The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • Alakija @ 90; Hail the common person

    Alakija @ 90; Hail the common person

    A very happy birthday to Mr Ogie Alakija @90. He is indeed a man of many positive  parts and role model roles including being a lifelong dedicated sportsman and sports supporter, international cricketer and captain in 1967, squash player, trustee of Ibadan Recreation Club, astute businessman in construction and other industries, founder of Durante, quiet but generous philanthropist, and a pillar of moral and financial support for NGOs including Educare Trust – a 31-year-old health and education NGO which has impacted on millions of youth and adults. As chairman, Educare Trust, he was instrumental in the completion of the upper floor of the Educare Trust Youth Centre building. We wish him peace and good health.

    As we wake and sleep each day, we are restless at the unnecessary burdens we carry as Fellow Nigerians in and outside our country still struggling to become a nation. We cannot ignore a single one of the tens of thousands of citizens have been murdered simply for living in their communities with approximately 5-10million actually displaced or relocating to safer areas in the last 10 years. They deserve a monument with their names carved in stone.

     There should be another monument to the tens of thousands of Fellow Nigerians who are dead or deprived of limbs and livelihoods by the Okada epidemic, an unfortunate political solution to a mass transit problem in which high speed irresponsible, untrained and unchecked youth, some on drugs and alcohol, all full of the unbridled exuberance, arrogance and the unfounded invincibility of unchecked youth, carry the population at high speed, breaking every highway code rule. Their ‘I am king of the road’ attitude has led to crashes resulting in death and grievous bodily harm.

    Millions are diseased or deceased or disappointed in inadequate health facilities as persistent poor sanitation and inadequate water supply, primitive waste and faecal disposal allow typhoid, malaria and cholera to torment communities. Millions of youth in and out of the struggling school system struggle to become something useful to themselves and their families and their country in poor ill-equipped education structures using a slow to adapt, difficult to change, out of date curriculum, now to be manned by education graduates recruited from graduates of teacher training institutions with a new abysmally low cut off of 100 for entrance when the best are used elsewhere in the world to teach their own Generation Next.

    Why are all these happening in our time?

    We must never forget the cunning scheming and government complicity and criminality of officials and private individuals in our past even if we forgive and refuse to prosecute those responsible for the pit dug for Fellow Nigerians by serial and irresponsible military and civilian governance defects and cross-party elite perpetrators. And now the same political people are gathering again. Did they go to remedial school, learnt lessons, apologise for their past activities which caused ‘Nigeria’s failure to thrive’? 

    The depth of the deceit and extent of the multi-year crisis is best exemplified by the huge number of EFCC, ICPC and Police enquires and court cases amounting to trillions of naira. Remember that being freed by courts on technicalities, verdict summersaults and gymnastics and media mischief does not mean innocence. The accused must be morally innocent, not just inability to prove guilt. We should adopt the French court system where you should prove your innocence.

    Read Also: Africa Youth/Junior Weightlifting Championship: Ezenwa  opens  Nigeria’s  account with two gold, silver

     It is not the common man or woman who deserves condemnation for Nigeria’s predicament though politicians are quick to point to the demands made on them by the common man as a reason for the politicians’ demand for the humongous Salaries and Perks sucking Nigeria dry.

    The real citizens of Nigeria are the backbone, not the political class.  The millions of farmers and families, the millions of market women clogging markets from predawn to post dark, the tsunami of citizenry flooding Nigerian towns and cities every single weekday, the masses of youth trooping to and from school daily during term constitute the backbone of Nigerian survival against the onslaught by the greedy politicians on the funds available to make Nigeria great. Politicians make themselves great at our expense. 

    Indeed, most Nigerians deserve national honours for carrying the nearly dead country on their heads, toiling day and night while politicians played extreme politics with the economy. When will this change?

    The only benefit Nigerians received was relatively cheap fuel. We are still struggling with colonial levels of power supply. Our huge fuel consumption as a nation was driven by a transfer of dependence on power supply from the national grid to the generator which is now the ‘Noisy Power Heartbeat of Nigeria’. No country can be economically competent if it relies on each household, service or business generating its own power.  Hopefully the six development zones will address this.

    There is corruption in all countries, but it does not strangle the citizenry, forcing them to grovel before arrogant civil servants and politicians who are competent in corruption but not in service delivery.

    We had low corruption in the beginning but the political, contractor, civil service cartels taught how to smuggle fuel, roundtrip fuel and dollars, pad budgets and dodge prosecution with playacting illness in court.

     Natasha, love her or hate her, showed up NASS members by the outstanding quality and quantity of her empowerment projects delivered by her even before the fracas.

    Copy the good in others please.

  • The Northern question again: Facts unknown or ignored

    The Northern question again: Facts unknown or ignored

    Early in the colonial period, Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria were administered as two separate colonial territories under British control. However, right from inception, the North had posed serious problems to the British government. Chief among the problems was economic—the territory was being run at a budget deficit. The Northern Protectorate was also an administrative nightmare. According to colonial records at the time, the Northern protectorate was “predominantly Muslim and animist”, whereas the Southern protectorate was largely Christian and aggressively “westernizing”. The early adoption of Western education produced surplus personnel to assist the colonial administration. That was not the case in the North, where Western education was resisted. The colonial government also wanted better ways of moving people and goods across the two protectorates.

    The colonial government’s solution to these economic, administrative, and commercial problems was the infamous amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of 1914. The merger allowed the colonial administration to use the budget and personnel surpluses from the South to run the two territories together. But the Northern problems persisted.

    This was particularly evident in the education sector. The resistance to Western education persisted so much so that, on the eve of independence in 1959, less than ten secondary schools were located in the entire North, whereas about 150 were already functioning or taking off in the South.

    One whole century plus eleven years later, the Northern question remains the Nigerian problem. This is manifested today in many ways, four of which are paramount and interrelated.

    First, the legendary educational underachievement of the North persists. True, there are now many highly educated Northerners, but the North lags seriously behind the South in literacy rate. One distinctive feature of education in the North is its limitation to the children of the elite in their bid to reproduce themselves in power. In the colonial and early postcolonial periods, the children of the elite predominated in the few secondary schools in the North, such as Barewa College in Zaria. Today, the elite outsource the education of their children to foreign institutions in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. The vast majority of the talakawa are left largely uneducated.

