The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Thanks CBN, EFCC; Corruption kills Nigeria

    Thanks CBN, EFCC; Corruption kills Nigeria

    Nigerians need to understand the value of the success in the Yemi Cardoso-led CBN and the macro-economy in stabilizing their lives, for now at least. The improved positive rating by Standard & Poor should be celebrated as a welcome signpost on the country’s long and difficult road, back from the edge of the economic abyss caused by the previous government to fiscal recovery.

    This government was held responsible for the catastrophic collapse of the naira with corresponding rise in prices and cost of living because it cancelled the so-called petrol subsidy. In fact, this government inherited a Trojan horse cake, empty inside by corruption with nothing inside so it collapsed in this government’s hands.  Unfortunately, too many are in such penury as to not believe that they are better off now than before this government took over.

    We must remember that Nigeria has been plagued with governments failing or refusing to pay salaries for months and pensions for years. It is this current government which has largely paid the backlog, even though at a lower naira value and unrelated to the exchange rate when the payments were due.  Also, unfortunately too many Nigerians disregard Nigeria as a country and a financial entity because they have made money mostly through greed and corruption.

    Many countries would have collapsed with far less corruption than exists ‘routinely and acceptably’ in Nigeria. However, we the babies, children, adults and aged in Nigeria have not escaped unscathed from the crippling corruption burden on development as easily measured against Sustainable Development Goals.

    Almost throughout our lives but at an increased pace, we periodically face previously unimaginable revelations by financial watchdogs like ICPC, EFCC, the police, banks and government agencies regarding huge totally unjustifiable financial fraud, outright theft and excesses, countrywide thefts amounting to frequent avalanches of stolen wealth. The thing about EFCC accusations and the regular freeing of the accused often due to technicalities, or the light sentencing when found guilty, is that until recently, the money or mansions for which they are accused remained missing in action, MIA. We are having an improved recovery rate of stolen funds at last…so much so that even the EFCC have had their strong room of recovered gold raided by their own men.

    The EFCC staff thieves have been caught and EFCC just dismissed 113 for various corruption crimes. Hopefully they will be prosecuted as they would have prosecuted others for similar offences. There is a responsibility by the EFCC authority to protect the amazing incorruptible members of staff at EFCC by regular supervisory corruption evaluation screening exercises on EFCC status. 

    Nigeria would be far better off if the Association of Corrupt and Corrupted Nigerians were to call a nationwide meeting to suspend indefinitely their assault on the Nigerian ‘Financial Wellbeing System’. The ACCN members should be informed that corruption at all levels and in every facet of life must be curbed and even stopped. If not, Nigeria will never join its 1960s independence mates like Malaysia, now well advanced, in achieving an acceptable level of development with the countywide provision of the most basic developed world human facilities of running water, regular electricity, good education, adequate health facilities and good motorable roads from village to villa. Of course we have made progress, increasing our number of health and education facilities since the 60s and coverage of the citizenry. However, we must be honest enough to admit that the quality of what is provided in those essential service areas would not qualify Nigeria to be a member of the Good Governance Providers Club for its population especially in relation to cumulative budgetary incomes since independence.

    Someone needs to just add up the sums involved in all the thefts stolen from Nigeria. The Abacha loot still trickles back from time to time. Estimates suggest around $600b or $600,000,000,000 /160,000,000 people (we are nearer 160m than the touted 200+m population) = $3,750/Nigerian =N5,625,000 per Nigerian=80 months of current minimum wage=6.6years. The ACCN members say that they are only stealing ‘no one’s’ money by budgetary fraud, budgetary inflation or padding, wages or ghost workers fraud, Constituency Project scams, extravagant political advertising fraudulent practices with huge multimillion mega-billboards next to hungry citizens and children and teachers lacking books, and toilets. But they are wrong.

    Read Also: 60% of Nigeria’s power plants not available for dispatch – NERC

    Indeed, they are no different from armed robbers because they deny the citizens life-skills. Nigeria faces periodic cholera epidemics solely because the missing $600b has deprived citizens access to potable water resulting in gastro-intestinal diseases, like typhoid enteritis. Why can the thieves not understand the gravity of their actions and desist from stealing food, water, books, shelter, the road from underfoot and roof overhead, the medicines, equipment and the health of a country struggling to become a nation -Nigeria.

    There are politician, contractor, civil servant and scam thieves in every country. Organized, sporadic and institutionalized theft above 10% of revenues and services destroys and kills citizens, companies, and countries whether blood and bodies are seen or not.

    In medicine, we see real blood and real bodies caused by excessive maniacal corruption. Remember that many millions are honest Nigerians daily tempted to become dishonest in order to survive, to fit in or because the corrupt almost always get away.

    Kudos to the EFCC for the recent arrest and prosecution of over 900 local and foreign scammers with deportation of over 100. Why were foreign deportees allowed to leave with so much personal luggage?                                    

  • Lessons from Delta’s century of flight (1)

    Lessons from Delta’s century of flight (1)

    I recently took an early morning flight from Calgary, Canada, to Philadelphia, USA, with a stopover in Salt Lake City. The layover was so short that I could only have a cup of coffee at the Delta Lounge, hoping to have an early lunch on the 4-hour Philadelphia leg of the flight. The meal was so satisfying that I dosed off right afterwards. Upon waking up, I decided to watch a short movie since I still had nearly two hours to go. As I scrolled through the menu, my eyes caught a documentary, titled A Century of Flight. It is the story of Delta’s journey over the last 100 years, making it the first Airline in the United States to make the 100-year mark. The name Delta came from the Mississippi Delta region the airline originally served.

    The Delta story is one of courage, resilience, community, teamwork, accountability, authenticity, and exemplary corporate leadership. Founded in Atlanta in 1925 by C.E. Woolman as the first ever aerial crop-dusting company, Delta’s first commercial flight came about four years later. It was a bumpy 5-hour flight over a distance of only 427 miles. But it grew from there to become arguably the largest international airline in the world.

    In the course of its growth, Delta faced at least four major challenges, each of which could potentially drown the airline. The first major challenge was the aviation fuel shortages of the 1970s, one in 1973 due to the OPEC oil embargo as a result of the Yom Kippur War and the other in 1979 due to disruption of oil supplies because of the Iranian Revolution. About the same time, the Airline Deregulation Act was passed under the presidency of Jimmy Carter in 1978, which replaced federal control over airline fares, routes, hubs, and market entry with market competition. The intense competition that followed led to the failure of some airlines, including PanAm, TWA, and Eastern Airlines. Delta did not only survive; it gave its employees a pay raise, even when the Wall Street Journal said it was a bad idea in those challenging times. The employees responded by contributing toward the airline’s purchase of a new aircraft, a Boeing 767. It was named Spirit of Delta, which came to define the communal spirit driving the company.

