The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

Yahaya Bello’s Christmas wish gratified

After a long-running legal saga punctuated by many dramatic twists and turns, ex-governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State finally walked home late last week on bail after he honoured the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invitation to present himself for trial over allegations of embezzling more than N110bn public funds. He had been summoned six times by the courts before he turned himself in on November 26. The cat and mouse game was unprecedented. Eventually, last Thursday, he was admitted to bail, and on Friday, he met the terms and was released. Before being given bail, many thought he would spend the Christmas and New Year in prison. But by incredible legal pyrotechnics between the prosecution and defence, Mr Bello got his reprieve.

Read Also: Nigeria’s quest for energy security gets muscular

So, why all the fuss that lasted for months when he could easily have honoured the EFCC invitation and presented himself for trial, especially because he continues to insist he is innocent? Why all the months-long fuss? The fact is that Mr Bello is a man of great excesses. He exaggerates his importance and worth, possesses a small mind which he thinks is big, and lacks judgement, not to talk of character. His eight years as governor were marked by hubris, recklessness, callousness, and a total disregard for truth, ethics, and common sense. And he capped his years of misrule by engineering a governorship succession that satisfied narrow ethnic interests and broke every known electoral rule.

Mr Bello’s manipulative game reached a crescendo in November, months after toying with the law enforcement agencies, particularly the anti-graft agency. No former governor had played such hideous hide-and-seek with the EFCC, and no administration had been so indulgingly patient.

December 22, 2024
The Kemi Badenoch affair

Leader of the British Conservative Party, Olukemi Badenoch, recently stoked controversy when she spoke her mind on Nigeria. She thought the place a jungle where fear reigned supreme, and the police unhelpful and even aggravating when it came to law enforcement. Those candid characterisations of Nigeria had not quite sunk in and the controversy abated before she added fuel to the anger raised against her views. She blithely said that she felt more Yoruba than Nigerian if it came to the question of her other identity, but nothing in common with northern Nigeria where jihadism was rampant. She obviously takes no prisoners and gives no quarter. Such candour had probably energised her politics and helped to advance her interest, both as a person and politician. Until she vented her spleen on Nigerians, and until she rose to become leader of the opposition in the British parliament, few knew her or cared about her politics, not to say her fiery language and perspectives.

Today she is not an ordinary person or politician. By dint of hard work and brilliance, she has climbed the mountain of Britain’s ornate politics, one which resisted Europe’s disintegrative revolutions centuries ago, built the British Empire, virtually led the fight in two world wars, and nearly gifted the world a lingua franca. If God were to trouble the pool of British politics like an angel did at the Bethesda Pool in Jerusalem before and during the time of Jesus Christ to afford a lame man his healing, Mrs Badenoch could very well become prime minister. For now, her comments have so incensed some Nigerians that they would rather not have her win any election, let alone become prime minister. They view her comments on Nigeria as condescending, provocative and divisive. A few even thought her eager identification with her Yoruba heritage unforgivable and unbecoming of someone of her stature in British politics, up to the point of comparing her with the colourless former prime minister Rishi Sunak whom they described as brilliant.

Remarkably, there was no part of Mrs Badenoch’s comments, made on two different occasions, that her critics could really fault. They do not deny the rampage of Boko Haram and its jihadist inclinations; what they found irritating was her generalisations about the North and the straitjacketing of a whole region. Boko Haram may have lasted more than 15 years, but her critics insist the region is as much a victim as it was the progenitor of the catastrophe, and that in any case, to dismiss the entire region as supporting the blight was mean and uncharitable. Her critics do not also deny the corruption plaguing Nigeria or the cancerous waywardness of its law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, but they insist that no country in the world, including the United Kingdom, is immune to the vices she assails. So, substantially, Mrs Badenoch observations were generally not untrue. They may be irreverent and offensively candid, but they amounted to a fairly factual, if impolitic, overview of Nigeria.

Read Also: NYSC DG commends Plateau 1987/88 alumni for patriotic reunion

Her critics were further incensed when she alluded rather inelegantly to Nigeria’s interethnic ‘wars’, concluding that the Southwest was arrayed in battle against the North. She drew no distinctions. Here the problem was not whether she generalised or was entirely wrong; the issue is that hardly any Nigerian is ignorant of the political undertow which every major ethnic group constitutes to the body politic, whether as exampled by former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s appeal to northern voter to vote for northern candidate, or the south-eastern voter to rally for Peter Obi using fiery anti-Yoruba or pro-Christian rhetoric. Public discourse all over Nigeria and debates in the National Assembly are festooned with ethnically hateful remarks indicating that so far, the country has made little or no progress in uniting its ethnic nationalities. That unity will of course not be achieved until bold political leaders genuinely persuaded about the benefits of unity work out a political structure that enables a seamless or at least less fractious relationship between regional or ethnic nationalities. Mrs Badenoch may at this moment be the lightning rod of Nigeria’s acrimonious politics, but she is not the cause. And, unlike many Nigerians, she is determined not to be politically correct.

However, all that her critics are saying is that she was tactless, immature, and spiteful. Whether she likes it or not, they sum up, she has Nigerian blood, and she had an obligation to either defend or at least empathise with Nigeria. If she become prime minister, they wondered, would she continue to deprecate Nigeria? She was born in the UK, not Nigeria, but to Nigerian parents. She partly schooled in Nigeria where she encountered incidents that have scarred her, perhaps for life. More, she was born to a political restructuring activist father, a medical practitioner whose fervour for a new constitution was unequivocal, even before the concept of restructuring became popular. Unable to shake off the trauma she experienced, she had seethed at the declension that has overtaken Nigeria, its enduring underachievement, and the contradictions it still sadly professes. Could she have couched her fervency in relatively anodyne terms? Perhaps, and maybe as she progresses in politics and becomes a world figure she might become less trenchant and more accommodating. But to palliate her critics on the rhetorical terms their squeamishness seems to be dictating would probably turn her into someone alien to her mental constitution. In her politics, however, the Conservative Party is unrepentantly contextualised in the far right and nationalist politics swaying Europe, sometimes marked by incendiary rhetoric.

Mrs Badenoch has clearly stirred up a storm in Nigeria – not anywhere else – for the world could not be bothered about the country’s perennial difficulties, whether imposed or self-inflicted. Right from her youth, she had learnt to speak her mind, whether that mind is nasty or benevolent. In the ongoing controversy frothing over Nigeria, she will, from all indications, continue to speak her mind. She may find reason, if sufficiently prodded, to mollify her critics now and again, but it is doubtful whether she will let herself be fully persuaded to coat in saccharine what some critics describe as her vitriolic outbursts. The vast majority of Nigerians identify with her sentiments, and would love to give full rein to the kind of things she said if they had possessed the grit. They think Nigerian unity a phony; they resent the methods of law enforcement agents, particularly the police; and they abhor corruption, at least if they are not the ones benefiting. What made Mrs Badenoch’s views controversial and unpalatable is that she had the courage to say openly and in unvarnished terms what most Nigerians think and say privately.

