The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

Stolen cattle markets
- •Good that Zamfara has shut 11 of them; but it is not enough
That there were as many as 11 markets in Zamfara State where stolen cattle are sold and which were, last week, shut down by the state government, is an indication of the large scale industry that banditry has become in that state. Zamfara State in the North-West has become the epicenter of banditry in the region, although states with which she has close geographical contiguity such as Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina and Kebbi have not been spared the agonising experience of repeated attacks by bandits.

Explaining the rationale for the closure of the markets, Zamfara State Commissioner for Information, Munnir Haidara, said: “The state government finds it absolutely necessary to close down these markets due to security reports that the bandits are patronising them to sell off rustled cows”. It is estimated that there are between 10,000 and 30,000 armed bandits operating in Zamfara and that in the last three months of 2022, for instance, 1,090 abductions were recorded in the state. In 2021, more than 2,600 people were killed in attacks on various communities by these bandit gangs while 11,500 residents of the state were forcefully displaced from their homes.

A former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has been reported as saying that no less than 500 villages and 13,000 hectares of land have been devastated while 2,835 people were killed by bandits between 2011 and 2018. Things have considerably worsened since then despite the humongous amount of funds committed to tackling banditry in the state and other North-West states, and the intensification by the military of its onslaught on them, especially through relentless air bombardment.

The incumbent governor, Mr Dauda Lawal, deserves commendation for his evident determination to bring an end to the scourge of banditry in the state. He has no choice really if Zamfara is to shed its toga as one of the poorest states in the country and her people are to begin to enjoy the prosperity the state’s rich endowment entitles them to. It is inexplicable, for instance, that the state’s rich deposit of gold which should be a developmental asset has become a huge liability and one of the factors that fuel banditry.

The logic that informed the closure of the markets is understandable. If the cattle rustlers no longer have channels of selling their stolen animals, there will be little incentive for them to continue with their criminality since their motive is to make money. But then, what is the possibility of the bandits simply taking the rustled cattle to other markets within or outside the state? If they have been identified as selling the stolen cattle in these markets, is it not possible to devise a strategy to catch them right in the act in the markets? We urge the security agencies to ponder these questions.

Read Also: Emefiele: EFCC to appeal against N100m fine

Preceding governments in Zamfara State had tried various policy options to tame banditry. These included negotiation with the bandits, amnesty for purportedly repentant bandits and the shutting down of telecommunications in areas where bandits were known to operate. None has yielded the desired results. Frustrated, the immediate past governor, Mr Bello Matawale, advocated that everyone should be armed so as to be able to defend themselves. But that could signal a descent to anarchy. Indeed, in 2022, the Federal Government declared bandits as terrorists, thus creating the basis for the use of maximum force to combat banditry. The impact has been minuscule.

At the end of its last state security council meeting, Governor Lawal directed the security agencies to deploy their operatives for patrols along the major highways and flashpoints of banditry. If sustained, this should have some impact. But the security agencies must also devise strategies for dislodging the bandits from the various forests in the state where they have their camps and plan their operations. And governments at all levels must take decisive action to address the challenges of poverty, unemployment, deprivation, inequality and other root causes of banditry and other criminalities. Other state governments must ensure that such markets shut in Zamfara do not exist in their area.

No less critical is the need for government to summon the will to arraign arrested bandits in court and diligently pursue their prosecution so that justice is done as a deterrence to others.
January 9, 2024
Can of worms

• Ex-President Buhari has a lot of questions to answer on CBN alleged looting

Can of worms. That somewhat hackneyed phrase would barely convey the depth of the findings of the President Bola Tinubu-appointed special investigator on the activities of the Godwin Emefiele-led apex bank as contained in the document titled Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable Offences) submitted to the president on December 20, 2023. To be sure, it is not exactly that Nigerians were not concerned or even at some point, alarmed at the laissez-faire, freewheeling activities of the Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). What they could not have imagined was the depth of the rot, particularly the criminal malfeasances, including the embedded outlawry that characterised those operations. That some notable hierarchs of the immediate past administration were hands-in-glove with the apex bank chief in the alleged direct looting of the vaults of the bank certainly constitutes a new level of embarrassment.