    The second major challenge came during the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, which led airlines to shut down for four days. By this time, online booking sites, which began to take advantage of the Internet a few years earlier, had become very prominent. In the following years, Delta lost funds, buckled, and, in 2005, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which gave room for reorganisation, rather than liquidation.

    The management did something extraordinary at this point. Already demoralised employees were summoned to a meeting at which they were fully informed about the company’s plight and given a chance to ask questions and make suggestions for recovery. They were delighted that management answered their questions fully and outlined solutions to the problems identified. Above all, Ed Bastian, then Finance Controller, apologised for the situation of the company and assured them that the company would come out of bankruptcy. The employees, who had reluctantly attended the meeting, came out upbeat.

    The strategy paid off and allowed Delta to overcome the third major challenge in 2006, when US Airways made a hostile takeover bid for Delta Airlines. The management was able to rally the support of its employees, creditors, and even the public to oppose the bid. Delta employed two main strategies. One, the management, led by CEO Gerald Grinstein, brought to the Congressional hearings on the takeover some Board members, uniformed pilots, and uniformed flight attendants, all saying No, while US Airline’s management came with a bunch of lawyers. The optics was not lost on the Congressional committee. Delta also mounted successful rallies and media campaigns to oppose the bid. Delta succeeded, emerged from bankruptcy in 2007, and began to thrive.

    In that year, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange and the following year, it merged with Northwest Airlines to become the largest commercial airline in the world, with 1,100 planes in its fleet. The Delta Airlines brand was retained. Eleven years later, Delta reported a $4.8 billion profit and distributed a profit share worth $1.6 billion, the highest of any company in the world at the time.

    The fourth challenge was COVID-19, which led to drastic reduction in passenger load. Drawing on the spirit of Delta again, Delta employees volunteered and took over a vaccination centre in Atlanta and were vaccinating about 5,000 people a day at peak. To Delta’s credit, not a single worker was laid off during the Covid years.

    Three major factors underlie Delta’s success. One is Delta’s unparalleled commitment to its workers. Through the years, Delta management developed and nurtured a value system of mutual respect between management and staff, which encouraged a communal spirit. This was made possible by the management’s accountability and openness, especially in challenging times, which helped to build trust in the company’s leaders.

    Two, since 2007, when the company went public, the company made sure that every worker got stock in the company but CEO Gerald Grinstein decline his share of $10 million. The company used the money to establish a Care Fund tapped to bail out employees in need. A profit-sharing programme also was developed, which has since paid out an average of $1 billion annually. More recently, the company established an Emergency Savings Programme. Participating employees earn $1,000 dollars to fund a rainy day account.

    Read Also: Nigerians in Diaspora rally support for Tinubu, Akpabio

    According to the current CEO, Ed Bastian, “At Delta, our No. 1 job is taking care of our people—our success flows from this simple concept. Sharing profits with our people, along with providing tools and education to help manage and grow their wealth, is part of our responsibility as a values-led organisation.”

    Three, the Delta management is top-notch. The leaders listened. They took every step to save the company and make it thrive. Former CEO Grinstein and current CEO Bastian could be credited for the current buoyant state of the company. Their people-oriented management style and resilience carried the company through major challenges. The employees paid back with hard work, dedication, and loyalty to the company and its leaders.

    Nigerian leaders and the Nigerian public have a lot to learn from Delta management and their workers, respectively. The company’s employees rewarded the responsiveness and accountability of Delta management with loyalty and hard work. The result is a values-led organisation built on mutual trust.

    Next week, I will examine Delta’s profit margins over the years, the place of the Nigerian route in Delta’s lucrative business, and necessary improvements to add value to the route and for the customers.

  • Reserves; missing voters; security

    Reserves; missing voters; security

    The foreign reserve is reported by CBN to be $43.3b. Nigeria is well on the way to the $50b barest minimum foreign reserves for us to have some degree of financial self-respect as a country. Though Nigeria is still far behind the $200b minimum we should have saved by now, judging from our income over the years and our population at present. And we must not forget that we are borrowing quite a lot. The problem is that our financial trajectory follows our politics. 

    After every season of fiscal stabilisation and growth with increased foreign reserves, we face a season of locust politicians who know only ‘consumption, consumption, consumption’ and waste all our foreign reserves leaving Nigeria a financial cripple to be rescued again after eight years of the locust.  We will never make the necessary constant incremental rises in our foreign reserves if we continue to have presidential candidates who have no clue or appreciation of the need to improve the foreign reserves and seek to increase the value of our currency.

    Ignorantly, such presidents see CBN as personal money bag or ATM and they ignore wise fiscal advice and feel fiscal policy is not a paramount necessity for good governance and an important leadership quality. And as a result, the country’s citizens suffer. If Nigeria had saved the $25b from the Paris Club refunds instead of yielding to the governors’ demands, imagine how powerful our currency would have been today especially if governments had a tighter spending policy and greater control over misspending by the CBN officials.

    The mystery of ‘missing voters’ continues with the just concluded Anambra election in which Professor Charles Soludo was re-elected for a second term. Around 2.7m+ voter cards are supposedly out there with just 584,054 actual voters. Where are the over 2+ million who did not vote? Were they sick of elections, sick of voting, sick of politics, sick of politicians, out-of-state or ‘Not-On-Seat’ or waiting to be bribed to vote?  Where are the non-voting voters, countrywide?

    Read Also: Tinubu’s delegation to UK discusses Ekweremadu’s transfer to Nigeria

    We need to further sanitise our voter register we are told duplicated names have been removed. Good. The list needs to be delisted of the dead. We can seriously cut the cost of elections if we cut the quantity of election materials required to be prepared for such elections.

    The 2.5m Internally Displaced Persons in IDP camps plus another 2.5m Nigerian who are undocumented but  seen scattered around the country seeking safety and jobs and also seen at junctions and traffic lights. Add to this the terrible stories of massacres with deaths in excess of 100,000 and it is clear that governments have definitely not lived up to their responsibility to secure lives and property across the country. If the result of the noisy message surrounding this glaring failure spurs the Nigerian government into doing the right thing, then we should all sleep safer at night. Yes, governments have done something over the years and we have many gallant military and police and JTF, Joint Task Force, volunteers who have paid the supreme price that we may be free. For too long, the military and police efforts and the deaths seem not to have achieved success.

    The need for more efforts has repeatedly been pointed out in numerous ways, through the media, at conferences and every time another town or village faces bloodshed. Nigerians know that at least 20 countries have satellite cover over every inch of Nigeria. Nigerians know about tracing heat signals from motorcycle columns and the use of drones for monitoring. Nigerians also feel that the there is a weakness in the desire for total victory by some of the political and military parties involved in prosecuting this ‘undeclared’ war.

