The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tony Marinho

  • ENDSARS; End.Nigeria.Corruption

    Tony Marinho

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 1,200,000, infections 41,000,000, 62,000 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria. Nigerians are acting as if ‘Nigeria Killed Covid’. It has not, ooo!!!!

    Every single Nigerian can today ‘ABCDEFGGHI=Avoid Bribery & Corruption Daily Everywhere For Good Governance Here Immediately for a Nigeria@60’. Let each Fellow Nigerian swear and mean to be ‘Faithful, Loyal and Honest’. Simple but true! I have. Have YOU??? Nigeria needs Ombudspersons to adjudicate in many interfaces.

    It is so easy. Just you can ENDCORRUPTION in your social distance area -Abuse of Office, Bullying, Brutality, Corruption, Diverting Public Funds, Etcetera. Make an office or classroom wall poster.

    Many youths have been brutalised. Anyone 18 and above can join the Armed Forces and risks being killed as a pilot, as a sailor at sea, or shot as a soldier fighting Boko Haram or other terrorists. Indeed, Nigeria’s citizens are unaware of the bravery and sacrifice of many, but not all, its uniformed personnel who have paid the supreme price. Figures are always disputed. Years ago, I was in Sango Cemetery. Ibadan. Suddenly a minivan entered the cemetery and a frantic woman jumped out and ran to a military funeral in the cemetery shouting ‘You could not even tell me my husband was dead!’ Such poor respect for those who die in national service. Being young is not too young to die. It is not be too old to live, in or out of uniform!!! Being young is not ‘no brain to act independently’. The youth hurt!

    The ENDSARS is a protest of targeted brutalised frustrated angry youth disenchanted with drifting ship of state, Nigeria, riddled with easily prevented hate. Take the killing/brutalisation out of SARS, corruption out of police checkpoints, stupendous ‘Salaries And Perks’ out of NASS, exchange the NASS budget with the Health Budget, give Nigeria true federalism and ENDSARS would never exist. Blame the perpetrators, the abusers, not the victims -dead and survivors.  Blame perpetrators precipitating poverty, spilling blood of Nigeria’s youth which precipitated the crisis. As a doctor, thousands of women have painfully done their service to Nigeria by delivered their babies in my presence. Born to die young? I have witnessed too many ‘my precious baby’ lives lost and blood by tankerloads on the bloodthirsty floor. Needless death and suffering are no longer acceptable.

    Nigeria allows its 18-year-old youths to die but ignores the youth as an active volcanic powerhouse for change. Increasing retirement age also hinders youth progression. Nigeria has refused, apart from tokenism like giving youth ‘IT’ or ‘Youth and Sport’ Ministry, to invite the youth to participate in governance decision making.

    Nigerian politicians call 45-year olds ‘youths’ in a deliberate psychological policy to lower expectations of youth and expand the definition of youth to 40-50 to lock youth out of governance by saying ‘Youth, wait your turn’ as older politicians shamelessly recycle themselves around Commissioner to Senate and monopolise party political posts blocking access to new ideas or faces.  The two 4-year terms totalling eight years per office has blocked the path to political progress for progressive youth. Wisdom and foolishness reside in both youth and aged.

    Youth have a right to be listened to and invited. ENDSARS is listening time. In the NYSC Camp in 1975/6 as a young doctor, I refused the definition of youth at 26. Why was the care of NYSC members so poor? Today that care of the youth has worsened because Nigerian politicians operate mentally on ‘Maximum standards for politicians/Minimum Standards for nonpoliticians /Maximum Profits level! Remember the Channels TV report of the abysmal care of police recruits in Ikeja?  Nigerian politicians who ignored Nigeria’s greatest potential, ‘the youth’, and prefer to spend three times as much on themselves in a hopefully ‘soon to go’ bloated two-house National Assembly than on education. As youth we manned polling booths against thugs sent by politicians to steal the vote.

    For years today’s youth have watched their generation’s efforts turn to dust as they suffer the consequences of neglected ‘way forward’ papers, conferences, panels of enquiry, commissions which have vomited excellent recommendations to correct malaise in the police and society. All ignored causing frustration waiting for the trigger which exploded with the disregard of police for human rights. There is a collective youth anger at the poor position of Nigeria after 60 years of self-rule. We must give the ENDSARS youth 10 gbosas.

    ENDSARS-both Police SARS and NASS Salaries and Pension Scams were insultingly inflicted with other ills plaguing Nigeria by an uncaring, self-centred corrupt political class with hangers on.

    Dispel the myth that stopping corruption takes time. Just stop, now, today and Nigerian economy will grow as life becomes cheaper with no checkpoint bribery nationwide! It is a decision followed by rigorous supervision, punishment against a failed supervisor.

    President Buhari is familiar with the military term ‘With Immediate Effect’: Tell IGP to stop checkpoint and police station bail today. If in one week there is a ‘Supervisors Report’ of corruption from anywhere, then suspend/replace him. He will sanction juniors. All bail and checkpoint corruption will stop instantly. In one week!!! Apply this in your office! Change Nigeria.

    The NASS does not need the Presidency to cut its salaries. NASS should announce SARS= Senators And Reps Salary Review downwards by 75%. Why does NASS not give voluntary service like NYSC!  After ENDSARS please END. CHECKPOINT. CORRUPTION and END. UNSUPERVISED. POLICE. STATIONS!!!

    END. CORRUPT. NIGERIA. START. CITIZENS. ANTICORRUPTION. VIDEO. CHANNEL. All hail the citizen’s video! START.GREAT.NIGERIA!!!

  • Akeredolu; FSARS suicide

    Akeredolu; FSARS suicide

    Tony Marinho

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 1,100,000, infections 38,500,000, 61,000 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    APC won Ondo election with nearly zero violence. But though even one stabbing or death is unacceptable in 2020. Congratulations to Ondo citizenry, security agencies and thugs who rejected violence suggested by politicians. Vote buying seems impossible to eradicate in our ‘stomach infrastructure society’ and many voters eat from both sides of their mouths or have, like the cow, two stomachs, one each for ‘cash for votes’ of two parties. However, this was also a vote against self-service politicians who ‘settle the boys’ and ‘buy the voter day’ instead of executing projects bringing normal rapid Social Development Goals, SDG progress. This is Nigeria’s self-service politicians’ ‘Knee on Our Neck’. Congratulations to Governor Akeredolu for choosing the often untaken and different path to the voter, targeting voter’s mind over voter’s and party faithful’s stomach.