Notwithstanding what many Nigerians think, unflattering outsiders’ views about the country should rouse citizens into remedial action rather than fury. Taking umbrage and acting sanctimonious every time someone verbally pulverises the country is unhelpful. Mrs Badenoch’s views became controversial because she had risen in stature in British society. Had she been a little-known woman anywhere, no one would have paid heed to her remarks. She is unlikely to rise or fall on account of what Nigerians think. Should she become prime minister, Nigeria will have to deal with her as it would deal with any head of government anywhere, diplomatically, decorously, and with less sense of entitlement. Her main considerations are the British voters and her party, the Tories, whose private views of Nigeria are unlikely to be less damning. Nigerians must, therefore, deal with the reality they have created for themselves, and find less emotional and self-righteous ways of rewriting their national story that continues to read like a slow, real-life apocalypse.

December 22, 2024
Okpebholo needs more circumspection

Edo governor Monday Okpebholo is less than two months in office, but he has raked up controversies some older governors would probably envy. He started with appointments, which seemed desultory, and which ignored the structured pattern many governors pursue and Nigerians are familiar with. Then he dived full length into a budget reading fiasco that provoked scorn and laughter, as he struggled to make sense of the figures millions and billions. Traipsing through governance as if previous and damaging controversies mean nothing to him, he has chalked up another miracle: the suspension through the Edo State House of Assembly of Edo’s 18 local government chairmen and vice chairmen for two months for gross misconduct and insubordination. Fourteen of the lawmakers sanctioned the suspension, while six opposed the move, and three abstained. Edo has a majority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) assembly. If Edo people love to see their governor keeping several balls in the air, they have not voiced it; but they could be wondering privately what other hard bones he would throw to the dogs before he completes six months of his first term in office.

Predictably, a legal brouhaha has ensued, with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, insisting, though a little obliquely, that the governor lacked the constitutional backing to ‘remove’ the chairmen. It didn’t seem like the AGF had time to examine the matter before going public with his perspective. But Edo insists it followed the law, never intended to undermine the Supreme Court judgement on LG financial autonomy, and had only suspended the chairmen for two months, not remove them, by petitioning the House of Assembly. The states’ action, he said, was in line with Section 20, of the Local Government Law of Edo State, 2000. The PDP has mocked Mr Okpebholo and sided with Mr Fagbemi, but in 2019, former governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP, using the same law, suspended LG chairmen and left a vacuum for two years in the LGs. In the view of the state, the suspension of the chairmen is also in line with Section Seven of the 1999 Constitution.

Regardless of the position of the AGF, Mr Okpebholo is unlikely to back down. It is not in his stoical nature to back down from anything. He can sometimes be self-deprecating, such as when in exasperation he admitted during his budget presentation that figures confused him, or exhibited blasé indifference when the public raised eyebrows at his first set of unstructured appointments. He seemed to say that he would be so focused that he would not allow distractions to destabilise him as he sets about rebuilding a state hobbled by Mr Obaseki’s long-running antidemocratic policies and actions. Until the constitution is debated, it may be difficult to determine who between Mr Okpebholo and Mr Fagbemi is right. Meanwhile, while the Edo governor has hit the ground running as it were, he obviously needs a little more circumspection than he is showing. Governance is not just about good intentions, or even good policies; it is also about methods, and to some extent about style. So far, he does not appear to have handled his appointments with aplomb. He needs to get better, and must demonstrate better judgement in recruiting his cabinet and staff, judging their character if he can, and determining how to measure their competence and productivity. What is even more evident is that he has not seemed to assemble a kitchen cabinet to help him meet minds on appointments and policies. Without that close support staff, he will continue to flounder, moving slowly and sluggishly, and sometimes reversing himself and expending valuable time correcting mistakes. He needs an inner caucus of very competent and courageous advisers who can debate him and act as a sounding board before he goes public with any policy or idea.

Read Also: Friends, fans rally support for Ooni’s ex-queen Naomi after Ibadan charity tragedy

Mr Okpebholo may be right about the suspension of the LG chairmen. For after all, he is acting on precedent, has not violated the Supreme Court judgement on LG autonomy, has neither sacked the chairmen nor dissolved the LGs, and has followed due process in line with the state’s laws. More importantly, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly is PDP, and a majority of Edo lawmakers, who are PDP, also sanctioned the two-month suspension. But whatever the outcome of the controversy and debate on the suspension of the LG chairmen, it would not harm his reputation for studiousness nor stifle his innocence and honesty. Those virtues seem engaging, even entrancing. It’s rare to see him smile, let alone laugh. Yet, to some observes, his stoicism does not smother his capacity for empathy. He is ambitious, in a hurry, wants to make an enduring name, and possesses the innate belief that a governor, warts and all, can and must remain a public servant in contrast to the hubris and imperialness of his predecessor, Mr Obaseki.

But if Mr Okpebholo does not already know, those he has positioned around himself must remonstrate with him that no matter how ready he is to make a difference, and no matter how sound his policies are, his administration and legacy can be profaned by a lack of circumspection and methodicalness. The indispensable virtues of sense and method help cement legacies. He has inspired some good policies and shown a lot of earnestness in governance, but until he brings circumspection to bear on policy enunciation, he risks undermining the good work he appears determined to do. Worse, he risks being dismissed as schoolboyish if in some instances he abjures a scientific approach to governance in preference to running an administration purely led by instincts. He is less than two months in office, so he must let the tentativeness and awkwardness of the past few weeks constitute a learning curve from which he takes correction. And let those who sponsored his campaign and backed him to the hilt before he won election and assumed office appreciate the value of giving him enough elbow room to experiment and mature, and occasionally offering him sound and contemplative reasoning and ideas rather than breathing down his neck over payback.

December 22, 2024
Nigerian immigration and foreign hackers

Last week, and the week before, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested hundreds of foreigners in Abuja and Lagos accused of hacking personal information and training hundreds of aspiring Nigerian hackers to indulge in scams. Many of those arrested have already been charged in court and admitted to bail. Soon, others will be arraigned. They have expectedly pleaded not guilty. But beyond their pleas, there is little doubt that most of them were arrested in flagrant delicto. How they hope to absolve themselves of guilt, even in a country as vast and amenable to corruption as Nigeria, is hard to fathom. But one never knows what judicial abracadabra may be afoot, indeed as the former governor Yahaya Bello has amply demonstrated.

Read Also: Strengthening Nigeria’s Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Through Student Stewardship Programs

Hopefully, the Nigerian authorities will diligently prosecute the alleged foreign and domestic hackers and scammers. The scale of their operations, as showcased by the EFCC on television last week and before, is mindboggling. But what should really form a major part of the investigations is the need to scrutinise the immigration process that enabled these foreign hackers to procure visas. Given their number and the magnitude of their audacious operations, it is likely that Nigeria is dealing with a ruthless syndicate with a capacity both to flout Nigerian laws and to undermine the system.

