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  • Matters arising in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi off-cycle polls

    Matters arising in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi off-cycle polls

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan last weekend opened the debate on the propriety or otherwise of off-season elections. Speaking in an interview with journalists after voting at his Ward 13 Otuoke, Ogbia LGA, Bayelsa State in last Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election, Dr. Jonathan asked the country to put a stop to off-cycle elections, explaining that if the trend continued a time would come when even the presidential election might also become an off-cycle election. His grouse against off-season polls is that they are inconsistent with the global best practices.

    “I get worried about the issue of off-season elections, and I will use this unique opportunity to plead with the National Assembly that we need to block off-season elections. It is very odd; it’s not a global best practice. A country can elect its people at different times, like the American election and some countries. They may not elect everybody at the same time but the only time they go on to conduct elections, they elect everybody that is supposed to be elected,” he said.

    What the former president seeks is all elections should hold once or twice and there should be fixed periods for elections in Nigeria as is the practice in United States, where we copied our presidential system of government from. In the US, the presidential election takes place every four years, congressional and mid-term elections every two years and a variety of state and local elections hold every year.

    The forner President, Dr. Jonathan has his point. Off-season election is what it is: it is not in sync with the electoral cycle, distorts the electoral calendar flow and makes elections costlier for a country like Nigeria as opposed to when everything is taken together once or twice.

    But achieving the Jonathan proposal seems utopian. It’s a difficult and almost impossible thing to achieve without running foul of the constitution.

    The distortion in the electoral cycle came about as a result of adjudication into some governorship election petitions since the democratic rebirth in 1999, which ate into the four-year term of some governors. Eight states fall within the off-cycle elections as a result of judicial judgements on election petitions. At present, the states include Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo. In the case of Osun State for instance, it took former Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola three solid years before he was able to retrieve his stolen mandate, such that his tenure, which ought to have begun in 2007 eventually started in 2010.  Yet, by the constitution, he is entitled to a four-year tenure, and another four years, if re-elected, as was the case in 2014.

    Read Also: Ex-President Jonathan congratulates Bayelsa’s Gov. Diri on re-election

    Electoral petitions used to go on interminably before. However, the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) has now fixed the time for the hearing and dispensing with election petitions within 180 days and any ensuing appeal within 60 days. The National Assembly that is at present working on the amendment of the Electoral Act should look into the former president’s suggestion and decide what is possible with respect to off-cycle elections.

    In my view, off-cycle elections should ordinarily serve some useful purposes. Rather than injure our electoral system and democracy, they ought to deepen them.

    This is what I mean: because the number of seats or constituencies involved in off-cycle elections are much smaller compared to nationwide elections, they normally should give the election stakeholders, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission, more leeway, indeed the latitude to work towards and engender good elections. They should give the security agencies the room and opportunity to properly police the votes and ensure compliance with the electoral rules and processes.

    Let’s examine the wide gaps in the numbers involved, in the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election as compared with Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo off-cycle elections for instance. About 87 million Nigerians collected their PVCs from around 93 million voters registered. They were the eligible persons for the last presidential election (though only 26.71% of them turned out). In the election held in a total of 176, 846 polling stations, 18 political parties participated according to INEC. Also, the police deployed a total of 310, 973 personnel and 1,240 patrol vans for the election.

    However, for last Saturday’s off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, a total of 5.4 million votes were available for grab by the 18 parties who participated in the polls while the elections took place in 10, 470 polling units across the three states.  According to INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, there were 1,056, 862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 2,419,922 in Imo State and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, making a combined total of 5,409,438 voters for the three states.  16 political parties sponsored candidates in Bayelsa, 17 in Imo and 18 in Kogi.  For effect, the electoral commission also claimed it deployed 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners, six national commissioners and many administrative secretaries for the elections.

    Now, my point is with that large number of election officials, police officers and other stakeholders deployed for just three gubernatorial seats last Saturday, there is no reason why the elections should not be almost flawless if not excellent.

    As I argued earlier, the small number should prepare the ground for the conduct of good elections.

    Another important thing about off-cycle elections is that in our situation, they are supposed to provide INEC with the opportunity to test run their arrangements and facilities for the general elections. The July 14 and September 22, 2018 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states for instance were supposed to prepare ground for the 2019 presidential polls just as the just-ended off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi and the governorship elections in Edo and Anambra scheduled to hold in 2024 and 2025 respectively are supposed to be used by INEC to prepare and particularly to further test its technological systems, the BIVAS and IReV, for the forthcoming 2027 general election.

    But has that been the case with off-cycle polls? Writing on the Back Page of Thisday last Tuesday, cerebral columnist and ARISE TV anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, said: “Every off-cycle election is as bad as the main election, and are in many cases worse. Nigerian politicians and the various stakeholders are obsessed with their own greed, ambition and limitations. Nobody shows any capacity to learn any lessons, making every election the same of the same: the same incredulous pattern of criminality, conflict and capture.”

    So what difference does it make whether the elections are off-cycle or nationwide?

    Indeed, the same allegations of vote-buying, writing of results before the election, violence and other malpractices have greeted the just-ended off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi. INEC should investigate these anomalies and do the needful so it can at least help in future elections.

    Governors Hope Uzodinma and Duoye Diri of Imo and Bayelsa states and All Progressives Congress candidate in Kogi, Ahmed Usman Ododo, have emerged winners of the governorship polls. Uzodinma won in all the 27 Local government areas of the state, polling a total of 540,308 votes to beat his closest challenger, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate Samuel Anyanwu who scored 71, 503 votes. The Bayelsa election across just eight local government areas was a tight one, stretching INEC for two days after the poll before a winner was announced particularly over the alleged manipulated results from Nembe.

    Governor Duoye Diri of PDP polled 175, 196 votes to defeat ex-governor Timipre Sylva, the candidate of APC, who came second with 110, 108 votes, while none of the other 14 candidates scored up to 1000 votes.

    Kogi off-cycle election was also contentious. There were allegations of writing of results before the election in Kogi Central where Governor Yahaya Bello, the White Lion as he is called, and his handpicked successor, APC candidate Ododo, hail from. INEC initially suspended the election, cancelled results from nine wards in Ogori-Magongo LGA in Kogi Central over electoral malpractices and fixed rerun in those wards for today, November 18. But the commission cancelled the idea of re-run in the affected wards arguing that the total votes from those nine wards would not make any difference in the gaps between the leading candidate Ododo and Social Democratic Party candidate Murtala Ajaka. Ododo was eventually declared the winner of the election, having won the majority of lawful votes.

    There are a few remarkable things about the election though.

    It is noteworthy that the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi elections proved bookmakers right. Many analysts had predicted victory for Uzodinma and Diri for various reasons including incumbency factor, even though Diri is of the opposition party at the centre. Ajaka performed brilliantly in the election but the opposition in the state is too fragmented to make a major impact to upstage the APC.

    Another thing about the polls is that they were generally peaceful and devoid of much violence which is a credit to President Bola Tinubu and the police.

    There was also a level-playing field. President Tinubu did not use his exalted position to oppress candidates of the other parties. At every turn, he would tell all those involved in the election to give everyone and every party equal chance.

    This has been widely acknowledged and applauded. Indeed, the President deserves commendation on the off-cycle polls. We should take these gains into the future elections.

    • Rahman, former Editor of Thisday on Sunday is a Senior Presidential Aide.
  • Insecurity: Time to heed Zulum’s warning

    Insecurity: Time to heed Zulum’s warning

    At a programme in honour of the reconstituted North-East Development Commission (NEDC) recently, Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, warned that Nigeria risked being wiped off the map in the near future if no proactive steps were taken to stop young people and children from being recruited by Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.

    Zulum’s warning came at a time no fewer than 13 farmers were beheaded on their farmlands in the state by Boko Haram terrorists, with some unspecified number of farmers also kidnapped. This is also amidst reports of harvest tax by farmers to terrorists.