    This Governor Rotimi Akeredolu second term victory should be a textbook guide to first-term governors. Most voters prefer to be fed with ‘better life’ development and progress for the majority, over abandoned projects and prosperity for the minority, ‘big gun politicians and contractors’ and their ‘permanently hungry, insatiably hangers-on’.

    The people’s care is a constant but neglected sworn requirement of leadership.

    This Akeredolu second term must dispel lies and fake news and plan not a ‘relaxed second term’ but a whirlwind of massive numbers of small ‘everywhere’ people-centred projects. More new bridges and 40-year roads in new directions. The Akerodolu Creative Team must work at warp speed and go nuclear. No excuses!!!

    Diasporan Ondolese: Now is ‘Realise your dream’ time! Get on board!!!

    Each of Nigeria’s states is larger than 10-20 countries. Therefore, our governors are as responsible for citizens as presidents. Our governors must upgrade their actionable plans to achieve a bigger footprint in UN-SDG and the environmentally friendly, climate change focused spotlight. Less corruption approaching zero per cent means the state budget will double in effect, the naira will construct extra kilometres, build more classrooms. The key is ‘less corruption; more supervision’. There is nowhere in the National Pledge and National Oath or National Anthem where corruption is an approved part of the governor’s job description. The key to getting the rain-beaten old and youth, especially the women to overcome voter apathy is ‘good programmes’ cancelling voter manipulation. Governor Akeredolu will collect pre-election comments and criticisms for actionable progress.

    The Akeredolu 4-year Ondo State Master Plan must be amazing.

    All Governors: The ward is the basic unit of politics. Do not ignore wards. Do something! Please make ‘The Political Ward’ meaningful between elections by starting a non-political Youth Edutainment Centre/Entrepreneurial Centre in every ward. Government ministries, agencies and departments can place material for local youth in a place of their own.  NGOS like the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, Blue Crescent, Educare Trust, BRECAN can also place notices, posters, hold meetings, give talks and do projects with local ward youth. A new building is not essential. Preferably community rented space, donated furniture and equipment. Government could give an initial take off grant for IT equipment, leave the individual community to run it or give running cost grants. Youth centres use role models from retired and serving community members.

    Schools require Primary School Old Students Associations to do what Secondary School OSAs have achieved. Government should encourage PTAs and businesses to donate educational material towards an ‘Annual School Requirements List’ and set out awards for the best OSAs and PTAs.

    Governor Akeredolu, as you continue your eight-year odyssey, may God give you maximum ‘Project Choice Wisdom’ to create more ‘Ondo Citizen’s Happiness’. Institutionalise ‘Close Supervision’ by inspectors for quality control by seniors of juniors to pre-empt corruption and human rights abuses by unsupervised officials who poison the waters between you and the people.

    FSARS was started with good intentions. It has done much good work. Though many FSARS members are hard-working fantastic Nigerians dying and risking their lives, there has not been enough senior close supervision carried out to prevent human misery and rights abuses, fake charges and yet another video of maltreatment and murder of a hapless ‘Fellow Nigerian’ by ‘UNSUPERVISED’ members of SARS, renamed FSARS. One murder too many??? FSARS finally shot itself dead, suicide, and stands disbanded and its personnel redeployed following their own heinous actions highlighted by nationwide ENDFSARS and previous human rights protesters.

    Almost everything government does is turned from gold into dirt and dust by ‘UNSUPERVISED’ workers e.g. in NNPC, unaudited for is it 17 years (??). Add the Nigeria Police which we are in daily fear of false charges, brutality, phone and computer abuse and extrajudicial killings. My father in the 70s said he was happy to grow grey hairs because he was treated properly at checkpoints. Checkpoints are unsupervised opportunities for uniforms with guns to bully, inflict cruelty, criminality, murder and run a corrupt estimated annual N12-24b extortion syndicate since civil war days when they were lucrative to the soldiers manning them. The police raised it to a quoted art-form, a macabre tragicomedy show with police pockets bulged with ‘checkpoint toll money’. Like with okada attacks, every Nigerian has witnessed checkpoint abuse.

    But ‘Ogas At The Top’ always fail, ignore police crime and do little supervision too late. Acting five or 10 years ago would have saved lives!! After ENDFSARS please more supervision to ENDCHECKPOINTCORRUPTION and ENDUNSUPERVISEDPOLICESTATIONS!!!

    All hail the citizen’s video spread by social media!!

  • Happy introspective 60th Independence anniversary

    Happy introspective 60th Independence anniversary

    By Tony Marinho

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 1,100,000, infections 36,000,000 with 60,000 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    Rank our leaders according to ‘Performance Vs. Funds’ as Federal Fiscal Allocation, LGA vote, Security Vote, IGR often Extortionist and extras like Paris Club Refunds and SUBEB counterpart funding. Mostly failures. To survive, Nigerian authorities must step up and execute a nation-saving restructuring to the constitution foisted on Nigeria in 1999 in which ‘we the people’ had no voting veto. Leadership must listen. The problems are glaring and human made. Parts of the country were carefully ‘advantaged’ in political and fiscal decisions including state creation giving political majority, lopsided and repeated LGA creation with massive increase in funding. These gave federal allocations from other states’ VAT etc. But the result of these ‘advantages’ was not used for educational, health, developmental, infrastructural advantage. So federal government lopsidedly poured more in and gave more administrative power posts. Result – little success. You cannot train citizens who-for whatever reason- reject training, but why not train people who-for whatever reason- are desperate to learn? The beneficiaries of ‘advantaged policies’ did nothing with 60-year financial and governance largess except to further empower and enrich sectional leaders. Not only that, ‘conservatism’ policies caused ‘arrested development’ nationwide. Of course, every governor and president except perhaps Peter Obi failed to deliver expectations for huge funds.

    The president, ignoring complaints about marginalisation and ignoring equity and federalism insults Nigerians’ individual integrity and perpetuates the master-servant relationship. No southerner has left the south to undermine or murder farmers in the north.

    Even under this ‘strict anticorruption regime’ how was Nigerian school children’s meagre /per capita food money stolen in billions? The thieves deserve a proverbial ‘millstone around their necks’ for harming a child. Nobody monitored, checked, raised alarm when one, ten, a hundred million, billion, 2 and 3 and 4 and N5billion entered accounts. Surely the bank’s CEO and Chief Accountant knew? Area bank managers must have welcomed the thieves. Nigeria should have outgrown or outsmarted the mega-thieves. Why this ‘continuous governance failure to nip corruption in the bud’? Why no alarm when N1m or 10million entered an account. This is a criminal mega-conspiratorial failure of supervision and monitoring requiring removal and prosecution of every government, institutional, bank and auditing financial official feeding from the money chain for ‘dereliction of financial supervisory duty’. The collaborating receiving banks should be fined, blacklisted, with licences withdrawn for ‘financial crimes against children of Nigeria @60’. Most politicians routinely are culpably guilty of crimes against the children of Nigeria!!!!

