The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tony Marinho

  • Christie Ade-Ajayi @ 95; 180m books?

    Christie Ade-Ajayi @ 95; 180m books?

    Mama Christie Aduke Ade-Ajayi nee Martins, born March 13, 1930 is 95 years young and active. Congratulations and Praise God. She is a pioneer children’s author, early childhood education doyen and champion of education, still directing a home library. If Nigeria had implemented her work regarding the quality and quantity of materials, staffing and personnel at ‘Child and Teacher Friendly Classroom’ kindergarten and primary school level, we would have 18 million more willing children in school and not sadly 18m ‘Out of School’ children today.

    Nigerian governments ignored experts telling politicians, at useless expensive repetitive outcome education summits, the truth and bullet points, but the politicians with a pathological hatred for educational development, rarely listen. They keep the youth ignorant as servants and rabble for rent.  Nigeria has 5% of budget for education.

    Notice ‘International’ kindergarten and primary schools in name only.

    Mama Christie Ade-Ajayi made a very comprehensive and formidable education team with her husband, the titan of history, Emeritus Professor JF Ade Ajayi who was also the third vice chancellor of University of Lagos.

    Government can best honour the works of Nigeria’s past educationists and writers by making their work readily available and  implementing time-tested worldwide applicable but neglected policies and keeping alive their ideas and books. Fortunately, the University of Ibadan Archives and maybe the University of Ibadan Library among other libraries should have copies of most, if not all, ‘ancient and modern’ books published by Nigerians and on Nigeria.

    The personal treasure trove libraries of many great past academics and citizens have been donated as ‘Family Legacy Projects’ to the universities, especially the University of Ibadan.

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    Sadly, due to space constraints and budgetary, interdepartmental, interfaculty conflict, not all donated libraries will ‘see the light of day’ unless accompanied by an endowment for creating dedicated bookshelf display sections and maintenance costs from the donor families adding to the cost of the gifted library. However, such monetary donations can disappear like the books. Nowhere, even university, is corruption free.

    In short, the books of most donated libraries may rot and be food for silverfish, in the cartons they arrived in. Even sending books to one’s old school faces a similar fate. Immorally, we have more than one generation of students, ‘book-fiends’, not a typo for ‘friends’, with a modus operandi of tearing pages out of journals and books.  ‘Page tearers’ never care about other readers.

    Even as we praise the preservation of ‘ancient donated libraries’, we lament the almost uniform absence of ‘modern libraries and library renewal budgets’ throughout our public education system struggling against an unfriendly budget which cannot accommodate books for the children and teachers but can accommodate jeeps and perks for thousands of advisors, special assistants, commissioners and ministers even of education.          

    An old book can still be a bold good ‘new’ book to read. A book you have not read, no matter how old, is a new book to your brain, unchartered waters. Ask why the world never lost sight of Shakespeare and others who annually ‘Must-Be-Read’ worldwide? It was British Empire government board room policy, a deliberate dissemination ‘sacred’ policy, not of the dead Shakespeare, his dead family or his dead publisher, but by serial governments, trans-party, to propagate the name and fame on Shakespeare and his pedigree of writers, trans-centuries.

    But in Nigeria, publishers sometimes sadly have to pay to even get on book lists for schools. There is little attention in Nigeria to practice promotional policies for Nigerian writers. How many students actually read Nobel Laureate Soyinka? Disgraceful! No Soyinka or writers’ policy. But when Soyinka passes, we will kill 300 mourning cows for suya but buy no Soyinka books for schools. We all know British Nursery Rhymes and children’s stories. But how many Nigerian children have read Mama Christie’s books Ade, our naughty little brother, Akin goes to school, Ali’s bicycle, Emeka’ dog, Which way, Amina? which would make interesting children’s reading today?

    Perhaps the family will compile the Complete Works of Christie Ade Ajayi for children. The children can read a 600-page Harry Potter Books, so, a few stories in one book should not be a problem.       

    When you corrupt education, you kill your country, you corrupt the mind and actions of teachers and corruptly stunt children mentally for life.

    Nigerian governments at all levels should to use the generic academic, teacher and student education descendants of the Mama Christie and Emeritus Professor Ade Ajayi to defuse the time bomb of 18million ‘Out Of School’ ‘Army’ growing up uneducated, blaming their suffering and conflicts on deliberately negligent political educational and budgetary policies, or lack of policies, of almost all past governments to date.

    We are yet to see decisive three-tier government ‘Emergency Education Action’ collectively to harness this massive opportunity to empower and educate the 18,000,000 with 180m+ books for today’s Out of School children to become integrated and empowered to become tomorrow’s creative youth and next week’s productive selfless leaders. Rather that, than an army of destruction. Of course, education is no guarantee of goodness or good sense. It is a right of a child. 

    Let us not kill an academically strangled Nigeria. If jeeps are for every National Assembly, NASS member, then quality education is for every Nigerian child. Leave not one of the 18m ‘Out of School children’ behind or you create a monster that will kill all the skill in Nigeria. Universal education is worth more than 200 universities and 18m OOS children.       

  • NOA + Health ministry; Suspension

    NOA + Health ministry; Suspension

    Congratulations National Orientation Agency (NOA).  Please also include public media messaging in all local languages to help prevent diseases especially cancer. NOA needs priority Health Ministry Media Campaign Meetings to identify the top 100 messages for dissemination.

    In my ultrasound clinic last week, I saw several different conditions. One patient was a mother of four who had family planning for nine years but developed an eight-centimetre cancer of the cervix because her clinic did not remind her to also, as a woman, do cervical screening annually. Her cancer grew because her clinic staff focused on the family planning forgetting to take the opportunity to do simple cancer and breast annual screening.

    Another patient was a delightfully intelligent  young man who understood immediately when informed of the steps of the test and on being reassured that no injections were to be given, cooperated completely allowed his closed eyes to be scanned. Sadly, he was completely irreversible blind in both eyes seeing just light in one eye. What future awaits him?

