The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • $1billion donation; Support the new CBN

    $1billion donation; Support the new CBN

    The donation of $1billion by Dr Ruth Gottesman, from her husband’s investments with Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway is great and a greater lesson in responsibility of billionaires everywhere especially in needy environments. Multibillion donations are an integral part of developed countries. The US thrives on such legacy donations and investment supporting education and health. Hospitals and universities in the US or UK are smothered with donor names on rooms, wards, departments, buildings, structures and even entire institutions because of the financial contribution or the stature of the name, like Einstein or Soyinka. Congratulations to the $1billion donor and recipients.

    Happily, many Nigerians and Nigerian businesses have donated billions to the buildings and working of universities and departments, schools and institutions. Western education has been supported since the 18th Century in Nigeria.  The first big donation was Trenchard Hall, built by UAC in 1956, costing £61,000. The university then suggested the name of Lord Trenchard, the UAC chairman. Without UAC, would there have been a Trenchard Hall?

    After UAC, many companies and donors have contributed to education and health in Nigeria, but not enough. The Big Brother scenario could have helped youth education instead of being of questionable value while enriching MTN. Recently the family of Mama Professor Mrs Oyin Olurin @ 90, distinguished medical teacher and Ophthalmologist created a professorial chair in University of Ibadan. Years ago, the Chief Anthony A. Ani family created a professorial chair in the University of Calabar. The Zard Group and the Alakija Group and Bono donate the youth centre through Educare Trust. We can add the amazing work and the huge funds invested in private universities including Covenant, Afe Babalola, Kola Daisi universities. Similar is expected of the multibillion Herbert Wigwe University despite the tragic passing of its funding principal.

    Dr Gottesman, a professor at Einstein College of Medicine wished to donate the money anonymously to give free tuition in perpetuity to medical students in Einstein College of Medicine, in The Bronx, a poor area. Anonymity was respectfully denied her because the donation required publicity to metamorphose into an avalanche of similar donations.

    We are all aware of the Billionaires Giving Pledge Club set up by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and has recruited 236 billionaires willingly giving up half or more of their fortunes to charitable causes, totalling $600b+.

    Nigerian billionaires, including the ones with the president on TV, should redouble their donation skills especially where it comes to failing health and educational institutions. The donatable billions are needed now. It is no good in foreign banks. Children unfortunately generally mismanage large inherited fortunes, so donate to other, really needy, children. Large fortunes become misfortunes too often. Ask multimillion lottery winners. They are never happy till they have given it all away.  Investment in research education and health has been shown worldwide to be transformative in the job, economic and foreign exchange market. Even Nollywood and theatre need a so-far negligent government’s grant seen in the credits, like most films abroad and also billionaires’ support as they employ large numbers and are profitable.

    Many years ago, a Nigerian billionaire donated £1million to a London project. If that money had been donated to a Nigerian project imagine what value would have been added to Nigeria.

    We congratulate all Nigerian billionaires even as we raise serious questions on the morality, honesty of business dealing, banking strategies and cleanliness of their cumulative fortune. The growing collective billionaire fortune must be contrasted with Nigeria’s skyrocketing misfortune. What is the use of ‘billion-billion-billion’ when your fellow citizens are suffering hardships due to past greed and massive theft? This misfortune is manifested by the disastrously weakening naira and today’s economic hardship.

    Read Also: CBN warns Nigeria, others of new debt risks

    We have a CBN governor trying to save the raped, robbed, rubbished rag that the innocent naira has been forced to become in my working life from $1: N0.8 to $1:1,400-1,700. Nigeria now walks naked in the world’s markets, our weak naira, no protection from shame!

    The first step in the massive effort to stop the precipitous slide is on-going by CBN’s bold shutting down of the previously untouchable parallel market, a beast of no …fed illegally by Nigeria’s CBN dollars passing through or bypassing bank channels to the  abokis and their handlers and starving the black market of product-dollars. Have you tried stopping a lorry plunging downhill with failed breaks sabotaged by deliberate previous government economic manipulation and ongoing nefarious trading outside CBN?

    For those angry with this government for shutting down over 4,000 crime-driven BDCs and stopping the inflationary and unnecessary ‘middleman job’ for thousands of aboki spots, ask them to think hard. Where would Nigeria be today, if Emefiele was still CBN czar and the CBN had not stopped the naira-rot for the last 3-6 months of so? Would the naira be $1: N3,000 ???

    Once the naira free fall is stopped, the open sore of black market will close or be forced underground and not insultingly flaunted in our faces at thousands of bank, airport and street spots. Only then will we see oil corruption reduction strategies increase our oil exports and revenues.

    The funds from our oil, paid direct to CBN, will rapidly offset our huge debts, unpaid by serial renegade degenerate MDAs, government officials and politicians who should be prosecuted.

    But sadly, to recover can we endure for now, at a time politicians cannot suppress their own manifest greed over need?           

  • Petrol prices across Africa

    Petrol prices across Africa

    Candidates are known for making rosy campaign promises to win elections, but which they do not intend to fulfill or cannot even fulfull. That’s why expectations were very high when, as a presidential candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made several high-stake campaign promises, involving tough policy decisions. Two such policies stood out in his manifesto. One was the removal of fuel subsidy. The other was the harmonisation of the exchange rates.

    He did not disappoint as he steamrolled both policies as soon as he assumed office nine months ago. He was praised by local and international observers for the boldness and promptness with which he acted. True, he made it clear on several occasions that the gestation period of the policy would be painful, but neither the government nor the citizens were prepared for how painful it would turn out to be. For the government, praise quickly turned to blame, while attempts to ameliorate the pain were complicated by sabotage. Besides, chronic critics and election losers capitalised on the masses’ knowledge gap to blame the President at every turn. Unfortunately, the government has not done enough to fill the knowledge gap (see, for example, my piece, How we got here, The Nation, February 14, 2024).

    For the citizens, both policies have led to widespread economic destabilasation and deepened the existing poverty level. For example, attempts to harmonise the official and parallel exchange rates have led to the devaluation of the Naira and corresponding increases in commodity prices, while the removal of fuel subsidy instantly led to a hike in petrol prices. In no time, transport costs increased across the country. The resultant inflation has made matters worse in the face of stagnant wages.

    It cannot be denied, however, that the government has continued to work round the clock to improve the economic situation. Palliatives, wage increases, infrastructure development, agricultural expansion, and release of grains from the reserve have all been rolled out or put on the table. Unfortunately, instead of engaging their state officials, who are largely responsible for implementation, some continue to protest the Federal Government. Of course, some economic problems remain unresolved, leading the Federal Government recently to set up a tripartite Economic Advisory Committee, involving the Federal Government, states, and the private sector.

