To all intents and purposes, 2023 has been an eventful year in Nigeria’s Gateway State. It is a year that will be remembered by Governor Dapo Abiodun for a very long time. It has been a year of political calculations and decisions, the year of a make-or-mar second term poll that proved to be tension-laden. At the beginning of the year, the governor was seen crisscrossing all the local government areas in the state, campaigning vigorously for re-election. Having discovered so many adversaries that never wanted him to come back to Oke Mosan, including his immediate predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who with his multiple machinations vowed that he (Abiodun) would be upstaged, and naysayers within his own political structure, including another former governor, Gbenga Daniel, together with other members of the APC who were neither here nor there, he knew that the battle would be fierce and deployed the power of resilience, confident that his achievements would speak for him.
The naysayers had their say, but the Governor did not allow their qualms to deter him. Instead, he tried to build bridges, getting more people into the party. The pre-election period indeed saw an avalanche of political jobbers decamping and recamping, pledging loyalty everywhere, and moving around with vigour, buoyed by the power of bribes. The February 25, 2023 election came and the APC made a clean sweep, but then the main battle was just starting, with so many divisions within and without. There were people very close to the Governor who literally made a show of working against him. And the opposition believed that with money, their plans were fool-proof. Evidence abounds of a vote buying plot, with over 20,000 ATM-like cards printed to buy the people’s conscience and ensure that the governor did not get a second term, and the Federal Government is currently prosecuting the culprits, some of them now fugitives, in the court of law.
Amidst the storm, Prince Abiodun stuck with God the Father: he had no godfather to rely on. And so he was able to navigate the political terrain and gain victory when some believed that it was impossible. After the polls, he took stock of developments, identified mistakes, and forged ahead with his agenda to develop Ogun State. As soon as he was sworn-in for a second term, he took the decisive actions that have now made Ogun State an investors’ delight and one of Nigeria’s safest states. He continued work on the cargo airport, the best in the country, and constructed so many quality roads. Even roads such as the Atan-Lusada-Agbara road, though not yet completed, have continued to attract so much attention because of their scope and beauty.
The statistical agencies are keeping record. A report by Economic Confidential, a subsidiary of PR Nigeria, recently showed that apart from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, Ogun State is Nigeria’s most economically viable state. Pointing to the Gateway State’s status as Nigeria’s topmost investment destination after Lagos, the report showed that the Dapo Abiodun-led Ogun State outperformed Rivers State, which joined Lagos and Ogun on the list of economically viable states for the year 2022, along with Kaduna, Kwara, Oyo and Edo states. The report compiled from figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) showed that while Lagos received the sum of N370, 921, 413, 425.62 from the Federation Account and generated N651,145, 633.085 as internally generated revenue, Ogun, on the other hand, received N113,404, 027,439.22 from the Federation Account and generated N120,548, 157,140.78 internally.
Only recently, the Abiodun government indicated that the recently approved Dry Port at Kajola Papalanto of Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state would create at least 40,000 jobs for both skilled and unskilled workers in the state, expand the internally generated revenue, reduce transport and transaction costs, and attract various infrastructure and regional development projects, amongst others. Efforts have actually reached advanced levels in actualizing the Abiodun administration’s vision for the port. With the Gateway International Airport nearing completion, the congruent plan is to develop a dry port that will receive goods from Apapa and Tincan dry ports. The proposed site has been satisfactorily assessed to be proximate to both NRC narrow and standard gauge rail lines, and has the Lafarge and Dangote cement factories within its catchment area.
Instructively, even the Federal Government, which through the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) had previously lamented that Nigeria’s agriculture industry suffered an estimated N3.5 trillion in post-harvest losses every year, has thrown its weight behind the airport as a game changer in reversing the trend.
Hear the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Mr. Wale Edun: “We look forward to the end result which is the creation of jobs, increased production, and increased opportunities for farmers to produce and sell their products at a good price and in good time without any of the usual post harvest losses and loss on transit. The airport is good for the economy of Ogun State and Nigeria, and we would like to see more of this. We encourage other states to join the private sector to achieve such. The ARISE Agro-Cargo Industrial and Export Processing Zone, is a major economic achievement that speaks to the possibility of rapid growth of the economy, which is the objective of Mr. President to have more investments like this. It is the type of investment that grows the economy, creates jobs and reduces poverty and it is good for the people of Ogun State in particular as well as Nigeria in general that new economic life is being breathed into the area.” The airport is expected to create over 25,000 direct and indirect job across the agriculture, transportation, logistics, hospitality, tourism and other sectors.
Next year, the government is focusing on the construction of infrastructure at the various economic development clusters, while extending the Lagos Blue Line Metro Rail Project into Agbara and ensuring the well extension of the Lagos Red Line Metro Rail Project to Ijoko and Ifo/Kajola in line with the execution of the State’s multi-modal transport plan under the Lagos-Ogun Joint Development Commission initiative. Steadily, Nigerians are beginning to appreciate Ogun’s emerging status as a giant construction site and Nigeria’s top investment destination. Besides, Ogun under Abiodun will join league of oil-producing states soon. Already, there is a Ministry of Mineral Resources saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the general administration and operation of the natural resources that abound in the state, and a Ministry of Energy to take advantage of the constitutional amendment that allows sub-national governments to participate in the energy sector. The administration will construct over 2,000 housing units in Warewa, Sagamu, Iperu, Ibara, Ayetoro Road, OGTV Village, Ijebu-Ode, etc, and ensure water reticulation projects to connect more households to potable water supply, having completed the Urban Water Supply Project.
Given the foregoing, it is no surprise that the governor has continued to win laurels. He is The Sun newspapers’ Man of the Year 2023 and also Silverbird Television’s Man of the Year 2023.Ogun is seen as one of the progressives and viable states. Many people who never believed in him are now converts. Good things are happening in Ogun State in the area of infrastructure building, agriculture, human resource, women and children’s empowerment, among others. Ogun is in the news for good almost everyday, and so many people are wondering where the governor got the energy from. Governor Abiodun’s rising public image and political profile is, therefore, not quite a surprise.
– Akinmade sent this piece through kayodeakinmade809@gmail.com
With the benefits of hindsight, there seems to be a universal meeting of minds that those who appointed Professor Timothy Abiodun Adebayo as the fourth Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), located in the ancient city of Oyo really meant well for the faith-based university. Three years into his five-year tenure, Prof. Adebayo has not only justified the confidence reposed in him by his employers, this forthright and firm Crops and Animal Science specialist has given a good account of himself as an academic leader who possesses sufficient wisdom to manage both staff and students of ACU with tact and diplomacy as well as stick and carrot approach.
In the last three years, ACU has never been in the news for wrong reasons. This is not unconnected with the dynamic leadership styles of the VC, whose temperament and training are in tune with the call of his duties. Prof. Adebayo who celebrates his birthday along with Jesus Christ on every 25th December, has demonstrated the depth of character and confidence as his creativity and boldness have been so unmistakable. He is street-wise as he is very dexterous in navigating administrative boobytraps. He may seem to have a hard exterior, but there lie a heart of gold and a quirky sense of homour with which he defuses tension.
Describe him in whichever way you want in any linguistic twist of your choice, Prof. Adebayo remains cool and calm, focusing and addressing the specificity of his own realities. His face is benign and genial. He handles the students like his own biological children, using his own personal life as an example. This VC speaks student’s language with iconic flare as he easily forgives their foibles. Obviously, his social capacity to relate with both the students and staff in the atmosphere of peace and love is amazing. His phone number is with almost all the students and their parents as he believes that any service without sacrifice is lip service.
Perhaps this liberal approach to leadership accounts for a streak of successes trailing his tenure since he assumed duties on 2 October, 2020. Checking through his records, one can see that Prof. Adebayo, who was the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso before his current appointment has not done badly in office. As part of his achievements so far, he has established ACU Bakery in order to stop traders from bringing all manner of bread to the campus. Every morning, members of the university community, including this writer eat freshly baked bread. I don’t miss it every morning. The bread is free of chemicals that are deleterious to health.
Again, Prof. Adebayo and his management team rejuvenated ACU Water Factory by buying a modern machine worth over N10 million. This is to make ACU water production process more hygienic. The machine has capacity to produce 3,000 bottles of water per hour. To ensure the comfort of his team members, this amiable VC constructed two residential buildings for Bursar and Librarian respectively. The duo are now living on campus. Before Prof. Adebayo resumed as VC, the university didn’t have enough lecture rooms. Today, he has built a complex comprising eight lecture classrooms which is named after the immediate past Council Chairman and current Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Wole Olanipekun. He has also built 21 professorial offices.
Before he took over, ACU satellite campus at Ofa meta was lifeless. But when Prof Adebayo took over, he began to build structures there. Today, Departments of Nursing, Environmental Health, Radiology, Medical Laboratory Science and Agriculture have taken over the hitherto virgin land. To facilitate students movements from the main campus to Ofa meta, his administration ensures that two Coastal buses and four mini buses are available to ferry students to and from the satellite campus. At the main campus, however, there is free internet service for both staff and students.
