The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

Territorial gain on Tinubu’s call

What happened in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on May 14 went largely unnoticed because its significance was lost on a section of the media. Elsewhere, such ceremonies are celebrated with pomp and panoply, with the media in the front row, covering the event. As a result of the media freeze, the citizens have been kept in the dark about it. Up till now, it has not been a hot topic for discussion on television channels that take delight in tearing the President apart. Let them tear this issue apart now and not the person of the President.

Make no mistakes about it; it was an historic event. An event that happens not quite often but once in a while because of the rigorous process involved for any nation desirous of getting additional maritime boundaries.

At the State House in Abuja that bright and sunny Tuesday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who clocks one in office in six days time, walked tall as he received the report on the extension of the country’s maritime boundary by the United Nations from the Ambassador Hassan Tukur-led High Powered Presidential Committee (HPPC) on Nigeria’s Extended Continental Shelf Project. Marine and Blue Economy Minister Gboyega Oyetola was there.

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No nation wishes to lose any part of its territory. They want to gain more whether in wartime or peacetime. Nigeria knows how painful it is to lose part of its territory. Till today, it has yet to recover from the loss of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsular to Cameroun. Fate has decided to compensate Nigeria for that loss, with the extension of its maritime boundaries in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The territorial gain could not have come at a better time than now that the Tinubu administration is planning to celebrate its first year in office. There is no anniversary gift better than the extension of Nigeria’s maritime boundaries by 200 nautical miles. The extension is the outcome of a five-year project. In 2019, Nigeria applied to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its continental shelf.

During the presentation of the committee’s report to Tinubu, a member and marine scientist, Prof Larry Awosika, said the UN has approved Nigeria’s submission and granted it sovereignty over additional square kilometres of maritime territory. “As it stands now, the area approved for Nigeria is about 16,300 square kilometres, which is about five times the size of Lagos State”, Aliyu Omar, a surveyor and secretary of the HPPC, said.

The granting of a country’s request for an extension of its continental shelf is not a given. It must be backed by hard facts and geographical data. Without such a strong proof, the requesting country will only be fishing in troubled maritime waters. All nations guard jealously their territories and the abutting body of waters, which in most cases is full of natural and maritime resources. The aquatic life underneath the waters hold a lot of economic benefits for a nation’s development and growth.

All that is required is to explore these enormous resources for the betterment of the country. Many African countries, however, fail in this regard because of the lack of capacity to explore and use these resources for their turnaround, thereby leaving the highly lucrative cabotage and maritime industry to foreigners. This is a subject for another day.

For now, the extension of Nigeria’s continental shelf at a time like this raises hope of a brighter future. It is portentous that it came amid preparations for the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the return to democary and the first year in office of the President.

There is a reason, time and season for everything. Why the extension was granted in the life of this administration will be made manifest in a matter of time. A gain in territory for Nigeria in this shark-infested world is therefore not a small deal. Nations fight for additional territory in their bid for expansion because of the human and economic potential. In the course of the fight, millions are killed, maimed or rendered homeless and become unwanted settlers in faraway land.

The President put it better when he received the HPPC members: “Nigeria is grateful for the efforts that you put into gaining additional territory for the country without going to war. Some nations went to war, lost people and economic opportunities. We lost nothing but have gained great benefits for the country”. The challenge is in making these benefits go round. As the President often says, the people come first in whatever he does. Surely, under him, the people will reap the benefits of this territorial gain, which the National Boundary Commission (NBC) Director-General Adamu Adaji describes as “a significant achievement” for the present administration.

Congratulations, Nigeria.

May 23, 2024
Death of President Raisi and seven others

On Sunday, May 19, the helicopter carrying the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, his foreign secretary, Hossein Amirabdollahian and a state governor and six other security men and officials of the Iranian government died on the hills of Azerbaijan province neighbouring the Republic of Azerbaijan when the Bells helicopter carrying them made a hard landing following a technical fault. There were two other helicopters in the president’s entourage. Those two landed safely after the crash. President Raisi was going to commission a hydroelectric dam that was to share power with the neighbouring republic of Azerbaijan.

The cause of the accident which is still being investigated was said to be due to inclement weather. From what the news media showed the world, the fog in the environment of the fatal accident was so thick that one could barely see.

The questions that have agitated sensible minds are why was the helicopter flying into the foggy weather in a hilly area where visibility was terribly low? What was the meteorological institution in Iran doing that it could not tell the pilot of the helicopter that it was unsafe to fly? Or was he told and he ignored the warning? The president’s security chief must have seen how bad the weather was and yet he allowed the pilot to fly the president of a major nation into a weather storm. The helicopter used appears to be a Bell helicopter purchased by the dethroned Shah of Iran Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979 or earlier. Why was the president of the country using such an old helicopter? If this helicopter was refurbished, where did the parts come from because of the western sanctions on Iran would have made genuine parts difficult to purchase. Was the president of Iran so inconsequential that he would have been using an old helicopter? These are questions that the board of enquiry probing the cause of the crash must look into.

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The message of condolence by the Italian prime minister, Ms Georgia Meloni is very significant. She praised the Iranian regime for not spreading any rumours about possible foreign involvement in the accident and the US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin in a press conference, publicly stated that the outcome of the enquiry into the cause of the accident is being eagerly awaited. That is the way it should be because of the importance of Iran in the politics of the Middle East and what any irresponsible statement could have led to.

The Iranian regime has demonstrated political stability expected of the country that is a proud inheritor of Ancient Persian civilization that predated its western competitors. Iran is of course not a democracy in the mould of western democracy. President Raisi may not have been popular with the intelligentsia or the women of Iran. Nobody knows what the majority of its people want. But it is clear that all Iranians want to live in dignity unmolested and unharassed by the western powers especially the United States and Europe and their protégé Israel.

Iran takes its Islamic religion seriously especially the Shiite brand of it and it is prepared to defend it against foreign influence. This was the reason for the Islamic revolution against the Shah in 1979 because, whether rightly or wrongly, the supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini felt the Americans were calling the shots. It was not just the Islamic fundamentalists alone who were against western influence, even western educated Iranians embraced the fervour of nationalism and were also prepared to support the Khomeini revolution. They may of course be disappointed by the theocratic state that emerged out of the revolution but they are not prepared, it seems, to embrace a western driven anti-Islamic and anti-nationalist revolution.

The death of President Raisi is a national setback for the country. Outsiders accuse him of rigidity in his enforcement of conservative dressing and wearing the chador and covering the head by women and generally not permitting liberal democratic rights in the society and for not tolerating ethnic minorities like the Kurds in the Northwest. These are not necessarily Raisi’s policies but collective policies of the revolution and those around the Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who appears to wield absolute power.