    Another patient came to the clinic close to delivery. The ultrasound finding was that the inside the uterus the baby’s cord was ‘around the neck’ like an incompletely tied tie. This required a Caesarean Section delivery to avoid the baby dying during the delivery.

    Another patient was child of seven who had a pain in the side and eventually revealed she was beaten in school.       

    Another child came for an eye scan, having suffered an injury inflicted in school. We see a large number, too many,  children with permanent eye injuries in the classroom, the playground or even at home and in the neighbourhood resulting from accidental but mostly deliberate use of catapults, fights, stones and sticks. There is a need for an NOA/Min of Health campaign against eye and other injuries in schools and homes.

    Another patient had testicular swelling which turned out to be a cancer of the testis. Yes.

    Another patient had giant fibroids causing her heavy periods and inability to get pregnant.

    Another patient has male infertility with absent sperm.

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    A pregnant patient was seen with a foetal heart rate of 160 beats per minute requiring immediate delivery or we would have lost another Nigerian to be added to the coming population census figures.

    Why are we discussing these patients who, though each an individual deserving 100% care, are collectively maybe a drop in the ocean of needs of Nigerian patients seen daily?

    The reason is that as we left the clinic wondering who would survive and get adequate treatment, we had to join the real-world stage and its playacting around matters which started out as a very serious accusation. The vehement rebuttal of male-on-female sexual harassment allegations in the National Assembly, the self-proclaimed and often ‘cry-able’ and not ever laughable ‘hallowed chamber’,  have degenerated. Now we witness displays of gross pettiness manifest embarrassingly by senator husband and wives receiving ‘my kiss is better than your kiss’ from their embattled or battling spouses.  Coming when Nigeria witnessed a ‘spiritual tongue exchange’ in pastor-ship ordination ceremony, it left a bad taste in the mouth. Apologies to true lovers everywhere.

    In 2025, with all the NGO programming and social media coverage of incidents, and widespread disgust around male-driven violence against females, it is expected that accusations of sexual harassment must never be trivialised. In fact, the accuser should never be dismissed by a deliberate policy of ‘never be taken seriously’, except when rape takes place. Because past accusations were quashed does not mean that subsequent accusations could not be true. Sexual harassment has a low conviction rate.

    Most Nigerians feel they have suffered the consequences of a poor output relative to the huge ‘investment in Salaries and Perks’ extracted from the state. Nigerians do not care much about the National Assembly gossip as they believe the National Assembly members mostly service themselves excessively to the detriment of the masses. A falling out among members is of little concern to Nigerians unless it reveals an honest outburst of anti-corruption fervour among the membership. It would be a demonstrable leadership stroke of  unusual justice if the sexual harassment matter was resolved by an impeccable unbiased evidence review and not reserved for the judgement of well-paid influencers, their teaming 1million ‘under-the -influence’ followers and heckling female politicians, we hope not affected by Stockholm Syndrome.

    The suspension for six months, even subject to an apology to the senate, hopefully not the senate president, an accused party in the matter, is an extraordinarily severe mega-punishment for all the constituents represented.

    It is as much overkill as some irresponsible states charging N50,000, almost minimum wage as simple traffic fines – the highest traffic fine relative to daily wages worldwide, inviting massive staff corruption. 

    Representation is a right of citizens. The representatives have responsibility to the citizens in their actions but are usually very full of themselves. But the job is not about self but national service. However sexual harassment is not a requirement of that national service and should be investigated and punished. Nothing swept under the uneven senate carpet. Some National Assembly members, even female, have fought physically before. Who was suspended for six months then? Nigerians demand the suspension be suspended or reduced to one week to cool tempers. An apology to Nigerians, the senate employers, seems to be in order.

  • CBN; Fuel; NAFDAC; N758b; Evans

    CBN; Fuel; NAFDAC; N758b; Evans

    We see many things beginning to resurrect. The key events include the corrupted CBN resurrected and paying corruptly delayed genuine debts in forex for industrial growth. There is also almost reunification of the official and parallel markets, sadly at the lower level.

    Another event was the price in petroleum products facilitated by private and public refineries. Celebrating the petrol price war, we ask: ‘Is it to kill the competition only to raise prices once competition is bankrupted?’ This was past corporate methodology. So, was lower priced fuel ever a benevolent gift or just boardroom steps in competition destruction?  Only time will tell.

    Another event is the production and export of oil towards the OPEC’s approved Nigeria1.8/2m barrels per day. This figure was unachievable due to lack of political will, corruption, bunkering and waste perpetrated by pirates, bunkerers and corrupt security and monitoring agencies all thirsty for corrupt oil.

    The current security-driven increased production increases government’s monthly allocation. Of course, the poor exchange rate means a lot more local money. We talk trillions no longer billions of naira. So, we may get more dollars but less dollars will be used to pay years old naira debts to contractors, pensioners or unpaid salary workers. That in turn means that much less can be done by the recipients paid years behind expected dates. The delayed pensions are worth and can buy only one third of a pension paid in the past.  Our past pension scheme managers including governors failed where pensions were delayed.

    The government is to raise N758b to clear backlog of payment liabilities for workers. Hurray. The payment of pensioners is a key component of reinforcing the ‘dignity of labour’ principle so battered by our youth witnessing our koboless parents and grandparents and those carrying placards demanding unpaid pensions for years. The nationwide civilian/military driven ‘Unpaid Pension Scandal’ has been instrumental in ruining societal social structure and the ‘Extended Family Structure’ for 40 years.

    Nowadays the youth have no regard for the elderly-especially those financially weak. Unpaid grandparents cannot provide the traditional pocket and under-the-pillow gifts of sweets and biscuits for grandchildren. What lesson about the value of hard work and honest working life do we force our grandparents to project when they have been stripped of their dignity for a generation by an absent or an inadequate non-economic index-linked pension and a chronically corrupted pension scheme in which the staff, unsupervised and unchecked sometimes extort from the vulnerable aged?