Still, Prof Adebayo is planning to build another hostel for girls while Trinity Hall project for boys is equally going to start soon. To tackle electricity problems, his administration has bought a big power generator which can supply electricity to several places on campus. This is in addition to the solar projects going on across the campus. Beyond these infrastructural projects, however, his administration has reviewed the workers’ salaries with 30 percent increase. Interestingly, he ensures salaries are paid on 23rd of every month. For the first time in history, ACU, under Prof. Adebayo paid every worker Christmas bonus.
The question is where does ACU which doesn’t receive allocations from the federal government or subventions from anywhere get money to be doing all of these? This speaks to prudent management of resources by the leadership. It also illustrates accountability and transparency. In one of our casual conversations, the VC rhetorically asked, “Saanu, do you think if there is corruption here we will get money to be executing all these projects? The system would have collapsed if we engaged in packing the university money as they do in some places!”
Prof. Adebayo, to whom this tribute is dedicated on occasion of his birthday is a quintessential gentleman, very affectionate and generous, friendly and fearless fellow. The way he is handling arduous task of leadership commands people’s respect. People respect him so much not because of the virtues of office, but because of the virtues he brings to the office. He remains dutiful and dedicated. You always feel the ambience associated with his presence. In his characteristic cheerful manner, he daily sows courtesy and regularly reaps friendship, just as he plants kindness all over the place and gathers love wherever he goes.
With him, you are assured of wisecracks, profound thoughts, spiritually ennobling insights, sublime statements and words of wisdom. He walks in wisdom with all and sundry. I can testify to that, having had an insider’s view. He is known for respect for self and others. Indeed, his default behavior is that of mutual respect, tact and calmness, always using the resources of evidence and logic to make his points.
Amazingly, Prof. Adebayo could spot talent from a thousand miles away. For example, he never knew me from Adam. He was just reading my articles in newspapers like every other person when he made up his mind to poach me. He believed I could add values to the university, hence, his invitation to me for a sabbatical when I didn’t even think of it or plan for it. Since I joined him here however, he has been treating me like a king. Along with his ever committed and passionate Deputy, Prof. Benjamin Olumuyiwa Popoola, there is nothing I need that is not speedily provided. The icing on the cake, to my surprise, was when I approached the VC that I had an academic sister in the University of Ibadan who would like to do her sabbatical in ACU. Without hesitation, Prof. Adebayo approved my request and directed me to liaise with Prof. Popoola to perfect the process. I prostrated in appreciation of the honour. My academic sister has got her letter of appointment. She is starting her sabbatical in January. How else does one know a benevolent boss?
Prof. Adebayo has validated my writerly career by offering me an unsolicited sabbatical in ACU. I shall forever be grateful to him and his Deputy who has been dignifying me with generous accolades whenever he has to introduce me. I have never been this honoured. I complained about electricity in my room, the Management moved me to a better place. The Vice Chancellor even approved that I should move to a more spacious place. According to Prof. Popoola, “Baba Saanu, you should know that you are a big man in our university, therefore we must accord you the honour ” I am grateful Sir.
Back to the subject of this piece, Prof. Adebayo is one leader who lives by examples. He studied agriculture and he is teaching agriculture. Yet, he has his own farm where he is practising what he is preaching. He is not just a professor on paper, he has piggery and cows. He plants maize and yams. I was shocked the day I visited the VC’s lodge and saw plenty maize and yams planted around the lodge by the VC. This is different from other farms he has elsewhere. He also has fish ponds. This man is amazing! As an experienced and wise farmer, Prof. Adebayo doesn’t eat the best of his yields, neither does he eat his cash crops or cash cows. He invests and reinvests. That is the same principle with which he is running ACU.
To all intents and purposes, Prof. Adebayo deserves applauses and celebrations for the quality leadership he enacts at ACU where he is superintending with regal ease. He is a leader who deserves emulation for the immoral ideals and noble values he represents. He has done so much for ACU with his boundless energy and passion, thus, turning the university to a place of light, liberty and learning. One must therefore not forget to appreciate those who have been supporting him to move the university forward, including the erudite Registrar, Dr. Jadesola Babatola, the university’s Bursar, Mr. Ayodele Olusanwo, the immediate past University’s Librarian, Dr. Beatrice A. Fabunmi among others.
As Prof. Adebayo becomes a year older and wiser, one can only pray that the blessings of the Lord as well as the blessings of land are all his. Oga mi Sir, a happy birthday and many happy returns.
Saanu (08034073427) who is on sabbatical with Ajayi Crowther University is Media Assistant to the Vice Chancellor.
The just concluded week was the 29th of the Bola Tinubu Presidency in the saddle and it was as exciting and packed as most of the ones before it. Unlike the Sunday before it, the last Sunday was quiet, at least from the media look of it, unlike the one before it when the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held its Ordinary Session at the State House in Abuja. Remember that our President is the Chairman of that Authority.
However, from Monday, Jagaban resumed the tireless work mode again, taking files, receiving guests, sealing agreements and engaging in mediations aimed at saving collapsing relationships and states. It was still the same week he decided to take State matters along as he vacations for the Christmas/New Year festivities.
Quite a lot happened during the week, though the lots were discharged in the earlier parts; actually, most of his activities were crammed into Monday. However, the most significant event of the week was located in Wednesday when he, once again, spoke to the very needs of the masses, not in words, by his action, heeding a call he once made to authority when he said “let the poor breath”.
Since it is a popular festive season, during which most families, from all social categories, will be travelling to all parts of the country to celebrate with their loved ones, and the prevailing economic circumstance does not offer any reprieve, especially since the removal of fuel subsidy, President Tinubu thought of an intervention to make the season as stew as possible.
On Wednesday, President Tinubu, through an Inter-ministerial Committee on Presidential Interventions, announced a plan to slash transportation fares for land vehicles by 50% and a total price cut for train services. What it means is that for the fifteen days when the Tinubu transportation freebies will last; December 21 to January 4, those who will be travelling interstates by road, from some selected transport companies, will only need to pay half of the normal fare to get to where they intend to celebrate with tier loved ones. Also, for the three train services in different parts of the country, being Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, and Warri to Itakpe services, passengers will ride free of charge.
For those listening, Jagaban had already announced this plan on Monday, when he met with the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), when he told his guests he was aware of the vicissitudes Nigerians, especially those in the talakawa social class, are living with, noting he was already doing things about it. His entire Renewed Hope Agenda is focused on launching the ordinary Nigerian into an experience he hardly has; bliss and ease. However, for the immediate circumstance, as in going through the yuletide relieved as much as possible, he came up with a coordinated plan.
Announcing the Tinubu transportation ‘bonanza’, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Dele Alake, who was joined by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the transportation rebate was one of the ways the President is demonstrating his love and concern for Nigerians.
“In the spirit of Christmas and in demonstration of his love for Nigerians as a proof, he feels the federal government should intervene to bring down the costs of public transportation to allow persons who want to travel to visit their loved ones. The President is well aware of the recent increase in cost of interstate transportation. It is in this wise that the Federal Government is announcing, beginning from tomorrow, a special discounted holiday season fare on road transport and zero-fare by rail across Nigeria.
“What this means is that from tomorrow, Nigerians willing to travel can board public transport via minibuses, luxury buses at 50% discount of current cost and all our train services on the routes the trains currently serve at zero cost to and fro on their travels this holiday season. This special presidential intervention will commence tomorrow Thursday, December 21. It will end on January 4, 2024”, he said.
Already, there have been feedbacks from across the country as to how Nigerians are taking advantage of the transportation rebates, news reports from various sources have been providing updates. For instance, The Nation, on Friday, kept us all abreast with goings on at the motor parks and train stations. “NURTW vehicles begin 50% slash in interstate transport fares” and “Breaking: Excitement as passengers enjoy free train service from Lagos-Ibadan” were two headlines indicating how well Tinubu’s plans to get people close to as much fun and comfort as possible during these festivities.
Traveling this period, if security is your concern, don’t worry, Tinubu also has that covered. To minimize the security risks on the roads as much as possible and see that all parts of the country are secure and free of panic, Alake said “the President has already directed the Police, Department of State Services, the Military and other security agencies to work collaboratively to ensure the holiday period is safe without any security breach in any part of the country”.
Before that major announcement on Wednesday, which is lighting hearts up across the country, President Tinubu had, on Monday, had a couple of engagements, which are important to national growth and cohesion. One of such engagements was his intervention, for the second time, in the political crisis in Rivers State, involving Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.
The Rivers debacle, prior to the meeting on Monday, had rather escalated daily, despite moves from various quarters to find rhythm for both sides. However, in a resolute effort, President Tinubu gathered all interests in the crisis at the Villa, including other stakeholders in the Rivers Project, to agree on a way forward. Of course the rhythm was found and the resolutions, eight of them in number, that were reached have become the basis on which gladiators in the state are now working.
On same Monday, before the Rivers peace meeting, the President performed a very important task, very important to the economic recovery efforts of his administration. A new Board was inaugurated for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, led by its non-Executive Chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure. It was an auspicious moment for Asiwaju to state some matters of fact, number one of which was that he does not reward lethargy with continuity. He told the team to set to work already, as there is no luxury of time. Besides the Ministers whom he already told during their retreat that their works are being measured, this is another team he told it is being watched and if it fails to bring the desired result, it could be summarily dissolved.
