The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tony Marinho

  • Cut exclusive list; lasers: EFCC ‘NOKs’ corruption!

    Cut exclusive list; lasers: EFCC ‘NOKs’ corruption!

    Please celebrate June 12 with less talk and more restructuring and transferring more ‘Exclusive List’ items to states. After electricity devolution, what next?

    Taraba State government bans felling of trees because of climate change. Your state nko?

    And why a band differential electricity price for volume users? Why not just pay more of the same unit price for more use-democracy. Meters are coming at last-but at what cost?  Inflated? Made in Nigeria, pls!

    A doctor, Chief Party, USAID Funded Accelerating Control, HIV Epidemic in Nigeria, was arrested at Geneva Airport for carrying a laser pointer for lecture slide. He did not know laser pens were banned since June 2019. We in Africa get such information late or feel it ‘does not consign [read concern] us’. Such information, every delegation should know. Certainly, the ban is justified because of eye risks. The warning to travellers from Abike Dabiri-Erewa Head, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, is timely for all ‘lecturers’ including ASUU. Why is something banned used in Nigeria? Not everything banned abroad should be banned here without a ‘TO BAN OR NOT TO BAN’ discussion.

    Hurray, the EFCC IS ‘FOLLOWING THE MONEY’, like in the US prosecution of Al Capone caught, not for murders, but for tax evasion. Finally, through the Ministry of Justice, EFCC catches one of many wayward super civil servants. THE CIVIL SERVICE, FEDERAL AND STATE AND LGA, IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS THE ENGINE ROOM OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA. In this case the founder of NOK University Kaduna ‘FAILED HIS EXAM’ to account financially for the source of his funding or name mysterious investors. He worked in various ministries including some shamefully so-called ‘lucrative or juicy ministries’ which I call ‘deadly’- Health, Women Affairs, Niger Delta, Youth and Sports Development, Health again as Director of Finance and Accounts Dept. 2016-19 and finally Works and Housing.  

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    Yet we have annual Declaration of Assets and sometimes relentless tax men and women. The NOK man should have had the odour of corruption on his person and on his file halting his climb to director, unless he was protected. A government employee getting so criminally rich as to establish a university is misplaced altruism or megalomaniacal arrogance, especially as he also has many other personal and family financial acquisitions. He is a ‘cause of corruption’. The consequence of such megalomaniacal accumulation of [other-peoples’ life changing] assets, is destroying  millions of hopeful Nigerians’ dreams at yet another  Government Social Development Project mega-Announcement ‘full of sound and fury meaning nothing’.

    Too many Fellow Nigerians paid and continue to pay the heavy price, forced to sacrifice their livelihoods, opportunities, benefits, wellbeing and even lives to numerous failed projects, in which all funds were stolen upfront in multibillions diverted from  yardstick essential SDGoals.

    Why can’t everyone see that the price of all corruption is the last gasp of a child, the screams as blood drains from a dying delivering mother and an aged person’s frustrated anger at destroyed dreams and stolen pension, too broke to buy medicines?

    JUDGES, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ALL CORRUPTION MONEY IS BLOOD MONEY. EVERY STOLEN KOBO, IN A POOR COUNTRY LIKE NIGERIA IS A DROP OF BLOOD SHED BY A DEPRIVED NIGERIAN SOMEWHERE.

    The price of corruption is always born by the unseen victim, supposedly the beneficiaries of civil servants’ work. This particular NOK benefiting massive corruption was spread over six ministry appointments with blood spilt by victims in terms of vulnerable underserved patients and women and girls, neglected contracts and services in the Niger Delta, severe reduction in youth entrepreneurial and social support and sports achievements and finally high corrupt contract costs with low works and housing project execution.

    We must measure cost and consequences to corruption victims. We must then punish the cause, the thieves, proportionally if we want to stop this rampant N1-100b mega-theft.

    There is no difference between a murderer with a body and this level of corruption with dead and dying and deprived victims.

    In a country with no pride in public property, where people take pride in walking during the National Anthem, old-new-and-old-again, thieves are being sent to steal joints and solar-lights on newly refurbished Third Mainland and Second Niger Bridges.  These corruption causes will have deadly citizen consequences.      

    Thus theft can be big or small but both are corruption with equally deadly consequences to culture.

    What will happen to the seized assets, including a whole university, NOK, with a motto ‘Knowledge and Excellence’ way! Excellence in theft of citizens’ assets?? Such assets must not rot away!  What will happen to the NOK students, youth and staff? It is not a cheap university and no educational humanitarian effort by the owners even though they got the money ‘for free’ without permission from the citizens.

    Of course, there are several other universities set up by people of questionable financial responsibility and morals. Pathologically, they expect praise for starting such universities and secondary schools with stolen corruption and actually ‘blood money’. They forget that their theft has ruined more youth education facilities and lives than any university will ‘help’ in 100 years. 

    They must face EFCC.

    Final Questions: If you build religious, educational or health facilities with the multibillions stolen from budgets meant to better every citizen’s life, will you get marks from God or a rebate on your predicted punishment in hell? I think not.

    NIGERIANS, WE WILL ONLY GROW IF WE STOP STEALING. 

  • Bullying kills: Stop eye injury

    Bullying kills: Stop eye injury

    Bullying: There Must Be Consequences Pls! Bullying, school gangs are not new. Every school leaver easily remembers verbal and physical bullies. NB ‘WORDS WILL ALWAYS HURT YOU!’ 

    In primary school when I was 10, I was viciously pushed from behind over a basketball foot bar by an unknown student. I fell on my face and cut my lip and tongue and lost a front incisor tooth and a half tooth leading to a lifetime of dental appointments, agony and over 100 gum injections. My bully got away with CHILD ABUSE and Grievous Bodily Harm and appears ‘innocently’ at reunions.

    Professor Wole Soyinka recalls how he and two colleagues waylaid a bully in Government College. Pa Soyinka, then not a Pa, jumped from a tree onto the shoulders of the predatory bully.

    Today, do not take on the bullies, as in Soyinka days but do not be silent. JUST PRIVATELY REPORT BULLIES TO THE AUTHORITIES AND TELL YOUR PARENTS AS BACKUP. SILENCE IS DANGEROUS!