    Today, none of the 19 states in the North has attained 50 percent literacy rate, whereas all Southern states are beyond 50 percent. For example, according to the latest UNESCO data, the top three Northern states and their percentage literacy rates are Kwara (49.3); Kano (48.9); and Plateau (46.6), while the bottom three are Taraba (23.3); (Katsina (21.7); and Borno (14.5). However, on the other hand, the top three Southern states are Lagos (92.1); Ekiti (80.0); and Ondo (75.1), while the bottom three are Bayelsa (62.0); Ebonyi (53.0); and Imo (53.2). On the whole, the average literacy rate across the North is 34 percent, whereas the average literacy rate across the South is 68 percent.

    Poverty is the second major drawback for the North. The World Poverty Clock currently has Nigeria at 71 percent poverty level. The bulk of the poverty burden is borne by the North. As with high illiteracy, poverty is at its highest level in the region. According to World Bank and NBS data, the North accounts for 87 percent of Nigeria’s overall poverty level, whereas the lowest poverty rates are to be found in the South. Poverty is so pervasive in the North that as many as nine states have poverty levels in the nineties!

    The third burden the North has made Nigeria carry is insecurity. Boko Haram, banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and other violent crimes are rooted in the North and continue to draw the North and the rest of the country back. As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu indicated on Monday, June 24, 2024, some of the conflicts underlying insecurity in the region are rooted in “historical injustices” that have torn communities apart. Others are rooted in religious fanaticism, mass illiteracy, and hunger.

    What is really mystifying about insecurity in the North is that the region has produced two Presidents (Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, 2007-2010 and Muhammadu Buhari, 2015-2023), both from Katsina state. Their state and region remain largely illiterate, poor, and insecure. Since he became President in 2023, Tinubu has focused on insecurity in the region, by repeatedly drawing attention to the problem and by deploying resources and homegrown personnel to the region. Thus, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Defence Minister, the Minister of State for Defence, the National Security Adviser, the Vice President, and more are all from the North. Besides, all the Governors of the 19 Northern states are all from the region. Moreover, as many as ten Northerners have been Prime Minister, Head of State, or President for a total of 44 years since Nigeria became a republic in 1963, whereas only four Southerners have occupied any of the positions for a paltry total of about 18 years.

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    A fourth major problem confronting the North is malnutrition, leading to stunted development among children and women of childbearing age. Malnutrition has been a lingering problem in the region. That is why there are many Northerners, including children, begging for sustenance on the streets across the country. Yet, most Ministers of Agriculture and Health have come from the North since independence. Today, UNICEF’s data point to Nigeria as home to the second highest burden of stunted children worldwide. The North carries the brunt of this burden. For example, according to the FAO, as many as 3.7 million children are malnourished in the three contiguous states of Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa alone. Borno is Vice President Shettima’s state and Adamawa Atiku’s.

    The conjunctive implications of these problems in a single region could be overwhelming. Illiteracy limits employment opportunities. Insurgency feeds on illiteracy, poverty, and unemployment for recruitment. Rampant insecurity hampers farming and food security, which further deepens the poverty level. To be sure, there are a few factories here and there in the North and the region continues to supply some foodstuffs to the South, but the region still depends largely on resources from the South, distributed as federal allocations. At the end of the day, the North is still a huge burden on Nigeria, recalling the economic burden on the colonial government, which led to the amalgamation of the North with the South in 1914.

    It is unfortunate that Northern leaders are now crying wolf and shifting blame, when they allowed the wolf to fester and grow. This is particularly true of their state Governors, who are the Chief Security Officers of their states. It is a shame that, instead of focusing on the problems of education, poverty, insecurity, and malnutrition in their states, Northern leaders have been busy chasing power, complaining of this and that every election cycle. Their recent complaints about the Tinubu Administration fall flat in the face of the facts (see, for example, Sam Omatseye, Who loves the North?, The Nation, August 18, 2025). What is striking about Northern leaders’ complaints is the neglect of the problems outlined above, which have been plaguing the region before Tinubu came to power.

    Our elders say that you do not count the number of fingers of a nine-fingered person to his or her face. However, if a section of the country continues to lag the rest of the country for over a century, it is high time the problems were highlighted for their historical depth and persistent neglect.

    •An earlier version of this article was published on June 26, 2024

  • ‘Baby bonus’; Stop ‘Okada epidemic’

    ‘Baby bonus’; Stop ‘Okada epidemic’

    The US Government is putting a  ‘Baby Bonus’ $1,000 in individually personalised accounts for every new-born US citizen in 2025/26/27 for investment in the stock market which is expected to continue to grow at an average rate of 7%. Withdrawal can only be made from 18 years of age. The parents, family and friends are encouraged to add to the account over the coming years according to their means. The money can be left in the account even to old age growing indefinitely. Is this an incentive to have another baby or a reward for having a baby or merely a political bribe to tele-guide or force the family vote of father and mother in the next election?

    Imagine what effect such a policy would have had on the world’s children. Of course, being a wealthy country, $1k is peanuts for the USA and most advanced countries. But in Nigeria, a similar gesture of $1k =N1,550,000 today due to serial mismanagement and total ignorance among our political leaders of basic economic principles and a complete disregard for their responsibility to defend and improve the value of the country’s currency financially, emotionally and patriotically.

    The evil habit of government awarding oil blocks creating several instant multibillionaires, while the masses wallow in near absolute poverty, pollution, is a despicable policy. Surely it would have done no harm to have allowed the country and particularly the areas where the oil blocks are located the same wealth creation opportunity as those multibillionaires enjoy merely because of an oil well licence? Spreading wealth is the key to a self-sufficient family, business and governance economic system that will endure beyond political cycles of plenty and famine.

    Communities and states should be better recipients of oil-windfalls than individual citizens, assuming corruption can be eliminated. But the fear of corruption cannot be the excuse not to do the correct thing. Certainly, every country should look at this ‘Baby Bonus’ policy to determine its workability and possible benefits. Unfortunately, the people to analyse and decide on such long-term strategic policies are politicians with a reputation for thinking mainly of self, at the expense of development strategies. Such politicians have amply demonstrated their greed above the needs of the people as they demand outrageous and scandalous ‘pension scams’ for ‘serving one or two terms’ and who would much rather award funds to themselves for new jeeps, though many have several personal vehicles.