Immediately the news of Raisi’s death broke, Ali Khamenei issued a statement that Raisi may be dead but the Iranian state remains and its government remained solid. He announced that the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber becomes acting president. He also declared five days of mourning nationwide and that as the constitution of the republic requires a new election would hold on June 28 to elect a new president. Because of the age of the Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself – 85, people have started wondering what would happen if he were to die because he has no deputy leader apparently because the leader did not want one even though he himself was the great Mohammad Khomeini’s deputy. There is no doubt that when the time comes the Islamic republic would rise to the occasion. President Raisi was thought destined to be the leader but apparently this was not meant to be. In the Islamic world succession to power has not always been difficult. Immediate deputy or sons of the leaders have most of the time succeeded their fathers.

As an observer of the international scene, I had watched and read the messages of sympathy by world leaders to the people and government of Iran. Up till the time of my writing this, I have not seen any message from the United States president. If it is true, this is unfortunate. This can be because the two countries embassies in each other’s capitals have been closed since 1979. Even though the Swiss embassy represents American interest in Tehran, that section should have been mandated to issue an official statement of condolences on behalf of President Joe Biden and the American people. These things are done whether nations are friendly or not and this would have been an opportunity to reset relations between the two countries. States sometimes behave organically and Iran would have remembered American sympathy in future when America may need the support of Iran. One never knows? There are no permanent enemies or friends in politics among nations but permanent interests.

The statements of condolences from Russia was very warm and sincere, Iran supplies most of Russia’s drones in its fight in Ukraine and Putin’s statement made allusion to how President Raisi has facilitated warm and fraternal relations between Russia and Iran. Prime Minister Modi of India that gets substantial supply of India’s petroleum from Iran was no less effusive in expressing sorrow at the sad departure of President Raisi. President Xi Jinping of China who played significant role in reconciling Saudi Arabia and Iran expressed his sorrow as a genuine friend. Rishi Sunak of Britain and Ursula von Leyden the president of the European Union issued formal statements of regret at the death of Raisi.

Maduro of Venezuela praised Raisi to high heavens. As to be expected Saudi Arabia, Turkey which helped in locating the wreckage of the helicopter and all major Islamic nations like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia Indonesia and Iranian neighbours in the Gulf either out of fear or as a result of genuine love, sympathised with Iran for the loss of their president. Those countries and entities like Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the Palestinians were open in crying over their loss. Expression of sympathy by Israel would not have been seen as genuine but I would not be surprised if Israel were to offer sympathy to Iran because the religion of Judaism demands we mourn with mourners and rejoice with those rejoicing.

I am sure Nigeria has offered its condolences and if possible we should be represented at the final obsequies on Thursday, June 24.

A final note on the Iranian tragedy. It was reported that our presidential plane broke down during an official visit of our president to the Netherlands. This to me is a national humiliation and should not be allowed to repeat itself. If we must show the flag we must do it properly. The presidential plane is not personal to any president and if the one we have is not airworthy we must buy another one.

May 23, 2024
Israel should end the slaughter in Gaza

These are difficult times globally. There is the ongoing brutality of the Russo-Ukrainian war leading to the death and displacement of millions of people who probably do not care where the borders between the two sisterly countries are drawn. The people there and their ancestors have lived in that place from time immemorial. The attempt by President Vladimir Putin to recreate a new Russian empire after the collapse of the USSR has led to his intervention not only in Ukraine but also in Moldova and in the Caucasus dismembering Georgia leading to the emergence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The genocidal conflict in the Sudan between the armed forces of the country (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan and the irregular forces of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under the leadership of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemeddti), the man who was also the leader of the Janjaweed terrorist group responsible for killing millions of black Sudanese previously, has been going on for years and has led to the murder of millions of hapless Africans. The country has been destroyed and nobody seems to care that much. Not the Arabs, not the Africans and not the rest of the world except the puerile effusions from the United Nations’ Secretary General. War has been going on in the so-called Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where the western communications and other companies particularly the EV carmakers are busy mining minerals needed for their new innovations and batteries and paying starvation wages for the poor Africans including children digging with their hands for rare minerals.

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All across the Sahel region of Africa, wars and insurgencies against rulers working for western interests have been going on for decades while military rulers come and go and the lives of Africans are deemed expendable. There is raging insurgency war against the brutal military regime in Burma (Myanmar) which has led to millions of ethnic Rohingya expelled and millions of rebels killed in the country.

In the Middle East, Yemenis are divided between the Houthis and the previously recognized legitimate government. Iraq has not recovered from American destruction of the country following the war to remove Saddam Hussein and its aftermath and a land of ancient civilisation has been handed over to sectarian chaotic leadership. Syria under what is left of it under Bashar al Assad has been reduced to a shadow of its old self and the second largest city Aleppo has been bombed into Stone Age and a glorious Arab civilisation has been brought down to a level of clannishness where a sense of nationalism is totally lost at least for now.

Pakistan and Afghanistan do not know peace and Lebanon is virtually partitioned into two between the Christian and conservative Arab regime on one hand and militant and armed Shi’ite Hisbollah- the so-called “party of God”. It is necessary to highlight these conflicts in order not to give an impression that all other parts of the world is peaceful except Gaza where the self-inflicted conflict with Israel has been going for the past seven months with apparent Israeli determination to wipe out the Palestinians as a “final solution “to the Palestinian question. It is ironic that this kind of extermination of a people was faced by the ancestors of the Israeli people some 75 years ago.

The breach of Israeli security by the Gaza Hamas rebels on October 7, 2023 during which about 1400 people were killed and kidnapped precipitated the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Everyone has said Israel is justified in fighting back and Israel has done this almost immediately after the surprise attack. Almost all the major powers backed Israel initially and those like Russia and China demurred, only to support on ideological basis, the Palestinians as a people fighting against colonial oppression. Even their support was tepid.

The Americans led by President Joe Biden virtually moved key American ministries like Defence and Foreign Affairs and the CIA to Israel to facilitate easy delivery of weapons to Israel and full deployment of American diplomacy at the service of Israel. The G7 was mobilised to support Israel and NATO’s intelligence was put at service of Israel. Even countries in Africa and Latin America at the prodding of the United States toed the American line. The Arab countries especially the big ones like Egypt and Saudi Arabia lay prostrate at Israeli feet at the behest of the United States. India and Pakistan perhaps reluctantly supported Israel. With this massive support for Israel, the Jewish state feels it could not do any wrong. It unleashed its own and cutting edge and American weapons on the Gaza Strip and sometimes the Western Palestinian territory on the Western bank of the river Jordan. By the second month of the war on Gaza, about 20 thousand Palestinians had been wiped off the face of the earth through artillery fire and aerial bombing using American weapons. By the fifth month, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered. As of today, who is counting? A figure of 36, 000 souls have been lost.

The Israeli government of Bilyalminu Netanyahu says he wants to kill all the Hamas militants but even America says more than three quarters of those killed are children, women and the elderly. The Democratic Party in America especially its left wing is in open rebellion against President Joe Biden and the universities in America are also in uproar against American involvement with Israel in committing open murders in the glare of the whole world. President Joe Biden is definitely embarrassed and his constant hypocritical pleas with Netanyahu to spare the civilian population of Palestine have been ignored. He is now threatening to cut off the Israeli government from some type of weapons that may be used in Gaza. This is laughed off by the IDF which says it has all the weapons it needs to prosecute the war to the bitter end.

