The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • Badenoch: A dream realised in Diaspora

    Badenoch: A dream realised in Diaspora

    • By Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye

    Sir: As Nigerian born Olukemi Badenoch achieved a remarkable feat in the politics of United Kingdom (UK), praises and encouragement should be in order to celebrate this amazing woman in all ramifications.

    Born Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke of Ondo Ekinmogun, Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State, it gladdens the heart that a Nigerian blood became a conservative icon, replacing Rishi Sunak, the immediate past Prime Minister.

    Kemi’s journey is a testament for hope that many Nigerians, that given the opportunities, would achieve feats deemed impossible even by our leaders. She has proven to the world that we, as Nigerians, are capable of not just dreams, but of achieving dreams of flourishing, spreading our wings even in the windiest storms given the opportunity. If only our country would enable our growth.

    Today, Nigeria has almost become the poverty capital of the world with traps and snares to hold dreams bound, stifling growth, and neglecting the abundance of what our wealth of knowledge could achieve, pushing young and promising citizens out of Nigeria in search for a greener pasture. The sheer number of people leaving Nigeria highlights the missing trust for our government, abandoning their homeland in search of a greener pasture to grow and become people of history like our forefathers.

    With the incessant insecurity, unemployment, economic hardship, and abuse, I can say that our leaders are our problems. And I am elated that people like Kemi Badenoch found a way out of this dream-trapper nation to shine, to lead, and make Nigerians home and abroad proud of the nationality that has done us more harm than good.

    I hear many Nigerians criticizing Kemi Badenoch for her comment about Nigeria during her campaign, but as Nigerians, are we oblivious to the fact that this is a necessary truth?

    Her revelation about the growth and competition stifling environment, the corruption engorged systems, the missed opportunities, lack of fair competition, and the privileged having an upper hand over the underprivileged cuts home more than she might have meant. All these are nothing but the truth.

    Kemi Badenoch is a case study. Nigeria would have killed her dreams if she had remained in the country. Her words are a call to accountability, a voice for those silenced by poverty, exclusion, and systemic abuse and not an attack on Nigeria.

    Or don’t we see how the system is treating Nigerians, making them beg for the most basic of all amenities?

    I do not view her choice of words as an attack on her roots, but from a place of lived experience, pain, and voicing out for those without the voice and platform she has been given. Her journey abroad was not an abandonment of her roots but the realities that forced her to leave. Her criticism, though painful, should be a rallying cry for us to demand better; to demand that Nigeria live up to its potential and provide a nation worthy of its people’s dreams.

    Read Also: Anti-graft: Lawyers’ platform seeks more powers for EFCC

    Had Kemi Badenoch chosen to stay in Nigeria, her story might have been like so many others—punctuated by harassment or forced into silence by those who see female ambition as threat. Our brightest minds are thus left to fight battles that should not exist. Either through sheer hard work or privilege from her parents, she did not allow Nigeria to hold her dreams at ransom. She did not allow Nigeria to kill her dream.

    As we congratulate Kemi Badenoch on her remarkable achievements, we are left to ask ourselves: how many more Kemis have we lost? How many have seen their dreams crushed under the weight of Nigeria’s dysfunctional system? Her success should not be an exception; it should be the rule. But this will remain a dream until Nigeria is willing to confront its failures honestly and commit to nurturing the dreams of its people. Instead of putting the head of those who speak out on the stake.

    To Kemi, I say – you are a symbol of what Nigerians can achieve when given the opportunity. And to Nigeria, I say – May you not continue to kill the dreams of your children, for each life that leaves you is a loss you cannot afford. And to Nigerians, I say – May we continue to have the zeal and urge to follow our dreams and make the nation proud.

    Maxwell Adeyemi Adeleye,

    United Kingdom.

  • Make energy priority for Southwest Commission

    Make energy priority for Southwest Commission

    • By Mujib Dada-Kadri Esq

    Sir: Nigeria’s political and economic foundations were built on regional developments and integrations. The regional economic foundations comprised of the North, East, West and Mid-west leading to significant economic prosperity especially in agriculture. Unfortunately, the regional model (regionalism) was truncated by political complexities and controversies of that era which arguably prompted a disruptive coup in 1966.