    Let us ensure that pensioners get this money in a timely, atraumatic and non-corrupt manner. They must not be subject to a corrupt conveyor belt with demands for gratification by staff of pension and government personnel. In 2025, Nigeria must elevate our wronged pensioners who must not pay from their pensions or even with their lives just to be verified and to collect their rightful overdue share of the N758b pension arrears.

    It is a disgrace not to USAID officials, though the US Government will think different as it has shut down USAID, but to the delivery chain, mostly local Nigerian conduits, that USAID drugs were discovered among N1trillion seizures by NAFDAC. This is according to the NAFDAC DG Prof Mojisola Adeyeye whose life is being threatened just as her predecessors including Prof Dora Akinyuli who was shot at. Were the attackers caught?

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    In 1975/6 during NYSC Posting in Lafia General Hospital, patient relations travelled to Onitsha Market for unavailable life-saving medication. I remember vividly wondering why relatives had to buy anti-snake venom and anti-tetanus serum and anti-rabies serum stamped with the labels ‘WHO – NOT FOR SALE’ or ‘UNICEF -NOT FOR SALE’. Corruption, of course! So, it is not surprising that even today USAID drugs have been stolen and sold.

    A serious investigation is required to identify the route that the USAID drugs took and who were involved. Fortunately, every bag, container bottle and sachet will have a tracking number to track the route and personnel in touch with the products in Nigeria. This can be done even if USAID has been destroyed by its own political leadership. On receipt of such material, local organisations and receivers will have documentation so the fraud trail can be exposed and participants prosecuted. Some of the material was for IDPs.

    How callous to steal from such traumatized Fellow Nigerians, who have already lost everything. We must prosecute the criminals for ‘bringing Nigeria into disrepute’. If not, all Nigerians will be assumed guilty by the foreign government justifying terminating USAID.

     We congratulate NAFDAC’s leadership on their success supported by security agencies. However, the bankers and masterminds behind the hugely expensive unpatriotic, greed-driven effort delivering stolen free medication and purchasing, importing, smuggling or adulterated murderous medications to Fellow Nigerians must be tracked and trapped.

    The notorious kidnapper Evans, maybe worth N2.2b, sentenced to life and 14 years caused destruction, terrified, tortured and murdering at least one person, an 86-year-old, must be denied clemency and any secret or public plea-bargaining options until his death. Can he resurrect the dead papa? He is sorry he got caught! Period!

    He should not be allowed to teach in prison. He should be in solitary confinement. His property worldwide must be used to reimburse robbed families and businesses. Kidnapping is a heinous crime killing spirit and body, smashing social norms, impoverishing surviving victims and families mentally, physically and financially forever.   

  • Annul N17-20B Presidential Library!

    Annul N17-20B Presidential Library!

    Give N1m each to 20,000 secondary school libraries. 

    Humphrey Nwosu, who died in October 2024 at 83, chairman of National Electoral Commission [1989-1993] was a chief victim in the greed driven horror and tragedy which still surrounds the ‘freest and fairest’ election. Humphrey Nwosu is finally vindicated. Then, a generation of hope-driven Nigerians were force-fed a new military government term ‘annulment’ of the 1993 election. That devilish act created an aftermath stained with the blood of falsely accused and convicted innocent patriotic Nigerians and which witnessed wrongful imprisonment in terrible conditions, fear, ‘Japa Babangida’ and the terror causing  ‘Japa Abacha’. The murder spree under Babangida accelerated under Abacha.

    In order to survive, many fled facing mental and monetary problems, destabilised families and businesses and communities with destroyed historical roots. Entire families for years never saw any relations, losing the essential ingredient of African society- the extended family. The consequent changes in life were catastrophic and created unhealable wounds to date. Yes, some wounds heal as evidenced by many who suffered greatly now becoming rather strange comical laughing bedfellows at this autobiography launch.

    However, if you died in 1993 or later, as thousands did, from the now known to be a criminal and illegal annulment, you are dead and your family has been in chronic mourning. You were not invited to the autobiography presentation. We cannot open the graves, marked and unmarked, of you and thousands of other tortured victims of the democracy struggle to apologise on behalf of the unapologetic perpetrators even as an unbelievable N17 billion was raised for a Presidential Library Complex for the man who failed to deliver his self-appointed, coup-generated, responsibility to release the peaceful election results and install his legitimately elected successor, Chief MKO Abiola -THE WINNER OF THE 1993 ELECTION.

    At last, we can shout that without arrest or editors warning us to say ‘PRESUMED WINNER’ fearing of litigation or military backlash. Yes, Buhari reinstated his legacy. Thanks! We remember the collapse of Abiola’s huge business empire and can only imagine the real suffering of his family. The human and economic cost went beyond the Abiola dynasty. The human and economic losses are incalculable particularly in the Southwest during five months of self-inflicted ‘solidarity’ strikes. Like many, I took to daily walking 43 minutes to a strike-driven reduced workload. 

    In Ibadan, we got together, meeting secretly, not parking in front of my house, the meeting point, and for six weeks discussed what could be recommended to others to be done across particularly agriculture and education to alleviate the sledgehammer that was the sectional despotic retrogressive military government as the military plummeted from democracy deliverer ‘hero’ to ‘zero’ countrywide.

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    Following that dialogue, we made some impact and I started Educare Trust in 1994 which with the help of many members and partners created the Educare Trust Exhibition Centre in 1998 in Ibadan. The ETEC has been a springboard impacting millions of youths with social skills, moral and civic volunteer values, health empowerment, school and reading books [mini-libraries], footballs and sports equipment, computer literacy and co-curricular activities etc. All these to fill the gap left by a military and even political leadership which neglected the complete education of Nigeria’s youth. That criminal neglect while the rich got richer, in spite of the efforts of Educare Trust and others, has led directly to most schools falling into decay without even a grant to buy books for the empty or non-existent library, footballs, sports equipment etc.

    Note that the one seeking a Presidential Library in his ‘honour’ or ‘dishonour’ was not elected president in a country which, because of his generation of failed leadership, has a huge educational elephant in the autobiography launch room.  That elephant is the 18,000,000 out-of-school-children, Nigerian’s unable to go to mostly inadequate schools.

