The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • 2025: Pivotal year for Tinubu, Nigeria

    2025: Pivotal year for Tinubu, Nigeria

    Nigerians are a very religious people. Not surprisingly, a tradition has developed over the years in this country where prophets, priests, seers and others of that tribe, unleash a torrent of prophecies concerning the new year. With the benefit of hindsight, one can say some of these predictions fairly captured the general tone 2024 took. Others were wide off the mark. But don’t expect that failing to stop some from approaching their clouded crystal balls again.

    You don’t need to be a soothsayer to know that 2025 would a pivotal year for President Bola Tinubu, his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the opposition parties and Nigeria as a whole. There’s much that happened in the closing weeks and months of the last year that gives you a sense of how things might pan out over the next 12 months.

    The big story for the 2025 would, again, be the state of the economy. In 2024, Nigeria grappled with the fallout from Tinubu’s economic reforms. The fuel subsidy regime that had become a permanent feature of our national life was terminated abruptly. It wasn’t exactly surgery without anaesthesia, rather the painkillers – now popularly referred to as palliatives – felt more like placebos.

    For much of the year all the talk was about economic hardship as citizens battled an inflationary spiral that didn’t respond to anything the Central Bank threw at it. The cost of moving goods and people hit an all-time high. Hopes that the commencement of operations by the Dangote Refinery would bring some relief, proved to be massively exaggerated.

    But as the year wound to a close, the unexpected resuscitation of the old Port Harcourt refinery, produced a very rare phenomenon – a drop in the price of a popular commodity. Before our very eyes, the arguments of proponents of full deregulation of the petroleum sector began to manifest. Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) were soon locked in a price competition that brought pump price of petrol to less than N1,000 per litre in major cities.

    More good news came last Monday with reactivation of the 125,000 bpd Warri Refinery. Some time in this new year, Abdulsamad Rabiu’s BUA Refinery and the new Port Harcourt refinery are expected to come on stream. This is expected to further sharpen competition for market share, leading to a drop in prices benefiting motorists.

    Read Also: Warri refinery restoration, New Year gift to Nigerians – Gov Okpebholo

    It doesn’t end there. The rise in local refining capacity means Nigeria is effectively now an exporter of refined petroleum products. Dangote is already sending its products to different parts of Africa and beyond. There were reports last year that the coming of this 650,000 bpd facility would be bad news for some refineries across Europe as they were likely to lose customers, eventually leading to them shutting down.

    This is a remarkable turnaround for a country which for many decades was enslaved to imported petrol. It is especially cheering that facilities which many had dismissed as junk have been substantially recovered, such that it can be said that not all of the billions of dollars invested in turnaround maintenance were totally wasted.

    Events in the petroleum sector are a welcome departure from much of the gloom and doom of the past year. They just help everyone to see the possibilities for economic prosperity that lie ahead.

    It would be hasty to think that the refineries alone would change the fundamental issues dogging the economy. Much will rest on the fortunes of the naira against the dollar and other major currencies. The consensus is that CBN tweaking alone won’t strengthen the currency. Rather, producing for export as well as attracting foreign investment would do the trick.

    The last set of figures from the government showed that our foreign reserves had crossed the $40 billion mark. This is the highest it has reached for years. Still, we can do better. A weaker naira might be good for exporters but it’s also bad news for local business whose inputs are largely imported. It would be the challenge of the managers of the economy to get the rate down to a level that’s satisfactory for all sides.

    One of the great disappointments of the past few years has been in the area of agriculture where it is generally acknowledged the country in punching below its weight. The scary headline inflation rate has been largely impacted by high food prices. Aside smuggling, food inflation has been fuelled by insecurity across the nation’s baskets. Until farmers feel safe enough to return to their lands not much will change.

    The government understands this much. That’s why security has received the highest allocation of funds in the 2025 budget. Tinubu has vowed in recent speeches that his government would take back every inch of Nigerian land occupied by non-state actors as well as stamp its presence on all ungoverned spaces.

    Hopefully, he would match his words with action as security is crucial to the nation meeting its agricultural and crude oil production targets.

    Concerning, the wider challenge of insecurity, some progress was made in 2024. With the exception of the Lakurawa terror group which suddenly emerged in the Nothwest, attacks by Boko Haram in the Northeast have been muted or virtually non-existent. Beyond a few attacks in Benue and Plateau, this season has been relatively devoid of bloodshed in such theatres as Southern Kaduna. Such gains need to sustained while ensuring kidnapping becomes a rare story.

    On the political front, it promises to be an intriguing year for Tinubu and APC. By May 29, he would be at the halfway mark of his four-year tenure. How his administration is perceived at that point could have a bearing on his fortunes at the 2027 elections. This is moreso considering that his political foes have been scheming from day one to deny him a second term.

    At the height of the challenges arising from his economic reforms many suggested they would have a negative impact on his political fortunes. I have, however, argued that time is the president’s greatest ally. His smartest step was to move quickly on the most painful reforms at a time far removed from the next polls. If his policies produce positive results voters would have forgotten the pain come 2027. For every success story delivered, his stature becomes more muscular.

    The reverse is the case for his rivals who can only watch from the sidelines while he pulls all the powerful levers of the presidency. Tinubu is either a very lucky man or a truly visionary politician. With fuel subsidy he pulled off what all his predecessors were too scared to touch. He did it and the heavens didn’t fall. Miraculously, Nigerians who largely resisted it in the past meekly fell in line.

    Under him, refineries that the likes former President Olusegun Obasanjo swore can never work, are roaring back to life. He is on the verge of scoring a major coup with the tax reform bills despite desperate opposition from entrenched interests. He is pressing ahead with landmark road projects like the Lagos-Calabar and Badagry-Sokoto highways.

    For the opposition parties this year would be make or break. Elements from across their folds are supposedly working on a so-called ‘mega party’ with the sole aim of ending Tinubu’s reign. Nigerian history is replete with attempts at forming some sort of ‘mega’ party or the other. In the end what was delivered was a damp squib.

    In reality, an opposition ‘mega’ party already exists in the form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with presence across the country. But those scurrying around to create a new contraption are by their action passing a vote of no confidence on it, and rightly so. This once dominant party is today so riven with factions that it would be a pitiable sight if its troubles are not resolved soon. The indications are that, given the egos at war, they won’t be resolved soon.

    Still, PDP would be a platform at the next election along with whatever new thing is being cooked up. From the Second Republic until now it has been established that a fractured opposition can never unseat a focused Nigerian incumbent. The 2023 presidential election outcome is the most recent confirmation of that fact of life. So good luck with the mega party and similar wild goose chases of this new year.

    In the meantime, a very happy new to one and all, to the political and apolitical!

  • A taxing conversation

    A taxing conversation

    Of all the candidates who ran for president last year, not many would have tagged the All Progressives Congress’ (APC), Bola Tinubu, as disruptive. A leading light of the ruling party during Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year rule, he was seen as part of the establishment. Running for office he promised to continue from where his predecessor stopped. If he won, it looked like Nigerians were going to be served more of the same.