    Nigerians know that, unlike local calls for solution, the message trumpeted from abroad cannot be ignored by government. Nigerians demand that it will galvanise the long overdue multi-pronged offensive required to pre-empt any remotely operated international intervention or even boots on the ground. The messenger may be disliked for his persona or modus operandi but the message is crystal clear. It is time to put an end to the cancer of arrogant violence and impunity. Those who encourage and defend such acts must be sanctioned and removed from positions of trust.

    It is not alright to march across another man’s harvest, destroying his livelihood with your livestock. To be a part of the committee of nations, it is not alright to kidnap, murder or demand ransom. Until every such terrorist/bandit/herder event results in a successful capture, trial and judgement, we must demand seriousness and a full stop to such heinous acts from our government. We should all be happy that there are other eyes on our security ball. Security is highly technical and we need more cooperation with foreign satellite surveillance networks and cell phone monitoring. We must step up our actions to overcome the security challenges identified from abroad.  That fact should drive our actions. Security is essential for growth.

    In 1975/6, I served in the second set of NYSC in Jos and Bukuru and Barkin Ladi and Lafia. It is frightening to hear familiar names and places converted into ‘no-go-areas’ and theatres of war with almost daily death and deliberate destruction often successful attempts to wipe family history from the face of the earth. This must stop. Nigeria must stop its citizens or every tribe and religion being killed.  

  • Wike meets the new Nigerian mentality

    Wike meets the new Nigerian mentality

    For many, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, is a hated figure. He is despised for many reasons: his gruff voice, aggressive and sometimes boorish ways; his politics – forging an ‘unforgiveable alliance’ with President Bola Tinubu and fending off the independence bid of his godson, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.

    There are those who can’t stand him simply because he disrupted the pattern of appointees from a section of the country occupying the coveted FCT seat. Even worse, he came to office determined to put an end to business as usual in the federal capital. And, he’s been going about his assignment like a human bulldozer – the original demolition man!

    The minister, perhaps, hasn’t helped his cause by carrying on as though he was still the all-powerful governor of Rivers State – holding forth in hour-long media chats, slinging arrows at every political foe in sight.

    So, when yesterday the ‘Landlord of Abuja’ – as the president teasingly refers to him – was prevented by a lowly lieutenant from accessing a disputed plot of land in the capital, social media was set alight. Many rejoiced that their bête noire finally received his comeuppance.

    Photos of the fresh-faced officer and the unedifying dialogue between the two men were gleefully shared. Some of the pictures of the soldier had the legend ‘Hero’. Unfortunately, while the powerful figure you hate might have been embarrassed publicly, there was really nothing heroic about what the soldier did.

    It’s was a stark reminder of how impunity still haunts Nigeria’s democracy. It is disturbing that after 26 years of non-stop civilian rule, elements within the military still feel there’s one law for them and another for the rest of the ‘bloody civilian’ populace. It’s clear we’ve not totally exorcised the demons that attended 33 years of junta rule.

    It’s the reason why some misguided and uninformed people who probably never lived under military dictatorship flirt with the idea in moments of their political frustration. But experience from West Africa and around the globe tells us countries are better when solders stick to their constitutional roles and don’t meddle with governance.

    Perhaps, someone with a different temperament would have handled yesterday’s situation with more restraint, and some have chosen to focus on the minister’s reaction to provocation, ignoring the more troubling questions raised by the incident.

    Read Also: Tinubu’s delegation to UK discusses Ekweremadu’s transfer to Nigeria

    This wasn’t just another petty turf war, or occasion for the swashbuckling minister to throw his weight around. Wike was on official inspection when naval personnel barred him from accessing the land. The minister was acting within his lawful authority. The ensuing standoff was as absurd as it was revealing: soldiers preventing a federal minister from performing his duties on federal land.

    That military men could openly obstruct a government minister – an agent of the same federal government – is more than insolence; it is a grave institutional sickness. It shows how far we still are from establishing the supremacy of civil authority over armed might.

    In a properly functioning democracy, this episode would be unthinkable. The military is meant to defend the state, not challenge it. But in Nigeria, the shadow of barracks rule still looms large.

    The Abuja incident is not an isolated aberration. Across the country, similar scenes of official lawlessness have become routine: soldiers assaulting police officers, policemen defying court orders, agencies clashing over jurisdiction.

    What makes this confrontation even more disturbing is that it occurred in the FCT – the one territory constitutionally under the President’s direct control. If a federal minister cannot enforce lawful directives in the capital without being challenged by uniformed men, what hope is there for civil authority in the states or local government areas?

    To be clear, Wike – for all his combative reputation – represents lawful authority in this instance. The attempt to block him is not merely an affront to his person, but to the very principle of civil supremacy. If soldiers can decide who may act on behalf of government, then governance itself becomes hostage to arbitrary power.

    The President, as Commander-in-Chief, must draw a line in the sand. The military cannot continue to act as an autonomous fiefdom immune from civilian oversight. A clear message must be sent – that soldiers who obstruct lawful government business will face consequences, no matter whose ‘land’ they claim to defend.

    Speaking to the press after the incident, Wike said he had spoken with the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede and the Chief of Naval, Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, who assured him the matter, would be resolved. That isn’t good enough. Yesterday’s drama played out before a global audience. It wasn’t good advertisement for law and order in the country.

    For starters, a proper and transparent investigation should be carried out to establish the true status of the land in question. For years land racketeering in the FCT was out of control.

    The soldiers insisted they were obeying orders. Whose orders? Did a serving officer issue those instructions? Is it true the orders they were those of a retired naval chief? It would be comic if officers no longer in service are still issuing commands to those still in uniform. That would a gross abuse of authority and uniform that needs not only to be investigated but punished.

    At stake here is more than one disputed plot in Abuja. It’s about whether Nigeria remains a country governed by law or one ruled by force. The clash between Wike and the Navy is a metaphor for a state losing its grip on order – where impunity, not discipline, defines the exercise of power.

    If civil authority cannot prevail in the heart of the Federal Capital, what does that say about the rule of law elsewhere? Until we break the habit of excusing lawlessness when it serves our selfish interests, democracy will remain fragile.

    Much of the rejoicing on social media was just perverse satisfaction at seeing a hated figure embarrassed. Many are not concerned about right or wrong. We all want a country where things work, yet are quick to applaud impunity for sentimental and emotional reasons.

    Many Nigerians would give an arm and a leg for visas to the ends of the earth. They don’t realise that those destinations are attractive because their governments insist on law and order. You cannot be dreaming of a capital city like Paris, London or Washington, while celebrating soldiers who prevent town planning officials from doing their duty.

    Nigerians must not forget that no matter how much we revile those presently in government they cannot serve beyond their tenure. Rather than allowing bile to blind us to good and bad, we should always look forward to the constitutional windows provided in election seasons to bring in those we prefer.