    Lest we continue to misconstrue the Nigerian situation, it is important to put it in a wider perspective, by taking a look at the price of one litre of petrol across Africa. The goal is to show that, even at N650 per litre, petrol price in Nigeria remains one of the lowest on the continent, and even across the globe.

    Let me repeat: even with the price hike following the removal of petrol subsidy, the cost of one litre of petrol in Nigeria is still below the average cost across Africa and the world at large. The truth is that, apart from a few countries in Africa, mostly oil producing, such as Libya, Egypt, Algeria, and Angola, the average price of petrol in Africa is over one dollar, that is, over N1,650. For ease of comparison, I use the dollar price for the rest of this essay.

    Let’s begin with West Africa, where Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, and Chad produce oil in varying degrees, with Nigeria being the highest producer. While the dollar price of one litre of petrol in Nigeria is about $0.69 (that is, 69 cents), the price in Cameroon is 1.37 (that is, over N2,000). The price is less in Ghana at 1.05 (that is still over N1,650.00). However, the price in Chad is 0.84. This is closer to, but still higher than, Nigeria’s price. Other West African countries in which the litre price is less than one dollar, but still higher than Nigeria’s, are Liberia (0.80); Niger (0.97); and Gabon (0.98).

    In all other West African countries, the litre price of petrol is higher than one dollar. Here is a sample: Benin (1.12); Togo (1.15); Guinea (1.39); Burkina Faso (1.42); Sierra Leone (1.50); and Senegal (1.65). Take a look at Senegal again: In that country, the price of one litre of petrol is approaching N3,000! And that is a country where the President was attempting to sit tight the other day.

    The situation in East Africa is worse than in West Africa as there is no single country in which the litre price of petrol is less than one dollar, partly because there is no oil producing country in the region. Here’s a sample: Tanzania (1.20); Uganda (1.36); Ethiopia (1.37); Rwanda (1.4); and Kenya (1.43).

    It is a different story, however, in North Africa, where the only country that pays over one dollar for a litre of petrol is Morocco (1.53). It is close to a dollar in Tunisia (0.81), but much less in the oil producing countries of Libya (0.03) Algeria (0.3) and Egypt (0.4). Incidentally, these are oil producing countries in which crude oil is also locally refined.

    Read Also: House invites CBN Gov over REMITA leakages

    However, local refinery did not save the day in oil producing South Africa, where the litre price of petrol is over one dollar at 1.21. This may well be due to corruption, which once reached a level described as “state capture”. But the story is different in Angola, another oil producing country in Southern Africa, where the litre price of petrol is only 0.36. In all other countries in the region, it is well over a dollar. For example, it is so in Malawi (1.50); Zambia (1.50); Zimbabwe (1.64); and Swaziland, which pays the highest price in Africa, at two dollars (that is, over N3,000) per litre.

    On a global perspective, fuel price is high around the world, the average price being about $1.30 per litre. Variations in fuel prices are generally due to variations in taxation; amount of subsidy paid, if any; level of corruption; whether or not crude oil is indigenous; and whether or not oil is locally refined or imported.

    Going by the above data, it is good news for Nigeria that she is still among the countries with the lowest litre price of petrol in the world, despite the removal of fuel subsidy. True, it has taken a toll on the citizens, but it was good riddance, because it only benefitted a few, while it lasted.

    Those who have been asking to see the savings from the subsidy should go ask their state Governors, who have been receiving more money as federal allocations since the removal of fuel subsidy. Now, with Naira gaining strength by the day, the cloud in the economic horizon is gradually clearing. Hope surely will be renewed.

  • Bills; ‘Customs rice?’ Naira: Support CBN

    Bills; ‘Customs rice?’ Naira: Support CBN

    We must ask why, and how come, government facilities including the armed forces were not forced to pay their power bills. If they had paid monthly, the huge accumulated debts would be non-existent. It is the abandonment of such international-standard government routine administrative basic norms that allows huge sums to be accumulated. But when not spent, the funds are stolen but the electricity bills still have to be paid. Double jeopardy.

    MDAs must behave responsibly and act in a leadership position in regard to utility bills and maintenance.  This negligence is intolerable, demonstrating the arrogance and impunity of past administrative leadership. The money is huge but only because it was not paid monthly. It would be interesting to know exactly which government failed to pay. They must explain their incompetence, irresponsibility and arrogance. We must compare this to the massive harassment of the normal citizen for owing small amounts for even a month. 

    All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should be forced to review ‘all Billing/Payment Procedures’ and liquidate their debts. Nothing is for free. If MDAs do not pay, the debts may illegally be transferred to the bills of the citizens of Nigeria thus criminally inflating their bills. This is what is believed to have taken place in regard to citizens’ electricity bills and also International Direct Dialling, IDD, and other telephone bills of citizens which were given to innocent citizens which ballooned their bills scandalously. Electricity bill should be paid monthly or sack the incompetent civil servant or CEO. President Tinubu, having directed the State House to pay its bills, should insist MDAs, as part of his reforms, do likewise monthly.

    Is there evidence that the civil servants at all levels of governance presented the monthly Electricity Bill but the head refused to pay?  Was the money allocated, paid out but stolen?

    Ramifications of ‘Customs Rice’: it is ‘Our rice’, not Customs rice. Customs is re-bagging, rebranding ‘FGN Customs’ and selling at 25k/bag for N10,000, seized rice direct to the public on presentation of NIN and telephone number. It is hoped that the federal government auditors will ensure that all rice is accounted for. Some argue that the rice was seized and therefore should not be sold, but given out free. Sadly, some deaths have been reported during distribution.

    Why were re-bagging, rebranding done especially as they add no value, only cost. There is an argument that the rice should have been handed over to the normal humanitarian and economic intervention agencies for free distribution to orphanages, schools, hospitals and to widows. Anyone who has N10,000 may not be seriously needy.  What will happen to the N10,000s as inflow into Customs? The accountant general and auditor general should immediately monitor the scheme to prevent it becoming scam, so that the good name of Customs remains unstained. Maybe EFCC and ICPC should help produce a ‘Customs Rice Account’ and pay the funds to CBN, as custodian.

     Senator Ned Nwoko, has emphasised the need for naira to be the single legal currency, with the complete abandoning of the dollar.  Certain government agencies, in ports, airports and petroleum industry charge landing, docking, take-off fees in dollars for services. However, there is now a CBN directive that those payments must be paid directly, no delays or diversions, to dedicated accounts at CBN. This will help empower the naira and will eliminate the flow of dollars from agencies to the black market and politics. Many of us are enraged at the atomisation of the naira. This has been fuelled by a fraudulent bank leadership, new note selling -immediate devaluation, round-tripping, Bureau de Change corruption, mass speculative purchase of dollars at-any-price by politicians post-FAAC meetings, abuse of the security vote and a bottomless hitherto untouchable black market manned by an army of street corner abokis, the ethnic peddlers of the hidden black-market ethnic leadership which wickedly set the illegal black market dollar to naira rate at midnight daily, getting the dollars from where? Banks and billionaires?