    On politics, Nigeria must cut the number in and the cost of politics; cut by 75% the Salaries and Perks of NASS sapping Nigeria dry. Nigerian requires ‘One House, Part-time, Sitting Allowance’ politics with accommodation paid for by the home state. Politics must be a service, not a self-serving financial cancer pauperising Nigeria.

    Mr. President, you chose ‘Togetherness’ as the 60th Anniversary slogan. Please get more of Nigeria’s ‘differing tribes and tongues’ people in your kitchen cabinet, customs, judiciary, the armed forces and NNPC. And please really federalise Nigeria. Nigeria deserves this birthday present.

    Are you enthusiastic to be a Nigerian on Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary eve? Do you hold up your identity, passport, as a stoic Nigerian ‘living in hope’? Our leaders rubbished us as disgraced ‘Generator Generation’ which cannot even refine its own oil. Why? Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence, Selfishness-CINS and political or ethnic indifference?

    What achievements validate this 60th anniversary? Life, yes? It is murder, if stained wealth was acquired by cheating one ‘Fellow Nigerian’. Religion teaches not to curse. But who cursed them with greed above midwifing a geographical giant into a glorious Nigeria? Can they change? Restitution by Nigeria’s many political thieves would easily raise the $1-200b in foreign reserves required for Nigeria’s naira to bounce back.

    Many today remember 1960. But successive leaders sold their inheritance for less than a mess of pottage, abandoning the ‘political burden of responsibility for ‘‘Fellow Nigerians’’’. We have had policies, politics, military, laws, decrees, lawlessness, peace, civil war, true federalism, a unitary governance and now we are gripped by the python of a feudal ‘pretence’ federalism favouring too few while other Nigerians are strangled by federal might with its ‘Knee On Our Necks’.  Nigeria is at yet another crossroads. The haves have taken too much and done nothing good with it. We must share more and implement true federalism or remain a primitive undemocratic fractured society of master- servant or worse.

    Ask your mirror person ‘What will I do to heal Nigeria in 2020-1?’

    Surely Covid19 has taught wealthy Nigerians who treat Nigeria as one big extractive cash mining industry that their wealth can be temporary. Wisdom teaches corrupt Nigerians to return the billions needed to upgrade Nigeria to Series 2020.

    Nigerians do not deserve to be hated! Make Nigeria a livable and lovably great again for ALL Nigerians!

    Nigeria demands an apology for the naira decimation from $1=N0.75 to N465, in spite of trillions of dollars earned. This precipitated a poor nation with a tsunami of economic and political refugees and illegal migrants forced to be willing to risk dying to leave Nigeria? Who will revive a dying Nigeria @60? You? Perhaps he or she is reading this column. I hope so, for Nigeria’s unity/equity sake!

  • Happy introspective 60th Independence anniversary

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 1,003,000, infections 34,000,000, 59,000 confirmed cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    To lift your spirits at Nigeria @ 60, note that Nigerians still manage to keep the reputation of the country afloat internationally. There are many hard-working individuals everywhere. Three Nigerians stand out today, named in the 2020 list of 100 Time magazine’s Most Influential People. Dr Tunji Funsho should ring a bell. He is a retired cardiology physician along with two other Nigerians – the well-known Harvard graduate award-winning writer and teacher Ms Tomi Adeyemi, proudly female and 27 years old and Mr Tony Elumelu of Tony Elumelu Foundation- driving entrepreneurial empowerment across Africa.

    I met Dr Tunji Funsho in Lagos in 1974/5 when we did House Job in Lagos State among the big four hospitals Massey Street Children’s, Lagos General, Island Maternity and Igbobi Orthopaedic. Late Dr Taju Adenrele made up our trio. From housemanship we went to different places for NYSC in 1975/6 but remained in touch. Dr Tunji Funsho has been a member of Rotary International for 35 years where he massively impacted the Polio Plus programme which stopped 75,000 infections annually with associated lifetimes of misery, monetary medical costs. He became a main driver and public face having his practice and family in Kano for many years where his stellar professional and charitable reputation gained the trust of violent vaccine sceptics. In that dangerous environment, about 12 field vaccinators were brutally executed in the ‘line of humanitarian duty’. They will miss this celebration and Nigeria@60 and we must never forget them and must care for their children. I give this information because it is important for the younger generation to learn as much as possible through biographies of the ‘great and the good’ role models and trace them to a pre-famous time to confirm the hard work involved.

    Congratulations to Dr Tunji Funsho and his family especially Aisha who ‘donated’ him to Rotary led Polio Plus battle. Congratulations also to Ms Tomi Adeyemi and Mr Tony Elumelu.

    ‘Fellow Nigerians’! Repeat it x 60. Happy anniversary with 60 Gbosas [exclamations]. Do the ‘National Pride Test‘. Does standing in front of your national flag and singing or hearing your national anthem or taking the pledge or oath bring you to adoring attention, ignite a burning desire, heart fluttering, a strength to your breast and a lump to your throat?  Are the words ‘Fellow Nigerians’ from your heart? We have been hoodwinked by those two words, wrongly interpreted to be the arrival call of a real saviour with a real agenda, be he [never ‘she’] military or political or a dangerously oscillating mutating hybrid – milito-political or politico-military? Yet another failed saviour. Each one did the Nigeria Leadership Examination- ‘NLE’. Who passed?

    Congratulations to all those who fought for independence and suffered humiliation, exploitation and ‘western religion education and health and railways under colonial rule. Congratulations to the tens of millions of hard workers, in government and the private sector who have kept Nigeria going these 60 years, often with slave wages, without wages for months and certainly without pensions for years sometimes till death- what a sacrifice! Let us commiserate with the families of those lying prematurely in their graves from all sides of all the political election wars, the 1967-1970 civil war and all the undeclared wars we have fought and are still fighting. We commiserate with those dying as we speak and those who in schools, hospitals, potholed roads and as widows suffered the indignities of being deprived of their rightful educational, medical and infrastructural care and part of the Nigerian national cake and inheritance by the corruption of Fellow Nigerians in positions with responsibility over those matters to help build Nigeria into an SDG compliant nation.