America has completely lost all influence with the Arab and non-Arab world. Whatever it says in the future would be completely ignored by most countries. Its recent request for military facilities in Africa has been virtually ignored by every country including our own at least openly. America apart from Gaza and the Palestinians would end up as the main victims of the Israeli war on Gaza. The American renewed efforts to reconcile Israel with Saudi Arabia, if it had gotten Israeli support through its humane policies in Gaza, would have altered the course of history possibly for good in the Middle East. An Israeli – Saudi Arabian rapprochement would have facilitated Israeli opening not only to the Arabs but to the Islamic countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

As things stand, Israel is going to make Biden lose the presidential election in November and earn Israel the hostility of the Democratic Party for years to come. The second coming of Donald J. Trump is too ghastly for many to imagine. The critical elements in global intelligentsia seem opposed to Israel probably because of the human tendency to support the underdog in this case the Palestinians, but more likely because of the ferocity of the inhumanity of Israeli attacks. The thinking is why beat up a Palestine that is down and prostrate? This is why countries like the Republics of South Africa and Ireland with their history of colonial resistance are in open arms against Israel and they are not alone; the vast majority of countries in the developing world in Asia, Africa and Latin America share the same feelings with countries openly opposed to Israel.

The vote against Israel in the United Nations General Assembly to admit Palestine to full membership of the UN is an illustration of the support for Palestine and opposition to the bullying and oppression of the Israeli government. This is really sad because since the 1948 creation of Israel despite its complex and controversial moral foundation, Israel had always been favoured by virtually the whole world. If only for Israel to go back to some semblance of acceptability, someone should help Israel to stop the war because it has made the point that the Jewish state would rather fight to the death than surrender to any form of attack designed to destroy it. This point needs not be made at expense of the Palestinians who now face a genocidal onslaught as Israel moves to finish them off in Rafa.

May 16, 2024
Bare-knuckle

While in government, I had a problem. I had a Federal Government that was hostile to me, did we not succeed? They are giving excuses. If you know, you know. When somebody cannot do something, say you cannot do it – Wike

I heard somebody saying when we came on board, we were fighting the Federal Government. The Federal Government did not use any instrument in your state to frustrate you… the rat in the house is eating the bag of garri – Fubara

LET us make no pretence about it. Wike and Fubara are far gone in their battle. The godfather and the godson have been hurling words coded and uncoded at each other without let or hindrance. At any given opportunity, they fire missiles at themselves unmindful of the damage. Their aides too are joined in the battle speaking for and supporting their respective masters.

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When will the feud end? Will it ever end? In altercations like this, the end is always unknown. As they say, watchers only know the beginning, the end is in the womb of time. As the war of words rages between the gladiators, the collateral damage being done to political institutions cannot be quantified. Damaged political relationship can be rebuilt, but same cannot be said of destroyed political structures and infrastructure.

A major political institution – the Rivers State House of Assembly – built and furnished with millions of tax payers money has already taken a hit from the fighters’ fusillades. The rubbles of the complex remain an eyesore till today, more than seven months after its demolition. There is a clear and present danger that another structure may also go down. The police swift action may have, for now, saved the legislators’ quarters from being demolished following Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s surprise visit to what he called “my property”.

He might have used the word casually since he as governor of the state, is the custodian of everything therein, including the dwellers. Fubara may be governor, but he is not God that he should arrogantly arrogate to himself the power of ownership of the state he governs as well as the people and properties therein. There should be a limit to arrogance because power is transient.

The Wike-Fubara feud should be another case study for political scientists in their relentless search for why godfathers and godsons part ways so soon after the latter come into power. From what we have seen so far in the Wike-Fubara rift, money, influence, control and power are always at stake. As governor, Fubara wants to be in charge of government and the political structure that got him into office. The leader or owner of the structure determines who gets what, where and how. He knew this all along but now wants to upset the apple cart, using state power and resources to achieve his goal.

One of his aides said he has “all the powers in heaven and on earth” to do and undo. The thing that small boy will do you ehn, you go know say khaki no be leather, the aide added for effect. It is aides like Edison Ehie who are stoking the crisis. He was the factional speaker of a five-member assembly that passed the state’s 2024 budget, which is being implemented till today despite the President’s intervention that it should be re-presented for passage by the 27-man house led by Martin Amaewhule.

With aides like Ehie, who resigned his membership of the house after throwing in the towel as ‘speaker’, Fubara will never see anything good in the presidential peace pact. Ehie will continue to work on Fubara not to accept the peace terms. His joy is in seeing Fubara continue to undermine the assembly where Nyesom Wike’s men hold sway so that the executive in which he is now a key figure can run a one-man government. What else do you call a government where the legislature is stifled the way Fubara is doing to the Rivers assembly?

Fubara’s executive order 001 relocating the assembly’s sitting venue to the government secretariat and his backing of the three minority lawmakers who elected Victor Oko-Jumbo as ‘speaker’ signpost a new front in his feud with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister. Since he cannot bring the majority lawmakers to his side, he wants to run them out of town. What better way to do that than to deny them the right to sit at their quarters by citing the renovation of a parliament building that was destroyed many months ago.

Executive orders are not used that way. They are not meant for settling personal scores but to help in strengthening the legislative process. It may have the force of law, but it is no law because it did not undergo the legislative process. What Fubara did is an abuse of power. Nothing can change the lawmakers resolution to sit in the auditorium of their quarters following the demolition of the parliament building. Not even an executive order can reverse that, no matter how many times it is gazetted.

May 16, 2024
Of false prophets and overzealous aides

I sympathise with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ designed to “unleash our country’s full economic potentials by focusing on job creation …the rule of law and the fight against hunger, poverty and corruption”. Unfortunately his first year in office has been marked by war of sceptical Nigerians with the battle cry of “we are hungry” even as he continues to appeal to Nigerians for understanding and more sacrifice in spite of negative impact of removal of fuel subsidy which between 2005 and 2021 gulped N13tn ($74bn) (NEITI-The cost of fuel subsidy, A case for policy review).

But in truth, no one can blame incredulous Nigerians. They have in the past been serially betrayed by false prophets. Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa adored for his simplicity and golden voice betrayed promise of nationhood of “Our dear native land where tribe and tongue may differ but in brotherhood we stand with our flag serving as a symbol that truth and justice reign”.

Aguiyi Ironsi was a master of mischief and intrigue. Gowon thought he was fighting a war to keep Nigeria one. Murtala Mohammed and Obasanjo destroyed the foundation of society – the academia and bureaucracy. Babangida laid the foundation for our current socio-economic travails by opening our country to the labour of other nations. Abacha, besides stealing the country blind waged a five-year war against us.