    All these are economic sabotage and treason. At last in a multi-pronged financial/police/EFCC action, those destroying the naira are facing the full heat and wrath of a determined CBN team led by Yemi Cardoso. He must not stand alone because corruption is fighting back. We the people and public should rally around the CBN to stop this economically disastrous free fall of naira. Government must stop mega and petty theft.

    Read Also: House invites CBN Gov over REMITA leakages

    The recent forensic audit of CBN must include forensic audit of the CBN customers and also the banks. Are we getting money back? If so, the people need to know now, on a weekly basis through a ‘WEEKLY FUNDS REPORT’. Citizens ask about returned stolen funds. Announced recovery but no visible application of the recovered funds. We require a new law that ALL CASH RECOVERED FROM EFCC AND ICPC SUSPECTS AND CRIMINALS AND POLITICIANS MUST BE DIRECTLY DEPOSITED IN CBN WITHIN 12 OR 24 HOURS of recovery especially in these days of electronic transfer when the money should go direct to the CBN held EFCC or ICPC RECOVERY of FUNDS ACCOUNT. It appears even seized assets like houses and vehicles are prone to ‘waka’ or be sold to the favoured few, out of the public view.  This must stop. Recovered assets must be widely publicised and publicly disposed of or converted to public use and thieves prosecuted.         

  • Beware of glaucoma

    Beware of glaucoma

    I got a surprise at the end of my last routine annual visit to my ophthalmologist in Philadelphia late last year. He referred me to a glaucoma specialist. Since he has been my ophthalmologist for about 30 years, why would he refer me to a glaucoma specialist at this time?

    As I walked to the front desk to book the appointment, the initial surprise turned to a scare, the more so because I already had cataract surgery on both eyes. Besides, I knew that glaucoma could lead to total blindness. It is a disease resulting from the buildup of fluid in the front part of the eye. The extra fluid increases the pressure in the eye, resulting in damage to the optic nerve.

    The optic nerve is made up of numerous tiny nerve fibres like an electric cable made up of many small wires. Increased pressure in the eye kills the nerve fibres gradually, resulting initially in blind spots. But the blind spots may not be noticed until most of the nerve fibres have died, resulting in total blindness. It could happen to one eye at a time or to both at the same time.

    Armed with this knowledge beforehand, my questions began to mount. Am I going blind? If so, how would I be able to continue with my habitual practice of reading and writing? I began to think about appropriate apps to use as I wondered why I was being referred to another eye doctor, when I did not complain of any eye problem?

    It did not take long for me to discover that glaucoma is a silent eye killer, because there are often no warning signs or obvious symptoms in the early stages. Even blind spots are often unnoticed or ignored when they develop in peripheral (side) vision as the disease progresses. This is particularly the case with open-angle glaucoma, which is the more common type in which fluid does not drain as well as it should in front of the eye.

    The other type is angle-closure glaucoma in which the iris is so close to the drainage angle as to block it gradually, preventing the normal flow of fluid in front of the eye. When the drainage angle is completely blocked by the iris, eye pressure rises very quickly. Damage to the optic nerve soon follows. It quickly could lead to blindness, if intervention was delayed.

    Fortunately, my anxiety was allayed two weeks later, when I saw the glaucoma specialist. After reviewing my clinical records through the years, he concluded that I did not have glaucoma after all, but that I should see him annually each time I saw my regular ophthalmologist.

    In the ensuing conversation, it turned out that my regular ophthalmologist had a reason for referring me to a glaucoma specialist, while the specialist had a reason for suggesting annual visits. The former thought there was a slight increase in my eye pressure reading when I saw him.

    On his part, the glaucoma specialist concluded that my eye pressure reading was normal that morning and that occasional elevated eye pressure was consistent with my records over the years. This may have been due to the sporadic use of medication that contained steroid. Nevertheless, he advised an annual visit to his office, because according to him, West Africa has the highest incidence of glaucoma in the world! The information rang an alarm bell in my head. Since Nigeria accounts for half the entire population of West Africa, it means that many Nigerians are possibly walking around with glaucoma.

    Research suggests that glaucoma in West Africa is predominantly open angle glaucoma. Unlike other eye problems, such as cataract, vitamin A deficiency, and onchocerciasis, for which there are established cost effective remedies, there are as yet no satisfactory treatments for glaucoma. As a result, training and ophthalmological practice focus on eye diseases for which there are satisfactory treatments to the neglect of glaucoma.

    That’s why screening for early detection of glaucoma is negligible or nonexistent. What is even worse, there are fewer ophthalmologists than other medical specialists. It is estimated that there is only one ophthalmologist per one million people in West Africa, and they are concentrated in the urban areas! This means that patients in smaller towns and rural areas must travel long distances to receive treatment.

    In the absence of a cure, glaucoma could only be managed, usually just for some time. There are two basic approaches to management. One is by eye drop medication, which should be used everyday to lower eye pressure. However, for a number of reasons, chronic medication often fails to lower eye pressure sufficiently long enough to prevent total blindness. Besides, the medicines are generally expensive relative to most patients’ income, and they are often not readily available. As a result, many patients use the medicine sporadically or discontinue medication altogether.

    Read Also: Coconut oil: Cure hope for glaucoma, dementia, alzheimer’s?

    The other treatment for managing glaucoma is operating room surgery. The standard method of surgical treatment employed is trabeculectomy, which is used to create a new drainage channel for fluid to leave the eye to prevent high pressure on the optic nerve.  Unfortunately, however, in spite of its efficacy for some patients, this surgery is not performed in large numbers in West Africa. For one thing, the procedure is generally poorly accepted by patients. Even for those who accept it, their problem is often presented too late for the procedure to produce effective results. What is worse, trabeculectomy is a cumbersome operation and requires more postoperative care than cataract surgery. It is, therefore, generally avoided by most ophthalmologists.

    There are also a few non-invasive laser surgeries, such as argon laser trabeculoplasty for open-angle glaucoma and iridotomy for angle-closure glaucoma. Other alternatives, such as non-penetrating drainage surgery are also available or being pursued. None, however, appears to rank with operating room trabeculectomy, despite its shortcomings.

    There are many risk factors for glaucoma, including age (40 and older); heredity (family members with glaucoma); any eye problem (high eye pressure, far- or nearsightedness, eye injury); medication (such as long-term steroid use); and certain health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and migraines). If you have one or more of these risk factors, you should see an ophthalmologist immediately. Don’t wait for symptoms. There may be none until the disease has advanced. Even if you think you are not at risk, you still should see an ophthalmologist, if only to establish the baseline condition of your eyes.

    When you see your ophthalmologist, request a complete or comprehensive eye exam. Remember that glaucoma cannot be reversed.