    It is this greed over need that allowed Nigeria to become an ‘Okada Epidemic Zone’ because our leaders cannot see the need to replace the millions of motorcycles and three-wheeler ‘Keke Napep’ with 14–60-seater buses especially in towns and cities, like in their precious New York and London. This would remove the 10-20-30 motorcycles clogging almost every roundabout, cut congestion, free up traffic and even more importantly, also cut  road crashes and accidents and crash-related deaths, injuries and hospitalisations and bed occupancy rates by as much as 50-80%. This would remove a huge burden of care from government medical facilities and their budgets and other hospitals and save affected families much preventable grief and cost.

    Already ‘okada’ have been banned in Maiduguri successfully for security matters. It is time to widen the ban to reduce the spread of the ‘Okada Epidemic’ for health and security-related matters. Many estates ban Okada.

    Read Also: Nigeria must invest more in the young population – Speaker Abbas

    The terrifying high speed of the commercial Okada carrying  passengers, even mothers and their babies (sometimes to their deaths), as well as their complete disregard for junction and ‘Keep to your lane’ Road Safety Highway Code Law make most crashes fatal or result in severe body, bone and brain injuries. Almost all of these crashes are preventable with signs  –Okada Maximum Speed Limit of around 30-40kpm, more pre licence teaching of the very young ignorant and arrogant Okada drivers who seem to think and act as if they exclusively own the side, middle and all road lanes.

     In Oyo State when Professor Soyinka started his Road Safety Corps and recruited some of us to update the Highway Code and also, as special marshals to get drivers to slow down on the Ife-Ibadan Road, there were no ‘Okadas’ in number. Today the okadas outnumber the cars and other vehicles maybe by 100 to one and block every junction causing mayhem. They surround vehicles on all four sides like a swarm of bees and can kill. They always gang together, intimidating drivers especially if they, the Okadas, have crashed.

    All road traffic authorities need ‘Okada Education Pamphlets’ to limit the number of Okada which can stay at one time at junctions and stop spots. Only a manageable number of registered Okadas and Keke Napep should be allowed in any particular area. All road violations should be punished.  Our traffic agencies, including the police and VIO should rise above all scandal like extortion and be closely monitored by supervisors to stop bribery and other corrupt practices. 

    Tinted window palaver has started again. Will this be done without checkpoint scamming?

    We should be happy to hear that the Siemens Power Contract is still moving forward and hopefully the upheaval in the power sector ownership will scare away unserious partnerships. All previous exercises were like repeated extortionary refinery Turn Around Maintenance scams. We hear of ongoing scams in the prepaid meter project with officials in the field telling a different story for the published free meter scenario.   

  • The Northern question in Nigeria

    The Northern question in Nigeria

    We have the largest number of poor people in the world, most of them in Northern Nigeria. Nigeria also has the largest number of out of school children, virtually all of them in Northern Nigeria.

    —Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, at the Northern Youth Summit on Saturday, July 6, 2019

    In the North-western and North-eastern parts of Nigeria, more than 60 per cent of the population live in extreme poverty … the 19 Northern states, which accounts for over 54 per cent of Nigeria’s population and 70 per cent of its landmass, collectively generate, only 21 per cent of the total sub-national IGR in the year 2017.

    —Aliko Dangote, speaking at the Kaduna Investment Summit on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.

    From time immemorial, regional problems have been central to the formation and development of kingdoms, empires, and modern states.  However, the nature and effects of regional problems vary across time and space. In some cases, the problems are complicated by religion. In other cases, ethnicity is a key factor.

    There are also cases where social and economic divisions loom large just as there are others where the desire to preserve people’s rights and liberty is foregrounded.  Sometimes, one or the other of these factors could be highlighted to mask the others. Any of these factors could derail the unity or development of a kingdom, empire, or state. A convergence of two or more factors could pose even more serious challenges.

    For example, in the Southern United States, the desire to preserve slavery for economic reasons led the 13 Confederate states in the South to fight a bitter civil war, although apologists of the war often couch the reasons in terms of the preservation of liberty and independence. Residues of the division between the South and the rest of the United States loom large today, especially in race relations and democratic politics.

    The regional problem is even more pronounced in contemporary Italy. It was Antonio Gramsci, who problematized the regional issue in that country in his now famous The Southern Question, published in 1926.

    In the essay, Gramsci not only highlighted the social problems of Southern Italy, where he came from, he also outlined a theory by which class-regional alliances were employed by the Fascist government to maintain a hegemonic hold on power. The alliances involved creating a bridge between the Northern proletariat and the Southern peasantry.

    Yet, despite the Italian government’s investment in the South to pull up the region, its backwardness relative to Northern Italy continues to stand out.  As indicated below, many factors are responsible for the fate of Southern Italy, making it one of the less developed areas in Europe.

    If Northern Nigeria and Southern Italy were flipped, then the Italian situation would provide an instructive analogy to the regional problem in Nigeria, where the focus has been on the Northern question. To be sure, certain features are unique to each of the two regions in their respective countries, but there are interesting shared features to justify such an analogy. Correspondingly, Northern Italy compares to Southern Nigeria in developmental strides, including industrial growth, per capita income, contribution to GDP, and so on.

    First, both Southern Italy and Northern Nigeria share higher unemployment and poverty rates than other regions in their respective countries. On the one hand, the unemployment rate in Southern Italy has ranged between 15  and 20 percent in the last five years, while the average unemployment rate in the country as a whole is about 9 percent.

    On the other hand, the average unemployment rate of over 35 percent across Northern Nigeria has been consistently higher than the rest of the country at about 27 percent. When underemployment figures are factored in, over 30 percent of Southern Italians have little or no employment, while over 50 percent of Northern Nigerians are in a similar category.

    It is not surprising, therefore, that the poverty rate in Southern Italy and Northern Nigeria is much higher than the rest of their respective countries. Furthermore, the risk of poverty is also considerably higher in both regions than the rest of the country. That risk is accentuated by relative lack of education.

    Second, both Southern Italy and Northern Nigeria are more educationally backward than the rest of the country. They contain the majority of out-of-school children and school dropouts in their countries. Unfortunately, the situation has been getting worse, rather than better, in Northern Nigeria, as indicated in the opening quotes.