    We shouldn’t transfer hate for person to hate for country. It’s unprofitable and unwise. Your home will always be your home. We’ve seen much of this new mentality playing out in the recent threat by the U.S. President Donald Trump to launch a military action against Nigeria on account of alleged genocide against Christians.

    Many back the threat not because they care about Christianity or killings. They naively think that such an expedition would result in regime change. They don’t think about the day after. They don’t remember the times under President Muhammadu Buhari when the same America would not allow the government deploy the jets they sold us to attack terrorists – except under very stringent, almost impossible, conditions.

    Today, another U.S. president is recklessly threatening to come in ‘guns a-blazing’ and many who hate their country are cheering him on as though American air strikes are the cure all for all of Nigeria’s troubles.

    The Abuja incident isn’t the first time such a clash would occur. Be we should view it as the latest wake-up call. The armed forces must be reminded that their loyalty is to the constitution, not to institutional ego. Soldiers obey, while civilians govern. And civilian leaders, too, must learn to defend the rule of law consistently – not be intimidated. Impunity is like acid: once it spills, it corrodes everything in its path.

  • Tales of shameless Nigerians

    Tales of shameless Nigerians

    The pattern of behaviour exhibited by some of our politicians and their supporters at home and abroad sometimes makes me cringe at their shamelessness. I can understand the behaviour of some youths who, lacking global knowledge beyond sports and hip-hop music, hide behind the screen of their phone to rant, curse, and lie on social media. I can even understand Obidients, who, knowing no better, think they have found a Messiah in wily Peter Obi, who, admittedly, is a smarter liar than them. I have learned to overlook their lies, trolls, disinformation, and misinformation on social media.

    However, I cannot overlook the shameful behaviour of adults, who willingly suspend logic, ethics, and circumspection to engage in acts of denigration of self and nation. My grandmother would call such people Òmùgo, Alaìleko, or Àkoìgbà. These are various labels the Yoruba use to describe fools and nincompoops.

    One of those acts was the protest organised by one PDP Like-Mind Group. The group staged protests at the United States Embassy in Abuja, calling for international intervention to safeguard democracy in Nigeria, and prevent the alleged drift to one-party state in the country. Members of the group carried placards with various inscriptions, including “Please save our democracy from intimidation” and “Fix PDP, fix Nigeria, save our democracy.” The group also submitted protest letters at the European Union office, the Ministry of Justice, and the Nigeria Police Headquarters.

    Members of this group are not only foolish; they are also ignorant. They lack knowledge of international politics and the idea of sovereignty. How can anyone request President Donald Trump of all people to save democracy in Nigeria, when he is destroying the one in his own country? Ever since he assumed office in January, President Trump has been going after anyone, who opposed him in the past, and charging them to court. He sidetracks Congress at will, and disobeys judges, who rule against him or appeals their verdict all the way to the Supreme Court. None of these actions has ever been taken by the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It would appear that, in their foolishness, the PDP protesters piggybacked on Trump’s threat to send troops to Nigeria to save Christians. Perhaps they also want him to use some magic wand to fix PDP and save democracy in Nigeria.

    It is not clear which group is more foolish, the PDP protesters or the so-called American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID), who wrote to the White House in Washington to rejoice over the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. Here is part of their letter: “The American Veterans of Igbo Descent (AVID) sincerely and warmly welcome the recent designation of Nigeria a a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by your administration. We want to express our deep gratitude for this action, which offers renewed courage to Christians in Nigeria to continue practicing their religion.”

    Read on, as they portrayed Kanu as the apostle of the crusade against Christian genocide: “The whistle blower behind this genocidal act is Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who prophesied the killing of Christians by the terrorist groups sponsored by the government years ago.” As if this were the reason behind Kanu’s detention, they declared, “Mr. Kanu is still detained illegally in solitary confinement over 4 years without charges. We are ready and willing to assist in any efforts aimed at the liberation and protection of Christians in Nigeria.”  The letter ends with the invocation of God’s blessings on President Trump and the United States of America. Omitted from the invocation are President Tinubu and the Republic of Nigeria.

    But they should first pray for their own liberation from folly and boldface lies in portraying Kanu as a persecuted Christian, detained without charges. The lies are an insult on American intelligence architecture. Did they forget that there is an American Embassy in Nigeria, which knows that Kanu has long been charged to court on multiple counts, and has gone through trial, despite his delaying tactics? Judgement in the case has been fixed for November 20, 2025.

    Finally, there are the sore losers of the governorship election in Anambra state, typified by the candidates of the Labour Party and the African Democratic Party. The LP candidate came fourth with 10,576 votes, while the ADC candidate came fifth with 8,208 votes. Yet, they cried foul to contest an election won in a landslide by the APGA candidate with 422,664 votes. That is well over 73% of the votes, the highest in the history of the state. He even won in all Local Governments in the state, including those of the sore losers.

    Respectable politicians would call to congratulate the winner and then go back home to sleep. Not our politicians. Only two defeated contestants are known to have done so in presidential and governorship contests since 1999, namely, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and former Ekiti state Governor, John Kayode Fayemi. In this sense, you could say that these Anambra politicians behaved true to type, except that they lost so badly that they should not have been found complaining about the election at all.

    Read Also: Senate rejects NNPCL’s defence on missing N210trn, threatens to summon ex-GMDs

    On further reflection, they might have found good examples of crying foul in the defeated candidates of the 2023 presidential election: Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who came second and third, respectively, challenged the victory of the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, now President. They protested the election results and the inauguration of the winner. Their supporters even called for military take-over. The absurdity of their actions in the face of the evidence, with each of them claiming victory, is on the same plane as the foul cry of the Anambra governorship election losers.

    The implications of these behaviours by political actors at home and abroad are far-reaching for the image of the country and the growth of our democracy. Not only do these behaviours create wider wedges between groups and faiths, but they also delegitimise the democratic process, while deepening distrust in government. What is even more baffling is the idea of calling for the annulment of democracy, by inviting military take-over, given over 30 years of bitter experiences with military governments in the country. Which military dictatorship today is devoid of tension, repression, and even assassination of dissenters? Just look at the prime examples of North Korea, Myanmar, and even Pakistan, which only recently returned to military-backed democracy. Do they want Nigeria to join eight other struggling military dictatorships in Africa?

    It is beyond me how supporters of a Trump invasion of Nigeria under the pretext of Christian genocide do not realise that such an invasion could be likened to the heavens falling; everyone is a casualty. What is more, it speaks volumes about the stupidity of AVID members that they could not figure that Trump’s threat is a political and economic threat in which Christian genocide is used as a pretext for invasion. It has turned out to be a tool for negotiation between Abuja and Washington. It is a shame that AVID members are avid for invasion of Nigeria. Àwon òpònú, otherwise known as idiots.