Then he took the garb of an advocate for the oppressed and downtrodden people of the oil-rich Niger Delta region. He said the issue of corporate social responsibility to the people in the remote parts of the Niger Delta, the villages in the creeks, must be given a priority, saying “Niger Delta must be seen as the goose that lays the golden egg and we must treat that region with the deserved respect and care. It is not asking for too much to ensure quality and constant water supply, schools, medical facilities, and roads. “It is not about us. It is about the well-being of the entire country and the lifeblood of the nation. We should care more about the environment. We will do more for security to minimize stealing and vandalization”.
He spoke to other things like the need for Nigeria to pay more attention to gas development, especially as we transition, along with the rest of the world, to cleaner energy sources, think of how to grow production and so on.
He also met with the leadership of Total Energies, led by its Group Chairman, Patrick Pouyanne, on Monday, assuring the visitors that that his administration would ensure that Nigeria remains a top-level destination for offshore and onshore investments, reiterating federal government’s commitment to removing all anti-investment impediments in the country. Let us not forget that he met NPAN same day, so let’s leave how packed the day was to your imagination.
Then on Thursday, having sorted the movements of Nigerians to their villages out, he also went to his village in Lagos to celebrate the season. He received a rousing welcome at the airport and on Friday, had his Jumaat prayers at the Ansar-Ud-Deen Central Mosque in Surulere, where the society’s centennial anniversary was commemorated, reiterating his administration’s commitment to the unity of the country, as well as ensuring the welfare and prosperity of all citizens, irrespective of ethnic or religious backgrounds. He also seized the moment to say the economic reforms he has initiated are aimed at establishing a robust and secure foundation for Nigerians today and for generations unborn.
Being the week of Christmas, more should be expected from Jagaban because he is sure to want to delight the people the more by announcing new plans for a better economy. However, nothing is certain yet, we can just leave it all to the imagination, till the week starts unfolding.
As 2023 comes to an end, a fitting tribute is to highlight some of the representative inspirational events of the year. These include the registration of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) as an alternative academic union in the Nigerian university system, the election of Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the electoral loss of Liberia’s President George Weah. These events evince courage, forbearance, focus, tenacity and resilience.
Leaving the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on 12 February, 2018 and forming a new association on the same day, was like taking on a mighty foe in the shape of the David and Goliath contest. While Goliath had all the appurtenances of war, the only thing David had was his sling and an unbending will. If forming CONUA was like a joke, seeking its registration was like a mirage. Members of the then-new union of lecturers were therefore derided by those who could not accurately gauge the depth of feelings underlying the heroic act. In fact, the formation of the union was regarded as a misadventure that would miscarry in the fullness of time. And cynical members of ASUU were reported to have said that those who formed CONUA would come back to ASUU, with their tails between their legs, to beg for forgiveness.
Indeed, there were dispiriting moments when it appeared as if all of the efforts invested in the formation of the union would be in vain and that the boat would hit a hard rock. It was at this point that the vitality and resilience of the human spirit were manifested. Sensing a weakening resolve by some members of CONUA at that time, some people flew the kite of reconciliation, which would have required folding up the union and returning to ASUU. And some members of CONUA did really chicken out. However, there was still a solid block of members who remained unshaken in their belief that the hope of reforming and truly democratising ASUU from within was delusional. Some also declared that, should CONUA fail to get registered, that would mean the end of their membership of any academic trade union for the rest of their career in the university system, since membership of a trade union was, in any case, voluntary.
On 21 September, 2022, the around four-and-a-half-year-long struggle, resilience, tenacity and focus of the members of CONUA were rewarded with the formal notification, by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, of the qualification of the union for registration and the declaration of the intention of the Ministry to register it. On 13 January, 2023, to complete the registration process, a certificate of registration was issued to CONUA and another to the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA). However, before then, on 26 October, 2022, ASUU had challenged the registration of the two unions at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). The union asked that the court declare the registration of CONUA and NAMDA illegal and, curiously, that the court order that the certificates of registration (issued to the unions on 13 January, 2023) be withdrawn. Note that at the time that ASUU was praying the court to withdraw the certificates, the certificates had actually not yet been issued. This raised the question, “Why did ASUU, a union with some of the most well-respected intellectuals and legal luminaries as members, demonstrate so much lack of attention to facts?”
In fact, the NICN judge declared as follows: “82. By these averments, the claimant [ASUU] put the date of the registration of the 3rd and 4th defendants [CONUA and NAMDA] as 4 October 2022. And in reliefs (3) and (4), the claimant put the registration of, and the issuing of certificate of registration to, the 3rd and 4th defendants, respectively by the 1st and 2nd defendants, as being on 4 October 2022. This, as will be shortly seen, is not correct and can be misleading.” In the 25 July, 2023 judgement of NICN, ASUU lost the case, on the basis of especially Article 2 of the International Labour Organisation Convention No. 87 which states: “Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation.” So, the registration of these two unions remains a major landmark of the tenure of Dr. Chris Ngige as Minister of Labour and Employment.
The inspirational import of the CONUA experience, in particular, is that, once you have identified a noble cause, pursue it single-mindedly with all your strength. And even when fatigued, trudge on. Providence may yet unlock a clue to success. And the forces of nature may aggregate to confer on the weary enablement. As a Yoruba proverb puts it, “Eni eégún n lé kó maa ró’jú bó se n re ará ayé ló se n re ará òrun.” (‘Let the person being chased by a masquerade persevere, because as human beings get tired, so do the extra-terrestrial beings chasing them.’) Today, CONUA is on its steady match forward, and just on 12 December, 2023, the Trade Union Congress announced its acceptance of the union as one of its new affiliates.
Even more robustly inspirational is the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 25 February, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. Brick by brick for around thirty years, Tinubu built the structure for his victory in the election, in the face of daunting challenges, and undeterred by unremitting attacks by widely-acknowledged pugilists and fearsome gladiators. And the attacks were comprehensive. They ranged from acerbic questions and claims about his parentage, his education, his financial affairs, his political life and his health. And the attackers were equally wide-ranging. They included false friends, treacherous associates, distant detractors, ethnic jingoists, religious bigots, fake prophets, delusional pollsters, self-demeaning lawyers, media hatchet persons, academics contemptuous of intellectual honesty and people who were just primed to go wherever the wind blew. In the face of the overwhelming attacks, he showed unimaginable stoicism and awesome adaptability. But he was human, after all, and the barrage of attacks was starting to take its toll and generate doubt.
The 30 October, 2022 issue of ThisDay reported Asiwaju as telling Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the Head of Afenifere, as follows in Akure: “At a point, I doubted I could win APC presidential primary.” In another telling disclosure in the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, at a thanksgiving service on 28 May, 2023, a day to his swearing-in as President, his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said: “I can tell you, on my own, that we never believed this could happen. But thank God for giving us hope, for giving us the resilience to continue in the race of life.” Moreover, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, as Director, Media and Publicity, Tinubu/Shettima Campaign, in an interview published in The Guardian of 28 May, 2023 remarked: “[T]he campaign was almost derailed towards the end with the introduction of Naira swap and the fuel scarcity. The Naira swap, with currency shortage all over the country, was clearly aimed at him, to create deep resentment against the ruling APC. At a stage, he was so concerned about the plight of our people and he contemplated withdrawing from the race, so that Emefiele and his co-conspirators could give our people some respite.”
As his array of detractors remained implacable, Asiwaju received wondrous support from unexpected quarters. It seemed to have paid him handsomely to have lived by the Yoruba principle, “Nítorí egbìnrìn òtè la se n l’égbèrin òré; tí irinwó bá n bú’ní lo níwájú, irinwó á maa yinni bò léyìn.” (‘It is in preparation for conspiracy that we make eight hundred friends, so that when four hundred are moving ahead of us abusing us, four hundred would be coming behind us praising us.’) All in all, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu became a clear manifestation of Chapter 35, Verse 2, of the Qur’an which assures as follows: “Whatever Allah grants to people of mercy – none can withhold it; and whatever Allah withholds – none can release it thereafter.”
Liberia’s President George Weah’s political life has also been remarkably inspirational. A former slum dweller and high school dropout, the former international football star with no political experience, formed a political party, Congress for Democratic Change, just four months before the presidential elections of 2005. He contested against a Harvard-trained, former World Bank staff, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and won the majority of votes, but did not score enough votes to avoid a re-run. In the re-run, he was declared as defeated by Johnson-Sirleaf. He alleged fraud, but later withdrew the charge, in the interest of peace. James Butty of Voice of America noted on 1 July, 2011: “During the 2005 presidential election, some of Weah’s critics said he was not fit to be president because he did not have a college degree.” Ostensibly to address this deficiency, the 12 August, 2010 issue of Fox Sports reported that “Weah received a high school diploma in 2007.” He also enrolled in Devry University in Florida, U.S.A., and earned a degree in Business Management in June 2011.
Thereafter, he joined the presidential race again in 2017, won, and demonstrated how irrepressible the human spirit could be. But history repeated itself, and in the 2023 election, he won the majority vote in the first ballot, but lost narrowly in the re-run. And this is where his credentials as a true democrat were reaffirmed. Before the result was officially announced, President Weah conceded defeat and congratulated the winning candidate. In his national broadcast of 17 November, 2023, he asked his followers to resume their normal duties “tomorrow”, and “plan for our return to political leadership in 2029”. Today, President George Weah has become a rare symbol of democracy in Africa. Fittingly, he was named “Democrat of the Year” by The Nation newspaper of 17 December, 2023. It is expected that ECOWAS and the African Union would give him due honour.