Thanks to the Jim Obazee-led special investigation team, the details – with highlights in arbitrariness, abuses, heist and subversion, and with it ingenious attempts at cover-ups – are finally out. In all, it seems a classic instance of the extant corporate and institutional integrity of the apex bank being traded for selfish, egoistical and political interests.

Talk of the details as being mind-boggling; they reek of such high crimes that only an immediate prosecution of those involved could atone. Imagine billions of naira in foreign currencies being stashed away in no fewer than 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China, on the instruction of Emefiele, and without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee, in the age of Treasury Single Account (TSA). This, and many more are precisely what Emefiele and his cohorts were said to have done. A notable example is the £543, 482,213 said to be in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without authorisation.

Read Also; Operation Rice for Rice

While Nigerians are already familiar with the gross abuses of the ways and means instrument and how this became the enabler of the spendthrift Buhari administration, the report certainly helped to lift the lid on its operation as indeed on other hyped interventions that would become the principal instrument in the raiding of the apex bank’s vault.

The irony of it all is that while the rape was going on, the Buhari presidency, not only chose to bury its head in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, but actually became an active partner in the commission of the alleged crimes. It is shameful and sad.

Take one other example. Some senior CBN and government officials were said to have padded what the former President Muhammadu Buhari approved with N198,963,162, 187. In another instance, not only were no approvals obtained from the former president, the CBN hierarchs were said to have taken out a whopping N500bn which it later debited to ways and means, with no one around to sound the alarm.

To use the words of the investigating team: “There are more shocking instances where the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived to steal outright in order to balance the books of the CBN.

“This was by violently taking money from the Consolidated Revenue Account and then charging it to ways and means. It was a total of N124.860bn. They even created the narration as a presidential subsidy and expanded the ways and means portfolio to accommodate crime.

When confronted by the investigators to provide the breakdown of the supposed N22.7trn presented to the 9th National Assembly to securitise as ‘ways and means’ financing, the CBN management were, according to the investigators, only able to partially explain a total of N9.063 trillion or N9.2trn depending on which official made the submission, including what the report found to be, ‘an unreasonable attribution of non-negotiated interest element of N6.5tn’.

To again quote the investigators: “This shows that this was the point where the officers of the immediate past administration as well as the erstwhile CBN governor and his four deputy governors connived, defrauded, and stole from the commonwealth of our country with the aid of civil servants.’’

In the end, the team would conclude: “The true position of the ways and means as documented from the reconciliation between the CBN and the Ministry of Finance at the time is N4, 449,149,411,584.54.

And these are by no means the only findings. There were others such as one Tunde Sabiu, a former aide to former President Buhari, being fingered in certain activities of the bank that raise troubling questions about the kind of influence peddling that characterised its activities. There were also detailed cases of arbitrariness and fraud such as when the CBN at its 661st meeting held on October 27, 2020, approved that the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account be debited with the sum of N124.860bn only to discover that the decision was implemented on October 9 – nearly three weeks before the meeting actually took place! And then an illegal withdrawal/theft of $6.23mn from the CBN vault by two persons alleged to have used a forged presidential letter – a measure of the extent to which the bank’s internal controls had become prone to manipulation and subversion. Those involved were said to have presented a forged letter on February 7 and 8, 2023, purportedly signed by Buhari, to withdraw the money allegedly meant for payment of foreign election observation missions!

In all of the above, the vexing question on the lips of Nigerians is – how much did the former president know? Was it a case of the legendary naivety of the president being exploited by a band of unscrupulous state operatives? Surely, the former president needs to come clean with a public statement detailing the much that he knows in the scandal. That is what his hard-earned reputation demands.

What of his attorney-general, Abubakar Malami? As the chief law officer of the federation, how much was he in the know of the serial breaches of the CBN Act? Did he draw the attention of the former president to them? Nigerians are certainly interested in finding out.

In the meantime, we welcome the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the sordid saga. We urge the commission to painstakingly pursue the investigations to wherever it leads. In doing this, it should neither be seen to hug publicity nor court needless drama. There should be no such thing as a sacred cow. Surely, the least Nigerians deserve on this CBN matter is to ensure that every single actor involved in the scandal is brought to book.

January 8, 2024
Saints and sinners
- Contrary to ex-IGP Arase’s belief, both the police and constabularies need deliverance from unethical practices
Not a few Nigerians would have laughed at the suggestion by chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Solomon Arase, that the Special Police Constabulary needs to be overhauled, given a separate uniform different from that of regular policemen, or disbanded outright because they engage in unethical practices, thus staining the image of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). But it is not a laughing matter.