  • Nigeria/CBN: Ask dollar/naira billionaires for a $50b loan

    Nigeria/CBN: Ask dollar/naira billionaires for a $50b loan

    The African Development Bank under its determined president, Akinwumi Adesina is lifting Africa up with hope for the future. The AfDB is not to be confused with another, untapped fund within Nigeria. This is the ADNBN= Association of Dollar/Naira Billionaires of Nigeria.  The ADNBN should take action before their fortunes are further negatively impacted by Nigeria’s huge miss(ing)fortune. Can they come together and form a NBB, Nigerian Billionaires Bank, to provide a $50billion loan to back up Nigerian foreign reserves?  Nigeria has been good to billionaires. It is time to rescue the Nigerian sinking ship. The billions are in banks; why not lend them to a new improved CBN? ‘We bailed out our country in need’. Patriotic billionaires. Does the frequent death of wealthy people teach us nothing about the futility of an unfortunate unspent fortune?

    But there is international precedent in Bill Gates. He persuaded Warren Buffet and then, the ABA, Association of Billionaires of America and elsewhere, to join his Billionaires Pledge Club, billionaire members voluntarily giving away half (yes 50%+) of their fortunes. It has 236+ members from 26 countries, honest even if morally ruthless or opportunistic.

    We can discuss the morals of billionaire wealth and achieve nothing. But the wealth exists. It can be used for benefit or to give nothing to the billions of citizens in politically-driven need of infrastructure today for a future tomorrow. ‘Making Wealth worthwhile’ and impacting the society and world is why the Billionaires Pledge Club has raised $600billion that was previously frozen, untouchable.  To reach this initially crazy but inspired goal, Bill Gates simply did three things: 1. SHOWED GOOD EXAMPLE- LEADERSHIP AND COMMITMENT  2. ASKED FOR SIMILAR EXAMPLES FROM OTHERS and 3.CREATED A GOAL- A SUPER-EXCLUSIVE BILLIONAIRE GIVING CLUB. Even billionaires require challenges, incentives and goals to give. 

    What lesson can Nigeria, an economically formerly rich country with potential now ridden into the ground by political, administrative and commercial greed and mismanagement, learn from Bill Gates, the  self-sufficient very wealthy man who saw beyond personal self-aggrandisement? He even dreamt beyond personal huge ability to contribute. By an economic and social masterstroke, he metamorphosed from a one man’s 50% effort of maybe $40b total to a giant 236 person centi-pedal multipronged force-for-greater-good. Hopefully. He thus multiplied what one billionaire could do to what 236 billionaires could do for the world by combining their GIVEAWAY wealth. Bill Gates and the Billionaires Giving Pledge Club have become an exemplary study point in social and economic universities worldwide. Another time Bill Gates ideas have yielded billions! Can Nigeria learn and follow this example? 

    Imagine Nigeria/CBN reaching out to each of the estimated 1000+ Nigerian billionaires or one billionaire reaches out to the CBN. Imagine that they mutually agree to deposit $1b, interest-free or at very low 0.5-2% interest for five or 10 years guaranteed deposit-just like World Bank, IMF and some other long term, soft term loans. The first billionaire to do it will be likened to Bill Gates and he or she will be recognised forever as the first Nigerian billionaire to lead others in supporting Nigeria in this very desperate hour of its need for dollars to pay genuine long outstanding debts which ‘CBN Emefiele & Co’ failed to pay as-and-when-due but instead diverted the dollars to other activities of no economic benefit and in fact definite economic loss to Nigeria.      

    Read Also: Naira depreciates to N1,700/$ at parallel market

    Nigeria’s downward security and economic spiral is directly traced to the coalescence of multiple factors, many involving greed above need. That greed turned everything into ‘for sale’. They sadly steal and sell banks and clean naira, roundtrip dollars, monetise ‘on-seat’-‘not-on-seat’-‘I-know-the-person’ thus selling connections and influence. Greed has turned government offices into negotiation nightmares and a depressing experience. Greed and self-interest monetise every activity from security,  parking, gateman, receptionist, PA-Personal Assistant or secretary obstruction and facilitation, waiting room space and chairs, introductions, appointments and cancellations, letter writing, opening and finding files and filing, documents and documentation and photo-capture. Let us add the final insult – selling the key to the only usable toilet- always mis-labelled ‘Executive Toilet’. They steal maintenance money, even for their own public toilet and toilet paper– a human waste right.

    The prevailing poverty is caused largely by years of tens of thousands of deliberate maximum thieves in and around governance and banking who have horribly raped and robbed Nigerians ‘of their quality and quantity of life’ using legally-illegal or illegally-legal or simple crime-driven thieving means. We stand, financially and morally naked, in our hyper-priced market now. Some say we are all guilty. I am not. Are you?

    Occasionally, usually by accident, not forensic audits, our EFCC/ICPC or police capture a few multimillionaire/billionaire white collar thieves. We are shocked at the zero-remorse witnessed as they ‘glide through the gilded legal gauntlet’ only to ‘walk-away-free’ after returning plea-bargained peanuts. Some of the convicted will later ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ from suspect judicial systems after media covered smiley-or-pretend-collapsed-crippled accused in court cases. These cases  later, by illuminated legal luminaries and judges, may be deemed to have started in the wrong court or investigation date or other monumentally unjust technicality. Something needs SAN-itising.       

    Politicians trying to make a university degree the minimum academic qualifications for political leadership in 2027 have hit a ‘the-bill-is-stepped-down’ wall. Yes, all politicians of any education can fail or steal or rally the masses. But can a School Certificate President or Governor decide constructively on our budget, AI, IT, SDGs, and MATERNAL MORTALITY? 

  • Nigeria’s Economic Crisis: What are governors for? 

    Nigeria’s Economic Crisis: What are governors for? 

    First Ladies are said to be the closest and most influential advisers to presidents. This is because they are the first and last ones these powerful figures see every day. They have the privilege of sharing counsel in the most intimate of environments where other couturiers can’t get to.

    So, when the president’s wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, visited the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, a couple of days ago, he gave her a message for her spouse. ‘Tell your husband Nigerians are suffering,’ the monarch said.

    Last week in the same city, Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, at an interactive session with the business community bemoaned the state of the economy and promised to inform the president in person of hardship in the land.

    On Monday, governors of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gathered together for consultations on the state of their party and the country. They later issued a communique proclaiming ‘Nigeria was on the road to Venezuela.’

    Perhaps, there are parallels because Venezuela is a Latin American country with some of the world’s largest crude oil reserves. But it somehow managed to go from boom to bust, such that today it is more of a basket case and the regular subject of global ridicule.

    The socioeconomic and political crisis which began around 2010 during the presidency of Hugo Chávez, worsened under his successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, worsening starvation, disease, crime and high mortality rates, leading to massive emigration from the country.