It took CONUA five years of unyielding desire for freedom to get registered. It took Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu around thirty years of careful planning and sharp focus to become President of Nigeria. And it took World-acknowledged football star George Weah twelve years of courage, self-assurance, tenacity and resilience to become President of Liberia. As the African-American Civil Rights campaigner Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it beautifully, poetically, always “keep moving”: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” As 2023 ends, let those with a positive disposition keep hope alive, and let bitter souls obsessed with negativity start anew to see the cup as half-full rather than half-empty.
History of sorts was made at the recent convocation of the Obafemi Awolowo University where the convocation lecture on that occasion was delivered by an alumnus. As if that was not enough, another alumnus was decorated with an honourary degree, to join a truly distinguished cast including Professors Oluwasanmi and Chinua Achebe who in the past had been similarly honoured by the university. To be so honoured by one’s alma mater is to be doubly honoured because prophets are generally shunted aside in their own country when honours are being handed out but in this case the University celebrated herself when she gave those marks of distinction to those who at one time were humble acolytes in that same institution.
To start with, congratulations are due to Professor Adebayo Williams, the 2023 OAU Convocation lecturer for the timely recognition of his contribution to mass communication in Nigeria. Although he went through all the rigours of classical scholarship in English Literature, he has made an indelible mark in the markedly rough and tumble world of Nigerian journalism. It is important to qualify his locus of practice because journalism in Nigeria exists in an environment which more resembles the conditions inside a shark tank than some form of genteel board room where intellectual discussions are carried out in tutored language and conclusions arrived at as a result of a reasoned consensus. Here, even at the best of times it is necessary to have cultivated a modicum of street wisdom in order to remain relevant year after year in the way that Tatalo wearing the face of a bona fide university professor has done for several decades now.
Apart from sharing the same first name, our paths crossed at Ife often enough to have bred a comfortable familiarity which would ordinarily have raised an eyebrow or two given the distance between our academic specialisations. This is due mostly to my having spent quite a number of years in the study and practice of Pharmacy whilst contributing to the Op-ed page of several newspapers, an activity which has culminated in having a column of my own in the Nation on Sunday. It should be easy to discern that the hand behind that exposure belongs to none other than Adebayo Williams my erstwhile neighbour on Road 18 on the vast estate of the Staff quarters on the university campus. Although he lived only two doors away from me our respective quarters were separated by some distance on an estate in which the houses were surrounded by two or three standard plots of cultured lawns. Still, we were close enough to be neighbours and this gave me the privilege of reading some of his writings before they were published anywhere, a privilege which flattered me no end but which I was very careful not to offend even though points of disagreement generated by his writings were never glossed over.
The day before convocation, Bayo Williams was celebrated with an award by another constituency which we shared. He was at a time the President of the OAU Staff Club, perhaps the only University Staff Club in Nigeria where membership is not restricted to senior staff members. Bayo Williams’ executive was succeeded by another executive which was so inept, it ran the club into the ground in next to no time. The club was plunged into such dire straits that mirroring the military tenor of the time, a Sole Administrator was elected to effect a much needed turn around in the fortunes of the club. It so happened that the office of Sole Administrator was devolved. on another Bayo, this time, less exotically surnamed Lamikanra. That particular story deserves another platform in its telling but it is the success of that desperate manoeuvre in electing a Sole Administrator at that critical juncture that made it possible for the Staff club to survive the intervening thirty years before Adebayo Williams, one time president of the club was invited back to be appropriately celebrated by another generation of club members.
Sharing the convocation stage with Professor Adebayo Williams was another alumnus of his generation, Professor Toyin Falola, a widely acclaimed Professor of history and several other allied disciplines. A veritable man of letters, he has written so many books that he must have a great deal of difficulty keeping track of his record. Unlike Bayo Williams, our paths did not cross often even though we operated on the same stage at Ife, at least for a while. But our paths did cross on at least one occasion even though the erudite professor may not have been aware of it. Although I was a Senior Lecturer and a young one at that, I was for one year a member of the University Appointments and Promotions Committee, arguably the most powerful committee on campus. It was composed of members of Senate and Council and at that time, all appointments and promotions passed through it. Apart from members of Council, this was a committee of Professors but by OAU tradition and practice, there was room for two non-professorial members who were to represent the interest of Congregation on that committee. At that time, I was representing Congregation on Senate which is why I ended up on the A&P Committee rubbing shoulders on very nearly equal terms with Deans and professors and having frequent interactions with the Vice-chancellor, the statutory chairman of that committee.
As a member of A&P, I was not only privy to all matters affecting the promotion of all members of academic staff but made sure that my voice rang through the chamber whenever there was any need to contribute to debates. One of the cases which was presented to the Committee by the Department of History that year was in respect of one Dr. Falola. I did not have to utter a word for or against the case and did no more than join the chorus of ‘approved, approved’ which went round the room as soon as the case was presented to the committee. That is how strongly the case spoke for itself. I had no idea who this fabled Falola was and had to ask a couple of people who he was. That is how I learnt that he was a nerd, at a time that that word had not even been invented. He had done a great deal of work about the history of Ibadan, his hometown. The irony was not lost on me at that time that I, being Ijesa, had we been born a hundred years before we would have in some probability made adversarial acquaintance with each other at Ikirun, on the rampant of the wall around Ilesa or even Kiriji, the battle fields on which Ibadan and Ijesa armies clashed in those dark days of the Yoruba civil wars.
There was no doubt that Dr. Falola as he then was, was a dyed in the wool historian, one who was destined to give outstanding leadership to the Department of History at the University of Ife as she then was, for many years to come. Unfortunately, that excellent prognosis was miles off as he was one of the first to be captivated by the allure of productive scholarship away from Nigeria even though his contribution to learning in Nigeria has been tremendous.
Both Bayo Williams and Toyin Falola are outstanding products of an institution of which we are justly proud. That university I must confess was not my first choice at a time when I was in the position to make a choice of university. I would have preferred to stay in Lagos, within an environment with which I was familiar at the time but fate had other plans for me. The first time ever I set foot on the campus of the University of Ife was when I went there to start my three year Pharmacy programme there in September 1969, a few years before Williams and Falola turned up there in their own turn. I had fetched up at Ife because at that time the only Pharmacy degree awarding institution in Nigeria was at Ife and since for reasons which even today remain inexplicable to me, I had decided to study Pharmacy, I had no choice but to find my way to Ife. Unconsciously, my attitude to Ife at that time was best for me because once I set foot on that hallowed turf, I was hooked line and sinker as I developed a passion for that institution, a romance which kept me there for fifty long but productive years.
For most of those fifty years, Ife was the most visible university in Nigeria but that was a status that was acquired and definitely not bestowed. I spent my early childhood in the exquisite garden that was St Andrew’s College, Oyo followed by seven years at Igbobi College where lawns were venerated and flowers worshipped. Arriving at Ife was therefore a home coming of sorts and that environment spoke directly to my soul as it did to countless others. That environment spoke to me in many other ways, not least the rigours of passing through that university unscathed by her elevated academic standards. There was no safety from any course at Ife which made an Ife degree something to be really proud of. And whilst on this theme of excellence, I am as proud of my Cricket colours from Ife as my Pharmacy degree especially since the university won NUGA for the first time in 1972 when I was a member of the sports contingent that performed that memorable feat.
There is a great deal to be proud of in Ife, nothing more so than the single minded manner with which she built up her faculties in those heady years of a staff development scheme which turned the university into an academic powerhouse within ten glorious years. Those of my generation who were caught up in the development tsunami of those years have a fabulous story to tell of our adventures in the best universities mostly in the Western world. We were to be found in London, Cambridge, Imperial College, Sussex, Stamford, UCLA, Purdue, Manchester, the real Toronto, Brown, to mention those that come easily to mind. We not only attended those universities but came away with highly creditable doctorates, some in record time. Our innate abilities and the grounding we had at Ife saw to this. We all returned to serve our bond with the university and the majority of us stayed in the university through thick and thin to give back of our best to our alma mater which had so much faith in us at a time when we needed it.
It was certainly a glorious home coming at Ife the other day and many drums were rolled out and numerous toasts proposed and drunk. In the midst of our joys however the tolling of what sounded like funeral bells could be heard and could not be ignored. The university is only sixty years old, hardly out of infancy by institutional standards. But already, the best years appear to be in the past. That excellent staff development scheme which started in the sixties and lasted for some twenty years has long been dismantled and the capacity to fund research has been lost in the same way that staff have been lost steadily over the years leaving us to wonder how university traditions can be maintained. The once justifiable claim of the university being Africa’s most beautiful campus lies in ruins in the midst of overgrown lawns and ragged trees. As for our sporting excellence which was won by the blood, sweat and tears of members of my generation, it has become the topic of conversation of old men with long memories. Our predicament is summed up by the fact that the two alumni who shone like a constellation of stars the other day had to leave Ife in order to fulfil their respective enormous potential. This makes us wonder, just what will the university be celebrating in another sixty years?