    Read Also: Why More Nigerian Women Are Betting on Sports, and What They’re Betting On

    A recent letter by legendary Civil Servant, Ahmed Joda, to the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, shows that the situation in Northern Nigeria is rooted in history as it is in Southern Italy. According to Joda, who was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education in 1971, only 250 candidates from the North were found qualified and were awarded Federal Government Scholarship in that year, whereas 2,750 candidates from the South got the same award.

    Of course, Northern leaders cried lopsidedness then and the Federal Government, controlled by Northerners most of the time since then, has used several methods to “compensate” the North. Almost 50 years later, the change has been for the worse, rather than for the better.

    Again, el-Rafai sums it all up in his speech to the Northern Youth Forum: “Northern Nigeria has become the centre of drug abuse, gender violence, banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism. We have also been associated with a high divorce rate and breakdown of families.” The situation compares to some extent with Southern Italy noted for organized crime, drug abuse, and “underground” economy, often controlled by the Mafia.

    Yet another feature shared by Southern Italy and Northern Nigeria is a state-dependency mentality by which the people wait for government largesse—government jobs or share of government funds. The result is unbridled corruption and appalling lack of transparency. The almajiri image of begging for food with bowl-in-hand is symbolic of the state-dependency mentality of the region. While the Governors and Emirs distribute the largesse in Northern Nigeria, the Mafia does the same in Southern Italy. The result at the end of the day is little or no development of the region.

    Dangote’s injunction to Northern leaders is now more urgent than ever: “Northern Nigeria will continue to fall behind if the respective states governments do not move to close the development gap”.

  • Falcons fallout; Reward template

    Falcons fallout; Reward template

    The largess showered on the Super Falcons including $100,000 and an Abuja house, probably in the 1506 ‘Crime Estate’ proven by the courts to be recaptured from Emefiele’s reign of terror’ over Nigeria’s assets in CBN, has generated mixed feelings. Of course, we do not know what other past Czars at CBN did. How clean were they really?

    Nobody questions the need to reward the Super Falcons and their supporting entourage. But how much is too much in a country with a minimum wage of N70,000/month and a maximum wage of several million/month? Even that N70,000 is often ignored in both government and private sectors and ignored also by the employees of these sectors who in their turn have employees of their own in the domestic setting -armies of underpaid house-helps, servants, drivers, nannies, carers, cooks and guards many of whom earn less than minimum wage and work longer hours.

    Contrast this with the unrealistic excessive multi-million ‘maximum government wage’ of Sinators [no apologies for the typo] and UNRepresentatives [no apology for the second typo]  commandeered, cornered from the budget, not earned, by members of the ‘greed over need driven’ political class.  Nigerians have protested themselves hoarse against this exaggerated self-assessment of worth without success. Paradoxically, National Assembly, NASS added insult to the injury by nastily awarding its members jeeps worth around N164m each interestingly about $100,000.

    Read Also: First Lady donates ₦1bn, relief items to Niger flood, fire, banditry victims

    Politicians seeking public office should be on a government scale Level 18, 19, 20, 21. Period! Nigeria will only progress when politicians serve the country and not service themselves and family generations unborn with misappropriated funds.  The president, the VP, senators, representatives, are government jobs not ‘Luxury King Solomon or Midas Treasure Hunts’. Minister means ‘servant’. Our governors demand houses and pensions and gratuities for just four years of hyper-well-paid governance with poor service delivery.  There is a disconnect here.

    The euphoria of the Super Falcons win and the value added to Nigeria’s sporting reputation are unquantifiable in money or in the value of the free positive promotional worldwide publicity.  The win is a huge a morale booster, a yardstick and motivator for others coming behind to measure themselves and surpass. It is a[nother] giant further step to establish more positive sporting role models nationwide. This latter is in spite of the fact that most of the sports girls and women either ‘japa-ed’ abroad to take advantage of better training facilities and better structured sports support scholarships and contracts or were actually born, schooled, scouted and groomed abroad and are actually routinely playing internationally, not in Nigeria.

    Good positive news created by Nigerians anywhere is good positive Nigerian news no matter the intermediate country circumstances. This is especially important as our newspapers and world opinion of Nigeria and Nigerians are dependent on recurrent undated negative social media and violence of terrorism, kidnapping, ritual killings, baby factories, drugs and diseases. It is a time when so many other Nigerians seem to be specialising in ‘PHD’ aka ‘Pull Him Down’ or ‘PND’ aka ‘Pull Nigeria Down’ activities.

    However, there is need for government at LGA, state and federal to have ‘Yardsticks of Reward’ a STANDARDISED ACADEMIC AND SPORTS REWARD TEMPLATE. Recently, Nigeria has been blessed by a tsunami of First Class or First in Class graduates at home across the world, at home in Nigeria and across the academic world. Yes, some were rewarded with job offers and cash gifts but how does that compare to the most recent Falcons awards? How does academic brilliance compare to a football or athletic prowess in the receipt of government financial rewards?

    Already there is a loud complaint on behalf of our star athletes who carry Nigeria’s name sometimes under another flag, winning hard earned laurels on the world and continental stage. Nigerians who change their flags are not traitors. If they were they would change their names and pretend to be rooted elsewhere, but they do not. Their change of flag is like a change of baton in a relay -essential for the necessary progress to finish the athletic career race. In this case it is due to economic, strategic reasons and usually to escape the poor track record of Nigerian sports administration in which the athlete is often neglected. But they are still recognised by their names even when draped in other flags. It is not shame on them for surviving. It is shame on us, Nigeria, for forcing them, by our infrastructural and administrative inadequacies, to make the japa decision made by them or their parents during the five japas created by past authoritarian or economically oppressive regimes.

    Some argue that our largely international team actually stopped home grown players succeeding. Some complain that $100,000 per Super Falcons is arbitrary and extravagant compared to the poor sports budgets and poor service delivery and needs of the sports sector generally in Nigeria. THIS IS TRUE. Certainly, we need a REWARD TEMPLATE.

    But Nigeria’s participants in sports and academics for the thousandth time demand an answer to the morality in why a 160m+[not 200m+]  country would rather allow its private sector reward past presidents with private contributions amounting to around N20billlion for a ONE Presidential Library, than government and private sectors spending a similar amount upgrading sports facilities, administrative quality and quantity, talent hunts, progress ladders and competitive events and reward structures FOR 50 MILLION YOUNG NIGERIANS? 