    Well, Governor Zulum was only being patriotic to have warned Nigeria of an imminent disaster, and for Nigeria to wake up and do something so that Nigerians would not be living in outright fear. Before the governor’s damning warning, it’s a known fact that any security challenges might have caught the people napping. The truth of the case is that Nigeria is not prepared at all for any security emergencies. That Nigeria doesn’t have the orientation even as security apparatuses are neither sensitized nor equipped is no longer news. So, to debate whether we should heed the governor’s warning is a sign of spinelessness and planlessness on the part of the country. It needs no debate but a total absorption of the plan and retrigger for the people to begin to think.

    Back in those days, the Yorubas would always say: ‘A kii gbe inu ile gba ofa lai re ogun’. Translated literally, it means: ‘One cannot be in the house and receive an arrow’s attack without going to the warfront.’ Current events in the land seem to have paled the adage into insignificance. Before our very eyes, the house is no longer safe and the farm is a no-go area. Police and Army Barracks have become a basket case of ‘if gold could rust…?’ Some crimes are even annoying! Only last week, a neighbour gave a distress call, asking yours sincerely to assist with a specific amount of money so that he could use it to appease some hoodlums who were “threatening to kill” him if he’d not “find something for” them. The neighbour in question had no choice! When asked later why he didn’t seek assistance from the security agencies, he simply retorted: ‘you think say gofment go fit help?’

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    There have been times and periods when notorious bandits or gangsters have ruled and ‘commanded’ respect from the society in some specific areas of Nigeria. There was a time when Edo was a no-go area. Ibadan of the Southwest had its time. At a time in Ijebu of Ogun State, peace could not be taken for granted. Lagos State, for a long time, was the dread of everybody in Nigeria. We need not forget that it was then the nation’s seat of power, yet it was what it was! Even the remote and hitherto peaceful areas were not excluded. Ondo and Taraba States, which were never known for violence, came into the mix. So was the rest of the country. But all that has changed. Now, we all seem to be living with the fear of the unknown!

    Once upon a time in Nigeria, whenever the Nigeria Police came into a discussion, the first thing that’d readily come to mind was the horrible ‘Mark 4’ rifle.  At that time, that was all the Nigeria Police got; and it was when the entire policemen were almost totally decimated by local armed robbers that Nigeria reluctantly opted to buy some functional weapons; but they were neither adequate nor sufficiently able to address the security needs of Nigeria as at then. Entered the question of superiority between the police and the military and the situation relapsed to the Stone Age. Unfortunately, the gullible public kept quiet and … here we are!

    Through the distant to the recent past, Nigeria’s history of security challenges and the fight against the ugly trend has been that of insincerity and instability. Getting criminals arrested is one big battle. Establishing prosecutable cases is another big and arduous task while facing the courts and lawyers are also huge problems. Have we forgotten how Benue State was shaken to its foundation, when a high profile Bank robbery took the lives of several innocent Nigerians, including that of a Divisional Police Officer and some of his men? The Offa, Kwara State robbery incident is still fresh in our minds. Nearly on a daily basis, people are being kidnapped, even in Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power. Are we going to wait until the Central Bank headquarters in Abuja gets robbed, or until a sitting governor, even our president gets kidnapped before we take it seriously?

    Nigeria is in dire straits. The fear in society is not only palpable but also ubiquitous. Nigerians are thinking of economic problems without taking into consideration that social problems will make mincemeat of economic growth and development and that social problems will end up making a nullity of any administration’s efforts, if not challenged and defeated. So, one can only ask the state to reinvent itself because the sense of the state is no longer here. And it started with the coming of elected governors. For example, Governor Ademola Adeleke is prominent in Osun State only by virtue of his long cap. He keeps shouting ‘Imole Osun’, forgetting that development is a thing of the mind, not fanciful themes. It is unfortunate but that’s the truth! But then, who do we blame? After all, symbolic interactionism is a serious problem with human beings. Anyway, that’s a matter for another day!

    It’s time the Bola Tinubu-led government took some proactive steps that’d send the right messages to extant terror groups and those who’re still imagining theirs for Nigeria to have peace. If Tinubu wants to act presidential, he should just wake up and give certain, strange but necessary directives and let the terror gangs feel small. That will definitely go a long way in sending the right signals to the terrorists and their sponsors.

    For Nigeria to get out of the woods, those in Tinubu’s government who see governance as business as usual must become very serious; otherwise, the president owes Nigerians a duty to show them the way out. And let not the politicians treat this with levity because you must have a society before you can play your politics. If the society is fractured, politics becomes non-existent. Or where do we play politics if society is in trouble, under terror attack? You must have a society before thinking of a political system or contemplating the economy. You can only run an economy in a stable political society. In a disorganized society, nobody wears a ‘Babanriga’ and says ‘I’m a Senator’. It doesn’t work that way! You’re a Senator because you have a state. You are a governor because you have settled society. So, let all politicians drop their political ambitions and face the fixing of the society. Those who are running the system had better take note! Let them be warned!

    Nobody is saying that the government is not doing anything, but the truth is that its efforts, currently, are not enough. Or how on earth could some bastards hold a whole town to ransom for close to three hours in broad daylight, and still escape with their loot? Could that happen in South Africa, or Egypt? Can Boko Haram or ISWAP thrive in a country like Israel?

    For God’s sake, if we have to seek external help, the time is now! Nigeria is bleeding!

    May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

  • Economy: Flaws in belt-tightening narratives

    Economy: Flaws in belt-tightening narratives

    • By Andrew A. Erakhrumen

    It will be a hasty generalisation to conclude that Nigeria does not have people (among politicians) with genuine positive intentions for the country but they are in the minority, powerless and suppressed. The subsisting tragic experience is that those in criminal entrepreneurship are increasingly forcing their way to power! All we are hearing of, and seeing, are shameful ludicrousness giving good reasons to people in other countries to scoff at Nigeria that has tolerated, and is now used to, mediocrity and inferior materials! Many Nigerians appear to not know, and/or unable to discern, what high quality humans and products look like. Have they ever known any?  There has been so much cascading, intense deliberate (collective) normalisation, and rewarding, of inferior and mediocre performances! Nigerians should, by now, have freed themselves from the once-valid but now-expired lamentation that their beloved country was always taking a step forward and two backwards; today, Nigeria has successfully ‘upgraded’ to taking almost ALL its steps backwards! It has been hijacked by, and for, a few! Nigerians have been so much taken for granted that they are talked down to, as slaves, anytime!

     Recently, a Nigerian senator in the current 10th National Assembly – as typical of many of his colleagues – in a self-centred manner, on a national television station, tried to glibly justify the attempted, and/or actual, purchase of sports utility vehicles at N160million each for the 469 members of the assembly. This kind of scandalous appropriation is not new concerning the executive and legislative arms of Nigerian governments, at least, since May 29, 1999. Here, we are not talking about their tear-inducing “legitimate” entitlements/privileges! Additional annoyance to sanity is the shameless recklessness with which these unbothered public office holders explain these broad daylight robberies away in the midst of festering gnawing poverty in the land!

    Did any of the assembly members belonging to the “different” political parties reject the vehicle? No! Why? As we have been saying, they are the same people! These insensitive people want us to believe that the economy is distressed but for them, it is all about grabbing everything from the public coffers. The simple meaning of their shamelessness is: while they are relaxing their belts, poor Nigerians should tighten theirs!

    As this piece is being written, there are reports that the federal government has begun to automatically deduct 40% from federal universities’ internally generated funds when these institutions’ academic departments are finding it difficult to buy ordinary printing papers! Is Nigeria not unique? It is where most lecturers/researchers in public universities improve on their cognitive wherewithal, conduct researches and publish their outcomes, using their poor salaries! Soon, (if it is not already happening), professors will have to bring chairs/tables, from wherever, to their decrepit offices in a manner similar to certain occurrences during academic programmes’ accreditation exercises when humans and equipments are “borrowed” for display!