A statement by the PSC spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, said “Reports of their unprofessional conduct range from high-handedness in dealing with citizens, and barefaced extortion on our roads and communities. The commission calls for an entirely different set of uniforms for officers of the outfit that should be easily differentiated from that of the regular police officers.” It added that “there have been several reports of unprofessional conduct by officers of the outfit, a quasi-police formation created to assist in community policing.”

Even if he wanted to be partisan, Arase has clearly gone beyond limit and should therefore not just be ignored because we are talking of an issue as crucial as security. Asking that the uniform of the constabulary be changed as a way of distinguishing between it and the NPF on the basis that the former is corrupt and therefore staining the latter, is wrong. As they say, ”the hood does not make the monk”. Unfortunately, this has been the usual belief of many of our IGPs in the past: change the uniform and our policemen would start smelling like roses.

The police force had changed its men’s uniform several times in the past, and one of the usual reasons adduced for such change was that it would help improve the image of the force. As a matter of fact, the NPF is about the only security agency in the country that has kept changing uniforms in its attempts to improve its battered image. That police image has not improved despite the several changes of uniform shows that uniform change alone is not enough; other things have to change to get positive result. There must, for instance, be change of attitude on the part of the officers and men, there must be improvement in their welfare and tools of work, etc. Our policemen who used to excel in external engagements did so not because of the uniforms but because of other factors, including but not limited to personality traits.

But this is not a debate about police uniform per se. It is just to point out that if we need to distinguish the regular police from the constabulary, it should be for some other reasons and not because that would help in separating the wheat from the chaff. There are wheat and chaff in both organisations.

Arase has only shown the usual contempt of most regular police officers to the idea of having anything that would exist side-by-side with the regular policemen for internal security. We know how some states, like the southwest states, had to defy every authority to have ‘Amotekun’. The police hierarchy did not want the idea to come into fruition. We also know the extent the police force has been working to ensure that state police does not see the light of day. The NPF is like a typical housewife: no rival.

Yet, it is obvious that the force alone cannot maintain internal security. We had experimented with that in the past and discovered its inadequacies. It is because the police alone cannot ensure internal security that we have had to come up with the idea of joint military/police patrols in several states of the federation. There was even a time we had such arrangement in more than 28 of the 36 states in the federation!

It may be true that, as Arase said, “The commission has observed that these set of men (the constabularies) have descended on innocent Nigerians for their daily upkeep through forceful extortion and intimidation”. But then, that is not limited to the constabularies. Even regular policemen vent their spleen on hapless Nigerians. When their employers, whether federal or state governments do not provide for the upkeep of people they have given the mandate to protect the citizens, that is the result you get. Just as a people get the kind of government they deserve; they also get the kind of policemen they deserve, be they regular policemen or constabularies.

We have seen several IGPs banning and unbanning checkpoints at various times in this country because of corruption. These checkpoints are usually manned by regular policemen; not constabularies. We have seen regular policemen involved in daylight extortion of innocent motorists, some resulting in deaths where the motorists appear uncooperative. We had even seen policemen fight dirty, again, sometimes resulting in fatalities, over bribe, among themselves, long before the coming of the constabularies.

But we cannot blame the officers and men of the NPF for all of these offences or crimes. A lot is wrong with the force that successive leaderships of the police have not been able to correct despite their efforts. Apparently, some are beyond the force itself.

Read Also: Traffic wardens send SOS to IGP, NASS, NSA, PSC over conditions of service

For sure, the idea of Special Police Constabulary is not peculiar to Nigeria. In Nigeria, however, it was started by the Buhari administration in 2020, to assist in community policing, especially at the grassroots. That was long after the initial attempts in the 1960s. Unfortunately, it appears the Buhari government just created them without making provision for how they would be paid or rewarded.

Just about six months ago, precisely in June, the General Number 1 of Oyo State Chapter of the constabulary, Taofeek Akinpelu, also known as ‘Awise’, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during a peaceful protest to do something to ameliorate their plight. He said back then that only two states, Lagos and Akwa Ibom, were paying their constabularies salaries while those in Abuja got stipend.