    It is easy to optimistically say, ‘This too will pass’ of Nigeria’s troubles. But Nigeria’s troubles are not transient but have been made intransigent unlike Covid. They will not pass until the day when Nigerians individually and collectively decide enough is enough and take the Nigerian National Anthem, Oath and Pledge seriously.

    But will they? An institution is a building. Oaths and pledges are broken and bad corrupt policies and practices are made by individuals in NASS, the Presidency, the judiciary and administrative functionaries throughout governance and the private sector. As individuals we join forces against racism abroad but face racism here called tribalism caused by individuals. Only individuals can stop bad policies, agendas and directions. For 60 years we Nigerians have struggled for the development rights of electricity, water, pothole-free roads, useful railways, the East-West Road, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the second Nigeria Bridge, etc all forever sad dreams of a utopian Nigeria.

    Each individual chooses to lead the people under their guidance to success or disaster.

    Uppermost worries today are individual and ethnic security! Insecurity truncates growth and contentment. Nigeria’s terrorism is perpetrated by militias manifest by ability to murderously ambush convoys, even governor’s and colonel’s convoys and reduce farms, towns and LGAs to rubble.

    Will terrorism pass? No, not by itself. No one is safe. Terrorism must be confronted in a superior firepower warlike manner. Terrorism has created over five million IDPs in disgraceful camps or migrating for jobs and safety. A famine is predicted on lands laid waste by cows, herdsmen and terrorists, kidnapping and killing-insecurity. Nigeria has lost some 50-100,000 innocent souls. No IDP will be happy celebrating Nigeria@60!

    • To be cont’d
  • Supervision stops police criminality

    Supervision stops police criminality

    By Tony Marinho

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 970,000, infections 32,000,000, with around 58,000 recognised cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    Wow the world predicted an Edo blood bath.

    The voting citizenry took a less travelled non-bloody path.

    Security must bring the shooters of INEC officials to book

    For the violent coup plotting path they took.

    Voting numbers, security and INEC outwitted any scheme,

    Putting disaster predictors to shame.

    All party godfathers and great godfathers must retire,

    Go siddon-look because every single Nigerian don tire.

    Nigerians want their vote to count and government performance,

    Not never-ending political danfo one-chance,

    Every party must deliver more

    SDGs than anything they did before.

    Failures must be shown the electric election door,

    With election result zero score.

    Congratulations APC 1/PDP 2 Governor x 2 Obaseki

    You have a new four year perform-well key!!!’hehehehe

    No party since 1999 has served state or national enough

    The US has numerous George Floyds to mourn and fight for. Nigeria has its own victims of the uniform. And last week the nation’s condolences went to the entire FRSC membership on the murder and kidnap of FRSC members. Even before the funeral another FRSC member, a female, was videoed going berserk and manhandling/woman-handling a road-user. This disgraces FRSC and her sex.

    Force command must enforce 1] constantly sensitisation and 2] close monitoring by supervising officers over subordinates. Because an accused boyfriend could not be apprehended, why arrest, torture and kill within 24 hours the girlfriend? Where were the supervising officers reviewing the daily arrest record?

    Do senior officers ask junior officers to take them on daily or weekly review of the cells to see the incarcerated? What is the protocol to ensure monitoring of accused? Do senior officers ensure junior officers treated accused humanely?  They, the senior officers too should be charged for dereliction of duty, and bringing the force into disrepute if their juniors abuse the trust of the nation and citizens by wrongful arrest, inflicting grievous bodily harm, rape of victims arrested on trumped up charges on the roads or in raids. This is real murder, not misdeed or mistake.

    There should be no place for potential murderers or murderers in the police force/service. The signs of ruthlessness, sadism, criminality cannot be credible qualifications for being a police officer. Any deviation from normal behaviour by a junior rank or file officer should alert the immediate senior officer to make a report and make efforts to protect the public form a potential murderous person with a gun. Such identified individuals should be counselled, warned, accompanied by officers. The individual could be confined to a desk job or sacked.

    It is no use saying, ‘police in the US are doing it’. The police deaths in the US have kill training and anti-Black racist motives. It is this that has forced the Black Lives Matter movement. In Nigeria where we are all black, we cannot blame racism. Here in Nigeria will we blame tribalism? Many police traumatise their own ethnic kith and kin. Nigeria’s unstoppable troubling tsunami of family-destroying stray bullets, misfired weapon, accidental discharge, actual physical assault, and the ultimate weapons of illegality – wrongful accusation, false witness, falsifying evidence, and illegal incarceration corrupt the waters. It is obviously a misjudgement on the part of senior officers to equip such junior mentally unstable individuals with uniforms, weapons, and unsupervised power of arrest.

    Many state police headquarters have Police Hospitals. They require a MENTAL Health Unit with psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. Policemen bereaved of a colleague and possessing the power to kill, arrest and beat will be a life-threatening danger to society when enraged by loss of colleagues in criminal attacks. That police personnel requires to mourn, counselling and comforting.

    Remember Dele Udoh, the Apo Six, and many victims of checkpoint and police crime. Please Google the late Nigerian athlete 400m Olympian in 1980, Dele Udoh. He had a pregnant wife when he was killed at 24 in 1981 in front of the National Stadium, Surulere. His African American wife, Angelle, 37 years later through Taiwo Abiodun’s article in The Nation on December 30, 2018 reunited with the Udoh family. This story demonstrates the family ramifications of judicial or extrajudicial murder. Such killings affect even unborn children losing a beneficial parent, uncle, aunt and becoming an orphan, a stepchild. Such killings kill loved ones, making widows and widowers. They are preventable by authority-driven, better structured, daily intrusive supervision.

    Supervision-Supervision-Supervision is key as well as Police Arrest Computerisation/Digital Photo Records are essential. Senior police officers must surprise-visit stations to supervise and report on juniors and police station cell conditions to monitor cases and conditions and free citizens illegally incarcerated.

    A lady arrested for not wearing a mask was allegedly kidnapped by the arresting officer and raped in a hotel, released with N2,000 for her ‘forced’ services. When teams go out, surely the violence-prone members must be interviewed and prosecuted if found wanting. This is a heinous crime, well-planned and executed by an evil person – a disgrace to the uniform and country. The persistent occurrence of human rights abuses reported by victims occur mainly because police supervision is weak, and they appear to answer to no one. Such incidences tarnish work done by the many highly professional good police and other ‘uniform’ wearers also requiring more personnel, training, facilities, prisoner holding facilities, running water and generators.