Nigerians from all walks of life are thrilled by the Presidential intervention mitigating the high cost of transport this festive season. Cross-country travelling to see loved ones at the end of the year has
been the norm for Nigerians, for decades, irrespective of religious inclinations. Therefore, the far[1]reaching effect of discounted inter-state bus fares and free train rides on the citizenry, cannot be overemphasised.
In announcing the Federal Government’s gesture last Wednesday, the chairman of the Yuletide transport subsidy inter-ministerial committee and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake had revealed that from 21st December 2023 to 4th January, 2024, Nigerians will enjoy a 50% discount on inter-state bus transport along 22 major routes, while the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) will be offering free train rides within the same period, in what is now widely acclaimed as a novel, pro-masses initiative by any Federal Government in Nigeria’s history.
With a target of lifting 5 million commuters this season, government is partnering with major transport companies like Good is Good (GIG) motors, Chisco Transport, Young Shall Grow, God Bless Ezenwata and Area Motor. In view of high demand across the country, the routes have since been scaled up from 22 to 28 while citizens travelling from Lagos – Nigeria’s commercial hub, to other states like Akure and Ilorin via mini buses from the Oshodi bus interchange, are also beneficiaries.
It will be recalled that the attendant effect of fuel subsidy removal has led to skyrocketing transport fares which has necessitated palliatives from government to cushion its effect. Feedback from citizens across the country have indicated that this transport subsidy has the most significant impact, thus far.
Deborah, at the God is Good Motors (GIGM) Park in Ajah Lagos, captured the mood of passengers across the country. “I’m travelling from Ajah here in Lagos. I’m going to Benin and I just received my 50% discount palliative from the Federal Government (displaying her receipt), and I’m so excited.
Thank you so much, Mr. President! Ebele, travelling from Mararaba, Abuja aboard the GIGM bus to Edo state captured his excitement thus, “It’s a good feeling. I got the refund of 50% of my fares. I had
paid N36,800 initially but I got half of that back. This is a real palliative and I’m grateful to President Bola Tinubu.
Another commuter, Lucky travelling from Mararaba, Abuja to Owerri, Imo State had this to say, ” The original fare was N32,300 but on getting here, they said the President has given us a 50% discount and they refunded it back to me. I just received my own alert. Long live the President, Long live Nigeria!
Impact stories also abound from train commuters along the Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna routes. A twitter user @ayotem4real had tweeted, “Just got two free train tickets ( Lagos – Ibadan) for my son and mum. En route to the Babatunde Fashola station.Thank you, Mr. President”. A passenger aboard the Idu train station in Abuja to Kaduna revealed that “For those who have validated their names, it’s a smooth ride from the Idu train station in Abuja”.
Another elderly commuter aboard the Idu train station to Kaduna, showered encomiums on the President. ” Thank God, the President has offered this free ride to us from Abuja to Kaduna and for others across the country. The President is now trying but some are trying to sabotage the system.
They will not succeed. My prayer is that Nigeria will be better. When government is making efforts, it shall affect all Nigerians and I say thanks to government. They should keep it up”.
In just 48 hours since the commencement of the subsidised transport scheme, the implementation has been impressive across the country, it will only get better as the days progress. It should also be noted that after the holidays, Nigerians can take advantage of the discounted rates to return to their respective bases, on or before 4th January, 2024.
With this palliative that is touching lives, down to the grassroots, it is apparent that President Tinubu is deeply committed to the welfare of the people and working round the clock for their shared prosperity. An apt message can be deduced from this intervention – enjoy your holidays!
• Tomori is Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development.
The White House has announced that by the end of the year funding for supporting Ukraine will run out. The EU has declared that it will miss by a large measure its announced goal of providing Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells by March 2024. These are sober words presaging what I believe will be a devastating failure for the West.
If Ukraine cannot push Russia back, there will not be a stable stalemate. Russia will throw all it has into “conquering” Ukraine. It will obliterate cities completely, as demonstrated by its conquest of Mariupol, where Russia is estimated to have killed 25,000 people and destroyed 90 percent of residential buildings. That is the Russian way of war. Russia’s army will imprison, torture or kill anyone who refuses to “belong” to Russia. Remember the Bucha massacre? Bucha had 37,000 inhabitants, compared to Ukraine’s 44 million. As Russia advances, 5, 10, 100 or more Buchas may occur.
Many more Ukrainians will flee if Russia is able to seize more Ukrainian territory. 6.3 million have fled the country as of now. Many work hard in their new place of residence, but European countries incur costs of hundreds of Euro per month for each Ukrainian refugee. Russia’s strategy includes making Ukraine uninhabitable, driving refugees into Europe. If for example 5 million more Ukrainians flee as Russia advances, it would cost Europe billions of Euro more per month additionally, dozens of billions of Euro per year.
Many Ukrainians will fight. Westerners learned on Feb. 24, 2022, that Ukrainians will risk their lives to remain free. Hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened women and men will be ready to take up a guerilla fight. They are inventive, with many highly educated engineers, inventors, IT specialists. If Russia counters with ever more brutal repression, this will trigger ever more severe guerilla fighting and more refugees.
Meanwhile Baltic states and Poland will be subject to Russian threats and its hybrid war. It worked out in Ukraine, will be the Kremlin’s logic. Moldova and Georgia could face military aggression.
At the same time, inside European societies radical and populist parties that sympathize with Russia will gain momentum. Already, in several countries pro-Russian parties have come to positions of power or are running high in the polls now. More will likely join governments if Russia advances in Ukraine and these pro-Russian forces seem to be proven “right.”
With an emboldened aggressive Russia right at the border of the EU, deterrence will be needed far beyond what governments plan now. Defense budgets in Europe during the Cold War averaged 3.5 percent of GDP. Now they are lower than 2 percent in many European countries. Returning to Cold War-levels would mean for the UK $39 billion more per year, for Germany $86 billion, and for France $43 billion. For NATO as a whole to hit 3.5 percent of GDP on defense spending, it would require $410BN more per year.
And this staggering sum is still nothing against the cost if a hot war between Russia and NATO emerges from Russian hybrid aggression on one of NATO’s Eastern member states. NATO allies will have to defend the attacked, including likely with their own soldiers.
For sure, if the Kremlin is successful in Ukraine, Russian support for terrorists all over the world would strengthen. As will cooperation with Iran and North Korea. These regimes which use death, terror, and fear at home and abroad, will challenge the West. Every additional crisis that affects the West is good for them (and Russia). And of course China watches if the West defends the rules it proclaims. If the impression is that the West is incapable of resolute and sustainable defense, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan becomes more likely.
If you are a Western middle-class citizen who values the life you live, the cost of this change of organizing principles of the international system, of the tone and ideology of the world you live in, will be beyond imagination — and it will be very costly for many decades.
This is the world if Ukraine loses.
You may think, an armistice now will limit loss of life and Western expenses. But Russia will agree to an “armistice” only as a maneuver to win time, regroup and attack again.
You may think, then let’s temporarily not defend Ukraine but strengthen our own defense. Russia will be satisfied and turn inward to digest their acquisition. But instead, the impossibility to devour Ukraine will spill blood, suffering and chaos, and this will increase instability all over Europe. And Russia will not turn inward. From the start the Kremlin said, they fight the West. They need a new world order with dictatorship equally strong as freedom and democracy. Ukraine is a cornerstone in the plan, but by no means enough. They speak about this openly.
So, a decline in Western support for Ukraine will not lessen the cost for the West. It will make the cost for the West skyrocket.
Ukraine losing is an outcome that must not happen. So you must prevent it. You must help Ukraine win. And you can! Ukraine winning is doable. It will even be comparatively inexpensive.
During World War II U.S. support for the UK, the Soviet Union and France averaged 4.9 percent of GDP annually. The Korean war cost the US 2.8 percent of GDP annually. The “war on terror” is estimated to have cost the US $8TN. Compare those figures to the 0.3 percent of GDP the U.S. spent until today for Ukraine and 0.4 percent on average that EU member states have spent (and this is including financial and humanitarian aid, not only military support).
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. has committed just 3.9 percent of its defense budget on military support for Ukraine. This has thus far kept Russia in check in Europe, prevented many more millions of refugees, and deterred Iran and China.
I am a Ukrainian. Our heroes at the front fight for our independence. But I am not insisting you make Ukrainian independence your cause, I am just asking you to think through the war in Ukraine from the point of view of your own interests.
I am tremendously thankful for the gracious, vital support of the U.S., Europe and other friends of Ukraine in the West and beyond for the over the past almost two years.
And I believe it is in the West’s fundamental self-interest to continue and do more. Do it more quickly (if the West had given last year what it gave now, Ukraine would have beaten back Russia already). We need more artillery shells, tanks, long-range missiles and planes.
For a small fraction of a percent of Western GDP, and without sending a single soldier into battle, the West can enable Ukraine to keep holding at bay the single greatest security threat to the West and the international order today.
Then, you will have, for little money, saved your own lives as you want to live them in a world in which the West and its allies are able to robustly defend freedom and security.
To achieve that by spending only a couple of percentage points of your defense budget is a good deal for you, for Ukraine, and for the world.
My dear Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu (@netanyahu), I trust this open letter meets you well despite the challenges that both you and your nation are presently facing.
Let me begin by asking you to forgive me for communicating with you through this rather unorthodox medium but I have no other way of reaching you and I fear that a formal, private letter and communication to your office in Tel Aviv may never make it past your Chief of Staff or to your desk.