    Sadly, weekly we see many youth with  AN EYE DAMAGED FOR LIFE by ‘friendly fire’ or ‘neighbourhood wicked Fellow Nigerian child’ throwing a  stone or  stabbing with biro or pencil or catapulted broomstick, pellet or pebble or a ‘DIRTY SLAP’. Worse, sometimes the perpetrator is a parent or teacher, lashing with a belt or a stick at a ‘naughty’ squirming child who turns an eye to the weapon. Such an injury could also be ‘AN EYE AS COLLATERAL DAMAGE’ in nearby children observing the punishment.

    STOP EYE INJURIES, intentional and accidental. They are often permanent or expensive to manage. The victim is condemned along with a chaperon to a life of misery pain, time loss, expense and emotional cost of many clinic visits and living one-eyed. This severely cuts work and social opportunities as millions of jobs, would-friends, partners, in-laws, and could-have-been spouses will demand two-eyed Fellow Nigerian.

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    THE COST OF AN EYE INJURY, meanwhile, is so enormous that there should be a COUNTRYWIDE EYE INJURY PREVENTION AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AMONG PARENTS, TEACHERS, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, with NATIONAL ORIENTATION AGENCY ‘EYE INJURY and DIRTY SLAP PREVENTION POSTERS’ in every lecture, class, staff and guard room.

    Today ALARM BELLS from in-school deaths alert every other school and university to initiate a functioning PERMANENT BULLY DETECTION/PREVENTION PROGRAMME complete with A BULLY LOGBOOK and a BULLY NAMING AND SHAMING PROGRAMME. 

    INJURY COMPENSATION RESPONSIBILITY MUST BE DISCUSSED BY THE VICTIM, THE PERPETRATOR AND THE FAMILY AND THE INSTITUTION. To date, victim compensation is almost never raised for playground, school, neighbour or other injuries in spite of the enormous expenses that frequent eye injury treatment causes the victim’s family.

    The perpetrator may or may not volunteer to or be forced to say a meaningless ‘sorry!’  Full stop! There may be suspension, expulsion or sacking. These punishments do not ‘restore-sight-to the blind-eye’ or pay the victim’s lifetime bill. The victim suffers injury and has the additional financial injury of having to pay the care costs for that injury. No. this must change. The care bills for home-clinic-home transport and medical expenses for the victim must automatically be extracted from the perpetrator, the institution, or the family.

    Many perpetrators are bullies and the pain of financial cost/loss is the only language they, their institutions or their parents will understand.

    STOP DELIBERATELY INFLICTED SPORTS INJURIES: The world can cut deliberate and vicious  sports injuries by 80% if football and other contact sports had a ‘CAUSER AND CONSEQUENCE, GBH Grievous Bodily Harm’ CLAUSE  in all contracts and club rules  TO MAKE THE  ATTACKER ‘PAY IN TIME AND MONEY’ FOR INFLICTED INJURY.

    NFA/FIFA: WHY NOT HAVE A TIME RELATED FINE ON THE CLUB AND PLAYER FOR CAUSING ‘INJURY TIME’?

    IF A PLAYER INJURES OR BREAKS AN OPPONENT’S LIMB, HE TOO SHOULD GO OFF AND BE OFF ON ‘BULLY TIME’ AND PAY ALL THE BILLS UNTIL THE VICTIM IS FULLY RECOVERED.

    ‘I’m sorry’, is not remorse, just guilt freedom for no fee.

    Few accused thieves are the actual culprits. It is a bully-tactic to turn friends into an instant ‘Accuser-Investigator-Judge-Jury-Sentencer-Executor escalating into Executioner. This tragic outcome was exposed at the disciplinarian Ajayi Crowder University, Oyo, disgracing the memory of the famous missionary’s Christian legacy. A legally unsubstantiated and unreported-to-the-authorities case of ‘[maybe] you stole my phone’ escalated from accusations to the injustice of a mass instant or planned four hour beating ordeal  resulting in a mob execution of 22-year old Alex Timileyi, a 200-Level Engineering student in a hostel seemingly inappropriately named Shepard by the righteous founding fathers. Timileyi sadly did not complete his walk through the valley of death. Now he is dead, 12 accused of his murder, 13 families destroyed.

    Guilty of theft or not, cult induction or attack or not, his execution is culpable murder. If a gang of legally adult 17-24-year-olds can justify this act in a religious environment, what hope Nigeria? Remember OAU-1999 gunning down of five students and last week’s killing of five soldiers and six civilians in Abia?

    ‘Causer of catastrophe without consequence’ kills moral society- ask our political class!  

    Every school assembly classroom, education institution and lecture room should say and have a poster with a prayer designed by religious bodies and government – NOA. BEWARE OF BULLYING

     ‘WE PRAY FOR PROTECTION AGAINST A-B-C-D.

    A BUSE by word and deed,

    B ULLYING  ,

    C ULTISM and gangs, &

    D EATH.

    DO NOT KEEP SILENT ABOUT BULLYING- SILENCE KILLS. 

  • Maximum vs. minimum wage? Loot; Blood; LGAs; Flood

    Maximum vs. minimum wage? Loot; Blood; LGAs; Flood

    Maximum vs minimum wage is a disparity struggle deliberately inflamed by thoughtless political selfishness and greed. When politicians fuelled their highly inflationary and corruption-prone rocket-propelled maximum salaries and irresponsibly large perks, they had no thought or compassion for the N18,000 per month minimum wage Citizen Common Man. Most states refused to pay the ‘new’ N30,000 minimum wage. They lacked understanding of the subsequent explosive impact on the economy of the huge disparities they introduced in their greed-over-need approach to self-gratification while in office.

    It was a political party which sold presidential nomination forms for N100 million and the following month, kidnappers began to demand N100 million to release their victims. Get the connection? National Assembly, NASS buys jeeps worth N160m while we have 20million children out of school and those maybe 30m in terribly backward poor non-child-friendly school environments lacking qualified teachers and textbooks. In the Nigeria-of-the-N160m-jeep, we have a criminally high maternal mortality rate and five million IDPs living in unbearable conditions. Nigeria is at war with terrorists, bandits and kidnappers. Only three bold NASS members rejecting the jeeps. Will they be ostracised by ‘CLUB NASS’? What will happen to their already bought jeeps? 

    EFCC returns $22,000 to the FBI after conviction of an internet fraudster is a good sign of cooperation between local and international anti-financial and security crimes investigation agencies. Hopefully, the just ended 14th Commonwealth Anti-corruption Conference in Ghana, hosting the heads of all anti-corruption agencies in the Commonwealth and beyond will yield results.