    But with his very first speech on Inauguration Day, he upended a way of life with his “subsidy is gone” declaration. In short order he would launch the naira floatation – triggering an unprecedented costing of living crisis.

    Just as the nation was coming to terms with the economic changes, his administration brought before the Supreme Court a suit that gave financial autonomy to local government areas across the country. These administrative units had long suffered under the oppressive thumbs of governors who exercised control by doling out crumbs to them from the joint state-local government accounts.

    This was the point at which many began to take notice the government wasn’t about business as usual. Governors who for decades ruled their states like emperors, suddenly found themselves restrained from fooling around with billions that was theirs to play with hitherto.

    Many ran their councils with ad-hoc committees packed with specially chosen yes men who did nothing more than paying salaries. Elections for chairmen were unheard of in many states and where they held, mere sham events to fulfil all righteousness. So, the Supreme Court judgment was a massive jolt to their systems.

    Based on that judgment they have been forced to hold elections in order for their local governments to receive allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). While many have done this grudgingly, others have gone a step further – looking for ways to circumvent the judicial stumbling block that now restricts their access to LG funds.

    In Anambra, for instance, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, came up with a law that requires councils to pay a portion of what they receive from the centre into their joint accounts. Some of his colleagues are still working on ways to retrieve the power they lost.

    It is against this backdrop that the administration dropped its bouquet of tax reform bills into the mix. About 14 months in the making, these legislations were some of the earliest initiatives embarked upon by the government; that gives a sense of how much Tinubu prioritised this area as part of his legacy.

    The package includes four main bills: the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill. Each of the legislations addresses specific aspects of tax administration, compliance, and enforcement.

    The bills are supposed to ensure uniformity in tax revenue administration across Nigeria, eliminate double taxation, use taxation to encourage private sector investment in critical industries and boost disposable incomes through targeted tax exemptions.

    The poorest in society are key winners under the new arrangement. Individuals earning below the minimum wage are exempted from the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax. Similarly, small businesses with annual turnovers of N50 million or less would be exempt from paying taxes.

    If passed into law, the bills would reduce corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25% over the next two years as a way of alleviating financial pressures on businesses and foster investment.

    The bills propose a significant shift in VAT revenue distribution, allocating revenues based on the states where goods and services are consumed rather than pooling them centrally for redistribution. This, unfortunately, has become the main bone of contention.

    The committee that worked on the reforms argues that their proposals are fair and align better with VAT’s nature as a consumption tax. The current law favours states like Lagos and Rivers which play host to the headquarters of large corporations. But it also sustains inequitable arrangements where those that contribute the most get only a fraction from the pool, while state chipping in the least get much more than they put in.

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    Most people who have taken the trouble to read through the legislations or even familiarise themselves with summaries, admit that while not perfect, the bills are a massive improvement on what we currently have. Of course, they challenge states which are currently content with heading to Abuja for the monthly handout from FAAC, to do more about boosting economic activity in their domains.

    But, surely, no one can quarrel with tax exemptions for the poorest of the poor, or cuts for struggling families. Fair minded persons cannot be against reducing the taxation burdens on MSMES and other companies.

    In other words, of the four bills, opposition has been most vociferous around that dealing with VAT. But rather than isolating it and looking at ways of addressing whatever inequities it may contain, vested interests who want to maintain the status quo would rather all four legislations are stopped in their tracks in the name of having further consultations.

    Bear in mind that such discussions have been going on over the last 14 months. Among those consulted were governors who at a recent meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) made the controversial demand to the president. It was met with a resolute pushback from Tinubu who asked them to take their concerns to National Assembly hearings.

    It was the appropriate response as the parliament is the place for lawmaking and any adjustments can be made there. But what is interesting is that many of the opponents of the bills are not even ready for a discussion, or for the normal give-and-take involved in lawmaking. They just want the reforms shut down for the most specious reasons.

    What I find most exhausting is that, in typical Nigerian fashion, what should be discourse about the economic wellbeing of citizens has been reduced to a political shouting match about plots to disadvantage one region or the other.

    The most hysterical voices have come from parts of the North. Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno South district, was already foaming at the gills even when he hadn’t read a line of the proposals. His governor, Babagana Zulum, would be even more zealous in his outcry, claiming the state would be unable to pay salaries and that certain federal agencies would close down due to lack of funding.

    These allegations have been sufficiently exposed as baseless. Those who made them haven’t been able to provide any section of the bills to back their tales by moonlight. The deliberate injection of falsehoods and innuendoes into what should be a sober conversation just speaks to the hidden agenda of these forces.

    One of such lies is that the entire ‘North’ is against the reforms. Nothing can be further from the truth. There is no ‘Northern’ consensus over the matter. Just as you have the governors voicing their concerns, many influential and respected voices in the region – some of them ex governors – have spoken out in favour of the bills.

    The North is not prostrate and has its own economic strengths in trading and agriculture. Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, is quietly showing what can be done in this area, while his less imaginative colleagues are crying wolf. This region was known not only for agriculture but also for its textile mills: all that is now history.

    Through the years these could have been revived. But in the intervening period leaders were more content with federal revenue sharing and any attempt to shift them from their comfort zones became occasion for scaremongering. It is for the leaders of the North to harness its strength and return the zone to the economic power house it once was.

    Let’s not forget that Tinubu as governor once had federal allocation for the state seized by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime in a dispute over local government creation. His saving grace was the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). All states may not have the advantage of Lagos, but they can start somewhere. Perhaps they should ask their Enugu State counterpart, Peter Mbah, how he’s quadrupled revenues in his short time in office.

    No doubt, much of the brouhaha over the tax bills is fuelled by the fear of the unknown. But we cannot expect change by doing the same things they haven’t moved us forward. We should ask governors if the current tax revenue arrangements were so great, how come they are not flush with funds for development?

    Everyone talks about reshaping the fundamental structure of the economy to make it less dependent on oil. Any reforms that can help us move into that brave new future where shocks in the international crude market don’t become a source of constant national palpitation should be embraced. That’s why ethnic jingoists and alarmists must not be allowed to frustrate the tax reforms.

    •This article was first published on December 11, 2024

  • The global erosion of moral values

    The global erosion of moral values

    The decline in moral values is a universal problem, although the extent and causes of decline vary slightly from country to country and from generation to generation. For example, a recent Gallup poll showed that Americans’ poor ratings of the state of moral values in their country have fallen to the lowest point in Gallup’s 22-year trend. The study showed that 54% of adult Americans rated moral values in the country as “poor”. It was the first time that the majority has expressed this level of concern about the erosion of moral values in the country.

    Americans are not alone. Recent survey data published in Nature magazine also showed a declining trend in moral values. The survey data were collected from 12 million people between 1949 and 2021. Like the Gallup findings, the results showed that the decline in moral values was at its worst level in the most recent study.

