to sing the national anthem. One of the fallouts of persuading boys and girls who had never set their feet in the country to play for Nigeria. I digress!

    During the week, the Club Owners Association which ought to be extinct based on its antecedents inaugurated. I believe these new members won’t constitute themselves into a pressure group to rattle the football federation or to be cogs in the wheel of progress at the League Management level. The irony of this group is that most of them are masquerading as the clubs’ owners whereas the real owners are the state governments. This explains the state of near ruination of our domestic clubs which barely exist in name depending on the government in power. If the governor or his deputy is interested in soccer, the club blossom otherwise it remains static.

    I hope this usually all-knowing group appreciates the fact that there is a lot to be done to improve different aspects of the league especially issues concerning the welfare of the local league players, coaches, officials, prompt payment of these officials’ wages and allowances, guaranteeing their future with meaningful insurance policies etc which they should strive to proffer solutions to. Our local clubs masquerading with the tag of being professionals are a laughing stock. The clubs and their so-called owners have been wearing diapers since 1990 when they were inaugurated.

    Indeed, some club owners cast an indulgent eye when home fans pummel match officials into a stupor for not assisting them to win games. Club Owners don’t give a hoot if their players haven’t been paid by the real owners of the teams – the State Governors. Club owners are the ones who refuse to improve on the welfare of their players, coaches and officials. Yet they expect them to win matches on an empty stomach. Club owners are the ones who lock out referees from hotels booked for them if the team loses or draws games at home. Club owners are Lilliputians who are too scared to talk to their state governors to provide good facilities and well-grassed pitches for competitions for fear of being sacked. Club owners are lame ducks who can’t take decisions on their teams without first consulting with the real owners – the state governors. There is only one true club owner who resides in one of the states in the West. The rest are representatives of the state governors. So, who needs them? Club owners are the ones who close their eyes to some of the ills in the league such as paying for a hearse instead of well-equipped ambulances on match days to attend to any medical emergency.

    This group should depart from the past where Club Owners saw themselves as infallible and did their job as if they were more extensive than those elected to administer the game. In fact, previous club owners were some of the enemies of the game who left the task of ensuring that most of the clubs developed templates which would in the not-too-distant future see the ownership of clubs in Nigeria move from being state governments’ siphon pipes to a business-oriented privately owned teams.

    It should worry the new Club Owners that Nwankwo Kanu could dissolve a team that won the country’s league diadem on the altar of the squad’s alleged poor outing at the Naija Super 8, a competition meant to prepare clubs for the new season. An inconsequential friendly, maybe they are just disappointed to miss out on the prize money.

    Kanu, is this how you want to administer Enyimba, easily Nigeria’s best team in the last two decades? These new Club Owners should challenge Kanu to tell the Abia State governor  to pay Enyimba’s players and coaches their five months wages and other entitlements with the swiftness it took him to dissolve a team that would be on the continent next month. It took the Abia State government weeks to debunk the story of a total sacking of the technical crew. If the coach wasn’t George Finidi, Kanu would have had his way.

    The government’s meddlesomeness in the affairs of domestic league clubs as typified in Nwankwo Kanu’s highhandedness and arbitrariness towards players who just won the league title should worry the new Club Owners. Kanu should be told during the body’s first meeting that he goofed. How do you tell players who won the league diadem to reapply for their jobs, even when you are owing them five months’ wages? Where is this done, Papilo? What would have happened if Enyimba ended the season without winning a trophy? Were you, Kanu Nwankwo, treated in this manner in your playing days in Europe even when your club won nothing across several seasons? Oh, how easy is it for human beings to forget where they are coming from? Indeed, human memory can be very short!

    It must be stated here that if this new group of Club Owners want to be taken seriously, they should never be involved in the running of the game at the level of the IMC. On no account should anyone dream or aspire to be a member of the IMC. What Kanu did with the league champions Enyimba shows that the players, coaches and the team’s officials don’t have subsisting contracts that Enyimba should have respected.

    I challenge Kanu to bring out his contracts with all the clubs he played for in Europe and place them side by side with Enyimba players’, that is if they have anyway. I dare say that at Kanu’s level of professionalism and experience in the beautiful game, he ought to be championing the course of players in the right direction, not in the retrogressive manner that he has displayed in the case of Enyimba players. Tell me, how do you reapply for a job when you have a subsisting contract?

    Kanu can help improve Enyimba with his status and experience gained over the years of playing across the best leagues in Europe. However, he must avoid the lure of power tussle and politicking.

    There are quality examples to look at, Sporting Lagos and Remo Stars are taking the lead with the new direction of where football should be heading locally at the club level. Enyimba is one of the greatest teams in Nigeria and should have a clubhouse by now.

    Now that the Abia State government has shown Kanu who the real owners of Enyimba are, would the highly decorated football player resign his appointment as the Chairman of Enyimba FC of Aba? You tell me.

  • Saraki’s political empire faces fresh threats

    Saraki’s political empire faces fresh threats

    These, certainly, are not the best of times for former Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki. Just when he thinks that his political fortunes were at their lowest ebb, the forces of disintegration in the former Kwara State governor’s political camp appear determined erase whatever is left of his legacies in the state he once bestrode like a colossus.