    A United Nations report estimated in March 2019 that 94% of Venezuelans lived in poverty, and by 2021 almost twenty percent of citizens (5.4 million) had fled their country. The crisis is that grave and is ongoing.

    It is a moot point whether Nigeria’s condition is on such an irreversible trajectory as to be glibly compared to what is happening in this South American country. Naturally, it isn’t the business of an opposition party to be understanding when its rival is in an awkward position. It is their job to paint themselves as a better option.

    I agree that the president should be held accountable when things are headed south on the economy or with security, just as he should take credit when things start going swimmingly. Tinubu, himself, has been quoted as saying no one should pity him given that he applied for job and Nigerians graciously elected him.  

    Prior to the February 2023 presidential elections, some farsighted people had written that they pitied whoever would succeed Muhammed Buhari as president, given the precarious state of the economy and continuing challenges with insecurity.

    Truly, the buck stops at the president’s table but he isn’t the only locus of power in a federation. At least, the constitution says we are a federation. So it’s a bit rich for these governors to carry on as though they haven’t contributed to the making of our national mess; or have no responsibly for cleaning it up.

    The 1999 Nigerian constitution sets out clear roles for federal, state and local governments. Section 4 (1) of that document contains 68 items on the Exclusive Legislative List over which only the Federal Government of Nigeria can legislate.

    The Concurrent Legislative List provides for items which the federal and state governments can legislate on. This list includes allocation of revenue; antiquities and monuments; archives; collection of taxes; electoral law; electric power; exhibition of cinematography films; industrial, commercial, or agricultural development; scientific and technological research; statistics; trigonometrical, cadastral, and topographical surveys; universities; technological and post primary education.

    Even if the federal government takes the lead, the framers of our constitution anticipated a critical and complementary role for states and their governments in ensuring the economic wellbeing of the country. That is why it specially created a National Economic Council (NEC), headed by the Vice President and comprising all 36 governors.

    Listening to the ongoing national discussion you would think government exists only at federal level. In reality, the constitution provides enough leeway for creative and competent governors to make life reasonably comfortable for their people.

    But in most states governance has not risen beyond the level of gathering to collect the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) handout and proceeding to share same. A 2022 report by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) put together could only muster N1.93 trillion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Of that number only six states – Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Delta, Oyo, Kaduna and the FCT – managed revenues in excess of N50 billion yearly.

    Aside what accrues to them as FAAC share, some states also enjoy special windfall through the Ecological Fund pay outs by reason of their location. Governors preside over humongous security votes over which there is little accountability.

    As his second term wound down, former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, embarked on the inauguration of a slew of infrastructural projects which he boasted were funded through refunds from the Buhari administration. He them revealed that sister states in the Niger Delta had benefitted and challenged citizens to ask their governors what they did with their share.

    The cat was set amongst the pigeons! His embarrassed and rattled colleagues started rendering incoherent account of funds they never disclosed had come into their coffers.

    Read Also: Tinubu moves to stop brain drain in health sector

    This sorry state of affairs is especially noticeable in the South-South zone which, paradoxically, produces the bulk of the nation’s wealth through crude oil, and whose states have received trillions in the past two to three decades, yet remains one of the poorest regions in the country.

    In many states today, workers are owed huge arrears of monthly salaries. A lot of them cannot pay the miserable minimum wage. This is after many governors have castrated local governments by seizing their funds and preventing them from carrying out their functions. That is when properly elected councils are not being fired on a whim, to be replaced by appointees of the governors.

    Some of those presiding over this scandalous state of affairs have the gall to cry about hunger and hardship in the land. How won’t there be hunger when people are not paid in states where the only business is government business?

    In some Northern states, governors are notorious for spending more time in Abuja than in their capitals. While he acted as interim chairman of the All Progressives Council (APC), Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, was often criticised for his absenteeism from home.

    It is heartrending that despite the resources that have accrued to states over the past few decades, Nigerians who aren’t fleeing overseas keep flocking to Lagos and, to some extent, Abuja. How did we mismanage a country such that just two or three cities are the only magnets for people seeking a better life?

    The office of the president is powerful, no doubt. But state governors are not incapacitated in any way by what the constitution permits them to do. They can develop agriculture in their domains and ensure that food produced in rural areas get to city centres. They can create industrial hubs where people can find good paying jobs. They can make an effort to pay the measly wages of those who work them and stop the ego-tripping of appointing hundreds of unproductive ‘Special Assistants’!

    Nigerians are welcome to scrutinise how well Tinubu is doing in office. But no president, no matter how visionary, well-meaning or hard working, is going to turn this country around without states and local governments which receive a healthy chunk of national resources pulling their weight.

  • How we got here

    How we got here

    I have been speaking with various artisans about the economic situation in the country. I interacted with mechanics, welders, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers, tilers, okada riders, and professional drivers. Sometimes I just listened to them, freely discussing the economic situation in the country. At other times, I asked them directly for their opinion.

    There was uniformity in their assessment of the economic situation. Things are bad, very bad, they all acknowledged. Everything is expensive, they said. Food costs are high. Housing costs are high, including building materials, from cement to electrical and plumbing materials. Energy (electricity, fuel, gas) costs are high. Transport costs are high. One Okada rider was particularly bitter about the cost of motorcycles, which has since tripled, according to him. Drivers mouthed similar complaints.

    All the artisans complained about reduced patronage, leading to reduced income. This makes them even more vulnerable, given high inflation and rising costs. If artisans feel this way, one can only imagine how the unemployed would feel.

    I also wanted to know if they knew what caused the present economic situation. This is where divisions began to emerge among them. First, while they all cited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s policies as responsible, few could name the specific policies. While the majority cited the removal of fuel subsidy, much fewer cited the unification of the exchange rate and the attendant devaluation of the Naira. What is worse, for many of them, the problems started with Tinubu.

    The second noticeable division in the findings was generational difference. Older artisans went beyond Tinubu to cite endemic corruption, which predated the Tinubu administration. An older bricklayer went as far back as the Goodluck Jonathan administration to cite the case of Dasuki, then National Security Adviser, who was doling out the money recovered from General Sanni Abacha, the notorious army dictator, as Jonathan began to prepare for re-election in 2015. Another one, a much older driver, even went further back to talk about the billions of Naira that former President Olusegun Obasanjo said he allocated to the rehabilitation of Sagamu-Benin road, without much to show for it till today.

    On every occasion, I took advantage of the level of ignorance or unawareness to explain what was going on. The problems have a very long history, I told them. Military dictatorships, starting in 1966, institutionalised corruption, by suspending the constitution, dispensing with the legislature and the judiciary, and suppressing the press. They told and showed us only what they wanted us to know and see.