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    If the last statement sounds unbelievable, hear this preposterousness: we know of public universities where lecturers have to either pay for, or personally do, the cleaning of their offices that are really not offices! The foregoing should be expected from a captured state! Surely, we are not unaware of some self-inflicted funding challenges in these institutions leading to gradually normalised anomalies. It still seems that Nigerians – especially in Nigeria – do not appreciate the problem they are in with the kind of leadership cadre they have knowingly or unknowingly allowed to hold them to ransom all these years! The followers may be part of the problem but, as we always say, leadership is the problem! This crisis is confronted with plausible solutions when a society is able to get it right recruiting quality leadership. The unfortunate reality is that the strategies for enslaving many Nigerians have not changed. The propaganda has also not significantly changed – year in, year out. In collaboration with some myopic followers who blindly and slavishly defend the indefensible, Nigerians are scammed by these misleaders. They insult the collective intelligence of the discerning with ridiculous visuals and narratives. Honestly, we do not, and will not, hate those fellows because they are in bondage! They need help! We will not be tired of referring to senselessness, in the past, with the hope that this will help in waking Nigerians up, going forward.

    For instance, we were insulted by Harlequin characters with annoying theatrics such as the Central Bank of Nigeria/Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria paddy pyramids, in Abuja, in January, 2022! There are others! This is just an example! Yes, a country should make serious efforts toward being self-sufficient in locally-produced food for its inhabitants and possibly for export. This is a way to go.

    Nonetheless, what is being questioned here is the rationale behind the showmanship of erecting a pyramid of rice paddy that was not intended for bringing down the price of the final commodity in the market! Or how much is a 50kg bag of “local” rice in the market today? So, for eight years, Nigerians were just being fooled around by unserious people in government! We must quickly add, here, that this ‘skill’ of such theatrical presentations is not unique to the immediate past central administration! It has always been with their predecessors – at all levels! It was inherited and must be bequeathed to their successors! This might be – in politicians’ understanding – that these theatrical presentations are what members of the public like seeing! Nigerians that are not inflicted by collective amnesia will, definitely, not wait for long to hear same repackaged old stories!

    We have asked severally: when will ordinary Nigerians stop being taken for a ride? Can we safely say that: unfortunately, for these politicians, the public is increasingly and smartly being aware of these tricks? We may not be able to give straight answers to the last two questions, for now!

    By the way, did Nigerians keep a close watch on the blindingly obvious barefaced display of brigandage and criminalities in the recent off-season 2023 gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states?  It is clear that 2027 general elections may be worse and Nigerians will be the losers.

    •Erakhrumen teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin

  • One-chance’ in Lagos: how criminal gangs rob city commuters

    One-chance’ in Lagos: how criminal gangs rob city commuters

    • By Oludayo Tade

    One-chance” is the name Nigerians use for a form of robbery that takes place in both public and private vehicles when people accept the offer of a ride. It is an organised crime, perpetrated by people who work together, using a strategy of hailing passengers into their waiting vehicle. They capitalise on the transport needs of passengers, especially during rush hours in the morning and the evenings. In Lagos, an estimated eight million commuters and five million vehicles use the roads and bridges connecting the mainland and island.

    At rush hours Lagos is jam-packed. An average of 264 cars per kilometre negotiate the city compared to the world average of 11 cars per kilometre. This encourages commuters to use private vehicles, known locally as kabukabu, which pick up passengers randomly. The vehicles fill up faster than vehicles at designated stops, which make them attractive to commuters in a rush. They are usually cheaper too.

    Once passengers are inside their vehicle, the one-chance gang members instruct victims to comply, using coercion and violence. They take the victims’ possessions and may hurt them physically and traumatise them emotionally. Passengers are sometimes thrown off a speeding vehicle. There have even been cases of victims being killed.

    Residents of Lagos dread being victims of one-chance. Official statistics are hard to come by, but media reportage most likely increases the fear of the crime. The Lagos state government in 2022 listed it as a crime of major concern.

    Public transport safety is a field of study worldwide, but one-chance public transport criminality in Lagos, Nigeria has not received much attention. This is why we studied how the criminals operate and what their victims experience. We also looked at the social situations which facilitate the crime and commuters’ awareness of safety in the Lagos State transport corridor.

    Understanding the strategies and victimisation experiences may be a first step towards prevention and an appropriate institutional response. For example, the law enforcement authorities could map one-chance crime hot-spots. Commuters could make some changes to their behaviour too.

    The study

    In our study we administered in-depth interviews to 10 people who had been victims of one-chance robberies. They came from different walks of life; six were men and four were women, ranging in age from 25 to 65.

    Our questions probed into issues of routine, methods of operation, timing of operations, and victimisation experience, among others. We wanted to distil the strategies and tricks deployed in trapping commuters.

    The findings showed that similar techniques were used in most cases. Timing was important. Many of the cases reported by our participants happened around 9pm to 11.30pm. Very few happened during the day or early in the morning between 4am and 6am. Each operation lasted from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on what targets had to offer the gang.

    Most of the participants were either returning home from their workplaces or going somewhere for a visit or a meeting when they were picked up at bus stops. Others were picked up at the roadside and not from designated places. This put them at greater risk although they may have hoped to pay less for a ride. Vehicles that pick up passengers at undesignated spots usually charge a lower fare.

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    Different types of vehicles and buses, both Lagos yellow buses and private buses and cars, are used for one-chance. Inside the bus, gang members take up seats in such a way that the victim is forced to sit where he or she can easily be robbed.

    Sometimes the criminals were dressed to look like office workers, and included women among them, so that a passenger would feel safer boarding.

    Participants reported two types of experience: physical violence and loss of valuables. Some reported being traumatised after the incident. In many of the cases, the attack took place within 5 to 15 minutes of the pickup but might last for up to an hour. We think this could be so that the robbers could act before the situation got suspicious or plans were disrupted.

    Victims’ coping strategies

    Victims have found ways to cope with the experience or reduce the prospect of it happening again.

    Some said they were always very observant and followed their instincts when boarding a vehicle. Some had resolved to hail a private taxi if they worked late in the office or to rely on their colleagues or bosses to drop them at a convenient point. Others would sleep in the office. Some put their faith in God to get them safely home.

    The way forward

    In planning urban transport safety, the Lagos State government needs to constantly inform the public of dangerous places and where not to board public transportation.

    Installation of closed circuit cameras in crime hot-spots with regular security patrols would reduce the opportunity for one-chance criminality.

    Commuters could also alter their routines so as to be less predictable. This might reduce the chances of becoming victims.

    Commuters should use designated motor parks where commercial vehicles are registered to operate.

    The Lagos State government needs to understand the transport needs of residents and come up with a more functional and efficient public transport system.

    •Tade is sociologist/criminologist/victimologist and media communication expert, University of Ibadan. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. “https://theconversation.com/one-chance-in-lagos-how-criminal-gangs-rob-city-commuters-216292”

  • Kekong-Bisong @ 60: Religion, critical thinking and nation-building

    Kekong-Bisong @ 60: Religion, critical thinking and nation-building

    • By Francis Damina

    Rev. Fr. Prof. Kekong Bisong who clocked 60 on November 9, was my teacher back in the days at St. Joseph Major Seminary Ikot Ekpene. As we celebrate him, it is important, even at the risk of repeating myself to make the point that in knowledge and in character, he is perhaps one of the finest wines that the Catholic Church has brewed.  Like Bishop Kukah, “he is a man of God and of intellect. In him dwells the irreconcilable tension between detailed realism of logical reasoning and abstractions of divine beliefs” (Apologies to Damola Awoyokun).