    I cite these international polls as a backdrop for understanding the erosion of moral values in Nigeria, even in the absence of survey data on the subject. In all the studies, the decline is traceable to escalating social, economic, and political problems as well as environmental pressures across the globe. These problems are interconnected. For example, poor governance can trigger economic problems, which, in turn, can trigger social problems. Similarly, environmental pressures, such as climate change, can cause economic hardships, which can also trigger social problems.

    I will discuss these problems only as they relate to Nigeria. Although there are no statistical data on the decline of moral values in the country, all adult Nigerians I have interviewed on the subject have one complaint or the other about moral values, especially when discussing the behaviour of youths. To be sure, there is no one definitive answer to why moral values are declining in Nigeria, but there are many factors at play.

    Since the beginning of the military era, starting with the Majors’ coup of January 1966, the shock of deaths gripped the nation like never before; it escalated with the pogrom in the North and peaked with the civil war. It was the beginning of the devaluation of human life on a large scale. With the advent of civilian rule in 1999, political tensions increased, especially around election time, with thugs maiming and killing voters. There have been cases of political assassinations as well.

    These political killings were complemented by insurgency, led by Boko Haram, the terrorist group, killing and destroying property at will. More recently, cattle herders began their onslaught on farmers and their farmlands, while cattle rustling, banditry, and kidnappings took their toll on various populations. The political implications of these killings went beyond setting one ethnic group against another. They also laid the foundation for trust deficit in government as it did not meet citizens’ expectations of resolution of the wanton killings.

    Read Also: Christmas: Akpabio, Barau, Adeola, Natasha, Southern Senators’ Forum congratulate Nigerians

    However, a much worse political problem, which reached its peak during the last presidential election, is political polarisation, which set political parties, ethnic groups, and different religious organisations against each other. The polarisation continues till today, setting  up an environment in which divisive rhetoric and actions breed a breakdown of social cohesion and shared moral values.

    What is worse, large scale political corruption, which began during the military era increased exponentially with the advent of civilian rule in 1999. Today, corruption has become endemic and normalised by various government institutions and their agents. Corporate bodies and business enterprises have also doubled down on corrupt practices.

    Corruption has institutionalised the drive for materialism, leading to various unethical practices. For example, restaurant owners and roadside hawkers have devised their own methods of cheating their customers. The story has been told of plantain chips “chefs” who mix clinging nylon film with vegetable or palm oil to make the chips remain hard and crunchy for a long time! There are fake wine and soda (soft drinks) factories. There are Yahoo Boys, who specialise in cyberfraud, with a subset (Yahoo Plus) engaging in ritual killing for quick money. And there are email and social media platform hackers, who use your account to solicit funds from your contacts as well as fake old friends or distant relatives, who send SOS messages or call for money to get out of difficult situations.

    These political and economic developments have been aided by globalisation and social media. Globalisation exposed Nigerians to political practices, cultures, and values that challenged local traditions and moral values. For example, classical juju music tradition popularised by Ebenezer Obey and Sunny Ade (born in the 1940s) gave way to new genres of music amplified by Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, and Kizz Daniel (all born in the early 1990s). These imported practices were spread by social media, which were used to amplify negative behaviours. Following American influences since Trump’s run for President in 2016, social media have been employed in partisan politics to distort information, misinform, and create negative perception of political opponents.

    These developments have taken a toll on moral values, creating a cultural shift in which social norms began to shift radically. Nigeria is in the throes of this shift. Unemployment, underemployment, and a surrounding culture of excessive materialism of politicians have driven today’s youths out of their parents’ moral zone. The model for our youths is dead, where parents help their children to cheat in JAMB exams or beg for their children’s admission to higher institutions; where teachers sell their crap notes or dumb books to their students for money, ask female students for sex in return for grade or ask students for a fee to assess their dissertation; and, above all, where politicians put self interest above public good by diverting public funds into private pockets.

    To be sure, moral values are not static. It is also not uncommon for different generations to have different values. There is, however, a problem when a society is sharply divided on the scale of values. Such a division is fast becoming a serious issue in Nigeria today as elsewhere.

  • Dying for food: Preventive planning, patience, discipline

    Dying for food: Preventive planning, patience, discipline

    As some of us celebrate Christmas today, many are in mourning from accidents or illnesses which may not have been preventable. We also join in our Christmas prayers the families of the victims of these tragic palliative-related stampedes.  Dying for food is a terrible result. Being crushed to death by one’s Fellow Nigerians is not deserved after surviving poverty inflicted by the economic hardship precipitated by 50 years of unchecked theft by the ‘Collective Thieves of Nigeria’ causing ‘The Poverty Disease’ in 80% of Nigeria’s population.

    Every problem has immediate and remote causes. Yes, we are outraged at the organisers not planning against this problem. They watch TV, where the Immigration recruitment deaths and several other tragedies should have been learnt from. Buhari and Idiagbon introduced War Against Indiscipline, WAI, to get Nigerians queuing up. Yes, the organisers did not expect to pay for crowd control but they must include it as a budgetary line item. Life is irreplaceable. Yes, they have done massive charity before without mishap.

    Remember it was not the organisers but some members of the crowd who broke the rules of ‘lining up’ or ’Queuing Up’ or ‘Wait Their Turn’ WTT. Organisers failed to anticipate and prevent. Nigerians never want to WTT when entering or exiting religious premises be it church, school, transport or office. The two-lane traffic merging ‘after you’ or ‘one car follows after one car from the other side’ law is anathema in Nigeria.  They will argue and push forward. Yes, organisers, morally and maybe criminally, failed to rehearse staff for ‘the Management of Worst Case Scenarios’.  A crowd should have been anticipated.  Nowadays we run a gauntlet of poor urchins, calculating adolescents and thugs.

    Read Also: Christmas: Akpabio, Barau, Adeola, Natasha, Southern Senators’ Forum congratulate Nigerians

    Proper organisation is not new, does not need a computer and is not nuclear physics. All large bodies require to be subdivided to avoid some people being cheated of time or position. Even army organisation demands segments of increasing numbers from 4-10-14 in the basic team, squad, platoon etc.

    In the Bible, when  Our Lord Jesus, as recorded by Mark,  fed the 5,000, he directed his disciples to get the 5,000 people to sit down in ‘groups of 50 and 100’ while Luke writes they sat in ‘groups of 100’. Crowd management is part and parcel of planning of large functions historically. Examples of poor crowd control are instructive and include the Hillsborough football fan disaster which claimed 97 lives. The losses – Oyo State we lost 35 mainly children, 22 in Anambra and 10 in Abuja are unacceptable. Now, it must not be forgotten that the organisers usually start with pure intentions-charity and love of neighbour, though some are ‘cheap publicity and the funds source is sometimes political of corrupt. They usually were never and will never be villains. St Vincent De Paul is a worldwide Catholic charity of parishioner members using parishioners’ own locally generated funds to assist local poor sick and needy patients every single week. The funfair tragedy provider, a separated Queen of Ife, was to be joyful for 5,000 children. The philanthropist in Anambra was pure of heart and a regular giver. Some other organisers are political or personally purely self-serving and self-advertorial. Sadly, the victims are never the ones guilty. They are the victims of other Fellow Nigerians’ collective, arrogance, haste, greed, and refusal to obey ‘WAIT YOUR TURN’ and ‘PLEASE LINE UP BY NUMBER’ and ‘FIRST COME -FIRST SERVED’. CCTV would have identified the citizens who precipitated the stampede. The investigators must obtain all video evidence, construct a timeline and identify instigators. 