    School is compulsory, by the way.  It is very likely that seeing the almost N17b raised on the day, latecomer sycophants or previous beneficiaries will still climb on the bandwagon with in their ‘settlement might’ raising the figure to N20,000,000. Applied to the school library system, that is N1,111 for every ‘Out-Of-School-Child’. It is N322,000 for each of the 62,000 government primary schools  in Nigeria or N849,256 for each of the 23,550 secondary schools.

    Many years ago, as the education system lay in ruins, there was an announcement to set up a Heritage University  following a Heritage Secondary School by the recipient of this N17b-?N20b Presidential Library Project Fund. Then I wrote without success that it would have been better restitution for him to award every secondary and primary school in Nigeria just $1,000. This was presumptive on the ‘discovery’ of the location of the ‘disappeared’ $12,500,000,000 First Gulf War windfall referred to by the then expelled Financial Times correspondent.

    Once again, the former leader in the midst of lame autobiographical explanations for ‘failure to act’, and even facing accusations from descendants of Abacha, is at a huge moral financial crossroads- to serve ‘MYSELF OR THE MANY’- the Nigerian children with library upgrades in 23,550 secondary schools or 62,000 primary schools or N500,000  to 40,000 schools or N1,000,000 to 20,000 schools.

    He risks being the only visitor/reader in his GIANT PROPOSED PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY.

    We, the people, will annul this project to help pay Nigeria’s moral national debt to the dead, the deprived and the 18,000,000 out-of-school-children.

    Mr Ex-President: Annul this presidential library.

  • NOA; Bode Emanuel & Berkhout

    NOA; Bode Emanuel & Berkhout

    National Orientation Agency, NAO, strikes positively again with an accurate cartoon illustrating the deadly dangers of scooping fuel from fallen petrol tankers which could explode at any time burning and killing all those around them. Nigeria has lost to explosions, burns and injury and death, many thousands directly from tanker accidents and fuel scooping. The NOA cartoon was shown on TV and hopefully it was free to air as part of the media’s responsibility to educate the masses on this and many other masses’ life skills like ‘WEARING LIFE JACKETS’.

    NOA published its programmes in states in the newspaper-hopefully for free? NOA can also put the messages in cartoon STORY TELLING form on NOA posters and recruit corporate sponsors for funding. ’A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS AND SAVES A THOUSAND LIVES!’ Posters in every market and classroom.   

    We have lost too many Nigerians to violence over the last 20 years. Violence and health problems have truncated so many lives that Nigeria’s life expectancy has hovered in the late 50’s for decades. To gauge what Nigeria loses by such deaths, it is worth measuring such tragic losses against those who managed to survive all struggles and pass on at a ripe old age.

    I have personal knowledge of two ninth decade citizens who have recently passed from this life. First Chief Olabode Emanuel, 1935-2025, spelt with one ‘m’ not ‘mm’ has been described as an Admiral of industry, a Titan, an Iroko, a Trojan, ‘A White Charger’, a quiet but masterful businessman, an accountant par excellence, an astute guru, exemplary philanthropist, a benefactor to multiple charitable and Catholic Church Organisations and institutions et cetera.

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    A distinguished and proud descendant of returned Brazilian freed slaves who settled in Lagos in the mid-1800s, he held a high leadership post in the Catholic Friendly Society 3619.   Of note is that he was a very proud and practical Gregorian playing a keen leadership role in the survival and recovery of St Gregory’s College, Ikoyi Lagos, and in helping to elevate it to its current state. He played leading roles in social Clubs like Ikoyi Club, Island Club, Motor Boat Club, and Yoruba Tennis Club. The above is just a rough sketch of the life and times of Uncle Bode who led a very full life. He has certainly gone to a well-deserved rest. May he RIPP. Amen

    The second role model is Chief Joop Berkhout, 1930-2025 who was an outstanding personality who had more faith in Nigeria than most Nigerians. Of Dutch origins, he has for many years, since 1966 when he came to Nigeria as founding managing director of Evans Brothers Publishers, been  described as a Dutch-Nigerian and freelance Permanent Dutch roving Ambassador to Ibadan specifically and Nigeria in general.  He was a publishing doyen and publishing house builder starting Spectrum Books and later Safari Books where he elevated publishing to new heights in Ibadan at the University of Ibadan and around the country.

    He was an astute long-term functionary of the Ibadan Dining Club, established by Chief Simeon Adebo and a host of great historical names; he serving as long term secretary. He was an astute businessman and also a keen educationist as demonstrated in his achievement of an elevation in the quality and direction of publishing through his wide range of publications including novels, textbooks, journals, periodicals and later specialising in biographical and autobiographical works of many leading Nigerians and others.

    Berkhout was a promoter of youth activities through his association with NGOs including a 30-year relationship with Educare Trust as a distinguished member, regularly attending functions and channelling books to needy youth, a great entertainer opening his home to many local and international guests sharing incisive ideas and actions while relaxing and a firm believer in Nigerians and Project Nigeria even during the frequent bleak times. He cherished being honoured for his publishing achievements with his chieftaincy title from The Source, The Ooni of Ife, and wore the title with great pride. He had many close friends in Ibadan and across Nigeria notably Emeritus Prof Ayo Banjo who preceded him to glory. Another great Iroko has fallen in Ibadan and Nigeria. But he sowed a great many ‘learning and book’ Iroko seeds, which, thankfully, have germinated as a generation change on Nigerian soil in the publishing and education sectors and are set to become Irokos in their own right – an Iroko planter’s delight. It has been a pleasure and an honour to have interacted frequently with Chief Joop Berkhout during the last 50 years, first by hearsay and later as an aburo and sometimes as a doctor. May his books be read by the current generation in his honour. May he RIPP and may his family be comforted. Amen. Appreciation also to his doctor/PA/carers.