December 22, 2024
TALKING WITH LAKE ONTARIO

(One liquid hint from the House of Memory)

I fling open

the morning curtains

the Ontario greets my gaze

with a rippling silence

dull-green

from my Westin Castle** distance

billowing Left now

(the last time I was here

her swing was mellow Right)

Down, down

almost beyond the eye

a steamboat tattoos her face

with effortless gliding

overhead,

Read Also: Nigeria’s Civil Service Commissions, the “Katsina declaration” and its reform implications

a maple-tailed jet roars

into another distance

unmindful of the bodywork below

(Air Canada gives you the sky

We do it all for you)

Seeing you again

so many seasons later

I ask with the pensive enthusiasm

of a wandering rememberer:

Are you still the Merciful One

In your Sorority of Lakes?

Originally written in Toronto in April 1991; slightly amended for publication here.

Harbour Castle Westin Hotel, whose 17th floor was witness to the writing of this poem.

An Air Canada commercial jingle in the 1970’s. One of my favourites.

December 22, 2024
The rise, rise and rise of capitalism

There is little doubt that the debate about world economy that is raging now is of vital importance as its outcome is likely to determine the trajectory of human survival for the foreseeable future.

When in 1849, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, his friend and benefactor published their seminal work, The Communist manifesto, one of the highlights of the book was the observation that Europe was being haunted by the spectre of socialism. This conjured up the picture of a ghostly apparition flitting around Europe spreading fear and apprehension. At that time all the countries of Europe were under the rule of their respective royal families, all of them related to each other in a web of family relationships which had been spun over several centuries. Even the French who a couple of generations before had chopped off the heads of king and queen had reinstated some form of monarchy under the house of Napoleon, the warrior who had crowned himself emperor of the French at the turn of the century. After several conquests, he then went on to place his brothers and military protégés on various thrones around Europe and Mexico, on the other side of the world. This notwithstanding, there was general unrest throughout the continent as workers began to flex their fledging muscles and struggled to make their voices heard over the pomp and majesty of their kings.

A century before the publication of the Communist manifesto, a quiet revolution which has since been described as the Industrial revolution took place in Britain and created a brand new world driven by wonderful new machines powered in equal measure by human ingenuity and greed. The capitalists driving this revolution were to destroy the monarchs in their castles in less than a century and rule in their place making the Industrial revolution the most profound social movement the world had ever seen.

The population of the world is now racing towards the nine billion mark, albeit with enough resources available to sustain this large population and more. That many people living predominantly in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia are living in poverty is not due to a global lack of resources but the failure of the equitable distribution of those resources. It is looking increasingly likely that the future of the world depends on the resolution of this problem.

Read Also: New trajectory of NNPCL under Kyari’s leadership

Given the extant human condition, it is clear that humankind has been phenomenally successful, at least in strictly biological terms. She has come to control all earthly resources in a way that has not been seen since the dinosaurs were wiped out some sixty-five million years ago. So total was dinosaur domination in their time that without their having been taken out of the terrestrial equation, we certainly will not be here today as masters of all earthly creation. The dinosaurs, it should be pointed out, ruled the earth for a hundred and fifty million years. It is important to amplify this fact because the length of human domination is so far so short as to be insignificant. Everything considered however, it is hardly conceivable that our dominance will last for many more millennia, given the nature of the discharge our dominance. This subject is worthy of further consideration.

The oldest human ancestor to be recognised as such so far, was a female who lived and died somewhere on the plains of East Africa just over three million years ago. She has been described as a member of the Australopithecus afarensis species, still very far in evolutionary terms from Homo sapiens our own species which now rules the world into which she was born only two hundred thousand years ago. That ancestral fossil, now irreverently named Lucy, would not be recognisable as human to anyone living today as the journey to full human status had only just begun. The precarious existence of Lucy and her tribe is shown by the manner of her death. Studies have shown that she fell out of a tree in which she had slept in order to escape the unwelcome attention of one of the big cats which constantly prowled around her neighbourhood seeking what to devour. In other words, her position on the food chain was low and she was open to predation all the time. Today, man is the apex predator and all other predators however physically powerful come a distant second to man who rules the world with an iron fist and has the power to cage any other predator.

Man has come a long way, so long that it is now inconceivable to think that there was a time when there were fewer than a million men, women and children striving hard to extract some measure of sustenance from the unyielding earth. At that critical time, the watchword was cooperation, each person bringing something to the common table and taking up his fair share of whatever was available. In the face of ever present danger, cooperation rather than competition was the means by which the right to life was guaranteed or at least, preserved in those dark days.

Homo sapiens arrived on the scene about 200,000 years ago but even with his large brain, he was still having to battle continuously with all manner of challenges. He still had to roam over large areas of his world chipping out a precarious existence from wherever it was possible. He had to cope with large swings in climate, seasons and other such phenomena far beyond the level of his understanding but which determined the level of comfort in which he lived. His continued existence was precarious to say the least and it was not possible for him to thrive. Those early men lived in Africa but there came a time when conditions were so harsh that some bands wandered right out of Africa, presumably through a passage through where we now call Yemen and spread through to the rest of the world. This migration or waves of migration occurred some sixty thousand years ago. Studies suggest that of the number of the several hopeful bands which left Africa at this time, only two survived the odyssey as shown by the observation that all non-Africans are descended from one of two women who got out of Africa and thereafter spread right round the world. This is an interesting observation given that no such stock mothers have been identified in Africa. Rather there were many of them and as a result of this, Africans now exhibit far greater genetic diversity than non-Africans. Should the world population be wiped out by a pandemic for example, the only survivors will be some Africans who are genetically disposed to be intrinsically resistant to the event which killed off all others. In other words if we had to start all over again future generations will be Africans, the oldest human stock and the omega outed by genetics to restart the process of human evolution should the need arise.

Some ten thousand years ago, mankind took a giant step on the road to social evolution when quite fortuitously, the science of agriculture was revealed to man in three far flung places at the same time. It took man the better part of five thousand years before coming to terms with the demands of agriculture and start to produce excesses of agricultural products. From then on the global population grew and centers of human civilisation began to emerge all over the world. Egypt was one such node of civilization where society was stratified and class formation started to develop with attendant new and in many cases, destructive tendencies to the social cooperation without which man would not have survived in the very early days.