  • The gifts

    The gifts

    It is well known that giving gifts to others allows us to set up or reconfirm our connection with them. It is also true that gifts are used to communicate our feelings and appreciation for the recipients. It was French anthropologist and sociologist, Marcel Mauss (1872-1950), who first developed a theory of exchange in which the gift occupied centre stage. He proposed that early exchange systems center around the obligations to give gifts, to receive them, and, most importantly, to reciprocate. In ancient societies, he further argued, gift exchange was central to the maintenance of reciprocal obligations between individuals or whole communities.

    In ancient societies, gifts took the form of material goods or labour. Women were also exchanged as wives to establish or cement relationships between families or communities. For example, my lineage history had it that there were two great male friends in Idale Quarters at Oke-Idanre. During one rainy season, Friend A’s roof was leaking profusely. The son of Friend B was returning from the farm with palm fronds. When he noticed a detached palm frond from Friend A’s roof, he stopped, climbed the roof, and replaced the detached frond with two of his own. The leak stopped. Friend A was so delighted that he went to Friend B the following morning to praise him for raising a good son, who, out of his own freewill, repaired his leaking roof. In the exuberance over the occasion, Friend A promised Friend B that he would give his daughter to Friend B’s son so that the relationship between their families would survive for generations. I am a product of the union of the ensuing young couple.

    In modern society, however, money has become the primary item of exchange, although material goods and labour are still part of the modern exchange system. Besides, rather than express feelings or appreciation alone, the modern economic exchange system focuses on the use of money in exchange for goods and services.

    Within the past week or so, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu invoked the age-old gift exchange system, but used a trifecta of exchange tools, both old and new—a bungalow or flat, money, and the award of the National Honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger. The gifts were an expression of a nation’s appreciation for two different teams of young women, who excelled in their sports. They were also meant to inspire the teams to do more, by making the nation proud in future tournaments.

    One, the Super Falcons, won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations football trophy for the 10th time and automatically qualified for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The other, D’Tigress, won the basketball trophy for the seventh time, five of them in a row, and qualified for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

    So much has been said about the President’s gesture, especially about what many commentators, especially online, view as excessive cash gift in a struggling economy. Here’s how one of my Abuja friends, Samuel Eka, puts it: “This administration told us that now is the moment of sacrifice, with the fuel subsidy removal. So, in such moments of national sacrifice, I think our expenditures and government spendings should be in line with the reality on ground. The whole nation should not be starved and few people who, by luck and privilege, went to play in a single tournament … get this kind of rewards without considering the economic situation in the country.” Eka, about the age of one of my children, is a bright young man, a graduate of Economics, who is self-employed. The sentiment he expressed is widely replicated by other commentators.

    Read Also: First Lady donates ₦1bn, relief items to Niger flood, fire, banditry victims

    What is often forgotten, however, is that the President’s gifts to the teams were symbolic gifts from a nation to its ambassadors in sports. As such, they carry deep meanings, sentimental values, emotions, and wishes that transcend their cash value or material form. Presenting the gifts to the Super Falcons, the President put it this way: “You have inspired millions, especially young girls who now see proof that their dreams are valid and achievable. You have inspired me, too. And it’s great for a nation to have assets that are the hope of today, tomorrow, and the day after. You represent that hope. You ignited that hope. And we will continue to encourage you, the next generation, and other generations after you.” Noting how the team worked hard to come back with a victory from a 2-0 deficit at halftime, the President added: “Your victory represents more than a sporting accomplishment. It is a triumph of courage, determination, discipline, and consistency.”

    The conclusion is incomplete that the players were rewarded for only playing in a tournament and getting such huge gifts. These are professional players, who have devoted their lives to their sport. The gifts were not limited to that single tournament, but they also recognised the team’s achievement in winning the tournament for the tenth time.

    Two quick points here: One, the gifts might have been handed to individual players, buy they were in recognition of the team’s efforts in winning the tournament for the tenth time. True, some of this year’s players also participated in some of the earlier tournaments, but what about those players who had retired or were otherwise not playing for the team anymore, but played when they won some of the earlier tournaments?

    Two, the President seemed to have answered this question indirectly, by saying specifically that his attention was on “you, the next generation, and the generation after you.” Here, the President set up a precedent: Past players might not have been fully rewarded, but from now on, we will pay due attention to our sporting heroes, who provide entertainment to feed our eyes and emotions, while lifting up the spirit of a nation and giving hope to those interested in sports today, tomorrow, and the day after.

    It should be noted as well that President Tinubu did not suddenly come to this conclusion. Unlike the past, when our representatives in sports cried out for fees to cover their hotel bills, President Tinubu gave orders before the tournaments that all the entitlements of the players, their coaches, and the technical teams should be paid up.

    One other factor often overlooked in physical sports, such as football and basketball, is the early retirement of players, often in their thirties. In the absence of a retirement package and lack of sustainable income from commercial endorsements, players are left with whatever they can make during their careers. Given the relatively poor remuneration for home-based players, no gift is too much for those who made it to the continental championships and won.

    In Nigeria today, no sports provide as much ecstatic entertainment as football and basketball. This, however, does not mean that national attention should be limited to these sports. From now on, commensurate attention should be paid to all sports. More importantly, a sustainable reward system for all sports and athletics should be developed that would guide public expectations, while being implementable by future administrations.

  • Falcons; Sports deficit; N3-4trn power debt

    Falcons; Sports deficit; N3-4trn power debt

    Congratulations to the Super Falcons who defeated Morocco 3-2 to win the WAFCON for the 10th time. Wow! Hurray. Their win is a triumph over many battles of life, with setbacks, overcoming rejection, scepticism, self-doubt, negativity and sports administration fiascos -the lot of every Nigerian athlete. We pray they were actively protected against sexual harassment. There is always luck with huge skill, knowing when to score and more brilliantly when to pass for others to take the goal glory. Yes, there is a winning team but the others are not losers but fellow football athletes who have also given their all with one winner.