    As I recently said of him …” he is a good advertisement for the Church. He is not a scholar and a saint only, but also a controversialist. As a distinguished philosophy professor, he does not only fancy controversies; he creates them. On this, I can safely say that he is a brewery of controversies.”

    “Whenever he went up to the pulpit to preach, the atmosphere became mute so much so that you could hear the musings of ants. Mute because, we knew he will disagree with even what Jesus had said in the Scriptures only to agree later. He does not only disagree for disagreeing sake; he disagrees so he will have reasons for agreeing. It was he who taught us how not to follow the crowd, subscribe to groupthink, belief system, conventional wisdom, etcetera, until when there’s a justification or a raison d’etre.” 

    No doubt, anytime Kekong is mentioned, you immediately know that he belongs to a generation of fine priests like George Ehusani, Matthew Kukah, Godfrey Onah, Cletus Gotan, Emmanuel Badejo, Kris Owan, Anthony Akinwale, John Uba Ofei, Peter Tanko, Joseph Mamman, John Odey, Philip Gaiya, etcetera. It is in this class of priests that we see the evidence in proving that scholarship is a property of the Catholic Church and that all others are merely involved in plagiarism. Though this may appear like an overstretched hyperbole, it is simply a case of not calling a spade by some other names.

    One thing that is common among the likes of Kekong is that they are highly controversial. In other word, they subscribe so much to critical thinking that you may think they are dissenters. Of them, master wordsmith, Dan Agbese, would say “I can think of no public lectures or speeches delivered by them that left the accumulated dust of our placid sense of outrage undisturbed.” 

    At first, (in my infantile days) I thought Kekong and his likes were unnecessarily being critical and controversial until I recently met Archbishop Matthew Ndangoso of Kaduna Archdiocese who said: “Even heretics are important to the Church because they help Her to be precise and unambiguous in exercising Her teaching authority.” 

    Without exaggeration, of all that we were taught back in the seminary, the one thing I mostly appreciate, which I think distinguishes us from all others as a special breed, is the ability to reason critically.  Deliberately, we disagree, disobey, doubt, deny, and debunk ideas so that we can always get to the facts. And no doubt, Kekong Bisong was our chaplain in this apostolate of denial. And I still wonder why his name is not Thomas – the very scientist who invented a machine called Methodic doubt or denial.

    There is a litany of events that brought me face to face to him unveiling him as a critical thinker.

    On one occasion when he came to the class, he told us a story to validate his point on what he called ‘necessary disobedience’. He started by asking who discovered the mouth of river Niger. Of course, all of us said Mungo Park. He then went on to tell us of a boy who was preparing for a common entrance interview. Fortunately for him, his uncle is a member of the panel and had whispered to him that he will be asked ‘who discovered the mouth of river Niger.’ Of course, the conventional answer even among university professors is that Mungo Park did.”

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    “The day came and the boy was again reminded of the name Mungo Park before he departed home to the venue. The interview had started and it was his turn to answer questions. His uncle’s eyes were all on him when a panelist asked: ‘Who discovered the mouth of river Niger?’  ‘My grandfather’, the boy answered.  The uncle was so disappointed as the boy keeps repeating ‘my grandfather.’ A member of the panel then went further to ask him why he thinks the answer is his grandfather. He replied: ‘My grandfather was a fisherman who lived around New Bussa long before Mungo Park arrived. He definitely knew about the mouth of the river before Park. Only that he was not literate enough to tell the story.’” 

    All the panelists were amazed and clapped for the boy. This is what Kekong Bisong called necessary disobedience. For him, the work of the teacher is not to produce conventional ideas and then expect the students to reproduce same at examinations. It is rather to train the mind in challenging beliefs and conventions so as to ascertain what is true and real.

    Again, contrary to our knowledge that there are persons priests cannot preside over their funerals because they didn’t die in “the state of Grace”, this could mean, among other things, that they died not being baptized or having their “marriages” blessed in the Church, Kekong sent us on a thinking task by asking: “If the priest can preside over the blessing of a cassava farm for instance, why not the funeral of a human being created in the image and likeness of God?”  He rhetorically continued: “Is the cassava farm more important than the alleged sinner?  By the way, the purple worn by the priest at funeral symbolizes penitence. Therefore, burial is a penitential rite and not a triumphant celebration of sainthood.”

    The debate about the role of religion in post- colonial Africa, particularly Nigeria, has now become more intense than ever. Scholars now appear angry and more serious in asking questions about the role of religion in nation-building. Already, some literati like Prof. Wole Soyinka, had already concluded that religion is an enemy of nationhood. The Nobel laureate in a lecture titled “Nation space and Nationhood” to mark the 100 birthday anniversary of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, argued that religion is an enemy of nationhood and for Nigeria to forge ahead, it must be able to place it on suspension.

    In a not-so-recent piece, the brilliant and equally controversial Bishop Matthew Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, said: “… in these trying times, the name of God and religion have been dragged by fly-by- night pastors who have equally spawned an industry of prayer warriors who are daily stalking the corridors of power. Men with equally suspicious intentions, with stolen mandates of legitimacy, seeking escape from justice daily employ these charlatans.” Hence, the need “to liberate theology rather than talk about liberation theology from these venal men who practice criminality masquerading as religion”.

    Amidst the challenges and doubts of the possibility of creating a society that is equitable, just and fair to all citizens and believers, Kekong’s method of critical thinking remains the way out. Here’s wishing him many more years in good health.

    •Damina, a student of religion and society, wrote from Kaduna and can be reached via francisdamina@gmail.com

  • Mr President and the forex concerns: an invitation to dare

    Mr President and the forex concerns: an invitation to dare

    • By Nze Chidi Duru 

    When His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, declared to the world on the United Nations General Assembly’s stage concerning his new vision of economic relationship with the global north, it was, indeed, an economic trend reversal that he sought when he announced that; “…the question is not whether Nigeria is open for business, but rather, that the question is how much of the world is truly open to doing business with Nigeria and Africa on an equal, mutually beneficial manner.”

     The profundity of that declaration was for me a confirmation of the substance of the character of the leadership attributes of the President that is worthy of mention. In more ways than one, the statement, among others, on that world stage, magnifies the courage of the man -Tinubu especially when viewed against the backdrop of the various challenges the Nigerian economic and those of other countries in the African continent have had to contend with over the last 10 years. And, perhaps, even more significantly, in the days immediately after the President’s swearing-in into office when he announced fundamental economic policies targeted at national economic reformation. 

    At that moment, with Mr President still holding captive, the attention of the world, I recalled the inimitable description of courage in the words of the American author, Richelle Goodrich, in which she observed that: “Courage to me is doing something daring, no matter how afraid, insecure, intimidated, alone, unworthy, incapable, ridiculed or whatever other paralyzing emotion you might feel. Courage is taking action….no matter what.”

    This description, to my mind encapsulates where President Tinubu stand in the present evolving trajectory of the Nigerian nation – will he pluck the courage to dare to act in the face of a behemoth of numerous challenges, as it were? 

    Yet, more poignant for me, is that the President’s world stage performance confirms one of the reasons I decidedly took a stand on the side of history when the erstwhile National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, made to involve members of the National Working Committee of the ruling party in the adoption of the candidacy of a so called Aso Villa sponsored candidate during a meeting of the NWC on 5 June, 2022. The words were not out of the mouth of the then Chairman when I felt aggravated and raised a literal storm over the apparent subterfuge the Chairman was intended upon. My declared insistence was that a level playing field should be availed all presidential contestants and, as such, no talks of an anointed candidate from anywhere will be tolerated or even discussed in the course of the meeting. 

    In that instant, history was written, the larger numbers of the NWC members, not all members, immediately took side with history and left the Chairman to his own drift. Upset with the noxious maneuvres of the Chairman, we walked out of the NWC hall and, thereafter, moved to my office in the APC National Secretariat to structure our resistance plan. In the meeting, we appointed the National Organising Secretary, H. E. Muhammad Sulaiman Argungu, OFR, as the leader and face of the resistance who will also address the press conference to publicly discountenance the move to impose a choice of presidential candidate on the party by the then National Chairman.