    The lives of Chief Olabode Emanuel and Chief Joop Berkhout are very good illustrations of success where others were not so successful. There are others like them and many others who, as mentioned earlier were not allowed to achieve revered old age. We must do everything possible to take the death factor out of early life so more Nigerians can live long fruitful lives. The ‘no scooping fuel’ , use of life jackets across the waterways, speed limits on roads, potable water, better education, accessible quality schooling for the 10+million Out Of School Children -OOSC, better toilet : population ratios are rights of being born.  

  • Less aid? Raise CSR goals

    Less aid? Raise CSR goals

    New states? Already, the cost of running our federal structure is too high. The information that there are expressed aspirations for 31 new states comes as news. How well have the states been run? Such a move will double the already cost of governance including ‘Salaries and Perks’ for the existing governors, deputy governors, assembly members, aides, commissioners, permanent secretaries, directors, ministry heads, vehicles and accommodation, office and dwelling, for the ‘new’ states. And this when many states are failing and still owing years of pensions and not paying minimum wage or raise enough Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    We do know that the unequal creation of states among other things was a monster created by the military as a divide-and-rule policy. It resulted in the uneven distribution of LGAs, a gold mine for states. State authorities’ lack of honest service delivery has greatly disappointed their own indigenes failing their sworn financial responsibility to pay salaries and pensions and contractors as-and-when-due. State authorities have also discriminated against some groups within their states, and this has also fed the fiery demand for more states.

    Nigeria cannot endure the huge additional political and economic cost of 31 new states.  It will be political and financial suicide. Even just a few scaling through may be too many.

    While we wait, we should interrogate the reasons behind the demand. These reasons should be addressed right now especially to placate aggrieved citizens feeling like strangers in their own home.

    The underlying lopsided creation of LGAs between North and South will not go away with creation of more states. Nigerians are still struggling with the wrongness of the ‘1999 Constitution’. To right that wrong we need to address that issue. It is more important than the census and getting our currency out of its sick bed and accelerating the improvement in exchange rate which is the only real way to improve the cost of living.  

    Certainly, things are looking up with the government, through CBN, paying past foreign debts criminally neglected by past CBN leadership deliberately criminally diverting funds. Unfortunately, those who deliberately put Nigeria’s finances in this dire predicament are not being brought before the courts quickly enough. Yes, some funds have been announced as being recovered. The Nigerian jury is sceptical about the fate of recovered funds and assets. Are they returned to the right places? Are they subject to be re-misused? 

    Who is the policeman policing recovered fund and assets? Nigeria is riddled with corruption stories involving those given positions of financial responsibility for the care of citizens -governors, accountant general, auditor general, CBN governor, ministers, NHIS leadership, NSTIF etc, etc. The EFCC and ICPC should investigate those recovered funds to ensure Nigeria is not losing its funds twice to another government approved thief. Enough is enough.

    We should be ashamed of ourselves as a country. With a reported 18,000,000+ out of school children’, (OOSC), surely there is much more we can do as citizens, communities, companies and country to help reduce this problem. For example, CNN has an advert of a group raising $3million for OOSC through playing polo tournaments across the world. Wonderful.

    The ongoing raid on worldwide aid will downgrade world education and healthcare and appears devastating. It will certainly deny many their dreams and goals. No country will quickly fill the crater in the aid inflows gouged out last week by the largest voluntary donor. Nigeria will lose many jobs in education and many lives in health from the resultant aid program cancellation for those fully funded and curtailments for those with multiple donors e.g. UN programs. The curtailments will be as much a 40-60% loss of funding.

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    These funding cuts will affect the ability to help, heal and teach victims of circumstance, not their own fault. The cost of limiting the funds is that Nigerian lives will be lost and growth of vulnerable Nigerians, health-wise and academically, will be stunted. Many more may join those out of school putting many Nigerian families’ future in jeopardy and increasing societal insecurity. To prevent this disaster, we Nigerians must fill the aid fund deficit crater ourselves. We can! The huge seizures of drugs confirm the huge drug problem facing our youth today. This will worsen with the truncated international funding.

    For many years rich countries felt obligated and happily helped less fortunate countries. Thank you. This ‘rule’ no longer applies. Don’t cry. Adapt! Many poor countries were/are riddled with corruption. Stop corruption-it kills!  The Nigerians rich in wealth, wisdom, skills or passion are already doing great things for unknown Nigerians. Step UP Higher! However Nigerian structured Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) philanthropic contributions must increase to fill the Nigerian hole created by cancelled aid.

    Nigeria’s political and corporate leadership and CSR foundations must deliberately meet and better plan to give needy Nigerians a bright future! For a start, corporate bodies should up their CSR to one per cent and divert some of their advert budgets to projects. Nigeria has too many multi-million advert billboards. Cut down on the billboards and transfer the funds to education and Health needs.

    Let the youth advertise your company through their success.   For a start EDUCARE TRUST has long advocated that no contract should be given by any government or corporate Nigeria to any company without interrogation of the ongoing on-going CSR record. This will direct billions to ‘raided’ projects and cancel out need for aid. It is called self-help.

  • Supervision for police/traffic authorities

    Supervision for police/traffic authorities

    We demand supervision of, and accountability from, police and traffic officials AND BETTER PAY.

    Sadly, the citizenry live and move in fear of the thousands of checkpoints and traffic stops by anyone in uniform – fake or official – local government, state or federal officials like Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and police. There are numerous videos backing up factual complaints of citizens against the checkpoint abusers.

    Last week, we saw a policeman seizing the steering wheel of a moving car. This week, we saw yet another case of a group of genuine police creating problems for the ordinary citizens around the airport roads some of which were UNSIGNPOSTED ‘ONE WAY’- a common government scam crime against Nigerians. We need SIGNPOSTS AND DIRECTION POSTS ON ALL ROADS in Nigeria. 

    We have all witnessed and been victims of emergency disappearing corner-corner criminally-motivated and visible checkpoints. Sadly, many such checkpoints have degenerated into extortion spots for criminal officials who have supervisors who ignore their job of preventing their subordinates from criminality, wrongful accusation and extortion of bribes.