    Undoubtedly, the significant success of that era which presented Nigeria as a leading light in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the league of commonwealth nations was so evident coupled with enviable regional competitive strides.

    Interestingly, Nigeria’s political and economic evolution under different democratic/civilian dispensations has resulted in the jettisoning of the economic legacies or potentials of regionalism leaving us to caress the nostalgia of the 50s/60s for ethnic and political advantages.

    The regional economic legacies of agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructures and education have been largely trashed. For example, the legacies of reputable Western Nigeria Development Corporation (WNDC) founded by the regional administration of Chief Obafemi Awolowo which metamorphosed into Odua Group of Companies have been poorly preserved. Other regional conglomerates have suffered similar fate.

    The recent establishment of South West Development Commission (SWDC) provides a fresh opportunity to reflect on old regional economic legacies that favoured Western Nigeria and inspire new ambitions. Obviously, the reintroduction of regional development agencies which commenced during the era of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, aimed for special regional economic interests especially to assist the marginalized Niger-Delta region and subsequent creation of North East Development Commission to assist the region in post-terrorism recovery.

    South West Development Commission has joined the “league” and excellent regional economic ambitions should be considered to avoid the redundancy syndrome that captured previous regional development commissions.

    This writer is proposing a strategic energy masterplan for Western Nigeria. Nigeria has monumental energy potentials and oil has contributed the largest to Nigeria’s GDP for over 35 years.  Alternatively, Nigeria has intimidating gas resources but has failed to maximize its natural gas resources for domestic energy security, international trade, industrialization, agriculture, power supply and urbanization.

    According to PWC 2020 report, Nigeria has the 9th largest gas reserves globally with about 209.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven gas reserves. These gas reserves have been confirmed to be enormous in these inland basins; Chad, Dahomey, Sokoto, Benue trough, Niger Delta, Bida and Anambra. Luckily, the Dahomey/Benin basin spans across Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states and some parts of West Africa. The need for Southwest to maximize the potentials of the Dahomey basin cannot be overemphasized especially for sustainable electricity in Western Nigeria.

    Read Also: Nigeria, ECOWAS to improve energy data methods

    South West Development Commission should make energy transition and maximization key interest for the development of Western Nigeria. The commission in achieving this ambition should mastermind a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will include all states in Western Nigeria to establish “LUKUMI ENERGY PROJECT” under the auspices of WESTERN NIGERIA ENERGY MASTERPLAN. The aim of this project is to jointly raise minimum of $5billion for gas expansion projects that will explore the Dahomey Basin to provide gas for power generation and distribution to all states in Western Nigeria. The goal is to generate and distribute minimum of 5000 megawatts in three years to power all homes in Western Nigeria, special industrial zones and share excess with the national grid in accordance with the newly amended Electricity Act and 1999 constitution which allow for generation of electricity by sub-nationals and other forms of independent power generations.

    The natural gas exploration is also possible by sub-nationals but within the framework of a corporate entity which will be licensed by the federal government. This project will be expected to contribute more than 10% to Nigeria’s GDP in seven years and deepen regional industrialization.

    Western Nigeria has lofty legacies to protect and new economic ambitions to project to the world. Energy transition and maximization have been suggested as the most strategic for the region regardless of other economic interests because of the huge potentials inherent in energy sector and easy plausibility of regional connectivity.

    •Mujib Dada-Kadri Esq,

     Abuja

  • Integrate scrap metal business into poverty reduction plan

    Integrate scrap metal business into poverty reduction plan

    Sir: I dare to ask: is there any business or profession that is 100 per cent clean, devoid of any bad eggs?  Amongst judges, lawyers, doctors, teachers or politics if it can be called a profession, the fact is that there are full of wicked people in every sector does not call for it banning.

    Therefore, it is myopic for anyone to advocate for banning scrap metal business in any part of Nigeria.

    If for example, you outlaw the scrap industry, what are you going to do with over three million youth, most of whom young, aged between 10 to 35 in northern Nigeria? What will be their fate? Who is going to employ them?  Here we are living in one of the individualistic society where everybody is on his own. The political elites use the system to amass wealth in order not invest but to stash it away, and the same class are calling for destruction of an industry that provides jobs to millions of people, what a sadistic mind-set?