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Obasanjo, in spite of his “I only listen to God and not advisers” turned out to be obsessed by term elongation. Buhari, a prophet worshipped by some unquestioning 12 million ‘talakawas’ from the north left Nigeria worse than he met it because of his cronyism and provincialism.

The paradox however is that despite serial betrayal, our survival as an organized society depends on politician’s versatility, brinksmanship and skilful exploitation of man’s infirmities. Who else can reconcile public affluence with public squalor or give ‘hope which rises eternal in the human breast’ but the politician?

Now let us critically examine some of the president’s other controversial interventions that impacted negatively on Nigerians in the last one year starting with February CBN hikes in import duty “at the expense of Nigerians” (apology to Chamberlain Usoh of Channels TV).

The only justification for hike on duty paid on imported vehicles was the fluctuation in the exchange rate of naira to the dollar. Clearing agents protested in the circumstance that an importer of 10 years old used car would be asked to cough-out N4.8m tariff because of volatility of exchange rate even when dollar is not our legal tender.

Apart from inflicting more pains on Nigerians, the other bi-product was inflation. Government excessive taxation was passed by importers to Nigerian consumers who unfortunately have no alternative to used cars. Since we have been warned by KPMG that we cannot stimulate growth by overtaxing our people, a more creative approach would have been to retrace our steps back to the era of backward integration (before we were swindled by model builders of ‘theory of comparative advantage’), and see how to bring back the assembly plants through which we once assembled our cars, busses and vehicle accessories, including batteries, seats, windscreens, brake pads etc. That was an era when imported new car in Nigeria cost just about N3,000 while Nigeria-assembled Peugeot car was valued at about N8,000.

As for the recent hike in electricity tariff, no one in government has been able to give Nigerians rational explanation to support the exercise, a development which makes people wonder if government understands governance is all about communication.

But let us remember where we are coming from. Government expended between $8b and $16b on NEPA before it was unbundled. Many of the PDP stalwarts who bought the discos had no knowledge of the industry. The result was that, they only serviced their indebtedness to the banks from monies collected from consumers while they spent what was left on themselves.

Meanwhile government held on to the transmission line, in the name of national security. Unfortunately in spite of eight years of government’s direct negotiation with German government, SIEMENS’ promised expansion of the transmission line which currently transmit only about 50% of what is generated is yet to materialize.

The generating plants are also supposed to be independent. The Minister for Power, Adebayo Adelabu however recently told us they still enjoy government subsidy because the Discos could not meet their obligations. This perhaps explains why the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said it needed N135.2 billion as subsidy for the second quarter of 2023 which was an increase of N99.21 billion or 275% per cent compared to the previous quarter of N36b.

But it is also on record that the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, back in March 2022 told Nigerians that “we have been able to quietly implement subsidy removal in the electricity sector and as we speak, we don’t have subsidy in the electricity sector. We did that incrementally over time by carefully adjusting the prices at some levels while holding the lower level down”. Unfortunately, these inconsistencies have only made the president’s arduous work and call for more sacrifice difficult.

It is also not any less intriguing that some two years back, the Discos negotiated what could be considered an economic rate with those now placed in “Band A’ with an assurance they would enjoy at least 20 hours of electricity supply per day. It is unimaginable discos would have done this especially in Lagos if it was not profitable. That one is assaulted in the face by an array of at least 19 state-of-the-art Toyota SUVs at Ikeja Electric Headquarters, allegedly meant for the use of Directors was in itself evidence of profitability.

That Ibadan, Benin, Kaduna and some other discos were taken over by banks could only be attributed to inefficiency of the part of their managers who as indicated above have little knowledge of the industry and committed no personal funds of their own when they bought the Discos.

Unfortunately, the minister of power and his men who did not think Nigerians deserve explanation for the above contradictions and went ahead to hike electricity tariff from N66 kilowatt per hour to N225 kilowatt per hour, an increase of over 300%, have only made the president’s call for more sacrifice by overburdened Nigerians to fall on deaf ears.

The current controversial Cybersecurity levy over which civil society groups have on behalf of overburdened Nigerians dragged the president to court was probably the work of overzealous aides. Most Nigeria newspapers last Monday led with howling headline “Tinubu suspends cybersecurity levy to prevent overburdening of Nigerians”.

First, Cybercrime Security Act 2024 expressly identified banking and other financial institutions covered by the Act. How then did overburdened Nigerians get smuggled in, if one may ask?

It is obvious banks that declare humongous profits in billions are not doing enough to protect the interests of depositors. Many of them have in fact been known to protect criminals. As for other forms of cybercrime insecurity, President Tinubu is not helped by the failure of Buhari to eradicate security threats despite what Nigerians went through during the process of NIN registration supervised by Isa Ali Pantami, former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy.

And finally, it is hoped this one year baptism of fire will enable President Tinubu to take more seriously the repeated warnings of Nigerian stakeholders that after almost 60 years in the wilderness, the way forward is to go backwards. Only last Monday at a book launch event, new converts – former presidents, Obasanjo and Jonathan suggested a return to a parliamentary system.

May 16, 2024
To the broken man in the corpse of a child…

The blood-thirsty squad that invaded the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, Yobe State, comprised adolescent boys. Moving in deathly herds, they invaded the high school on February 25, 2014, like a storm cloud split by snaky thunderbolts.

They stabbed through the night with a huge spear of mayhem and pumped hot bullets into the students while they slept, killing 59 boys.

Eyewitnesses said they threw explosives into dorms as they sprayed the rooms with gunfire. Some of the students who tried to escape through the windows landed right before the terrorists, who slit their throats. Save a few survivors, the rest were burnt to death.

There was no outrage in the wake of the massacre. Just silence. Convenient disconcerting quiet.

Two months later, on April 14 – 15 to be precise, another batch of terrorists stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, and abducted 276 female students aged 16 to 18. And all hell was let loose as women’s rights activists, international and local NGOs started a campaign to free the girls. The movement gained global appeal as prominent figures identified with hashtags in the girls’ interest.

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Through the hubbub, nobody paid a good mind to a curious development concerning both attacks and several other terrorist attacks afterwards: the majority of the perpetrators were boys at the cusp of adolescence. Some of the survivors of the attacks attested to this fact.

Joseph David aka Ibrahim Al-Hajjar, a Boko Haram commander, would subsequently reveal to me in an exclusive interview that he led a troop of at least 150 teenagers and underage boys in Sambisa forest.

David also forcibly married two of the Chibok girls: Precious a.k.a Faridah and Elizabeth a.k.a Amina, as co-wives to his first wife, Faridah, who he abducted from Madagali, in Borno State.

A dangerous storm is brewing as you read. The boys we ignored have learnt the ropes of savage being yet nobody gives a hoot. At least, we would worry about what becomes of us when they set our neighbourhoods on fire, in a manic search for the warmth and attention we denied them.