    I am no friend of Okada riders because, instead of government giving us proper mass transit society with buses using less fuel and producing less emissions per passenger,  government retrograded our transport into Okada motorcycle or mono-transport. We know a bus carrying 30 people needs one large engine and one driver +/-a conductor.  Using Okada, those 30 people need 30 motorcycle engines and 30 drivers.  Apart from the environmental problem there is the 30 year-old Okada epidemic, from millions of unsupervised high speed often young aggressive riders, which has cost a tsunami of millions losing their lives or livelihoods, truncated work opportunities, and injury with lost limbs all at huge medical costs. The Okada epidemic has filled entire wards with innocent victims of the senseless unrestrained Okadamania.

    Maiduguri is one city where Okada is banned. Let us learn from them. We demand a much wider ban and a National Orientation Agency (NOA) campaign to get the Okada community to reduce speed, have a maximum speed, stop at traffic junctions and have more respect and responsibility for the citizens they carry and traffic around them. Imagine how many orphans and handicapped citizens there are in Nigeria from the swarms, wasp or bee-like, of Okada which having caused an Okada attack gather at every Okada crash to intimidate other road users.

    Why is there no training and little or no traffic management interaction with them except to extort from the Okada community? THERE MUST BE LIMITS AND REGISTRATION OF OKADA NUMBERS AT JUNCTIONS. Visit the Mokola junction, Ibadan. Disgraceful Okada and Danfo overcrowding blocking traffic! The traffic management officials including the police need to work with governments to restrict the scope and the speed of Okada while increasing their education and reduce extortion. And this is apart from the role of Okada in crime and terrorism.

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    Supervision of officials in uniform or with power, with stick or a gun is a neglected responsibility of LGAs, state and federal organisations.

    SUPERVISION AND ACCOUNTABILITY are key to reversing the rot on Nigerian roads. Without them, any tourism and travel will start with a ‘PRAYER TO BE INVISIBLE TO ROBBERS OR TRAFFIC OFFICERS’.  For example, for many years there has been standard FRSC checkpoint as traffic turns towards Benin on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Has it ever come under security and anti-corruption scrutiny?

    The huge quantity of recovered manholes, cable and junction boxes and other electrical material and previously railway sleepers is a credit to the police and other security agencies which would have received more credit had they prevented all these crimes from happening. That would have prevented the damage to vehicles trapped in open manholes with no covers and parts of Nigeria being plunged into darkness by cable thieves. These thieves are really damaging the economy.

    Looking at the recovered manholes and cables on the social media videos, it appears they do not have any identifying numbers of marks or stamps. Governments at state, federal and LGA need to instruct contractors to put easily read serial numbers on equipment for easy tracing. There should be long prison sentences with seizure of property and company assets for ‘sabotage and terrorism’ for any business or company found guilty. In fact, seizure of the trucks and prosecution of the company owning the trucks and the drivers carrying such stolen goods should be automatic and efficient. Nigeria cannot survive if every step forward is followed by a huge reversal through theft. This is often followed by resale to government. Crazy! This amounts to the theft of our future.    

    Sadly, there are more high profile in corruption cases recently all limping through the nearly comatose courts. The governors’ cases and now the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) training scam prompted, not by the police but by a petition, the National Assembly (NASS) Education Budget payments before budget approval accusations are typical. NASS needs to put its reputation first as these accusations are recurrent and it behoves NASS to stand out especially with the history of serial budget padding. This is particularly annoying when the ministry traditionally underserves needs and should not divert a kobo to unrelated unmonitorable projects like tampon purchases.

    The NASS is supposed to protect us from such corruption, not be thought to promote or actually participate in it, even passively. As Nigeria grows, NASS must grow into the role of an honest broker between government and the citizens. 

  • Wanted: One Youth Centre/ ward’ policy

    Wanted: One Youth Centre/ ward’ policy

    Again, another fuel tanker explosion and 18+ deaths due to ‘brake failure’. Was the tanker recently maintained? If not, it was an explosion waiting to happen. Compensation does not replace loved ones but must be paid.

    Hurray, AIG Hakeem Odumosu’s wife has been freed and ‘her kidnappers neutralised’ hopefully exposing the masterminds. Congratulations to the security agencies for freeing other kidnap victims. May God protect you as you protect us and may politicians honestly provide adequate security funds for adequate measures nationwide and may security funds be spent without corruption. Amen.

    Lagos State announces the complete legal digitalisation. Congratulations but long overdue. All other states should, also. 

    Congratulations to Nigerian-Americans Oluwasanmi Koyejo, Azeez Butali, Abidemi Ajiboye, Ijeoma Opara, Oluwatomi Akinlolu, Eno Ebong. The awards include five-year funding from the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers [PECASE] Program for young scientists, engineers, creative leadership and commitment to community service persons created in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. In Nigeria, we spend more on the event and procedure than on the prizes although there are several much-appreciated valuable awards for scientists, robotics [STEM], industry and professional awards. Unfortunately, most of such awards come with really low financial support, relative to needs of the winners and the exchange rate and can often hardly buy a laptop and suitable professional support equipment, let alone transports support and accommodation for office and personal use.

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    We can insert the unfortunate recent incidents of deaths at charity events as citizens, ‘qualified’ by being poverty-struck assembled to be ‘awarded’ food and gifts. Most awards are insufficient and now can cost lives – unacceptable. Nobody should die, be injured or abused when offered an award or ‘reward’ or ‘poverty alleviation support’.

    In contrast to the relatively poor funding of actual Nigerian awards prize money for the stars of any award event, there is the comparison with, in the same budget, the astronomically huge sums spent and overspent fulfilling event planner goals. These grandiosely include venue rent and preparation of over-flowery and wasteful hyper-bunting-filled programmes complete with the ever-obstructing flower vases and flower stands and overdressed chairs and enormous photo-printed posters, mega-printed posters, and food galore. Please add, organisers and organisation fees, travel, -often interstate and by air-, costs and allowances of hundreds of attendees, the latter never added to total event costs.