Any serious study of genuine human civilisation must begin on the banks of the River Nile delta. As everyone who has gone to school knows, fertile soil is annually deposited on the banks of the Nile which when cultivated yielded abundant harvests and created the platform on which Egyptian civilisation was built. The situation was more or less duplicated in the fertile crescent between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, another node of human civilisation. From these regions the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians built wonderful civilisations in the form of laws which supervised all forms of human conduct and physical structures which provided comfort and justifiable pride to their builders. These magnificent structures, according to the iron law of nature have crumbled to dust. It is perhaps to be expected that religion was also invented and developed at this time, developed to such an extent that it pushed for the building of magnificent structures such as the pyramids of Egypt which are an enduring legacy to this exciting period of social development. For the sake of completeness, it must be said that all the magnificence lighting up the area we now call the Middle East was replicated and in some areas surpassed by what was going on in China at the same time. By this time, the global population had grown far beyond the one million people to hundreds of millions thereby guaranteeing the continuing existence of man. Indeed by the time Marx and Engels were exhorting the workers of the world to unite, global population passed the one billion mark and less than a hundred years later another billion was added and today there are more than eight billion human beings on earth. And all these without any biological evolution having taken place. The first Homo sapiens born two hundred thousand years ago is genetically identical with anyone born today anywhere in the world. His economic status is however miles away from what is the lot of anyone alive today. In the time that separate these two human beings, mankind has conquered the earth in a manner that is impossible for the first humans to think about. Apart from all the creature comforts now in such abundance as to be taken for granted by several billions of people, life expectancy is going up all the time. Many of those born today are confidently expected to live for ninety years, whereas our ancestors lived no longer than thirty arduous years even though like us they had the potential to live for seventy years. They could not fulfil this potential because too many of them succumbed to the ravages of malnutrition, disease, accidents and death during child birth. Today, all those problems have more or less been solved. There are wonderful drugs to intervene in the progression of diseases, powerful vaccines to prevent diseases; all these backed by a plethora of gadgets looking out for our creature comforts. Our capacity to produce these gadgets is increasing all the time and on the face of it, man should be able to face the future with eyes undimmed by the fog of doubt. Capitalism is associated with the production of all kinds of material goods on an industrial scale such that the rise in human comfort and population must be tied to this earth shaking phenomena which continues to shape our lives and destiny.

• TO BE CONTINUED

December 22, 2024
2025 Budget: Tinubu’s audacious blueprint for economic revival

The last week started out on a very busy note for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with the 66th Ordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the State House, Abuja, on Sunday. The meeting was like the crescendo of the back and forth on the ideological crisis between the ECOWAS Commission and the trio of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic, the member states that lost their democratic bearing to hijack of power by the military.

You will recall that President Tinubu, who is the Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, spoke about the relationship between the sub-regional and the breakaway member-states when he hosted the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was on a state visit the upper week. That topic actually led this column last week.

Coincidentally, when you might be reading about the recap of how President Tinubu described the relationship between the regional body and the three countries, and the reason the ECOWAS would not want the misadventure of the military in those countries to negatively impact on the innocents, talking categorically about the civilian citizens of the countries, ECOWAS was loosening the hold on those who do not want to identify with it.

At the end of that summit, the regional body decided not to flog the dead horse any further, seeing that their military dictators were intent on tasting something different, albeit rather distasteful to the spirit and doctrine of the West African sub-regional brotherhood. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, read out a six-month exit procedure, which permits them to cease to be member states, starting from 29 January, 2025,to 29 July 2025.

Read Also: New trajectory of NNPCL under Kyari’s leadership

“The authority takes note of the notification by Bukina Faso, Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger of their decision to withdraw from ECOWAS. The Authority acknowledges that in accordance with the provisions of Article 91 of the revised ECOWAS treaty, the three countries will officially cease to be members of ECOWAS from 29 January, 2025.

“The Authority decides to set the period from 29 January, 2025,to 29 July 2025, as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS doors open to the three countries during the transition period. In this regard, the Authority extends the mandate of President Gnassingbé of Togo and President Faye of Senegal to continue their mediation role up to the end of the transition period to bring the three member countries back to ECOWAS.

“Without prejudice for the spirit of the opening, the Authority directs the President of the Commission to launch withdrawal formalities after the deadline of 29th January, 2025, and to draw up a contingency plan covering various areas.

“The Authority directs the Council of Ministers to convene an extraordinary session during the second quarter of 2025 to consider and adopt both separation modalities and the contingency plan covering political and economic relations between ECOWAS and the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Mali and Burkina Faso”, Touray said.

However, after the ECOWAS business was done with, the week saw President Tinubu, on Wednesday, presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly, a task he took with a sense of duty, to reassure Nigerians, through their representatives, that he means well for them and that the sacrifices they have made since his administration took off, as well as their trust in his mandate, are not wasted.

As he strode confidently into the hallowed chambers of the House of Representatives, where both arms of the Assembly gathered to receive him, the atmosphere was charged with anticipation. The chamber, filled with legislators, government officials, and members of the press, awaited the unveiling of the 2025 Appropriation Bill. Titled “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,” this was not just another fiscal plan—it was a bold manifesto for economic renewal and national rejuvenation.

Tinubu’s address was both a reflection on the journey so far and a roadmap for the future. With a tone that balanced candour with optimism, he acknowledged the sacrifices Nigerians have made in the last 18 months of reforms. He recognized the struggles, but assured the nation that the pain was not without purpose. His administration, he declared, remains unwavering in its commitment to revitalizing the economy, strengthening national security, and improving the quality of life for every Nigerian.

The President began by outlining the current economic realities and the progress made under his administration. Against a backdrop of global uncertainties, Nigeria’s economy has shown remarkable resilience. Economic growth climbed to 3.46% in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 2.54% in the same period the previous year. Foreign reserves surged to $42 billion, providing a robust buffer against external shocks. Meanwhile, the trade surplus reached an impressive ₦5.8 trillion, signaling the effectiveness of the administration’s policies in stimulating exports and reducing import dependence. These figures, Tinubu emphasized, are not mere statistics but tangible indicators of a nation on the mend.

The 2025 budget, he explained, is one of restoration. With a projected revenue target of ₦34.82 trillion and planned expenditures of ₦49.7 trillion, the budget represents an ambitious but necessary step toward rebuilding the socio-economic fabric of the country. The budget deficit, estimated at ₦13.08 trillion, will be managed through innovative financing mechanisms, including public-private partnerships and targeted investments. Tinubu’s projections for 2025 are equally bold: inflation is expected to decline from the current 34.6% to 15%, while the exchange rate is projected to stabilize at ₦1,500 per US dollar. These targets, he assured, are achievable through disciplined implementation and continued reform.

The allocations in the budget speak volumes about the administration’s priorities. Defence and security top the list with ₦4.91 trillion, reflecting the government’s commitment to safeguarding the nation. Infrastructure follows closely with ₦4.06 trillion, underscoring the importance of physical development in driving economic growth. Education and health receive ₦3.52 trillion and ₦2.48 trillion, respectively, highlighting a focus on human capital development. These allocations are not just numbers on paper; they are strategic investments in Nigeria’s future.

Security, Tinubu asserted, is the bedrock of all progress. The government’s increased funding for the military, police, and paramilitary forces is aimed at restoring peace and stability across the nation. From combating insurgency and banditry to securing farmlands and highways, the administration’s efforts are geared toward creating an environment where citizens can live and work without fear. Tinubu’s vision is clear: a Nigeria where safety and productivity go hand in hand.

