The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

How to lose Nigeria’s 2027 elections

Recently, there’s been much hair-splitting over ‘early campaigning’ ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been moaning about how parties are violating the law by engaging in overt political activities which should only begin 150 days to polling day.

But the commission is powerless to do anything about the infractions because of the silence of the law as to what constitutes campaign activity. All the same, evidence of intensifying politicking litter the landscape e.g. posters, billboards, rallies, interviews and press statements promoting one party or aspirant. Well-known figures are hopping from one television station to another putting themselves on display. It would be this way until polling day in 2027.

If there’s anything I know about politics, it is that those who desire victory must know what’s important to voters. So, presumably, parties would be doing research and polling to find out the red button issues that matter to people.

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Some of these concerns are so obvious you don’t need much effort to identify them. Way back in early 1991, then United States President, George H. W. Bush, basking in the afterglow of leading allies to a crushing victory over Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the Gulf War, was riding a wave of popularity.

It was a display of America’s military might at its most glorious in Operation Desert Storm. Many assumed that having asserted himself as a hairy-chested Commander-in-Chief, folks back home would be sufficiently impressed and hand him a second term in the White House.

But his Democratic Party challenger, a certain Bill Clinton, sussed out that as prestigious as it was to be seen as a global superpower, what ultimately mattered to the average man was how to navigate daily existence. His campaign team boiled down their focus to a pithy phrase: ‘It’s the economy, stupid! It was close, concise, and swept the little known mid-Western state governor to power in Washington. Bush’s war time popularity was of no use one year after.

That wouldn’t be the first election where economics would be the deciding factor neither would it be the last. In the United Kingdom’s 1979 general elections, the Conservative Party played on high unemployment under Jim Callaghan’s Labour Party government. They hired the famous Saatchi & Saatchi advertising firm which came up with the killer line ‘Labour Isn’t Working’ imposed on an image of a snaking line of unemployed people.

Voters agreed with the sentiment and swept the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, into power.

But we’ve also seen instances where incumbent governments battling economic challenges prevailed due to the way they made their case to voters. Two years ago in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, led his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to victory despite the country’s difficulties.

The AKP’s strong showing left many Turks baffled as to how their nation’s dire economic crisis didn’t hurt the president’s electoral prospects. Analysts say it all came down to the way the ruling party handled its campaign. Its machine was very effective and succeeded in convincing voters that the incumbent would do a better job of managing the economy.

The removal of fuel subsidies and implementation of foreign exchange reforms triggered a cost of living crisis which the Bola Tinubu administration has been battling to rein in over the last two years.

I have always argued that the wise course for anyone looking to carry out painful reforms is to start early. With luck on their side, the results would start appearing and much of the initial pains would have receded at the point of the next election.

Tinubu started early – declaring on the inauguration podium that ‘subsidy was gone.’ Fortunately for him, all his major rivals from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, all pledged to scrap the subsidies immediately they took office. While it’s been expedient politically for them to attack the incumbent on this issue, none has offered a credible alternative policy path.

By starting early, the administration has made time its ally. Inflation is moderating and its other interventions are ensuring that present pains aren’t as grievous as past ones. It can do a better job of celebrating some of its populist measures like student loans. It can talk more about the ease with which businesses now access foreign exchange as opposed to the corruption-ridden processes in the past that made the Central Bank a toll gate of sorts.

Of course, the opposition knows that their most potent attack is to amplify the pains arising from the reforms. But not all voters are gullible or simpleminded. They aren’t going to hand you power just because you stated the obvious. The question remains what would you have done differently.

Another emerging theme in the early campaigning is the demonisation of foes. By returning to this tack, many politicians show they haven’t learnt much from their 2023 misadventures. Two years ago, Tinubu was painted as this fiend who was about to Islamise the country by the agency of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. He was caricatured as infirm, barely able to walk. Some even made out that a man who rose to be Treasurer of the multinational Mobil was barely literate.

Despite the failure of those attacks, his rivals are back at it with renewed fervour. Take the example of the increasingly unhinged former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who has made it his raison d’etre to topple Tinubu.

In his latest diatribe, he told his ally Atiku that the incumbent was plotting a life presidency modelled after the one perfected by Paul Biya in next door Cameroun. His claim comes at a time when Nigerians are being reminded of how Olusegun Obasanjo’s modest bid to secure an additional four years in office – the so-called Third Term Agenda – came a cropper.

To now imagine that a Tinubu would set out to implement an even more ambitious take down of the constitution in a polarised environment such as ours beggars belief.

Rather than sound convincing, the claim draws attention to the state of mind of the accusers and their motivation. It shows how out-of-touch some are. Is this the most important concern of the man in the street? Life presidency may be something that alarms certain of our idle elite but it’s hardly a vote winner for people who never heard of Paul Biya.

Berating Tinubu for not being the perfect democrat hardly matters to people who are quick to solicit military intervention against a regime some of them despise. These are the sorts of people who looked longingly at the recent chaos in Nepal wishing it was the lot of their country.

Many Nigerians don’t care whether you are a dictator or democrat, so long as daily living isn’t stressful for them. If the economy keeps improving Tinubu would be re-elected – never mind the name-calling. His record would be evidence that he’s the safer pair of hands than those who want to seize the controls.

September 24, 2025
Politicians: Let every day count for the citizen

The Onitsha market shooting is yet another wake-up tragic occurrence crying out for a preventive solution in the ongoing saga countrywide called ‘The Government Uniform vs Fellow Citizens’. It is a pity that citizens have to die by this method so senselessly across the country. This is often only because of ‘an assumed lack of accountability by those in uniform’ resulting in widespread almost routine physical excesses of ‘uniforms’. This ‘abuse of uniform’ has become so commonplace as to be glossed over by the citizenry who largely cry silently ‘Thank God it was not me’ when such uniform strike again.

Yet this characteristic abuse of office resulting in death of a pregnant woman and her unborn child is an expected outcome of giving uniforms and guns and power to people without very close supervision. Close supervision is the key to prevention of ‘uniform-caused crime’ as it led to the introduction of bodycams in many security outfits worldwide. We suffer the latest widely known overreach of those empowered to control us, politically or socially or governmentally, through wearing a uniform and carrying a stick or gun.