  • Stop Nightclub ‘Music Violence’

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 930,000, infections 29,000,000, with around 57,000 recognised cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    World Health Organisation, WHO, appoints three African centres for disease control as specialised continental reference sequencing research laboratory for emerging pathogens. Two in South Africa and the third is the renowned Redeemer’s University African Centre for Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) under Professor Christian Happi, who is keen on relevant African science development especially for female scientists. This facility offers cutting edge molecular science to Africa. The centre handles gene-sequencing training and research in and out of medicine in African virus genes for quick diagnosis to facilitate diagnosis and vaccine development. Professor Happi’s lab has just developed a 15-minute Covid Virus strip paper test for international validation.

    Latest Covid19 Fact check: Please wear a mask, it appears to allow you a small inoculation and time for your body to raise immunity! The heavier the Covid virus load the more serious the illness. True. Masks reduce virus load reaching the healthy wearer. True. Masks reduce virus load that the Covid virus carrier can spread. True. A very low virus load may be like an inoculation, a vaccine. Highly probable. A vaccine gives a tiny part or number of an infecting bug, like Covid virus, which is too little to cause illness but enough to stimulate an immune reaction. Highly likely. This mechanism may be responsible for the reduction in disease severity among mask wearers as compared to non-wearers who fall ill. Preliminary results say ‘True’. So, wear a mask, please.

    Compressing people into smaller spaces for business gain, overcrowding, must not be acceptable legally, medically, or humanely. Cramming citizens of different sizes into one-size-fits-all ‘crush hour’ traffic transport and aeroplanes made for the smallest person is no longer acceptable.  Poorer people deserve more space when they travel.

    It disgusts me to see people crammed into public transport worldwide. For example, like being crammed sitting and standing in four carriages in a three-hour UK train journey with three almost empty first class carriages. The same for economy cramped seating while the first class section is empty.

    I am tall. The seat is small and my knees jam into the front seat, painfully immobilising me for eight hours. Why do small short engineers design seating for air, train, and bus chairs worldwide.

    The human race needs more space and is too submissive to money buying space.

    Another shutdown benefit is the ‘Silence of Covid19’. The great ‘Covid Calamity’ to many was the closure of nightlife. The world quietened at night. Club crawling, brawling and drunkenness stopped! Good! But that Covid calamity did what government regulations refused to do. Why do governments refuse to enforce their citizens ‘right to quiet’, preferring to support ‘noise pollution’ and ‘music violence’ inflicted on communities around nightclubs?

    The Covid calamity brought wonderful ‘silent nights’ and peaceful, sleep-full nights worldwide exemplified by the residential areas of Ikolaba and Bodija, Ibadan Oyo State and Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1. The silence of Covid descended like a sledgehammer on the malicious unnecessarily loud and too numerous loudspeakers blaring in those areas. It ended the 7pm and -4am daily nightmare. As nightclubs noisily reopen, government must access the criminal culpability of the disgraceful behaviour of club managers.

    It highlights the impotence, irrelevance and irresponsibility or collusion of the supervising authorities in government secretariat Ibadan and Alausa Lagos. Why allow an uncontrolled nightclub in Bodija or on Admiralty Way without enforcing indoor speakers and soundproofing and a ban on outside loudspeakers and then charge high ground rents for tormented neighbours? Governors must rescue sleepless babies, children, students doing WAEC, JAMB and university degrees etc. and grandparents denied rest and the sick with cancer denied a peaceful death because of noise pollution 1-2 kilometres away in the nightclubs callously inflicting music violence.

    Lagos shut down Quinox on Ozumba Mbadiwe for obstructing traffic and being a public nuisance. Time to threaten the nightclubs of Admiralty Way and Bodija and 10,000 clubs nationwide. Make noise inside not outside your club building.

    Club owners make money legally. They do not live in Bodija or on Admiralty Way and go home at 4 am where there is no sound. It is illegal and criminally prosecutable for Nigerian governments to allow nightclubs to inflict ‘Music Terrorism’ on children, pregnant mothers and hospitals with patients requiring rest. Why inflict noise trauma all night, night after night Monday to Monday every day every week, every year?

    Uncle Bola Ige, a then serving Minister for Justice, murdered on December 23, 2001 would have been 90 on September 23. Justice has not yet been served to his killers and their sponsors. God comforts the family.

    Uncle Bola was many things to many people. Personally, I had the privilege of driving him from Ibadan to Lagos one Sunday to discuss with Vice-Admiral Mike Akhigbe the ill-fated release of Chief MKO Abiola. As a literati member, Uncle Bola was at Bode Sowande’s Odu-Themes at Orita-UI hours before being arrested later and incarcerated for three years. The scene when we were called to Oluyoro Catholic Hospital along with Dr Toks Abiose and Dr Funso Onafowokan is still vivid with the distraught family children, politicians and police mournfully milling around the trolley. At midnight we drove his body to Anatomy, UI and later stood with Dr BGK Ajayi as family representatives at his post-mortem. Chilling times.

    Life has become even cheaper since you left, Uncle Bola.

  • Victory over LSFVCB; Mali  

    Victory over LSFVCB; Mali  

    Tony Marinho

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 900,000, infections 28,000,000, with around 56,000 recognised cases and 1,200 deaths in Nigeria.

    The suspension of the executive director of the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board (LSFVCB) for ‘unilaterally’ imposing the double taxation of five per cent across the industry appears to be ‘scapegoatism’ as part of political damage control. The ‘double tax’ forced targeted the group to go to court, at great expense, to get a judgment in its favour. Why so late a reversal and apology only under pressure! Before that we had usual arrogant disrespectful threatening government LSFVCB letters, ‘Demand Notices’, ‘Deadlines’, ‘Fines’ and ‘Punishment’. No ‘Please’, ‘You are Requested’ and ‘Thank You’. SERVICOM should teach governments good letter writing and change ‘Demand’ to ‘Request Notices’ and learn the manners governments teach children in school. This bludgeoning of the ‘citizen down with covid lockdown’ with the cudgel of government was calculated. It just backfired because citizens fought back. Congratulations, citizens! Should the supervising commissioner not resign?

    No commissioner can be so incompetent as not to have pre-knowledge that an agency planned to levy citizenry of 5% of their earnings amounting to many hundreds of millions through an illegal ‘creative double taxation’ ? No pun intended. The action has ‘brought the state into disrepute’ and at a time when governors more sensitive to the needs of the Covid-ravaged people are setting up ‘Anti-Double Taxation Boards’. How can an agency create taxes ‘alien to the law’ without the buy-in of relevant ministries, governor, and other ‘powers that be’? Everybody loves money, honey!!! No IGR stream can escape approval and scrutiny. Though wrong, why do they never start small 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 but begin with a stupendous 5%?