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    What we want to know in Nigeria is where did and where do all the seized assets in Nigeria go? What actually happens to all the local seized assets in billions of money in several currencies and even international bank account seizures? What is the fate of all the expensive jewellery, land, landed property, buildings, shares, businesses and vehicles seized?

    What happens to the money imposed as fines in court cases or returned after plea bargaining?

    We are defective at record keeping and preservation of documents and material. Nigeria requires miles of shelving for clean and tidy safekeeping of retrievable recovered items index lists and contents.

    Yes, there is an ecosystem of Registered Auctioneers unknown to most people. It is at auctions that items are sold to the highest bidder, to prevent fraud and bring maximum profit. What happens to the money raised at auction? Telling us about Abacha loot returned is important but there is the need for public information on the numerous cases of loot recovery with cases of N400m, N1-100billion stolen. Secrecy creates corruption.

    If the British Medical System during the 1970s could give blood untested for Hepatitis C and HIV to many thousands resulting later in Hepatitis and HIV infections, imagine the impact of untested blood on Nigerian lives. I remember raising an alarm in the 1980s when we began testing blood for HIV without screening for hepatitis. All fell on deaf ears.

    In medicine we see patients with liver cirrhosis these days in their 30s and 40s. Many of them admit to long periods of taking traditional medicine, agbo, but it is possible that they were given then ‘life saving’ blood transfusions as infants and children. Was that blood tested for hepatitis C or HIV? We must ask our blood transfusion departments nationwide if they are adequately funded by our usually short sighted and greed driven politicians to give safe blood tested for Hepatitis B, C and HIV etc.?      

    The ongoing battle for the elevation of the LGAs to autonomous, as dreamed of by most Nigerians out of government, is essential for grassroots development. LGA elections are being moved to INEC. Caretaker LGAs must become anathema. The requirement for funds due the LGA to be in State/LGA ‘Joint Account’ is wrong. Until LGAs are politically and financially free, there will continue to be neglect at the LGA levels and theft by governors. 

    The world weather is changing. Floods, drought, snow, sun, dry and rainy seasons, all unseasonal and unpredictable in quality and quantity. In Nigeria in the 70s, I wrote a story of a massive flood in Lagos. I also wrote a story during my NYSC in Jos and Lafia in the then Plateau State in 1975-6 about a massive snowfall in Jos. Both stories never saw the light of day. Too farfetched and too doomsday, I was told. 

    Well today, Lagos, my home state, sadly along with 20+ other states, has been weather-warned to expect major floods. And snow will come to Nigeria again as it did before. Flooding is common in low-lying Lagos with lots of higher reclaimed land blocking historical existing drainage. The future for Lagos is not bright especially with rising sea levels and the floods worldwide.

    To manage flooding in Lagos, there is an aggressive government effort to reclaim from ‘illegal builders’ the ‘right of waterways/drainage’. Long neglected clogged canals are being cleared of refuse and plant growths. Waste collection must be stepped up, especially in poorer areas, before it is wrongly thrown into the gutters at the first rains, further blocking them. CLEARING DRAINAGE CANALS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY SUSTAINED PREVENTIVE NATIONWIDE REFUSE COLLECTION ESPECIALLY IN MARKETS AND POOR AREAS.

    We want to see Ministry of Works engineers and staff in raincoats and Wellingtons boots out in the rains studying and monitoring the flooded roads nationwide, mapping drainage, runoffs and post rainstorm strategies. And after the floods prepare for another heatwave!

  • Ngelale: Nigeria’s Climate Action Man?

    Ngelale: Nigeria’s Climate Action Man?

    Ajuri Ngelale as special envoy on Climate Action is a right man for the job. Although he is also regarded as the widely acclaimed right man for his other job- chief explainer of Nigerian government policy – some ask: ‘With all its university first classes and environmental NGO activity in the shadow of Ken Saro Wiwa, is Nigeria so bereft of climate action talent that it could not find another  environmentally savvy  man or preferable woman?’.

    Nigeria does not need, and morally speaking, cannot afford, to give a well-paid and influential second job to one good man when first jobs are denied needy families requiring a good working breadwinner. Presidential conundrum?

    Regardless, Ajuri rose to fame riding the climate action media meteor and it may be fair that he tries to bring his climate action and media passion to serve Nigeria and the presidency bedevilled with lobbying protagonists of ‘Oil Forever Or Till The World Ends Or Till The Oil Runs Out- WHICHEVER COMES FIRST!’

    Ajuri faces huge resistance in an oil thirsty country with such a politically paralysed, incompetent and corruption driven  poor electricity grid, 5Mw vs 100Mw required for 160m + cynical citizens after 63 years of independence during which almost every roof hides generators, petrol or diesel, in the ‘The Century of Hydrocarbon-isation of Electric Power’. Of course, there is a small but growing solar power component to help provide 24-hour power.

    Pls. add the disaster around ‘The Toxic Plasticisation Of The World’ involving every drain and rubbish dump in Nigeria, from table, kitchens, offices, playgrounds and every meal and requiring recycling and banning of single use plastic.

    Please add the need for mass production of pipe-borne water and running taps, to stop the ‘Pure Water Epidemic’ and definitely not individualised pure water bags to provide potable water.  Recycling plants for all types of plastics is required. Even tyres should be recycled by law and not burnt. All these require massive National Orientation Agency, NOA educational programs and coverage.

    Overall, there is need for the new envoy to explore and promote a multi-pronged approach to achieve environmentally friendly successes.

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    NIGERIAN SOLAR/ GREEN ENERGY   RESEARCH:  Request more Solar Research Projects in Nigeria funded by TETFUND.

    ENCOURAGE BEST QUALITY SOLAR FACTORY INFRASTRUCTURE: Invitation to several, not a monopolistic one, cutting edge foreign solar panel and battery production factories by companies to set up in Nigeria to fill the gap between power need and the weak hydrocarbon electric power grid gap and need.

    A SOLAR LOAN SCHEME: A generator-to-solar incentivised N50-100b Revolving Solar Equipment Conversion Loan Scheme. Bank of Industry or other bank run, 5-10 years loans, minimum-single digit interest with no money paid to clients but direct to contractors repeatedly vetted by ICPC, EFCC and Forensic accounting agency. This exists in many countries. 

    RESTORING/REVAMPING WATER PROJECTS FOR TAP DELIVERED POTABLE WATER in all cities and towns to cut out bottled and plastic bag -pure water pollution.

    Compulsorily URGENTLY CREATE   TEACH CLIMATE ACTION CURRICULUM with university created wall charts to every child and youth in all schools, primary and secondary, and all tertiary institutions and universities as part of General Paper. No exceptions and for every course.