    Personal will, patience, responsibility, being one’s brother’s keeper are key. In the late 60s and 70s, Ibadan was known for obeying traffic laws especially ‘Give way to traffic on your left at roundabouts’. Today, if you stop to allow anyone else to pass anywhere in the country, you will be horned at, verbally abused, ‘waka-finger’ signed – an actual curse on self and family- and immediately overtaken on both sides by okadas and the cars behind you which will screech to a mega horn-blaring halt when they find the person, the children, the pregnant woman or the elderly person or the obstruction crossing the road for whom or for which you had stopped. As if that is not enough, during the act of overtaking, you will hear ‘Go get a driver’, ‘Woman, make your man drive for you’. ‘I beg, no enter road again!’ 

    Crowd control is a recurring problem in Nigerian life and even at public functions with large security presence. Witness the number of pseudo-security and VIPs milling around the president on arrival in Lagos. Sometimes one cannot see the Nigerian president because of the crowd around him. Similarly in public funerals. There is little or no organised effort to restrict access or limit access to secure areas.

    Citizens resist good things and misplace blame for failures. Many vehemently mistakenly blame INEC for every election fault forgetting that it is the thugs and political parties’ adherents killing and causing mayhem. America with its 500million guns owned by civilians just had a violence-free election. Our citizens too frequently drown from not wearing simple life jackets. We in Educare Trust fought to make lifesaving seatbelts, crash helmets and life jackets normal. They were not 30 years ago! There was even resistance from commercial users. Today lifejackets are still resisted-what can be more obviously preventable than life jacket? 

    Merry Safe Christmas 2024.

  • Ten million wasting brains; Corruption fiction?

    Ten million wasting brains; Corruption fiction?

    Why are we growing 10 million educationally empty brains? We must not shirk our national responsibility to rescue them from the disease called ignorance and instead fill those brains with the knowledge making them better, more self-sufficient, higher-earning educated citizens in future. For politicians please before allowing colleagues to embark on the next week’s round of stealing ‘awoof government funds’, please make them aware of whom they steal from. They steal from the baby I saw in my clinic with both eyes blind from an eye cancer retinoblastoma. Indirectly they steal from the huge number of children out of school, estimated at 10million who seem to have become a badge to boast about at international meetings rather than a burden of shame for families, states and government.

    Certainly, it is not being treated with the ‘Education Emergency Fiscal Measures’; the human helpless faces making up this huge figure deserve and need to prevent a knowledge gap 10,000,000 brains wide. Each one of the 10,000,000 is a flesh-and-blood hungry child failed by family and government.

    Simple education mathematics tells us that Nigeria’s 10,000,000 children require 333,334 classrooms for an ideal class size of 30 children each and 333,334 – 666,668 teachers at 1-2 teachers per 30-student classroom. Classrooms will need to be in school compounds of approximately 200 students each i.e. 50,000 schools or 300 students each i.e. 33,334 schools. Classrooms need 10 wall posters each -3,333,340 posters, 10 textbooks a child – 100,000,000 books and 100,000,000 exercise books, two writing implements /child – 20,000,000 pencils and 10m rulers, 10m schoolbags, 10m one-child chairs and desks or 5m two-person benches and desks. 50,000 teacher desks and chairs.

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    Now do the maths for the finances involved and pay up to build, equip and give our 10m children their schools before you allow any politician or civil servant around you to even think of stealing from the 10m children hungry for knowledge. They are not faceless even if you are heartless. Governments certainly need to allocate higher percentage of budgets to education and may need to re-negotiate the budgets and targets of Universal Basic Educational Commission, UBEC and State Universal Basic Educational Boards SUBEB.

     How much corruption can a single country endure? Anything more than 10% corruption will kill the country. Ask anyone doing business as many people treat Nigeria as a business for them to extract a luxurious living from. It is the same in business from tiny business to corporations. In Nigeria we all know someone whose business was ruined by mega theft.  Our farmers lose chicks, eggs, fish and yams stolen by staff or others the day before harvest. We all know shops ruined by staff-orchestrated theft often on a daily basis. If the staff cannot steal because of the high level of perimeter security preventing items being taken away, they have been known to take the tins and food down to the basement or into the backyard during break and open the tins and eat the sardines along with stolen bread and then wipe their mouths clean before returning to the shop floor. The tell-tail open tins are discarded carelessly to be discovered much later, and no one bothers doing fingerprint checks or DNA to catch the thieves. 

    So, to reiterate, any corruption more than 10% will kill the business and country. All advancing countries and their citizens know this and teach this lesson to their potential and incumbent political class. They also pay a more living wage as an anti-corruption strategy. One sees that it is not taught to Nigerian politicians of civil servants or contractors. This is obviously demonstrated by the stupendous and scandalous, in a poor country like Nigeria, ‘Salaries and Perks and Pensions’ allocated or self-acquired to the political class, contrasted with the minimum wage, recently raised  from N30,000 to N70,000. The negative impact of corruption is buttressed by the tsunami of multibillions dollar and naira in the hundreds, all cumulatively economically disastrous for the success of Project Nigeria. Every day brings news of new mega-corruption, each less creative and more blatant than the previous one.

    Now it is an education fund, the TETFUND being accused though the accusations have been denied. Hopefully, justifiably denied. In advanced countries the politicians and contractors and civil servants steer clear of stealing from ‘Healthcare, Education, Agriculture and Transport’, HEAP as these are collectively the foundation of the nation and stepping stones to survival and potential greatness, as well as adequate care of the majority of citizens and the fulfilling of the Sustainable Development Goals in a timely manner.

    Sadly, most Nigerians, especially those who volunteered to become politicians, have consistently refused to comply with this no-no. We know that all Ministries and Departments, MDAs are vulnerable to be extorted from by greed-driven politicians demanding a share of everything. Such politicians may threaten them with budget cuts or non-confirmation during any parliamentary proceedings, relentless and inquisitional and costly profit driven oversight, and even embarrassing negative comments on open mic sessions at political events and in the public media. Often in society, even being wrongly accused of doing wrong is stigma enough. Some accusations are diversionary. Can we ever imagine the quantum of money really extracted by this ‘POLITICAL EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY’?