    Through the Freedom of Information Act, FOA, we demand the minutes of the meetings and names of government- protected officials who created the mess and the agency lawyers who advised and accountants who calculated the ‘mouth-watering incomes. They are all indictable for ‘aiding and abetting’ the measure against the citizens of Lagos State. Such require exemplary punishment, censoring as a deterrent for other similarly-minded government officials. This is not an error, judgment lapse or misplaces zeal to serve the state. It is an illegality called extortion. All legal fees expended should be reimbursed by the government as a goodwill gesture and apology. Let the agency face Abuja for its share of the already existing tax.

    Meanwhile in Ibadan, Oyo State we have our own taxation problems -a ‘Generator Tax’ and ‘Yellow Line’ invasion -an imposition that Governor Makinde, an engineer and oil expert, may not have heard of from his officials as he has not yet cancelled them. Please governor, act quickly before business is silenced and killed in Ibadan. Thank You!

    The naira, already battered beyond belief and trying to claw its way back to respectability faces further insult by ridiculously high Ministry of Information-imposed for NCC fines [N5m] and now irresponsibly high claims for ‘damages’ in the order of billions. Courts and companies are being rubbished. Stop it!

    The Mali coup is a jolt back to the greed-driven militaristic past, long on virtuous vocalising but short on moral vow-keeping for African countries. We never learn. Good governance stops coup-making. Serving soldiers and politicians will fear a repeat of the ‘1960-80 African Coup Epidemic’ with the bloodshed. The young may welcome it. The middle aged will be cautious and the aged will despair. Nostalgia is felt only by coup-beneficiaries. Politicians claim there are too few beneficiaries from military rule while politics fills many stomachs. Stomach infrastructure?? Both fail the meagre requirements of the suffering citizens. Greed runs like a flooded River Niger in coup and political regimes and broken promises litter the dead dreams of neglected citizens. The hard road to 2020 Africa from 1957-60s post-colonial African rule has demonstrated to ardent militarists and broad-minded politicians that the mere speaking of good intentions through military decree and political manifestos have consistently largely failed to run any government in high gear to catapult it into the 2020s as a powerful proud national entity. Akinwunmi Adesina, re-elected president of the AfDB is trying to change that narrative. Congratulations.

    Look around African countries. None has harnessed its full 1960s potential -an indictment on leadership! Yes, Rwanda suffering wounds from 800,000 graves is making strides and today the government schools are better than the closing private schools. For most, the stranglehold of the colonial ‘masterland’ stifled creative continental freedom of thought, with systematic assassination of leaders including Lumumba – 34 years, Olympio 60 – years, Balewa – 53 Ngouabi – 38, Sadat – 62, Ghaddafi –69, Doe – 39, Kabila – 61, Habyarimana – 61, Ntaryamira – 39, Muhammed –  38 and the celebrated Sankara – 37years all fallen to the staccato of orchestrated gunfire, interference from abroad or ethnic or personal disagreements in-house. We can boldly add MKO Abiola. For others, total freedom from colonial control meant maximum plunder and the rape and acquisition of the country in much the same way as colonial King Leopold acquired Congo for himself. For others it was a balancing act between foreign interference and a conundrum of local agenda. In Nigeria it manifests as ‘maximum greed, minimum nationalism’ and an inherited and imposed misapplied misnamed ‘Federal Unitary System’ paralysing good governance. Africa’s laterite earth is soaked with blood of unnecessarily suffering millions of leaders and followers and still the current leadership and followers fail in just leadership and good elections.

  • Loko, NIWA, Evans, NNPC

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 860,000, infections 26,000,000, with around 54,000 recognised cases and 1,100 deaths in Nigeria.

    Government contracts are too long and slow, killing business. Six-months Third Mainland Bridge closure?? The 1.8 or 2.2km Loko Oweto Bridge connecting Nassarawa and Benue and North to South, is 93% complete. This is another long-delayed project awarded in 2011 for ‘48’ months in 2015, well within the capacity of the hugely wealthy government of the day with huge amounts of oil and other money available. Shamefully the contract was stretched and changed later to ‘84’ months and claimed to have been 93% completed in 2019. Do the Niger Bridge and the Lagos Ibadan Expressway contracts sound similar? Yes!!!! Anyway, the Loko Oweto Bridge is now stated to be 97% complete with surrounding roads still under construction- till when? We need more strategic bridges across more rivers.

    Nigeria does not need reintroduction of the authoritarian oppressive Nigerian Inland Waterways Bill by anybody, president or NASS. This is a time for devolution of powers to the regions and states. No 1914 consolidation by a unitary loving government mistakenly elected on its restructuring agenda.   

    Evans notorious kidnapper and accused killer, has finally been jailed. Now that he is in jail, the many other cases against him can also be prosecuted. There should be no escape during transfer to court for those trials. He was arraigned first in late 2017 and convicted in August. He changed his legal team five times in order to delay the trial and then claimed he could not pay lawyers. This is just as President Buhari calls for faster court trials but what has been done to upgrade the Information Technology (IT) of courts and the judges themselves? To quote lawyers, stenographers are ‘alien to the Nigerian judicial system’ though used in all modern countries to record and put on computer the proceedings of the court instead of making judges write longhand. While some court registries are IT-compliant many are still archaic. Are we serious????

    There seems to be systemic undying, living corruption in too many Ministries, Departments and Agencies of governance even under the second term of this same government. NDDC, NSITF are just current cases in point. Easily preventable by daily policing and forensic monitoring. The way government shouted about restructuring and anti-corruption as the cornerstones of  the election, why were government corrupt organs not overwhelmed in 2015 with EFCC/ Police and ICPC spring cleaning with adequate whistleblowing and safety measures put in place to actually obey the rule of law, and moral necessity and oath office in terms of the government General Orders (GO)? This would include filling annual accounts within three months at the end of the year and paying dues and taxes as and when due and federal executive initiating forensic auditing of every single MDA. This would have warned contractors, civil servants, and politicians to play honest and keep a safe distance from the major plague and epidemic on financial integrity of Nigeria. Something but not enough happened. This government claims a fall in the corruption levels. However, there are still too many examples of corruption under this government’s watch, if not active participation e.g. police checkpoints. This is collusion by government or negligence of government to control its own agencies.