    Recall that the political machinery of the current Kwara State Governor Abdurahman Abdulrazak and his All Progressives Congress (APC) had in the build-up to the 2015 elections dealt Saraki and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a deadly blow with the force of the ‘O to ge’ movement from which the latter are yet to recover.

    But if current developments in the state’s chapter of PDP are anything to go by, it would seem that the Saraki camp is yet to see the worst. The former Senate President is facing a fresh revolt from the state’s working committee of the PDP. Like a bolt from the blue, the state’s secretary of the party, Abdulrazak Lawal, tendered his resignation on Tuesday, sending the party’s machinery at state and federal levels into a shock.

    “We have been notified and received the resignation letter of Alhaji Razak Lawal as the state secretary of the party. We all appreciate his services and wish him well in his future endeavours,” said the state publicity secretary of the party, Prince Tunji Moronfoye in a statement.

    While the dust on Lawal’s resignation is yet to settle, Dan Iya, the youth leader of PDP in the state, has gone viral on video, demanding to know how the cash meant for presidential election in the state was spent.

    In the viral video, Iya dispelled insinuations that some of them in the SWC were fighting Saraki.

    He said: “I don’t want people to misconceive the position of some of us in the NWC. We are not fighting Saraki and we have no reason to fight him; no basis. But the fundamental questions we are asking are: one, how much did we receive as campaign funds for the presidential election 2023? Two, who received the money? Three, how was it spent?

    “There is no fight. And if there is no fight, there is no need for any reconciliation. We are not fighting the leader (Saraki). So people should not be talking of calling us together to reconcile us.  These fundamental questions require answers, and that is my position as an individual. Anything short of this, count me out.

    “We want accountability. We want to know how musch was received for the 2023 presidential election, who received it and how was it spent? We need independence for the party. We cannot be EXCOs and some people will be performing our functions. That is our position. Nobody is fighting anybody, talk less of reconciliation.”

    Meanwhile, party EXCO members have been boycotting Saraki’s house. During the last Sallah, all EXCO members, except one, refused to pay homage to the former President of the Senate.

  • Tinubu, palliative and food security

    Tinubu, palliative and food security

    The review of the palliative package has shown that the Tinubu administration has a listening ear. The review underscores its sensitivity to public outcry. The government means well. But, on the part of the people, there is lack of sufficient knowledge and deep understanding. They need and adequate enlightenment.

    Their reaction might have arisen from the spur of the moment because of the urgency the situation demanded. The review is meant to repackage the implementation of the government policy.

    Beneficiaries of fuel subsidy have been fighting back. They had resented the removal, but without success. It is obvious they have swelled the ranks of critics who are allergic to genuine innovation and good governance. Their pastime now is fueling blackmail in a bid to incite the people against the government. Their virulent criticisms against the twin policies of palliative for the poor and quest for food subsidy follow a familiar pattern of maladjustment to the new era.

    What matters to them is not the intended benefits of change but their expositions on the excruciating yet transient phase of difficulty that, in their thinking, should cripple the new approach to governance. The tactic is to blow the issues out of proportion, hoodwink the gullible and convey a false impression of national hopelessness. The elite, who believe their purpose may not be served by the palliative, are few.

    The idea of food security may not also be their priority because of their fat pocket. However, as opinion moulders, government should engage them and other stakeholders with the right communication, which should be consistent, lucid, informative, logical and convincing.

    The few months of the administration have rekindled hope. Tinubu has hit the ground running. He has earned applause from stakeholders, including those who did not support him during the historic election. The first salvo that detractors fired at him followed public misunderstanding of how the palliative would be implemented.

    During the week, the situation was aggravated. Tension was unleashed on the country by the fuel hike price. Unpatriotic elements instantly resumed their tirade, attributing it to the fuel subsidy removal, which they said smacked of insensitivity.

    What has happened in the last four days is reminiscent of the reaction of some undiscerning people to Tinubu’s style at the inception of his administration in Lagos in 1999. He was derided as a go-slow administrator. They later ate their words when his policies and programmes revolutionalised governance in the Centre of Excellence and Tinubu’s Lagos became a reference point.

    Tinubu has the antecedent of striving in adversity. He has a reputation for surviving the greatest of odds. His strength lies in his power of ideas and focus. After the initial challenges, which the president and his team will surmount, Nigeria will be better for it under the Tinubu administration.

    The proposed palliative is not another market jamboree of the former vice president or any trader money permutation. Previous traps, loopholes and pitfalls are to be avoided. There will be good coordination, an important element of the implementation.

    Tinubu, a welfarist, is committed to the success of the policy. The $800 million World Bank loan, which is expected to be distributed to the poorest of the poor to cushion the effects of subsidy removal, is accompanied with conditionalities.

    The money, N8,000 for each of the very poor, is expected to be transferred into the bank accounts of intended beneficiaries. The scheme is not for all Nigerians. It is not for all workers. Even, the aged parents of illustrious citizens are not expected to benefit from it. Only vulnerable and extremely poor Nigerians are entitled to the palliative. The scope will not cover many top members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), members of the tertiary institutions’ academic unions and many others in thriving occupations in the private sector.