    It also highlights a major flaw in the Nigerian political structure needing correction – accepted secrecy sources and expenditure of political party funds.         

    Wishing all a worldwide safe and Merry Christmas 25-12-2025. Amen.

  • The long walk to 2027

    The long walk to 2027

    The 2023 electoral cycle is the one that never ended. Even after the Supreme Court dismissed the cases brought before it by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s (LP), Peter Obi, it was clear that for the two men, there was no closure.

    They never accepted defeat, never congratulated the winner President Bola Tinubu, and showed by their reaction to final judicial defeat that they were ready to relitigate the matter – this time in the court of public opinion.

    Standard behavior – even in politics – accepts that there’s time for everything; a time to campaign, a time to govern. The changing of times is usually marked by the termination of legal hostilities at the apex court. But in an age where denialism has become reality, nothing is the same.

    The only outcome that would have been acceptable to either Atiku or Obi was one in which they were declared winners. Since it is impossible to have three winners on one contest, they have grudgingly accepted the fact that there’s a president sitting in Aso Rock, while they are skulking around in the opposition wilderness. This is just a restless, holding position.

    Everything they have done since points to the fact that they are warming up for a repeat of a contest that is at least three years away. Take Obi for example. While his performance at the polls last year surprised many by its reach into largely Christian areas of North-Central, it also exposed the weaknesses of his presentation and how his candidacy was perceived.

    He would have loved to be seen as a pan-Nigerian figure whose message resonated with a younger demographic, but the lopsided results in the Southeast made him out to be an ethnic project. His performance in the Southwest was anaemic – with the exception of Lagos where a complex mix of religion and ethnicity delivered a famous win for him in the presidential poll.

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    By choosing the same-faith ticket, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Tinubu, opened the window for his rivals to weaponise religion. While Atiku attacked the ticket will all the gusto he could muster, it was Obi who really made a meal of it. He traipsed through mega churches the length and breadth of the South with the rallying cry ‘Christians, take back your country!’ Such exhortations were often greeted with exuberant cheers.

    His determined attempt to cement himself as the Christian candidate in an environment where the Muslim-Muslim ticket had been demonised would end in a scandal after his fawning ‘yes daddy’ phone conversation with Pentecostal grandee, Bishop David Oyedepo, was leaked.

    While he was pursuing the strategy of locking up the Christian vote North and South, he forgot the downside of being seen as anti the other side of the religious divide. It was no surprise therefore that the LP flagbearer made only the most perfunctory of attempts to canvass votes in the far North. It was a factor that would deny him the national spread required to win the presidency.

    It is clear the man recognises the mistakes made and has been taking baby steps to remedy them. For instance, the same person who wanted Christians to take back their country one year ago, was sighted in a couple of gatherings during Ramadan breaking fast with Muslims.

    Social media was also agog with images of a poorly executed borehole project bearing his name somewhere in Zaria. Many were quick to conclude he was was rebranding ahead 2027. Such were the extremes to which he went in 2023 that he would need more than these photo-ops and posturing to reverse the damage.

    As for Atiku, he has never hidden the fact that for as long as he has breath, he would pursue his dream of becoming president. So, next stop, 2027. But with the former Vice President there’s been noticeable change. Gone is some of the arrogance that misled him into thinking he could win the last election without the support of the Nyesom Wike-led G-5 rump of the PDP.

    The same man who preferred to hang on to the questionable electoral asset called Iyorchia Ayu rather than work with five state governors, is today feverishly marketing a grand coalition of opposition parties as the only way of toppling the ruling party at the next election. For inspiration, he points to the victory of the 44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye at the recent Senegalese presidential poll as evidence of what’s possible when parties work together.

    It can be taken for granted that all things being equal, the incumbent will run again. At least he made that obvious when at the inauguration of Lagos Red Line rail project in February, he taunted Joe Ajaero and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to wait until 2027 if they were interested in political power.

    The trouble for Tinubu’s rivals is that while the next elections represent a window of opportunity for those who wish to supplant an officeholder with a record, they would be reduced in that time to merely carping on the sidelines watching the president wield power.

    They may wish he stumbles from error to error – providing them with ammunition to attack his record. But the reverse is also possible; that he could go from win to win – becoming more presidential as the days go by. Critically, he’s taken some pivotal and very unpopular steps early in his tenure, giving him sufficient time to ride out any negative blowback. Early signs point to the fact that fuel subsidy removal and the forex reforms were the right calls needed to unlock the economy.

    Given what we know about the evolution of political power in these parts, it’s going to take more than opposition name-calling to bring about regime change at the next election – especially if the pace of reforms is sustained and the economy rebounds and becomes stronger. PDP, LP and others would then have to make a compelling case as to why voters should dump a tried and tested model for a pie in the sky.

    In the days when the British Tory Party seemed to have a lock on power, going from one electoral triumph to another, it was a young Tony Blair who warned his comrades in the then far left-leaning British Labour Party about the need to develop policies and an image that would make them electable. He argued that no matter how well-meaning a party’s policies were, they could do nothing about them except they found a way to get into power. He would then push Labour to be more centrist and eventually electable.

    At least the Labour Party was not just a cohesive platform, it was perceived by British voters as a credible alternative to the Conservatives. Today, the PDP which in its days in power appeared invincible and even dreamt of governing non-stop for 60 years, is on the ropes – riven with factions. This week it would hold crucial meetings that would affect its future. It is a measure of how much confidence Atiku has in it that he’s desperately marketing a joining of forces with other parties.

    The same affliction has paralysed the Labour Party which is locked in an internecine feud with NLC which claims to own it. Such is the bitterness of the dispute that it promises to be long drawn – rendering it largely useless to anyone hoping to ride it to power.

    Perhaps, the most credible challenge to APC rule lies in an opposition coalition. But its prospects are dead on arrival because of the ambitions of the would be promoters and partners. The day Atiku sacrifices his ambition for Obi or the NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso or vice versa, is the day to begin to take such a project serious. Until then, any visions of power these perennial contestants may be having are nothing short of a mirage.

  • Syria, Pensions, Don’t re-steal 1506 homes

    Syria, Pensions, Don’t re-steal 1506 homes

    Congratulations to Syria overthrowing Bashir Assad, mad medical doctor, ophthalmologist, like Hastings Kamuzu Banda before him. Sadly, doctors can be deadly. Governments learn lessons please!

    The tragedy of seeing any retiree but particularly the Armed Forces Retirees forced to protest in Abuja last week is a measure of the insult to the elderly by many governments. PAY PENSIONS BEFORE PALLIATIVES AS A POVERTY ALLEVIATION STRATEGY.