    The press conference was shortly addressed and two outstanding political milestones were implicated; a national party had publicly thwarted the machination of its higher echelon to hoodwink it into adopting a candidate undemocratically and, in the same breath, the resistance in the Party found congruence in the camp of the very influential Governors’ Forum of the Party with majority members who were also united behind the resistance against the Chairman. This principled position, more or less, availed a return to the path of democracy by the APC when all presidential aspirants found their ways to the Eagle’s Square venue of the presidential primary election three days after that high octane drama at the party’s national secretariat. The rest, as they say, is now history. 

    It is gratifying that that resistance consequently produced Asiwaju Tinubu, arguably one of the most prepared, the most toughened and the most politically conditioned of the presidential aspirants on parade that day at the Eagle’s Square. After the conclusion of the event of the presidential primary election and the dramatic spectacle of eminent aspirants stepping down for him, without any sort of prompting, I was, candidly, inclined to think that, perhaps, he has the destiny of running Nigeria as president written into his stars.

    In truth, I am persuaded that Mr President didn’t just happen on the national scene, rather, his emergence is the outcome of the confluence of his courage and a weather intervention requiring a Tinubu’s presidency at this critical time in the life of our dear country. It is, indeed, a time that beckons on our most courageous and thankfully, Mr President, without doubt, stands in the gap for our dear nation. Will he assume the courage required at this time? 

    By insisting the Party’s national presidential primary held, we saved our party from a possible scenario of self immolation, while, at the same time, gifting the nation, the possibility of a President that can stand his own whatever the circumstance, whatever the situation, a President that, in the words of Goodrich, ‘can dare to act.’

    It is on this count that I beseech the attention of President Tinubu to take that courageous stance that he has become renowned for in the face of the sweltering conditions our social and economic spaces have become. I do concede the onerous task Mr President have been engaged with in the pacification of the multiple trouble spots that pockmark our  national economic stratum especially the concern over our foreign exchange policy. In this regard, my observation is that if Nigerians don’t pay the right price for the right services our exposure in the foreign exchange dynamics will continue to bounce, albeit negatively.

    Read Also: Nigeria lost huge forex defending naira, says Finance minister

    It is, thus, with all sense of responsibility that I request Mr President, as a matter of urgency, to intervene in the oppressive and inequitable treatment of Nigerian international travellers. Nigerian travelers have become subjected to discriminatory ticket fares that had become not only unfair and socially suffocating but an assault on Nigeria’s economic standing. Most times, tickets to destinations in Europe and the United States of America by Nigerian travellers are more than two to three times the ticket fares from those destinations to Nigeria. Even more disheartening are the disgraceful services availed Nigerian travellers by these airlines despite the higher ticket fares paid by Nigerians.

    Mr President should consider this discriminatory ticket fare as a global plot by international airline operators to purloin our foreign exchange reserves by official subtlety. It is, undoubtedly, one avenue that our foreign exchange reserve is being eroded. May I implore Mr President, working through the foreign affairs and aviation ministers, to immediately move to redress this brazen act of inequity being perpetrated by international airline operators. 

    An extension of the worries over our foreign reserves is the value of our national currency, the Naira. While I acknowledge the feverish efforts being made by the administration to strengthen the Naira-Dolla exchange rate especially in the parallel market, and while hoping the outcomes of these efforts become manifest in the shortest possible time, the worry is that beyond the prices of goods and services as reflected in increasing inflation rates, our capital market, especially, the stock market has become susceptible to hostile takeovers by so called foreign investors.

    The prices of our high valued stocks have become rock bottom prices otherwise known as penny stocks when valued in dollar terms. For instance, Seplat plc commands the highest possible price on the Nigerian stock market at N1, 980 per unit as of Tuesday, 7 November, 2023. When converted to the dollar, the price translates to a lowly $1.9 thereabouts. Meanwhile, the price of a unit of Zenith Bank, a value stock by all consideration, as at same Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 was traded at N33.80k when converted to dollar it would be traded at about 32 cents. These stock prices when reviewed on a dollar basis clearly show how undervalued the Nigerian stock market had become though we see exponential upward movements in the All Share Index and capitalisation of the market in recent times but these indicators are measured by domestic rates not the Dollar. 

    The unabating fears for stock market  players like me is that foreign corporate raiders can turn our stock market to a killing field in a moment with a portfolio as little as $20million. This will be to the detriment of domestic shareholders who had held forth in the market and had sustained the market when foreign investors took flight out of the market at the first sign of trouble in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a corporate player, I am quite aware of the threat of corporate invaders coming into the country and leveraging a strong Dollar relative to the Naira to pick our value stocks at extremely cheap rates. 

    The aggregation of these concerns is rooted in the limited access to foreign exchange, especially, the United States Dollar (USD) by those who want it for transactional purposes. A number of financial experts, and even some in the administration, had come forward to argue that the national economy is in this strait because of a shortage of Dollar supply into the economy. With due respect to those that hold this position, it is rather common place, lacking an indepth understanding of the use of the USD in the larger Nigerian economy. Yes, the quantum of the USD in circulation is low, yet, it should not be the reason for the near state of crisis that segment of our economy is growing into. USD scarcity does not explain the exponential increase in the  Naira – USD exchange rate in the parallel market within a very short time, rising from about N460 in June, 2023 to N1,300 in early November, 2023. This can’t be a about shortage in supply!

    Truth be told, the larger percentage of the USD that had been taken out of our reserves are used for many purposes other than transactions. It is no secret that those that have access have turned the USD into a store of value. In this league are active importers that have also become economic saboteurs who inflate the value of their Letters of Credit (LC) and process the USD officially out of the Central Bank of Nigeria. After settling their trade obligations, they criminally convert the remaining value of the LC by a fraudulent discount arrangement from which they hold on to their share of the now cash backed LC, save it in an account abroad and, in classic unpatriotic display, they pray earnestly for the continued erosion of the value of the Naira so they can bring their criminally converted USD back into Nigeria for sale in the black market. This is classic Forex round tripping. 

    This is a snapshot of just one of the many underhand deals by which some people assail the value of our national currency for their selfish commercial ends. My submission, in this regard, is that these fraudulent conduct of businesses should be declared crimes of national economic sabotage by Mr President. 

    In all these prospective and actual sabotage of our economy, nonetheless, I find succour and confidence in the investment savviness of Mr President, I am thus assured that within the shortest possible time, Mr President will deploy all possible policies to address the concerns highlighted here. I am, indeed, persuaded in the power of courage, the courage to dare and act even when the odds are heavily against acting as appropriate. That’s the Tinubu’s courage.

    • Duru is an Entrepreneur, Thought Leader and the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress
  • Lagos under Sanwo-Olu: It’s the economy. Period!

    Lagos under Sanwo-Olu: It’s the economy. Period!

    By Israel Opayemi

    The title of this piece has drawn inspiration from James Carville’s popular campaign theme for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential election bid. In 1992, the United States was experiencing headwinds under President George W. Bush, who was seen by a section of the American electorate as out of touch with the needs of the average Americans.

    Carville then told a meeting of Bill Clinton’s campaign staff, that, “It’s the Economy. Stupid!” to emphasise the primacy of economic issues in that election cycle. The result? Bill Clinton gave prominence to economic issues touching the lives of average American throughout that campaign season and he won impressively. 

    Each time I reflect on the momentous efforts the governor is making towards giving Lagos State some fitting infrastructure or some of the social intervention initiatives being carefully executed by his government, one is forced to reach just the same conclusion. I often quipped when summarising the strategic goal in view of all that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is leading his team to do, “It’s the Economy. Period!”