    Due to past experience, many Nigerians are sceptical. It is not without justification. They have raised some posers: how would the beneficiaries be determined? Why is it being limited to “just 12 million households?” Will N8,000 for an individual household for six months cushion the effects of economic distress? Does Nigeria have a data base? How would the demography be determined? Is the process not susceptible to manipulation and corruption?

    Some have also argued that if government is able to get hold of billions, should the funds not be channeled to education, health, social welfare, agriculture and infrastructural development?

    There appears to be a mix-up. Many people have uncritically confused the World Bank loan with the N500 billion saved from fuel subsidy removal. In this regard, government needs to broaden the explanation, with facts and figures, to erase the misconceptions.

    During the week, the official explanation by the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) confirmed that the Federal Government has a database of 15 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians and that details of those already captured across the 36 states and Abuja are on its National Social Register (NSR).

    Thus, the $800 million will be transferred, using the database. This has shifted the discussion to the plight of the poor who do not operate bank accounts. How can the money get to the intended poor? Will they not suffer in the hands of POS operators when they tender their codes? It is an issue that should be resolved, among others, ahead of the implementation. The onus is on the government to deploy the appropriate apparatus for an effective implementation of the palliative distribution through conditional money transfer to the accounts of intended and registered beneficiaries.

    When the exercise begins, eyes will be on the National Cash Transfer Office. If the approach had succeeded in Europe and America, why should it not succeed in Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa? What is important now, as the case may be, is the review of the register. This may be necessitated by demographic changes, including transitions, change of location, migration, and even slight progressive movement of individuals and households to upper socio-economic status.

    More attention has focused on money transfer. But it is short-lived. It has a short-term impact too. Therefore, emphasis should even shift to the plan for food security, which seems to have a long-term value.

    Also, the benefit of food security is not restrictive; all Nigerians – rich and poor – are beneficiaries, in the long run. The logical interpretation is that government’s mobilisation is directed towards the development of agriculture, particularly farming. The N19.2 billion is a good starting point.

    But the problem on the ground is more than the intervention fund. Agriculture is beset with many challenges. In developed countries, it is heavily subsidised to ward off hunger and ensure food surplus in households, markets and stores. The watchword is large scale farming. The government must uphold the role of farmers as guarantors of food, the prime giver of life.

    If successive governments had sustained the achievements of the defunct four regions in this critical sector, perhaps the story would have been different today; Nigerians would have been exporting food crops instead of importing rice. Farmers are often neglected – without incentives, improved seedlings, modern implements, access to loans, and farm extension services. In most rural areas, subsistence farming is the prevalent practice without improved technology and hope of expansion by the farmers. In most communities, some vital cash crops are even becoming extinct. Worst hit farmers are those who cannot get their perishable food crops to the market on time due to lack of roads. Resultantly, the crops rot away.

    Also, youths shun agriculture in their desperate scramble for elusive white collar jobs in towns and cities. There is rural-urban migration because the rural areas are not attractive.

    In the sixties, seventies and eighties, pupils were inducted into agricultural practices through the school garden system. All children were engaged in basic agriculture without any claiming superiority, as we have today among the kids of so-called elites. There was dignity of labour among the young generation, and that positive psychology was widespread.

    Labour days were declared and all children went to school with cutlasses, hoes, seedlings, brooms, bamboo and other implements from their parents.

    Gone are the days. Today, the mentality is different. Every child wastes away in indolence, craving the fake lifestyle that most young musicians portray in their videos.

    There is also the security challenge that farmers face. Apart from cattle rustling, farmer-herder clashes in the North and some parts of the Southwest, banditry also poses a clear and present threat to farming and agricultural productivity. Farmlands are not insulated from terror, leading to the dispersal of farmers.

    Security is vital. Its absence has scared away most farmers and those contemplating to venture into the sector for commercial and subsistence practices. Even if the big-time farmers can afford their security, the beginners cannot, thus enfeebling this vital segment in the production of vital foodstuffs to many households across the country.

    Farmers’ means of livelihood evaporate in the security brouhaha, and poverty has been on the rampage through the agents of violence in remote parts of the land.

    The Federal Government does not have its own land. This is why state governments have a major role to play in agricultural development, after the initial support by the central government. There should be synergy among the Federal, state, and local governments with farmers who may wish to also organise themselves into cooperative societies.

    Tinubu’s intervention in agriculture should be applauded, supported and defended. The president’s vision and policy to make food available to the citizens at affordable prices is a tax that all Nigerians must support for sustainability.

  • Senator Godswill Akpabio and the burden of ‘uncommon’ ministerial screening

    Senator Godswill Akpabio and the burden of ‘uncommon’ ministerial screening

    The Nigerian Senate is about to perform the first national assignment after the ‘scramble and partitioning’ of the leadership of the upper chamber. The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has gone through almost all the stages of political offices available. He was a commissioner, a state governor for eight years, he was a Minister and is now a ranking senator. So as Chairman of the national assembly, he has seemingly seen it all. He has the executive and legislative experiences to help him navigate the affairs of the national assembly for the good of the country.