    We get our maths wrong. We call 35-year-old Nigerians ‘youth’ while America calls 18 years adults who can be executed for crimes. Now we are talking of 753 duplexes instead of 1506 homes, an enormous crime. The recent seizure of 1506 houses in Abuja indicts the financial watchdogs and political bosses ignoring the fact that PREVENTION OF FINANCIAL CRIMES IS N3-5 TRILLION NAIRA CHEAPER THAN THE CURE. Everything should be forensically audited with subsequent recovery, prosecution and restitution as indicated. This graphically explains why the naira plummeted as for years we were seeing an economic cake without a filling, which had been corruptly removed, just like our collapsed buildings countrywide are due to corruption in building. While Martin Luther King dreamed positivity, officials like Emefiele dreamed a bad result about acquiring. Does the 1506 -home estate obey the building code? It looks over-crowded.

    Of course, corruption is endemic in Nigeria mainly due to a lack of will and strategic anticorruption methodology including poor preventive, little pre-emptive continuous monitoring and too-late investigation measures. Huge estates, farmlands, multiple houses and bank accounts ‘worldwide’ are the normal vomitus of post-power investigation into many state governors. Sadly, proving guilt appears quite difficult. The EFCC, frustrated by technicalities and court delay antics, changed strategy to ‘seizure of properties probably acquired through proceeds of a crime’.

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    However, state governor greed and impunity is notorious. Similar or worse greed has perhaps never been seen in a CBN governor, usually notorious for its opaque dealings, though early governors were exemplary. Recent CBN governors rather than build up foreign exchange reserves to $1b/1m population took the CBN as a common street bank and gifted and misspent billions sometimes along ethnic bias lines.  

    Just look at ex-governors visiting EFCC doing everything to remain in NASS after office to further postpone the investigation day. Some CBN governors have mutated into self-serving state governors or MDA government CEOs accused of misappropriating funds. Emefiele even tried to become president while in office!!!  He did not stop at 1, 50, 100, 500 duplexes on the land allowing each to have a decent half plot garden. No!  Instead, he allowed his greed to cram a duplex onto the property to fit two houses per plot.

    Question abound. Will there be a transparent programme for ‘what happens to seized properties?’ with publication of Quarterly Recovered Property Reports’ and a website?

    Simple fiscal maths 753 duplexes = 1506 houses x ?N200m each = N301,200,000,000 =N301.2 billion or N1,882/Nigerian assuming a population of 160m citizens. It is imperative that these houses are made to contribute to the purse or purpose of the people of Nigeria, the citizenry. There are many other ‘Questions and Matters of Urgent National Importance’ to be quickly and thoroughly interrogated and answered publicly. What was the money trail?

    Sadly, Nigerians learnt of this N301.2 billion heinous crime because Emefiele had the ‘Roofing Quotation’ in his office. This is how the N109billion stealing Accountant General was caught merely because his 18-year-old girlfriend told her uncle that she was being gifted a house and the uncle informed the EFCC. We must stop this ‘Capture By Chance’ after huge damage has been done. That 1506 house estate can be seen from space. Who approved the land and plans? Who are the building experts? Did they not ask questions? They should be punished for lack of supervisory inquisitiveness. 

    The authorities and auctioneers must publish a list of such buildings, lands and properties over the last 20 years and explain the exact modus operandi and to whom and how they have disposed of them in the past. There have been many corruption-related questions and stories around ‘Post-Seizure Procedures and Outcomes’. NIGERIA CANNOT AFFORD FOR THE BUILDINGS TO BE RE-STOLEN. AFTER OPACITY, TIME FOR TOTAL TRANSPARENCY AS A WARNING TO OTHERS.

    Whither these 1506 houses? Should they all or some be sold? How should they be sold? Who should be denied permission to buy, maybe someone with a house in Abuja or a serving or past NASS member? Should it be a private or public auction with identified prices and bidders?

    What percentage or number of the 1506 will be ‘retained’ by government? How will retained buildings be utilised or allocated among the greedy and actually needy Ministries, Agencies and Departments and their needs by government? Will government see this as an opportunity to allocate some properties to the usually neglected NGO Community especially those NGOs catering for the needs of those facing physical and mental challenges who cannot afford office and home accommodation in Abuja?

    Of course they need completion. Who will complete them? Will some be sold so the others can be completed at no charge to government? The contractors must be investigated to ensure they are not tempted to disappear with any upfront money already paid.

    Where did the money come from to pay for the estate? Round tripping dollars? 

    The estate is now a national asset must not be left to rot.

  • A taxing conversation

    A taxing conversation

    Of all the candidates who ran for president last year, not many would have tagged the All Progressives Congress’ (APC), Bola Tinubu, as disruptive. A leading light of the ruling party during Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year rule, he was seen as part of the establishment. Running for office he promised to continue from where his predecessor stopped. If he won, it looked like Nigerians were going to be served more of the same.

    But with his very first speech on Inauguration Day, he upended a way of life with his “subsidy is gone” declaration. In short order he would launch the naira floatation – triggering an unprecedented costing of living crisis.

    Just as the nation was coming to terms with the economic changes, his administration brought before the Supreme Court a suit that gave financial autonomy to local government areas across the country. These administrative units had long suffered under the oppressive thumbs of governors who exercised control by doling out crumbs to them from the joint state-local government accounts.

    This was the point at which many began to take notice the government wasn’t about business as usual. Governors who for decades ruled their states like emperors, suddenly found themselves restrained from fooling around with billions that was theirs to play with hitherto.

    Many ran their councils with ad-hoc committees packed with specially chosen yes men who did nothing more than paying salaries. Elections for chairmen were unheard of in many states and where they held, mere sham events to fulfil all righteousness. So, the Supreme Court judgment was a massive jolt to their systems.

    Based on that judgment they have been forced to hold elections in order for their local governments to receive allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). While many have done this grudgingly, others have gone a step further – looking for ways to circumvent the judicial stumbling block that now restricts their access to LG funds.

    In Anambra, for instance, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, came up with a law that requires councils to pay a portion of what they receive from the centre into their joint accounts. Some of his colleagues are still working on ways to retrieve the power they lost.

    It is against this backdrop that the administration dropped its bouquet of tax reform bills into the mix. About 14 months in the making, these legislations were some of the earliest initiatives embarked upon by the government; that gives a sense of how much Tinubu prioritised this area as part of his legacy.

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    The package includes four main bills: the Nigeria Tax Bill, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill. Each of the legislations addresses specific aspects of tax administration, compliance, and enforcement.

    The bills are supposed to ensure uniformity in tax revenue administration across Nigeria, eliminate double taxation, use taxation to encourage private sector investment in critical industries and boost disposable incomes through targeted tax exemptions.

    The poorest in society are key winners under the new arrangement. Individuals earning below the minimum wage are exempted from the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax. Similarly, small businesses with annual turnovers of N50 million or less would be exempt from paying taxes.

    If passed into law, the bills would reduce corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25% over the next two years as a way of alleviating financial pressures on businesses and foster investment.

    The bills propose a significant shift in VAT revenue distribution, allocating revenues based on the states where goods and services are consumed rather than pooling them centrally for redistribution. This, unfortunately, has become the main bone of contention.