Such is the gravity of unfolding events in the Middle East and your nation Israel that I am constrained to ensure that you hear some home truths, no matter how bitter, and I hope that your Ambassador to our country Nigeria, His Excellency Mr. Micheal Freeman, together with the numerous operatives, informants and spooks that you have planted here will have the good sense, decency, foresight and courage to intimate you of its contents.
Now to the point.
Your Excellency, permit me to tell you that I have respect for your office but I have no respect for you.
You are the greatest disaster that has befallen your nation since its establishment in 1948 and rather than refer to you as Prime Minister of Israel I will henceforth refer to you as the butcher of our age and the child-slayer of Gaza.
Your killing spree, genocidal binge, murderous disposition, blind rage & unconscionable desire to wipe out, ethnically cleanse and totally exterminate the entire Palestinian race has resulted in the mass murder of 26,000 innocent and defenceless Palestinans (which represents over 1% of the entire population of Gaza), 97 journalists (including Samer Abu Daqqa of Al Jazeera @AJEnglish) and 3 Israeli hostages (whilst they were shirtless, begging for help and waiving a white flag) in Gaza all in just 2 months!
Of the 26,000 Palestinians that have been killed 10,000 of them were children and 6,400 of them were women whilst 20,000 of them were found above the rubble and 6,000 remain below it.
24,000 Palestinian children have lost one or both parents in Israeli attacks, 18,000 have been injured with some in critical condition and 60% of the people of Gaza are facing starvation.
300 Palestinian health workers, 134 staffers of the United Nations and a French Foreign Ministry official have been killed and 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced, hundreds of thousands of them are without food, clean water and shelter and 85% of them have been forced to leave their homes.
288 Palestinians have been killed in the neighbouring occupied West Bank and 4,570 have been detained there since October 7th.
Over 100,000 buildings have been destroyed in Gaza, thousands of refugees have been bombed and butchered in its refugee camps and a Palestinian woman and her daughter were targetted and shot dead in a Church by an Israeli sniper.
The latter is a particularly despicable and heinous crime which Pope Francis has described as an act of “terrorism”.
12,000 bombs and 40,000 TONS of bombs have been dropped on Gaza and half of all its buildings have been totally destroyed whilst the Israeli Airforce says it struck at least 12,000 targets across the besieged Palestinian territory BETWEEN OCTOBER 7 TO NOVEMBER 1 ALONE (only God knows how high that number is today) making it one of the most intense bombing campaigns in recent history.
71% of Gaza’s population are suffering from acute hunger, 98% are suffering from insufficient food consumption and 64% eat grass, fruit and undercooked and expired food stuffs to satisfy their hunger.
As Christmas approaches, Bethlehem, the birthplace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is under siege and you have decided to sacrifice and forsake the remaining 130 Israeli hostages that are still with Hamas.
Of a truth, it is only those who do not have children that cannot feel the pain of the Palestinian people.
Can you dispute the words of Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a former Minister of Information in the Palestinian Unity Government and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, when he said “no human being in Palestine has any value to Israel, whether Muslim or Christian. The whole world now knows how it treats Palestinians and why it is killing journalists that are reporting the truth”.
All we see in Gaza is death, blood, body fluids and innards spilt, pasted and spread all over the streets and buildings, human limbs that have been shattered, scattered and torn apart, tears, mayhem, carnage, barbarity, cold-blooded mass murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity, unadulterated cruelty, unrelenting callousness, undiluted perfidy and the most graphic and extreme form of wickedness that has been unleashed against a defenceless and innocent civilian population which comprises primarily of women and children.
You told the civilians to flee from Northern Gaza to Southern Gaza where you said they would be safe.
After over one million of them took you at your word and did so you started bombing Southern Gaza as well killing thousands of them in the process.
You have killed more civilians in Gaza in two months than the Americans killed civilians in their twenty years of occupation and waging war against the Taliban in Afghanistan!
Even the mortuarys and cemeteries were not spared and the bodies of the dead were not allowed to rest in peace. Instead they were bombed, blown apart, strewn all over the floor and burial grounds and desecrated.
Under your leadership Israel has become what the American commentator and presidential candidate, Mr. Cent Uygar, has rightly described as a “mass assasination factory”.
Tell me Bibi, with all this, how do you sleep at night?
What horrors do you see and what nightmares do you experience when you close your eyes?
How do you look at your wife and children first thing in the morning and pray to your God with so much innocent blood on your hands?
When will your chronic madness and psychotic, insatiable desire for the shedding of Palestinan blood be cured?
When will your psychopathic obsession for vengeance and the crushing, subjugation, enslavement and elimination of the Palestinian people be abated?
I choose to say the bitter truth that few dare to voice and that truth is that you have lost touch with reality and you are not a leader but rather a bloodthirsty, bloodlusting, vengeful, hateful, venal, vicious, relentless, wicked, uncompromising & barbaric meglomaniac who is satanically-inspired & controlled by the demons of hell & the forces of darkness.
That is why many call you “Netanyahu” to your face and “Satanyahu” behind your back.
You have failed in all your military objectives in Gaza and other than slaughtering thousands of innocent women and children and destroying its infrastructures you have achieved nothing and only confirmed your fascistic disposition and insane cruelty to the world.
You refuse to see the advantage, the importance and the strategic and moral imperative of a lasting ceasefire and you have rejected the laudable concept, noble vision and equitable objective of a two-state solution.
Your heart’s desire is to totally and completely eliminate and exterminate the Palestinian people, throw them into the dustbin of history, erase all memory of them, drive them into the desert, drown them in the sea, scatter them all over the nations of the earth and engender and facilitate their total and complete extinction all in a futile attempt to establish an ancient biblical Zionist state which shares a border with Egypt in the South and Iran in the North, which considers the Jews to be the master race and the chosen people, which views others, including Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Africans and Asians as sub-human monkeys that have no rights and that must be treated as nothing but field hands, canon fodder, slaves, servants, cheap labour, hewers of the wood and drawers of the water.
Again your hearts desire is to establish what your fellow Zionists have described as ‘Greater Israel’, to balkanise the Middle East and to cause the Arabs to bend the knee to the evil Zionist and apartheid State.
Clearly these are fanciful delusions and unattainable objectives which shall never happen or ever come to pass.
If the truth be told you and those that think like you are nothing but a cancerous affliction.
You are not the ‘defender of Israel’ as you often describe yourself but a caricature of failure and hopelessness, a pitiful champion of the despicable, hateful and racist philosophy of Zionism and a curse to the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
You have brought nothing but opprobium, shame, notoriety and disgrace to your nation and by the time this war is over you will be the most hated leader in the history of Israel and the most despised man in the world.
You are not and have never been the champion of Israel but rather can best be described as the “Butcher of our Age” and the “Child Slayer of Gaza”.
Like all butchers, I have little doubt that you will end up in hell and you may well pull your nation Israel down there with you.
I hope that I have not hurt your feelings Bibi but the truth must be told and sometimes it is is painful.
Permit me to end my love letter to you by sharing something that one of your most notable, loyal and dedicated Zionist compatriots, soul mates and spiritual acolytes posted on X the other day which I believe reflects the contempt, moral depravity, disdain and hate that you and all those that think like you collectively harbour for all those of us that do not share your Jewish faith, your Zionist views or your Israeli heritage.
Dr. Eli David, a highly respected and leading Israeli commentator, intellectual, researcher, lecturer, entrepreneur, investor, AI expert, co-founder of Deep Instincts Ltd. and a man that has been described as having “one of the 100 most influential twitter accounts” and who is undoubtedly one of the most vocal and powerful pro-Israeli, pro-Zionist and pro-Jewish voices in the world posted a video of thousands of Muslim women in full hijab and covered from head to toe whilst they were marching the streets of London.
Under the video he wrote the following words:
“This is not Islamabad. This is London. Good luck with your multiculturalism”.
His point is clearly understood.
He is mocking the British and saying that their country has been taken over by Arab, Persian and Asian Muslims all in the name of multiculturalism.
What he conveniently failed to mention is the fact that the resounding success of British multi-culturalism has been confirmed and affirmed by the fact that she now has a brown-skinned Hindu as Prime Minister, a brown-skinned Muslim as Mayor of London and a brown-skinned Muslim as leader, First Minister and Premier of Scotland.
She also has a black-skinned Minister of Internal Affairs (Home Secretary) and up until recently had a black-skinned Minister of Foreign Affairs and a black-skinned Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Given this should it really bother anyone if Muslim women are wearing hijabs whilst marching the streets of London? I think not!
Those that erroneously believe that the UK ought to be and is indeed better off being an all white, all Christian nation comprising of only white Anglo Saxon protestants have clearly lost out and been proved wrong and the UK herself is the better for it.
My response to Eli, which I posted on his X thread, is worthy of being shared here and may interest you.
Whatever the case you have much to learn from it and you may come to appreciate the fact that those of us that do not share your Jewish faith, Zionist disposition and expantionist aspirations view you and those that have your racist mindset with as much contempt as you view us.
I wrote,
“Frankly I think it is a beautiful thing that Muslim women are marching in their thousands in the streets of London in black hijabs and I believe that the UK is the better for it.
As they say variety is the spice of life and multi culturalism in the UK has come to stay.