Fortunately, the governor who created the uniforms involved has taken immediate action and arrested the uniforms and investigations have been carried out and prosecutions are taking place. No matter how genuine a governor is or how strong his desire to serve, his reputation is only as good as the weakest link in the chain between him and the last citizen he has supposedly fought and won an election and taken an oath to serve.

Many genuine mourners will be attending the unexpected funeral of the prematurely dead diligent pregnant mother who died of bullet wounds merely for going to market where an ‘abuse of uniform’ occurred; an irreversible abuse of office for which no apology or quantum of money would be enough.

There are many types of uniforms worn by government officials. Politicians are government officials, make no mistake. Politicians also wear a uniform. And they abuse that uniform also. They use their uniform to control the budgets and what they do with those budgets cares for and certainly can kill some members of the citizenry. How much time do politicians spend doing things selflessly for the citizenry? When politicians do things affecting the citizenry, do they think of the side effects when their men go ‘authoritarian’ when not supervised?

Nigerian politicians must recognise the citizen as needing protection for both politicians and the other uniforms of government. The vast majority of citizens are honest and many uniforms extort from them as a routine. Too many politicians feed off the same citizenry, denying the citizenry a rightful share of the budgets and projects supposed to lift the citizens out of poverty.

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We need to get more done with less funds so that the budgets will go further to help citizens more. Nigeria has made too many politicians and hangers on very wealthy at the expense of additional penury and lack of opportunity and lowered achievements of millions.

Where we are today compared to our total income over the years is far behind expectations. We should be a country in a hurry with everyone shouting hurray. Certainly, there is good work being done by the current administration to recover from years of ‘abuse by government of the citizenry’. Many good steps have been made, but many budgetary quotes seem completely out of sync with reality. There must be a way to further reduce the cost of contracts. There is a general feeling that budget padding and contract inflation are acceptable, approved and ok when they are not such a large part of government corruption in the countries we aspire to be like.

The deliberate opaque funding of political parties is a huge albatross around the neck of Nigeria and the huge self-service appetite of politicians for a ‘larger share of the funds available’ are serious problems for the citizenry. The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, sets the stupendous ‘Salaries And Perks’ for politicians which SAP Nigeria dry. Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is trying to stop RMAFC from further raising the emoluments of politicians who are among the best paid politicians worldwide at par with many countries fulfilling all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

We in Nigeria have a minimum wage of N70,000 set by very well-paid politicians. The problem is that N70,000 is not a liveable wage today. In addition, simple things which can be done almost overnight have still not been done by the federal government. The citizen is equally or even more the responsibility of state and local government. It is unacceptable that electricity is still lacking and too many schools lack enough books and equipment for staff and students and too many hospitals still have no electricity and enough drugs and there are still not enough clean public toilets. This government may not have put us in this hole. All party leadership at all levels in past power have cumulatively contributed to our poor performance to date so far but the citizenry certainly expect the current government to take responsibility for the urgent emergency measures needed to get us out of the hole.

Act now please, politicians should stop ‘counting the days to election’ and instead let ‘everyday count in Citizen Friendly Projects’.

September 17, 2025
The INEC chairman as kingmaker

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is like a lady who’s had too many botched body-enhancement procedures – the result being a terrible beauty for all to behold.

A look at its history shows how past leaders thought they could resolve the organisation’s problems by cosmetic name change. From something called Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in the late 50s, it became the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) which oversaw the federal and regional polls of 1964 and 1965.

A succession of military regimes ensured there was no need for such a body until 1978 when the General Olusegun Obasanjo regime birthed a new Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) – the primary difference with its predecessor being the capital letter ‘O’ and a more musical sounding acronym.

Along the line it would become the National Electoral Commission (NEC) which the late General Sani Abacha, as he dreamt of transmuting into a civilian president, renamed National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON).

Once day at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, the stern, unsmiling dictator keeled over. His successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was charged with arranging a hurried exit for the junta, created what is now known as INEC. The innovation this time was to append the word ‘Independent’, hopefully warding off any future accusations of bias. We all know how that has played out.

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For as long as elections have been held in Nigeria, the electoral body has always found itself inserted into the heart of the drama. This isn’t because its officials are on the ballot but simply because politicians and the general public have come to believe that irrespective of what votes have been cast, winners are ultimately those favoured by the commission.

Nothing in the constitution and other laws guiding the conduct of elections suggests that the INEC chairman has any extraordinary powers to decide election outcomes. Yet, a long, unbroken chain of losers are often quick to blame him for their woes. It’s the reason why there’s always heightened interest in whoever is going to be appointed to the chair.

The commission is back in the news because the incumbent chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who was appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in October 2015 is coming to the end of his tenure. There’s already feverish speculation as to who his successor would be.

Buba Galadima, a leading member of the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), alleges that President Bola Tinubu is one the verge of appointing a recently retired Appeal Courts judge he called ‘notorious’ the next INEC chair. He didn’t elaborate as to the reason for his notoriety only warning of civil unrest, were such an appointment to be made.

More people have their ideas as to what can make the electoral body work. They are hardly structural, largely revolving around how to appoint the chairman. Some have suggested that the National Assembly takes over the responsibility as though the legislature isn’t populated by partisan politicians who aren’t more patriotic than those in the executive branch.

A former Rivers State Governor, Celestine Omehia, has come up with the novel proposal that the chairman and National Commissioners be elected. The trouble with this suggestion is that it’s the same distrusted INEC that would handle the election, preparing the ground for further cries of rigging.

An even more interesting intervention has come from Bashir Ahmad, a former aide of President Buhari, who bemoaned the fact that of 12 chairmen who run the electoral body, only two have been Northerners. He would probably love to see this ‘marginalisation’ redressed with the appointment of another individual from his region to follow Yakubu’s 10-year incumbency.

What he failed to point out is that of the 10 chairmen from the South, all have been from the Southeast and South-South, none from the Southwest. It’s interesting that in a country where the zoning of political positions has become a fact of life, not much noise has been made about balancing things in this area.

Imagine if Tinubu now decides to address this ‘injustice’ by appointing the next INEC chairman from this zone! The uproar would be heard at the ends of the earth. Cries of ‘Yorubanisation’ would drown out everything else. It would be said his plan to rig the 2027 polls had been inelegantly unveiled.