     Fifty per cent of the entire total raw materials our manufacturing industries use are sourced from the scrap metal and waste dealers. This helps our government to preserve the scarce foreign exchange. Indeed, without scrap metals and waste dealers, I don’t know how factories can survive.

    I learnt that most of the plastic and metals, including mat, kettle, plates, shoes, rod, etc are made from the recycled materials. Recycling is greatly helping in protecting the environment, reducing methane and addressing the climate change.

    Read Also: Climate Change: Nigeria to double down climate financing, says Minister

    Thus, banning this very important industry will never solve the challenge posed by thieves and vandals. Even if you outlaw the business, the vandalism will continue or even worse because those that will be jobless will go underground and become hardened criminals. Nigeria cannot afford to create more criminals.

    So, what is the way forward?

    Since we all agree that recycling is an indispensable venture, the government should sit down with the dealers and all stakeholders from the industry, to co-create a sustainable solution. Looking down on scavengers and levelling them blindly as thieves is useless because you are not addressing the problem.

    These scrap metal dealers have their own association. How many times has the government bothered to sit with them and develop a permanent solution to the challenges of theft and vandalism? Treating all of them as criminals is not only unfair but even goes against the doctrine of the rule of law.

    We need an intervention that will not compound our poverty, unemployment and security challenges.

    I am happy that some state governors in northern Nigeria are now having a change of strategy in dealing with scrap metals and waste entrepreneurs.

    •Comrade Bishir Dauda Sabuwar,Unguwa Katsina

  • Edo election and PDP’s TV histrionics

    Edo election and PDP’s TV histrionics

    Sir: Arise –TV’s regular morning show on November 2 featured one Martins Obono, Executive Director, Tap Initiative for Citizens Development. Obono claims to be one of the many civil society activists in Nigeria and indeed, there are a legion of them. We do know for a fact that dangerous and unscrupulous elements operate as spies and agents and in all manner guises in the name of operatives of civil society organizations.

    In the extant case, Obono could barely conceal the fact that he was a PDP agent, commissioned to discredit the results of the Edo State gubernatorial election held on September 21 as he went straight for the jugular of INEC from start. By deliberate act of skulduggery, he referenced the results in the fake PDP-IREV portal as if it was truly INEC-IREV. A bit of balanced review of his claims portrayed INEC as dumb and obtuse. That is far from the truth!

    Martins Obono’s egregious claims cannot stand the heat of legal interrogation except to serve the purpose of unconscionably besmirching the image of INEC thereby keeping the forlorn hope of the vanquished falsely high.

    While Obono was justifying his engagement by the PDP, the petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Asue Ighodalo, before the State Election Tribunal contesting the outcome of the election clearly circumvented the dead end of making electoral malpractices and corrupt practices such as forgery of results being belaboured at Arise-TV media trial as grounds for his petition. Rather, the two main grounds that will be hotly contested in the State Election Tribunal as filed by the PDP are:

    (1) Non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

    (2) That the 2nd respondent (Governor-elect) did not win with the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

    There is no deposition or documents supporting allegations of “forgery” before the election tribunal. In the petition, the PDP is building her case around allegations of over-voting, votes’ suppression, etc. The Arise TV histrionics is a superfluous and unwarranted media trial that might distract their focus on proving the allegations in their petition.

    It is important to call on the general public to discountenance the wild claims by the PDP and her paid agents. The APC repeatedly raised alarm before and after the election that PDP installed digital technology equipment including a fake IREV Centre at a location near the Government House to falsify the votes scored by the respective parties at the election.

    Read Also: Infrastructure: Nigeria may miss 70 per cent broadband target

    Further post-election investigation not only confirmed the APC’s alarm but phantom and fictitious figures emanating from their illegal IREV portal are in the public space. They lied that requisite INEC Electoral forms were not filled in 320 polling units across the states, when in fact these forms were actually filled and endorsed.

    They lied about over voting in 58 polling units, this they did by mischievously adding “spoilt ballot papers” into their computation of valid votes cast for determining over voting. They did not plead the number of accredited voters as captured by the BVAS machine, they did not plead the BVAS report on accreditation of voters, yet they imagine they can prove over voting.