    The committee that worked on the reforms argues that their proposals are fair and align better with VAT’s nature as a consumption tax. The current law favours states like Lagos and Rivers which play host to the headquarters of large corporations. But it also sustains inequitable arrangements where those that contribute the most get only a fraction from the pool, while state chipping in the least get much more than they put in.

    Most people who have taken the trouble to read through the legislations or even familiarise themselves with summaries, admit that while not perfect, the bills are a massive improvement on what we currently have. Of course, they challenge states which are currently content with heading to Abuja for the monthly handout from FAAC, to do more about boosting economic activity in their domains.

    But, surely, no one can quarrel with tax exemptions for the poorest of the poor, or cuts for struggling families. Fair minded persons cannot be against reducing the taxation burdens on MSMES and other companies.

    In other words, of the four bills, opposition has been most vociferous around that dealing with VAT. But rather than isolating it and looking at ways of addressing whatever inequities it may contain, vested interests who want to maintain the status quo would rather all four legislations are stopped in their tracks in the name of having further consultations.

    Bear in mind that such discussions have been going on over the last 14 months. Among those consulted were governors who at a recent meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) made the controversial demand to the president. It was met with a resolute pushback from Tinubu who asked them to take their concerns to National Assembly hearings.

    It was the appropriate response as the parliament is the place for lawmaking and any adjustments can be made there. But what is interesting is that many of the opponents of the bills are not even ready for a discussion, or for the normal give-and-take involved in lawmaking. They just want the reforms shut down for the most specious reasons. 

    What I find most exhausting is that, in typical Nigerian fashion, what should be discourse about the economic wellbeing of citizens has been reduced to a political shouting match about plots to disadvantage one region or the other.

    The most hysterical voices have come from parts of the North. Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno South district, was already foaming at the gills even when he hadn’t read a line of the proposals. His governor, Babagana Zulum, would be even more zealous in his outcry, claiming the state would be unable to pay salaries and that certain federal agencies would close down due to lack of funding.

    These allegations have been sufficiently exposed as baseless. Those who made them haven’t been able to provide any section of the bills to back their tales by moonlight. The deliberate injection of falsehoods and innuendoes into what should be a sober conversation just speaks to the hidden agenda of these forces.

    One of such lies is that the entire ‘North’ is against the reforms. Nothing can be further from the truth. There is no ‘Northern’ consensus over the matter. Just as you have the governors voicing their concerns, many influential and respected voices in the region – some of them ex governors – have spoken out in favour of the bills.

    The North is not prostrate and has its own economic strengths in trading and agriculture. Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, is quietly showing what can be done in this area, while his less imaginative colleagues are crying wolf. This region was known not only for agriculture but also for its textile mills: all that is now history.

    Through the years these could have been revived. But in the intervening period leaders were more content with federal revenue sharing and any attempt to shift them from their comfort zones became occasion for scaremongering. It is for the leaders of the North to harness its strength and return the zone to the economic power house it once was.

    Let’s not forget that Tinubu as governor once had federal allocation for the state seized by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime in a dispute over local government creation. His saving grace was the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). All states may not have the advantage of Lagos, but they can start somewhere. Perhaps they should ask their Enugu State counterpart, Peter Mbah, how he’s quadrupled revenues in his short time in office.

    No doubt, much of the brouhaha over the tax bills is fuelled by the fear of the unknown. But we cannot expect change by doing the same things they haven’t moved us forward. We should ask governors if the current tax revenue arrangements were so great, how come they are not flush with funds for development?

    Everyone talks about reshaping the fundamental structure of the economy to make it less dependent on oil. Any reforms that can help us move into that brave new future where shocks in the international crude market don’t become a source of constant national palpitation should be embraced. That’s why ethnic jingoists and alarmists must not be allowed to frustrate the tax reforms.

  • Why are more young people dying these days?

    Why are more young people dying these days?

    Almost a decade ago, I reviewed a book, titled, The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease, by Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard University Professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology. The book, first published in 2013, does four things, among others: One, it charts a chronology of our biological evolution up to the time that we have our present bodies. Two, it shows how our cultural evolution has transformed our environment, the way we live, and what we eat. Three, the book then delves into how the “mismatch” between our biological and cultural evolutions has caused many modern-day diseases, such as the various non-communicable diseases killing us today. By mismatch is meant that there is a conflict between the conditions of modern life and our prehistoric bodies. That is, we were not adapted to where and how we live our lives today as well as what we eat. This leads to the prevalence of various diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, back pain, depression, and so on.

    My mind went back to Lieberman’s book as I reflected on the recent deaths of many young men and women between 35 and 50 years old in an age when hygiene and modern medicine have made it possible to live long. Some of them were sons or daughters of close friends, while others were friends of our family or mere acquaintances. Some of them died of one type of cancer or the other or of sudden organ failure. Others died of unknown or undisclosed causes.

    You do not have to be an anthropologist or an evolutionary biologist to follow Lieberman’s argument, even if you may know little or nothing about human biological evolution. However, the idea of cultural evolution should not be strange, even to a lay person. There have been three major cultural transitions in human history that have major implications for our bodies. The first transition was the agricultural revolution, when we began to settle down to farm our own food instead of hunting and gathering. The second was the industrial revolution, when we began to use machines to replace human work. The third transition, an offshoot of the technological advancements of the second, was the digital revolution, when we began to replace physical meetings with virtual ones and social media networking. In many advanced economies, more and more people are now working from home.

    Each of these transitions came with advantages and disadvantages. For example, agriculture brought predictable food supply, but farmers were susceptible to famine and food shortages as well as contagious diseases.

    The industrial revolution brought science and technology as the major driver of human activity. Social and economic institutions were reorganised, factories began to produce on a large scale, and the economy of delayed return replaced the economy of immediate return of the farming age. Human populations exploded with progress in medicine, sanitation, and food storage. As a result, there is much more food variety than the average farmer could provide. However, the varieties and the surpluses came at a cost. Most of what we consume today is processed and shipped by machines, and they contain huge amounts of pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, and antibiotics. Worse still, processed food contains more sugars and starches, causing spikes in blood sugar levels that our bodies were not designed to deal with. Even the fashionable non-stick pots with which many of us cook contain PFAS chemicals, which can lead to serious health problems, when the coating is damaged or overheated.

    The digital revolution may have brought radical changes to how we communicate. However, it has also made us more sedentary and less physically interactive. The implications for our bodies are still being studied. But the social implications of social media on our social lives and political participation are no longer in doubt.

    The truth is that we live in a world of new handicaps and new diseases, which never afflicted our prehistoric ancestors. Unfortunately, many of us overlook or are unaware of some common sources of today’s diseases. Many of these sources became prevalent only recently, coinciding with the appearance of today’s youths on the food scene. The sources include preservatives and additives in processed foods, chemicals in plastics, non-stick pots, makeup and hair products, asbestos, and formaldehyde in building materials.