    Surely every government official especially in the Ministry of Finance and Budget and Planning would be looking forward to scrutinising NNPC income to plan the budgets and development country plans not based on fiction but facts and figures. Is the budget conjured up blindly? The NNPC unaudited account for 2018 is case in point. There is corruption in the ethnically biased appointment policy at NNPC. Why no audit??? Where is the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)??  Who can knock this country’s organs into economically advantageous shape??

    The ineffectiveness of the government to enforce its own federal character in its institutions is disgraceful. When it does enforce federal character, it disadvantages good students in favour of students who after 50 years of targeted national education policy at primary and secondary school still do not qualify to enter any school. The fault, however, is not with the failed students themselves as they have been victims of serial bad education systems. Their failure is due to those educational institutions they came from – understaffed, underequipped, under-motivated and often employing a poorly motivated and poorly rewarded quality of sometimes under-qualified teacher over the last 50 years. One or two students will survive a rubbish school and still shine forth, but the majority will not rise above the input from teachers often discouraged by their circumstances and surroundings. This especially applies to Maths, English, and a lack of scientific practical science exposure. A country with an education system which fails it, will itself fail as a country.

    Good private education is not a substitute but complementary to the public education system. Good government public school education cannot refuse and must actively encourage ‘Primary and Secondary Old Students Associations’, community participation and above all parental interest in the education of their children. Government is fond of saying ‘government cannot do it alone’. That is often an excuse for corruption and failure. However, it is true in the case of education.

    Politicians must reach beyond politics and party propaganda to invite all hands-on board the education train. Only the best for our children.

  • ‘Gutter, Yellow Line’ politics!

    Tony Marinho

     

     

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 840,000, infections 25,000,000, with around 54,000 recognised cases and 1,100 deaths in Nigeria.

    The escaped suspected serial killer in the Akinyele LG Area of Ibadan has been rearrested. Kudos to the police.

    ‘Gutter politics’ is just that, about governments making maximum money from minimum projects like ‘grass-cutting’, ‘farm-clearing’ and ‘gutters’! Unfortunately, applause greets the ‘construction’ of a petty ‘culvert’ by a LGA chairman as millions disappear!! We begged the federal government to ‘grass-cut’ the overgrown Lagos-Ibadan Expressway where boulder-throwing armed robbers are killing citizens. The ‘gutter’ symbolises a bottomless pit for fraud. The gutter is a shameful ‘dividend of democracy’, but a politically marketable ‘achievement’ to citizens used to nothing but 30-day tax demands notices and corruption from government orders and governments officials! We have sunk to ‘gutter’ level.

    Check with governments embarking on publicised ‘drainage clearance’ as ‘a revolutionary sustainable development tool’. Which plan did they use? 1] ‘Clear’ with no plan to remove the rubbish -the criminal norm for bad governments. 2] ‘Clear and Remove’ in one contract- best. 3]‘Clear’ and ‘Remove’ in two contracts running concurrently, needs coordinated transport [second best. 3] ‘Clear’ and ‘Remove’ in two successive contracts one after the other [third best]. Any serious government will stop doing pothole filling, gutter clearing, as ‘spectacular projects’ and promote them to essential ‘day-to-day’ activities. Project ‘supervision’ fails because of powerful politicians or people behind contracts. Only citizens are desperately interested in project execution.

    Governments are paining unbroken ‘Yellow Lines’ along 50+ kilometres of wide ‘easy-to-use-and-park-on-without-obstructing-anyone’ city roads in Ibadan and elsewhere. These all kill social and business life and create corruption. Unfortunately, citizens are targeted, suffer mental torture, pay ridiculous fines, turned into criminals and face wilful vehicular damage just for doing daily chores. But when government officials visit, or attend political rallies, ‘Yellow Lines’ are ignored. Why do government officials make life more difficult for citizens? Just keep traffic moving! ‘Yellow Lines’ kill businesses. Only thriving businesses and social life of satisfied citizens create the environment which allows governors to boast of cities as ‘commercial hubs’ for IGR. Business owners work to receive more customers supported by ‘Ease of Doing Business Parking’-a good advert. Ibadan is not Lagos – in traffic or incomes. Governors, Lagos traffic models will kill Ibadan, Akure and Ilorin! Lagos’s BRT lane, No Parking anywhere and huge three-six months minimum wage traffic fines and now daylight traffic robbery have made traffic a fearful misery. Lagos got it wrong. Most Nigerians have no driver.

    Ibadan business is person-to-person. Stopping parking even on easy-to-park roads and traffic-free areas will turn Ibadan and other cities into ‘Drive Through “Ghost Cities” with zero business growth’. Driving through Ibadan in 15 minutes is fantastic but a city is not an expressway. It must be business-friendly. Be aware. The soon-to-be-busy Dugbe Railway Station has no parking. The nearby taxi rank always causes a traffic jam.  Instead of yellow lines, traffic officials should be asking the governor to facilitate the opposite NIPOST building car park- ‘Fee For Parking’ and construct a walkway over the busy road. That is governor-led traffic planning, not traffic tow-trucks pouncing on tired train travellers -the next traffic trap.

    Mr Governor, please rework and re-consult citizens to redo the  ‘Yellow Line’ strategy in Ibadan to avoid negative economic and emotional impacts inflicted by these ‘Yellow Lines’ also abused in the previous regime. Yellow Lines do not stop NURTW paralysing traffic to demand commercial vehicle fees or Ojaoba area boys taking money from private vehicles or relieve the narrowing of the Ojaoba road by the wheelbarrows of tatase sellers. Why draw Yellow Lines from Secretariat to Orita Mefa where parking will disturb no one? And what are No Parking hours???

    Can Ibadan remain a commercial city when its officials pounce on visitors for ‘illegal parking’ with not one single ‘No Parking’ sign or one ‘Parking’ area even near shops your tax officials demand ‘Tax on Generators’ the life blood of Nigerian business? Is government now a vampire or vulture – sucking the blood of businesses which do not have Government Secretariat and Shoprite Parking!

    The last administration did untold damage directly to vehicles and businesses with ‘No Parking Regulations’ which became ‘No Business’ premises because customers could not park anywhere. But these traffic officials refuse to control traffic in the rains or evenings at blocked Ibadan roundabouts at 4-9pm. Governors, be aware that Yellow Lines, arrests and extortion with exorbitant penalties [N25,000 in Ibadan????] reverse ‘ease-of-doing-business’. Call these people before they again close Ibadan. They get monthly pay unlike the people they stop from parking who must earn salaries daily in shops the Yellow Lines paralyse with No Parking.