    Study, revive and broaden existing climate action projects fulfilling many SDGs particularly the ‘T.R.E.E INITIATIVE’ – ‘The Rural Environmental Empowerment Initiative’ aimed at planting 10m trees by 2025 with its component ‘ONE STUDENT ONE TREE PROJECT [OSOTP] of LAUTECH’s GROWING GREEN INITIATIVES; National SHEA TREE RESTORATION ADVOCACY PROGRAM, NSTRAP [2019-2025, and LOCAL COMMUNITIES TREE PLANTING PROGRAM, LCTP -domesticated to every  POLITICAL WARD need leadership and direction. Is Ajuri Ngelale up to the task? Yes, we pray so. 

    Ngelale has a lot on his climate action plate. He does not have to reinvent the wheel on climate action. Nigeria has an army of climate action activists in need of more than voice. They need to be listened to by an action government instead of shouting themselves hoarse against various government and private sector SDG and environmental transgressors damaging the planet. There is a long road from chic environmental sloganism to climate action. However, only the federal government can direct and fund an education media blitz recruiting some well-paid Nollywood stars to sing and act in the media around slogans like Reuse, Repair, Recycle etc.

    Will he deliver or wisely delegate the research and methodology to achieve maximally? Nigeria is sadly in a hurry in the wrong direction towards climate inaction and self-destruction with policy summersaults, poor implementation and zero use of a comatose, perhaps underfunded, moribund unresponsive NOA. In many countries throwing litter on the ground is anathema. In Nigeria it is the norm and good behaviour is the exception for even VIPs can be seen dropping water bottles and sweet wrapping on the floor or ground at functions or in class and lecture rooms expecting someone else to come and remove the litter that should not have been created in the first place. Disgraceful. Of course, it a job for parents, teachers and then governments and NOA.

    Can Ajuri put the brakes on and even reverse our misfortune  before our CINS, Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence and Selfishness combined with NASS indecisive environmental inaction condemn us to become Climate Action Orphans or Climate  Action Pariah or [irresponsible] Climate Action Trumpites or Climate Action  Refuseniks-Rejectionists?

    We pray, for the children of Nigeria’s sake, that Aguri Ngelale succeeds in bringing environmental change, bottom- up.

  • NNPC forensics; Cybercrime levy; Harry’s message   

    NNPC forensics; Cybercrime levy; Harry’s message   

    Nigeria suffers a nationwide fuel shortage. Only the Nigerian Institute of Social Research and Social Studies Departments in universities can calculate the cost to business, communities and citizens of the trillions of hours and naira lost to the 160+m [are we really  200m+?] Nigerian citizens. Just think about it and multiply it for   hours, business, appointments, study time, work time, travel time, loses, power cuts, and losses of opportunities, perishable farm foods and closed businesses unable to obtain fuel.

    NNPC is being called out once again to defend its role as umpire and main fuel supply chain actor including strategic reserves to combat the extreme shortages Fellow Nigerians are suffering three weeks.

    Nigerians urge the Presidency to initiate three investigations into its finances and structure.

    The first NNPC investigation should be a forensic audit, perhaps by the same body which did the CBN investigation. This will bring the NNPC quickly in line with the administration’s clean-up in CBN. This investigation will send a serious message to Nigerians and encourage the SERAP, Legit, EFCC and ICPC-led anticorruption drive. NNPC Ltd is the largest corporate body in Nigeria and handles the current life blood of Fellow Nigerians financial survival in naira and dollar inflows and costs.  Sadly, the NNPC Ltd needs a forensic inquisition to make its management and staff less prone to corrupt practices.

    The second NNPC Ltd investigation required is the administration efficiency investigation. If failures in the NNPC’s fuel supply chain are to be stopped, then the whole structure requires an administrative audit. This will be to identify the bottle necks to the latest spectacular failure in service delivery. Such an NNPC administrative audit will explore the human action failures, the emails and phone calls timelines, who was sitting on their hands waiting for gratification instead of signing off on procurement and delivery confirmation protocols timely and as-and-when-due and who always delay decisions to demonstrate the power of an office or for gratification.  This urgently needed NNPC Ltd administrative audit is justified and overdue for both commercial and service delivery credibility and to restore confidence in the NNPC Ltd.      

    The third investigation is a federal character audit. NNPC Ltd stands accused, with justification, of having serious ethnic bias, and not in any way favouring the states, victims of environmental disasters, which deliver the oil lion’s share. Nigerians demand representation in NNPC Ltd.     

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    Cybersecurity deductions for the security of the secrets, databases and operational IT of government and its  MDAs has always been and should remain the responsibility of the government through budget line items with cybercrime running costs budget, simple.

    Cybersecurity deductions for the business community secrets and databases  should be  squarely in the hands of budget line item of  businesses, be they banks, financial institutions, corporations and even kiosk databases and library and private hospital and school databases.

    Why should cybersecurity require a new tax? Is this another giant fiscal scam in the making in which office holders will be tempted by trillions to spend unaccountably as the workings of the NSA office are secret. Imagine giving NSA ‘free money’. Yes, the circular mentions big organisations which will pay the money to make up the tax but those organisations will turn on the client citizens and extract the funds somehow. The bottom line is that this is a new additional and unnecessary ridiculous camouflaged charge on citizens!  As pointed out by Baba Yusuf, there are four layers of taxes – federal, state, LGA, bandits/kidnapper and please add for non-bandit areas, the area boys, parking boys and those seeking funds at every gate of every function, etc.

    The history of ‘Funds’, Pension, Police, Education  etc. leave a bad taste  in  management and value questions with poor accountability and little value for the huge funds disbursed. Nigerians are reeling from TETFUND revelations as ‘Funds’ allow the few to freely spend our money. Most of the previous ‘Funds’ have never met the much boasted about goals and the consequent expectations of the citizenry, even though the expectations of the often corruption and greed driven creators of such ‘Funds’ ideas may have been met. Nigeria has a way of turning every, even good golden, idea into dust.

    Nigerians already pay transfer charges, COT/FGN Electronic Money Transfer Levy and other charges

    Some were introduced at the whim of the then CBN governor and collaborators in the banks. 