There is the argument that these boys are the results of polygyny gone wrong in the Muslim north; self-styled intellectuals and critics are quick to point out that Islamic polygyny is a problem that afflicts the north with hordes of almajiri, who are oft recruited as cannon fodder for ethno-religious crisis and terrorism. They recommend monogamy as a better alternative. This is a cheeky and self-serving argument.

Islam and its precepts of polygyny cannot be blamed for the protracted violence in the north. The violence was borne of extreme politics and governance failure and must be blamed on the politicians, civil societies, parents, and individuals who are abusing the system in pursuit of selfish political, ethnoreligious, coital, and emotional lusts.

How do we explain the thousands of children/child goons birthed outside wedlock in the southern parts of the country? Many of them are products of broken marriages and serial monogamy. There are several cases in which children are sired by a parent across successive monogamous marriages and informal cohabitation; one marriage breaks down, and the parent moves on to another partner, and so on. Lest we forget the ubiquitous ‘love-child’ and products of high school teen lust.

Children sired via such arrangements are often sent to live with their grannies or forced to live as house helps in the homes of close and distant relatives. When they stay with an apathetic or extremely busy parent or guardian, they are condemned to the gruesome life of a latchkey child.

Amid the sullied wave of awareness blowing through the country, these children learn assertiveness the way of the streets; some eventually flee the cold comfort of their parents’ or guardians’ abode – such children are called: ‘Awon omo o sanle.’ They constitute the rippling muscle of teen gangs and cult groups haunting Lagos, Oyo, and other parts of the southwest. While their peers in the northeast and northwest are forcibly recruited by bandits, Boko Haram and ISWAP death squads, they assume a different kind of terror to families, neighbourhoods, and States in the southern parts of the country.

Hundreds of children are dumped in refuse, school, and public latrines; and subsequently condemned to shady orphanages and remand homes. If they are female, they become easy marks for sex traffickers and drug barons. If male, they end up as political thugs, drug mules, armed robbers, assassins, kidnappers, and gangbangers.

In Osun, teenagers and young adults fleeing EFCC arrest in Lagos reassembled to practice internet fraud; recently, they rioted against frequent arrests and investigations by the police and EFCC. Many shamelessly identified themselves as ‘Game Boys’ (internet fraudsters or Yahoo boys).

Cut to Lagos, the melting pot of turf battles and teenage gang wars. The city grapples with the menace of teen cults including the Awawa Boys, One Million Boys, Fadeyi Boys, Ereko Boys, Akala Boys, Ijesha Boys, Awala Boys, Shitta Boys, Nokia Boys, No Salary Boys, One Hour Boys, Oshodi Boys, No Mercy Boys, Aguda Boys, Night Cadet, Black Scorpion, Red Scorpion, Akamo Boys, Omo Kasari Confraternity, Para Gang Confraternity (mainly teenage girls), Japa Boys and Koko Boys, among many others.

What started innocently as a group of minors begging people for money eventually metamorphosed into a gang of fearsome underage and teen cultists and armed robbers of ages 6 to 19.

More worrisome is Awawa’s incursion into primary schools. Several months ago, 12 pupils of the Egan Community School, between the ages of 6 and 16, were reportedly caught after their initiation into Awawa, in the Alimosho area of Lagos. But their initiation would have taken place undetected for a Guidance and Counselling teacher at the school.

The pupils were allegedly recruited by a 16-year-old girl, who attends a sister school, Egan Senior Grammar in Igando, Lagos, and were undergoing training to become future hitmen of the cult.

The Awawa Boys operate in rag-tag squads of four, five, seven, 10 to 15 boys bearing deadly arms including baseball bats, clubs, meat cleavers, daggers, crude metal bars, ‘two by two’ (wooden planks with nails) and forks. For large missions, they operate as flash mobs of 100 to 150 boys.

They terrorise Agege, Iyana-Ipaja, Ibari, Ashade, Dopemu, Ogba, Ifako-Ijaiye, Abule-Egba, Ifako-Ijaye, Agege, Isale Oja, Ogba Ashade, Aluminium Village, and other parts of Lagos mainland and island.

Though predominantly a cult of boys, females including prepubescent girls are recruited into the gang. An Awawa Boy can be identified by a drippy teardrop tattoo beside the left eye.

Members of the cult are drug dependent. They binge on psychotropic substances including omi gota (gutter juice), colorado, pamilerin, codeine, cannabis, rohypnol and tramadol. And members nurse a morbid fascination for raping older women and also young girls.

These are the monsters we created. Growing up, all they needed were exemplary masculine role models to emulate but what society offered them was an ethos of manhood that they could dumb down to.

Nigeria treats the boy-child as an affliction to society and females, in particular; he is cast as inconsequential in the scheme of things. In truth, he is.

This minute, he is marching as a terrorist or armed bandit, to abduct, rape, and kill perhaps, the daughters we frantically empower and protect.

This is the world we built: a cosmos of ‘strong women’ reliant on Atlas’ strength, yet imperilled by his shrug.

In commemoration of the International Day of the Boychild

May 16, 2024
Celebrating Professor Ayodeji Ladipo Banjo at 90

Professor Ayo Banjo was educated at the universities of Glasgow, Leeds, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Ibadan. He had his secondary education at Igbobi College, Lagos and had had primary schooling at Oyo where he was born in 1934 on the grounds of Saint Andrews College to a highly educated father who had graduated from Foura Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and his trajectory in life was determined by how hard he was willing to push himself because money was not the problem as it was for many of his compatriots. His illustrious father even rose to be a college principal and a parliamentarian representing one of the Ijebu constituencies in the Western House of Assembly thus having toes in the two critical agencies of growth and modernisation in Nigeria, the church and government. Ayo Ladipo Banjo comes from an illustrious family of five children, four boys and a girl and they all did well, his older brother was a famous medical doctor and his junior brother an academic librarian; the last of the boys was at the Ibadan Grammar School where he distinguished himself as a famous footballer who took to business as an adult. The oldest and youngest brothers have joined the saints triumphant unfortunately.

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Ayodeji Ladipo Banjo who turned 90 on May 2 was former vice chancellor of the premier university of Ibadan. Bravo erudite Professor (emeritus ) of English Language at the University of Ibadan from where he took a voluntary retirement about three decades ago. Having taught in one capacity or the other since 1966 and rising from the position of lecturer to senior lecturer, professor and head of department, Dean of Faculty of Arts, Deputy vice chancellor, acting vice chancellor for a year before becoming finally, vice chancellor from 1984 to 1994. He has been pro chancellor and chairman of the governing councils of the universities of Port Harcourt and Ilorin and the new Anglican mission-endowed Bishop Ajayi Crowther University ending finally as chairman of the governing council of the National Universities Commission.