    This year it is the Super Falcons putting Nigeria back on the world football map. Hurray! Our players will go abroad as with any successful profession from sports to medicine. The only ‘profession’ not sellable abroad is the ‘profession’ of ‘politics’. Think about that! Nobody wants our politicians, but they impose themselves on us. Far too expensive to maintain!  The familiar ‘minister-to-international-job’ transition happens, but rarely for politicians. For those who succeed in the ‘politics-foreign job’ jump, it is their primary pre-politics profession which takes them forward like agriculture, the judiciary, economics, finance and medicine.

    The video call with President Tinubu was of, as yet, unrecognised monumentally important. The winning team loved their president. They showed the traditional respectful admiration of youth. We all loved it. It is obvious President Tinubu can easily engage and relate with Nigeria’s youth.  Sadly, President Tinubu is rarely seen with ordinary youth, or with real, not AI, photo ops for the youth to share in millions. This is an important and costly PR failure of his management team to inroad the youth mind pre-vote, especially as 2027 has been accelerated into today’s politics.

    No doubt, the houses allocated to the team, coaches and management,  will be  delivered hopefully not after 30 years of administrative obstructionism with no  one punished, but right now from the 1506 individual homes Emefiele built. Creating great good out of bad. So, unknown to him, he was actually using our money in CBN to build for the Super Falcons and other good people if the remaining houses are put to good governance use. The remaining houses should also be allocated within Nigeria’s social architecture -a moral lesson.

    Read Also: Tinubu governing with people, not above them, says Shettima

    This Super Falcon’s success in football this year focuses attention on the need to vet and assess sports facilities and sports ladders at each LGA, state and federal government level. There is now once more, a 2025 opportunity for the Tinubu government and state governors and LGA chairmen to correct past neglect and return to the glorious days of year-round training for north, south and eastern regional sports festivals and Inter University Games, NUGA, best exemplified by Governor Samuel Ogbemudia of then Bendel State who became the Sports Czar of Nigeria. Moshood Abiola, presidential campaign winner in 1993 became ‘Pillar of Sports’ for his contributions. Time to make our champion sports personalities household names, role models and pillars. The federal government should allocate adequate funds to send teams athletes abroad after rigorous training schedules in any of the several National Sports Stadia, some run down with rubbish accommodation. Governors and LGAs chairpersons should take up ‘Nigerian Sports Infrastructure and Sports Superstructure’ with more responsibility to the youth  and improve primary and secondary school sports with more zonal competition and exposure.

    Nigeria has had many unsung sports heroes and heroines. In a country desperately needing non-political role models, ask yourself how many schools have honoured them or named a door, room or a wall after them? Probably none.  Use the internet. Research them and make classroom posters for real-life influencers like Chioma, Ajunwa, Falilat Ogunkoya, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Lucy Ejike, Asisat Oshoala, D’Tigress team, Tobi Amusan, Ether Oyema.       

    Renovating, refurbishing or rehabilitation, call it whatever, of schools is not newsworthy or celebrated in normal countries where high school standards are the ‘minimum standard’ and compulsory norm. No one waits for end stage school dilapidation or collapse, injury or death before doing the right thing. At last, in Nigeria more public schools are getting a long overdue facelift making them ‘Child and Teacher Friendly Classrooms and School Environments’.

    Please Google Bariga LCDA Lagos for an amazing primary school and Governor Okpebholo of Edo State for a similar impact. Enough of pointless spending billions on politicians while our children wallow in education poverty. It is our responsibility to ensure children enjoy their ‘years of learning’ .   

    Nigeria owes GENCOs N3-4trillion. Prof Oke has pointed out that the debt needs interrogation to ensure its accuracy. A multi-pronged forensic audit should be initiated urgently. Government organs must pay their bills like we do. We all know of the disconnection of government hospitals and health centres ruining patient outcomes. Criminally, many heads of government institutions actually failed to pay their electricity bill (and salaries and pensions) monthly without cause or consequence for years.

    Yet, even without paying their monthly electricity bills, those in authority have no spectacular achievement over those in the private sector. So, what did they do with the money illegally ‘saved’ by the non-payment of the electricity bill? Accurate electricity cost projections should be inserted in all government institutions and allocated funds must be used properly. Are we in this N3-4 trillion black hole partly because 30–40-year electricity Budget Allocations were diverted or stolen outright, like the security vote may be?

  • Social media: How fake and diversionary news drowns real news

    Social media: How fake and diversionary news drowns real news

    Right from start, social media, notably, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), have played a significant role in the spread of information beyond mainstream print and electronic media. It was obvious early that their role could be positive or negative, depending on the nature of information and its consequences for political processes.

    It is well known that social media are veritable platforms for sharing information, allowing citizens to voice opinions on political issues, thereby allowing voices that were previously unheard to be heard. Social media are particularly useful in increasing citizen participation in the political process, by mobilising support for political causes. In recent years, their role in organising protests for or against governments or government programmes increased after 2010, when young Arabs organised protests across the Middle East against authoritarian regimes, corruption, economic hardship, high unemployment, and limited political freedoms.

    Today, the use of social media for this kind of political mobilisation has been taken to the extreme in democracies, which guarantee freedoms of expression and assembly, as we saw in the United States in January 2020, when supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol (equivalent of our National Assembly) and in Brazil in January 2023, when supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro invaded the Congress and Supreme Court. Trump and Bolsonaro had led their supporters to protest the elections they lost in their respective countries. So inciting were Trump’s messages at the time that he was suspended indefinitely from using Facebook and Instagram, but his privileges were restored after two years.

    Since the 2023 general elections cycle in Nigeria, social media have taken a turn for the worse in the country. The escalation of their uses in spreading fake news and falsified information during the elections has hardly abated. The BBC was so perturbed by the ubiquity of disinformation during the elections that it carried out detailed investigations. The investigators discovered three websites from which a number of fake news originated and got spread on social media. They were Podium Reporters, Reportera, and Parallel Facts.

    What’s in vogue in Ngeria today is the use of social media to divert attention from serious issues. Two politicians in the forefront of diversionary politics are Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party. They were both in the news recently. Senator Natasha (as she has come to be known) alleged that the Senate President had sexually assaulted her, but the Senate suspended her for six months for offenses other than sexual assault.

    However, all she has been talking about is the assault charge, and that’s what has been trending on social media. In the midst of the suspension and the ensuing court case, she held a big rally in her Kogi Senatorial District, using social media to draw a large crowd to the venue. To add a sensational spice, she arrived in a helicopter! It was all a ploy to attract sympathy from her political base and beyond.