  • Trump’s threats and Nigerian hysteria

    Trump’s threats and Nigerian hysteria

    Donald Trump never misses a chance to play saviour in someone else’s tragedy. Of all the troubled spots on earth, he’s now lighted on Nigeria intent on playing super hero. I dare say that for all their challenges, Christians in this country can’t say they have the worst deal on the planet.

    That’s why many suspect that his threat of U.S. military action over alleged “Christian genocide” isn’t about saving lives. It’s more to do with politics, power – and a wilful ignorance about our complex realities.

    Over the weekend Trump redesignated Nigeria a ‘Country of Particular Concern (CPC).’ Less than twenty fours later he declared he was considering taking military action.

    To demonstrate his seriousness the Department of War was asked to draw up an intervention plan.

    Paradoxically, this same president, as election candidate, made out he was against American military adventurism around the globe.

    It’s not the first time Nigeria would be stuck with the CPC tag. Back in 2020, the same Trump placed the country in this column – with sanctions that were supposed to attend that categorisation.

    The fact that his action didn’t generate much of a ripple meant it didn’t have any serious effect on the Muhammadu Buhari administration, or on the generality of the people.

    What is different now is the threat of military action against a country which historically, on the African continent, has been one of America’s most steadfast allies and partners. The threat landed with all the elegance of a Russian Scud missile. Little wonder the hysterical reactions in many quarters.

    Much of the anxiety flows from the erratic nature of the American president. But that same unpredictability should have made people read Trump’s statement more closely to see whether this was just another episode of bluster and bluff.

    Earlier this year, he accused South Africa of carrying out ‘genocide’ against white farmers. To save them from that ‘terrible fate’ he doled out visas to many and relocated them to the United States. As many would point out, while that country might have a high murder rate, most of the victims are Blacks.

    Trump would have none of it. When South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House to thrash things out, he was ambushed with an awkward film show and made to watch discredited videos purporting to show genocide against whites. The visiting leader calmly dismissed all the accusations. The ‘white genocide’ story quickly expired.

    Read Also: Chad shuts border with Nigeria over Trump threat

    Between January and May this year, Trump repeatedly threatened to use military force to annex Greenland. This semi-autonomous territory of Denmark is the world’s largest island. Despite its massive 2.16 million square kilometres landmass, it has a minuscule 56,836 population. Trump had been lusting after the land which he said was good for military security. When the plucky islanders told him in no uncertain terms they were not for sale, he backed off.

    This was the same Trump who earlier this year was threatening to make Canada America’s 51st state. His high pressure courtship was firmly rebuffed by Prime Minister Mark Carney who told him his country wasn’t for sale.

    Against this backdrop it’s hard to understand the air of crisis ever since Trump spoke. Some interpreted his words to mean a land invasion was imminent. Others imagined air strikes from Abuja to the Sambisa Forest. Much of this is just fanciful nonsense given that the American’s president talked about taking out terrorists.

    Asked by reporters if he envisioned troops on the ground or air strikes in Nigeria, Trump said: “Could be. I mean, other things. I envisage a lot of things. They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria … They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We’re not going to allow that to happen.” In typical Trump-speak this is a lot of maybes and maybe nots.

    For Nigerians, this outburst is insulting. It’s one thing to express concern about insecurity in Africa’s most populous country. It’s quite another to issue threats based on a dangerously distorted narrative.

    Religious tension has existed in Nigeria for decades. Boko Haram came into the mix in the early 2,000s attacking churches and mosques, killing Christians and Muslims. The killings in the North-Central have more to do with land-grabbing, a vicious cycle of reprisals, and criminality of all sorts. Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has pointed out that in the Southeast people with Christian names are killing others who profess the same faith. Do these Christian lives matter to the American defender of Christianity? Will his bombing campaign target these killers too?

    Trump’s comments are not only unwelcome meddling in the affairs of a sovereign nation that has long been an American ally, they are also reckless, uninformed, and reek of election-year opportunism. The craven play to his evangelical and right wing base is all too evident.

    It should also be pointed out that no major country in Europe, Asia or the America’s has levelled this grave accusation against Nigeria? It can’t be that they don’t have their own intelligence about goings on in this country.

    The presumption is galling. How, in the face of all international conventions and laws, does a country – no matter how powerful – take it upon itself to march into another country, uninvited, supposedly to right wrongs there! Over the decades it’s been said that America was the world’s policeman. But no one ever told us who appointed the U. S. to that role.

    If Trump has a solution to killings, how come he’s not been able to end gun violence which claims an average of 46,000 Americans each year and 125 people daily?

    Invasions and airstrikes, on their own, never solved any problem. Israel, with all its military capabilities and American support, bombed tiny Gaza for two years and didn’t succeed in locating the hostages. Only a formal ceasefire brought them home.

    Yes, Christians in Nigeria have suffered terribly from violence – so have Muslims, traditional worshippers, and anyone unfortunate enough to live where the state has lost control. Boko Haram, ISWAP, and bandits have killed thousands, sparing no one because of religious stripe.

    But to call it genocide against Christians is a misapplication of words.  Genocide is a grave legal term implying state-sponsored intent to wipe out a people. No credible evidence suggests that the government is engaged in, or tolerates, such a campaign.

    If Trump’s concern were truly humanitarian, he would have threatened Myanmar over its persecution of the Rohingya or demanded action against Israel’s excesses in Gaza. But Nigeria – emerging economy, Black, and far away – makes for an easier stage on which to flex moral muscle without consequence.

    The Nigerian government did the right thing by rejecting Trump’s narrative outright while restating its openness to legitimate counter-terrorism cooperation.

    Tinubu’s response was calm but firm: there is no war on Christians in Nigeria, and no foreign power has the right to dictate or intervene militarily.

    Still, the incident should be a wake-up call for government. The administration isn’t without achievement in the war against terror. In August, the U. S. and U. K. commended the government and its security agencies for the arrest of two senior leaders of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan, also known as Ansaru. It needs more wins like this.

    Trump’s threat, however empty, highlights a hard truth: when a state cannot convincingly protect its own people, others will presume the right to speak – or act – on their behalf.

    In that sense, Nigeria’s sovereignty is not just a legal principle; it is something to be earned daily through concrete action and credibility. That there are influential people in Washington D. C. ready to believe that Nigeria is committing genocide is worrying. Every uninvestigated killing in Plateau, every mass abduction in Zamfara, every displaced family in Benue, tells a story of a country struggling to protect its citizens.

    In the absence of clear data, transparency, and justice, the loudest voices however ill-informed – fill the void. If we don’t define our own story, others will do it for us, often to our detriment.

    If Nigeria wants to avoid being the next ‘intervention project,’ it must learn this simple lesson: fix your house, or someone else will claim the right to rearrange the furniture.