    The visit of Prince Harry, founder of the INVICTUS GAMES and Meghan has the silent message emphasising the plight of many and the amazing performance of some of our injured armed forces personnel in mental recovery and sports and work-related activities. Congratulations to the armed forces and organisations, NGOs and sports bodies. But many more hands must come on deck – like BIG BROTHER, Corporate Nigeria Nollywood and the media. The federal, state and LGAs as well as Corporate Nigeria, not only in Abuja but at state, LGA and ward level must participate in honouring supporting injured officers and men. They have less than 10% of needed mobility equipment, prostheses, wheelchairs, jerseys, kit and equipment for sporting, work support and travel assistance for local and international opportunities.

    Harry and Meghan’s silent exemplary message to Nigeria’s political and financial leadership is to increase our government and private sector budgets and activities and services for empowerment, recreation and rehabilitation of injured armed forces and all challenged persons.

  • Allow kegs; JAMB 76% failure

    Allow kegs; JAMB 76% failure

    Hurray, Taraba State announces that EFCC will monitor ongoing World Bank and other projects. This is just what we have been demanding in this column for years for every single government and MDA project. Federal and other states please follow suit to save Nigeria from a new round of preventable corruption discoveries killing citizens.

     Today we must discuss the common petrol kegs in homes and shops nationwide – 25 litres, 10, 50 and even 100litres- have been used and abused by immediate resale on the black market. At every single petrol station, thousands of genuine needy keg owners line up for domestic and office use. Some bring several kegs for co-workers. Millions of genuinely needy citizens owning thirsty petrol generators powering domestic, education, reading, work and play needs.

    There is not enough electric power – just 3-7Mw meeting just 5% of Nigeria’s power needs of 70Mw. The rest is made up by toxic fume generator power.

    The tragic consequences of our 50-year power deficit include many lives lost from petrol tanker and generator explosions and fumes like the recent one in Rivers State. These losses are due to greed and incompetence related failure to plan and execute stepwise worldwide accepted increased power supply by successive governments. 

     The current law appears to empower the watchdog of petrol stations, to close stations selling into kegs. But many petrol filling stations are compelled by the circumstances outlined above, and tremendous local pressure including threats and violence and cash, to service the needy keg citizens. Unscrupulous attendants will always service the local area boys. 

    The ‘no kegs law’ is yet another asinine law punishing all the citizens for the sins of those buying to resell on the black market. Instead of enforcing the bad law, please deploy security to stations to protect keg citizens from criminal black market keg fillers.

    This is just another one of the over 100 unintended consequences of serial bad governance for which the citizens have to pay a heavy price.

    The government failure has forced every office and shop and home to own a small to large petrol generator 500cc –15KVA and kegs compulsorily and, from barber to businessman.

    Why should Nigerians again be punished for the wicked black marketers? 

    Government has created a problem that it cannot solve by the ban on keg petrol sales. 

    Fellow Nigerians should not all suffer because of petrol keg black marketers. Fellow Nigerians already have suffered multibillion naira losses from black markers in foreign exchange, government-neglected roads and corruption mis-built roads and unnecessary obstacle course queues to get seven IDs. In contrast, instead of Nigeria’s crippling 1, 3 or 5 year renewal, other countries give 10 years to life IDs saving citizens time and money and improving the sense of nationhood.

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    Shame! While the introducers should be praised, those who stood against the 10-year passport should be exposed and punished. ‘Our Mumu done do’ as Charlie Boy has said. And WE STILL DO NOT HAVE A FACE AND FINGERPRINTS DATABASE accessible by police in stations!! Yet we were taught that ‘simple things occur commonly’! Sadly, here ‘simple things are made complex and complex things made impossible’ and even worse ‘everything we touch turns to corruption and dust’ and not gold dust.  

    We celebrate and congratulate the amazing leadership of the honesty-is my- practical-and-policy’ Prof Is-haq Oloyede on the 2024 JAMB exam successfully carried out with minimum infringements and maximum credibility. We congratulate Fasesin Ayomiposi, Kunle-Olawepo Ayomikun, Aaron David   among others for scoring 355 in JAMB 2024 and the nearly 200,000 who scored more than 200. Of the 1,989,668 who registered 1,904,109 sat while 80,810 were absent due to illness, under preparation, Boko Haram and other terrorism, wrong venue and even fear of getting caught for cheating. 64,624 were under investigation. We should cry and accuse every politician when 1,402,490 i.e. 76% scored less than 200 and may require to re-sit the exam in 2025. How many of the 1,402,490 were resits?

     Passing an exam is personal brain power, teacher, school/home environment driven. If  a child was deprived of oxygen at birth, that student will not get high JAMB results. That is compromised brain power.

    2024 EMERGENCY EDUCATION STRATEGY MUST FIGHT for the JAMB AND MOCK FAILURES so they pass the next exam before they become permanent societal failures.

    The 76% failure is not a student but a government failure though it will cost the students and their families many millions in money and hours of study.

    To prevent mass failure, developed countries have a bottom-up approach to education. They pour money and very well-trained and well qualified staff into pre-school, KG and primary school realising that a solid foundation in 1-11year olds is the most important component of getting an educated workforce prepared for the future. A hallmark of developing countries is to almost totally ignore the entire education system and especially the primary part. Consequently, there are minimum or no qualifications for those putting the first ideas and words and songs into the mouths and minds of our youth. A governor in the North is said to be paying N10,000/month to primary school teachers. Contrast them with Montessori schools and other primary schools in the private sector. The world is familiar and horrified by the poor state of the Chibok School as revealed by the international media.  We have quality and quantity work to do in education.

  • Bobrisky; Immunity; POS; Bullying; WAEC; Corruption

    Bobrisky; Immunity; POS; Bullying; WAEC; Corruption

    Happy May Day! We need  to ‘fight’  six wars :

    A high manpower, high tec ‘Surprise, Surround, Neutralise’ War on Terrorism. 

    A National Orientation Agency driven ‘honesty rewarding’ War on Corruption strengthening the naira!

    An NOA-driven pre-emptive, Anti-Bullying & Anti-Beating War -to prevent further mental and physical injury, including eye injury, and deaths among students.

    A Decentralising Restructuring ‘Policy Change’  War.

    Much ado about immunity. Immunity is  not from personal corruption. You are not ‘forced to be corrupt’ just because you are a public figure! Immunity is protection for ‘public interest political policies and practices’. Corruption should be anathema and not the hallmark of politics. The young, male and female,  are not immune from corruption.

    Bobrisky imprisoned 6 months for ‘abuse’ of naira. She/He already apologised! A monetary fine and an apology is justice with a human face. No one wants to see Her/Him with a 6-month prison beard. 