Infrastructure development, another cornerstone of the administration’s agenda, is set to receive a significant boost. The Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund is driving investments in critical sectors such as energy, transportation, and public works. Projects like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway are more than just infrastructural undertakings; they are transformative initiatives designed to connect communities, enhance trade, and stimulate economic activity. By leveraging private capital and strategic partnerships, the government aims to accelerate the completion of these projects and create thousands of jobs in the process.

Equally noteworthy is the administration’s commitment to human capital development. Tinubu’s belief that people are Nigeria’s greatest asset is evident in the record investments in education and health. Over 300,000 students have already benefited from the Nigeria Education Loan Fund, and the 2025 budget provides for an additional ₦826.90 billion for educational infrastructure. This includes funding for the Universal Basic Education Commission and the establishment of nine new higher education institutions. The health sector, too, is receiving unprecedented attention, with ₦684.65 billion allocated for infrastructure and the Basic Health Care Fund. These investments aim to improve healthcare access, reduce medical import dependence, and ensure that every Nigerian has access to quality medical care.

Agriculture, a sector that holds immense potential for job creation and food security, is also a focal point of the budget. The administration is providing farmers with the resources they need to boost productivity and reduce reliance on food imports. Enhanced security in rural areas is expected to revitalize agricultural activities, ensuring that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry. Tinubu’s vision for agriculture is not just about feeding the nation but also about positioning Nigeria as a major player in global agricultural markets.

Despite these ambitious plans, Tinubu was candid about the challenges ahead. The ₦15.81 trillion allocated for debt servicing highlights the fiscal constraints the country faces. However, he framed these challenges as opportunities for collective action. He called on Nigerians to support the government’s efforts, emphasizing that the time for lamentation is over. “This is a time to act,” he declared, urging leaders, institutions, and citizens to work together in rewriting Nigeria’s narrative.

The 2025 budget is not just a fiscal document; it is a statement of intent and a vision for the future. Tinubu’s administration is laying the foundation for a more secure, prosperous, and hopeful Nigeria. The sacrifices of the past months, he assured, will not be in vain. With this budget, the government is not only addressing immediate challenges but also positioning the country for sustainable growth and development.

As the President concluded his address, the chamber erupted in applause. His words resonated as a call to action and a reminder of the resilience of the Nigerian spirit. The “Budget of Restoration” is more than a plan; it is a pledge to the Nigerian people—a commitment to lead them into a future where peace and prosperity are not just aspirations but realities.

For Tinubu, the journey of rebuilding Nigeria is far from over, but the destination—a nation where every citizen can dream, work, and thrive—is within sight. The 2025 budget, with its focus on security, infrastructure, human capital, and agriculture, is a testament to the administration’s resolve to turn challenges into opportunities and aspirations into achievements. It is a bold step toward the brighter future that every Nigerian deserves.

Immediately he was done with the 2025 Appropriation Bill presentation, he headed straight to Lagos, his home state, where he will work from throughout the yuletide. Arriving the state on Wednesday, he took Thursday to rest and on Friday, observed the Juma’at service at the Alausa, Ikeja Central Mosque, one of the legacies he left as Governor of Lagos State.

Although he is in Lagos, which happened to once be the Federal Capital Territory, one certain thing is that the new week should not be any less eventful than when he is sitting behind his desk at the State House in Abuja. So wait to see how the Christmas week unfolds.

December 22, 2024
The agric option (TAO) development cluster: talking innovation in Ekiti State

Incidentally, it was not until I came across Elder David’s comments on my last week article that I became aware of the giant Agricultural innovation taking place in Ekiti state under the sterling leadership of governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji who seems to be getting it right all round in his handling of governance in the state.

But first things first, a word about Elder David who is one of a kind amongst the thousands of readers of this column who have been moved, for one reason or the other, to react to any of my articles here since 2006, that is, 18 years ago, as it actually debuted in the COMET a full two years before it became The Nation.

As is often the case, I have not been privileged to meet Elder David who says he is, incidentally, Ekiti like me but it looks to me certain that he has all, or at least, most of my past articles stored up somewhere in his library. I think so because his comments, almost always, contain a fairly long verbatim quotation from a past article of mine relevant to the instant.

I have nothing but admiration for him.

Two other things he does: his comments, while appreciative, are always very critical, as he takes no prisoners. Finally, he appreciates the good work governor Oyebanji is doing in Ekiti even though he continues to task him the more; the very reason I have once forwarded one of such comments to the governor via a WhatsApp message dated 2 December, 2024.

Read Also: Nigeria’s quest for energy security gets muscular

My message read as follows:

“Excellency.

E kale.

I consider it necessary to let you see the following.

It is a reader’s reaction to my article of Sunday, 1 December, 2024 titled:The North Wakes Up.

The writer goes by the name Elder David but I have never met him.

His Telephone number: sent to the governor but omitted here, being a public space.

“They (Northerners) should NOT be happy living parasitically on freebies at the expense of the nation. Lagos State today is 5th economy in Africa. Let them point to any economy in the North like that. Instead, they are establishing several Islamic Universities, further digging their grave.

Please ask Gov.Oyebanji to start competing with himself; breaking his own records in some very needful areas”.

I replied:

Which areas do you have in mind please?

His answer:

“The government needs the contribution of OPS for PPP, especially in Agro-business, Power generation,Cottage-industries,Cattle-ranching and other MSMEs that may create employment for the youth.

If we cannot produce oil, like Ethiopia or Rwanda, we can be exporting cows\meat, and dairy products”.

Thank you Excellency.

That exactly is the stuff Elder David is made of.

Attempts by governments to make Agriculture a worthwhile venture in Ekiti state is not new. What TAO is doing differently is in the scope and the number of stakeholder groups involved in the TAO venture. Its inclusion of the state’s Universities is quite laudable and impressive, given what its impact would be on research, especially research funding within the Universities, as well as job opportunities for the young graduates.

One can only begin to imagine its economic impact, especially on the state’s GDP.

Interestingly, governor Oyebanji whose solid encouragement to the investor must have laid this golden egg was intimately involved, as Secretary to the government of governor Kayode Fayemi, which also had a very aggressive Agric policy.

For instance the government attracted more than one hundred million U.S dollars investments in the Rice and Cassava Value chains, as well as in Dairy milk production which saw Promasidor invest 5 million U.S dollars to renovate, and operate, the moribund Ikun dam Dairy Farm.

A very key segment of that government’s Agric policy was the the Youth in Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) programme which was aimed at boosting commercial production of High Value Crops.

The young beneficiaries participated in a two-week Agro-business start up and managerial training programme tagged “Start and Improve Your Business” (SIYB).