    But the Senate President is equally famous for his often dramatic and complex public life. He earned for himself the tag of the ‘uncommon governor’, a tag he allegedly gave himself in what many see as an ‘immodest self-praise’ during his time as governor of Akwa Ibom state.  He was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 1999 till he defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2018, a move that has earned him the Senate presidency in the 10th assembly.

    Senator Akpabio therefore has gone through the political grill and is expected to ditch his often comic public persona as he heads not just the senate but the apex legislative house of Nigeria. The first test of his leadership would be on display as he heads the senate that is constitutionally empowered to screen the ministerial and other high ranking nominees that would help the APC achieve its policies and promise to the Nigerian people.

    The Nigerian Senate especially the immediate past 9th assembly was somewhat notorious for not being very thorough in screening nominees sent to them for confirmation. Many believe that there have been more allegiance to individuals, groups, regions and political parties than to the Nigerian people. The past senate has been tagged the ‘rubber stamp’ assembly which is in veiled reference to the lack-luster attitude to some issues that concern the people and a somewhat tilted allegiance to the executive that were seen to easily get whatever they wanted from the national assembly.

    In terming the 9th assembly a rubber-stamp assembly, the Nigerian people expressed their displeasure in the last senate not doing their duties as the arm of government in a democracy whose duty and allegiance ought to be to the people  and not necessarily to the executive or political party. Make no mistakes about it, each legislator goes to the chambers through a political party and as such the expectation is not for them to work at cross purposes with their political parties or be at war with the executive. However, there is a reason the framers of democratic tenets, the political philosophers founded the three arms of government.

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    Each arm, whether the executive, legislature or the judiciary has their constitutional roles. In a way, the legislature comes off as direct representatives of the people of their constituencies and on a national scale, the amalgamation of all the representatives  gives them a national fervor. This therefore means that the Senate and the House of Representatives members must at all time have their constituencies and the nation in mind as they carry out their duties as law makers.

    Ministers and other high ranking officers that the presidency might nominate and send to the senate for screening and confirmation are expected to either be confirmed or rejected based on a lot of variables. This duty is in line with Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. So beyond party allegiance, beyond personal interests, every Minister or any other official when confirmed is expected not to serve just a political party or a group or regional interest, they are expected to serve the people of the federal republic of Nigeria.

    This therefor means that in screening each nominee, each senator must have the country in his or her subconscious, unclothed by any other interests. The Senators must realize that those they confirm would become national officers and nothing short of that. This then increases the yoke of responsibility on the Senate. In the past, a few nominees had been rejected based on some serious allegations or character flaws that made them appear ill-equipped to serve in the capacity for which they had been nominated. A few of such nominees come to mind, one was former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman,  Ibrahim Magu who former President Muhammadu Buhari repeatedly sent to the Senate for Confirmation. For a long time, he was operating on an acting capacity.

    Another nominee was Lauretta Onochie who the President nominated as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Commissioner. It was alleged that she was a card-carrying member of the ruling APC. A third person was Olatokumbo Ajasin who was in 2016 nominated to be on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) There were petitions that his appointment would contravene the NDDC Act of 2007.

    The Roundtable Conversation is pointing these issues out because sometimes, history tends to repeat itself. Nominees must not be confirmed just because they have been nominated. We all know the pressure the executive are often under with different lobbyists after elections. Lobbying is not an aberration but very often most lobbyists do not have the interest of the country at heart. That is why the legislature is there. The executive can make a mistake but in some way, the legislative arm is there to thoroughly work to close such gaps in national interest.

    The Nigerian Senate nominee screening process has in the past often seen as not being done with diligence. Nigerians expect that the senate must demand that nominees for ministerial positions be attached to a portfolio so that questions would be asked on the nominees’ professional competence and experiences in ways that would expose capacity and readiness to serve in an economy that is on the edge of the precipice. The American model of democracy we tend to copy provides a very good example,

    The screening of nominees during the Senate screening takes a lot of diligence and commitment to national growth and security. Former Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton despite her high pedigree as an accomplished Attorney, two-term first lady and two-term Senator from New York was grilled by the US Senate for almost twelve hours when she was nominated by the Obama administration for the post of Secretary of State.

    The often perfunctory screening by past Nigerian Senate where most nominees are told to just ‘bow and go’ based on the fact that they were either past legislators or some other public office holders must be consigned to the past.  This 10th assembly must show the world and Nigerians that they understand their roles as legislators and that Nigeria is what is as stake and not individuals or political interests.

    The Senate President must show through his leadership that he is worthy of the seat he occupies. While no one is expecting him to lord it over his colleagues as he is merely a first amongst equals, the world is watching to see how he moderates the Senate screening in ways that would be seen to be in the best interest of the people of Nigeria.

    As the screening progresses, the senators must also realize that they too are under the scrutiny of the world. The questions they ask would show how intellectually sophisticated and versatile they are. Through the questions each person asks or fails to ask, the constituents would be watching to see those that are there unprepared for the duties they promised to carry out as legislators.

    Senate Screening must be taken more seriously than what we have seen in the past. The nominees must be asked questions that would expose their competence or lack of same. Senators ought to do serious digging in on the personalities of the nominees. This is where those with competent legislative aides have an edge. Legislative aides are supposed to be knowledgeable and ready to do the needful to help their principal in doing their jobs. It is unfortunate that most legislators neglect this vital aspect and instead recruit unqualified legislative assistants some of who are from their extended families and with little or no knowledge of the functions they are paid for.