    Such ceremonies, run with good intentions or as publicity stunts or enlightenment programmes, are sometimes used to ‘legally-illegally’ syphon money by event budget padding, by government or private sector actors. They are hugely consumptive and often unproductive as they cost many millions in lost man or woman hours off actual work for travel and attendance time. They are very unproductive in the parameters drawn up by standard business ‘Time And Motion Studies’.

    However, such events are very expensively boastfully carried on multiple costly media platforms media which are each costly in their own right. Of course, the well-deserved journalists awards often get re-reported in the journalist corporate media for one year but as they have free access to airwaves as their professional right to free publicity, which the rest of us must pay dearly for, or be ignored, unsung, for life, except through social media! Every profession has its professional perks, so no one should be upset or jealous. Of course, publicity is important as seeing themselves in the media encourages the winners, the immediate audience and media viewers to do better, support better or improve their own circumstances or maybe just to get jealous and complain.

    We must ask what is the true cost/award ratio? Sometimes events cost millions for a few N100,000s awards. This is not cost effective in a society made poor by its greed-driven political and administrative class and private sector mogul missteps.   

    Remember major players in the private sector have sometimes trivialised their leadership responsibility to national youth development corporately and with their CSR component. We disgracefully witness private sector missteps when it comes to rewards and awards with complete abandonment of the national responsibility to teach the youth to be, at their country’s request, ‘Faithful, Loyal and Honest’ and hardworking, with other socially uplifting attributes. The short-sighted companies, in their greed for client numbers targeted the ‘thirsty multi-million population of youth’ ignoring the real moral growth needs of the youth – better well-equipped schools, youth centres and entrepreneurial opportunities. Instead, the corporates took shortcuts, including enticing the youth to ‘jump over social values of honesty and hard work’, and instead, idolise and lust after quick-fix corporate driven mega-million product promoting lottery bonanzas and morally challenging reality shows. The latter included witnessing truly artificial lives with created events as they scheme us into spending hours and billions in specially high-priced phone-in voting scams, sorry schemes!

    Corporate and political Nigeria should correct 50-60 years of sometimes partial and often total neglect of the youth and missed social and political opportunities to establish a lifeline pyramid Youth Centre system -a ‘ONE WARD-ONE YOUTH CENTRE NATIONAL POLICY’.  Nigeria needs non-politically partisan neutrally named, Youth Empowerment Centres within reach of our youth –‘ONE PER WARD’ – and made the property of ward residents, the LGAs now that most control funds and local business and local community professionals including pensioners and contributed to it by the National Orientation Agency posters etc. The NYSC could allocate corps members to manage the Centres and all programmes and the centre should receive relevant Multi-Ministerial Advisory Newsletters at the local level.

  • Politicians: learn ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’

    Politicians: learn ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’

    Problem: Sacrificing a N500m National Assembly NASS meeting for a N5,000 photocopy?? WHY NOT JUST SAY ‘PLEASE’?  Everything is not a conspiracy against you or disrespect! 

    We live in a country which appeared to prefer to equip the political class than empower police. Police Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs were confiscated from police in military regimes and the police were degraded.  Our police are tele-guided to guard politicians and ‘big persons’ over the public. Politicians expect police to carry handbags, briefcases and cash. We live in a country screaming about Information Technology, and now ‘Artificial Intelligence -AI’,  advances from the rooftops but which has no ‘2025 Standard Operating Procedure Cell Phone Use’ in every police station for record and transmission of cell-phone mugshot photos, fingerprints and for ‘National Data Base of Permanent Computerised Documentation of Accused, Crime, Criminals and Contacts’.

    Worst of all, we live in a country where we allow politicians to lose focus from service to become monsters. Where an ‘elected official’ and ‘serving senator’, Deputy Whip, who attended a scheduled meeting considering the relocation of the 2025 Police Budget as well as Budget Defence by the Inspector General of Police, vexed in his pomposity because he was given a different version of the IGP’s speech than the IGP was reading from. This was interpreted as a malignant breach of ‘protocol’.

    Was this a mistake, or ‘failure to distribute available copies of the IGP’s document’? Did they have more than expected numbers? You know how we grab programmes. However, it was, deliberately misinterpreted as a deliberate insult on his political personage or whatever was deemed by him to be such a monumentally heinous crime against himself and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the  Senate, sitting and at home, his person and voters who sent him to the Senate. This warranted him arrogantly and belligerently walking out like a bull out of a China shop. Are we so sorry? Should we on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the entire citizenry, the birds in the air and the lizards on the street, apologise to your ‘High and mighty’? If it was in our power, should we direct that Nigeria suspends Senate and House of Representation sessions for a ‘National Day of Apology’ for wounding the pride of the political lion, a whole senator?

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    We should call for a quiz among students to answer the question ‘When some Senators have a document and some have not- is it mistake, administrative error, underestimation of attendees, under-photocopying, a conspiracy? But more importantly – What is the best, diplomatic “on air’’ solution?

    A: SHOUTING AND PROTEST; B: WALK OUT; C: A+B; D: POLITICAL CONSPIRACY THEORY; E: CALL FOR A 5-10 MINUTE ADJOURNMENT FOR COPIES TO BE CIRCULATED OR PHOTOCOPIED. My vote is for E.

    There was huge attendance at the Police Budget meeting. There was an abridged and full budget booklet distributed and the annoyed senator was given the one not read by the IGP. Simple. Regardless, NASS members need to understand the cost of such meetings before disrupting, adjourning or walking out of them. Why should NASS suspend meetings when one of their members dies? A minute’s silence is ok!  Nigerians die every day, unsung, unmarked. NASS ‘Meeting Suspensions’ cost Nigerians many millions.  What cost to the citizens is borne for these meetings? Don’t laugh. Add the cost of 100-200 airline tickets for attenders and aides to-and-fro nationwide, 1000-2000 security personnel, per diem, local hotel bills, vehicular transport, hangers-on. And add the human disaster cost in lives. MEETINGS IN NIGERIA ARE NOT A JOKE! THEY ARE A RISK!!  Officials, aides, security personnel die in transit to such meetings in plane, road crashes and road and rail armed robberies and kidnappings. We are not talking N500m for this meeting, are we? Be truthful. When all the costs including pre-planning stages and countless meals, fuel costs and per diem are included, nearly N1billion.  So, politicians, especially self-styled ‘Distinguished & Honourable’ NASS and State Assembly members must not, rubbish N500m-1b  expensive meetings for a N5-10,000 photocopy politicised beyond belief, televised.