Summing up the results of the Fayemi government’s Agric policy in the article: ‘Hurray! The Ekiti Governorship Election Is A Week Away’, on 8 July, 2018 I wrote:

“Hundreds of Ekiti youths, among them a trained medical doctor (turned farmer), were engaged in commercial agriculture under the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development Programme (YCAD) and 117,000 farmers were registered to benefit from the ADP programme.

For the first time, Ekiti State had both the largest cassava productivity (yield/Ha) and cultivation. Yield was above national average at 15T/Ha (national average was 12T/Ha). Ekiti also had the largest expansion in cultivation in the country in 2012 with the addition of over 1,150Ha by YCAD Programme alone.

By October 2013, YCAD’s critical objective had started to manifest as Ekiti State had the highest yield in cassava in the country. In an amazing manner, Ekiti State started producing water melon and carrot which were, hitherto, exclusive produce of Northern states. 750Ha of land was cultivated under the Rice Expansion Programme where government supported farmers with 100% input for production. 2013 operation alone was aimed at achieving 3,000Ha capacity and government also flagged off N600 million irrigation project under which Ero and Itapaji dams provided 1,700 hectares of irrigated land.

For the first time, there was a joint constituency project in irrigation by the three Senators representing Ekiti State with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The irrigated land was at Itapaji and served from Itapaji dam, which also served Iyemero and Gede farm settlements while   Ero dam was planned to serve Ikosun, Igogo and Ewu farm settlements.

To restore cocoa to its prime position as the main cash crop as was the case in the First Republic, 150,000 cocoa seedlings were distributed to 15,000 farmers in 2013″.

In doing everything to encourage this new investment, governor Oyebanji was, first and foremost, mindful of the place of Agriculture in a foremost agrarian state like Ekiti.

It was for that reason he joined

the Vice Chancellor of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Professor Joseph Ayodele and other dignitaries, this past week in Ado – Ekiti, the state capital, to launch The Agricultural Option (TAO) Development cluster in the state.

The project is designed to do the following:

a) promote foundational agricultural development with young people; b)improve food security; and,

c) enhance economic prosperity in Ekiti and Nigeria.

According to Dr Niyi Ojuolape, the chief promoter, and Chairman, of AgroMall, the investing Group, the Cluster will engage agricultural students of good academic standing in productive agriculture where they will be exposed to the practice of farming, processing and agribusiness,in general, providing them with hands-on training and experience in productive and commercial agriculture.

In addition to skills development, the programme will offer financial benefits of up to N2 million per annum which can go into tuition or other needs, all intended to empower them to become successful agricultural entrepreneurs.

It is also intended to stimulate their interest in agriculture.

Not done, Dr Ojuolape went further to say that they are in partnership with both the state governmeny and EKSU and that they hope by that partnership to see “the benefits extend beyond the students. EKSU, he says, will benefit from the research and development aspects of the program, which will impact curriculum improvement as well as enhance the university’s reputation as a centre of excellence in agricultural education”.

“Furthermore, he said, it will contribute significantly to Ekiti State’s food security and economic prosperity, with an annual economic activity expected to reach around 40 billion Naira”.

The governor saw the occasion as “a groundbreaking event marking the beginning of a new era in agricultural development in the state, adding that he “looks forward to seeing its positive impact on the state.”

The EKSU Vice – Chancellor was no less ecstatic, describing the partnership “as a further testament to EKSU’s vision of producing graduates that are adequately equipped to handle contemporary socio-economic, and environmental challenges as TAO provides an additional opportunity towards solving some of the country’s most pressing socioeconomic challenges of youth unemployment, low economic growth and food insecurity.”

Here is wishing the partnership well and I do, sincerely hope, that it will take Ekiti state to the envisaged heights and higher.

December 22, 2024
Kemi Badenoch and Yoruba values

Born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents who belong to the Yoruba ethnic group of Southwestern Nigeria, the leader of the Conservative Party, 44-year-old Kemi Badenoch was brought to Nigeria as a child and returned to the UK at the age of sixteen. Kemi is a controversial figure on account of her devil-may-care speech style. For example, in response to Vice-President Kashim Shettima’s admonition to her to stop denigrating Nigeria, she remarked: “I find it interesting that everybody defines me as being Nigerian. I identify less with the country than with the specific ethnicity (Yoruba). That’s what I really am. I have nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, Boko Haram area, where the Islamism is. Those were our ethnic enemies and yet you end up being lumped in with those people.”

Moreover, in the U.K., she was asked by a British interviewer: “Do you trust the British police?” To this question, she replied: “I do. I do. But um, you know, remember my experience with the police in Nigeria was very negative. And coming to the U.K., my first experience with the police was very positive. You know, the police in Nigeria would rob us. … I remember the police stole my brother’s shoes and his watch. … It’s a very poor country, so people do all sorts of things. And giving people a gun is just a license to intimidate. But that is not the bar we should use for the British Police. … When I was burgled, for example, the police were there. They were helpful before they eventually caught the person. This was in 2004, that was 20 years ago.”

A Yoruba idiom would characterise Kemi Badenoch’s off-course response as follows: “À n wírú, ó n wírù.” (We’re talking about irú – locust beans, but she’s talking about – ìrù – tails.) In other words, she violates the conversational principle which requires that an answer be sufficiently relevant to its question. Moreover, Kemi’s stereotypically-rosy picture of British police does not accord with British media reports and official government records. For instance, on 10 July, 2020 Sky News reported as follows: “More than 200 serving police officers in the UK have convictions for criminal offences including assault, burglary, drug possession and animal cruelty.”

Read Also: Nigeria’s quest for energy security gets muscular

Furthermore, Sky News reported on 4 March, 2024: “Dozens of police officers across the UK have been convicted of crimes including rape, sexual assault and sex offences against children in the three years since the murder of Sarah Everard, new data shows. Officers have also been convicted of assault, possession of indecent images, harassment and controlling and coercive behaviour since 3 March 2021 – the day Ms Everard was abducted, a Sky News investigation has found. … Ms Everard was walking home in Clapham, south London, when she was abducted, raped and murdered by then-serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens.”

In addition, on 17 June, 2024, The Standard reported: “More than 90 car thefts a day went unsolved in London last year, data revealed on Monday. Since the last election in December 2019, a staggering 106,742 motor vehicles have been stolen in the capital without a culprit being caught, according to statistics released by the Home Office. Some 85 per cent of car theft cases reported to the Metropolitan Police between 2020 and 2023 were closed without a suspect ever being identified. Last year just 480 car thefts were solved by the force – just over one per cent of all cases.” These cases of unresolved motor vehicle thefts and the other police crimes outlined above belie Kemi Badenoch’s rosy picture of British police. This proves that as a Yoruba proverb says, “Oníkálukú, abitielára.” (‘To each their own.’). It also validates the Yoruba proverb, “Ìpàkó-onípàkó làá rí; eni eléni ní rí teni.” (‘It’s the back of the head of others that we see, and it’s others who see the back of our own heads.’)