    The 10th Senate must realize that Nigeria more than ever before needs a committed national assembly that would look beyond politicking and focus on the development of the country. The Oversight function of the senate must not be the jaded style of patronage. The stories about the famed ‘juicy ministries and committees’ must be debunked through actions. 

    Oversight function is one of the key functions of the legislative arm of government and as such, the Roundtable Conversation urges the Senate to equally stand firm and realize that their duties do not end at screening the nominees. The work just starts with the screening and it is at then that they set the template for performance. The Senate must realize that the political development is such that the people are now more politically aware and are ready to hold elected people to account.

    This is possibly why many members of the 9th Assembly that sought re-election never made it to the 10th assembly. Performance is now evaluated more diligently than before. The world is watching to see what the Senators under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio will give the country in terms of the nominees they will confirm or reject based on valid reasons aimed at the development of the country. Will he earn the tag of the ‘uncommon Senate President’ for some positive reasons?

    The dialogue continues…

  • Reviewing proposed 8,000 cash transfer (1)

    Reviewing proposed 8,000 cash transfer (1)

    At times like this, there is need for every Citizen who has this nation at heart to understand that these are indeed tough times for the nation and it doesn’t matter whether we have a President Bola Tinubu or Atiku or the bombastic statistician in Obi, the removal of subsidy and other reforms of the Tinubu administration were reportedly on the agenda of the two other major candidates but then only one of can be president at this time.

    While I sympathize with President Tinubu, I somewhat disagreed  with the manner in which he removed subsidy but then that is a discussion for another session of writing as the crux of my writing will be based on the review of the 8,000 a month cash transfer to twelve million households as a means of cushioning these families from the adverse effects of the removal of subsidy.

    The 8,000 a month cash transfer benefit was one of the proposed measures by the

    Asiwaju administration to ameliorate the suffering likely to be borne by numerous households in the wake of the removal of such subsidy. It is an improvement on the initially proposed 5,000 for 10 million households or beneficiaries for the duration of six months as earlier announced by the former Minister for Finance, Zainab Ahmed.

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    To this extent, the executive had placed a request to the National Assembly seeking to borrow the sum of $800m from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net programme.

    Such an announcement was indeed greeted with great astonishment by the Nigerian people, first there’s the issue of increasing the nation’s debt profile which as at March 2023 stood at $42.7, likewise there are also disagreements on the subject of the 8,000 cash benefits, with three schools of thought disagreeing on the policy proposal.

    The first school of thought are practically from the school of the naysayers. This school does not believe that the cash grant would solve any problem nor is it

    the best way of cushioning the inflationary impact of the removal of fuel subsidy. They would rather have such funds catering to the development needs of Nigerians; investing in infrastructure, healthcare services, education, power and water resources. This discussion on social protection based largely on the past experience of conditional cash transfer of N5,000 per month to some households under the Buhari government is the reason for such ready disagreement worse. The fact that more Nigerians were alleged to have slipped into the poverty line despite such social welfarist programs such as the N 5000or was it “Tradermoni” to an extent gives a modicum of credibility to such an argument.

    The second school of thought believes that the 8,000 will or may do, at least help the most vulnerable. They believe that as paltry as N8,000 may seem to most people, it could actually relieve a lot of pressure for a number of these persons and help them as truly highly vulnerable people. However, their angst lies with the process of distributing such funds is where the challenge is.  There is the fear that the cash-transfer benefits to fall into wrong hands given the challenges that were witnessed with such measures during the Buhari era. This fear was even mooted by Mr. President himself while discussing with his peers, fellow governors of the Class of 99. It is even alleged that the present National Social Register was a far cry from what such a register should be and that certain persons had highjacked the process enriching themselves at the expense of the people the monies were supposed to cater for.

    The third school and one to which I belong to accepts that there is need for these 12 million households to receive such payments but the issue here lies with the paltry amount of N8,000 initially suggested by the administration,the duration for such a policy, and lastly the worthiness of the National Social Register.

    For me, the sum of N8,000 to these 12 million households cannot match the rip tides brought about the waves of inflation caused by the repeated upward changes in fuel prices since such are now determined by what the capitalists call market forces.

    What can N8,000, purchase in the market today, as against the nation’s inflation rate hitting 22.79% per cent in June from 22.41 per cent in the previous month. Given the uncertainty likely to be experienced in the forthcoming months, how correct is this administration’s postulations that the suggested amount would cater for such uncertainties.

    Again, I have an issue with the timeline of six months. Why should the government believe that six months is enough to help these poorest of the poor grapple with the challenges of the removal of subsidy?  Why not a year or two and then what measures will likely be in place should such inflationary trends continue, looks more like a case of the Widow of Zarepath situation or what I call “Chop now, Quench After”.