  • Nigeria: Two coups in two weeks

    Nigeria: Two coups in two weeks

    Within the past two weeks, Nigeria has experienced two serious cases of coup d’é•tat. One was domestic, and the other foreign. The domestic one was a military coup. The foreign one was a political or, more accurately, a disguised economic coup. It was alleged that the domestic coup was meant to target the President directly, but that coup was foiled. The foreign coup promises to target Islamic terrorists, and it is still brewing. Just the other day, as we were settling down to breakfast in a Phoenix suburb, someone asked me if I heard the roar of fighter jet engines in the air. “No,” I answered. “But what about fighter jets?” “They are heading to Nigeria to solve Nigeria’s problems,” the fellow answered.

    The other person in the conversation was joking about President Donald Trump’s threat to send the army to defend Christians in Nigeria, following its designation as a Country of Particular Concern in response to orchestrated allegations of “Christian genocide.” Trump’s pronouncements have generated so much debate as to have drowned the debate about the domestic coup, which came before the foreign one.

    It is a shame that there are Nigerians celebrating both coups. They may have missed these lines from someone, who put them out on social media in response to coup celebrants: “Because of the hatred of the cockroach, the mosquitoes voted for the insecticide. But when it came, it killed both the cockroach and the mosquitoes, including the flies that never voted.”

    It is even more shameful that there are Nigerians boasting of responsibility for planting the seed of alleged Christian genocide in Trump’s mind as one fellow did in a virile video in which he named some Nigerian church leaders as accomplices. But that’s not even the issue now. The critical issue of the moment is how to respond to Trump’s pronouncements. It is unwise to blame or insult Trump on this issue as some commentators have chosen to do. Trump has a clear agenda, and he has not been hiding it from anyone who cares to listen to him or watch his actions.

    Here are a few things to bear in mind. One, it is important to appreciate that Nigeria is the only one threatened with military invasion among the countries on the United States’ CPC list due to alleged violations of religious freedom. The others are: North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China.

    Two, it will be naive to assume that Trump, or at least the American State Department, does not know the complexities of the insecurity situation in Nigeria. It is advisable to fully understand why the alleged Christian genocide resonates with Trump. Christian conservatives and Christian evangelicals, including Nigerian-American ones, are critical to Trump’s support base. They are a major lobby group to which Trump responds. That is why the transactional use of religion is critical to his political strategy. That is why he included in his threat to Nigeria, “We stand ready, willing and able to save our Great Christian population around the world.” Besides, Trump’s MAGA agenda often trumps facts on the ground, and he has not been shy about using hard power to achieve his goal.

    Three, Trump always speaks aloud about what he wants to do. Just see what he has been doing to fellow Americans since he assumed office. He promised retribution. He is doing it, by weaponizing the justice department in the process. He promised to flush out illegal aliens (particularly Hispanics). He is doing it, even trapping in some American citizens in the process. He promised to shrink the federal government. He is doing it. He led the Republican Congress in shutting down the federal government, while he engages in his Asian tour and returns home to play gulf. What about his global outreach? He promised tariff on imports. He did it across the globe, not minding its domestic repercussions. He promised to aid Netanyahu of Israel in flushing out Hamas from Gaza. He did it. Gaza is now lying fallow. The world can only watch. He may not have succeeded all the way, such as failing to annex Canada and Grenada to the US or stopping the war in Ukraine on his first day in office. But you cannot blame him for pushing hard on his agenda.

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    Four, it must be recalled that, in recent years, American intervention in conflicts beyond its borders has left the target countries in shambles: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.

    Five, Nigeria has more to lose than any other country in which the United States has intervened. Apart from its position as the largest country and economy in Africa and the highest concentration of Black people on earth, Nigeria is rich in solid minerals, including petroleum, bitumen, gold, crystal quartz, tin, granite, copper, iron ore, and lithium-bearing ores. This list is the envy of the world, not least Trump’s United States. On top of this enviable list of resources, Nigeria how houses the largest in the world, Dangote Refinery, owned by a Nigerian!

    Six, everything in the preceding paragraph plus innocent people will be collateral damage, with some becoming the spoils of war, should Trump send troops to Nigeria. The world watched Gaza razed to the ground as Trump-aided Netanyahu looked to exterminate Hamas terrorists. It is, therefore, better for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (a Muslim married to a Christian evangelical pastor) to negotiate the Nigerian situation President to President. And Trump even left room for that by inviting the Nigerian government to move fast. Tinubu started well with a measured response: “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians.”

    This is not the time for idle talk or press statements. Nor is it time for armchair columnists to pontificate. It is also not time for opposition leaders in Nigeria to start pointing fingers. Rather, it is time for unity of purpose. It is time for statesmanship. It is time for the display of soft power through diplomatic and other back channels.

  • Politicians, resident doctors, equity

    Politicians, resident doctors, equity

    Politicians are now the unit of measure. Everything is measured against the politics of the day. The strike by the National Association of Residents Doctors, NARD, must be taken in the context of the long-standing political extravagance. It did not start today but it should end with this regime committed to good governance. A labourer is worthy of wages but wages are low. A Nigerian professional is as worthy of wages for hire as a politician, but politicians have taken everything. Certainly, the politician: professional salary difference is morally and nationally destructive.

    The plight of medical professionals today was preventable with implementation of existing agreements and negotiation. Up until 1980, there was no payment for call-duty. I was a past president of Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan and  past chairman of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA Oyo State and a resident doctor from 1975-1980. I became a consultant before call duty started. Sadly, 45 years later, the necessity for a strike before government politicians and authorised civil servants will pay legitimate paygrade wages and call duty to colleagues.  

    It is strange that arrears are owed to serving doctors at this time of serious weakness in health delivery and poor take-home salary and limited earning power and escalating cost of living. Some government workers fail their responsibility. Doctors are tired but not the only ones being short-changed and cheated. This has gone on for 50 years.

    This government has an opportunity to settle. The impression is that some in government and the civil service are incompetent or jealous of doctors. If so, they are welcome to train with them, learn the 1000 page books, endure the sleepless months, and take calls for 24-48-72 hours at a stretch before they can criticise or insult doctors seeking their rights. Politicians get excess of their rights for their ‘work’ (add generators, vehicles, police security) without a strike or fight even though we citizens vociferously object to their political financial profligacy.

    Sadly, Nigeria’s doctors must precipitate an emergency in the health sector by withdrawing their services today just to get the emotional and economic rights required to live to attend to tomorrow’s emergency patients. Tell me which senator or representative will work a day if owed what NARD doctors are owed?

    In addition, why has no administrative reformer not obverted and corrected the fact that doctors, like other federal workers forced, on employment, to work for three months before first salaries are paid? Can nobody solve this ‘traditional’ administrative aberration?  Politicians get paid sharp-sharp, immediately.  Why not pay all new federal government workers at first month’s end. Is it federal government civil servant irresponsibility, incompetence or just an ‘I-don’t care’ attitude?