Perhaps, as some have mockingly suggested, London should now be refered to as ‘Londonistan’ and frankly that would be great too.
One thing that you cannot take from the Muslims is that, unlike others, they did not go to the UK or Europe and take the land by the force of arms, displacing the local population, subjugating and enslaving them and occupying their territory all in the name of their faith.
That is of course precisely what your Jewish forefathers did.
In case you have forgotten permit me to educate you a little about your own Jewish heritage and history.
The reason that these Arab Muslims whose culture and civilisation stretches back thousands of years more than that of the Europeans left the Middle East and came running to the UK and other parts of Europe and settled there is because, in collaboration with the Americans and the British after WW 11, millions of white Caucasian European Jews were shipped in droves to a place called Palestine in the Middle East in 1948 where they displaced the local indigenous Palestinian population, stole and occupied their land, enslaved their people, claimed that they (the Jews) were God’s chosen ones and master race and established a new country and a paranoid, genocidal, racist apartheid Zionist state called Israel where non-Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Palestinans had few rights and were treated like filth.
They claimed that the land had been given to them by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from time immemorial and they may well be right but surely that does not confer on them the right to kill, maim and displace everyone else that they met on it.
They also claimed that they inhabited it 2000 years ago before they were dispersed and scattered all over the world and that they have now come back to claim it and forcefully repossess it at the expense of all the Arabs and Palestinians that had been living there for those 2000 years!
Again they may be right but the question is whether this is equitable and just and whether, given the circumstances, it is even practical or possible.
Coming back to the land that they believe they own is not the issue: the issue is their belief that they have the right to live there and own it EXCLUSIVELY and that EVERYONE ELSE must bow to them and accept the supremacy of their ethnic stock, race and faith.
The whole thing when looked at in this context really does sound like a grade B Hollywood movie script doesn’t it but amazingly it is all true and the narrative that I have enunciated here about the series of events and the mindset of the Zionists is historical fact.
Do you see who and what the problem is now?
It seems safer and better for the average Arab or Muslim from Palestine and the Middle East who has been displaced and robbed of his land, history, dignity, heritage and identity to run away from home and live in multi-cultural “Londonistan” or Europe than to stay in the Middle East and be humiliated, insulted, disgraced, tormented, harassed, enslaved, denied, robbed and bombed to pieces by the non-semetic Europeans and settlers who now call themselves Jews and Israelis, who erroneously believe that Islam and Christianity are not of God, who have colonised and conquered their land, who refuse to accept the idea of a two-state solution and who believe that they have a divine duty and mission to exterminate and wipe out the Palestinian people and establish what they have decribed as the biblical ‘Greater Israel’ whose territory would stretch from Egypt to Iran covering the whole of the Middle East and the Arab Gulf states.
I hope you have a clearer picture of the issues at stake now.
If Israel had done the sensible thing and embraced the idea of a multi-ethnic multi-cultural and multi- religious state today rather than insist on preserving and maintaining a racist, purist, fascist and supremacist one it would have been a far greater and better place and would not be a threat to world peace and what can best be described as an endangered species”.
I hope that Eli and all your ultra nationalist, extreemist, racist, Islamaphobic, anti-Christian, Zionist and right-wing supporters get my point.
More importantly I hope that you get the message and appreciate the fact that millions view you with as much disdain as you view others.
To be remembered for being a callous and heartless butcher that delights in the mass murder and slaughter of women and children is not the best of legacies: it is indeed a curse.
And to be labelled as the butcher of our age and the child killer of Gaza is indeed the worst misfortune that can befall any mortal.
Posterity and history shall judge you harshly my friend Bibi, just wait and see.
For the benefit of those that doubt your ultimate intention to conquer the entire Middle East, expand your nations borders well beyond our collective imagination and “take it all” permit me to share the following.
Your Finance Minister, Mr. Bezalel Smotrich, recently delivered a speech behind a podium which displays “Greater Israel” and during the course of that speech he said some very interesting and provocative things.
For those that do not know, “Greater Israel” encompasses the entirety of Palestine, the entirety of Jordan and parts of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
It is clear that you and your people have a hideous, expansionist hidden agenda and if not resisted you will not stop at gobbling up just Palestine.
In addition to that your National Heritage Minister, Mr. Amihay Eliyahu, recently said that he believes that a nuclear bomb should be dropped on Gaza and that the Palestinians should either be driven into the desert, the sea or thrown out and scattered amongst the nations of the world at 25,000 Palestinans per nation.
On his part your Minister for National Security, Mr. Itamar Ben-Gvir, said the only thing that should enter Gaza until all the hostages are released are “hundreds of tons of explosives” from the Israeli Air Force and “not an ounce of humanitarian aid.”
He also distributed guns to the right wing and extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank and urged them to kill as many Palestinians as possible.
Clearly your cabinet is filled with sociopaths, psychopaths and a good number of insane people who are suffering from serious mental health issues and the sooner you kick them out and send them to a psychiatric hospital the better.
In October you yourself said “There are no innocent people in the Gaza Strip. This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness”.
You continued by saying, “we are committed to completely eliminating this evil from the world. You must remember what Amalek has done to you says our Holy Bible and WE DO REMEMBER. 1 Samuel 15:3 says ‘Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass’”.
If this is not a call for and a statement of intent to commit genocide against an entire nation then I do not know what is.
Even the centrist President of your nation, Mr. Isaac Herzog, who is, under normal circumstances, far more cerebral, restrained and level headed than you dropped the ball and let himself down very badly by saying, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible for October 7th. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true. They could’ve risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime.”
This is clearly yet another call for the collective punishment and extermination of the Palestinian people and not just the elimination of Hamas and that makes it not just a war crime or a crime against humanity but also the expression of an unlawful and wilful intention to commit the heinous crime of ethnic cleansing.
Sadly it does not stop there. Your Agriculture Minister, Mr. Avi Dichter, told Israeli Channel 12 that the war would be “Gaza’s Nakba,” using the Arabic word for “catastrophe” that many use to describe the 1948 displacement of roughly 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their land in what became Israel.
He said, “we are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba. From an operational point of view, there is no way to wage a war as the Israeli Army seeks to do in Gaza with masses of people between the tanks and the soldiers. Gaza Nakba 2023. That’s how it will end.”
Not to be outdone, Mr. Danny Neumann, a former Knesset member and close political associate of yours advocated for the extermination of every man, woman and child in Gaza.
On national television he said,
“The Palestinians are ALL terrorists, sons of dogs. They must be exterminated, ALL of them killed.”
Bibi, given all this, you cannot but agree with me that both you, your political associates and your entire cabinet are indulging in nothing but hateful rhetoric and violent madness and, as leaders, it reduces you all to the unenenviable level of some of the other monsters of world history like Genghis Khan, Atilla the Hun, Adolf Hitler, King Leopold 11, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot.
At this juncture permit me to share the moving words of Dr. Omar Suleiman (@Omarsuleiman504) who is an Imam, an American Palestinian and the President of the Yaqeen Institute and who wrote the following on X a few days ago:
“Thousands of children are dead. Thousands of children are under the rubble. Thousands of children are missing limbs. Thousands of children are missing parents. Thousands of children are fighting disease. Thousands of children are having surgeries performed on them without anesthesia. Thousands of children have been starved. Thousands of children have been bombed out of their homes. Every single child in Gaza has been forever traumatized. All of the above are war crimes. We can keep letting human rights organizations count them or we can finally hold them accountable”.
This is a timely, insightful and moving contribution from Omar and he has successfully reflected the minds and thoughts of millions of people from all over the world.
If his heartfelt and compassionate submission does not prick your conscience, soften your heart and move you to tears Binyamin then nothing ever will and you are lost forever.
Permit me to conclude with the following.
Given the fact that Her Excellency Mrs. Tzipi Hotovely,
your Ambassador to the United Kingdom, has finally confirmed our worst fears that the Zionist state has ruled out any possibility of a two-state solution and given the fact that she has proclaimed that the Oslo Accords “have failed” and “are no longer relevant”, it is clear to me that the die is cast, Ceasar has crossed the Rubicorn and war is inevitable.
Of a truth the attack on your nation by Hamas on October 7th which sparked off this war was horrific and unacceptable and it has been rightly condemned by all right-thinking people including yours truly.
Yet as barbaric and heinous as it was it pales in comparison to what your forces are doing in Gaza today.
Israel has the right to defend herself against Hamas but she does not have the right to target and slaughter innocent Palestinian civilians and ethnically cleanse an entire race!
The extent of havoc and damage that you have unleashed on the Palestinians is unprecedented and mind-boggling and as a consequence of that millions consider you and your IDF to be even worse and more barbaric than Hamas ever was.
And sadly it goes even further than that because, as inconceivable as it appears, your actions have turned Hamas into heroes in the eyes of millions of those that support the Palestinian cause.
Simply put your lack of restraint, rage, folly and insistence on imposing a policy of collective punishment on the Palestinan people have made demons look like angels.
The bitter truth that most of us refuse to acknowledge is the fact that, as a consequence of the genocide that has been unleashed on Gaza by your forces over the last two months, the Al Qassam Brigade, Hamas’ armed wing, is now viewed by the overwhelming majority of people in the Arab world as gallant warriors who dared to rise up against the oppressive and fascistic Zionist state and who, on October 7th, struck what they consider to be a deadly blow against a brutal and unrelenting occupying force and evil entity that has held their people in bondage for the last 75 years, stripped them of their dignity and humanity, robbed them of their identity, heritage and self-respect, stolen their land and destroyed their collective future.