    Meanwhile the permanent death-stars of the ‘Nigerian Development Show’, the imposed  ‘WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT’  1993 CONSTITUTION, no-go areas and antidevelopment Exclusive List monopolies championed by  feudal ethnic beliefs precipitate regressive  polices caging the Mighty Elephant, Nigeria, which can only trumpet through its trunk -the media- about its potential if unleashed. Electricity regulation was abuse of Nigeria, deregulation will restore normalcy. We suffer cycles of South-led progress followed by  regression imposed by the feudal section of the North, criminally forcing the youth to remain ignorant and servile. The criminal negative effect is reinforced in too many politicians, contractors, bankers and civil servants from both North and South, who collectively steal or divert trillions but are paradoxically treated like royalty. We should not  ‘Stand up! Stand Up for the thieves!!’ when they enter the room. How does one person divert or steal N1- 100,000,000,000, N100billion= N1,250 from every child.

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    What makes people, God’s creatures, morally bereft and fiscally corrupt, create citizens’ suffering, deprivation and death? Murderers, not thieves?  ‘Corruption wrong’ everywhere does not make ‘corruption right’ in your case. Can nothing overcome corruption? The media has weekly frenzies at each new financial crime.

    Accused have been charged, tried, and too infrequently convicted of financial crimes like money laundering and corrupt enrichment. Read about the bank driven POS scam and add it to others like sale of new notes, and roundtripping forex trading, the 20,000+ man aboki-bloated black market.

    Corruption prosecution cases should list the loses, deprivation of scholarships, students failure in underequipped schools, the murder of women and children dying from absent staff, medication, electricity and equipment in hospitals, and finally for the hospital stays, rehabilitation, job losses, murders and vehicular damage  on potholed roads.

    The investigation agencies are barely coping with crimes already committed and seem unable, underfunded, undertrained or too politically shackled or ethnically fearful to prevent corrupt practices except at the Humanitarian affairs ministry manned to its ‘death’ by three ladies. These investigation agencies are under fire for doing their job as corruption fights back. The multiple billions of developmental naira, huge amounts in our raped and robbed country, under investigation, if used properly, would have preserved the naira value at N1:$1.5. Nigeria’s fall from financial grace to naira ruin lies with the ‘Nigerian Cult Of Greed-over Need’ by ‘Nigeria’s Financial Axis of Evil’ Nigeria’s costly natural disaster.

    Never have so few abandoned responsibility for and directly done physical evil to so many citizens by denying them electricity, water, child-friendly school environments, scholarships, clean patient-friendly hospitals and instead stealing and misappropriating their patrimony. The proceeds they converted into obscenely legally illegal, immoral huge pensions and payments for jets and even future school fees. Such quantum of theft decimated the pensions of every single family, destroying the first African family bank in Nigeria -the Nigerian Extended Family. 

    Note the poor results of the WEAC just released. Who is solving the problem? Is it nuclear physics? Too few books in schools? Inflated book and classroom construction costs? Monetised or ethnically politicised education decision making? Education worldwide requires 11-15% of budgets to maintain standards. For Nigeria to catch up we require increased budgets to 20% for 10 years but spend 5% deliberately creating an army of disadvantaged youth. Look at any Chibok or any rundown public school near you. Thank God for the Old Students other Associations and NGOs like Educare Trust, Nigeria or the results would have been worse. Corporate Nigeria prefers billboards, social media frenzies and Big Brother to equipping schools for Generation Next.  

    You are not corrupt but who inflates the cost of 1 textbook or kilometre built reducing total books bought or roads built?. No country grows if corruption is above 10%. Remember an airport completely funded with  no airport seen yet 100% corruption?  We would have built Nigeria x10-20 times without corruption.

    Then add investigative hurdles like political interference, complicity or incompetent, insincere and deliberately delayed prosecution and judicial connivance. Imagine not knowing the court of jurisdiction?

    All these, together the politically-driven epidemic of post-arrest sick leave, demands to travel abroad for ‘sudden’ post-arrest illnesses confound courts. The accused are never ‘too sick to steal’, only ‘too sick to stand trial’ and create tragicomedy Nollywood quality medically coached certified ‘Corruption Case Court Accused Collapse’ with props like wheelchair, crutches, plaster casts, neck brace and moaning. Can someone like NOA drum it into the ‘Corpus Corruptus of Nigeria’ that there is no survival of the larger extended family and community with the current high levels of corruption.

  • Onakoya: Teaching Youth Need Vs Adult Greed

    Onakoya: Teaching Youth Need Vs Adult Greed

    Learn from Tunde Onakoya’s generosity and dedication to help Nigeria’s youth.

    It is disgracefully late but not too late to change Nigeria’s child damaging, insufficient, poor exam-success percentages, inadequate education ways in most schools and even homes. Just look at the abysmally shameful educational quality seen in Chibok and Kuriga. How dare a country hold its school children in such low esteem as to deliberately deprive them and their teachers of ‘WEAPONS TO WIN THE EDUCATION WAR’ while  our politicians choose jeeps and stealing billions in humanitarian funds over classroom content of its 25m eligible children!! ‘CHESS IS A WEAPON TO WIN THE EDUCATION WAR’.

    We must go back to ‘good old school days’ in schools and get parents and community business involved again in education through vibrant voluntarily contributing PTAs and committed Community Boards of Governors. Thank goodness for Secondary School Old Students Associations but we urgently need PRIMARY SCHOOL OLD STUDENTS ASSOCIATIONS ALSO.

    The Guinness Marathon Chess Record of 60 hours  credited to 29 yr. old Tunde Onakoya playing  Shawn Martinez, an American Chess Champion,  in Times Square, New York is a great achievement. Congratulations.

    Tunde Onakoya is a child education advocate and founder of Chess in Slums to motivate, empower and uplift the too-often abandoned, materially denied, underutilised, understimulated, underchallenged and underrated young minds of often underprivileged children in deprived living conditions, be they slums on land or huts on waterways. Hurray and congratulations to Onakoya/Martinez. And congratulations to Tunde Onakoya,  selflessly working towards raising $1million for his Chess organisation’s Nigerian need children, while most Nigerian politicians are better known for financially ‘miraculously’  owning a private jet or becoming the principle star of yet another of  the ‘Not Nollywood’ films titled  ‘Multibillion Naira EFCC/ICPC Investigation And A Long Never-To-Be-Convicted Multiyear Multi-Court Marathon Trial’. Different strokes for different folks.