    With the advent of democracy in 1999, there were many more people to share the loot. In no time, it became a case of “My loot is bigger than yours” with many more people sharing the loot. You only need to go to Abuja to see the humongous houses, hotels, and businesses, built by politicians, legislators, and civil servants.

    Matters began to get worse under President Goodluck Jonathan, beginning in 2013 as preparations got underway for the 2015 general elections. Incidentally, that was the year the All Progressives Congress was formed, mounting a very strong opposition to the Jonathan administration. That was the background to what came to be known in the press as Dasukigate, which the bricklayer cited above.

    Apparently, with recent revelations, things got worse under the Buhari administration. Domestic and foreign debts went through the roof. The nation’s foreign reserve was depleted. The Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, appeared to have colluded with the Buhari administration to perpetrate untold atrocities. Naira was printed illegally in order to increase loan to the government.

    By the time Buhari was handing over to Tinubu, the CBN had loaned the government over N20 trillion, with nothing to back up the loan and with no clear terms of repayment. Foreign loan was almost four times that amount. So much was borrowed and so much was looted that Charles Soludo, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and present Governor of Anambra state, declared recently that Tinubu inherited a “dead economy”. It will be recalled that Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, had also said as much.

    On his own, Emefiele set up multiple exchange rates within the banking system and gave different customers different rates. The so-called anchor borrowers programme intended to assist farmers was used to assist those he wanted to assist. He was also giving loans to friendly individuals as if the CBN was a commercial bank. He allegedly opened numerous accounts at home and abroad and funneled money into them. Part of Emefiele’s scam was the botched currency swap ahead of the 2023 general elections, which caused untold hardships for millions of Nigerians.

    Between Buhari and Emefiele, a subsidy regime was maintained to keep the country going, while also getting deeper and deeper into debt. Electricity was subsidised. Even the Naira was prevented from devaluation by keeping the official forex market low and supplying the dollar to the market, when necessary. Then there was fuel subsidy, which had become a scam to put money into a few hands, some of which did not even supply fuel at all.

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    For years, many previous governments had planned to end fuel subsidy but failed to do so for political reasons. The plan was completed by the Buhari administration. However, for political reasons, he stopped short of ending the subsidy. Instead, he left the job for Tinubu by making sure that there was no subsidy in the budget as from June 2023, when Tinubu took office. In other words, Tinubu had no choice but to end the subsidy. It was equally necessary to provide a level playing field for foreign exchange transactions by unifying the exchange rate.

    What Tinubu did was to end the tradition of money for a few so that it will be money for all in the future. However, such a transformation can never be instant. The intervening period will be difficult. There will be pain. There will be suffering. There even will be hunger. But not for too long. However, how soon remains uncertain. That’s why he released billions of Naira as palliative, which state governments are meant to disburse. Incidentally, none of the artisans I spoke with got anything. 

    Above is a summary of the explanations I offered to various artisans. As I collated my findings, the IMF released its recent assessment of the nation’s economic situation. It concluded that Nigeria is in the throes of stalled per capita growth, high poverty levels, and significant insecurity. The IMF also noted Tinubu’s constraints: “Low reserves and very limited fiscal space constrain the authorities’ option space”.

    Neither the problems nor the constraints began with the Tinubu administration. However, the bulk now stops at his desk.

  • Wigwe, Ogunbanjo, RIPP; Valentine’s; Osundare’s Poem

    Wigwe, Ogunbanjo, RIPP; Valentine’s; Osundare’s Poem

    The tragic loss of CEO Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, founder of Wigwe University, his wife Chizoba, a child and Abimbola Ogunbanjo, chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc in a helicopter crash is a terrible blow to the family, friends and the intellectual Nigerian business community. May they RIPP. 

    Happy Valentine’s Day to all Nigerians. Congratulations to Nigerian football players, families, coaches, sponsors for overcoming the chronic underfunding of Nigerian sports, and other challenges. Number two is really good and not bad second out 16 teams. Some people died watching you, including football colleagues renowned and respected High Chief Osunde and an NYSC member, unbelievably dead to family and friends at the start of his adult life. Tragic. That sacrifice must count for something? How many governors have bought even one football for schools or complete sports equipment-hurdles, high and long jump, all the balls – table, tennis, etc. etc. like schools worldwide? 

    Please Google and read Emeritus Professor Niyi Osundare’s latest poem ‘Corruption weds Incompetence’. A masterpiece as usual, it speaks to our problems and the easily identified solutions. Pray it is read to every Nigerian and acted upon by every corrupt Nigerian. ‘TO SURVIVE, NIGERIA NEEDS A YEAR OFF CORRUPTION’.

    Everywhere our ‘CINS’ –‘Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence, Selfishness’ destroy our currency, our country.

    It is time we all listened and acted  to stop more greed-above-need, complete contract theft and frustration of every well-intentioned government effort, often by officials responsible to deliver the project to the ‘h-angry’ poor, the children in ‘rubbish’ schools, the women in ‘ill-equipped and undermanned’ hospitals, the traveller on the ‘potholed, poorly secured’ road or the entrepreneur drowning in ‘multiple taxation’ from federal, state, local government, area boys and local terrorists and bandits.

    For over 70 years, our brightest minds in journalism and every discipline have filled every newspaper with articles, reports and research clearly identifying the problems and solutions to Nigeria’s seemingly irreversible backwardness in  stepping up to success. Let us not forget the army of the public in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section. In addition, every administration starts with a glossy, well-researched, never implemented manifesto-now called ‘fake manifesto’.

    By the end of every administration, military or civilian, there has been almost uniformly failure to bring the manifesto to mature fruition. The country is one-step-forward-five-steps back in economic and other yardsticks of growth. Often the incoming regime, even from the same political party, is too politically petty or corrupt, to build on and finish past administration’s uncompleted projects and strategies. These projects, costing billions rot away, bleeding society and reducing the collective financial inheritance of all citizens. Yet there is no punishment for failure to spend money wisely or finish a project. The country is choking with uncompleted projects costing trillions of naira-an economic crime.

    Daily I twice drive past an abandoned NEPA seven storey 100metre long building and see-through monstrosity which could have been completed to make a magnificent office, school, hostel or single flat housing scheme if NEPA had no need for it and the contract smelt of corruption rat. It is exactly like Ikoyi with the ‘now infamous’ abandoned and stripped naked shell of a once proud and hugely costly [to Nigerians] Federal Government Secretariat.

    It annoys every honest Nigerian because such monuments were conceived and raised up, as our own pyramids of Egypt, to our glory and future economic advancement, but have mutated into monstrosities testifying to our failure in governance systems. It is our Nigerian citizens’ money abandoned since long before Uncle Bola Ige was murdered 23-12-2001. I know because I took photographs from the top of the abandoned NEPA building of the Educare Trust Gallery that Uncle Bola commissioned. 