Hear Awise: “We are the special Constabulary recruited in October 2020 by the Federal Government to give support to the Nigeria Police Force to help fight crime at the grassroot level. Then we were trained on police operations and were also given police uniform, so we perform duties just like a police officer too.

“Since our recruitment in year 2020 we have been working hard towards fighting crime in our various stations despite not being paid.” Awise said Oyo State where they were serving said it was not its business to pay them since they were recruited by the Federal Government:

As it is, they are just like people who have been abandoned to their fate. Nigeria is probably one of such places where government would train and give uniform to security personnel without making provision for their welfare. It is not known whether the situation persists or not. But then, if we know our country very well, it is doubtful if the situation would have improved substantially.

I would have understood Mr Arase’s frustration if he had not made the regular police to look like saints while attempting to paint the constabularies as sinners. I know he may also have challenges as chairman of the PSC that are beyond him. May be he is also not happy with the position of his men. But his suggestion that uniforms of constabularies be changed so that they are not mistaken for regular policemen when they engage in unethical practices is out of it. There are good men in the police force just as there are even in the constabularies, and vice versa.

As a matter of fact, there is no empirical evidence to support Arase’s assertion. Rather, there is enough evidence, both empirical and physical, to nail the NPF where corruption is the issue. Lest we forget, the NPF, power sector, education, judiciary and health ministry were ranked the top five most corrupt institutions in Nigeria in 2019. Indeed, the police then led the pack in the survey carried out by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), across the six geopolitical zones in the country, including the Federal Capital Territory.

Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of SERAP said: ” A bribe is paid in 54 per cent of interactions with the police. In fact, there is a 63 per cent probability that an average Nigerian would be asked to pay a bribe each time he or she interacted with the police. That is almost two out of three.” Till tomorrow, bribe still exchanges hands as ‘bail money’ in several police stations across the country despite the ‘bail is free’ posters in those places.

A similar survey conducted by Transparency International (TI) in partnership with Practical Sampling International, from April 26 to May 10, 2017, also fingered the NPF as one of the most corrupt public agencies in Nigeria, alongside the National Assembly and the judiciary.

If today another survey is conducted on corruption in Nigeria, there is no doubt that the police would still rank high on the index. So, on what basis is Mr Arase seeking new uniform to differentiate between the police and the special constabulary?

The Tinubu government has to decide what it wants to do with the constabularies. If it thinks they are doing fairly well, then it should work out how they would be remunerated and retooled for better result. If otherwise, it should disband them, but not before rewarding them for their past services. After all, the country has not stopped paying the regular policemen (even if the pay is nothing to write home about), in spite of their shortcomings.

Mr Arase’s suggestion can only work after our regular police officers have been weaned off this idea of not wanting anything to exist or share the responsibility of maintaining internal security with them, despite the obvious fact that they can’t go it alone.

Indeed, good as Arase’s suggestion is, it is not going to help us in our quest for internal security, which is the basic responsibility of any government. The suggestion is what a friend calls a good but impracticable suggestion (imoran to dara sugbon ti ko see mu lo).
January 7, 2024
BAT Parties and FCCPC

• Sanction and accommodation not the best combination in the circumstances

There are curiosities in the collision between the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited (BATN) and its affiliates, British American Tobacco Marketing (Nigeria) Limited (BATMN), British American Tobacco Plc, and British American Tobacco (Holdings) Limited.

The federal regulatory agency, in a statement on December 27, 2023, announced that it “came to a final resolution” with BAT Parties “with respect to a range of infringements of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, National Tobacco Control Act and sundry legal instruments.” This followed a three-year investigation of BATN and other affiliated companies, which commenced in August 2020, the agency said.

After establishing “multiple violations of the FCCPA and other enactments,” the regulatory body imposed a fine of $110m on BAT Parties, said to be the biggest ever penalty imposed by the agency, or even any quasi-judicial body, on any organisation, in Nigerian history.

It is curious that the FCCPC failed to disclose the offences that incurred such an unprecedented sanction and their implications for public health. It is also curious that BATN, in a statement reacting to the FCCPC press release, said it had already paid the humongous fine. If that is the case, such a payment, done without much ado, was not only an acceptance of guilt but also possibly a way of trying to quickly tidy up a messy matter.