  • Now, it’s finished

    Now, it’s finished

    WHEN Napoli FC of Italy striker Victor James Osimhen broke the rule to support the retention of Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles Head Coach, I knew it wasn’t Osimhen talking. Enemies of the beautiful game in Nigeria used him to set an agenda or should I say they wanted to test the murky waters of popularity for a coach who has failed in all the assignments he has handled. A few days after Osimhen’s proclamation, the real voices of shame from the Dankaro House in Abuja campaigning for Peseiro’s continuous destruction of the Nigerian game across all strata joined the chorus citing the nearness of the competition to accommodate such an unwelcome decision.

    The question is why have our football administrators chosen to sacrifice the country’s quest for another World Cup ticket using Peseiro? Our football chieftains ought to know that Peseiro would insist on going to the Mundial, considering Nigeria’s Group C which has South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

    The Super Eagles have been untidy in their outings under Peseiro making it imperative for our football authorities to seize the opportunity of his contract expiration to return to the negotiation table, shake hands and walk away from keeping him on the job. Terminating Peseiro’s contract with a home game in Nigeria to spare against Sao Tome and Principe won’t translate to taking any risk if the federation knows its onions. If Super Eagles can’t beat Sao Tome and Principe in Nigeria, they have no business going to the next World Cup. Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup preparations should begin with the game against Sao Tome and Principe with the mantra being fielding younger boys who can run for 120 minutes on the pitch and panting and gasping to drink water with every stoppage in the game. Our mumu don do!

    These Lilliputians at the Dankaro House in Abuja have forgotten so soon how Clemens Westerhof joined the Super Chicken then in 1989 deep inside the country’s campaign for the Italia 90 World Cup to reconstruct our football for the good of the game from late 1990 till 1998 when the country’s football was at its apogee. In five years the Dutchman changed the team’s sobriquet from Super Chicken to Super Eagles. 

    Westerhof wielded the stick in the game against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon where Nigeria lost 1-0 through François Omam-Biyik’s 31st-minute goal at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo – Yaoundé – Cameroon. But Nigeria was gradually remoulding a new squad which gave Nigerians a renewed hope for better days.  Alloy Agu rose from his spectacular outings in the domestic league to man the post against the roaring Lions, conceding a goal, though he lost a tooth. The worthy price for change. Agu was replaced by Goalkeeper David Ngodigha another product from Port Harcourt who grew in confidence with every domestic game he partook in.

    Westerhof recognised where the problems of the team were and mustered enough courage to sweep the problematic players out and introduced an adequate competition for shirts in the Super Eagles again. The Dutchman set benchmarks for inviting players while also reading the riot act on benchwarmers and those who didn’t play for elite clubs in Europe. Indeed, players knew where they stood in Westerhof’s era.  Westerhof took a predominantly home-based squad to the Algiers ’90 Africa Cup of Nations, losing 5-1 to the hosts, Algeria n the opening game. These rookies improved with every game and qualified to play against Algeria in the final. Nigeria lost 1-0 in the finals but had exposed at least 40 new players who ruled the world for their European clubs and for their fatherland. Post Westerhof era ushered in Johannes Bonfere who virtually replicated what his former boss did. Bonfere can’t be said to be responsible for the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games gold medal with many of the players telling stories of how they gathered n the field during matches to change Bonfere’s cumbersome tactics which created problems for the fluid ones which he learned from their European clubs’ coaches. Both Westerhof and Bonfere have crossed the 70-years but their legacies stare us in the face because they both had plans which rocked the world anytime Nigeria was playing on the global stage under their watch.

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    From 1989 to 1994 when Westerhof left the country’s 1994 World Cup camp in the United States, he had implanted a playing style anchored on the late Rashidi Yekini’s darting run and ruthless finishing in front of the goalkeeper.

    The battle of Mombasa had Austin Okocha leading the big boys in the Super Eagles to destroy the junior Harambee Stars of Kenya 3-0 to restore Nigeria’s hope of an appearance at the 1996 Olympic Games. Nigeria’s Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games squad was a collection of Westerhof’s previous invitees and those he had earmarked for the future. I still hold it against Johannes Bonfrere for dropping Jonathan Akpoborie from the squad. Only in Nigeria would Akpoborie have been dropped for some of those in the team.

    Peseiro should be asked to go. If he stays as a result of lack of cash, the new administration should provide the cash to upset Peseiro’s and others’ entitlements. Nigeria can’t have a prolific striker in the class of Victor Osimhen and not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. It is pure witchcraft.

    Most times I’m taken aback by people’s high expectations of Super Eagles during matches. They blindly or should I say they patriotically expect our foreign legion to recreate some of the scintillating skills which they exhibit playing for the European clubs when they star for Nigeria in international matches. They won’t replicate their European clubs’ form with a national team coach like Peseiro. It won’t happen. Nigerians shouldn’t be subjected to another round of permutations when the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup begin.

    The target for African teams at the Mundial is to surpass the quarter-finals stage with Cameroon as the other country from the continent to have played at the quarter-finals in 1990. The Indomitable Lions lost to England 3-2, with ageless Roger Mila, the poster man of the competition.

    We don’t need another pilgrimage in 2026 to repeat what we first achieved in 1994, 29 years ago. The argument that Nigeria is stuck with Peseiro based on his contractual terms is unacceptable. Nigeria under Peseiro invites an average between 24 to 28 European-based players leaving the NFF with the shortest part of the stick in terms of cutting costs. Little wonder the stories have been one of the debts since most of what comes to the federation go out to source funds for the players.