    The entire country is disappointed by the abandoned unfulfilled promise of TINAPA, a major government contribution to Nollywood, strangled and abandoned by subsequent governments. Citizens’ money wasted. 

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    There are thousands of failed projects taunting and tormenting Nigerians nationwide. The worst case is probably Ajaokuta. Conceived between 1967 and 1973, started in 1979, 84% completed by 1983, 98% completed by 1994 and corporate and government quagmire with buyouts and buybacks and stalemates followed. The loser? Nigeria! How much lost? Billions of dollars. Result = zero so far.

    The mention of Ajaokuta Steel Mill, is a metaphor for Nigeria’s failure, and annoys most Nigerians as it has hung around Nigeria’s neck like a never-ending chain of financial loss and no steel.  This has disappointed the entire Nigerian population since 1979, 44 years of political and legal problems and failed promises with no solutions. This government is active on the Ajaokuta Steel Mill. When will our losses end and income begin?

    The courts are frustrating EFCC and Nigerians. Today’s court success become tomorrow’s court failure. Criminals go free with really petty fines for really major crimes. Massive multi-billion naira crimes with successful initial prosecution rendered ‘null and void’ on the technicality of whether investigation was initiated before or after the then jailed party was in or out of employment. It used to be a ‘thief is a thief’ especially after returning more than N2billion, no matter which court or employment.

    It has been reiterated that statutory fines in the laws should be erased from all laws as they are out of tune with financial reality. Fine size should be at the discretion of the judge and relevant to the crime and should not be ‘jail or a fine’ but ‘jail and a fine’.

  • Hard times are for learning

    Hard times are for learning

    There are events in the life of nations that transform them forever. While not suggesting that anything happening to Nigerians now approximates what Jews experienced during the Holocaust, after that harrowing experience they vowed ‘never again.’

    South African blacks suffered through the apartheid years and were scarred by their experiences. When Nelson Mandela got his chance to rule he rejected a new form of discrimination by the majority, choosing instead to build a ‘rainbow nation’ out of the ashes of racism.

    Nigeria had her civil war, a sufficiently traumatic event that would have changed another nation. Despite the fact that a generation that were witnesses to its grim fallout are still active in governance, they don’t appear to have learnt any lessons from it.

    Ethnic suspicion, hate, profligacy, lack of vision and extreme corruption – some factors that led to that dark chapter in our history are still alive and well today, as we try to make sense of troublous times more than half a century after the guns fell silent on the Eastern front.

    Perhaps, the excruciating nature of this season is to brand it on our psyche that as a nation we can’t continue business as usual. We have lived a lie for too long. We’ve been pampered and screened from truth about our true condition.

    Sometime in the last ten years people were horrified when the dollar-to-naira rate breached the N200 barrier; they are shell-shocked now that the greenback is going for over N1,400. Inflation which in the last 20 years never crossed the 20% mark is almost hitting 30%. Although, that’s still a far cry from what prevailed between 1992 when the rate was 44.59% and 1995 when it reached an all-time high of 72.8% under General Sani Abacha.

    Nigeria is smack in the middle of an economic crisis and it’s a hurricane that has been brewing. It is trouble that many with insight had been predicting for years. But administrations that have come and gone chose to play ostrich, ignoring the obvious systemic distortions. This crisis wasn’t caused by the removal of fuel subsidy; that move simply blew away all pretences and exposed the tattered condition of our undergarments.

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    Today, it is politically correct to lament about how people are suffering as a consequence of the double whammy of spiralling inflation and naira collapse. Everyone going on about general hardship is simply stating the obvious. Even if they say so a thousand times, it changes nothing. What is needed is the silver bullet that would bring inflation down to lower double figures and forex rates to affordable levels.

    Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes. That is the reason why the twisting and the turning by the Central Bank and all those managing the economy has not resulted in any dramatic improvement. The apex bank can do all the tweaking it wants, if there are no significant increases in dollar inflows, not much would change.

    Part of the problem with our country is living in denial, just kicking the ball down the road, hoping that magically we will emerge from the hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

    I believe that one of the first steps towards recovery is full disclosure. We need to know how bad things are so we can begin to make the necessary adjustments. For instance, Nigerians need to be reminded that up till last year, 95% of all our revenues were being spent on servicing debts!

    The World Bank’s Macro Poverty Outlook for Nigeria: April 2023 put the actual figure at 96.3%. That left less than four percent for funding government’s objectives. The report observed that while oil price booms previously supported the economy, all that changed in 2021.

    The cause for this, according to the World Bank, was macroeconomic stability weakening amidst declining oil production, costly fuel subsidies, exchange rate distortions, and monetisation of the fiscal deficit.

    Our economic reality has largely sustained by things that were not sustainable. Fuel subsidy was not sustainable and virtually everyone – from labour unions, to economists, to all the presidential candidates at the 2023 election agree it had to go.

    The exchange rate was make-believe – sustained by the CBN shelling out billions to defend it against major global currencies. While this allowed the populace to access forex at relatively affordable rates, it opened a thriving window for arbitrage that made overnight billionaires out of people with the right connections.

    The battering of the naira was collective work and we must all own it. Typically, most of those moaning delude themselves they had no hand in it. Those who were making hay round-tripping, government officials who spend billions to buy dollars for hoarding, politicians who have to be bribed to do their constitutional duties and would only receive their gratification in dollars, contributed.

    Most bureaux de change (BDCs) are owned by those who have the power to approve them and allocate forex. For years it was in their interest to sustain the system of multiple exchange rates – virtually placing their feet firmly on the neck of a prostrate naira.

    We didn’t learn much in times of prosperity. Rather than investing proceeds of the 70s oil boom on building a future, the lack of leadership vision saw us squandering petrodollars on fiestas and jamborees.

    Between 2003 and 2019, crude oil rates were at record highs, yet not much was done to wean us from our appetite for imports, or to diversify the economy. While the world was preparing for change in the use of energy with a tilt away from fossil fuels, we carried on like the windfall would last forever.

    That’s the explanation for how we went from former President Olusegun Obasanjo paying off most of Nigeria’s debts at the time of Obasanjo’s exit to where we were at Muhammadu Buhari’s departure where over 96% of national revenue was being spent on debt serving.

    That we’ve not learnt any lessons or are not inclined to was evident in the recent controversy over the relocation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters from Abuja to Lagos. Rather than being scandalised that over N500 million was being wasted on needless travel between cities by the agency’s officials, the argument was over regional political advantage.

    For most countries dealing with rampant inflation and forex scarcity it’s like going through hell. While are our challenges may not be as grave, there are certain aspects that are reminiscent of the Greek economic crisis between 2010 and 2018.

    At the height of its troubles Greece could not borrow. The populace was confronted with several reforms and austerity measures that led to impoverishment, loss of income and property, and a humanitarian crisis of sorts.