It would appear that in appointing previous chairmen, governments have tried to balance unspoken political considerations with concerns about picking persons perceived as neutral and having integrity. So, they focused on academia, retired justices and civil servants. Sometimes they encountered individuals who had too much of a good thing like the late Prof Eme Awa. The Ibrahim Babangida junta ousted him for being too ‘rigid’, replacing him with someone who was more ‘flexible’. Read into that what you may!

In some countries in the West, those who manage elections are not mild-mannered academics or grey-haired jurists – but people with track records of managing massive logistics operations. In the end that’s what’s involved in trying to deliver ballot paper and officials to the nether parts of Nigeria. These individuals are either former military officers or have worked in multinational organisations.

I’m sure that in picking Yakubu’s successor this old pattern of looking to the academia and the judiciary may be repeated. Unfortunately, a cynical population has never been too impressed by INEC’s saintly figureheads. In a time of deep polarisation, not even an angel would suffice.

The truth, however, is that INEC and its chairmen are only part of the problem. To be sure, on many occasions they messed up previous elections through late delivery of materials, or by sheer bungling of other areas of the polling arrangement.

The trouble is, no matter how well-laid electoral plans are, there are politicians who would do anything to subvert the people’s will. Those who fund vote-buying, print fake ballots, organise mass thumb-printing, snatch ballot boxes, or instigate violence at polling stations are all politicians and their agents – not electoral commission officials.

They have been at it since the First Republic when they would distribute salt and other items from house to house on the night before elections; they would still be pulling their old tricks come 2027. The perpetrators are to be found across the parties; never mind the shrill cries from certain wings of the political elite. Until there’s a national consensus to let the people’s will as expressed at the ballot prevail, elections would continue to be problematic in Nigeria irrespective of who’s running them.

As damaging as violence and other forms of electoral malpractice may be, what’s worse is the deliberate efforts of certain politicians to demonise INEC and its officials when things don’t go their way. After a shellacking, their loss is because of electoral agency compromise, but whenever they win democracy is thriving in the land. It’s time to place the blame where it really belongs.

September 17, 2025
A way out for the North

I have been drawing attention to the Northern problem in Nigeria since 2020 (The Northern question in Nigeria, The Nation, September 16, 2020). The comparative analysis presented in that article concluded that the Southern problems in Italy, as outlined by Antonio Gramsci in The Southern Question (1906), provides a theoretical basis for analysing the Northern problems in Nigeria. I revisited the Northern problems in 2024 with statistical data (The Northern question in Nigeria—Facts unknown or ignored, The Nation, June 26, 2024). Both articles were updated and republished within the last one month.

Many respectable Northerners and journalists have since reechoed the Northern problems. For example, Suleiman lamented: “Northern Nigeria is in tatters, politically, economically and socially. Almost everywhere you turn, the news is of death, destruction and despair as if we were a rudderless and leaderless people” (Suleiman A Suleiman, The North in tatters, Daily Trust, July 1, 2024)

Lukman similarly lamented: “The living reality in Northern Nigeria is very explosive … Indices of poverty, unemployment and inequality are beyond description. Conditions of schools and hospitals are, to say the least, depressing. The civil service, in virtually all the 19 states, is only a shadow of itself, with hardly any public service activity taking place … Few industries exist in the region. And on account of insecurity, agricultural activities, the mainstay of the economy of the region, is highly on the decline” (Salihu Mohammed Lukman, Open letter to Northern politicians, Daily Trust, July 1, 2024).

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At various times in the last few years, these Northern problems were also highlighted by the former Governor of the Central Bank and Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai; and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. In all the articles and statements, the blame was put squarely on Northern leaders, particularly politicians.

History tells us that the Northern problems in Nigeria date back to colonial times. Indeed, the erstwhile separate Northern and Southern Protectorates were merged into a single colony in 1914 to ease the use of economic and human resources from the South to sustain the North.

It is against the above backgrounds that the complaints by some Northern leaders about the neglect of the North is viewed as disingenuous, especially when they are presented as if the neglect was caused by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which only recently marked two years in office.

There are at least three major reasons why the cry of Northern neglect is viewed as politically motivated at this time. First, the complaints are being orchestrated with the activities of opposition politicians as they coalesce in the buildup to the 2027 presidential election.

Second, it looks like political propaganda for Northern leaders to cry neglect under a President, who has spent only 2 years and 3 months in office, while a Northerner (military or civilian) has led Nigeria for at least 46 of 65 years of independence. If the solution to Northern problems existed only in the centre, why would they linger over 46 years of Northern leadership, and by what magic would they be solved in just over two years by a Southern President?

Third, the distribution of resources relative to each state’s contribution to the national purse disproportionately favours the North at the expense of money-making Southern states. For example, in the first quarter of 2025, VAT records show that the three Northern zones (Northwest, North Central, and Northeast) benefited much more than the three Southern zones.

For example, Lagos state alone generated N819 billion VAT revenue, which is more than the remaining 35 states combined. Yet it got back only 28 percent of its contribution. By contrast, each of the 19 Northern states got between 30 and 55 percent more than it contributed. For example, the six Northeastern states contributed N30 billion but got back N124 billion, that is, more than four times their contribution.

It is a similar story with contributions to Gross Domestic Product. The top ten contributing states are in the South, while the bottom 10 are in the North. Again, Lagos state alone contributed more to GDP than all 19 Northern states combined. In general, the South is home to the nation’s largest money earner, oil revenue, which is now being displaced by tax revenue (thanks to the Tinubu administration’s ingenuity with the newly passed Tax Bill).

Yet even though the bulk of the Federal Government revenue is generated in the South, the North keeps near parity with the South in Federal allocations. For example, between January and June 2025, the North received N2.6 trillion, while the South got N2.7 trillion. Only one state in the North (Gombe, N93.47 billion) received less than N100 billion, while there are two such states in the South—Ebonyi, N99.63 billion, and Ekiti, N97.7 billion.

The above data show (a) that the North has been profiting immensely from Federal transfers, (b) that its leaders have done little or nothing to serve their people and (c) that Northern leaders in an out of government want to continue to ride on the ignorance, poverty, and illiteracy of their people to continue to amass wealth for themselves and their families at the expense of the masses. To be sure, many Nigerian politicians today could be described as self-centred, but the case of Northern leaders is exceptionally so.