With respect to corruption, Independent (UK), on 11 December, 2024, reported on Badenoch: “During her unsuccessful bid to lead the Tory party in 2022 she said: ‘I grew up in Nigeria and I saw first-hand what happens when politicians are in it for themselves, when they use public money as their private piggy banks, when they promise the earth and pollute not just the air but the whole political atmosphere with their failure to serve others.’” As with ignoring British police crimes, these views illustrate the Yoruba idiom “Arítenimòówí, a f”àpáàdì rìgìdì bo tiè m’ólè.” (‘One who sees the mote in other peoples’ eyes, but doesn’t see the log in hers.’) This is a veritable propaganda technique which magnifies the negative aspects of a person’s object of hate and suppresses the negative aspects of their object of admiration. This point would become clearer in the next paragraph.

According to a 13 June, 2024 report by Simon Kuper in Financial Times, titled “How the wrong chaps took charge of British politics,” “The Good Chaps’ codes forbade stealing. Britain in their era aimed to deter corruption with unspoken guidelines, rather than with vulgar written rules. From the 1990s, Good Chaps began dying out. As memories of wars gave way to Thatcherite wealth-worship, the idea of public service came to seem a bit silly.” Moreover, a 1 December, 2024 report by Transparency International UK said: “the most comprehensive analysis of suspect funds in UK politics to date, finds that millions of pounds donated to political parties and their members have come from unknown or questionable sources, including those who have been accused or found to have bought political access or involved in criminality.”

Kemi has also been reported to have said “I don’t care about colonialism,” and that “UK’s wealth is not based on White privilege and colonialism.” She would not have said this if she had asked her puppeteers about British-Iranian history of the late 1940s to early 1950s which was marked by Iranian resistance to the continuation of the age-long British appropriation of Iranian oil to build British wealth. The heroic Iranian resistance is marked by the turbulent relations between Iran and the West which persist till today. If Badenoch truly does not know that British wealth remarkably derives from colonialism, she should be an intensely ignorant and arrogant person; but if she knows that and yet denies the fact, she would be a thoroughly dishonest and highly mischievous person.

In an 8 May, 2024 article titled, “Why is Kemi Badenoch denying Britain’s colonialism helped its economic growth?”, in the UK’s The Voice Online, Richard Sudan, noted: “Britain had an empire and the reality is that virtually nothing in Britain would be what it is today without the role of slavery and colonialism. … Kemi Badenoch knows this, but is less concerned with truth and is focused on her own political ambitions.” According to Richard Sudan, Badenoch’s kind of stand is “a gift to all those opposing reparations, a campaign that has been gaining traction in recent years.”

In doing the hatchet job for the White establishment, to get or sustain tokenist benefits, Kemi has been validating the British slang ‘coconut’ or its American equivalent ‘house negro’. According to a Tuesday, 29 June, 2010, article by Nuala McGovern titled “Is the term ‘coconut’ racist?”, in the World Have Your Say Blog, hosted by BBC News, “The term coconut, has been used to accuse someone of betraying their race, or culture, by implying that, like a coconut, they are brown on the outside but white on the inside. Similar racial terms to denote ‘acting white’ while from another ethnic group include ‘bounty bar’, ‘oreo’ and ‘banana’.”

The concepts of ‘coconut’ and ‘house negro’ are related to the Yoruba idea of àserílégbé which literally means ‘obsequious conduct that is aimed at getting a person a place in the house or keeping them there’, and idiomatically means ‘obsequious behaviour aimed at achieving social acceptability and sustaining privilege.’ When Kemi Badenoch’s behaviour is thus described as àserílégbé, it is implied that she suffers from very deep low self-esteem and social insecurity, and she denigrates Nigeria in order to fill the psychological void and get herself relief. In fact, reminiscent of the English proverb “There is no zeal like that of a convert,” Kemi is reported to have zealously said: “I am here to protect [the crown] and I will die protecting this country because I know what’s out there.”

Asked by a BBC journalist in a “Newsnight” interview posted on 30 September, 2024, “Are you too gaffe prone?”, she replied: “I’ve never had a gaffe. I’m a good communicator.” She was further asked by the interviewer: “Are you too gaffe prone to become leader, to become Prime Minister?”; and Kemi replied: “I’ve never had a gaffe. The truth is not gaffes.” The BBC journalists’ question seems to cohere with the Yoruba proverb which says, “Twenty year old pounded yam can still burn the fingers.” (‘Iyán ogún odún a maa jó’ni lówó.’) Moreover, a Yoruba idiom which describes what appears to be Kemi’s heightened delusion or warped sense of self-perception or self-assessment is “Eni tí à n wò ní àwòsukún tí ó n wo ara rè ní àwòrérín.” (‘A person we are looking at tearily, but who is looking at themselves with mirth.’)

Asked about the comments, Badenoch’s spokesperson said, as reported by Sky News on 11 December, 2024, she “stands by what she says” and “is not the PR for Nigeria. … She tells the truth. She tells it like it is. She is not going to couch her words.” This may make her “Elétí ikún.” (‘A squirrel-eared person who can’t, won’t or doesn’t listen to good counsel.’) This idiom alludes to ikún – a kind of squirrel that is hard of hearing or deaf. It also calls to mind the Yoruba proverb, “Kàkà kó dè lára ewé àgbon, kokoko ló n le sii.” (‘Rather than softening, palm frond leaf hardens.’) This makes her, in Yoruba idiomatic language, “Elénu razor” (‘A razor-sharp-tongued person’) or even “Elénu oró” (‘A poison-tongued person.’) Unbending dispositions like Kemi’s recall the Yoruba idiom “Gun esin ayán.” (‘Mount a cockroach-sized horse.’) Delusional horses of that kind usually don’t carry anybody far.

Looking at the range of opinions about her within and outside the UK, the Conservative Party leader has acquired the image of an obsequious Kemi, ignorant Kemi, arrogant Kemi, dishonest Kemi, hypocritical Kemi, and intransigent Kemi. She seems to have in her personality all of the ingredients for the making of a tragic hero – a character with immensely astounding attributes which are undermined by equally fundamental flaws. Kemi Badenoch’s indiscretions and her rise within the British political hierarchy, all the same, may just be what is needed to sensitise Africans anew to rolling back, in significant ways, insidious neo-colonialism on the continent.

December 22, 2024
Board members

IN 1972, Ebenezer Obey and his band released an album, Board members which confirmed his arrival on the Nigerian music scene as a mega star. Today, more than fifty years after its release, that album retains a freshness which to put it simply, is astonishing and I for one am reminded of it whenever the word, board crops up in any conversation. What is there not to like in that album? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything is in it; lyrics, rhythm, throbbing percussion, beautiful singing and sheer joy of performance point to a classic. The board members who were serenaded in that piece of music were all men of power, influence and gravitas; a collection of really outstanding gentlemen who were worthy of praise and respect as befits all members of a board. A Board, any board, consists of people with a commanding presence, with the capacity to give purposeful leadership to any enterprise. This definition was firmly stamped on my mind when I found that universities were administered by a board which was the power behind the administration of the university. The Board or University Council has the power to hire and fire all members of staff and appoint the Vice Chancellor who throughout his tenure is responsible to the Board for everything taking place within the university. It can even be said that the board is the engine room of the university without which the university is no more than a collection of buildings.