    There was massive political upheaval leading to the fall of government after government and the flight of hundreds of thousands of well-educated Greeks out of the country – their own version of japa.

    The government introduced round after round of tax increases, spending cuts, and reforms between 2010 and 2016, which caused riots and protests nationwide. In addition to these measures, the country still needed several bailouts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others.

    One lesson from the Greek experience is that getting this economy back to health might be a matter of years, not months. It is a bitter truth that we need to start getting used to. Another is that some of the remedies might be bitter medicine no one wants to take. It would be akin to economic chemotherapy which would be brutal to the one being treated.

    The government will need to do more to block leakages, break up age old practices where a privileged few have fed fat on government. These steps won’t be popular with vested interests and would be opposed. What is required is the iron will to press through.

    As citizens we have a responsibility to take pride in that which is produced locally. We must change our consumption habits, produce most of what we eat or drink or wear. Those in production must up their game such that the gap in quality between imports and local products is eliminated.

    One major source of dollar demand pressure is the importation of petroleum product. With the Dangote, NNPC’s Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries as well as BUA’s facility, set to begin production in the near future, Nigeria could soon be in a position where it no longer needs to bring products.

    Things may look dire right now, but it is not hopeless for this country. What would really be sad is after making a massive effort to get out of the woods, we don’t learn our lessons. There may be hardship in the land, but we must keep reminding ourselves of the immediate and remote causes so that they are not repeated.   

  • Jimi Solanke (1942-2024): Ó di gbére

    Jimi Solanke (1942-2024): Ó di gbére

    It was August 15, 2010. He arrived earlier than scheduled, set up his band, and started playing. Monica and I had invited him to play at an event we hosted in Lagos, which was chaired by the one and only Baba Lisa, the late Chief Bayo Akinnola, and attended by a number of our close friends, young and old. Baba Lisa had come to the event all the way from Ondo with a live goat and enough firewood for roasting it, both in the boot (trunk) of his Mercedes Benz. He also brought along Lomi, a popular Ondo asun Masterchef.

    If Baba Lisa had come in his quintessential elements that day, Jimi Solanke was something else on the bandstand. He sang. He danced. He acted. All at once. His guttural voice recalled Barry White’s baritone voice. His dance steps and accompanying theatrics recalled his steps as he told stories to kids on the Bar Beach Show is or in Storyland. Younger members of the audience were particularly thrilled that the same Jimi Solanke they grew up watching on TV was live on the bandstand at an event they attended. Jimi regaled the audience with a combination of folksongs, soft Jazz, and Juju misic.

    However, whatever he did that day was no more than a prologue to his all-encompassing artistic accomplishments. Jimi was a dramatist, actor, songwriter, singer, dancer, choreographer, folksinger, storyteller, playwright, poet, musician, and a worthy ambassador of Yoruba culture worldwide.

    True, he earned a diploma in drama from the University of Ibadan in the sixties, but the multiplicity of skills he deployed during his career surpassed whatever competencies he acquired during that training. Some of them even predated the training. The truth is that Jimi was a talented youth, who identified his interests early, and spared nothing in nurturing them to the fullest. Even as a secondary school student, he was collaborating with famous musicians at the time, such as Roy Chicago, and even composing for them.

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    In the meantime, his father opposed his ambition of becoming an artist of any kind. Rather, he wanted his son to be an engineer because the young man was very good at fixing things around the house, from electrical appliances to gramophones. He was therefore sent to his uncle in Ibadan to learn print engineering from Caxton Press.

    It turned out to be the wrong time and city to send a young man of immense artistic talent. He would work at the press during the day and sing at night with any band that needed him, including Edy Okonta and Chris Ajilo. But the night activities soon took a toll on his press job during the day. He was eventually laid off and sent out of the house by his uncle. This seeming tragedy was a blessing in disguise. It freed Jimi to find sanctuary in Mbari Club, founded by Ulli Beier, and frequented by literary giants, including Wole Soyinka, Chistopher Okigbo, J.P. Clark, Demas Nwoko, and Michael Crowder, then Head of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan. His attraction to the diploma studies in drama came from this rich encounter.

    Of course, one of his major influences was Professor Wole Soyinka, whose Orisun Theatre Group Jimi joined in Ibadan when it was founded in 1961. There hardly was a better opportunity for a budding artist to grow. And Jimi took maximum advantage. But he did not stop there. He jumped at any and every opportunity, including responding to Ola Rotimi’s invitation from Ife to participate in his theatre productions. It was at Ife in 1968 that I spoke with him after the production of The Gods Are Not To Blame. It was one young man admiring the work of another. But we stayed in touch over the years.

    That’s why I could get him to play for me at very short notice in 2010. We had met about two weeks to the event at the Guest House of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubuse II. Monica and I were the Ooni’s guests for a week. Jimi had come there to see someone else. We bumped into each other in the lobby and embraced each other. His eyeballs glowed and his smile was as infectious as ever. “Niyi, when will you come home from America?”, he enquired. I assured him I would as soon as I retired. We talked for about 30 minutes, updating each other about goings on in our lives. The conversation ended with my invitation to him to play at our event in Lagos, which he accepted, even without discussing charges. I am glad he did, especially for the young attendees of the event, who kept referring to the experience.

    Jimi’s contributions to the arts fell into several categories. First, as a dramatist and film actor, he participated in many memorable theatre productions and films, often playing leading role. They included Kongi’s Harvest and Death and the King’s Horseman, The Gods Are Not To Blame, Kurunmi, and Ovoramwen Nogbaisi. Jimi’s portrayal of the ancient Oba of Benin, Ovoramwen Nogbaisi, moved Samuel Ogbemudia, then Military Governor of the defunct Midwest state, to the extent that he engaged Jimi as Senior Cultural Officer to set up the dance, music, and drama sections of the Midwest Arts Council.

    Second, Jimi’s TV shows, mainly on NTA, but also on LTV and AIT, stretched back to the 1960s. He starred in the legendary Village Headmaster, Bar Beach Show, For Better for Worse, Family Scene, Children’s Half Hour, Storyland, African Stories, and Sango. Children, now in their forties and fifties, recall with nostalgia how he dramatised his stories, including mimicking characters in folktales and fables.

    Third, his musical talent showed up in everything he did. As indicated earlier, he had performed with leading bands of the time at home. He also did so abroad. It was a natural leap for him to set up his own band and perform at social events.

    What is less known about Jimi was the international spread of his accomplishments. He performed across the globe, notably in Europe, the United States and the Caribbean.  He even once set up a drama group in the United States, known as The Africa Review. He developed his story telling career there and honed it on his return to Nigeria.

    In all this, Jimi’s most distinctive contribution is the depth and extent of his focus on Yoruba culture. Perhaps no one combined drama, folklore, and music to bring the Yoruba past alive on stage, on radio, and on TV than Jimi Solanke.