    She again revived social media pandemonium, when she appeared at the National Assembly gates, knowing full well that she would not be allowed into the building. It was to energise debates about her course, with many media posts claiming that the Court had ordered her return to the Senate and upbraided the red chamber, when the Court did not. Rather, the Judge only expressed an opinion that the suspension for six months was excessive but conceded, under the separation of powers, that only the Senate has the power to revise its own rules and allow Natasha to represent her people.

    The truth is that the Judge did nor order Natasha’s return to Senate at this time. Indeed, the orders made by the Court were against Natasha for contempt, for which she was fined N5 million. While not ignoring her sexual allegation or the reasons for her suspension, it is obvious that all the helicopter appearance in her Senatorial District and the march on the gate of the National Assembly were political theatre to feed social media platforms.

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    Peter Obi’s case is different. Like Natasha, he went to Edo state to raise his supporters’ political consciousness and create social media content for them. Hence the large crowd of supporters that received and escorted him to St Philomena Nursing School, where he donated N15 million. Within minutes, it was all over social media, with some claiming he donated N50 million, while others claimed he made the donation to his alma mater. The truth is that, from the content of his speech at the event, Obi went to Edo to campaign for support.

    In no time, however, Obi’s visit, for whatever it was worth, was drowned out by what the Governor of Edo state, Monday Okpebholo, said of the visit. The Governor had cautioned Obi never to visit the state without alerting state authorities so that adequate arrangements could be made for his protection. But the way he couched the message made it sound like a threat. That was the dominant reading on social media and even on TV shows.

    Two interesting social media diversions from substantive issues were the gaffes by the Senate President and Governor Hope Uzodima, in which they swapped the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the late President Muhammadu  Buhari, while talking about Buhari’s death and praising Tinubu for according Buhari a superb state burial. Social media went to town with the gaffes so much so that their contexts were lost and forgotten. Several readings of the gaffes are possible. One, it was possible that Tinubu was so much on the speakers’ mind that his name was the first on their lips when they wanted to talk about a President. Two, those who wished Tinubu dead found the gaffe interesting, while those who support his work found the gaffe unwarranted from top government officials. All readings and interpretations were content for social media.

    A few days later, a Tiktoker claimed falsely that President Tinubu had seriously fallen ill from poisoning. Some claimed that the Tiktoker said the President collapsed and died, a typical amplification of falsehood. The Tiktoker was promptly arrested, but death did not appear anywhere in the court charges.

    Perhaps the greatest recent social media diversion was the viral video of Vice President Kashim Shettima opening the car door for his Brazilian counterpart, Geraldo Alckmin, as the latter left the Presidential Villa. Yet, what had happened earlier between both men was of major consequence for both nations. They signed several MOUs, covering defense, energy, culture, drug control, and food security, featuring a $1 billion Green Imperative agricultural Initiative. Social media would have none of that.

    Rather, Shettima’s courteous act of opening the car door for his guest was turned into something else: Some claimed that “The dude has serious low self-esteem and inferiority complex.” Another concluded that “After they approved their loans they act humble”! Although there were a few posts that defended Shettima’s action as mere diplomatic courtesy, the vast majority blamed him. None, however, mentioned the substantive trade agreements between the two nations.

    2027 may look far on the calendar. It is already in the horizon for social media activists. The government should begin to prepare for what is coming.

  • 2025-27: Don’t waste 20 months!

    2025-27: Don’t waste 20 months!

    The needless, selfish, calculating, shortsighted, diversionary, derisive but definitely carefully  orchestrated earthquake upheaval and tsunami turmoil in the political landscape throw up many obstacles on the formerly anticipated smooth road to the 2027 election and the ‘traditionally agreed’ cyclical double term amounting to eight years for southern power. Compounded by the death of former president, Muhammadu Buhari, commanding 7-12million votes it, has brought the 2027 election into sharp focus. It is already negatively impacting politics, political alignments and especially political performance and political planning.

    Disgracefully, many politicians want Nigeria to stop and to suddenly appear in 2027. They behave as if the entire remaining five months of 2025 and 12 months of 2026 governance year and two or three months of 2027 do not matter. But that intervening time is real time. It is almost 20 months. Nigerian cannot lose or waste 20 months to political inertia. Twenty months is an instant in the life of a politician. But that real time is 20 months of real lives of the 160million Nigerians in urgent need of positive infrastructure impact by the current already voted in governance structures at federal, state and LGA.

    Incumbent politicians, contractors and civil servants must become razor-focused on the 20-month welfare of the entire population which includes the electorate that voted for them in 2023 and also all living Nigerians be they potential voters or not.  This time before the actual election must not be abandoned to campaigns with zero delivery politics.

    The 2027 electorate, including most of those reading this article and several million additional 18-22 year olds, ‘2027 FIRST TIME VOTERS’ who are currently growing into the 18+electoral population, will be faced with ‘the usual’ deceptions, bribery and corruption of fact and fictional claims and denials, and pressures  up to and on the day of the election in 2027.

    What a wonderful thing it would be if we could offer our new young voters an honest @abiola standard 2027 election and of course a non-Babangida annulled result. But before then, we the people must not allow the political class to take their eye off the ‘Good Governance’ part of their contract with the people. The electorate will not and must not tolerate neglect of ‘good governance’ by those we have elected in 2023 who have our vote, our mandate and our money to do the ‘2023-2027job’.  If they fail, they should be put to the test and if confirmed to be found wanting, removed at the next election 2027 regardless of their political party to make way for others more willing to serve a full uninterrupted four years and not truncated in 2030 for a repeat performance of the ongoing 20 month pre-2027 campaign.

    For years Nigeria has routinely ‘lost a year to irresponsible pre-election politics’ causing government paralysis every four years. We must immediately combat this risk of 160million Fellow Nigerians losing 20 months of Good Governance in this election cycle. In order to force  the current set of  politicians at federal, state and LGA to fulfill their mandated responsibility, for which, we tend to forget, they volunteered it would pay all the governments at federal, state and LGA to begin to PUBLISH WEEKLY OR CERTAINLY MONTHLY REPORTS in all areas of public/ people, public/politician interface. The NGOs which specialize in governance monitoring, naming and shaming, evaluation reports, must redouble their efforts and widen their efforts and the publicity during these 20 months pre-2027 to ensure Nigeria and Nigerians are at last given the best possible ‘Political Service Delivery’ and ‘Good Governance’ available.