    NARD doctors watch the news and see the politicians on stage. The mechanism for election is often compromised by party-driven electoral fraud shrouded from INEC, so the needed level playing field and objectivity of a hungry voter population are easily diluted by election day food and as the only ‘Dividends of Democracy’ delivered to the voter.

    Read Also: Strike: Why doctors cannot disrupt health services in Enugu – NMA

    The voting public are tired of National Assembly, NASS antics and are all sceptical and disappointed when the NASS leadership immediately suspends for six months any member who steps out of their line or talks too much. NASS sometimes acts like a secret society as it even appears to dislike members even talking about their salaries and perks.  It seems the majority also object to being outshone by those members who put more into opaque objectionable constituency projects. The entire political class needs to know it should stop being the very expensive and heavy burden, elephant on the backs of Nigerians.

    As we slowly recover from the hugely financially costly previous regime, Nigeria needs one House, preferably the House of Representatives. Nigeria needs rational politicians on a salary scale Grade 8-25 added on top of the current General Orders Salary Scale without the huge extra cost to Nigeria. In summary, Nigerian politicians need to take off their agbadas and babarigas and sink back down to the reality of life and living in Nigeria. Nigerian politicians need to cut their hyper-budgetary consumption. Nigerian politicians need to demonstrate exemplary cost-cutting in the forthcoming election cycle.

    For example, keeping the nomination forms at N25-100m for different grades up to president is what actually led to kidnappers demanding N100m as ransom. Nomination forms are the only tangible item that we citizens know in politics that must be paid for even by ‘Friends of the Nominee’. Unfortunately, that N25-100m multiplied by the hundreds of forms sold across all political parties, is a huge first line election financial burden. Where does this money come from? Does it come from the citizens budgeted coffers through ‘padding of first contract after taking office’ or ‘juicy posting to ‘lucrative ministries’ where funds can be extracted?

    Because of this, the citizen suffers ‘loss of governance funding’ with failure to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and other yardsticks of good governance like 24-hour electric  power, potable water, pothole free roads, well-equipped hospitals and especially Child and Teacher Friendly Schools etc.   To make it as a country seeking to become a nation and to be taken as a serious democratic political entity, Nigerian politicians must undertake to be seen to cut their coat, clean up their political excesses mess, cut costs of elections and cut politicians financial burden on governance for a cheaper cost: of dividends of democracy. Then ask or pressure government to pay NARD.

  • The semiotics of Pate’s red letter

    The semiotics of Pate’s red letter

    Ordinarily, the phrase “red letter” is used to describe something, such as a day or an event, of special significance. For example, October 1 every year is a red letter day in Nigeria, because the country attained independence on that date in 1960. That was a joyous and memorable event. However, not all red letter days are joyous moments. The day misfortune fell on New York City by way of a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, was a red letter day too.

    If you wish to understand how The Red Letter issued on October 22, 2025, by the Coordinating Minister, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammed Ali Pate, has elements of both types of red letter and more, please follow me through the following semiotic analysis of the letter.

    It was Roland Barthes (1915-1980), the French philosopher, literary theorist, and semiotician, who popularised an interesting rubric for analysing sign systems from a variety of perspectives. He found semiotics, the study of signs, a useful way of exposing contradictions and revealing hidden meanings. For example, Barthes showed how a simple advertisement, that of Panzani, a brand of pasta (spaghetti), could be analysed from multiple levels to reveal iconic and symbolic signs as well as surface (denotative) and hidden (connotative) meanings at the same time (see Rhetoric of the Image in his book, Image Music Text, London, Fontana, 1977, pages 32-51). In the following analysis, I juxtapose the various levels of meaning as I go along.

    At the iconic level, Pate’s letter is set against a red background in its digital representation. Although the print of the digital copy is white, the red background captures attention much more than the white print. It literally makes the letter red. However, we begin to get the meat of the letter once we begin to decipher the white print.

    But what does the white print say? Many things, some direct, others indirect. First, the words confirm the disbursement of N32.9 billion to the commercial bank accounts of “primary care facilities in every ward across the country.” Wait! There are 8,809 wards across the country. That means that there are 8,809 primary care facilities across the country. And how much does each ward get from this pot of money? You do the math. But remember to multiply your answer by three, since the minister says this is “the third round this year.”

    Second, the letter is presented as an invitation from the federal government to the various communities to help safeguard the spending of the fund by ensuring that it is monitored. There is a much deeper meaning here. Here is a government promoting participatory democracy, by appealing to the people not to “stand aside,” at a time when some cheeky politicians are screaming the death of democracy.

    Nevertheless, there is a sense in which the people’s lethargy makes room for the perceived death of democracy: They are not participating as they should, and the letter is very explicit about the problem: “Our community members and institutions do not ask how the money is used, or if it reaches the people it was meant for”.

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    Hence the government’s direct appeal in The Red Letter:

    “Stand up and take ownership

    Go to your health facility

    Join the committee

    Review the plan

    Demand openness

    Celebrate progress

    And above all, make sure the fund truly protects the health of your people.”

    Third, there is an indirect appeal to the elite and those who are literate enough to be able to read The Red Letter to disseminate the information: “Let this Red Letter reach every community, every ward, and every home. Let it remind us that the health of Nigeria lives in the hands of Nigerians.” I am doing my own bit here by reproducing The Red Letter and analysing it. You should do your own bit too, by sharing this article with as many people as possible. Make it a point of duty to tell at least ten people to find the primary health care facility in their ward and follow the money by taking part in ward activities and making enquiries about funding.

    It must be emphasised, however, that this Red Letter carries far-reaching implications for accountability and citizen engagement beyond wards. Since the return to democracy in 1999, state governments have not been sufficiently accountable to those they were elected to serve. Local government councils and their wards have been shut out of their funds by their respective state governors. It has been reported numerous times since the inception of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration that states have been receiving increased allocations from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, compared to previous years due to the economic reforms by the administration.

    Indeed, in the last few months, states have been receiving more funds than the federal government. For example, in September 2025, FAAC’s disbursements were as follows: federal government N711.314 billion; state governments N727.170 billion; and local government councils N529.954 billion. On top of their allocations, oil producing states also received a total of N134.956 billion as 13 percent derivation. These past few months would be the first time in over two decades that states would receive a larger share of FAAC allocation than the federal government. Yet, there is little to show for the increased allocations in many states of the federation. This led me to raise the alarm in September (see Your governor has your money, ask him for it, The Nation, September 3, 2025).

    This situation also led the present administration to approach the Supreme Court to seek the loophole in the constitution in granting financial autonomy to local councils. Even then not much development has happened in the councils. It is alleged that some governors had their local council chairmen swear to an oath of secrecy or sign a fund sharing agreement on their council’s funds!