His career spanned a period of 60 years or slightly more. He can rightly be called “Mr Nigerian University”. He is a recipient of several accolades and fellowships of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, (FNAL) NNOM, National Order of Merit and a grateful country has honoured him with the title of Commander of the of the Niger (CON) the highest national honour for distinguished service to the country in education. He has been visiting professor of English to the University of the West Indies and held a visiting fellowship at Cambridge University. Not many people know about his role as a teacher of English in government secondary schools in the old government colleges including a stint at the Government College Ugheli now in Delta State where his late wife hailed from. Service as a secondary school teacher gave him the insight which informed his writing a successful book on English language at that level. The teaching of English to people whose mother tongue was not English apparently influenced his research interest at university. His life epitomises the statement that service deserves its reward and Nigeria has rewarded Professor Banjo with numerous appointments including serving as chairman of the board of literature award of Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas (NNLG) and was also called to advise government on remuneration of university staff several times when university staff downed their “tools” so to say. In all these interventions, he has fought for the sector and refused to give up when his advice was turned down. He has been pained when universities were poorly funded despite government prodding of the sector to expand in the face of growing students applications for admission. He foresaw the founding of private universities but he expected their entry to be in an orderly fashion to complement government efforts in the area but not in the commercial trading fashion by which the expectation of making money had lured all kinds of characters into the venture which has led to duplication of academic and professional offering with little distinction or difference from one another.

I have had occasional discussion with the iconic scholar on this and I know he is more passionate and pained by the unwieldy nature in which higher educational institutions has developed in Nigeria than those of us who have taken public position on this tragic situation.

The University of Ibadan which he headed for practically 11 years was hobbled by the weight of non-academic distractions of provision of municipal services totally unrelated to the normal call of universities in other climes and places. Universities were for exchange of ideas and teaching of students without being burdened down by municipal inefficiency. How to return universities to its primary purpose of research and pedagogy was a problem faced by Banjo and his colleagues confronting militant trade unionism of academic and non-academic staff. Those at the helm of affairs in the universities who know what to do have surrendered to political interference and the desire to keep their wretched jobs while constantly threatened by those in government and their supervisory bureaucracy.

Like the country the problem of the university has become hydra headed to the point of irreversibility, Professor Banjo remains a constant reference point in university administration like Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike as vice chancellor of Ibadan and Professor J.F Ade Ajayi as vice chancellor of Lagos. He will continue to be remembered for his high integrity and transparency and commitment to good university administration.

He and I live in the same area of Ibadan undistinguishable from other areas of poorly maintained roads. He lives in a simple house that unlike many Nigerians who have held high positions in the country is not different from those of his neighbours. He joins all of us in our neighbourhood association to contribute money to pay local security services, repair security gates and to plead for mercy from electricity provider to deliver power to struggling teachers who need to read to do the normal duties of professors. Forget about potable water; everybody has his or her own dugout well or borehole from which we all at least get water to clean our toilets and to wash plates and utensils in the kitchen while we buy bottled water to drink but we cannot bet our lives on the quality of the bottled water! Everybody who can afford it is a local government on his or her own providing water, electricity and security in modern Nigeria!

This reminds me of a story by late Professor Ladipo Akinkugbe, distinguished professor emeritus of Medicine in Ibadan who said after attending a conference in Oxford University in England, he went out to buy a pump and giant switch and spare parts for his generator followed by an English colleague who innocently asked him if he was into big time farming somewhere in the bush near Ibadan. When the English man was told what he bought were for his house he could not understand or believe him. Professor Banjo can be very funny especially when we discuss our neighbourhood affairs and how to “encourage “the NEPA people to remember us that we need light to remain relevant in our lecture rooms!

On a personal note, when I was pro chancellor and chairman of the governing council of Ekiti State University, I invited him and Professor Kayode Oyediran, and Professor Olufemi Bamiro, all former vice chancellors of the University of Ibadan to help me choose the best vice chancellor for the newly amalgamated three state universities in the state. Of course they did an excellent job and when the governor who is statutorily the Visitor saw the calibre of the people involved, he said if Professor Banjo had a hand in it, he, the governor, would not vary the recommendation and he quickly acceded to my request by appointing Professor Dipo Aina, a first class soil scientist who elevated the university to a higher level by virtually rebuilding it

Professor Banjo is big man academically and physically and there are unfortunately not many of his type in the current leadership of Nigerian universities. He has used his talents to help along with others to establish the Nigerian Academy of Letters of which he was the second president. Unless he was sick or engaged with state affairs, he has been a permanent feature of the Academy of Letters and the Academy remains eternally grateful.

Live long, distinguished and iconic academic and university administrator and leader of men.

May 9, 2024
Fubara’s flight into fantasy

The legislature does not exist at the behest of the executive. Any person who thinks it does is only deluding himself. Politicians, as we all know, like to live in the world of illusion. They arrogate to themselves the power that they do not have. By do doing, they become big and important in the eyes of the beholder.

Politicians like to hear words, such as: ‘that man is important’, ‘our governor is powerful’, ‘the President is very, very powerful and can do and undo’. These are mere words that people utter to massage the egos of leaders, but which gets into their heads. It is easy to make the heads of the President, a governor and leaders in other fields swell by singing their praise. Hangers-on are good at that.

They know what the leader wants to hear and they say it to his face. It takes the grace of God for a man of position and means not to fall for the fawning of such people, who only come around in good times. When things are otherwise, they speak with their feet. By virtue of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the legislature is the second arm of government, but that does not make it a second fiddle to the executive.

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Though, it is number two in the hierarchy, the legislature is the most important arm of government because of its functions, which are clearly spelt out in the Constitution. Some of its duties are to make laws for the good governance of the country; the welfare and safety of the citizenry and the control of public funds. As the custodian of the public good, much is expected from the legislature. Painfully, it has not lived up to expectations. Oftentimes, it toes the line of the executive to the chagrin of the people.

The only time it asserts itself is when its interests are affected. Then, the legislature comes out blazing and firing on all cylinders, as we are now witnessing in Rivers State where it is at loggerheads with Governor Siminalayi Fubara. It is because the legislature has overtime sold its birthright for a mess of porridge that it has become the play thing of the executive. Can you imagine Fubara saying that the House of Assembly owes its existence to him? His statement shows the level of his contempt for the legislators.

But, I do not blame him; I blame the lawmakers who have always been in bed with any governor in power rather than be on the side of the people, who are their constituents. By virtue of this relationship, they have failed to discharge their constitutional duty without fear or favour; affection and illwill. Fubara and the lawmakers have been in a running battle since the governor fell out with his predecessor and godfather, Nyesom Wike, who is now Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister. Majority of the lawmakers are with Wike. The remaining five or so that are for Fubara have been shut out of the assembly’s activities.

So, Fubara has no voice, so to say, in the assembly. Experienced politicians know what to do in such circumstance. They reach out to the opponent and fashion something out for the government to run smoothly. Fubara is not ready to play the politics of give-and-take. He prefers to burn bridges instead of riding on them to achieve the results for which he was elected. You never say never in politics the way Fubara is doing, otherwise you will end up the loser.