    All Mr Governors, ask ‘Why is there a Yellow Line there hindering my people from parking?’ before officials turn your cities into commercial coffins. Citizens will remember at election-time! Reduce the ‘Yellow Line’ now!

    National Lottery Trust Fund delivers equipment to Onikan Health Centre. Great! But the betting culture is bad for the youth of a poor country. Too few winners.

    Nigerians are tired of ‘legislative’ politicians muscling into ‘federal and state’ projects demanding allocations but forgetting to reduce by 75% their stupendous Salaries And Perks, SAPing Nigeria dry! The shared glory of employing 774,000= 1,000 jobs /LGA using Nigeria’s money, allocated by President Buhari should be enough. Most Nigerians have one party – Nigeria but it seems most politicians do not belong to that party.

  • Killer-fines disgrace; Ombudspersons?

    Killer-fines disgrace; Ombudspersons?

    By Tony Marinho

    COVID-19 records deaths approaching 790,000, infections 22,000,000, with around 50,000 recognised cases and 1,000 deaths in Nigeria. Stay safe!!

    Hurray, Lagos-Ibadan rail to ‘resurrect’ service mid Sept 2020!! It requires rail-line and onboard security! What is the journey time? Congratulations. There was mass suffering from road crashes during 40+years of federal political policy of railway abandonment, even refusing state intervention or new rail services. Federal government was ‘possessed’ by the inherited military unitary government ‘Exclusive List’ right over railways. The Lagos-Ibadan railway ran from colonial times into early civilian rule before being killed in the 1970s under military unitary rule. In 1970, I was in the University of Ibadan Team on a one-and-a-half-day train-trip to the ABU, Zaria, NUGA Games. Begun in 1896, the train ran from 1901/2 to mid-1970s with increasing dilapidation as trailer transport ‘private business’ political pressure won over ‘not my father’s business’, ‘public’ run railways. There is a bitter ‘ruin the rail for road transportation business to grow policy.

    As we make a descent into the abyss of fear and a N5,000,000 business killer-fine enforces financially driven terrified silence, we must work to restore the free speech that existed since 1999. It was abused by most parties including those in ‘Permanent Opposition’. All their political words are in the news headlines in public record. Who censored them? Caution in speaking is good-for-all but unsupervised censorship is bad. Who will save Nigeria from more Un-excellent kleptomaniacal presidents and governors, un-distinguished senators, dishonourable representatives and assemblymen?? The people speaking out, of course!

    And if fines are important, what is done with the money, honey? And why not ‘a fine of up to N500,000’ and not ‘a fine of N500,000’? Citizens must not be at the mercy of officials’ mischief-making wrong-into-right. Nigeria needs Ombudsmen especially as LGAs flex unbridled muscles to bleed their citizens dry with disgracefully creative new market and gutter taxes. Will there be ‘A Tax on The Air You Breathe’. Millions of Nigerians are facing the George Floyd ‘I can’t breathe’, oppressed by government and its agents and the corruption of the uniform placing a ‘Knee of Necks’ on the road.

    Why is the ‘Hate Speech Fine’ so high and why is one body, the NBC the accuser, judge and executioner?  Did the minister unilaterally hike the fine from N500,000 to N5,0000,000, a 900% increase even as media Covid-era revenues fall? What are the fines for perpetrators of ‘Hate actions’ like assault, rape, kidnapping, killings of human beings and election stealing? Did he override NBC members and concerned-citizen groups? If government officials perform according to the oath and pledge of Nigeria ‘TO BE FAITHFUL, LOYAL AND HONEST’, most complaints will die down.

    Do Nigerians count for nothing with this fast becoming ‘Un-progressive and even Retrogressive government’? This fine is a massive insult and injustice inflicted on the rights of the voting supporters of the party and citizens in general. The president should reverse it. The declaration of ‘Guilty’ on the media must urgently be taken away from NBC which should report such cases, including fee hike disputes, for neutral adjudication to a third non-political, nonpartisan Media Arbitration Group, including distinguished members of the media, past or serving.

    The government is using the distinguished Justice Ayo Salami in the EFCC Magu enquiry. Similarly, Ombudspersons must become acceptable honest brokers nationwide in tax and fines and other matters between citizens and the often-unsupervised godlike government officials. Enough of elected and appointed politicians and civil servants exceeding their authority. Reprimand is insufficient. These strange taxes, including 5% content tax by the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, LSFVCB, bring hard-working ‘Governments into Disrepute’. The perpetrators may require to be examined to exclude abuse of office, lacking empathy and when found normal then should be censored, demoted and sign clearly an apology for wrongful tax and apparently lying that they talked to the stakeholders. In Ibadan we have a new ‘Generator Emissions Tax’. Can anyone run a generator-free Nigerian business due to failure of government and mostly retired General-headed DISCO/GENCOs proxies to provide power. Is running a generator now a crime??

    Nigeria should not retrogress, but progress beyond being a ravaged war trophy land for every microscopic authority with its citizens like akara or smallchop -medimedi food for unsupervised arrogant impunity.

    Nigeria needs ‘Ombudspersons’, of integrity, saving officials from ‘Bringing Government into Disrepute’ and saving Nigerians from wicked taxes, wicked laws and ‘Demand Notices’ calculated beyond reality. These misguided or mischievous unsupervised ‘imported and innovative’ taxes are accompanied by Gestapo-style terrorist, destabilising ’30 Day Demand Notices’ with penalties of double-fine and/or jailtime. They flood Nigeria’s Covid-lockdown cash-strapped homes and four-month shut offices. Why such taxes and paid in just ‘30 days’ or face Armageddon? Why are fines low N50-200,000 or nothing in rich/expensive election-fraud guilty political cases requiring expensive reruns but high in ‘accused-only’ traffic offences of N50-200,000 or 1.6 – 6.4 times monthly minimum wage?

    Oxford Street fines are 2-3days minimum wage -affordable to deter citizens, increase state income to help run governance, but not extortionist to bankrupt pensioners or kill citizen-victims’ business. The advertised traffic and ground rent fines in Lagos, are extortionist and though, thankfully reduced recently, are a heavy burden on the citizenry suffering 60-100% unrecoverable loss. Punish officials exceeding authority. Nigeria needs 1,000 Ombudsmen saving citizens from government excesses! And O Yes 1,000 ‘Forensic Accountants’ for university and MDAs to root out evolving corruption.