    PS: D&H is repeatedly exemplified as ‘Un-Distinguished and Dis-Honourable’.

    Let us not forget: We are still awaiting news of the dismissal from political office, the criminal charges and the ‘Grievous Bodily Harm’ trial of the House of Mis-Representation member ‘I WILL MAKE YOU DISAPPEAR AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN’.

    Both cases above manifest the hyper-self-importance manifested by the urge to get noticed by voluble or violent scene to overcome the common sense of silence and appreciation. POLITICAL POWER REVEALS TRUE HUMAN NATURE.

    What ever happened to the serious crime of ‘bringing the profession into disrepute’?  Sorry, it is the ‘profession of politics’ with its questionable service reputation as a ‘profession of politics’. Who will save politicians from themselves?     

    There are second and third political incidents to consider.

    We congratulate the first female Lagos State Speaker Mojisola Meranda BSc, MPIA. From the fate of her predecessor, remember that it is not how long but how well you do your job. You have an unprecedented opportunity and responsibility to females in Lagos State. Recall that ‘DELIVERY DAY IS THE MOST DANGEROUS DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE WOMAN AND CHILD’. Do not let them labour in the ‘Labour War’-d in vain. Make it a safer Lagos State which has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. 

  • $52.88; Census; pre-emptive firefighting!

    $52.88; Census; pre-emptive firefighting!

    Stolen money returned again and again. This time just last week it is $52.88m linked to assets seized from Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former petroleum resources minister.  At every turn to fight corruption, we are thwarted. Time was when the clarion cry was ‘Let’s have women in power in both public and private. They will not be so corrupt.’  Well, we all remember Oceanic Bank and its female leadership. We all remember the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs with its successive female leadership. Then we were told we need a younger leadership which would be less greedy and less corrupt. We have had several governors who could be classified as much younger than their predecessors. Sadly, several of them have been summoned to EFCC and some are in court facing corruption questions some of them around payment of school fees years in advance for their children. So, not surprisingly, it seems the corruption bug does not discriminate on the basis of sex or gender or age or ethnicity and religion and language spoken. Anyone and everyone placed in authority, or in any employment at every level from gateman to General Manager, can decide to become corrupt or remain honest.

    Let us not make any excuses about institutional corruption. An institution is a building and cannot be corrupt. It is the humans in the institution that create the corruption. Corruption is a personal decision which becomes the cause of the a debilitating disease resulting in deprivation of money, material, opportunity and can worsen actual physical disease through theft of money required for food, treatment, surgery, medicines. Corruption makes school books expensive and scarce, school equipment inadequate and a student under educated and not fit to pass the examination.

    $52.88m is a lot of money especially with our rubbish exchange rate of N1,600+ to the dollar. But it is just the tip of the iceberg of funds MIA-Missing in Action across every sphere of governance and a lot of the private sector.

    We always seem to leave it too late before ‘discovering’ massive fraud after the harm has been done. Pre-emptive monitoring with resultant reduction of corruption if not total prevention should be the lessons taught and learnt. So how many more episodes are we going to witness before the lessons are learnt and put into practice?

    Corruption takes many forms especially when it comes to the population count. We must GET THE NEXT POPULATION COUNT RIGHT.  Judging from 30 million election turnout and National Identity Number, NIN and other statistics and the over 60 million ghost potential voters who had cards allocated but did not turn up to use their cards and the fact that censuses have always been corruptly manipulated for political and economic advantage, many believe the overall census figure may be inflated by 30% or more. Now 30% of the touted numbers is 140-160million. Let us be generous and agree on a current population in the region of approximately 160m.  We are planning a census. Will it be as secretive, corrupt and contentious as previous censuses some of which were marred? Remember the former Nigerian Population Commission (NPC) chairman who wanted to reveal all only to be unceremoniously dismissed, fortunately with his life.

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    But is a multibillion census on a nationally empty stomach a wise decision expenditure at this time? What will make it any more accurate than past censuses mired in miscounting, inflated and deflated and politically manipulated numbers?

    Surely, our government does not want to count people who will become corpses through hunger and security mishaps before the census figures are even published. Indeed, the census count workers may be ridiculed or even attacked by irate citizens going through the extreme hardship being faced by almost the entire population at present.

    So, we should first save Nigeria from food famine and insecurity and the high cost of living and kick the census exercise football 2-3 years down the road to a more stable time.

     There are serious lessons Nigeria must learn and teach from the massive climate change upheavals going on worldwide-heatwaves, floods, fires, drought, and earthquakes. We are in a dangerously hot period in Nigeria and have had market fires, sadly, a usual occurrence now. Massive fires in different parts of the world have been on the rise in recent years, the worst currently ongoing in Los Angeles. Our prayers and thoughts are with the victims and the homeless. We are told that overhead electricity cables, destabilised by wild winds were prone to spark and set fire to the dry grass following a long drought.

    Our electricity suppliers must be trained on protocols instructing them to immediately switch off the relevant sections of the national grid at the first signs of high winds or when a fire alert is received. The electricity authorities need to pay much more attention to weather reports and should be in the  state security loop to quickly take counter measures should he face a similar fire hazard seen in LA. The winds have often fanned ignited dry grass smoke across the expressways of Nigeria and fires are common along many roadsides in the dry season, some deliberate some spontaneous. Instead of overhead electricity cables, underground cabling is now being recommended abroad. Will that happen here? Importantly, we must make more protocol guidelines and effort to discourage random unsupervised fires from now on. We must fight fires before they start.