    Similarly, they repeated their crazy allegation of over voting and non- filling of the INEC Electoral forms in 75 polling units. They then prayed that APC’s valid votes in these polling units be cancelled on the basis of these false and speculative pleadings.

    The APC teeming members and the public should be wary of the misleading information regularly churned out by the PDP and their agents. It will intensify in the course of the trial. The true status of the PDP petition and pleadings before the State Election Tribunal should give no one any cause for worry. In the light of its vacuousness and hollowness, it cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny and fireworks. The counsels are not magicians and it is not within their calling to conjure evidence to prove cases! When it is dismissed by the tribunal (as we hope and expect), we should expect that opposition rogue mainstream and online media outlets will go haywire scandalizing and demonizing the courts/ judiciary for dismissing the empty petition. It is in their character to be desperate, irresponsible and unpatriotic!

    •Washington Osa Osifo, PhD,Benin- City

  • Nigeria’s ignoble record of traffic offenders

    Nigeria’s ignoble record of traffic offenders

    Sir: The rate of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths is very high in Nigeria. The 2023 data released by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) showed that about 5,000 people died in road traffic crashes. The report by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that over 39,000 people died in road traffic crashes in 2023 in Nigeria. Although there is disparity between the figures released by FRSC and WHO but we know who is correct and who is wrong.

    This year, the FRSC released the data of traffic offenders and it was mind-blowing. The report revealed that the number of Road Traffic Offenders arrested in the year 2023 is 614,051.

    On the side of FRSC, the arrests are a record – breaking achievement. To me, I see the high figure of violators as a bad omen. It is clearly an evidence that too many people are either still ignorant of the road traffic regulations and road rules while some are stubbornly disobeying the traffic laws thereby presenting themselves as safety risks on the roads. Hence the persistently high rate of road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths on our roads. The higher the rate of road rules violation, the higher will be the rate of road traffic crashes.

    It is worrisome that over 80 per cent of the current holders of Nigeria Drivers Licence do not know all the provisions of the National Road Traffic Regulations and the Nigeria Highway Code. Over 70 per cent got their drivers licence without undergoing the full theoretical and practical training sessions in driving schools. What we see on the roads today are trial by errors driving which has been the root cause of the high rate of traffic law violations and crashes.

    The National Road Traffic Regulations (2012) clearly states that every driver (and rider) must undergo a minimum of nine hours of cumulative refresher training before the drivers licence can be renewed.  The compromise in the enforcement of this law has further worsened the level of knowledge, skills and attitudes of drivers thereby placing Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest rates of road traffic crashes and also among the worst countries to drive in.

    Read Also: I will not circumvent civil servants’ functions – Humanitarian minister

    The high rate of compromise and corruption in traffic law enforcement is also another major cause of the high rate of traffic law violations and crashes.

    The continuing loss of lives and properties on the road has a lot of viral effects on the country, GDP, communities, families and businesses among others.

    In order to quickly and effectively stem this disheartening tide, there is an urgent need for the federal, state and local governments,  ministries of works and transportation,  the FRSC as the lead agency in Road Safety Administration,  state government traffic agencies,  Directorate of Road Traffic Services (VIOs), driving schools, transport unions, NGOs and CSOs involved in road safety, Institute of Driving Instructors of Nigeria and other stakeholders in transportation and road safety to wake up to their responsibilities towards ensuring safer road infrastructures and  safer road users.

    •Jide Owatunmise, Lagos

  • IPOB’s stranglehold on the Southeast

    IPOB’s stranglehold on the Southeast

    SIR: Slowly but fatally, like a boa constrictor, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is strangling the Southeast. It started with the stay-at-home order imposed in 2021. The order which continues to shutter schools, shops and other public places every Monday started off like some joke, but has now stretched for three years, crippling economic activities in the region and casting a thick pall of fear.

    Seeing that state governments in the Southeast and the federal government have failed to exert its authority to check its activities, the IPOB appears to be staking more claims to authority in the region even if legitimacy continues to elude a group bent on breaking the people it supposedly wants to liberate.