    This will take a greater sense of responsibility and commitment to Fellow Nigerians and Good Governance on the part of the current incumbent political office holders, their advisers -special and ordinary, the surrounding civil service, regardless of political party.

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    No political party has delivered anything close to the needs of the people when compared to what they collectively consume as ‘politics management fee’-the huge cost today of political service delivery by the presidency, NASS-Senate and Reps, the cost of minsters, special advisers, ministries etcetera.

    Nigeria cannot continue to carry on its head, a calabash of the greedy needs Nigeria’s political class. The political calabash is so heavy it is crushing Nigeria’s neck bones and spine and reducing our performance. Nigeria exemplifies the fact than no country can grow if political class values itself so highly above the citizenry. We do not need to catalogue the woes that have faced and are still facing Nigerians in daily life. They are summarized in the poor supply of power, water, health, education, security, shelter everywhere.

    If all the money corruptly diverted and ‘corruptly overpaid’ to politicians as salaries, allowances and unearned pensions had been used directly on the citizenry, many of these problems would have been solved just like in many other countries.

    Ask yourself – ‘Why are our standard targets ‘Minimal Standards?’ No country can grow if it uses ‘minimum standards’ as its goal, because goals are usually never met. That is why doing nothing passes for doing something in Nigeria. So politicians have failed us even before we set out to succeed. We must ask ourselves what do governments actually do well and what will they do between now and 2027? They are very good at getting hyper-paid for undelivered services. Come 2027 politicians must campaign for and we must vote to markedly reduce political overheads.

  • Ways to retail information

    Ways to retail information

    No one doubts that effective communication between the government and the governed encourages public knowledge of government policies, programmes, and projects; builds trust in government; fosters transparency and accountability; and even encourages public participation. The more the citizens know about government policies and their rationale, the less bitter they are likely to be at their consequences, and the more they are able to recognise and dismiss distortions and misrepresentations.

    There are various channels of communication available to the government, including (1) regular briefings, press releases, and official statements; (2) print and electronic media (newspapers, radio, and television); (3) new media and other digital platforms (social media, government websites, mobile apps, and email); and (4) direct engagement with the public, such as (a) town hall meetings and (b) community outreach—engagements with specific communities through events and workshops, and (c) public consultations—surveys, opinion polls, and public hearings.

    I pointed out last week that, at present, much of government information circulates only among a fraction of Nigeria’s literate population, because the government has limited its options to (1), (2), and part of (3) above. This leaves the masses, especially rural dwellers, at risk of consuming distorted information, or no information at all, about government policies, programmes, and projects (Time for the government to retail information, The Nation, July 17, 2025). The major reason for this omission is lack of direct public engagement—option (4), discussed further below.

    But, first, let’s review how the government has been using options (1), (2) and (3). Regarding (1), yes, there are occasional press releases and official statements, but briefings are very rare, being limited to presidential speeches on special occasions. There needs to be weekly or biweekly verbal briefings by the President’s spokesperson, to the press somewhere in Aso Villa. Such briefings should be limited to current issues or problems and outline the President’s responses to them. For example, Mr. Sunday Dare’s essay on the President’s midterm achievements could be summarised as one briefing, while also being published in newspapers (see his Tinubu’s midterm: From reforms to recovery, ThisDay, May 29, 2025). The briefings will create soundbites on radio and TV, while being amplified by pundits. More importantly, the verbal briefings would give reporters the opportunity to ask questions, which could elicit explanations and illustrations from the spokesperson. They are also useful in avoiding presidential delay in responding to topical issues. For effectiveness, the relevant Minister could be on hand to answer specific questions within his or her portfolio. Such briefings, of course, presuppose that the spokesperson has the ear and mind of the President and can also read his “body language”.

    The government’s presence online, on social media, and the airwaves is limited and mostly reactionary. As I pointed out last week, even occasional proactive posts on social media are overwhelmed by opposition views. The President’s new media team has work to do in this regard. At the moment, it is as if there is no social media team at all. Perhaps the Director of New Media and Corporate Services at the party Secretariat, who is a mobiliser and social media guru, should be drafted immediately.

    However, the most important gap in the government’s information management is the lack of public engagement as in option (4). No town hall meetings. No community outreach programmes. No public consultations, for example via surveys, opinion polls, and public hearings. These are tools that  It must also be realised that ours is not a one size-fits-all country. Rather, it is divided along regional, ethnic, religious, and language lines. Besides, more than a third of the population is illiterate and nearly 70 percent is poor. As a result, government information must be tailored for various publics from the heart of the bustling urban areas to the rural hinterlands.

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    Reaching the various publics will involve local party leaders and community organisers, using local languages to explain what the government has done, what it is doing now, and what it plans to do over the next two years. The government’s policies on subsidy and exchange rate as well as their consequences and remedies need to be explained. The leader of the Tinubu Mandate Group in Ondo state, Chief Femi Bakare, embarked on such a project about two weeks ago. Canvassers were chosen from each ward to go back home and talk to their people about the President’s policies and programmes in their local dialects. This is the kind of community outreach that President Barrack Obama of the United States (himself a community organiser) used to salutary effect during his presidency.

    It is high time President Tinubu embarked on town hall meetings, at least one in each zone to explain the need for his policies, why costs have been high, how and why they are now coming down, and so on. The experiences of other countries in comparable situation could be recalled for emphasis. Rescue and renewal should be key themes. It is like the country was so sick that it fainted. The President came in as the doctor, who revived the now very lean country. Like every sick person, it will take some time to heal. The country is now on the path of recovery. Fortunately, we have now reached a turning point. International organisations and media as well as local newspapers are now reporting on the gradual recovery. Interest rates are down. Petrol price is down. There are no more queues at fuel stations. Food costs are coming down. When the new harvest season kicks in, further reductions in food prices should be expected. We are getting more hours of electricity. Bottomline: the economic signs are good. The economy is bouncing back.

    The truth is that some folks want to see and feel the President. He should not wait till election time before coming out. Fortunately, as President, he can move around the country, selling his programmes, without necessarily campaigning. That has been the practice in the United States, especially since President Bill Clinton. It is time we adopted good practice that works.