A two-prong approach is needed to solve the Northern problems. One is to educate Northern masses to demand accountability from their Governors. The other is to reduce the dependency of their leaders on the centre. I have addressed the latter approach elsewhere (see Your governor has your money, ask him for it, The Nation, September 3, 2025).

The first approach has two advantages: One, it will require Northern leaders to look inwards, rather than to Abuja, for the development of their states. Two, the more autonomy is granted to the states, the less blame will be heaped on the federal government. However, such an approach requires the cooperation of the President, the National Assembly, the Governors, and their Assemblies to work on the devolution of powers that will grant political and financial autonomy to the states.

A gradualist approach appears to be underway by which power is ceded by the centre to the states in specific spheres of statecraft. For example, each state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity to its citizens. Already, Lagos state has again blazed the trail by jumping on this development and Enugu state has followed.

Second, work is in progress on the decentralisation of the police force to enhance local security architecture. Since Southern Governors have long endorsed the project, it would appear that the delay is from the North, which ironically needs state police the most to combat prevalent insecurity.

Besides, the recent establishment of zonal Development Commissions appears to be a precursor to the emergence of the six zones as major federating units. Each of the six Commissions is meant to coordinate the activities of its zone toward development. Although the Federal Government currently funds the Commissions, they should eventually become independent and prop their zones to political status. Rather than relapse into the old regions as federating units, the zones should be excellent candidates, if the Commissions do their work well in forging alliances among member states through shared values and zonal projects.

The last time the North had a stint of development was when there was a combination of political and financial autonomy and effective leadership. That was the era of regional government between 1954 and 1966, when Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, was the Premier of Northern Region. With various social, economic, and educational, policies, Ahmadu Bello put his region on a path of development to catch up with the Western and Eastern Regions.

It is also important to remind Northern leaders that they cannot be more Islamic than the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirate, and Qatar. These are countries, which put social and economic advancement over religion and ethnicity in developing their countries.

September 17, 2025
Leadership conference vs. leadership conscience

As a politician, actual or potential, or a Nigerian, please interrogate your personal journey since birth and the role of HONESTY or DISHONESTY in your actions. Get a leadership conscience! Political honesty/dishonesty brought us to dollar-less collapse under the Buhari/CBN Emefiele regime. Buhari’s proclaimed honesty, his job appeal, was overcompensated by his greedy cohorts, and one man’s apparent CBN dishonesty with non-payment of dollar debts and 1506 housing-unit estate. Please add the petroleum and dollar round-tripping which have been stopped by the Tinubu regime angering many politicians and so-called businesspersons and perhaps precipitating the Politicians Come Back Gallery for 2027. Will they be honest in future?

It is never too late to start to be honest. Dishonesty has cost Nigeria trillions of dollars, truncated the achievements of every Nigerian, and has killed millions by not preventing and curing diseases and through the dishonest manipulation of policies like road maintenance, okada motorcycle and life jacket clueless policies. Need we add the dishonest environment with chronic non-payment of salaries and pensions -a catalyst for dishonesty?

You do not have to go to school to be honest. Every citizen from infancy to the grave every minute faces family and personal and social honesty questions. From stealing meat, money and sweets from siblings, to borrowing car keys. Pranks or dishonesty? Yes, we are all taught ‘honesty is the best policy’ and are tested when in administrative control of wardrobe, bedroom, kitchen, home, classroom, company or a country struggling to become a nation.

We celebrate yet another National Leadership Conference as we mourn the parade of political so-called heavyweight leaders embroiled in political financial and administrative corruption – manifest by failed and uncompleted projects [their own and inherited] and mountain of unattained election promises, and flood of failed unending corruption cases in court, which do not mean innocence as they can be dropped for technicalities and ‘political party crossing’ in exchange for dropping or not pursuing criminal charges.

All these have resulted in a 40-50 year period of Nigeria’s citizens suffering from a ‘failure to thrive’ with failed dreams and unattained aspirations. Of course, there will be first-in-class and prize winners in every circumstance and school, no matter how poor the political impact in communities because achievement is recognised and celebrated even among the neglected, the poor, in poverty and in deprived and oppressed communities and deliberately imposed adverse circumstances. But the losers, the less achieved, lose more at the poor level because there is no safety net of political, social or family pecuniary wealth to support and remedy failure of a less-successful achievement.

For example, who supports those who have failed MOCK exam but have no access to funding private teachers to coach them before the final exam a month later? In Educare Trust, we took about 160 of such indigent failed MOCK students and paid N500k for private coaching for a month and achieved a 60+% pass. It is doubtful whether any of the ‘MisLeaders’ since forever who deliberately campaigned or went into government of their own volition, are unaware of the simple criteria of ‘Right VS Wrong’ repeated ad nauseum at leadership conferences over 50 years.

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Leaders, when spending public money must stop the greed encouraged by deliberate opaque political secrecy, poor auditing/accountability, poor punishment and the civil service contract policy of ‘This is how we normally divide it’ and ‘What’s in it for me and my family?’. They and we all, must join the tens of millions of honest Fellow Nigerians who have been honest forever, every hour of every day and every year and substitute ‘What’s in it for me and my family?’ with ‘What’s in it for my fellow citizens young and old?’ be it any of the SDGs or endorsing and executing citizen-friendly policies. Let us have an example.

For 50 years the citizens have been manipulated and suffered humiliation and embarrassment and other untold hardship while attempting and often failing to get Nigerian passports. Now, under this Tinubu administration a team of Fellow Nigerians led by Minister Tunji-Ojo took this passport issuance delay as a huge sign of long-standing citizen negligence and systemic corruption and they have succeeded in reducing the timeline for getting a passport to just a week, even abroad.

It is when the pothole is fixed that we realise the time lost from neglect. But nobody pays for the loss and injury and deaths caused by the pothole during the period of neglect. And meanwhile, the person responsible has been given a N160m+ jeep ‘because of bad roads’. POLITICIANS MUST GIVE, NOT TAKE. POLITICIANS MUST REDUCE THEIR EMOLUMENTS TO CIVIL SERVICE GRADE 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 for President.

All Good Governance, Good Administration and Good Leadership Lessons that our leaders, present and especially past, failed leaders need from their family and religious group prayers and conferences to succeed is to take the decision to ‘Say NO’ to 40+ year cross-party record of corrupt enrichment, personal corruption, greed and impunity in deed, policy and pecuniary in the interest of our 160million   citizens.