    Discerning citizens can indeed see the geometric economic progression the state is currently making. Through years of meticulous planning under Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and years of surgical implementation of the plans under Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) down to the incumbent, Lagos has indeed attained her full status as ‘Nigeria’s Economic Capital’.

    The state has in fact exceeded just that local adulation to the place of her rating as Africa’s fifth largest economy. It would seem the duo of Sanwo-Olu and Deputy Governor, Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, are conscious of their roles in the history of Lagos. They must build the final layers of the foundation for the emergence of a truly prosperous Lagos in a few short years. They seem to be approaching the task with some sense of urgency and admirable focus.

    As at the time this writer was putting thoughts of chronicling the timelines of the multiple investment roadshows the governor and his deputy were running with, they had crisscrossed Dubai, Morocco, and United Kingdom all within days and hours. The goal for them is simple. Stimulate the growth of the economy, put more wealth in the hands of citizens and lift more Lagosians out of poverty.

    Poverty is a clear and present danger to society. But there is a method to treating this madness called poverty. Build critical infrastructure. They are keys to opening the inherent wealth in a city. It is, therefore, not surprising that the duo Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, know exactly what to do: Marketing our problems as opportunities.  

    On Wednesday November 1, the Chief Marketing Officer of Lagos was in faraway Georgetown, Guyana, to attend the Afri-Caribbean Trade Forum and to discuss the imperatives of investing in food security, agricultural productivity and expanding agribusiness opportunities in Lagos. His message was clean and clear. “It is only by doing so that that we can address food security concerns, but also stimulate employment, create opportunities for export and uplift rural income.”

    Perhaps, thinking in line with the Yoruba adage that ‘once hunger is excluded from poverty, the misery of poverty has been vanquished’, Sanwo-Olu has therefore set his face like a flint on the goal of food security by 2024. He hopes to complete the Lagos Food System and Logistics Hub, Africa’s biggest food and logistics hub in Ketu-Ejinrin, Epe as part of a strategic initiative to put more wealth in the hands of farmers, ensure food security and sufficiency.

    While the annual value of food transactions is estimated at about $10 billion, farmers are losing over 40 percent of their incomes due to a lack of adequate post-harvest storage facilities. The Sanwo-Olu administration is building a storage facility on a 1.2 million square metre site in Ketu-Ejinrin. The facility is expected to boost the economy by reducing waste from inadequate storage facilities. It is expected to ensure food security and increase internally generated revenue. 

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    When completed, the hub is expected to provide direct income to more than five million traders in the value chain, while ensuring uninterrupted food supply to more than 10 million Lagosians for at least 90 days in times of scarcity. The central food hub will encourage more investment in farming and food production, and open farmers up to modern-day storage facilities. Again, it’s the economy. Period!

    But that is not all. It was during this round of investment marketing roadshow, precisely on Tuesday, October 31 that Governor Sanwo-Olu secured and signed the partnership with the African Export-Import Bank and Access Bank for a massive investment of $1.352 billion dollars in Lagos.

    This is part of the funding needed for the realisation of the Fourth Mainland Bridge, the Omu Creek Project and the Second Phase of the LRMT Blue Line from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko amongst others. It was also at this investment marketing event the governor declared with absolute confidence: “Our vision for Lagos is becoming a reality with the Lekki-Epe International Airport and the Lagos Food Systems and Logistics Hub in Epe. These projects will further boost our economy and serve generations to come.”  

    On Friday, November 3, to the delight of the local and global investment community, the Sanwo-Olu announced a plan to build a new Lagos International Financial Centre while inaugurating the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede-led council entrusted with brining the dream to life.

    The partnership between the Lagos state government and Enterprise NGR to build the new Lagos International Financial Centre is aimed at making the state a global financial hub that will direct investment flows from places like New York, London, and Paris amongst others. With the signing of the pact with Enterprise NGR, Sanwo-Olu aims to captivate global investors, unveil the potentials of Destination Lagos as an investment destination of choice, and thus pave the way for a transformative era of economic prosperity.

    Think of it. The new Lagos International Financial Centre is a bespoke destination where major global financial institutions can set up their African presence. It is an initiative to turn Lagos into a global financial powerhouse. Think of it again. Who will they employ during the massive construction phase? Our people. Think of the lanyard of economic activities tied to construction sites. From crane rentals, diesel supply, sand supply, gravel supply, food vending to craftsmanship. Just imagine the ripple effects of this phase on hotels and hospitality sector in Lagos alone. It is a place where wealth will be placed in the hands of artisans and professionals.

    As of Thursday, November 9, Sanwo-Olu was at the high level African Mayoral, the Africa Investment Forum 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco organised by the Africa Development Bank, AfDB. The goal was also the economy. It was aimed at rallying the partnership with AfDB, AFC, Africa50, Afrexim Bank, Development Bank of South Africa, European Investment Bank, Trade and Development Bank amongst other development partners to invest in infrastructure development in Lagos.

    Like a brilliant salesman that he is, Governor Sanwo-Olu always shows the numbers. He spoke on a Panel on Thursday. By Friday, he has led his economic team to London, United Kingdom again where, together with the Enterprise NRG will be meeting with select British and international business leaders from across different continents to also market Lagos as a destination for investment.    

    A close look at Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda easily highlights how Lagos has been able to synergise its resources and redirect them towards rapid improvement of the economy of the state during his first term. Upon his re-election and assumption of office for the second term, Sanwo-Olu again expanded the focus of the agenda and rechristened it, ‘THE T.H.E.M.E.S PLUS AGENDA,’ to signify some vital additions like the Social Inclusion, Gender Equality and Youth in the next four years. 

    Even for all of these additions, the strategic goal remains the same, the economy! Be it for the women and the youth as well as other disadvantaged citizens across the gender and age isles, the goal has remained to ensure more citizens of Lagos State become empowered through access to productive economic activities. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu believes that infrastructure is the key to unlock the wealth that lies untold in every human community across our state.

    •Opayemi, a public relations consultant, writes from Lagos

  • Mr President and forex concerns: An invitation to dare

    Mr President and forex concerns: An invitation to dare

    • By Nze Chidi Duru 

    When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared to the world on the United Nations General Assembly’s stage concerning his new vision of economic relationship with the global north, it was, indeed, an economic trend reversal that he sought when he announced that; “…the question is not whether Nigeria is open for business, but rather, that the question is how much of the world is truly open to doing business with Nigeria and Africa on an equal, mutually beneficial manner.”

    At that moment, with Mr President still holding captive, the attention of the world, I recalled the inimitable description of courage in the words of the American author, Richelle Goodrich, in which she observed that: “Courage to me is doing something daring, no matter how afraid, insecure, intimidated, alone, unworthy, incapable, ridiculed or whatever other paralyzing emotion you might feel. Courage is taking action….no matter what.”

    This description, to my mind encapsulates President Tinubu’s stand in the present evolving trajectory of the nation – will he pluck the courage to dare to act in the face of a behemoth of numerous challenges, as it were? 

    In truth, I am persuaded that Mr President didn’t just happen on the national scene; rather, his emergence is the outcome of the confluence of his courage and a weather intervention requiring a Tinubu’s presidency at this critical time in the life of our dear country. It is, indeed, a time that beckons on our most courageous and thankfully, Mr President, without doubt, stands in the gap for our dear nation. Will he assume the courage required at this time? 

    I do concede the onerous tasks Mr President have been engaged with in the pacification of the multiple trouble spots that pockmark our national economic stratum especially the concern over our foreign exchange policy. In this regard, my observation is that if Nigerians don’t pay the right price for the right services, our exposure in the foreign exchange dynamics will continue to bounce, albeit negatively.