Perhaps, Fubara is getting carried away by those solidarity visits to the Government House. We have seen all that before. The visits will fizzle out in no time when power changes hands. He should note that he cannot cut the lawmakers to size by denying them funding, which is their legitimate right anyway, and the use of the assembly complex, which has since been wittingly destroyed, for their sittings.

He had an opportunity to turn things to his own good when President Bola Tinubu intervened and brokered peace between him and the lawmakers. He flunked it by listening to the ‘august visitors’ who cannot help him when the chips are down. All what these visitors are after is what they can get from him as the sitting ‘Your Excellency’. These people will switch allegiance without batting an eyelid if he loses out at the end of the day.

How can Fubara say that the lawmakers are in office because he allowed it? Even if he is coming from the angle that they have defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), he still does not have the power to pronounce on the legitimacy of the retention of their seats. Only the judiciary, which is the third arm of government can do that. That the Constitution gives him as a governor the power to proclaim the convening of the inaugural session of the House of Assembly does not give him a hold over the legislature.

This is purely an exercise of administrative power that cannot be used by Fubara to determine the legality or otherwise of the House of Assembly. The President as father of the nation haa done all that is expected of him to ensure peace in Rivers. It is left for Fubara and the lawmakers to make the peace accord, whether constitutional or political brokered by the President, work. Fubara should stop taking the President’s name when it suits him to do so to justify his actions that negate the peace accord, all because according to him, it is a political and not constitutional solution.

If that is so, is his claim that the House of Assembly exists at his pleasure constitutional? Our politicians should be mindful of what they say in the heat of the moment because of the consequences. It is because the Rivers crisis can be resolved that the President settled for political option, which is the amicable way to lay it to rest. But are the parties ready for settlement? If it is their wish to fight to the finish, it is left to them. One thing is sure: both sides will be left battered, bloodied and bruised. As they make their bed, so they will lie on it.

May 9, 2024
The politics of Lagos – Calabar coastal highway

The idea for a major coastal federal road in Nigeria was said to have been first conceptualized in 1955 by the then Federal Commissioner of Finance, late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh. It remained just a concept until the fourth republic when President Olusegun Obasanjo started the Warri- Calabar portion of it which is best described as the jinxed East-West road. President Goodluck Jonathan through NDDC was also said to have awarded the Koko-Ogheye-Epe road to Levant Construction Ltd in 2010. Because close to 70% of road construction under Buhari was in the north, the coastal road project received little attention. Tinubu however made it a campaign issue following Ayade’s pleading during his campaign tour of Cross River in the run up to the 2023 election. Perhaps this was why he decided the time for procrastination was over.

The long gestation period before the take-off of the project may not be unconnected with the politics of infrastructure distribution which was one of divisive issues that contributed to the collapse of the first republic in 1966. It is on record that the north has always kicked against any project that could not be replicated in the north. In 1962, despite the closeness of Dr Majekodunmi to Tafawa Balewa, his proposal for some form of health insurance for Lagos workers was killed by northern back benchers. For the same reason the completion of the third mainland bridge by Ibrahim Babangida came many years after it was initially stopped by President Shehu Shagari. Lateef Jakande also held Shehu Shagari responsible for the derailment of Lagos Metroline later cancelled by Buhari’s military regime in 1983. That opposition to the ongoing Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway was led by former Vice President Atiku, who played on the fears of northern ethnic group during last February election did not come as a surprise to observers of Nigerian politics.

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There has been no disagreement on the heuristic value of Lagos – Calabar coastal highway which experts believe will generate, both directly and indirectly, thousands of jobs from ‘toll management, road maintenance to springing up of new industries, filling stations, CNG stations, auto-mechanic workshops, shopping malls, hotels’ etc. Minister David Umahi, as minister of works says the coastal road “will have two spurs that will link up with Northern Nigeria to further integrate the north and south in terms of movement of people, goods and services”.

For Lagos State, economic analysts have revealed that the completion of the first phase of the project alone could increase the size of the state economy by 50% because of the connection to Lekki Deep Seaport and the Lekki economic corridor where Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex is situated alongside other multinational industries.

For the people of Cross River State, whose former governor, Ben Ayade secured an undertaking from President Tinubu during his presidential campaign, the “coastal highway is going to be a game changer for the socio-economic status of Cross River as it is bound to add value to our rich agricultural produce and boost tourism traffic to our unique tourism sites.”

And to current governor, Bassey Otu, “Nothing is more gratifying at the moment than the cheering news of the commencement of the highway which is bound to ensure our rapid transformation in all facets of economic development by driving traffic of investors and tourists.”

For Ben Murray-Bruce, the founder of the Silverbird Group, who is also a former federal lawmaker from Bayelsa State, the project which he describes as “another proof of the transformative power of visionary leadership by President Bola Tinubu”, is a “game changer for investors, entrepreneurs and travellers and a “symbol of hope for a brighter future.”

Indeed governors of Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Edo, and Delta states during their 12th gathering in Yenogoa on April 31 lauded President Bola Tinubu for initiating the construction of the coastal highway.

The enthusiasm of those who will benefit from the project has however not stopped stiff opposition coming from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 election. While the latter wanted to know “what is so important about the coastal highway that it is priority over security and the attendant food scarcity”, the former seems to be more interested in questioning the integrity of the president as a continuation of their last year electoral duel.

First, Atiku Abubakar accused the president of putting his personal interest ahead of the Nigerian people by awarding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road contract to Gilbert Chagoury which he said is akin to awarding it to Bola Tinubu, as both are business partners. His other grouse was government’s alleged demolition of Onwuanibe’s Landmark iconic tourism facilities especially at a period the environmental impact assessment report was not even completed.

Umahi, the minister has however tried to put the records straight. He confirmed there was indeed a preliminary approval by Ministry of Environment. He also said the signing of the contract went through due process; that government made some payment as part of its obligation for counterpart funding; that ‘the owner of Landmark was playing politics with politicians since none of Landmark’s infrastructure is impacted by the coastal development and that the shoreline on which some caravans were destroyed did not belong to Landmark but to the federal government’.

“I’ve asked him to bring his documents and I challenge him and his co-politicians to bring the documents”, the minister dared Landmark owner who unfortunately could not provide title to the shoreline he illegally sublet out during his subsequent meeting with the minster.

Unfortunately, a section of the media often see government as enemy while crusading without restraint for rich paymasters (apology to Seun, Fela Anikulapo’s son ) and sponsors who play the victims at the expense of Nigerians.

In spite of being in total control of his ministry and demonstrating his mastery of the issues at stake during the press briefing, this segment of the media continues to demonise Minister Umahi, unarguably one of the most competent and dedicated public servants in this administration. He has been dishonestly described as “imperial, impervious, a garrulous fellow who makes his day listening to his own voice, and takes pride in elevating his participation in lawlessness” and a minister “who is unable to explain anything about the Coastal Highway beyond defending what does not make any sense”.

Journalists who only listen to their own truth want to teach Umahi quantity surveying and engineering. They dismiss report from the minister of environment with a wave of hand while an advice by Terseer Ugbo of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment to the effect that national interest as defined by the executive overrides individual private interest was equally rejected.