    The Red Letter now shows that the ministry of health has even bypassed the councils by going directly to wards and calling on citizens to seize the opportunity by participating in the oversight of their health care facilities. But this is not the first time the federal government would target wards directly. Early in August, President Tinubu approved a ward-level development strategy designed to drive grassroots economic growth and address poverty across Nigeria’s 8,809 wards. It is the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP), which is integral to the Renewed Hope Agenda that targets a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

    Just as Minister Pate appealed to citizens to participate in the affairs of primary health care facilities in their wards, so did President Tinubu appeal to state governors to prioritise the welfare of their citizens at the local level: “I want to appeal to you; let us change the story of our people in the rural areas. The economy is working. We are on the path of recovery, but we need to stimulate growth in the rural areas.”

    At the end of the day, The Red Letter and the President’s appeal to governors are coded messages: governors should perform and citizens should hold them to account through participation and oversight.

  • Nigeria’s kidnapping scourge: Who bells the cat?

    Nigeria’s kidnapping scourge: Who bells the cat?

    For the second time in seven years I have had the unpleasant experience of seeing someone close snatched off one of Nigeria’s highways by faceless gunmen. In both instances, the only difference was identity of the victims; the sense of helplessness hasn’t changed with time.

    In 2018, we were advised by a very senior security official to negotiate with the kidnappers to preserve life – with the promise that after release the abductors would be apprehended. In the latest episode, the families involved, who had clearly lost confidence in institutions of state being able to deliver their loved ones, preferred to negotiate with the cold voice at the other end of a phone call.

    Hardly a week passes without some harrowing new tale of people taken into captivity against their will by criminals for a lucrative return. Their methods are unchanged: terrorise hapless families with ominous threats if demands are not met. Ransom claims remain ambitious – always in the tens of millions of naira.

    Many of these stories occasionally find their way into social and mainstream media; myriads go unreported with those at the receiving end of the trauma preferring to lick their wounds away from public glare. 

    In one recent case, a young woman named Aisha Wahab who was seized in Auchi, Edo State, spent weeks in captivity. Her plight drew attention after she was seen on social media appealing to friends and family for N20 million to secure her liberty.

    She was kidnapped at Igbira Camp in Auchi by gunmen who took her into the forest. Her abductors threatened to kill her if the ransom wasn’t paid by Friday, October 24, 2025. She has since been freed after public-spirited persons raised the amount.

    Some other victims were slightly luckier in that they only had to undergo the horrors of captivity, without their families being stripped financially. A few days ago, the Nigeria Army freed 23 persons who had been abducted in parts of Kwara State. Ifelodun, Edu, and Patigi Local Government Areas of the state as well as parts of Kogi, have witnessed an upsurge in kidnapping.

    Once confined to the Niger Delta militancy era and later to the bandit-plagued Northwest, kidnapping for ransom has now spread across all six geopolitical zones. Highways, schools, and even homes are no longer safe. What is troubling is not just the frequency of these abductions, but the growing sense that the state has lost control of parts of its territory – the so-called ungoverned spaces.

    The numbers tell a grim story. By most estimates, thousands have been kidnapped in the past few years, with billions of naira paid in ransom. The victims are not confined to the wealthy – drivers, artisans, farmers, traders, and students have all fallen prey. It is now a crime that feeds on the vulnerabilities of the poor as well as the powerful.

    Despite numerous security summits and policy pronouncements, the government’s response remains reactive and fragmented. Some states have passed laws providing the death penalty for those found guilty of kidnapping. Others have been demolishing houses linked with kidnappers. Clearly, these measures haven’t been much of a deterrent.

    Security agencies often appear overstretched, under-equipped, and poorly coordinated. Arrests are sporadic, convictions few and far between. What Nigerians mostly see is a pattern: outrage after an attack, high-level meetings, promises of reform, and then silence until the next abduction.

    This apparent helplessness is rooted in deeper structural problems. Decades of underinvestment in policing, a weak intelligence network, the politicisation of security appointments, and the absence of local policing have created a vacuum. The problem is compounded by recent economic challenges which have which the criminally-minded have taken advantage of.

    As this criminal activity grows, the country faces a test of state capacity and political will. But Nigeria wouldn’t be the first to be terrorised by this scourge. Many others have confronted similar challenges and in some cases, overcame them.

    Colombia, for instance, was once dubbed the ‘kidnapping capital of the world,’ in the 1990s when guerrilla groups and criminal gangs made abductions a daily occurrence. The government responded with tough law enforcement, intelligence-driven operations, and sweeping reforms to professionalise the police.

    Equally critical was political will – a clear, sustained commitment over many years made the state, not private ransom payments, the centre of response. Over time, the frequency of abductions dropped sharply as the government tightened control and restored public confidence.

    In Mexico which also struggled with the problem, the authorities focused on improving coordination between federal and local police, strengthening anti-kidnapping units, and establishing hotlines and rapid-response systems that made it easier for citizens to report abductions early. Although the country still battles organised crime, its approach has significantly reduced incidents.

    The Philippines offers another useful model. Faced with a spike in abductions in the early 2000s, it created a special Anti-Kidnapping Group within the national police, empowered with intelligence resources and operational autonomy. The unit was backed by consistent political support and public trust, which allowed it to carry out targeted operations and dismantle several high-profile rings. The country significantly reduced kidnap-for-ransom cases over time.

    Nigeria can learn from these experiences. The key ingredients are not mysterious: a professional and intelligence-driven police force; strong inter-agency coordination; credible prosecution and community involvement in intelligence gathering.

    At the heart of our problem is a policing system that no longer fits the scale or complexity of today’s security challenges. The centralised structure makes it ill-suited for the kind of local intelligence and rapid response that effective anti-kidnapping efforts require.

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    If the country is to make progress, there must be a serious conversation about policing reform – one that moves beyond political slogans and fears of misuse by state governments. Properly designed state or regional police forces, subject to clear oversight and accountability, could help fill the vast security gaps that now exist. States already spend large sums supporting federal police operations; it makes sense to give them the tools and authority to do more than play a supporting role. But up till now the debate has been stymied by fear those who ultimately control these forces would abuse them.

    Technology also has a role to play. In countries that have reduced kidnapping, technology-driven surveillance, data analysis, and digital reporting platforms have been central to success.

    President Bola Tinubu’s administration has an opportunity to redefine the state’s security outlook. While economic reforms dominate the headlines, the safety of Nigerians remains the foundation upon which all else rests. A government that cannot guarantee security risks having its economic and political achievements undervalued.

    If the government is serious about ending this cycle, it must drive policing reform to its logical conclusion – empowering states to take ownership of internal security through well-trained, accountable local forces. Intelligence must underpin operations, not politics. Security funding must be transparent, and successes must be measured not by press releases, but by safer roads, freed hostages, and communities that no longer live in fear.

    Only then will Nigerians begin to believe that the state is truly reclaiming its authority from the grip of criminality. Until that happens, the country will continue to live under the shadow of a menace that has turned ordinary citizens into hostages in their own land.