Notably, transparency watchdog Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) observed that “Nigerians need to know the full details of BAT crimes that made it willingly agree to dole out $110 million rather than face prosecution,” adding, “No amount of fine can atone for actions that compromise public health and undermine the economies of nations.”

Read Also: Customs will meet N5.1tn 2024 revenue target, says CG

The commission explained that prior to the fine it had received a written request for cooperation from BAT Parties under its Cooperation/Assistance Framework (CAF), which provided for “benefits such as possible reduced monetary penalties,” waiver of the application of its Administrative Penalties Regulations 2020, as well as “prosecutorial discretion.”

Indeed, it is likely that BAT Parties deserved a bigger fine, if it were not for the ameliorative provisions. In the context, the agency said it withdrew pending criminal charges against BATN and at least one employee “with respect to obstructing the commission by attempting to prevent execution of the search warrant and initial lack of cooperation/compliance with steps in the investigation.”

Apparently, the regulatory body had bent over backwards, sending confusing signals indicating a combination of punishment and accommodation, which may be ultimately counter-productive.

In another instance of puzzling accommodation, the FCCPC, as part of the sanctions, gave BATN permission to conduct a so-called public health and tobacco control advocacy, contrary to Section 38 of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 barring tobacco industry players like BAT from handling education, communication, training and awareness advocacy about the harmful effects of tobacco products.

Section 38 states that “A person or entity working on behalf of or furthering the interest of the tobacco industry shall not be involved in any manner in youth, public education, or other initiatives to tobacco control or public health, including and funding of such activities.”

In the circumstances, the Federal Ministry of Health, and not systems and structures connected with BAT, should handle education, communication, training and awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco products. BATN cannot regulate itself, and must not be given the impression that it can.

It is commendable that the regulatory agency heavily fined the BAT Parties for serious violations, but the absence of crucial clarifications, and liberal cooperation with the offenders, left much to be desired.

Its mandate to promote and ensure fair markets, protect consumer interests, enforce the law and hold businesses accountable demands greater transparency and strictness. This is even more so when it concerns public health.

January 5, 2024
Maiden new year speech

• President Tinubu got the right tone, but a huge task lies ahead

In his maiden New Year address, President Bola Tinubu put his finger on the nation’s pulse. Nigerians had just passed through one of its dire yuletide seasons with the highs of inflation, the pangs of hunger, the tide of migrants fleeing our shores in what is tagged ‘Japa’, and waves of insecurity.

It is a time of despair, but it was his task to hold up hope. As far as rhetoric goes, he accomplished it. He cast our minds back to why he was elected president and itemised his mandates “to make our country better, to revamp our economy, restore security within our borders, revitalise our floundering industrial sector, boost agricultural production, increase national productivity and set our country on an irreversible path towards national greatness that we and future generations will forever be proud of.”

This is no mean burden. Nothing can happen without vision, and vision is impotent without will and the human resources to husband. He also cast back the minds of the country to his first few months of travels and travails, which included his engagement in India, where he met captains of industry who pledged to invest in the country in short order. He also travelled to the United Arab Emirates as well as a long series of meetings in New York against the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Everything I have done in office, every decision I have taken and every trip I have undertaken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May 2023, has been done in the best interest of our country,” he noted.

If it was a speech of intention, it was of pathos. He acknowledged the pains and suffering in the land, irrespective of status or geography. But the poor groan.

“From the boardrooms at Broad Street in Lagos to the main-streets of Kano and Nembe Creeks in Bayelsa, I hear the groans of Nigerians who work hard every day to provide for themselves and their families.”

During the holidays, his government ameliorated sufferings with travel subsidies, reducing by half the cost of travels through designated routes in the country, and free train trips. Such interventions will do in the new year.

Read Also: Customs will meet N5.1tn 2024 revenue target, says CG

But pathos will be meaningless without realism. As a proverb says, if you are crying, you should also look ahead. The times are tough and call for tough hides from one and all. Hence he urged with chastened optimism that “our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter.”

The recent Plateau carnage hovered over the speech, even if he did not say it but he spoke of doing better to secure our lives.

He listed some of the steps to improve power with a deal with Germany leader Olaf Scholz through Siemens at COP28 in Dubai, last year. He also unveiled plans to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands for maize, rice, wheat, millet and other crops. This would follow the 120,000 hectares for wheat in November, last year.