    South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe will battle Nigeria to the finish for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers’ single ticket in Group C if we don’t set Peseiro free. Paying the Portuguese as much as $70,000 monthly for what he does with the Super Eagles is scandalous. We need to have a new slate managed by more qualified coaches who will truly return the country’s football to winning ways. Winning the Africa Cup of Nations should be our birthright. But it won’t happen with a failing journeyman such as Peseiro. NFF should know that Peseiro would drag our plans backwards by two years, meaning that after the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire next year, Nigeria would begin another round of reconstructing the team. Can Peseiro lift the Cup of Nations next year? No way. Would he be sacked next year? Yes. Why don’t we sack him and gain time?

    Recruiting a new coach now would make sure he isn’t given the task of lifting the Cup of Nations next year. Rather, such a new coach’s target would be to play in the semi-finals. Is it achievable with proper planning from today? You tell me.

  • Putin, the West, and the rest of us (2)

    Putin, the West, and the rest of us (2)

    In a robust and rigorous reaction to my submissions in the first part of this piece, a professor of Political Science and International Relations (formerly of the Abia State University but now an Executive Director with the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA), Professor Steve Egbo, disagreed with my views. Incidentally, that would apparently not be the first time he would respond to my column. As he wrote, “Good morning, Mr Segun. This is the second time I will be commenting on your article. You may still likely remember the first. As usual, you wrote in anger, but I am of the opinion that your column today in The Nation (Saturday), ‘Putin, the West and the rest of us (1)’ would have made a more interesting reading if you had allowed your angst against America and the West to be moderated more reasonably and less scathingly. My thinking is that you piled up a lot of things that are not tangentially related.”

    Professor Egbo continued, “In a similar context, it seems that you brought in a lot of contradictions and juxtapositions just to convince yourself, and of course your readers, that America and her allies are no angels. I may agree with you on some of these bases though, but I will quickly point out that, at a comparative level, America has been a force for good much more than Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, Putin’s Russia and other dictatorships ever were or would have to be. Did you ever wonder what our world would have been if Adolph Hitler had won the race for the atomic bomb?”

    While Professor Egbo vehemently condemned Putin’s war of aggression and territorial ambition in a 21st-century world, he also pointed out the Russian strongman’s error of judgement and strategic miscalculations in invading Ukraine hoping for a quick victory that has turned out to be completely misbegotten. I do not disagree fundamentally with his submissions.

    My piece is no justification of strongman dictatorial rule even as the West struggles with the manifest crises of liberal democracy as their societies grapple with social and moral paralysis of ever-increasing gravity and intensity. Putin and other leaders of strong-arm dictatorships inevitably face eventual struggles for increasing democratic control of their governments by the majority of their peoples which is the dominant proclivity and inclination of mankind as indicated by the sweep of history across space and time.

    The miscalculations of Putin in his aggression against Ukraine and the fallout of the aborted rebellion by the Wagner group of state-sponsored mercenaries, do not affect my thesis that “might is right” is the dominant rule in international relations and America and her Western allies are no exception to this dictum in their diplomatic practice. The Professor may well ask himself why America is not a signatory to the legal framework of the International Criminal Court and no American soldier can be brought to book under international law, no matter their perceived crimes.

    In a book written over four decades ago entitled: ‘The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slavers and the African Elite,’ the polyvalent scholar, Chinweizu, gave a vivid and graphic historical depiction of the West’s inequitable and oppressive relationship with Africa over a period of five centuries; a relationship that cannot be exonerated from the continent’s current condition of underdevelopment, although the author launched “a damning and dangerous attack on Africa’s political and ruling elites who love to imitate the West, including copying bad ideas like wholesale liberalization and privatization of key sectors of the economy such as energy and water, which should be a preserve of the public sector.”

    According to Wikipedia, Chinweizu dedicated his book “to victims of the West’s assault upon the rest of us, especially to Amerindians and aborigines of Australia who were exterminated and expropriated, millions of Africans who were enslaved in the Americas, countless Africans who died resisting European invasion and occupation, soldiers from the Third World who were conscripted to fight and protect western empires, Third World liberation fighters who have struggled for a better life for their people, and all of us who want to achieve a just, non-imperialist and enduring peace for all of mankind.” Chinweizu, it must also be said, was not sparing of the violent invasions, compulsory conversions, and slavery perpetrated in Africa by conquering Arab Muslims long before the European conquerors arrived on the continent.

    We must be cautious in waxing lyrical about the West’s being a “force for good” in the world compared to the reprehensible dictatorships mentioned by Professor Egbo. Incidentally, Dr. Dapo Thomas, whose journal article on the Russo-Ukraine war, originally spurred this piece also has a benign view of the West’s benevolent and altruistic disposition as a force for democratic expansion in the world. Even then, Thomas cites Putin’s rationalization for his war of aggression against Ukraine and earlier on against Crimea and Georgia in its territorial sphere which were forcibly annexed by Russia.