Every university, public or private has a Board. In the case of public universities, board members are appointed by the President in the case of Federal universities whilst state governors are responsible for the appointment of board members in their state owned universities. In this way, the direction in which every university is headed is decided by the quality of the people on their respective boards. This being the case, the most important thing about the Board is its composition. University Board members are, in my estimation required to be highly knowledgeable people who have what it takes to make substantial contribution to a very important institution. They are not supposed to be people who are on the board to learn, but to serve, to serve on the basis of past experience in various fields including the management of institutional finances. One of the primary functions of a University Council is to ensure that the money available to the university is spent judiciously and this includes the ability to stretch such monies to the absolute limit. This function should also include the ability to attract funds to the university but to be honest, this does not seem to be of serious consideration to university boards in Nigeria which are mostly interested in spending the money but that is outside the scope of this article. On the issue of the sensitive subject of university finances in these climes, the most pertinent requirement of a member of the board is integrity or at least should be, as this is a quality or perhaps, the quality which would determine the success or otherwise of the board.

For the most part, university councils, work unobtrusively, sometimes covered by a thin but impenetrable cloak of invisibility which renders them almost anonymous, unless of course when they choose inadvisedly, to stick their collective nose into the nitty gritty of university business of which they are likely to have little practical knowledge. The board must be outside looking in at all times in order to be able to take in the whole picture.

I had been a member of staff of the university for a few years before I was made aware of the reality of the university council but when I eventually did, I recognised its importance immediately. After all, the council was going to be majorly involved in the process of my progression through the ranks ultimately leading up to a professorial chair. I recommend that all new academic recruits are not just made aware of this but come to an understanding of it. Promotions are on the bases of the teaching, research and administrative activities of every member of academic staff. Fortunately, I was not only made aware of this process but was involved with it quite early in my career and this put me in good stead as that career progressed.

When I arrived in the university all those many years ago, the smallest Faculty in the university was the Faculty of Pharmacy and because this was the case, I became involved in administrative processes quite early in my career. In addition to this, I was given the scope to learn about the inner workings of the university and became fully integrated into university administration as an active participant.

After the Board, the next body in order of hierarchy is the university Senate, which is principally a committee of professors. The Senate makes the laws of the university and is responsible to the Board through the Vice Chancellor. The Senate is a body of professors but within it there are representatives of Congregation made up of all the graduates, academic and non-academic members of staff of the university. They are the equivalent of the Tribunes in the Roman Senate who represented the interest of the common people of Rome. In my role within senate therefore I had a well defined constituency which I tried to serve to the limit of my ability. But first, I put myself on a learning curve and took my time over the matter of contribution to debate which was usually of high standards. After all, some of the professors with whom I was rubbing shoulders with so to say had been professors when I was still working towards my school certificate. My election as Congregational representative marked the beginning of my experience of university administration outside my Faculty and allowed me to more or less rub shoulders with the professors who were providing leadership within the university. Once a month throughout the session, Senate met to consider the cases brought before it and took decisions which were ratified by Council. Debates on the floor of Senate were usually animated and sometimes quite fierce but all were carried on with a great degree of decorum according to Senate rules and regulations.

It did not take me a long time to find my voice in senate which is why I was able to take a giant step in my academic political career when I was elected a Congregational representative on the Appointments and Promotions Committee. This is a joint committee of Council and Senate responsible for all matters concerning appointments and promotions in the university. Apart from Council itself, this is perhaps the most powerful committee in the university since everyone always has something to say about their promotion. The committee chairman was the Vice Chancellor and one of the members was a representative of Council, a Board member no less and if being a member of senate was a learning curve, being a member of this committee was an enormously steep learning curve.

This Board member on the Appointments and Promotions Committee was a taciturn old man. I was quite young then and considered anyone above fifty old, so in strict terms, he probably was not old but he certainly was taciturn to a fault. At least he carefully avoided making any contribution to the many lively debates which went on as each case was discussed round the table. Whenever a division was necessary to decide a case however, he always voted for the candidate to be promoted and he could do this without uttering a single word. It took me a long time to come to the realisation that the honourable Board member had no clue of what the business of the committee was. I found this out quite dramatically after a year.

Academics are assessed mainly on both the quality and number of their academic papers which had been published since their last promotion. In university parlance the first thing pointed out was about their papers. Your case was made on the basis of your papers and the more papers you had published in what were recognised as reputable journals, the higher the chances of being promoted.

Read Also: JUST IN: Tinubu nominates three new board members for CCB

This being the case, you could have knocked me over with a feather when the taciturn Board member in complete break with his own tradition put up his hand to ask the chairman’s permission to speak. He then took my breath away when the words on his mind came out of his mouth.

‘You people are always talking about papers, what are these papers and where are they published? In the Daily Times or any other newspaper?’ These words were followed by pin drop silence as members looked around in complete disbelief. It was left to the Vice Chancellor to bring the Board member up to speed. It was clear at that point that the man had been turning up for meetings for no other reason than to collect his allowances which I found out were quite handsome and worth turning up for even though he did not do anything to earn those allowances.

It was clear that our Board member earned his seat on the university council as reward for services to the political party in power at the time. Frankly, I was shocked that government could even think of ramming such a square peg into our round hole. The poor man was completely out of his depth and had nothing to offer but he made sure that he collected all the monetary entitlements attached to his office by turning up for every meeting, to sit down with his mouth clenched shut for hours on end.

That was my first experience of ineptitude in high places within the university but it was by no means the last. One of the main pillars of ASUU’s struggles with successive governments over the years has been the issue of university autonomy through which universities were to be responsible for their own governance. The present arrangement in which the most powerful persons within the university are by and large political appointees leaves a great deal to be desired. This is because our political parties have not demonstrated the restraints which are necessary to appoint members of university councils and indeed other boards to government institutions on demonstrable merit. When we talk about politicians and their appointment into various offices our minds do not often stray into appointments into all the various boards which exist at the pleasure of various governments even though, there are many thousands of them at various levels. All of them provide opportunities to reward all those who ‘worked very hard for the success of the party’. All that work must be rewarded, of course to the detriment of all those institutions they are foisted upon.

I met that taciturn Board member on the university Council forty years ago. How time flies. At that time, there were only a handful of Federal universities but even then, there were not enough men and women with the requisite qualifications to render useful service to our universities. Today, there is a shocking plurality of those institutions and with the pool of qualified personnel dwindling all the time, I shudder to think of how low the bar for the membership of our university Councils has fallen over the years. And, this is one of the reasons why the news coming out of our universities these days is uniformly bad.

December 15, 2024