The irony is that suddenly because of politics of infrastructure, those who invested state funds in private business or cornered mouth-watering Nigerian Ports Authority contracts wile in government want us to believe those in government today are evil men. And as if we all suffer from collective amnesia, their media promoters who only yesterday swore by the name of Godwin Emefiele, today, want Nigerians to accept them as pathfinders.

May 9, 2024
Beyond rhetoric and pallbearers

The partisan critic parades patriotic zeal in a careless style. He is the plebeian statue sculpted of spunk and spittle. Governors, lawmakers, and the presidency consider him to be a dangerous yet compliant cuss perhaps because his activism commands insolent currencies.

In truth, he is the proverbial yowl plundering rage slipshod, a revolutionary of dubious grace. His flashing eyes and vagrant rage combine cheeky swag with gruff panache. Flashing eyes may command and pierce but they can also incinerate from within.

This is why #BringBackOurGirls, #Nottooyoungtorun, #ChurchTakeBackYourCountry, #2023Elections and other epochal movements barely redefine our lives: together, we either burn or bloom through their parochial contractions.

Some of these events unfurl, mired in acrimony. For instance, while violence and rage afflicted the #EndSARS protest, acrimony and hate speech permeated the 2023 elections.

Yet the fruits of these events are negative for the same reason that they are positive for the youth; the resultant turmoil counsels caution, tact and masterful self-containment. One positive takeaway from such events is the timeless opportunity they offered the youth to regroup and re-strategise.

There is no gainsaying large segments of the citizenry bemoan the extremities imposed by the removal of fuel subsidy and the floatation of the naira and its subsequent slump against the dollar; against the backdrop of these afflictions, Nigerians experience their most provocative descent into the maelstrom of a distressed economy and toxic politics.

President Bola Tinubu certainly has his work cut out for him. At the moment, his ritualised personality totters through the maw of Nigeria’s subterranean nature. Will his government truly serve as a vessel of Renewed Hope or will it loom like a titanic funnel with a frail voice, half shrieking, half roaring in dubious clamour?

Amid the torment of insecurity, a struggling economy and unemployment, he must resuscitate Nigeria from the gallows of misgovernance. On his watch, governance must manifest humanely.

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Tinubu’s administration must make social and economic palliatives work for every segment of society irrespective of gender, tribe or social class. He must fulfil his promise to review the federal budgetary culture, revamp national infrastructure, resuscitate local industry, drive an import substitution agenda, reform the taxation system whereby the rich will pay more for what they consume, and lastly fight corruption, inefficiency and waste in government.

And while we grapple with tighter management of the exchange rate as an alternative to the current loose, open market approach, he must make good his promise to devise a national industrial plan that extends tax and other credit facilities, encourages domestic manufacturers and producers, and develop major and minor industrial hubs in all geopolitical zones.

Tinubu’s palliatives must be relatable to the people’s needs thus negotiations to increase the minimum wage must be realistically devised in the interest of the masses. His administration’s adoption of measures like affordable public transport fuelled with cheaper energy sources, among other incentives, is appreciable.

As Nigeria reclaims her corpus from the claws of economic hardship, fresh afflictions manifest in sick bloom thus presenting public officers and their billionaire associates in the private sector with interminable prospects as patriots and saviours, rhetoricians and pallbearers.

Yet, the masses chant, “Let the poor breathe!” across social media platforms. This new refrain has, over time, attained toxic undertones as a language of disenchantment and protest by agitated segments of the masses.

Under the tenor of rage carelessly spun and hurled in the social space, however, manifests a positive suasion for peace and patience with the new government. A new league of patriots must emerge through the womb wall of our travails, preaching forbearance despite the threat of grislier hardship.

This is a refreshing antidote to the radical youth segments that emerged from the political woods to participate in the 2023 polls. At the loss of the latter’s poll favourites, they weaponized their dissent and angst into a shrill orchestra.

For a generation that prides itself on its disruptive capacities, their response to defeat was frantic, juvenile, and predictable.

Contempt was a black hole of their dissent; the disdain for constructive criticism, and a spiralling convolution of the psyche. Little wonder they surged ethically knocked.

More youths have learnt, perhaps, that you don’t cherry-pick aspects of your favourite demagogue to fulfil your narrative of hope. Eventually, you deal with the results of your actions and inaction through the storms.

It is inspiring that the youth have finally woken up. But they must understand that our expectations for a better future do not solely hang on the office of Mr President. Every tier and organ of government must be brought to account.

A curious development through the 2023 elections was the fear pervasive of the corridors of power. There was a realisation among the political class of the need to reengage more productively and humanely with the youths.

Several political actors became scared of losing their clout and almighty “political capital.” Such fear is a good thing. Former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, once warned his political class to productively engage with the youths to forestall the resurgence of an #EndSARS-like carnage. Lawan no doubt dreads an uglier revolt even as the youth romanticises its eventuality, in time.

Vladimir Lenin’s homily of a successful revolt benchmarks all three Russian revolutions in the 20th century; he said, it is not enough for a revolution that the exploited and oppressed masses should understand the impossibility of living in the old way and demand changes, what is required for revolution is that the exploiters should not be able to live and rule in the old way.

Only when the “lower classes” do not want the old way, and when the “upper classes” cannot carry on in the old way—only then can revolution win.

To rebuild Nigeria, the youth must seek more visionary participation in the political process. They must seize the moment to regroup, adopt or establish a viable political party, duly registered, and founded on humane principles of nationhood, citizenship, and thought.

They must present through legitimate means, to the parliament, a heartfelt wish to renegotiate their participation in the forthcoming elections. To achieve this, they must urge the National Assembly to normalise the use of more accessible and acceptable means of voting in the 2027 elections.

Of course, the political class will object to this given their penchant for hoarding voter cards to fulfil their rigging master plans, but it’s worth starting the debate over that.

And suppose the youths truly intend to assert themselves progressively at the forthcoming elections. In that case, they must begin to woo societal segments they have hitherto ignored and dismissed as too violent, too dumb, too compromised, and too wild.

Suppose they are truly keen on more impactful political participation. In that case, they must learn to accommodate the random hooligan, and street urchin, among others, as co-travellers in the march towards the Nigeria of our dreams.

Nobody was born to serve as a hooligan, arsonist, or assassin; the youth must initiate debates and deliberations spanning various fora, nationwide, whereby they would honestly thrash out crucial issues that aid the reduction of Nigeria’s youth to disposable social elements and cannon fodder for political violence.

They must eschew violence and the inclinations for hate speech, and their synergies must be guided and adapted through an ad hoc and premeditated coordination in repelling moles, armed goons, and saboteurs, who would be sent to disrupt their rallies with tribal toxins, fake news, religious venom, and filthy lucre.

None of these is achievable where the youths remain faceless and buried in herd feral.

May 9, 2024