    The group recently threatened federal courts in the Southeast over the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. These threats have led to some courts suspending their activities in the region because the judges know very well that their safety could not be guaranteed.

    The implications of this for justice delivery are huge for a sector already struggling to cope with demands.

     Since the IPOB started forcing people to sit at home every Monday, there have been multiple, unprovoked attacks on security personnel and everyday Nigerians in the region.

    The question for the IPOB is: what does it think it is doing? Against whom is it issuing threats and warnings? The same people it wants to liberate from Nigeria? The peace-loving, enthusiastic and entrepreneurial people of the Southeast are not the problem and should be spared the worst effects of the actions of a group long infiltrated by common criminals.

    Read Also: Proscription: Appeal Court reserves judgment in IPOB’s case

     If the group has a bone to pick with Nigeria, then certainly, it should direct its ire to the Abuja which is the seat of government rather than persecute innocent people who are only trying to make ends meet.

     Now is no time for the government to show weakness or indecision. A threat to any part of the country is a threat to all the country. What is happening in the Southeast should not be dismissed as just desserts for the people of the region who have done more than most to keep Nigeria together through 64 chaotic years of independence.

    It is costly enough that the region continues to incur incalculable losses due to the grounding of economic activities and the prevalent atmosphere of insecurity. The fact that the region has not joined the hungry hordes in other regions of the country to protest against the government is a measure of the region’s discretion and restraint even in the most difficult of times.

    While there is the temptation to let the region which once tried to secede from Nigeria stew in its juice, the better approach would be for the federal government to arrest the insecurity threatening to spill out of control in the region by finding practical but prudent solutions. Finding a satisfying solution to the soluble problems in the Southeast would be for of the whole country, which needs everyone and every region to pull in the same direction if it is to fulfil its prodigious potentials.

    • Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com
  • New Owa Obokun: Memo to Ijesha kingmakers, others

    New Owa Obokun: Memo to Ijesha kingmakers, others

    By Fred Adeyemi

    The Ijesha kingmakers, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, and other stakeholders, have a delicate matter that they must handle carefully, dispassionately, and decisively – the selection of the new Owa Obokun of Ijesha land. The process of selecting the new king for the influential stool of the Adimula of Ijeshaland is very significant to the overall peace not only for the Ijesha Kingdom but the overall peace in Yoruba land. Therefore, filling the vacant stool calls for extreme caution and uprightness to write their names in the golden section of Ijesha’s history.

    The kingmakers and the Osun State Government in particular, must display the highest sense of responsibility, transparency, maturity, and emotional intelligence to handle this critical assignment that will happen in their own time. This may be the first time most of the Ijesha kingmakers will be handling the assignment of selection of a new king. But the same cannot be said of the state government.  The kingmakers must therefore be conscious of their place in history and do the right thing by relying on laid-down principles and evidence of Ijesha history that is not in short supply to guide them.  

     As every Ijesha citizen is mourning the passing of the erudite Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, the concern in a measured tone,  is the ability of the kingmakers and Osun State Government to get it right by allowing the process not to be tainted or influenced by any consideration other than the fact of history, tradition, and abundant evidence in the archives. The process that will lead to the choice of the new Obokun is as important as whoever will eventually emerge. The choice of the new Owa Obokun will be a litmus test for those who will play a key role in the emergence of the new king as history beckons on them. They must handle the process with fairness, justice, musing, and a high sense of responsibility. The process should not be turned into a mercantile but getting the right person to occupy the coveted office. This is the only way to avoid post-installation striving and litigation and not to reduce the new king to a mere political appointee and consequently erode the influence of the stool associated with the stool for many centuries.

    Read Also: My unforgettable battle with traditionalists in Ota, by cleric

     The stool of Owa Obokun in Yorubaland is a very strategic and unique one and the new king for the Ijesha land must be qualified and meet the ancestral parameters, standards, and criteria of the office.

     At the moment all eyes are on the Ijesha kingmakers and Osun State Government as they are expected to play altruistic roles in selecting the new king. This is the least open and close-mouthed expectation of the Ijesha people at home and abroad. This however ordinarily should not be a difficult assignment for the 13-member kingmakers of the town and the Osun State government. There are impeccable records, oral evidence, government proclamations, and living witnesses to history which the kingmakers and the state government can rely on.