    It is, thus, with all sense of responsibility that I request Mr President, as a matter of urgency, to intervene in the oppressive and inequitable treatment of Nigerian international travellers. Nigerian travellers have become subjected to discriminatory ticket fares that had become not only unfair and socially suffocating but an assault on Nigeria’s economic standing. Most times, tickets to destinations in Europe and the United States of America by Nigerian travellers are more than two to three times the ticket fares from those destinations to Nigeria. Even more disheartening are the disgraceful services availed Nigerian travellers by these airlines despite the higher ticket fares paid by Nigerians.

    Mr President should consider this discriminatory ticket fare as a global plot by international airline operators to purloin our foreign exchange reserves by official subtlety. It is, undoubtedly, one avenue that our foreign exchange reserve is being eroded. May I implore Mr President, working through the foreign affairs and aviation ministers, to immediately move to redress this brazen act of inequity being perpetrated by international airline operators. 

    An extension of the worries over our foreign reserves is the value of our national currency, the Naira. While I acknowledge the feverish efforts being made by the administration to strengthen the Naira-Dollar exchange rate especially in the parallel market, and while hoping the outcomes of these efforts become manifest in the shortest possible time, the worry is that beyond the prices of goods and services as reflected in increasing inflation rates, our capital market, especially, the stock market has become susceptible to hostile takeovers by so-called foreign investors.

    Read Also: Tinubu committed to improving lives of vulnerable communities – Shettima

    The prices of our high valued stocks have become rock bottom prices otherwise known as penny stocks when valued in dollar terms. For instance, Seplat Plc commands the highest possible price on the Nigerian stock market at N1, 980 per unit as of Tuesday, November 7. When converted to the dollar, the price translates to a lowly $1.9 thereabouts. Meanwhile, the price of a unit of Zenith Bank, a value stock by all consideration, as at same Tuesday, November 7, was traded at N33.80k when converted to dollar it would be traded at about 32 cents. These stock prices when reviewed on a dollar basis clearly show how undervalued the Nigerian stock market had become though we see exponential upward movements in the All Share Index and capitalisation of the market in recent times but these indicators are measured by domestic rates not the Dollar. 

    The unabating fears for stock market  players like me is that foreign corporate raiders can turn our stock market to a killing field in a moment with a portfolio as little as $20million. This will be to the detriment of domestic shareholders who had held forth in the market and had sustained the market when foreign investors took flight out of the market at the first sign of trouble in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a corporate player, I am quite aware of the threat of corporate invaders coming into the country and leveraging a strong Dollar relative to the Naira to pick our value stocks at extremely cheap rates. 

    The aggregation of these concerns is rooted in the limited access to foreign exchange, especially, the United States Dollars by those who want it for transactional purposes. A number of financial experts, and even some in the administration, had come forward to argue that the national economy is in this strait because of a shortage of dollar supply into the economy. With due respect to those that hold this position, it is rather commonplace, lacking an in-depth understanding of the use of the USD in the larger Nigerian economy. Yes, the quantum of the USD in circulation is low, yet, it should not be the reason for the near state of crisis that segment of our economy is growing into. USD scarcity does not explain the exponential increase in the Naira – USD exchange rate in the parallel market within a very short time, rising from about N460 in June to N1,300 in early November. This can’t be a about shortage in supply!

    Truth be told, the larger percentage of the USD that had been taken out of our reserves are used for many purposes other than transactions. It is no secret that those that have access have turned the USD into a store of value. In this league are active importers that have also become economic saboteurs who inflate the value of their Letters of Credit (LC) and process the USD officially out of the Central Bank of Nigeria. After settling their trade obligations, they criminally convert the remaining value of the LC by a fraudulent discount arrangement from which they hold on to their share of the now cash backed LC, save it in an account abroad and, in classic unpatriotic display, they pray earnestly for the continued erosion of the value of the Naira so they can bring their criminally converted USD back into Nigeria for sale in the black market. This is classic forex round tripping. 

    This is a snapshot of just one of the many underhand deals by which some people assail the value of our national currency for their selfish commercial ends. My submission, in this regard, is that these fraudulent conducts of businesses should be declared crimes of national economic sabotage. 

    In all these prospective and actual sabotage of our economy, nonetheless, I find succour and confidence in the investment savviness of Mr President, I am thus assured that within the shortest possible time, Mr President will deploy all possible policies to address the concerns highlighted here. I am, indeed, persuaded in the power of courage, the courage to dare and act even when the odds are heavily against acting as appropriate. That’s the Tinubu’s courage.

    •Duru is an entrepreneur, thought leader and the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress

  • As Ogun prepares for 22nd National Sports Festival

    As Ogun prepares for 22nd National Sports Festival

    • By Kunle Somorin

    Much like the National Youth Service Corps and other programmes introduced after the Nigerian Civil War, the National Sports Festival was created in 1973 to advance the post-Civil War principle of “no victor, no vanquished” embedded in the 3Rs – Reintegration, Reconstruction and Reconciliation.

    Also known as the Unity Games, the National Sports Festival is a biennial multi-sport event organised by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Sports for athletes from the 36 states of the federation. Its first edition was staged in 1973 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. Apart from being conceived as a unifying tool with the main purpose of promoting peace and cross-cultural affiliation in Nigeria after the war, the festival also serves as a development and training event to aid athletes in preparing for continental and international tournaments.

    The NSF has several objectives, including building a robust talent pool of athletes; enhancing and elevating sports at the grassroots level; establishing a standard programme for athletes’ succession; curbing age cheating in sports; encouraging early participation in sports; engaging young athletes in the Olympic Movement, skill development and social responsibility; enhancing cultural and educational development; and promoting national unity.

    For many years, the NSF has presented host states with an opportunity to showcase their rich sporting and cultural prowess, as well as serve as a talent pool for the country at large. However, the festival has not been without its challenges since it started in 1973. Let’s spare ourselves the post-1999 setbacks that confronted the NSF and briefly talk about the status of the festival since democracy was restored on May 29, 1999.

    Since then, 10 NSFs have been staged. Bauchi hosted the 2000 edition, followed by Edo in 2002 and Abuja in 2004. Ogun State hosted the Gateway Games 17 years ago in 2006, while the next edition in Kaduna was delayed by a year and hosted in 2009. Rivers hosted the nest NSF in 2011 and in 2012, Lagos hosted the festival to return it to its original calendar.  Cross River, which was supposed to host the centenary edition of the festival, failed to do so. The game suffered postponement for six years before in 2018 the then Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, fought for its return by hosting it in Abuja in 2018. After COVID-related disruption saw another postponement, Edo hosted the NSF in 2021. In 2022, Delta State hosted the most recent edition.

    It was at the 2022 edition that Ogun was granted the hosting rights for the 22nd edition of the games in 2024.  Sunday Dare, the then Minister of Youth and Sports Development, announced Ogun as the next host in Asaba during the closing ceremony of the 21st NSF on December 10, 2022. The minister said five states put in the bid to host the 2024 edition of the sporting festival.

    As soon as news broke out that the Gateway State was going to host the next edition of the NSF, sports enthusiasts were engulfed in nostalgia, excitement and anticipation, following the state’s showing when it first hosted the games in 2006. The Gateway Games 17 years ago was considered the best in the history of the NSF staged during the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

    Bukola Olopade, who was Sports Commissioner when the festival was hosted, has been poached by Governor Dapo Abiodun as the chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). While inaugurating the 16-man LOC for the 22nd National Sports Festival, the governor noted that the state was more than prepared to surpass previous editions and the achievements recorded during the last festival held by the state in 2006. He also promised to continue to put in place world-class sporting infrastructure across the state.

    “We are determined to put in place world-class sporting infrastructures across the length and breadth of the state, thus underscoring our determination to ensure that we host a very befitting sports festival to the admiration of all stakeholders in the sector and around the world. For us in Ogun State, this festival isn’t just about the competition and performances, even though we would love to host and win every medal. We want to host a National Sports Festival that will showcase the talent, our culture and potential of our great state as well as a very unique sense of hospitality of our people,” Prince Abiodun said.