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    Incidentally Morgan Stanley the multibillion financial mega-institution has donated $5k and $110K has been raised elsewhere. We await more than ‘nothing but good wishes’ to be donated by Nigeria’s ‘rich, famous and infamous’ to fund the difference.

    This effort seeks to fill the void of ‘co-curricular activities’ for the youth. When we were younger such games were available, along with track and field sports, and board games like scrabble and were the backbone of ‘free time’ activities. These co-curricular activities have suffered with the massive rise in government corrupt practices stealing the funds.

    But the thieves and administrators of such funds ignore the internationally confirmed fact that investment in educating youth in co-curricular activities is an essential part of the Western  education curriculum and skill identification. This has been also championed by Educare Trust for 30 years and other NGOs and targeted at making the youth occupy their ‘free time’ with mind expanding, body strengthening, skill acquiring, mind broadening, emotionally calming, healthy-habit inculcating and strong moral fibre  activities.

    Without education in co-curricular activities, NECO and WEAC  academic subjects are inadequate, and we abandon our youth to complain, singing the YOUTH ANTHEM OF ‘I AM BORED’.  BOREDOM IN YOUTH IS A PREVENTABLE DISEASE  REQUIRING TREATMENT. Fortunately, the youth will show signs and even talk about being bored. Ignoring the disease is a parental, school, community and government failure to provide needed cocurricular activities and community facilities like Youth Centres, sports stadia and frequent and challenging tournaments where the youth can identify their talents, be coached by role models with adequate equipment to develop fully to be able to compete at every level up to international level. The Great Hogan Bassey taught us defensive boxing at Abalti Barracks, Yaba in the early 60s.  

    We forget that cocurricular activities are essential in equipping youth adequately in the arena of ‘MENTAL & Physical & Social HEALTH’. Team and individual Games teach youth brains how to be noble, humble, magnanimous and generous in victory and encouraged even in defeat to avoid depression, suicide and violence against others with constant malicious but baseless claims of cheating. We must eliminate the bully in all of us.

    Let us remember the old time when it was compulsory to belong to two or more of the organised bodies like  Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Red Cross, Blue Crescent, Man O’ War, school clubs like Literary and Debating and Maths and Drama Clubs, school bands, athletics and football, basketball, netball, cricket, swimming, gymnastics, weight lifters, wrestling, boxing, judo, taekwondo, dancing and other teams and individual activities in school based and community based operations. Today we add ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER CLUBS. In today’s Nigeria there are too few  public and even private schools with enough of these opportunities.

    Please recall that since 1994 Educare Trust’s suggestions over 30 years have been for  a YOUTH CENTRE per WARD as the 8,813 wards are the political unit of Nigeria. At the very least we should have a LARGE NONPOLITICAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA YOUTH CENTER-Just 774 in number. Imagine if these Youth Centres had been created 30 years ago, there would have been much needed funding focus and locally available support for  the youth across our country, regardless of terrain and  1 There are too few Youth centres where the advantaged and disadvantaged youth can meet for equal opportunity, and mutually respectful competitive and cooperative voluntary activities. No parent, community leader or politician can buy such camaraderie with money but money is required to provide any and all the needed facilities identified above and many others like regularly updated school libraries.

  • No ID CARD now; BAND A??

    No ID CARD now; BAND A??

    The tragic news of the expected birth of the next in a long line of very monstrously expensive, very individually time- consuming and very poor value-for-budget ID cards is again raising its ugly head on the immediate agenda of the current government , pregnant with so many good, bad and ugly ideas. All 160m+ Nigerians [can we really be ‘over 200m’ when they seem unavailable or disappear at voting and school time] fervently pray that this government sticks to the good inexpensive masses-upliftment ideas that it has which can make Nigerians ‘happy people’ again quickly after years of pillage, budgetary rape, robbery  and devaluation of our formerly precious currency, the naira.

    If the multibillion naira planned to be spent on a card supposed to improve our financial security, is spent instead on our massive physical security problems, more electricity, more security, more good roads, many more Nigerians, likely to be murdered in their villages, farms and on roads this year, would probably live. Nigerians are reeling under multiple creative taxation including for generator, for ‘open space use’, for LGA something? Why would this government, doing amazingly well on the naira value recovery front, plunge citizens into another ‘chaotic card’  situation. Good or bad idea, it is 2-3 years too early and wrong timing!

    Nigerians are among the most patient and most frequent IDed and prayerful citizens  world. But we are paradoxically also among the top corrupted countries. Remember that the best IDed countries also groan under  corruption, bank fraud and identity theft in spite of their CCC ‘Cards, Cameras and Computers’.

    Let the Auditor General report to Nigeria how much ‘Contracts for ID cards’ have cost Nigeria so far. Nigeria’s cards are too short term, requiring too frequent renewal, another ploy to extort from citizens. Drivers Licence, Voters Card[x?6], BVN, NIN, TIN, Passports et cetera  Government wastes a huge amount of the citizen’s time having to renew official ID documents and periodically comes up with a new one for to dance to all over again. Yet Nigeria still does not have the most basic Course 1-0-1 FINGERPRINT AND FACE-MUG-SHOTS IN ALL OUR POLICE STATIONS AND A NATIONAL CRIMINAL DATABASE over 100 years after use in England. Nigeria’s Crime Laboratories are among the least equipped worldwide. This condemns police to use measures other than evidence.

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    Government would be more appreciated if it was announcing a National Crime Data Base for fingerprints, facial  recognition and body and limb scarification and tattoos photo-records to better professionalise policing.

    Government would have been applauded if it announced that all existing databases were now available to police and financial crime investigators for cross-referencing. Government needs to tell us that our databases are valuable, available and well-protected from hackers, perhaps by using local language proverbs of the small, lesser-known ethnic groups as passwords in firewalls.  

    Government could not stop the NASS embarrassing itself publicly by buying N160m jeeps for its 360 politicians at a time of 70-80% nationwide poverty. But Government can stop its enthusiastic officials from embarking on yet another multibillion expensive adventure just to ‘give’ us a new ID Card, which, hehehe, we will all have to pay double for. Surely a levy of N5-10,000 will be demanded even though all government money is our money, making us pay twice!