Even if the whole of Gaza is bombed into smithereens and totally flattened and every Palestinian man, woman and child is slaughtered by the IDF (@IDF), the myth of Israeli invincibility has been proved to be fallacious and been forever shattered and the spiritual seed of resistance and defiance against the most cruel and brutal occupation in history has been planted in the heart of every Arab on the planet and they will continue the fight.
To much of the world Hamas is nothing but a bloodthirsty and callous terrorist organisation but to the overwhelming majority of Arabs and Muslims they are regarded as courageous freedom fighters who are resisting the evil of occupation and genocide and who are fighting a worthy cause.
They view Hamas in precisely the same way that the black majority population in South Africa and the African continent viewed the ANC and its armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation) during the bitter struggle against apartheid and white minority rule.
They view them in the same way that the world viewed the Allied Forces of America, the Soviet Union, the UK, France, Australia, Canada, Holland, Belgium, Poland and the rest of the civilised world in their bitter struggle against the tyranny and occupation forces of the Axis Powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy during World War 11.
The idea that you can wipe out such a movement and ideology by killing everyone in it and that espouses it’s philosophy and by exterminating the Palestinian race and the notion that you can wipe out the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for the right to exist and the right to self-determination simply because you have the support of the Americans is the greatest mistake and gravest error that the country you lead has made in it’s 75 year history.
There is no gainsaying that this mistake will cost you and your beloved nation dearly in the not too distant future.
May the God of Heaven, the Ancient of Days, the Lord of Hosts and He that is more than able touch your stubborn heart and renew a right spirit within you before it is too late.
Shalom.
(FFK)
• Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the Sadaukin Shinkafi and the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, is a lawyer, a former Minister of Aviation and a former Minister of Culture and Tourism.
SIR: In a world where Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like obesity and diabetes are on the rise, it is essential to address the root causes of these health epidemics. One issue that has gained significant attention in Nigeria in recent years is the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and the attendant health impacts they have.
As manufacturers of these products prioritize their profits over the wellness of the nation, it is crucial to dispel misleading information about SSBs, the efforts of the government to manage the looming disaster and the important work done by civil society groups and the public health community.
The detrimental effects of excessive SSB consumption are well-documented and draw global parallels with successful sugar-sweetened beverages tax implementations. This argument calls for an increase in such taxes to promote public health and well-being, particularly in the Nigerian context.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified excessive consumption of sugary drinks as a major contributor to NCDs, which are particularly prevalent in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria. SSBs are a significant source of added sugars, offering empty calories with little to no nutritional value. High intake of these beverages has been linked to conditions such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dental problems, and more than 15 types of cancer.
Alarmingly, studies have shown that children and adolescents in Nigeria are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of SSBs, making this a critical public health issue.
Countries that have implemented sugar-sweetened beverage taxes have witnessed positive outcomes in both health and fiscal terms. For instance, Mexico saw a 7.6% reduction in SSB purchases in the first two years after implementing the tax, with an even more significant decline in lower-income households. Similarly, Berkeley, California, experienced a 21% decrease in SSB consumption following the implementation of a local tax.
It is essential to stress that there is no valid argument to categorize unhealthy products as “staple food” for the general public in Nigeria. While we admit that this attempt is due to a lack of stringent regulations that protect Nigerians from consuming unhealthy products that have now flooded the markets with misleading advertisements, the information disseminated by the sugary beverages manufacturers, their allies, and other front groups primarily serves to bolster their profitability and funding of their expensive lifestyle at the detriment of the consumers’ wellbeing.
The revenue generated from these taxes can be reinvested in public health initiatives and subsidizing healthy food options. In the Nigerian context, this revenue can also help offset the economic burden of healthcare costs associated with diet-related diseases.
Sugary drink manufacturers often assert their innocence, claiming their products are just one part of a complex problem. They argue that consumer responsibility plays a significant role in health outcomes and that consumers should exercise moderation and make informed choices. They also argue against pro-health taxation, claiming that it unfairly targets lower-income individuals.
However, evidence shows that lower-income populations will benefit the most from reduced SSB consumption due to the regressive nature of diet-related diseases.
As the advocacy for an immediate increase in Nigeria’s SSB tax continues, it is crucial for the industry to provide accurate information through publications. Obesity, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases are non-communicable diseases that can result from unhealthy diets, including excessive consumption of sugary drinks. Providing clear nutritional labelling and increasing transparency about the sugar content in beverages can empower consumers in Nigeria to make informed choices.
Pro-health tax is a critical step in combating Nigeria’s NCD crisis worsened by excessive sugar consumption. A higher SSB tax rate that is effectively implemented and not absorbed by the consumer will serve as a powerful tool in reducing the prevalence of diet-related diseases and ultimately improving the health of the Nigerian population.
It is time for manufacturers to be more responsible by limiting the incomplete and false messages they put in public while we also ask the government and all relevant agencies to sit up and protect the health of Nigerians.
The World Trade Organisation launched its Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action during the COP28 conference. The new tools offer opportunities for countries to mitigate the climate change effect of their trade practices. The tools align with the Paris Agreement, the 2015 legally binding United Nations Treaty on Climate Change.
But the global contribution of African states to climate change remains very low: four percent. African states’ contribution to global trade stands at three percent. There are socio-economic inequalities between African states and their western counterparts. The wider historical context of these inequalities means that the WTO’s Trade Policy Tools for Climate Action will have different impacts on developing and developed countries.
Notwithstanding Africa’s low contribution to global trade and climate change, the new tools offer some avenues for African countries to take modest climate action. There are trade facilitation measures that can improve infrastructure, information and communications technology, the business environment, and border and transport efficiency. This will reduce energy consumption and greenhouse emissions from freight transport.
What difference can green government procurement policies make?
Green government procurement policies refer to decisions by governments to buy environmentally sustainable materials, supplies and services. These policies also look at the present and future impacts of purchases based on their consumption and eventual end-of-life stage.
The impact of green government procurement is yet to be seen in developing countries like those in Africa. Generally speaking, these policies spur innovation and result in improved employee health and safety. They also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous and toxic substances, plastic waste and pollution.
The new tools say tariffs must be reduced on green products. Won’t this mean that low-cost, imported green energy components will flood into Africa, and undermine local manufacturing?
Trade-related changes are required to address the climate change deficits of international trade. But those changes should not jeopardise African economies. The new tools raise three important concerns.
First, if most imported elements of green energy systems are imported, African states may become dependent on these components. The new tools promise to optimise innovation around green technologies. But lowering tariffs on imported green energy goods may undermine the development of new green technology manufacturing companies in Africa.
A handful of African countries such as South Africa and Kenya may be able to set up companies to manufacture these imported elements. But they will not be able to compete with their foreign partners, who are more adept in producing and exporting the materials at cheaper rates.
Second, the pivot to importing low-cost imported components of green energy perpetuates Africa’s poor status as a raw material generating region only. It reduces Africa’s capacity to take advantage of the global value chains connected to critical raw materials being used in the energy transition. Unsustainable exploration and mining of critical raw materials further damages the environment in many African countries. This deepens Africa’s vulnerability to climate change.
Third, debates about green transition in the trade context are inextricably linked with debt exposure and the capacity of African states to attract climate friendly investments. Without increasing their net trading quota contribution, African states have a much smaller chance of building a green industrial base for a greener future.
But all is not lost. This is a moment of renewed industrial policy in international trade. African states have the opportunity to re-orient their national industrial policies to take advantage of the moment. They can aim to attract investments that will allow them increase their global trade quota by prioritising green industrial development projects.
African countries can also connect their new policies with opportunities that the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement offers in greening their trade projects.
The new tools propose removing government subsidies from fossil fuel industries and redirecting them to renewable energy. Isn’t this a good thing?
Unlike their western counterparts, many African states are heavily dependent on fossil fuel investments. Oil and gas, for example, are often the primary source of their foreign exchange earnings. These fossil fuels are also resources used to generate economic growth and development.
For these African countries, redirecting subsidies from fossil fuel industries to renewable energy may not provide an apparent advantage. A period of transition may allow for such redirection. For developing countries it will need to be a long period. African countries who receive subsidies to invest in renewable energy may be hampered by the poor state of physical infrastructure in their countries.
They will also face competition from rich countries, and the high cost of investment and generating renewable energy products in Africa. To be a truly winning idea for developing countries, the historical and contemporary social, economic, political and financial challenges of African countries must be taken into account.
Overall, the new policy tools offer modest ways that African countries can change some of their trade practices to address climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. Other frameworks such as the Villars Framework for a Sustainable Global System offer pathways to addressing climate change and transition to a climate-friendly global economy.
Yet, without taking advantage of the renewed industrial policy era to re-envision how critical raw materials and other resources can be harnessed and developed in Africa, the continent stands to lose more.
• Akinkugbe is Associate Professor & Viscount Bennett Professor of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. “https://theconversation.com/trade-rules-and-climate-change-africa-stands-to-lose-from-proposed-wto-policy-tools-219825”