    According to Dr. Thomas, “Taking recourse to history and still trying to justify Russia’s anti-West policy, Putin reminded the West that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed it up with the global slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, Africa, the wars of England and France against China. It was this that led to the opening of Ports for the opium trade.” In his words, “What they did was to put entire nations on drugs, purposefully exterminated entire ethnic groups for the sake of land and resources, staged a real hunt for people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom, and justice.”

    Even though Putin’s historical analysis in this regard can hardly be faulted, Dr. Thomas strongly denounces his military adventurism in the territories claimed by Russia thus, “Russia’s allusions to what the US and its Western allies did in Iraq, Libya, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Yemen, Belgrade, and Afghanistan would have been a very good justification for its actions in Ukraine. But unfortunately, while Russian invasions of Georgia, and Ukraine ended in a buffet of annexations of some parts of these places, the US and its allies never annexed any parts of the countries they had interventions in. Most times, the US and its allies would plant democracy, supervise the transition process; ensure the stability of the polity before withdrawing from those countries. This happened in Yugoslavia when Operation Allied Force of NATO destroyed the Yugoslav military infrastructure to halt the ethnic cleansing going on in Bosnia and Kosovo. Despite what was going on in Czechoslovakia, the US refused to intervene because it would constitute a rollback of communism in Eastern Europe. And it never wanted a collision or conflict with the former Soviet Union”.

    It is open to debate about how many countries America and its Allies had succeeded in effectively transplanting democracy to in non-western lands. In any case, Saddam Hussein was a trusted and close ally of the US which armed Iraq in its war against Iran until relations soured between the two. Under the dictatorial Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, that country enjoyed harmonious relations with the US until the Islamic revolution of 1979 that overthrew the Shah. The US has shown no inclination to encourage democratization in Saudi Arabia, which is its close partner in the Middle East. But then, this is not to exculpate Putin for his citing historical cases of Western violence and aggression against others as a reason for exhibiting a similar disposition. Two wrongs do not make a right. He could as well have demonstrated his opposition to alleged aggressive behaviour by the West by behaving in a diametrically opposite manner showing higher ethical standards.

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    But this does not preclude the fact that the US possesses the greatest potential and capacity to nudge the world towards the de-escalation of conflicts and, at least, the elimination of nuclear weapons in the short run. She is the preeminent global military power with considerable — and still unrivalled — economic power. In his 2004 book, “Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire,” the historian, Neil Ferguson, depicts the extent of America’s military reach thus, “Commentators like to point out that the Pentagon’s budget is equal to the combined military budgets of the next 12 or 15 nations and that the US accounts for 40-45 percent of the defense spending of the world’s 189 states. Such fiscal measures, impressive though they sound, nevertheless underrate the lead currently enjoyed by American armed forces. On land, the United States has 9000 M1 Abram tanks. The rest of the world has nothing that can compete. At sea, the United States possesses nine ‘super carrier’ battle groups. The rest of the world has none. The United States is far ahead in the production of ‘smart’ missiles and pilotless high-altitude ‘drones’.”

    The military position of the US must have significantly improved since the publication of this book in 2004.

    Such a historically unprecedented constellation of military superpower can predispose any country to a hubris that can ultimately prove counterproductive. In 1966, the American legislator, Senator J. William Fulbright, published a book entitled ‘The Arrogance of Power’ in which he tried to urge on his countrymen the imperative of circumspection in the utilization of its immense powers. In his prescient words with specific regard to his country’s penchant for attempting to forcibly impose its democratic traditions on others, he wrote, “Traditional rulers, institutions, and ways of life have crumbled under the fatal impact of American wealth and power but they have not been replaced by new institutions and new ways of life, nor has their breakdown ushered in an era of democracy and development. It has rather ushered in an era of disorder and demoralization because in the course of destroying old ways of doing things, we have also destroyed the self-confidence and self-reliance without which no society can build indigenous institutions.”

    While post-war Japan between 1945 and 1952 may have been an exception to Fulbright’s observation, his admonition speaks eloquently to developments in contemporary Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan among others following failed attempts at forced democratization projects in these countries by the West.

    Understanding Russia’s adventurism in Crimea, Georgia, and Ukraine can benefit from the late political economist, Professor Samir Amin’s insightful perspectives in his book published in 2006 entitled “Beyond US hegemony?: Assessing the Prospects for a Multipolar World.” According to him, “The ruling class in the US freely proclaims that it will not ‘tolerate’ the reconstitution of any economic or military power capable of challenging its global dominion. To this end, it has given itself the right to wage ‘preventive wars’, with three main potential adversaries in mind. First, the dismemberment of the Russian Federation following that of the USSR is a major objective strategic objective for the US. Until now, the Russian ruling class does not appear to have understood this… Has Putin finally understood this? Is Russia beginning to shake off its illusions?”

    Samir Amin continues, “Second, the huge size and economic success of China are such that the US is seriously worried and here too has a strategic goal of dismembering the country. Europe comes third in the list, as seen by the new lords of the earth. Up till now, however, the North American establishment does not appear to be so uneasy about its relations with Europe”. No matter our differing ideological inclinations may be, we must not dismiss, out of hand, contending prisms for perceiving and comprehending contemporary global realities.