    In conclusion, this Multipurpose ID/cum Mastercard Scheme may be good but it is ill-advised when all the schools lack water, books, laboratories, toilets, sports equipment and security; and life is so insecure. Let us postpone it until certain goals are reached. Until all the farms are accessed in safety for farmers, families and property; when all the bandits and terrorists have been neutralised; when Nigerians are made naira-proud; when we have $50b in Foreign Reserves and a less than N400:$1. Let us put food on Nigerians’ tables, smiles on faces, books in children’s hands; terrorists and bandits neutralised; jobs for  youth and fingerprinting and mugshots in police stations. Reorder Nigeria’s priorities please with our limited funding.    

    Nigeria will never be great again if it keeps recycling the same old failed ID Projects, same old policies, same old roads and bridges, same old bookless schools and healthcare-less hospitals and clinics. That ID card multibillion naira could be used in far better ways to help Nigeria achieve  the SDGs.  Yes, ID and financial inclusion and fiscal security are problems but they do not kill like violence, crime, and hunger do. In Nigeria today a multibillion-naira new ID Card Scheme is not a life-saving priority. Let us abandon the scheme for now lest it’s almost guaranteed poor implementation and escalating cost will be seen as a scam hung around the government’s neck.

    Band A IS THE NEW SONG IN TOWN. CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THE BUSINESS LOGIC OF PAYING MORE PER UNIT PRICE FOR INCREASED SUPPLY? Buying more makes you a better valued customer and should bring a discount for turnover volume, abi no be sooo? The more you buy the cheaper it becomes. Common business sense, teach the power holding companies. Some favoured groups of citizens never pay for services and these fees are passed on to those who actually pay their exorbitant fees. It was so for NITEL, NEPA and IDD, International Direct Dial phones. Has anyone you know ever had 20 hours/day power. Power companies should CHANGE THEIR CUSTOMER UNFRIENDLY BUSINESS MODEL AND GET A NEW ‘BAND AID’ TO PLAY A DIFFERENT MORE HONEST ELECTRICITY TUNE.

  • Lessons for ‘mock’ failures; Air Peace

    Lessons for ‘mock’ failures; Air Peace

    We are in the period of mock exams requiring urgent state and federal NUT-driven intervention with a POST-MOCK TEACHING ONE MONTH PROGRAMME IN EACH SCHOOL TARGETTING THE STUDENTS WHO FAILED. The failed students should be detained for after-hour classes and during holidays and tutored, not mentally tortured, for the systemic neglect and failure of adequate education support. Our SSS3 teachers must be praised for intervention and be especially morally and monetarily motivated and encouraged to put in the extra hours for poorly performing and especially economically poor students who cannot get extra lessons and who will fall through the education net. Such an extensive nationwide effort will increase the pass rate in national exams into the 60-70% and reduce the partially and under-education ‘exam-failure’ burden on society.  But time is already running out for our failing youth.

    The success of Allen Onyema’s Air Peace getting a slot in the UK reviving the almost ignored ‘reciprocity’ clause in all international airways’ arrangement is commendable. As the CEO said, it has been difficult for Air Peace in the UK and sadly even in Nigeria with unsupervised officials obstructing progress by not cooperating when all Nigerians should be proud of the Air Peace’s slot. No, it is not the moon landing, but for Nigerians, it is a major economic achievement as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and others have already been forced to crash their cutthroat ticket prices.

    Yes, it is a post-independence economic colonialism that the Lagos-London route is the most expensive, per kilometre, in the world, just like our road construction costs. The foreign airlines ‘blamed’ high local charges for parking and taxiing, hotel bills for crew and ground staff, and hidden charges, as reasons for their high prices. But we use much cheaper ‘two landing and take-off’ European airlines which stop at Paris, etc. and hop to London, twice as many landings and take-offs. They pay the same landing and taxiing costs in Lagos as BA and VA, and also additional ones for landing and taking off in Europe and finally in London. BA and Virgin Atlantic planes do not have more leg room or better on-board services than the other airlines. [At six feet+, leg room is important to me]. So, could their argument be simple arrogant maximum-profit business sense?

    There is no empathy for ordinary Nigerian families seeking to travel for reasons of health, education and holidays. When Virgin first started, the story goes that it wanted $300/seat at a guaranteed 80% occupancy. Its local partners bought all the tickets at $300 but sold to passengers at just under the British Airways rate then of $5-700. This negatively impacted the philanthropic spirit of Richard Branson to help Africa and combat British Airways which had already paid almost $3.9m in damages and legal fees for shady business practices aimed at obstructing his business. If true, it demonstrates our own Nigerian attitudinal contribution to the airfare problem. Of course, the European airlines have upped their fares and are just reducing them now that Air Peace is operational. But Air Peace had predecessors like Nigeria Airways, Arik which all managed to fail.

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    In the early 70s, we proudly flew on Nigeria Airways ‘Summer Flight’ Holidays from university, proudly flashing our Green Passport at respectful London immigration officials and visited tourist attractions like Q Club in Paddington. Nigeria Airways died partly because of the civil servants and politicians’ failure to pay for their travel vouchers. Till today they hardly ever pay their legitimate bills. Look at the electricity ‘no bills paid’ problem hindering health care causing deaths in teaching hospitals and also in military barracks and Aso Rock. Yet instead of electricity corporations collecting the billions outstanding, we are asked to pay a fourfold increase in electricity fees in a ‘20 hour a day A band’. Where in Nigeria does anyone get 20 hours power a day?

    Of course there was serious corruption in the Nigerian Airways. In 1966, there was an enquiry into Nigerian Airways corruption by Mr Justice Olu Omololu, and in 2002, the Justice Obiora Nwazota Panel found N60billion  stolen in an orgy of airborne fraud. Google it for the accused leadership who freely stole millions of pounds. So, corruption is endemic.

    See the stillborn new Nigerian national carrier with spraying and de-spraying of a borrowed phantom plane but still no flight.  

    We know the federal government cannot be trusted to run an airline in Nigeria as it will again be run into the ground with huge debts passed to the citizens for non-payment of vouchers, salaries and equipment lease costs et cetera. This trajectory of fiscal incompetence and indiscipline is mostly endemic in almost all our Ministries, Departments and Agencies. High political and government officials with supervisory or oversight responsibility and the hundreds of   Directors, Deputy Directors, Board members etc.  will expect a free ticket for self and wife and seven children. The planes may face irregular diversion by NASS members for party and non-party activities like one giant air Uber taxi experience.

    Yes, government may own shares in an airline through pension fund, Sovereign Wealth Fund, and other legal means but the carrier should have an entirely professional board and hierarchy or we will go the way of the recently rescued NNPC.

    If government insists on running the new airline, there must be a strict ‘payment confirmation time frame’ even for emergency flights.