    By definition and their role, the Ijesha kingmakers are people of immense integrity with a deep sense of history. They should rise to defend their office and tradition on a lifetime sensitive assignment that destiny has thrust on them and which they may not have a repeat in their lifetime. The 13-member Ijesha Kingmakers are the six members of Agbanla or Agba Ijesa Council – Ọbaala of Ilesa, Ogboni of Ipole, Ogboni Ijebu Jesa, Ogboni of Ibokun, Ogboni of Ilesa, and Obaodo of Ilesa (The Chief Scribe of ljesaland); the four members of the Ààrẹ Council Composed – Ọdole of Ilesa, Risawe of Ilesa, Saloro of Ilesa,  and Arapate of Ilesa; the third category is the three members of ĘLĘGBĘ, who are traditionally the military commanders, namely: Lejoka of Ilesa, Loro of Ilesa, and Lejofi of Ilesa.

    As recently as 1957, a landmark declaration known as the ‘Ijesha Chieftaincy Declaration of 1957’ was made which explicitly stated that the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland’s throne was agreed to be rotated among four ruling Dynasties. The four Dynasties were named after four prominent sons of Owa Atakunmosa who was renowned for his very effective administrative legacies in Ijesaland. The Dynasties are Biladu, Bilagbayo, Bilayiarere (the Dynasty of the late Oba Adekunle Aromolaran), and Bilaro Oluodo. In each of the dynasties, there are also many lineages called Idi-Igi (The Root) in Yoruba land.

    By rotation and all available evidence of history and for fairness and justice, the next dynasty to produce the Owa Obokun is the Bilaro Oluodo Dynasty. In the Bilaro Oluodo Dynasty, however, these are the following Lineages, not in order of rotation or seniority but that of linkage to Bilaro Oluodo.

    The lineages are Ofokutu, Haastrup, Arimoro, and Fajemisin. Among these also, the Haastrup lineage has produced Owa Obokun on two (2) occasions. First, HRM Fredrick Kumokun Adedeji Haastrup, Ajimoko 1 (1896 -1901) and second, HRM Alexandra Adejumola Haastrup, Ajimoko II (1942 – 1954). With this recent history, the Haastrup Lineage should not be a bad hat looking in the direction of the next Owa Obokun. It should be the turn of the other three lineages of the Bilaro Oluodo Dynasty. The children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of these other lineages have matured and now have eminently qualified individuals who were not available in the instances of Bilaro opportunities in the past (1896 and 1942). It is naturally their turn to produce the next Owa Obokun.

    At the right time, Ijesa people should not be aloof and incurious. They should rise to defend their royalty now and resist any attempt of external influence to determine who becomes their royal father. It is worthy of note to state that Owa Obokun Adimula is never an Oba but an “Orisa” (Deity). He is a paramount Ruler “Oba ti o n gba Idobale awon Oba” (The King who other Kings prostrate to his admiration).

    Consequently, it would be a gross miscalculation, brazen injustice, denigration, abuse of authority, and a generational disservice to the Ijeshas for any stakeholder, especially the government to compromise the selection of the new Owa Obokun or impose any candidate on the altar of compromise,  personal aggrandizement, anecdotal and indefensible consideration. In line with the long tradition, the process of appointing a new Owa Obokun should be by the laid down principles of the town’s ancestors and the kingmakers must be allowed to do their jobs without hindrances. It is expected that the Ifa oracle will choose an appointee and the state government will perform the ceremonial blessing according to the Chieftaincy Act.

    Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State cannot afford not to subvert the course of history. He has to do the right thing to earn honour in the history of Ijesha land. He cannot afford to fail in this epochal assignment. He must have learned from history, especially the crisis that engulfed three towns in his state – Igbajo, Iree, and Ikirun – following the sacking of the towns’ traditional rulers in February this year. The Governor must be impartial, consult widely, encourage the kingmakers to be independent, and rely on the available evidence and documents for infallible judgment. This is the only path to making the selection process non-tempestuous.

    What will make this critical assignment simple for the kingmakers and Osun State Government is doing what can be supported by history, defended by evidence, morally justifiable, and legally compliant.