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    Olopade made a cogent observation at the inauguration which should thrill all who are expecting what Ogun has to display in 2024. He commended Abiodun for being the first governor in the country to ensure that all athletes at the last National Sports Festival in Delta State went home with cash rewards irrespective of winning or losing.

    “You have achieved two seconds to none already when our athletes came back from Delta State and you announced the reward to the athletes. I know I speak authoritatively when I say that has not happened before in this country where every participating athlete got something to take home even though they didn’t come back home with medals. It has never happened before. The second thing you’ve achieved is to put together… the aficionados of sports today in Nigeria, the gentlemen and women that are assembled here before you today are the best brains and minds in sports today in Nigeria,” Olopade said.

    At the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, the governor assured of the state’s readiness to host a world-class National Sports Festival. “I want to assure you that we will live up to expectations as reflected in the MoU. I can assure you that we will not disappoint you. I want to assure you that, like you have said to me the one in Edo was a very good showing, the one in Delta was better than the one in Edo, and the one in Ogun will be the best,” the governor promised.

    At a recent event, Prince Abiodun reiterated that commitment, saying Ogun is poised to host the most spectacular national sports festival in history and that massive investment in critical infrastructure is underway to ensure that the 2006 edition, which already has the reputation of being a reference point, is surpassed in 2024.

    That commitment was echoed by Olopade recently, when he said, “In 2006, we hosted a festival that was celebrated as one of the best in the country. Next year, we are bringing to Nigerians an entirely different National Sports Festival. We are very grateful to our governor for me and other members of the LOC the free hand to go about our duties. Governor Abiodun is a sports lover, and it matters a lot in staging an event of this magnitude. I assure him and the people of Ogun State that the LOC won’t disappoint.”

    Come 2024, sports enthusiasts and participants at the NSF in Ogun are guaranteed to be awed by the developmental strides recorded by Prince Abiodun within the past four years. Those who experienced the Gateway Games in 2006 – believed to be the best – should be prepared to witness an upgrade to that, and the reason why Ogun is regarded as the Gateway State.

    •Somorin, immediate past chief press secretary, Ogun State, writes from Abeokuta

  • Nigeria: We can and we will

    Nigeria: We can and we will

    • By Oluwole Ogundele

    Aracially inclined theoretical construct which claimed that Africans were genetically inferior to their brothers and sisters in the Western world crumbled away several decades ago in the face of some superior scientific evidence. It is a truism, that such great Europeans as Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Plato studied philosophy and mathematics among other subjects in ancient Egypt. Some African intellectuals taught these early Europeans aspects of the fundamentals of human civilisations. These African gurus were the unsung heroes of ancient Greek civilisations. Painfully, much of this early history suffers from knowledge filtering arising from the unbridled racial arrogance of Europe. 

    Nigeria was also well known for science and technology more than 2000 years ago. Relics of iron metallurgical practices in the Nok Valley region of central Nigeria and Nsukka as well as Isundunrin among other localities in the Southeast and Southwest respectively, are our witnesses.   The target of this knowledge filtering was to create a perpetual state of under-development in Africa by engendering a gross lack of self-confidence. Our uncommonly rich past is a major source of pride, capable of stimulating socio-economic progress on a sustainable scale.

    Most Nigerian professionals in Europe and America today are a force to reckon with. This is another evidence that Nigerians/Africans are not genetically inferior to other races. Nuclear power and micro-chip technologies of today are an outgrowth of ancient African science and engineering. Africa provided the stimulus for the emergence of modern human society.

    The new government under the direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a lot to do to rescue Nigeria from the ravaging ocean of modern politics. This government has to be totally committed to the struggle to save the country from a tidal wave. PBAT must be ready to step on toes in the interest of the common good. Nigerians are not incorrigible people, once there is a good leadership. Nigerians demonstrated that they were governable when General Murtala Mohammed (of blessed memory) was in charge between 1975 and 1976. Mohammed tried to wrestle corruption to the ground even though his reign was short. His large-scale civil service reform shook the country to its solid foundations. However, some of his policies were expectedly criticised by a few reactionaries in our midst. An average Nigerian with a fine heart saw Mohammed as a trustworthy, highly disciplined leader of the upper crust essence. His tenure was characterised by a considerable amount of sanity. Although, he ruled by decrees as a military man, political leaders today have a lot to learn from him. It is a pity that most Nigerian leaders today do not know that history is unforgiving.  History is ontologically about the rhetoric of remembering and to a limited degree, forgetting.

    The executive arm is not a rubber stamp for decisions made by the legislature. The same thing applies to the latter. Separation of power in a democracy does not mean that each arm is completely on its own. The arms are mere branches of the same tree of political engineering. Nigeria has what it takes to be a world power, despite our colonial and neo-colonial challenges which are of course, not peculiar to this geo-polity. It was very gladdening to note here, that PBAT warned the new top government officials during a retreat recently, to perform optimally or get the boot.

    Again, those government officials (especially the advisers), should know that the era of political recklessness including insensitivity to the feelings of the citizens is gone.  Mr. President has to be mindful of some gluttons around him. They are capable of damaging his time-tested, robust reputation. There should be no space at all for bogus/opulent lifestyles in the face of unprecedented starvation, a component of multi-dimensional poverty. We need a stable Nigeria! But anarchy is inevitable in the face of uncaring/insensitive leadership. Thinking beings are historical animals. We must learn from history.

    Those who supported PBAT before, during, and after the election would not want him to fail. However, he has to curb the excesses of some of his appointees in order to prevent a political tsunami. The president is a very wealthy individual, arising from his world-class business acumen outside the domain of politics. Certainly, he does not need the Nigerian money. Therefore, let no political appointee smear mud on PBAT’s reputation. The recently created Service Delivery Unit to monitor the ministers and other senior officials is highly commendable, even though everybody should be vigilant. The followers must not go to sleep because the concept can be abused. The Nigerian state should become the focus of unalloyed patriotism and economic progress. It is time to begin to engineer a new national political culture devoid of unfettered corruption. In other words, the current asymmetrical democratic landscape, which remains a puzzle to all fair-minded social science geniuses, has to be thoroughly sanitised. This stench must stop now!

    Those who have stolen our commonwealth have to be seriously probed. These ruthless politicians who have turned a lot of Nigerians into beggars must return the stolen monies.  This is a task for the Tinubu administration to accomplish at all costs. This is what the citizens are waiting for. No excuses!

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    However, such recovered monies must not be mismanaged or re-stolen. No more room for bogus, people-insensitive projects that smack of huge recklessness. The ordinary people will continue to be disdainful of the leadership so long as injustice and economic exploitation reign supreme. Any society that directly or indirectly allows looters among other serious criminals to get off scot-free is doomed to failure. Indeed, such a scenario is at variance with good governance. Rules and regulations are social mechanisms aimed at reducing human excesses in a given society to the barest minimum.  Therefore, they have to be enforced across the board.  It is of global relevance understandably because man, regardless of the colour of his skin and/or geographical location, is corrupt by nature.

    The EFCC and ICPC should not be operating from the perspective of political partisanship. The fight against corruption must be total, otherwise the country’s economy will continue to go from bad to worse. Natural law is no respecter of anybody. This is one of the reasons why the developed world is relatively much more stable than Nigeria. Apart from this, followers in saner climes and cultures are generally speaking, not docile. They hold their leaders accountable at all times. No room for religious/ethnic sentiments. Nigeria can set itself free from this stone age bondage via the lens of appropriate education. The ministries of education and culture have some critical roles to play in this connection. New curricula rooted in our indigenous values and value systems need to be urgently crafted. We must be prepared to critically combine the present with the past in order to get out of the woods. Fine-grained ideas must be used to weave our educational policies, so that we can begin to move gradually to the promised land, defined by spiritual and material abundance, as President Tinubu navigates the ship. This is a compelling enterprise in all its ramifications.

    • Prof Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan