The Nation Newspaper

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  • Dropping Mathematics, mistake Nigeria cannot afford

    Dropping Mathematics, mistake Nigeria cannot afford

    • By Tosin Adeoti

    On reading the news that mathematics would no longer be a compulsory subject for students seeking admission into the Arts and Humanities, I didn’t believe it. Not because the Nigerian government is incapable of radical policy changes, but because the logic felt inverted. How could a country struggling with poor numeracy and fragile reasoning think that removing mathematics from its curriculum would make things better?

    The other day, someone made the apt observation that the average Nigerian is so poor at measurement that we find it difficult to imagine three feet or three kilometres, or even how huge one billion is. And our next step is to remove mathematics from the curriculum of one third of our student population in senior secondary school?

    What could be the reason? Well, when I checked, the Federal Ministry of Education explained the reform in simple terms: to eliminate unnecessary barriers to tertiary education. The argument was that every year, millions sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, yet less than half gain admission. The bottleneck, the ministry said, often comes from stringent requirements, especially mathematics. By loosening that rule, they hoped to create opportunity and extend fairness.

    At first glance, it sounds noble. Education should be inclusive. No one should be locked out of university because they struggle with quadratic equations or trigonometric identities. But inclusion without structure is chaos disguised as compassion. The goal of education cannot be only to make entry easier. It must also prepare people to think and reason once they get in.

    Mathematics is not about becoming a mathematician. It is about clarity of thought. It teaches precision, attention, and sequence. It shapes how we argue, how we see patterns, and how we verify truth. When a student learns how to balance equations, they are quietly learning how to balance life’s variables. When they calculate, they practice patience and logic. To remove mathematics from the path of an artist or writer is to rob them of a tool for discipline.

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    This misunderstanding is not new. People often reduce mathematics to numbers and formulas, forgetting that it is also a language of reasoning. When the ancient Greeks built their philosophy, they made sure it was grounded in logic and geometry. Plato reportedly inscribed above his academy, “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here.” He understood that mathematics trains the mind to think clearly; a foundation for philosophy and politics alike. Centuries later, the Renaissance in Europe was powered not only by artists like Leonardo da Vinci (just read Walter Isaacson’s biography of the man to see how much of a mathematician the man is) but also by mathematicians like Fibonacci, who gave structure to the patterns artists painted and architects built. The arts have always walked hand-in-hand with mathematics.

    So, mathematics is important for the Nigerian’s art scene. A musician negotiating royalties on Spotify must understand percentages and digital metrics. A film producer working in Nollywood must know profit margins, and market analytics. A journalist analysing inflation needs statistical literacy. Even the poet who wants to publish digitally must interpret engagement data and royalties. Mathematics doesn’t only belong in laboratories; it belongs in every kind of mind that seeks coherence.

    Professor Chike Obi, Nigeria’s celebrated first mathematics PhD holder, reportedly once said that a nation’s progress depends on how well it teaches mathematics. He warned that societies that treat it as optional soon find their intellectual edges blunted. His warning was not about producing more scientists. It was about ensuring that people could think in structured ways. Those words, spoken half a century ago, now sound prophetic.

    I have seen supporters of the new policy argue online that Nigeria’s admission crisis is evidence that the system must change. They claim that outdated requirements, not lack of preparation, keep bright students from advancing. They say inclusion will bring fairness, that the country needs more access, not more gatekeeping. But the question is not whether the gates should open wider. It is whether we are building stronger doors behind them.

    The country’s real problem lies earlier, in how mathematics is taught, not in whether it should be required. Any educationalist would tell you that there are no difficult courses, only bad teachers. Students fear mathematics because for decades, it has been taught without context, stripped of life and imagination. Many classrooms reduce it to formulas recited without understanding. The failure is in method, not in necessity. Instead of fixing the foundation, we are knocking down the pillar.

    Around the world, the trend is moving differently. Finland still integrates mathematics into creative disciplines. Singapore continues to make it central to its national curriculum. Both countries connect numbers to reasoning and design. They understand that critical thinking grows from both narrative and logic. Nigeria, meanwhile, seems to believe that creativity and reasoning should live apart.

    Okay, someone argued that in the UK, students drop mathematics after GCSEs (around age 16) if they wish to specialise in the arts. But seriously? Have you seen the education ranking of the UK recently? Do you want to study what is working in Finland (ranked No 1) and Netherlands and South Korea and China, or the UK?

    There are consequences to this thinking. Employers already lament the lack of analytical ability among graduates. Many can speak fluently but cannot reason sequentially. They struggle with basic data, cannot interpret graphs, and find it difficult to solve open-ended problems. These are not failures of intelligence. They are failures of structure. When we remove mathematics from education, we weaken that structure further.

    The irony is that mathematics already sits at the heart of art and society, often invisibly. In music, rhythm follows ratios. In literature, structure obeys logic. In architecture, beauty depends on balance and geometry. Even in politics, policy depends on data interpretation and probability. To say mathematics is irrelevant to the arts is to forget how deeply it lives in human creativity.

    In a way, this new reform captures a mood that has settled across parts of Nigerian life: the desire for quick fixes. If something is difficult, remove it. If standards are high, lower them. If the road is rough, take a shortcut. But the world does not reward shortcuts. It rewards preparation. A country that stops teaching its citizens how to think rigorously will eventually depend on others to do its thinking for it.

    Yes, there are thousands of students each year who fail mathematics and lose admission opportunities. That is tragic. But the solution is not to eliminate the subject. It is to rebuild how it is taught and how it is understood. Imagine if the same government poured effort into retraining teachers, providing better textbooks, and making mathematics relatable to real life. That would expand access without eroding standards.

    The government’s claim that this reform will add up to 300,000 new university admissions each year is bold. But admission is not education. If students enter ill-prepared to reason through complex questions, they will exit no wiser. Expansion is meaningless if it produces graduates who struggle to connect thought to evidence.

    This decision also risks widening inequality. Wealthier families will continue to teach mathematics privately. Their children will enter global conversations equipped with reasoning skills that poorer students were told they didn’t need. Over time, that gap will not be one of income, but of intellect.

    There is still time to reconsider. The government could hold consultations with students, teachers, education leaders, parents, and employers. It could separate genuine inclusion from misguided compassion. A better policy would ensure everyone learns mathematics in ways that reflect real life, not abstract fear. Because every nation that stopped taking mathematics seriously eventually found that its ability to innovate and compete started to decay.

    In 2023, UNESCO reported that numeracy and data reasoning are among the top 10 skills employers seek globally. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report identified “analytical thinking” and “quantitative reasoning” as core skills that cut across all professions. Removing mathematics may open a door today, but it closes too many others tomorrow.

    When young people lose the discipline of structured thought, they lose the ability to build lasting things. And no society ever prospered by making it easier to think less.

    •Adeoti writes via  tosinjadeoti@gmail.com

  • Free trade zones: How not to take advantage of government’s enabling environment

    Free trade zones: How not to take advantage of government’s enabling environment

    • By Perching Hawk

    It is globally accepted that meaningful national socio-economic development is hinged among others on the ability of governments to provide enabling environments for the private sector to thrive, particularly in free market economies like Nigeria through policy initiatives, incentives and robust regulatory regimes supporting consumer and environmental protection among others.

    Such environments are aimed at stimulating increased local and foreign direct investment in manufacturing, innovations, competitiveness and other market driven economic activities to engender increase in capacity utilization by existing industries, generate new job opportunities, create more wealth, and promote citizen welfare, thus alleviating poverty.

    One initiative in Nigeria was the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) or Free Trade Zones (FTZs), which are critical components of contemporary economic strategy and part of a broader strategy to diversify the economy, reduce dependency on oil revenues, stimulate local businesses and encourage sustainable development in order to foster economic growth, attract investments, create jobs and substantially reduce poverty.

    These zones often benefit from tax incentives, streamlined regulations, and infrastructural support, making them appealing for businesses looking to establish operations in emerging markets like Nigeria.

    One significant incentive is the corporate tax holiday available to eligible enterprises for a period usually ranging from three to five years, and potentially extendable based on performance and compliance with specific conditions.

    Duty exemptions on imported goods are another attractive incentive that allows businesses within FTZs to import raw materials and equipment without incurring customs duties. Value-added tax (VAT) waivers, reduced utility costs, grants for setting up businesses, duty deferral, exemption and reduction, one-stop approvals for permits, operating licenses, and incorporation papers, provision of infrastructure that meet international standards as well as supportive regulatory frameworks, are others aimed at boosting investment in FTZs.

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    Challenges of managing free trade zones in Nigeria

    As globalization continues to define economic progress of nations and the relevance of FTZs continues to grow, so do the challenges relating to assuring standards, effective regulatory oversight and achievement of the objectives for which the zones were created. The standards, oversight, and regulations governing FTZs have not kept pace with global developments, allowing illicit actors sabotage the economy by taking undue advantage of the government incentives, thus defeating the noble objectives of setting up the zones.

     Stakeholders at different forums have expressed concerns on the activities of some operators in the FTZs infringing on the movement of goods and sometimes raw materials from the zones to the customs territory, thus creating unfair competition with similar businesses in the latter. Others include gross under prizing of raw materials and semi processed products into the territory as well as the export into the customs territory without the required value addition. Such activities deny the nation of due revenue and create economic imbalances while the perpetrators smile to the banks.

    The FTZs dilemma

    While the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government has placed premium attention to plugging financial leakages leading to significant and unprecedented improvement in the nation’s income, stakeholders are raising serious concerns on the activities of some operators in the FTZs.

    Such concerns range from trading in unapproved items, inadequate and under disclosure of trade volumes of approved products, under invoicing, use of wrong description and HS codes, trading with related entities in the customs territory without full or any disclosure, to using the FTZs as conduit for trading of imported raw materials and goods without any value addition.

    These untoward activities for which examples abound are fraudulent, criminal, and rub the nation of valuable income. For instance, discreet investigations conducted at the Ogun and Calabar Free Trade Zones in the last few months on the steel sector showed that while international market price of wire rods obtained from World Steel news was about $480 per metric tonne, an operator in Calabar FTZ imported 6,027 metric tons valued at $67,250 which implies a ridiculous FOB price of $11 per metric ton.  Such gross under valuation and under declaration of import volume denies the nation of correct import duties collection, creates price distortions in the market and the attendant danger posed to competitors in the Customs territory.

    An operator in Ogun FTZ imported 3000 metric tons of steel coil for the production of steel sheet and 4,000 metric tons of galvanized steel coils for the production of roofing sheets from which a supposed 2000 metric tons of waste/scrap was generated and exported to a related entity about the same time. A production process that generates so much as 2000 metric tons of waste/scrap from 7,000mt of steel coils is unheard of and seems impossible.

    This suggests importation of raw materials with all the incentives offered by government and export of same as waste/scrap to a related entity also enjoying incentives, including monetary, tax and legal provisions with the aim among others of paying import duty only on 5,000 mt.

    What next?

    Regulations relating to imports from other parts of the globe to Nigeria should apply to imports from the FTZs e.g. the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Offshore conformity assessment programme (SONCAP).

    There is need to apply regulations on financial crime preventive measures such as reporting large value currency transactions and suspicious transaction reports (STRs) to financial institutions and businesses operating in the FTZs.

    Mechanisms for stricter monitoring of raw materials imported into FTZs, the attendant value addition and export of the final products as well as waste/scrap are also essential.

    The federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu need to extend its reforms to the operations within the FTZs especially focusing on plugging income leakages in order to avert taking negative advantage of the government’s incentives.

    •Hawk writes from Lagos.

  • Reflections on Redeemer’s University at 20

    Reflections on Redeemer’s University at 20

    • By Samuel Akinnuga

    Every product of a great vision is distinguished in its essence. Behind all great institutions is the story of those who caught the vision and the people who did the hard work to make it happen. The story behind the founding of the Redeemer’s University (RUN) is best told by the person who received the vision – the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Visitor to the University, Dr. E.A. Adeboye.

    He recently recounted the story during a meeting with some members of the university alumni. In the 1980s, while visiting a university in the United States founded by a Pentecostal mission, he was struck by the beauty and excellence of its campus. That visit became the moment of divine inspiration. Standing there, he envisioned a future where such beauty and excellence would be replicated in Nigeria. That is the provenance of the vision to build a Pentecostal Christian university in Nigeria that would be the best in Africa and indeed one of the best in the world. It took some time and some transitions, but it happened. I decided to open with this background so that the reader can appreciate the model of excellence and faith that inspired the RUN vision.

    In many respects, that vision is becoming a reality. One of the most remarkable examples is the university’s record in the sciences. In 2014, the university was designated by the World Bank as the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID). ACEGID’s ground-breaking research quickly established it as the leading genomics laboratory in this part of the world. More milestones have followed since then. Today, ACEGID is one of five centres of the recently established Institute of Genomics and Global Health at the university. The other centres include the International Centre of Excellence for Malaria Research, the Human Genome Centre, the Centre for One Health and Zoonotic Diseases Research and the Centre for Data Science & Virtual Reality. The university continues to attract world-renowned researchers in the life sciences and in other disciplines.

    Much has unfolded within the last decade, but the foundation was laid long before then. It is surreal that RUN is 20 years old already! What began in 2005 as a modest vision at the Redemption Camp, with fewer than 500 students, has become an international phenomenon, attracting thousands of students and visitors each year. From its permanent campus in Ede, Osun State, RUN has become a shining example of the powerful synergy between character formation and academic excellence, which is a dynamic many institutions aspire to achieve. Staying true to its motto, “Running with the Vision,” the university continues to embody that enduring charge to its students, staff and stakeholders alike. RUN is still running with a vision.

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    I will be the first to admit that my experience in RUN shaped me in many life-changing ways. The university prepared me for leadership and presented me with various opportunities to serve. I engaged with student leadership opportunities, first becoming the President of the Mass Communication Students’ Association, and shortly after that, I was elected to serve as president of the Redeemer’s University Students’ Association (RUNSA). I understand that this exact kind of leadership transition remains, to date, the first and only of its kind in RUN’s 20-year history. I am humbled by that record.

     My RUN years also gifted me with relationships that have endured to date.  Those who are close to me know how highly I speak of Professor ‘Jide Osuntokun. Prof is one of the most influential figures in my life, and I count the privilege of my close relationship with him among the greatest honours of my life. Over the years, I have sought his wisdom on a wide range of issues, and he has always graciously obliged me. His counsel and encouragement have made me a better man.

    In the last three years, I have visited RUN three times. Each of my visits over the past three years greets me with marvel. The pace of infrastructural development is impressive. The difference between what RUN was in my time and what it is today is like night and day.  The purpose of my visit in 2023 and 2024 was to attend the convocation ceremony. Although I could not attend this year’s convocation, my most recent visit in late August was for a special series of engagements organised by the RUN Alumni Association in celebration of the university’s 20th anniversary.

    The members of the alumni leadership deserve commendation for their tireless service and commitment to the vision. One highlight of that outing was our meeting with the Visitor, who took the time to refresh our minds on the RUN vision. One of the elements of the RUN vision, according to the Visitor, is to “have an alumni network that will be so strong and supportive and that it will be considered a crime at a particular stage to call for school fees because the network of alumni will be so financially strong that there will be no need to ask students to pay fees.” I am convinced that this is possible and that it will be realised sooner rather than later because “our Redeemer is strong!”

    After all is said and done, the ultimate aim of university education is not merely to produce graduates who bear certificates, but individuals who contribute meaningfully to the advancement of society in different areas. Formal education must therefore be taken seriously at all levels. We cannot be content with producing thousands of graduates each year without ensuring that their experiences translate into positive consequences for our society. Those of us who have had the opportunity to study at the tertiary level carry a special responsibility to use our knowledge in service to others and to point the direction along which our societies must progress.

    On a final note, I admire it when people speak glowingly about their alma mater because, to my mind, it reflects a sense of gratitude and consciousness of how deeply those formative experiences shaped them. Desirable as that may be, I also recognise that it is not yet the reality for everyone. This is why institutions like the Redeemer’s University must continue to model what transformative education can truly look like.

    Once again, I congratulate Redeemer’s University on its 20th anniversary. The next 20 years will be marked by even greater accomplishments, innovation and impact. This is only the beginning.

  • It’s a harvest of thanksgiving as Mama Olaitan Victoria Abiodun clocks four scores and ten

    It’s a harvest of thanksgiving as Mama Olaitan Victoria Abiodun clocks four scores and ten

    By Kayode Akinmade

    Chief (Mrs) Olaitan Victoria Abiodun, educationist, businesswoman, and community leader, is 90.

    As the Book of Psalms proclaims, it is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight.  As the day begins with songs of praise, Mama will lack the company of her husband of many years and praise and worship partner, Dr. Emmanuel Adesanya Abiodun, fondly called Baba Teacher, but she will be surrounded by the love, warmth and presence of her dear children, including the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun (MFR, CON); her grandchildren, extended family members, friends and well-wishers. In a country where life expectancy is just a little above 54 years, it is great, in fact glorious, to be 90, hale and hearty, basking in the grace of Almighty God: the celebrations have been fully deserved.

    The years have not been without challenges, obstacles, many of them daunting, but as the Holy Writ declares, there is a compassion from on high that is new every morning, and faithfulness that is great. It is too lofty to be properly captured in words.

    Mama at 90 is not about sagacity, design, or intention: it is the sheer mercy and love of the Almighty: pure, boundless, and unfeigned. To live to be 90 in a country plagued by many ills, and having fought so many battles, calls for precisely the thanksgiving that Mama and her family and friends are offering today. Let us all join Mama in her feast of thanksgiving…

    Born on the 15th of October, 1935, to the family of Mr Raji Alli Balogun and Mrs Adijatu Kubura Alli Sobowale in Iperu Remo, Ogun State, Chief (Mrs.) Olaitan Victoria Abiodun began her primary education at Bishop Oluwole Memorial Primary School, Agege, Lagos, and later proceeded to St James. Anglican Primary School, Iperu, where she completed her primary education in 1955.

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    In 1956, she started teaching at the African Church Primary School, Iperu, also known as Bethel. The desire to acquire more knowledge took her to the Teacher Training College, Iperu, where she obtained her Grade 3 certificate. It was time to be posted to St Paul’s Anglican Primary school, Ijokun, Sagamu, where she taught from 1958 to 1962.

    In 1963, she got admission into the Teachers Training College, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, for her Grade 2 certificate. Armed with that certificate, she worked at IJABCOL Grade 2 Teacher Training College and Modern School in Iperu, and in 1968, she moved with her husband to Ayetoro Egbado (now Yewa North).

    Her husband taught at the Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro, while she was transferred to United Primary School, Ayetoro, where she taught till early 1971 when she moved to Ondo town with her husband who had just joined the staff of the prestigious Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, an institution affiliated to the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She taught at the Local Authority School (1) in Ondo, then in October 1972, she gained admission into Adeyemi, where she studied Home Economics. After her graduation, she was posted to Ondo High School, Ondo, where she was made the head of the Home Economics Department. And this was where she retired in 1986, following which she took up trading and extended her frontiers far and wide.

    At 90, Chief (Mrs.) Victoria Olaitan Abiodun stands as a living testimony to grace, faith, and enduring values: her life reflects devotion to family, service, and community. As she says, “I feel deeply grateful to God. Ninety years is not a small journey. It’s been grace all through — grace that carried me through marriage, motherhood, teaching, and service to my community.”

    Life as a child, she recalls, was modest but meaningful: “We valued hard work, honesty, and community. Education was our key to freedom, and that belief guided everything I did.”  Her marriage was great: “My late husband and I were both teachers. We both believed teaching was more than a job — it was a ministry. “Baba Teacher,” as people called him, used to say that when you teach a child, you are shaping the world. We wanted to shape lives, and we gave our hearts to it. In those days, there was no social media — only purpose and prayer. We met through mutual friends in Ibadan, both of us teachers, and we shared the same values. We married in 1960, and it was the beginning of a long, blessed journey. I had 65 years of marriage, a rare blessing.”

    The Ogun State Governor is her firstborn born and the bond between mother and son is indeed cast in stone; unbreakable. As the American writer Sara Hale says, there is no influence so powerful as that of the mother. Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws, says the Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet, Barbara Kingsolver; and that is why the great Abraham Lincoln crafted these unforgettable lines: “All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” For Dapo Abiodun, and in the words of the poet, Emily Dickinson, a mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled. Mama is her son’s unceasing fountain of support, who trained him to be ready to dare and to go against the norm to set new standards. During his 42nd birthday in Ikoyi, Lagos, she spoke glowingly about him, saying with pride, “I am the one and only mother of Dapo Abiodun.”

    She trained her children well, and her counsel, combined with great vision, has given the Gateway State a Governor turning barren land into construction sites. Go to the Gateway Airport and see wonders in architecture and engineering; go to Olumo Rock and see the power of renewal. Go to the MKO Stadium and see what it means to have a Governor imbued with strategic foresight.

    Her pride in her son is not just because he’s the Governor, but because he has remained humble and focused on service. Her word to him as he hits 90 cheers is to fear God, listen to advice, and never forget the poor: power should bring compassion, not arrogance. The key to success, she avers, is to work hard, respect elders, and build your future with integrity. Why? “The world is moving fast, but good character never goes out of fashion.”

    Her words are indeed words on marble, and are fitting in closing this piece, “I believe in quiet strength. You don’t have to shout to lead. I speak when it is necessary, and I stand by the truth. That is how I was raised, and that is how I raised my children. I want women to see themselves as builders of homes, of society. Women, support your husbands, raise your children well, and never stop learning. Women carry the soul of the nation. My greatest legacy is a good name. 

    The Bible says a good name is better than riches. If people remember me as a woman of faith, discipline, and love, I am fulfilled. I pray for peace — peace in Nigeria, peace in Ogun State, and peace in every home. May God guide our leaders, bless our children, and let the light of truth never go out in our land.”

    Happy Birthday, Mama Olaitan Victoria Abiodun, and many glorious returns. Here’s wishing Mama many more years in sound health and joy of heart.

    Akinmade is Special Adviser, Media and Strategy to Governor Dapo Abiodun

  • Where the North bleeds

    Where the North bleeds

    By Abdu Abdullahi

    Northern Nigeria is famous for its political pomposity of having the highest number of votes to influence political power or direction. However, it is lacking the political sagacity to transform the deplorable conditions of the people to justify its numerical relevance. In today’s North and politics, misplaced priorities have been the order of the day. We are afraid of breaking away from conventions to attain a paradigm shift that will discover our potentialities, fix our opportunities and discontinue the practices of conservatism. Long term policies and projects for sustainable development are inadequate to face the challenges of the 21st century.

    There is no adequate balancing between human development and physical development. The North’s politics bolsters mainly in relation to cheap popularity and other forms of self-aggrandizement, rather than exalted and exemplary mission for regional rejuvenation and prosperity. Our numerical pride, after all, is never a means to achieving an end, not even an end in itself.

    If numerical advantage is the only measurable and core value that matters in North’s politics, we should not have been battling the chronic diseases of poverty, unemployment and insecurity among others. In fact, this so called strength calls for sober reflections on how to make it politically and economically viable and constructive, not destructive as in the case of the merchants of death killing innocent and defenceless people.

    For long, two conflicting trends have continued to define our protracted and overwhelming ills. I am referring to the eventual advent of political will versus political opportunism. We are entangled in a political contest of elites who are torn apart between political will and political opportunism. The political elites who possess political will for reforms are very rare because they have been relegated to the background and the North will continue to bleed without this political capital.

    While political opportunists have saturated and hijacked the political environment, the alarming risk is that the mainstream northern politics begins and ends with the perpetuation of self-indulgence as well as self- complacency. We are no longer thinking about robust institutions that foster advancement, but we are fighting wars over individuals.

    Meanwhile, northern interests, yearnings and aspirations will continue to be compromised and imprisoned. This is a typical political error we are underestimating. We have forgotten that our collective yearnings and aspirations are so humongous that they require the deployment of strong political will to conquer our difficulties and conundrums.

    It is easy to forget that political will is indispensable because political characters are willing to commit precious time, energy, funds and political capital to achieve desirable and impactful change. These political elements are risk bearers and can incur opportunity costs to fulfil collective interests. It is all about politics for change and not politics for extending the status quo. Unfortunately for northern Nigeria, our political nomenclature is not aspiring for the restoration of political will to strengthen our progress.

    The only panacea to mould our politics, secure and rescue the North from imminent collapse is relentless desire for the enthronement of political will. Therefore, the elites who are students of political will should be mobilized and massively supported to join active politics. This can be done through the utilisation of different fora by organizations and patriotic individuals. It is high time to raise political will awareness by adopting modern technology. The time is now and not later. This is the greatest service the North requires for the meantime.

    On the other hand, political opportunism is not the best political friend of our time, pragmatically taking advantage of every available situation or circumstance to maintain political support or influence towards egoism. It is often the benchmark for illegitimate behaviour in politics. One of its greatest ills is prioritizing expediency over principles. In the end, we are victims of the political reactionaries.

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    Political will focuses on the depth of power while opportunism concentrates on the length of power. Between political will and opportunism, therefore, our collective and inordinate desire has always been tilted towards opportunism. The political opportunism vanguard is fast growing while we are helpless and hopeless. The political will to transform rural areas and boost farming activities is bankrupt and we remain happy!

    Political visions are supposed to empower political will to transform northern Nigeria. Political woes are never supported by blatant pretentions and all that. In today’s North, political opportunists are unwilling to reach a compromise that will sacrifice their political project for northern project. Our crisis is so huge and complex that we are enmeshed in trivial matters while ignoring potential dangers that may consume us.

    The formation of political thoughts and practices vis-a-vis the development of the North is largely shrouded in an utter lackadaisical attitude. Developmental concerns and wisdoms are at poverty level and inconsistent with our generational yearnings and aspirations. Imagine how stupendous money is squandered annually sponsoring government officials and party loyalists to perform the lesser Hajj (Umrah) while basic public schools are lacking structures and resources. This manipulative and religious tendency has proved political excessiveness in the midst of squalor.

    Political will is an effective therapy while political opportunism is a dangerous disease. Our political opportunists are self-made heroes taking advantage of the circumstances to promote themselves, with little regards to principles, in total disregard for consequences as they affect the rest of us. For sure, the North is at the devastating spot of political opportunism. It is paying costly for the evils of political opportunism. That is why Yobe, Sokoto and Kebbi are having the highest number of out-of-school kids in the country.

    In the profound wisdom of Milton Friedman, one man’s opportunism is another man’s statesmanship. This is an inspiring food for thought addressed to all northerners with political mind and proper jingoism.

    •Abdullahi writes via  aaringim68@gmail.com

  • Egbetokun: Resurrecting IBB’s tinted-glass law

    Egbetokun: Resurrecting IBB’s tinted-glass law

    By Felix Oboagwina

    General Ibrahim Babangida was infamously notorious for formulating and forcing several unpopular decrees down the throat of Nigerians in his eight-year rule. To the “Evil Genius,” who crowned his era of infamy with the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections, belongs the copyright of the equally infamous “Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Decree No. 6 of 1991.”

    Ironically, in a civilian regime run by a Bola Ahmed Tinubu who fought Babangida to a standstill, IBB’s draconian law has been dug up by Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to pepper Nigerians. Nigerians still relive the military-era nightmare of obtaining and presenting a certificate or permit to drive with “tinted glasses.” This time around, IGP Egbetokun is levying motorists N14,000 per vehicle to obtain the permit.

    The plan has caused much uproar nationwide. Some have warned that with this impending policy, Egbetokun has overstepped his statutory mandate; moreover, he is reversing the country back to its dark, draconian history under the military.

    To justify their imposition, police authorities hide behind the one finger of Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act. This Act came to life under IBB as the “Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Decree No. 6 of 1991.” This is a Military Decree! Babangida formulated the law at a time he held Nigeria by the jugular in that infamous season of anomie. Not every law is a good law, and authorities must have a reason for pushing this martial-inclined law under the carpet in the last 34 years! Now under President Tinubu, Egbetokun has resurrected Godzilla, the king of monsters!

    Currently, amounts that vehicle owners pay on particulars have hit an all-time high. For example, Proof of Ownership certificates, erstwhile a one-off documentation, has become yearly renewable. How do you demand that ownership certificates must be renewed every year even when ownership remains unchanged? Recently, third-party insurance suddenly ballooned by 200 percent from N5,000 to N15,000? Driving licence fees, vehicle licence fees have all grown wings in the last two years. Don’t even mention the hackney permit where states and local governments bay for blood when freight vans and lorries pass through their territories. Imagine one truck, lorry or trailer needing one or more document from each of the 36 states and 774 local governments!

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    Coming from the Police Force of a country that does not manufacture a single vehicle, and rather imports all motor vehicles (and glasses), the enforcement of this law will be nothing but preposterous and overreaching. Nigeria that manufactures neither glasses nor vehicles will be funnelling scarce foreign exchange to nations that manufacture and sell plain cars and glasses to us.

    Many have wondered if this will not distract the police of a country reeling from widespread insurgency and insecurity for which the Armed Forces have found no solution. Police actually say the measure will help them fight insecurity.

    Fight insecurity indeed! Cars have boots. Boots hide things from visible eyes. Clearly, we don’t pay for car-boot permits? Are we not simply told to open the booths for the contents to be inspected? Shouldn’t the same obtain for tinted glasses? If in doubt about occupants or contents of a vehicle, can police not simply demand that, as in the case of the boot, the driver or passenger should wind down the door glass on approaching checking points?

    Moreover, as currently framed, violation of the law fetches a fine of N2,000. Yet police want drivers to obtain the licence for N14,000! Can you see discordance and disconnect? Procuring the permit for such a huge sum means that the scheme will make the Force revenue-generating. No country’s police operate purely for revenue-generation. The police have no business in business. Nor can the Force formulate programmes to generate revenue for itself or the government. Its budget comes as a first-line charge, like those of the Army and other paramilitary agencies. Police work is essential service. The government takes care of ALL police’s capital and recurrent expenditures.

    Moreover, where is the justice in this arrangement? Conferring the Force with this draconian power makes the police complainant, prosecutor and judge rolled into one. An executive arm of government suddenly commandeers the powers of the judiciary as well as the executive. Wow! That puts colossal power in the hand of one institution. The writers of our constitution deliberately guarded against such a monstrosity through couching the Grund nom in the Doctrine of Separation of Powers.

    What actually is tinted glass?

    By definition, tinted glass in a car refers to “window glass that is darkened either at the factory by adding metal oxides to the glass during production, or by applying a thin film to the surface of existing glass after the car is built. This treatment provides benefits like increased privacy, UV protection, and heat reduction….”

    Vehicles made in Europe, America, Asia and anywhere else all avoid plain glasses. Colouring of vehicle glasses has become the universal standard to counter the harmful effect of ultraviolet (UV) rays. Yet Nigerian police want citizens to go plain glasses.

    Will enforcement distinguish between colour, shaded and tinted glasses? Do colour windows equal tinted glasses? IGP Egbetokun couldn’t care less. So far, police publicity campaign behind the implementation of this law has ignored the tone, language and spirit of the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act. You wonder if the NPF has a Legal Department! Police PROs interpret it to say you must get a permit “if you’re driving a car with tinted, shaded, coloured, or darkened glass.”

    But that has no backing in this quoted law. The actual law says no such thing. Read the exact wording:

    The Federal Military Government hereby decrees as follows:

    1.    (1)     Except with the permission of the appropriate authority designated for the purposes of this Decree and for such good cause as may be determined from time to time by the appropriate authority, no person shall cause any glass fitted on a motor vehicle to be-

    (a) tinted; or

    (b) shaded; or

    (c) coloured lightly; or thickly

    (d) darkened; or

    (e) reated in any other way,

    so that the persons or objects in the motor vehicle are rendered obscure or invisible.

    Clearly, it says, “no person shall cause any glass fitted on a motor vehicle to be tinted” etc. The word CAUSE remains the operative denominator. Have you CAUSED your vehicle glasses to be tinted? Obviously, what the law frowns at is the vehicle owner going the EXTRA MILE, or making EXTRA EFFORT, to shade, colour, darken or tint the glass of his vehicle. If the shade or colouring is FOLLOW-COME, you have no business getting a permit. But who will tell this to the Nigerian policeman hunting for off-plain glasses whenever the regulation takes effect?

    The official explanation of that law couches it as: “An Act to prohibit the tinting or treating in any other way any glass fitted in a motor vehicle so as to render persons in the vehicle obscure or invisible.” Note the word PROHIBIT. This clearly exempts intrinsically or originally FOLLOW-COME shaded and colour glasses. The law aims to prevent or to licence the tinting of vehicles by owners who “deliberately” choose to. It connotes that such action of tinting was voluntary, by choice and a superfluous action for luxurious purposes.

    So why does IGP Egbetokun want to make it a blanket law? Why will he be misapplying a law reserved not for general motorists but the few owners who choose to paste tint-stickers on their glasses?

    •Oboagwina is an author, journalist and publisher, reachable via: foboagwina@gmail.com

  • Ozekhome: Between law, justice and sentiment

    Ozekhome: Between law, justice and sentiment

    By Abubakar D. Sani

     Seldom has the verdict of a foreign tribunal riveted Nigerians as the opinion of Judge Ewan Paton of the Property Tribunal, London, U.K, in respect of the ownership of No. 79 Randall Avenue, Neasden, North London. The dispute arose from the objection of one “Ms. Tali Shani” to Mike Ozekhome’s application to the Land Registry in England to be registered as the owner of the property which was ostensibly transferred to him by another “Tali Shani”, this time, male.

    So, two Tali Shanis, therefore, jointly laid claim to the same property. In the event, the judge found that neither existed as a matter of fact; in other words, their evidence was fabricated. He, therefore, ruled that the claims of both the objector to Ozekhome’s registration (Ms. Tali Shani) and that of Ozekhome himself failed.

    The Tribunal also found, however, that the property was purchased by the late Gen. Jeremiah Useni way back in 1993. In its words, the General “was in truth the sole legal and beneficial owner of this property (albeit registered in a false name)”. The Tribunal further found (in the same portion of its judgment –  Paragraph 200) that the Gen. “must in some way have been connected to (the) transfer (to Prof, Ozekhome) and to have directed it (as) he was clearly close to, and on good terms with the respondent”; adding for good measure that there was “no question of this being some sort of attempt by (Prof. Ozekhome) to steal the General’s property without his knowledge”, and furthermore (in paragraph 202) that “it was the decision of  General Useni to transfer the property to (Prof. Ozekhome)”.

    Had the tribunal stopped there, none of the fuss and dust raised by Ozekhome’s involvement would have arisen and nothing would have been amiss. However, it did not, as it held that certain evidence proffered by the Ozekhome and his son (in particular, some documents he submitted to the Land Registry such as a copy of the Nigerian passport of Mr. Tali Shani, which showed that he was born in April 1973 – 20 years before he purportedly purchased the property in 1993 and the oral testimony of the purported transferor, Mr. Tali Shani) were “contrived” and “invented” (Paragraph 206 of the judgment). In other words, they were perjured.

    Now, giving or fabricating evidence before a judicial tribunal is a very serious offence. That is the law both in England and in Nigeria. The issue is, however, more nuanced than that – and this is where most commentators (including supposed ‘learned’ ones, i.e. legal practitioners) got it wrong. This is because they failed to grasp the elementary point that context is everything – even in a judicial proceeding and any apparently damning revelations that may emerge therefrom.

    More specifically, any allegation of the commission of a crime (any crime -including perjury or forgery) is required to be established by evidence according to the applicable standard – beyond reasonable doubt. This process consists of a formal charge, plea and defence, if any. Where such a charge is denied (as it, undoubtedly is, in this case), the prosecution is required to prove, not only the conduct, act or acts and words or omissions of the defendant which are alleged to constitute the offence (called “actus reus” in law) but – even more importantly – the mental element or guilty mind which accompanied such overt act or acts or with which it was contemporaneously done. In law, this is called “mens rea”. If it is missing, no crime is committed and the prosecution (or conviction) must fail.

    That being the case, the obvious question is: what guilty mind (or malevolent or other untoward or even fraudulent intention) could possibly have informed the allegedly false evidence which Ozekhome and his son purportedly proffered before Judge Paton? What was his or their aim, goal, motive or objective? Did they intend, by such conduct or words to fraudulently ‘corner’ (to use the tribunal’s words, “steal General Useni’s property without his knowledge”)?

    These questions were answered by the tribunal categorically and unequivocally in the negative in Paragraph 202 of its judgment. I believe this is a complete exoneration of Ozekhome and his son.

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    I repeat: no crime can be committed without the requisite mental element or guilty mind: where it is lacking, an accused person is innocent. In Ozekhome’s case, the worst that he can be accused of is over-exertion – borne out of over-anxiety – faced with the prospect of losing what was rightfully his, to an individual who was clearly intent in reaping where he (or she) did not sow. In other words, Ozekhome was the victim here – and no one else.

    Thus, he deserves sympathy for losing what was clearly intended by the adjudged owner (Gen. Useni) to be either an outright gift or otherwise to him. He has been more sinned against than sinning. It is, therefore, strange and uncharitable that naysayers have gone to town crying for his head. Are they crying more than the bereaved?

    Who, by the way, are the bereaved?

    His benefactor, Gen Useni is dead (may his soul rest in peace). It is not hard to imagine that he would be turning in his grave at the needless fuss being made over his property and the unfortunate distress to which it has exposed Ozekhome. History, however, will vindicate the just. Suffice it to say that if he made any mistakes (and we all make mistakes, don’t we, being human) they were mistakes of the head – not of the heart.

    I believe that Judge Paton was wrong in the legal conclusions he drew, even from the facts as found by him, in his judgment. I believe that certain legal issues arose for determination (and might still be relevant, going forward) – some of which, unfortunately, he did not advert his mind to and address – as he was legally bound to do.

    I believe that public perception that the Tribunal somehow indicted Ozekhome and his son is borne out of sentiment rather than the facts – much less the law. The same can be said of Judge Paton himself – with all due respect. This is because, in Nigeria, it is settled beyond cavil that, sentiment has no place in judicial adjudication.

    Neither Ozekhome nor his son can (or should) be indicted by revelations emanating from an objection (caveat) or judicial proceeding lodged or instituted at the behest of a fictitious, anonymous, faceless and bogus person. Both the caveat and the suit were non-existent in the eyes of the law. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand: it must fall, as ex nihilo nihil fit (out of nothing comes nothing).

    •Sani, Esq, a lawyer, writes from Abuja.

  • Follow Who know road

    Follow Who know road

    By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju

    The Road Not Taken, a 1916 poem by Robert Frost, is our necessary guide and guardrail as we navigate our way through the fork on the road to economic recovery. There was no easy way out of the economic abyss into which years of profligacy and misrule had led the country.

    As the 2023 presidential election approached, different contestants suggested different roads to economic recovery. One contestant was touting unity and restructuring, while another was mouthing moving from consumption to production. Neither of them outlined a thorough path to the Utopia they sought to paint. Only one candidate had a coherent and convincing argument as to which road to take to recovery. It was encoded in a document, cod-named Renewed Hope 2023.

    And the bus took off with Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the driver. Obviously, the riders were a little skeptical as shown on their faces, but the driver was confident, and the bus was steady in his hands. They went to the polls and made him President.

    Tinubu knew that the road would be rocky, but it was the journey to redemption. Following who know road is putting one’s trust in the capacity of the driver of the vehicle. Using the fork in the road as an analogy of economic choices, Tinubu rightly deciphered that the old economic model had catastrophically failed to achieve sustainable development. A new route “the one less travelled” must be followed. It would be the difference if we were to stabilize the economy, increase productivity, and lift millions out of poverty. He warned repeatedly that it would be rough at the beginning, and even for some time, which is why the passengers on the bus looked uneasy.

    President Tinubu is trusted as the driver, because he has a proven record of accomplishments as a corporate accountant, a mentor of men and women, and a manager of resources. In conjunction with Wale Edun, Yemi Cardoso, and others, Tinubu used his understanding of the economy to reinvent Lagos.

    It will be recalled that Lagos state went back to complacency, after the remarkable forward march under Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande (1979 to 1983). The Jakande years transformed the city of Lagos into a magnet. There was a massive influx of migratory and dependent labour from across the country, which came at a cost. There was pressure on every facet of social and economic life. If not contained, a combustible and possibly consuming social crisis was on the way.

    Lagos State was fortuitously lucky. “Cometh the hour, Cometh the man”. The Tinubu administration in 1999 combined astute political maneuvering with a technocratic mien. It was a very productive combination. Very cleverly, they rebuilt trust in governance, by demonstrating the benefits of the state to the citizens through the creation of jobs and other political goods. There was a game changing perception of the role and function of the state, which led to a geometrical increase in revenue generation to the extent that even President Olusegun Obasanjo’s seizure of the Lagos state local government funds did not lead to the anticipated destruction of the fiscal stability of the state.

    Tinubu managed to do this because he had constructed a shock absorber at a time other states had not, and even today have not done. It became a proven fact that fiscal strength and stability must underpin the long-term prospects of state viability

    To be sure, Nigeria is not Lagos, but sound judgement prevails everywhere. This is what is now being done with the economic reforms at the national level. As stated in Renewed Hope 2023, the reforms stand on a tripod of (1) removal of fuel subsidy, (2) unification of foreign exchange, and (3) overhaul of the tax system. These were accompanied with other initiatives in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, and social protection. It is a desirable road to take. And in local patois – the man wey dey drive the bus sabi road. He had driven that route before with beneficial effects.

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    The faces on the New Nigeria Bus appear to show worry, but the driver’s face shows confidence, determination, and focus. A time of transition is bound to be rocky at first. If in doubt, look at the records of the Action Group government led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Region in the 1950s. The tax levy on all adult males was met with initial resistance. However, resistance later gave way to enthusiastic reception of the Universal Primary Education scheme launched in 1955 once farmers began to reap the rewards. But it took some time for these rewards to show up.

    The federal government under Tinubu has a compelling historical duty to stick to the course. The man wey know road is already showing the efficacy of taking the road less traveled. It may take some time for the benefits to reach the kitchen table, but they are already showing up in improved terms of trade, rising export figures and, crucially, more fiscal stability. Inflation is falling, and prices are coming down here and there.

    Yes, there are still bumpy rides in the short term, but in the long term, we will be participants in the historic journey to redemption and development. This journey is the obliteration of the failure of a process that led to underdevelopment and its attendant woes. Tinubu is determined to mend the potholes and uncompleted bridges on the road being taken so it could lead to sustainable development.

    While we are still concerned about now, those who can look far into the future, including the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO, found enough macro economic indicators to forecast a bright future, if the driver is allowed to stay the course.

    The last verse of Frost’s poem with which I began this essay is very instructive:

    I shall be telling this with a sigh

    Somewhere ages and ages hence:

    Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–

    I took the one less traveled by,

    And that has made all the difference.

    Naija! Make una follow who know road o!

    Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, a former Ondo Commissioner for Information, is Director of New Media and Corporate Services for the All Progressives Congress (APC)

  • Securing Nigeria’s future with youth development

    Securing Nigeria’s future with youth development

    By Abidex Femi

    “When you empower the youth, you empower the future of a nation.” These words, often echoed in policy discussions, find real meaning in the work of Ayodele Olawande, Nigeria’s Minister of Youth Development. In a country where young people make up more than half of the population, leadership that speaks directly to their hopes and challenges is not just desirable, it is essential.

    Since assuming office on October 16, 2023, and later elevated to the substantive Minister of Youth Development by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a year later, Olawande has distinguished himself as a minister who translates promises into action. His approach to youth engagement, empowerment, and protection has not only redefined the mandate of his ministry but also rekindled a sense of belonging among millions of young Nigerians.

    One of the most striking features of his leadership has been his consistent closeness to the youth themselves. Rather than governing from behind a desk, Olawande embarked on engagement tours across the country, meeting young Nigerians in their own spaces and listening to their stories, challenges, and dreams. His visits to Delta and Cross River states directly birthed digital job training programs tailored to the aspirations voiced by the young people he met. His presence in Borno, at Maimalari Barracks where he met with wounded young soldiers, and in internally displaced persons’ camps where he distributed learning materials, revealed a minister who embodies empathy and demonstrates action beyond the confines of officialdom. For him, no Nigerian youth is invisible, whether they are in bustling cities, rural villages, or areas scarred by conflict.

    Economic empowerment has stood as a cornerstone of his work. Understanding that entrepreneurship remains the backbone of Nigeria’s youthful economy, he spearheaded the expansion of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund from N75 billion to N110 billion, giving young entrepreneurs better access to finance and opportunities. Programs like the Corpreneur Support Scheme provide funding for NYSC members trained in the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development program, ensuring that service year becomes a springboard into self-reliance. At the grassroots, the Grassroots Youth Entrepreneurship Support Scheme has supported small-scale businesses that sustain local communities, affirming his vision that youth empowerment must not be confined to urban centres alone but spread across every part of the country.

    In a society where the youth often feel vulnerable to harassment and profiling by security agencies, Olawande took the bold step of creating the Young and Secure Initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Police Affairs. This initiative, alongside the Nigerian Youth Helpdesk, offers young Nigerians a direct platform to report cases of harassment and ensures swift intervention, thereby protecting their dignity and rebuilding trust between youth and law enforcement. His emphasis on protection as a pillar of development reflects his belief that the potential of young people can only flourish in an environment where they feel safe and respected.

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    At the heart of his vision is the future of work, and here his imprint has been equally profound. Through the Nigerian Youth Academy, popularly known as NIYA, he launched the “One Youth, Two Skills” campaign, which has already drawn over 80,000 sign-ups even before its official unveiling. This e-learning platform is equipping millions of young Nigerians with vocational and digital skills designed to meet the demands of both local and global markets. His partnership with the National Information Technology Development Agency birthed the DL4ALL program, a digital literacy initiative targeting 30 million Nigerians, making it one of the most ambitious youth digital empowerment programs in the country’s history. Complementing this is his collaboration with the National Data Protection Commission which is not only training but also creating five thousand jobs in the fast-growing field of data protection.

    Olawande’s innovations stretch beyond the digital economy. By partnering with the Presidential Initiative on CNG, he facilitated the distribution of two thousand CNG-powered tricycles to young people in the transportation sector. This intervention addresses two needs at once: empowering youths with sustainable livelihoods and advancing the nation’s commitment to greener, cleaner transportation. Similarly, the soon-to-be-launched nationwide enrolment portal for young farmers demonstrates his recognition that agriculture must remain central to Nigeria’s growth and youth employment.

    Infrastructure for youth development has also been elevated under his stewardship. The Youth House Initiative, already approved by President Tinubu, envisions Youth Houses in Abuja, Youth Centres in all states, and Green Houses in all 774 local government areas of the federation. These are not mere structures but hubs of opportunity, designed to provide resources, training, and support at the grassroots level. His drive to institutionalize youth involvement in governance also led to the creation of the National Youth Conference, a platform where young Nigerians can directly engage government, propose solutions, and shape the policies that affect their lives.

    In education and career development, Olawande has reformed the NYSC posting process to ensure corps members are placed in organizations relevant to their fields of study, transforming the service year into a period of genuine skill acquisition and career readiness. Alongside this, the ministry is working to ease the financial burden on students through the implementation of loans and stipends, ensuring that education becomes more accessible and less stressful for young Nigerians.

    All of these achievements are driven by a clear and simple philosophy which Olawande himself has often articulated: Support, Empower, and Protect the youth. This SEP approach runs through every initiative and reform, from financial inclusion and employment opportunities to protection from harassment and the creation of safe spaces where young people can thrive. It is a strategy that recognizes youth not as passive recipients of charity but as active partners in national development.

    Ayodele Olawande’s first year in office has redefined what it means to be a Minister of Youth Development. He has shown through action that Nigerian youth deserve more than promises; they deserve structures that empower their dreams, systems that protect their dignity, and platforms that amplify their voices. In his story lies an example of governance that is responsive, innovative, and inclusive. For the millions of young Nigerians who now feel a sense of belonging, his leadership is not just a chapter in public service but the dawn of a new narrative in which the youth are truly at the centre of national development.

    •Abidex lives in Abuja.

  • Emergency rule in Rivers State: A post-mortem

    Emergency rule in Rivers State: A post-mortem

    • By Toba Alabi

    On March 18, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a six-month state of emergency in Rivers State under Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, suspending the governor, deputy governor, and the state legislature, and appointing Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd.) as sole administrator to take charge of state affairs. The proclamation and the swearing-in of the sole administrator were performed by the federal government as part of the constitutional procedure invoked to restore order in the face of both political paralysis and security threats.

    The emergency was formally lifted by President Tinubu on September 17, with democratic governance scheduled to resume the following day. The revocation marked the end of the six-month federal intervention and the reinstatement of the suspended governor and other elected officials.

    Triggers of the emergency

    Political and institutional breakdown in Rivers State predated the emergency and centred on an intensely personal and intra-party rivalry. The conflict pitted the state’s incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara, against powerful political actors aligned with his predecessor and senior party figure, Nyesom Wike. The dispute encompassed control over appointments, the composition of the state House of Assembly, the presentation and approval of budget documents, and the general direction of state patronage. Escalatory moves – including impeachment efforts by lawmakers aligned with Wike and reciprocal measures by supporters of Fubara – produced legislative paralysis and administrative stoppages.

    Concurrently, Rivers State experienced an upswing in security incidents afflicting oil infrastructure: pipeline vandalism, illegal refining and bunkering, and at least one serious fire on the Trans-Niger pipeline. Given the state’s outsized contribution to national oil revenues, the federal government framed these developments not merely as local law-and-order problems but as threats to national fiscal stability and public order. The federal narrative coupled the security incidents with the political impasse to justify invoking Section 305.

    Constitutional basis and legal considerations

    Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution vests the president with the power to declare a state of emergency where he is satisfied that security, public safety or public order is threatened in any part of Nigeria. The Rivers declaration followed the formal sequence: proclamation by the president, the nomination and swearing-in of a sole administrator, and subsequent legislative ratification at the national level.

    Critics – including legal scholars, bar bodies and civil society actors – questioned whether the situation in Rivers met the constitutional standard for suspending democratically elected institutions. They argued that the constitution’s emergency provisions were designed for extreme circumstances (e.g., insurrection, invasion, wide-scale civil disorder) and should not be used primarily to resolve political disputes or intra-party power struggles. These objections highlighted the tension between constitutional text, executive discretion, and democratic safeguards.

    Appointment and role of the sole administrator

    Vice Admiral Ibas (retd.) – a former Chief of the Naval Staff – was sworn in as sole administrator in mid-March to exercise executive authority in Rivers State for the duration of the emergency. The administrator’s immediate tasks were to restore governance functions, secure critical infrastructure, approve and implement a releasable state budget, and coordinate security responses with federal agencies. As a retired senior naval officer with national security experience, Ibas’s selection underscored the security-first thrust of the intervention.

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    Short-term security indicators showed modest improvements in the immediate months following the deployment of federal security assets and the administrator’s coordination role. Large-scale acts of pipeline vandalism reportedly fell relative to the period immediately preceding the emergency and the federal presence allowed for rapid response to new incidents. The administrator also facilitated the passage of a delayed state budget, restored payment of certain civil service obligations, and reactivated stalled public projects.

    Limitations and persistence of structural drivers

    Despite these operational gains, the emergency did not resolve structural drivers of instability. Chronic economic marginalization, environmental degradation from oil operations, youth unemployment, and entrenched patronage politics remained largely unaddressed. The federal intervention, by design temporary and focused on restoring immediate order, lacked the fiscal and programmatic depth to implement long-term development or remediation schemes. Consequently, many of the underlying grievances that fuel pipeline vandalism and local militancy were left intact.

    Democratic costs and institutional integrity

    The suspension of the governor, deputy governor and the entire state House of Assembly for six months produced a significant democratic deficit. Citizens of Rivers were denied state-level electoral representation and the usual channels of accountability. Legislative oversight of the executive was absent, and political debate shifted from electoral competition and parliamentary contestation to federal administrative fiat. Even where courts and civil society continued to operate, their capacity to substitute for representative institutions was limited. The re-imposition of elected governance upon revocation therefore presented both the practical challenge of transition and the normative problem of repairing citizens’ trust in democratic institutions.

    The roles of Wike and Fubara

    Wike’s position in this drama was twofold: as a former governor of Rivers State, he retained a substantial political machine and as a senior national figure (serving at the time as a federal minister and party powerbroker), he was positioned to influence intra-state dynamics. Wike’s network of loyalists in the state assembly and local politics used legislative manoeuvres to challenge Governor Fubara’s authority. Observers interpreted some moves as an attempt to check or even remove Fubara from office.

    Fubara, who rose to power with the backing of the same political structure, sought to assert autonomy after taking office. His attempts to reorganize local political arrangements and resist certain assembly pressures triggered counter-moves from Wike’s camp. The mutual escalation – impeachment threats by lawmakers and executive countermeasures by the governor – produced a governance vacuum that both exacerbated security vulnerabilities and provided the federal government with a rationale for intervention.

    Political effects and public perception

    The federal intervention temporarily reasserted central authority in Rivers. For Abuja, the move projected capacity to manage threats in the Niger Delta and to keep oil flows stable – a national priority. For local actors, however, the intervention represented an external imposition that straddled the line between constitutional remedy and political arbitration. The lifting of the emergency on September 17 and the planned resumption of democratic governance on September 18 signalled closure of the immediate episode but left open whether the political reconciliation between Wike and Fubara would endure or merely be a surface calm atop unresolved rivalries.

    Proportionality and alternatives

    Assessing proportionality requires weighing alternatives that might have been less intrusive of democratic institutions. Possible options included intensive federal mediation between the rival camps, targeted security deployments strictly limited to protecting oil infrastructure, or judicial and constitutional remedies through the courts to settle disputes over assembly composition and impeachment procedures. The choice of a full emergency that suspended elected institutions implied a judgment that less coercive measures had failed or would fail to restore order in time to prevent wider harm – a judgment that remains contestable in legal and normative terms.

    Lessons and policy recommendations

    Clarify constitutional thresholds: The Rivers case exposes ambiguities in Section 305’s operationalization. Legislative or judicially endorsed guidelines could help define the scope and limits of emergency invocation to reduce risks of misuse.

    Institutionalize mediation mechanisms: Where intra-state political conflicts threaten governance, impartial mediation mechanisms should be mandatory precursors to resorting to emergency powers.

    Ensure periodic oversight: Any emergency should be subject to clearly defined periodic reviews by the legislature, with statutory time-limits, reporting requirements, and sunset clauses.

    Combine security measures with development commitments: Security operations must be paired with concrete, time-bound development and environmental remediation plans.

    Protect democratic continuity: Even under emergency administrations, mechanisms should preserve citizen representation and accountability.

    The Rivers State emergency of March-September demonstrates the difficult balance between preserving public order and safeguarding democratic governance. The federal intervention, administered by Vice Admiral Ibas (retd.), achieved immediate administrative and security stabilization while imposing heavy democratic costs. The public revocation of the emergency on September 17 allowed for the planned resumption of elected governance, but the deeper political contest between Wike and Fubara – and the structural drivers of insecurity in the Niger Delta – require sustained, non-coercive remedies. For Nigerian federalism to be resilient, emergency powers must remain tightly constrained, transparently used, and coupled with policies that address long-term governance, development, and environmental justice.

    Alabi is professor of Political Science, Defence and Security Studies.