Political parties must re-educate party faithful to GET A DAY JOB. Reps or Senate race could cost each candidate and party a billion naira for campaign and party faithful. This money cannot continue to be stolen from the Nigerian budget. What is the cost to Nigerians of political parties during and after elections?

DON’T DO WHAT YOU CANNOT ANNOUNCE ON TV.

September 10, 2025
2027 coalitions and collisions

The undeclared kick-off of the 2027 general election campaign is something of a false start. It’s a start nonetheless – one laden with boasts, bluster and outright threats. To be fair, the stuff isn’t just coming from one direction: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and those who would love to oust it, are giving as good as they get.

Last weekend, the party’s high command descended on Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to formally receive Governor Umo Eno, who had finally executed his oft-threatened exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Everyone from Vice President Kashim Shettima to the party’s entire slate of governors was present.

The state is home turf for Senate President Godswill Akpabio who was once its governor. Naturally, he was in his element celebrating the bloodless coup that further enfeebled the main opposition party. Akwa Ibom, like most states in the South-South zone, was until recently died-in-the-wool PDP territory. So, it was no mean feat that the entire structure of the governing party would dissolve overnight into enemy camp without resistance.

While applauding Eno for making the right political choice, Akpabio suggested governors of Bayelsa and Rivers would soon follow. It wasn’t the appeal of a suitor; it was a statement delivered with the certainty of a prophet. Were his prophecy to be fulfilled, not too many would be surprised given that stranger things have been happening lately.

The punch-drunk PDP didn’t have much of a response to the loss of another heavyweight from within its ranks. It was probably too preoccupied trying to identify which of many claimants was its rightful National Secretary to worry about the rising number of rats fleeing its listing ship.

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With its 10 governors, 36 senators and 118 members of the House of Representatives, it remains, on paper, the preeminent opposition party. But it’s a measure of how low its stock has sunk that some of its leading lights like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Senate President David Mark are among sponsors of the yet-to-be-registered All Democratic Alliance (ADA).

By their actions and utterances, the two men have written off PDP as a viable vehicle for prosecuting the 2027 election. Atiku has been arguing for months that the only way President Bola Tinubu and APC can be defeated at the next polls is for all opposition platforms to come together. Mark has been less voluble but no less committed to the cause.

Unfortunately for Atiku, his passion for defeating his one-time ally by all means necessary is not shared by PDP governors who have declared they won’t touch his coalition with a ten-foot pole. This is a significant disagreement which suggests that those who now control the party are unlikely to make the former VP flag bearer given he’s lost faith in the platform. It’s also a pointer that he could yet exit to actualise his ambitions elsewhere.

Although it remains very much work in progress, what the coalition, or a likely new party, lacks in terms of membership or office holders, it makes up for with bluster and threats. In the face of every setback dealt the opposition by way of high profile defections to the ruling party, its boosters head for television talk shows to offload incendiary interviews.

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was at it again this week, regurgitating the same talking points. Apparently, he and his confederates had been conducting opinion polls which claim Tinubu had less than 10% approval in every corner of the country.

For a man of his intellect and sophistication, this faith in his “scientific” polls is touching. Beyond offering comfort to he and his co-conspirators, El-Rufai should treat polls and pollsters with a healthy dose of caution. For one thing, their reputation isn’t what it used to be after they misfired badly in the 2016 Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump presidential contest.

For months last year they predicted a tight race between Kamala Harris and Trump – only for Election Day to reveal a chasm in support between the two candidates. What’s more, today’s polls may be meaningless in two years when actual voting would be taking place.

Truth is wise men don’t rush to conclusions on the strength of dodgy opinion polls – especially in a country as unpredictable as Nigeria. If tough economic conditions were the only determinant of electoral success or failure in these parts, then Tinubu wouldn’t be president given the state of the nation between January and February 2023.

Another noisy figure in the nascent opposition platform is one-time Foreign Minister and former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido. What can be gleaned from his regular utterances is his readiness to join any grouping that can remove the incumbent from office.

While the focus of these individuals is clear, how to transit from dreaming to reality has become a giant obstacle. For all their hot air, the would-be coalition hasn’t done much to inspire confidence about their project within the political class and in the wider polity. They can’t even agree on how to proceed.

At the onset, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was touted as their platform of choice. El-Rufai announced his defection there with much fanfare. But their ardour for the arrangement cooled rapidly. The party’s National Secretary, Dr. Olu Agunloye, now describes his would-be collaborators as “confused people” who are only interested in taking over.

Former presidential adviser turned critic, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has been equally unsparing, describing the coalition’s promoters as only concerned with being the face of project. Just as many had predicted, a collision of egos and ambitions is already playing out.

Baba-Ahmed laments that even before getting out of the starting block, Nigeria’s latest set of would-be saviours have blown the opportunity of offering a credible challenge to the administration.

“The most important thing they’re doing wrong is putting themselves forward,” he said on Arise TV. “It’s a coalition of a few politicians who hope that they can arrive at some understanding and then open the door and say, ‘ok, fellow Nigerians, we’ve agreed. This one will be this, and this one will be that, and you can now come in.’

“It’s the wrong way about it. None of these people should lead or be seen in a position where they’re determining who should be in that coalition. They can work behind the scenes. What they need is a generational shift and a political shift away from who they are, what they’ve done, what they want to do, to a different set of Nigerians who can give Nigerians hope.

“These are not the people who are saying, give us trust. Trust us again to solve the problems that the APC is creating. This is the wrong thing. And it’s very difficult to convince politicians that Nigerians can see through you. They don’t have faith that you actually represent a future, a different future from this government. You just want to replace President Tinubu.”

Put differently, those offering change are as stale as they come, laden with all sorts of unattractive baggage. Virtually all have been active participants in making Nigeria what it is today. That’s why their project is having difficulty scaling the credibility hurdle.

It’s often said you don’t get a second chance to make the first impression. What those who claim to be speaking for the coalition have succeeded in doing so far is projecting vengeance and retribution, as well as the promotion of the interests of a section of the country, as their agenda.

Bitterness and outpouring of venom against the incumbent president is no alternative to providing voters an alternative governance vision. All we hear is “we must remove Tinubu.” If that’s all Atiku, El-Rufai and company have to offer, they are set for a rude collision with reality in the not-too distant future.