    The Ijesha kingmakers and Governor Adeleke have a sacred duty to sustain the long-built reputation of the emergence of an Owa Obokun,  respect the wishes of the Ijesha people, and honour the memory of the past kings in the land by selecting the right candidate who has the energy, zeal, exposure, proven track records and other known parameters that can put Ijesha land on the global map.

    • Adeyemi is a public affairs commentator, he sent this piece from Osogbo, Osun State.

  • Nasarawa’s killer Custodial Centre

    Nasarawa’s killer Custodial Centre

    Sir: According to a report, 12 inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Services (NCS) Medium Security Custodial Centre in Keffi, Nasarawa State, died of a strange illness allegedly caused by malnutrition.  The deceased were said to have been hurriedly buried without the knowledge or consent of their family members.

    Nigerian prisons are ordinarily places of squalor where overcrowding, desperately poor hygiene and what can be summarily termed the failure of humanity all combine to make incarceration a living hell for any length of time.

    Many of those who have had cause to do time in Nigerian prisons never remain the same afterward, that is if they even return. There have been personal stories of how people who were just average criminals dealing in petty crime went to prison where they became hardened criminals.

    The fact is that the Nigerian correctional service as it is set up is a blinding slap on the face of justice in Nigeria. The absolutely shocking conditions under which Nigeria keeps those it wants to correct, many of them only awaiting trial, is an absolute disgrace. No country which has any development aspiration should keep even those it considers the worst offenders under such conditions. It speaks to a deep lack of dignity in such a society.

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    The reason no serious country kills its worst offenders is that it believes in the fact that they can be rehabilitated and released back into the society to contribute their lot to the growth of such a society. No country is served when such rehabilitation runs into the brick wall of squalid prison conditions.

    Prisons have been attacked in Nigeria because of poor security. Prison walls have also been known to collapse under pressure from nature,  leading to the escape of prisoners.

    The measure of the civilization of any society is how it treats those on the margins. Prisoners very much belong to a group that is on the margins. If any country takes away the freedom of anyone within its borders citing a breach of the laws which solidify its social contract, the least such a country can do is to ensure that they are detained like human beings.

    What rings true is that in Nigeria those who are deemed the worst offenders are treated better while petty criminals are fed to the fires of an unjust and uncoordinated system.

    If Nigeria was a just society, many of those who subject inmates to a slow death would themselves be prisoners.

    Nigeria needs to rethink its penal system. The aim should always be to bruise and correct, never to break.

    •Ike Willie-Nwobu,Ikewilly9@gmail.com

  • Gowon and the Udoji Report

    Gowon and the Udoji Report

    Sir: I read with interest, the beautiful article titled ‘Yakubu Gowon as essence of the Nigeria project and spirit’ written by Professor Tunji Olaopa. The article was written to highlight the importance of General Gowon in Nigerian history as he marked his 90th birthday, recently. All the encomiums poured on the beloved General are well deserved because of the leadership he displayed in 1967 at the tender age of 32 years when Nigeria was at the brink of unmitigated disintegration.

    Nigeria was destined to crumble by the British colonial masters who cobbled together nationalities with pronounced differences in social and cultural attitudes to form a country for the economic and political interests of the colonialists. On leaving the Nigerian scene in 1960, the colonial power left a political time bomb of lopsided political configuration which exploded seven years later in the form of a debilitating civil war. The unwavering attitude of General Gowon after an initial hesitation saved Nigeria from being rendered asunder as a result of the civil war. For this, General Yakubu Gowon remains Nigeria’s number one hero.

    In the article which came out in the Sunday edition of The Nation of October 27, I took particular interest in the issue raised by Professor Olaopa on how the Udoji report was implemented under the regime of General Gowon. According to the professor in the article, top civil servants in the Gowon administration focused more on the monetary aspect of the report and left out aspects that could have transformed the civil service. The professor who was a seasoned civil servant and now chairman of the Public Service Commission lamented that one of the infamous moments of Gowon zdministration was the lost opportunity of transforming the Public Service system through the adoption of the Udoji Commission report on the implementation of the grand managerial paradigm shifting recommendations. He went further to say that the Udoji report made recommendations for ‘a new public service that will be flexible, economical, lean. effective and efficient in the achievement of service delivery.’