    Today, in part because they care less about safety, the younger generation is ultra-exposed to these sources, most of which are associated with one type of cancer or the other. They consume a lot of ultra-processed foods, which are associated with a higher risk of gastrointestinal cancers, regardless of their weight or body mass index. Youths are particularly susceptible to exposures to toxins in the environment and in many everyday goods listed above, which are also known to cause cancer.

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    Youths are also victims of modern lifestyle changes, which involve less physical exercise, and less or interrupted sleep. Recent medical research shows that sleep and circadian rhythms are important components of health. Getting less sleep may be a factor in developing colon, breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer. Although genetic inheritance remains a predictor, but many cancer patients these days have no such history.

    It is not the case, of course, that older adults over 60 are inoculated against these diseases. My focus on youths is motivated partly by the losses mentioned at the top of this essay and partly by a recent meta-analysis by the American Cancer Society, which found that 50 percent (17 of 34) of the most common cancers are occurring more frequently in younger people. Worse still, while death rates are dropping for colorectal cancer patients over 65, they are increasing among younger patients, partly because colonoscopies are not recommended until after 45. The problem with youths is that cancers are often not caught until it is too late for treatment. All we tend to hear is that X or Y was rushed to the hospital two days ago, but he or she did not make it.

    Perhaps at no time in human history is Lieberman’s “mismatch” theory more relevant than today. Our bodies were not designed for what we do and consume today. And our youths, who consume any and everything, are the greatest victims. Many of them began early with processed baby food, continue with ultra-processed food, and consume sugary and alcoholic drinks. They stay on the phone till 2am or later and have little or no time for regular physical exercise. And the killer of it all—they shrug off symptoms and only seek intervention when it may be too late. Lieberman’s fourth major contribution, therefore, is to create awareness of the mismatch between our bodies and what we do and consume.

  • NOA cartoons; ‘Pensions before palliatives’, Pls

    NOA cartoons; ‘Pensions before palliatives’, Pls

    Nigeria needs Argentinian style cuts in its political posts.

    At least 27/200 Nigerians dead in Kogi boat accident. Can Nigerian garment factories not make 10,000 life jackets? Even discarded empty water bottles can be made into rafts and life jackets. Should adults kill their children through such neglect? WEAR A LIFE JACKET TODAY! 

    There was a wonderfully cartoon super boy in a motivational skit where one person ruined the work of many, on TV – commendable. The end credit read ‘Powered by National Orientation Agency’. Hurray, NOA, congratulations for championing the ‘morally clean’ Nigeria First cartoon drive. However blanket banning foreign cartoons, unless morally illegal, is overkill, draconian. Talking of film credits, other governments, even Ghana, Senegal and South Africa, are frequently credited for grants supporting their home film industries. Nigerian governments must include film making in their budgets and give similar film grants at LGAs, state and federal government level.

    Nigerian writers, designers and film location experts need to consciously create Nairaphilic costumes, emblazoned with Nigerian fashion brands and places, ‘I Love Lagos’ or ‘…Bodija’ or ‘…Barkin Ladi’ with African/Nigeria pictures and symbols and Nigerian colours on their walls, bags, hats, T shirts and clothing.   

    There are a growing number of great Nigerian cartoons around. Cartoons are costly to make and then, purchase expensive airtime, expected to compete with commercial product advertising. Moral cartoon and social messaging space should be better negotiated, helped by NOA, to reduce access cost to give adequate space and time to ‘Youth Motivational and Empowerment Messaging’.

    Moral decay is all around. Moral enlightenment should be in ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Time and Space’ of the electronic and print media which is uncriticised when it comes to assessment for CSR commitment.  For 30 years we at Educare Trust have fought for and got 1% OF PRETAX PROFIT IDENTIFIED AS THE GOLD STANDARD FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. Ask MTN. Few corporate bodies live up to 1% CSR. Educare Trust also recommends that every large or small company CSR TRACK RECORD SHOULD BE A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT submitted for evaluation and grading along with the professional competence grading as qualifying criteria for private and public sector contractors and partners. We also fought during the same 30 years for 10% OF DAILY ADVERT TIME IN RADIO, TV, AND 10% ADVERTISING SPACE OF EVERY ADVERT IN PRINT AND SOCIAL MEDIA TO BE ALLOCATED TO SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MESSAGING. These steps are urgent countermeasures to the moral and social decay today! NOA can help with laws and honours to achieve these.

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    Government asks itself: ‘Pay Pensions or Palliatives?’ Citizens demand ‘Pay Arrears of Pensions before Palliatives’. 

    The federal government just announced that pension arrears for 2023 to date will be paid ‘subject to the availability of funds’. In contrast, government distributed billions as palliatives to people they do not know or owe and who have never worked for government. Government ‘which cannot eliminate pension arrears accumulated through systemic failure of its own party from nine years in office’ offers to pay ‘palliatives/incentives for out-of-school children’ to go to and stay in school. Free education for the few by the back door?

    JUST MAKE EDUCATION TO SS3 FREE-FOR-ALL! Remember Awolowo?  A wise man pays his debts to his former staff before asking their successor staff to ignore those same hungry predecessors and give their money to passers-by.  A recipe for disillusionment and further moral decay. This is another needless discussion which needs urgent reversal, like the despicable 18year minimum age to enter university, thankfully reversed with sack of the offending minister.

    Has government thought through this ‘pension payment subject to availability of funds’? It is outright ‘Breach of International Human Rights Law and Contract’, an insult to our heroic retired workers, especially the majority who refused to self-enrich-in-office. Millions of koboless, penniless parents or grandparents have been turned from provider to a pariah, dependent on handouts. Remember their pension funds have been looted repeatedly by unsupervised government officials and appointees during this and past governments which also failed to pay all employer contributions pension funds. Governments should accept responsibility to replace stolen and shortfall employer contribution funds in the pension funds.  

    Nigerian governments, federal, state and LGA, have turned an International Standard Retirement Scheme into a Nigerian financial nightmare with citizens unable to access rightful returns after 10-35 years of work – an arrogant political crime, breach of legal and morally obligatory economically indexed monthly pension. The emotional trauma to adult citizens, falling from breadwinner to beggar, destroys the economic bedrock steady historically oldest bank in Nigeria, ‘The Extended Family Bank’, the first social security safety net in Nigeria, but it depended on regular salaries and pensions, which enabled the elderly to always fulfil their leadership role and financial obligations. Grandparents no longer have coins or sweets of biscuits for the grandchildren. Now, broke grandparents, but pension-owed, rely on their children for survive. The nature of our greedy political class has brazenly denied millions of their legal pensions. But even worse, is the fact that our ‘survival only’ minimum wage structure has guaranteed that our elderly have never earned enough to save or set up any income after retirement.

    Let us not forget lost pensions for the millions displaced from their ancestral homes by war, terrorism, banditry and environmental hazards. Do we give the IDPs the dignity to be paid to work and use their skills within the IDP camps?