September 10, 2025
Your governor has your money, ask him for it

When last did the Governor of your state call a press conference to give an account of the situation of the state, beyond occasional appearances, for example, to address the insecurity situation or launch a project? Has your Governor ever disclosed how much money came into the state treasury from Federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue the previous month, quarter, or year? In short, how accountable has your state Governor been to the people he was elected to serve?

There are many factors responsible for the Governors’ lack of accountability. First, there is no standardised system of evaluating state governments or otherwise hold them accountable. Governors exploit this lacuna to maximum advantage through deception and other mischievous exploits. In the absence of a system of evaluation, the electorate are supposed to use elections as a system of evaluation. Those who look promising are voted in, while those who performed are reelected. Not in Nigeria, though, because such evaluation is mitigated by other factors, including ethnicity, religion, vote-buying, vote inflation, and other under-the-table deals.

Second, lack of accountability encourages Governors to have a free rein with the people’s treasury. In many states, contracts are awarded to put money back in the Governors’ pocket, often through surrogates. Take, for example, the case of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau (2015-2023), who claimed that he bought 400 tractors for N5.6 billion for farmers in his state as part of the state’s agricultural production scheme, even after each participating farmer paid a deposit of N1.5 million to the state for the equipment. However, upon investigation by Premium Times, it was discovered that only about 90 tractors were bought and fewer (just 40) were displayed when President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the project in 2018. Yet, the unknowing electorate were recruited to sing and dance on the occasion in praise of the Governor (see The true story of ‘400 tractors’ ex-Gov. Lalong claimed his govt bought for Plateau, Premium Times, July 4, 2024).

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Third, illiteracy prevents the public from pressing for accountability. I use the term illiteracy here in two senses: One, in the sense of stark illiteracy, that is, inability to read and write, which applies to about 40 percent of the Nigerian population, much more so in the North than in the South, and the other in the sense of political illiteracy, despite the dual ability to read and write. Many literate Nigerians are politically illiterate in this sense. Some of them may know that Governors should be accountable, but they will not hold the Governors to account, either because they are “eating” or because they hope to “eat” from the Governors’ government or they don’t care at all. Both groups of illiterates take part in singing and dancing in praise of Governors for doing their duty, such as tarring a road or building a public facility, such as a school, hospital, or clinic. This practice has the inverse effect of making the Governors feel they have achieved, and they use the praise singing as a surrogate for accountability.

Fourth, poverty also prevents voters from holding their Governors to account. Poverty makes them satisfied with tokens, such as rural roads, boreholes, or a poverty alleviation measure, such as N5,000 or a scoop of rice. Many of them have no idea that whatever they get from their state government is their right and that it is the Governor’s duty to provide them. Unfortunately, the illiterate and poor electorate have been led to believe that whatever problems they have are from Abuja, and that their enemy is the federal government and not their Governor or state government. That’s why protests are directed at the Federal Government instead of state governments.

It is the dual scourge of illiteracy and poverty that makes vote-buying central to our electoral practice. Save for occasional investigative journalism and a few civil society organisations, which demand accountability, sometimes by going to court to demand some records, little or nothing is heard about the performance of state governments.

Any wonder then that corruption is rampant in the states, and it takes various forms, including bribery, inflated contracts (to disguise cutbacks), and outright embezzlement of public funds, often through diversion into private or business accounts associated with politicians, political appointees, civil servants, and/or their surrogates. To be sure, corruption is not unique to Nigeria. It is everywhere across the globe. What is peculiar about corruption in Nigeria is threefold: (a) the impunity with which corrupt practices thrive; (b) the degree to which corrupt practices are condoned, especially by the respective local communities of the politicians, political appointees, and civil servants in question; and (c) the pervasiveness of corruption across all strata of society.

Most state Governors are corrupt. Once elected, they are either looking for campaign funds for reelection or for running for Senate or for supporting a Presidential candidate for expected reward, such as a Vice-Presidential pick or ministerial nomination. Some even accumulate funds to run for President. For incumbents, the state treasury is often the starting point, using various methods, including the so-called security vote, which, in some states, is as high as N1 billion a month, which the Governor is not bound to account for.

Some of them may also want to retire from active politics once they feel that they have accumulated enough money to sustain them and their family for the rest of their lives. Remember that, besides their savings, they are treated to a fat severance package and monthly pension, which varies from state to state. In addition, they keep several vehicles, drivers, police escort, kitchen staff, and other assistants for which their states or the relevant government agency, such as the police, allegedly continues to pay.

It is against the above backgrounds that the Governors’ performances since May 29, 2023, should be assessed. It is pertinent to emphasise that since fuel subsidy was removed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the inception of his administration, state allocations have more than doubled. To further aid accountability at the local level, citizens can not go directly to their LGA offices to make enquiries about their performance now that LGA funds are being paid directly to them. Yet, there have been no corresponding improvements in people’s lives, despite the distribution of funds and other resources for palliatives, including cash distribution, agricultural development, transport facility, and infrastructural development.

How will the Governors and LGA Chairs be made accountable? The answer lies with residents of each state and LGA. It is necessary for the Ministry of Information and National Orientation to alert citizens down to the LGA level of their rights to seek information and to demand accountability of their Governors and LGA Chairs. Unless this is done, the President’s Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme may remain so only on paper. Going to the street or court has its usefulness but direct involvement with government officials often yields faster results. Of course, where credible information of infringements is available, the road to the EFCC or the ICPC is always open.

•An earlier version of this essay first appeared on September 3, 2024

September 3, 2025
Optimum wage; refineries; drownings

Hurray, Imo State has followed some other states and has increased minimum wage from N70k to N104k, Ebonyi State increased minimum wage to N90k. Government sets the minimum wage and often it is not the optimum wage required for a wage earner to live a normal life without having to get a second job. It is well known that the N70k is not adequate to exist especially when it is realised that it does not even fill the petrol tank of an average car and over half of it will be spent by the worker merely trying to get to work on the 20 working days in the month. All other governors must do as much or better to lift the economy at the local level.

We agree that the federal government’s macro-economic measures are working and that perhaps the worst of the financial pain is over. However, more state governments and LGAs should join in to increase availability of funds not for politicians, but at the grassroots by paying an optimum, not minimum wage, to all government workers. This will force a rise in the salaries paid to private sector workers and help compensate for the crash in the value of the naira.

Congratulations to all young winners of sports and academic prizes and especially Nafisa Abdullah Aminu, the Teeneagle Global Champion. Education, Education, Education in all areas including computer use and Artificial Intelligence are vital to secure the future for each and every one of our teeming youth in and out of school. We must spend the over N100+billion UBEC unspent funds wasting away and encourage corporate Nigeria and the ETF and PTAs and Old Students Associations at primary and secondary and tertiary levels to get more involved in quality education infrastructure.

Certainly, reward successful students in order to encourage them but we are responsible for the useful education of many millions. Crime can be committed by the educated and the uneducated and it is a crime on the part of government not to educate them adequately to their full cerebral and social potential.

The NNPC Plc announcement that ‘long term neglect hinders refinery revamp’ is correct but it is common knowledge. It also demonstrates the demon on the backs of Nigerians since forever.

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Fortunately, our new NNPCL board is pointing to the truth. But how much of this truth was deliberate neglect, sabotage or corruption or all three together responsible? This would have been prevented if we had in place a past good honest greedless leadership and a compulsory annual forensic financial and technical audit which should have quickly alerted monitoring authorities to the crimes long before they crippled the country. Nigeria’s losses in prestige, indices of transparency and stolen funds are not calculable in currency but they are in human progress and SDGs-Sustainable Development Goals. The trauma inflicted on the citizenry by the 40 year ‘Turn Around Maintenance’, ‘TAM Scam’, full of hope, sadly signifying nothing, has victims in every home and on street corner in Nigeria, victims deprived by the theft of that money and loss of the use of the petroleum products not produced. A theft of our patrimony, our golden fleece, lost because some preferred a mess of pottage.

When politicians steal, they actually believe and laughingly say ‘it is not your father’s money’ or ‘has your father lost some money?’ However, it is our fathers’ money and our inheritance in every budget. There is no ‘nobody’s money’ in Nigerian government budgets.

Just because you do not see the blood of Nigeria’s victims of corruption does stop you from seeing the sorrowful soul of the suffering masses in the eyes and poorly clad bodies and poor upward development of the street people you pass every day. Yes, they laugh and joke because corruption and poverty diminish but do not deprive them of moments of pleasure from a joke or the company of a loving family or friends.

When is corruption enough; when is corruption at a dangerous level and when will it give way to good governance in the interest of citizen and national survival of even the corrupt individuals -10, 20, 40%? What really happened to the money annually allocated to the now infamous recurring budget ‘TAM’ Scam? While we applaud the current board of management for stating the well know obvious, we must ask if this board has introduced the preventive measures necessary QUARTERLY FORENSIC AUDITS, FINANCIAL ALARMS AND to make NNPCL operate successfully like other similar organisations worldwide?

The greater fear is that a new government in future may, for greed-sake, introduce a low morality board to reverse any positives from this board. That is our collective fear because abuse, misuse of petroleum resources has been the single most destructive and regressive event hindering the development of the citizens and the country in the past. Will it continue to prevent our progress in the future? We must work and pray that the benefits of the petroleum industry reach all of us and not just a few, as it was in the past up to the very recent past.

Sokoto loses 100 to another canoe accident. Do we learn no lessons? It would appear that the repeated request for citizens in the canoes to wear life jackets and for no action to be taken is a failure of governance to protect youth from their parents if children were involved.

September 3, 2025
8086 development wards; $41b

It is celebration at Educare Trust as it is with all NGOs and political commentators who have exhausted themselves at meetings, conferences, strategic workshops and in an avalanche of never-acted-upon newspaper articles advocating the POLITICAL WARD AS THE UNIT FOR DEVELOPMENT MONITORING ACROSS THE COUNTRY. This obvious step has been rejected until this current government. All politicians start at the ward level. We are very annoyed at the wasted time, over 60 years, it has taken politicians to get back to the beginning, the grassroots where it all begins and ends. Wards are ignored except at election time when money is spent but no tangible lasting infrastructural project is executed.

We are all very happy that ‘WARD RECOGNITION’ has finally happened. The next question is what is the development expected at every ward nationwide? Identifying suitable sustainable and expandable infrastructural items taken from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is an easy measurable yardstick comparable across the local government areas, the state and country. Many LGA councils, even when given funds not stolen by the state government, have no clue as to why they are there apart from sharing money after the workers and pensioners have been paid and the political party in power has deducted its own pound of flesh leaving nothing for development. Hopefully, now that the federal government is leading and forcing all to take a census or inventory ward structures for purposeful and incremental expansion and development, we will see the lives of the grassroots citizens change such that they will not feel forgotten, left behind, ignored, and looked down upon when compared with town and city people.

Furthermore, advocating using the ward as the unit for development across the country allows for the starter firing gun to be shot at the LGA, state and federal levels for awards, rewards and recognitions for the ‘Best Ward’ in each and every SDG item. This, as an ‘ANNUAL, SDG AWARD AT WARD LEVEL’ would stimulate healthy rivalry and spread knowledge of healthy developmental standards and habits. For example, many wards have motor parks, schools and even clinics which are dirty, unsightly and not fit for purpose as they lack basic human rights amenities, all easily identified including absent sanitation, shelter, security, running water, waste disposal and cleaning services.

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We all know that the money collected from motor parks goes to union officials and local thug-lords and area or party bosses with no deductions for development. Most wards have no running water, so they inadequately cater for the drinking and toilet needs of hundreds of travellers, visitors and workers every day who are often forced to carry out any toilet function in the open in 2025.

If you want to measure or judge a person, visit the toilet at home or office. Sadly, some of the worst toilets are where you should expect the best – government offices, clinics and hospitals. But Oga-at-the-top always has an exclusive toilet for the ‘executive bottom’ and kept under lock and key. Everyone else can go to the bush, abi no ne so?

So, the ward is the most important place to place to start introducing Sustainable Development Goals and to join the battle to quickly achieve ‘AN END TO OPEN DEFECATION’ nationwide. At first, the task may appear impossible, but if all levels of government are committed to Nigeria’s SDG progress, over a short few years we should see a difference when we pass through or visit any ward anywhere.

Rome was not built in a day…but it was eventually built. We have been building Nigeria for years and there is obviously progress. However, it is taking too long and we are not where we should be and have underdeveloped the rural areas because of the negative financial effects of massive multifaceted and multi-faced corruption which, in spite of ICPC and EFCC and Police and NGOs like BudgIT and SERAP, often checkmated by court performances, repeatedly and unchecked, biting huge chunks out of the legs of the Nigerian economic development elephant. This has condemned many projects to stillbirth, part or suspended construction, with the funds allocated exhausted, misspent, disappeared or worst if we have to pay for a loan which was stolen with nothing to show but a growing debt to pay.

Nigeria, many of your so-called leaders and followers have misled you and have had no mercy on you -an elephant with a mighty future if led correctly with an affectionate honest followership. We must not overlook the greed of every political party once in power.

Our forex reserves have at last crossed to $41billion mark. Is this figure gross or net? Some years ago, the last CBN governor announced we had over $30b as foreign reserves but later investigation claimed the figure was actually $3b. Presumably this is not the case today as we have seen the current CBN governor’s efforts to pay debts and raise reserves. We all await a recovery of the fallen naira. Kudos to the CBN governor and his team and also to this government for easing the political and criminal pressure on the forex earnings, and having a target to raise our foreign reserves. What foreign reserve target is Nigeria aiming for? $50b,$75b or $100b by the end of this regime? We must not forget Nigeria’s past leadership failed to provide the expected reserve in excess of $200b for our population.

August 27, 2025
Why do Northern problems persist?

Northern Nigeria is in tatters, politically, economically and socially. Almost everywhere you turn, the news is of death, destruction and despair as if we were a rudderless and leaderless people …

The Bank of the North building in Kano, the Turaki Ali House in Kaduna and other tall buildings erected in several northern cities and towns in the 1960s and 70s were a sky-is-the-limit statement for the future of the northern private sector. That future is here, but we might as well return to the 1960s because Sardauna’s heirs now know only to erect silly flyovers in a region where the predominant means of township travel remains the human foot.

—Suleiman A Suleiman in The North in tatters, Daily Trust, July 1, 2024

The living reality in Northern Nigeria is very explosive. If anyone is interested in finding the practical meaning of the Hobbesian description of life being ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’, just look at what life is in Northern Nigeria. Indices of poverty, unemployment and inequality are beyond description. Conditions of schools and hospitals are, to say the least, depressing. The civil service, in virtually all the 19 states, is only a shadow of itself, with hardly any public service activity taking place. Our illustrious and respected traditional institutions have been devalued and reduced to a state of hopelessness. Most of our religious leaders and centres are far removed from God’s way of life. Few industries exist in the region. And on account of insecurity, agricultural activities, the mainstay of the economy of the region, is highly on the decline.

— Salihu Mohammed Lukman, in Open letter to Northern politicians, Daily Trust, July 1, 2024

The courage to provide a comprehensive analysis of the prevailing realities in Northern Nigeria has been a rare commodity, especially when the speakers or writers are Northerners themselves. But the two writers cited above were hardly the first to point out the Northern problems in Nigeria. At different times, but largely in passing comments, highly influential Northerners had highlighted in various ways the multiple problems besetting the North. The list includes former Governor of the Central Bank and controversial Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai; and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. However, none had addressed the issues as comprehensively as Suleiman and Lukman.

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But, as I pointed out earlier on this column, the Northern problems in Nigeria date back to colonial times, when the erstwhile separate Northern and Southern Protectorates were merged into a single colony in 1914 in order to use the economic and human resources from the South to sustain the North (see The Northern question again: Facts unknown or ignored, The Nation, June 26, 2024).

In the last two decades, these problems have been complicated by the scourge of insecurity that continues to decimate the region’s homes and farmlands. The social, economic, and political underpinnings of the region’s backwardness today, which Northern leaders have continued to ignore, provided the basis for the scathing rebuke of the present crop of Northern leaders by Suleiman and Lukman. In the light of this rebuke, how much shame do Northern leaders wish to endure over their negligence in developing their region all these years?

But the most critical question now is what to do to solve the Northern problems and, by so doing, solve Nigeria’s problems. What should be done to make Northern leaders look inwards, rather than to Abuja, in order to develop their region? Let’s go back again to history.

According to Suleiman, the glorious North existed when it was a region by itself, following the foundation laid by Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, who was the Premier of Northern Region from 1954 until his assassination in a military coup on January 15, 1966. With various economic, educational, and political policies, Ahmadu Bello put his region on a path of development in order to catch up with the Western and Eastern Regions. The opposite has happened since his death.

Hence Suleiman’s historical references in the opening quote and this one in the body of the essay: “… none of the North’s two layers of leadership – the federal government and the 19 state governors – has proven capable of reimagining in 25 years what Sardauna achieved economically for the region in 10”. Embedded in this comment is Suleiman’s rebuke of former President Muhammadu Buhari in the same essay for looking away while the North was being decimated under his watch, despite his campaign promise to unify the region. Never mind that Suleiman left out decades of military rule under Northern leadership, which did next to nothing to improve the fortunes of the region.

An interesting takeaway from Suleiman’s reference to Sir Ahmadu Bello is the fact that there was a time in history when the North was on track for development, championed by Sir Ahmadu Bello himself. This implies that the North has lacked leadership for 25 years since the return to democracy.

A close look at the bahaviour of Northern Governors reveals several findings. One, each of the 19 state Governors has turned his state into a small fiefdom and then, with a few exceptions, milked the state’s resources dry. They are not bothered that, vis-à-vis the rest of the country, their state or region as a whole has the lowest literacy rate, the highest number of out-of-school children, the highest poverty rate, the highest unemployment rate, the lowest contribution to GDP, the lowest Human Development Index, and the most insecure.

Two, the Governors allowed insecurity in their region to fester until it got mapped unto old historical wounds between Fulani and other groups, who owned the land and farms. The result is unbridled herder-farmer clashes, cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes. Some of these crimes have since spread across the country.

Three, the same Governors and insecurity have compromised possible interventions by traditional rulers in their region, who are either threatened with deposition or kidnapped.

Urgent solutions are necessary, which will require presidential and legislative actions. But that will be the subject of another essay in the coming weeks.

•An earlier version of this article was published on July 10, 2024

August 27, 2025