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    From the above lofty ideas in the Udoji report as narrated by Professor Olaopa, I wonder as a patriotic Nigerian why the succeeding Mohammed/Obasanjo administration failed to be patriotic enough to implement these lofty ideas in the Udoji report.  After all, we are told that governance is a continuum. Instead of doing this, the administration threw the baby out with the bath water. The administration consequently on taking over power, embarked on the destruction of the civil service through politically motivated and vindictive retirement exercises that traumatized many innocent civil servants and sent many of them to their untimely graves. When the cloud cleared over these exercises, many people saw the exercises as being motivated to weed out southerners from the Federal Civil Service so that they could be replaced by northerners who were few in the service by the time of the exercises. The exercises unfortunately signalled the beginning of the present rot in the civil service at the federal level and our civil service which was admired by many countries in Africa was permanently disabled up till now, as devotion, accountability efficiency and probity which were hallmarks of our then civil service were thrown overboard.

    At present, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who was a prominent player in those destructive exercises goes all over our country chest beating as the best ruler ever to rule Nigeria. Many people have serious doubt about his claim and the 1975 retirement exercise is certainly a badge of dishonour for him,

    •Professor Olabode Lucas,Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Dietary implications of climate change on our health

    Dietary implications of climate change on our health

    Sir: Climate change affects practically every aspect of our lives, including our health. It has been implicated in respiratory diseases, cancers, chronic conditions, and vector-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever. In some parts of the country, diarrheal infections caused by viruses such as cholera and polluted water sources are complicated by the lack of water, sanitation, hygiene and healthcare facilities and result in about 150,000 deaths every year.

    Furthermore, the increasing lack of stability and unpredictability of climate conditions have negatively impacted our diet. Fruits, vegetables and even staple crops like rice, cassava, yams, beans, potatoes and maize have become more expensive. Amidst the unfavourable economic state, proteins such as fish, meat, milk and eggs have also become out of reach of the average Nigerian, putting many households at risk of malnutrition. 

    Farmers are discouraged by harsh weather patterns, high labour costs, infrastructural challenges with processing, storing and transporting farm produce, and low investment in agriculture. While human and industrial activities have further reduced arable land available to farmers for food and livestock production, some are yet to recover from the drought of 2022 and the herdsmen conflicts, displacements and re-settlements that have significantly affected the agricultural sector.

    Climate change affects both the quality and quantity of food production. According to a report by RTI International, High CO2 levels from global warming trapped by trees increase their carbohydrates while reducing their concentration of proteins and essential micronutrients like zinc, potassium, calcium and iron. This could be one of the overlooked causes of fatigue, forgetfulness, mood swings, stunted growth and obesity. As warmer clime and wetter weather conditions encourage the growth and spread of pests, pesticide resistance and disease infestations, heavy storms, flooding and prolonged droughts affect crop yield, thereby increasing farmers’ losses.

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    Therefore, we ought to factor in nutrition as we make concerted efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Planting trees to reclaim lands or improve their terrain also controls erosion, absorbs excess greenhouse gases, encourages the growth of life forms and wildlife and improves atmospheric conditions. In addition to providing nutritive value, they significantly reduce greenhouse emissions and the world’s carbon burden through photosynthesis, a process that converts CO2 to oxygen. Active restoration of logged trees and afforestation will inevitably reverse the effects of climate change if strictly implemented.

    Although Genetically Modified Foods exhibit resistance to herbicides and pests, there is some controversy about their health risks. More studies are still underway to establish their effects on consumers. Climate change in Nigeria can be effectively combated by investing in agriculture, establishing systems and facilities that reduce productivity costs, providing basic amenities such as portable water, security and electricity, adopting green industrialization and closing the healthcare gap by reviving our primary health centres.

    I will conclude by reiterating Professor Muhammad Ali Pate’s message during the just-concluded Future of Health Conference 2024 in Abuja, “Disruptions to food systems are compounding malnutrition and food insecurity. The implications are not just environmental but extend to our economy and security.”

    •Dr. Angelica Chinecherem Obayi, <angelnechy@gmail.com>