He has promised to reward-and-punish review of ministers and agency heads to bring discipline to performance.

More importantly, he called for all, including opponents, to work with him as “joint heirs of the Nigerian commonwealth.” It is time to put aside the malice and smear campaigns so that “the light each of us carries – men and women, young and old – shine bright and brighter to illuminate our path to a glorious dawn.”

It is high time he pursued these and bore in mind the tendency of some in the political elite to plume themselves in luxury while the mass suffer.

January 5, 2024
Bogus degrees
- Fed. Govt. must go beyond suspending accreditation of degrees from Benin and Togo
An investigative report by Daily Nigerian Newspaper has led to the suspension of accreditation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo by the Federal Government. The report, titled “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks”, detailed how the reporter got the degree that should ordinarily take three or four years to acquire in just six weeks!

Consequently, Augustina Obilor-Duru, on behalf of the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, issued a statement decrying the development. According to her,

the government lamented that “some Nigerians deploy nefarious means and unconscionable methods to get a degree with the end objective of getting graduate job opportunities for which they are not qualified”.

The suspension would subsist pending the outcome of an investigation involving the ministries of foreign affairs and education of Nigeria and the two countries, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS) and the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC).

This, no doubt, is an unsavoury development that should jolt any right-thinking member of the public.

While we acknowledge that our higher institutions may not be enough to cater to the academic needs of those in search of the golden fleece, the point must be noted that acquiring degrees through the back door is reprehensible. Indeed, it is criminal.

A degree is supposed to be given to people who have been found worthy in character and in learning. Someone who obtains a degree that should take years to get in only a matter of weeks is not only unworthy of it in learning; he or she has also failed the character test.

This is why we agree with Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, a former National Universities Commission (NUC) Secretary, that Nigerians acquiring such degrees are “clear-headed crooks,” not victims. They knew what they were going into, ab initio.

According to him, “There is no victim, all those people with these certificates are clear-headed crooks who knew what they were paying for because some of them are people who cannot pass the UTME, and some do not have five O-level credits.

“So they go shopping for these bogus institutions where they get their bogus qualifications from.”

Sadly, we do not know how many people are parading such bogus certificates in the country. We do not know how many of them have benefitted from things they are not entitled to as of right, through possession of such certificates.

Read Also: MURIC hails FG’s suspension of degrees from Benin, Togo

Sadder is the fact that despite the prevalence of the practice, especially in the Francophone countries, it took an investigative report to jolt the government to action. Yet, this is something that has been going on for long. As a matter of fact, it is also a thing that happens within the country. It has been alleged severally that such institutions exist in Nigeria that literally sell their degree and other certificates to people who can afford, not earn them.

The Federal Government therefore must be ready to go beyond previous efforts if it is genuinely interested in solving the problem once and for all.

In addition, we need to de-emphasise paper qualification. If this is done, and what people are capable of doing as opposed to the content of the paper qualification they parade, becomes a major criterion for employment, the desperation for foreign or local degrees through the back door would be tempered.

Meanwhile, we enjoin Nigerians with useful hints to support the government’s efforts at getting to the root of the matter by availing the investigative panel with information that may facilitate the enquiry so that the practice could be nipped in the bud.

We agree with the former NUC scribe that the commission must be involved in any investigation on this issue, given its expertise in Nigerian education quality.
January 4, 2024
Maiden new year speech
- Government and citizens have roles in tackling migration-related swindlers
President Tinubu got the right tone, but a huge task lies ahead.

In his maiden new year address, President Bola Tinubu put his finger on the nation’s pulse. Nigerians had just passed through one of its dire yuletide seasons with the highs of inflation, the pangs of hunger, the tide of migrants fleeing our shores in what is tagged ‘Japa’ and waves of insecurity.

It is a time of despair, but it was his task to hold up hope. As far as rhetoric goes, he accomplished it. He cast our minds back to why he was elected president and itemised his mandates “to make our country better, to revamp our economy, restore security within our borders, revitalise our floundering industrial sector, boost agricultural production, increase national productivity and set our country on an irreversible path towards national greatness that we and future generations will forever be proud of.”

This is no mean burden. Nothing can happen without vision, and vision is impotent without will and the human resources to husband. He also cast back the minds of the country to his first few months of travels and travails, which included his engagement in India, where he met captains of industry who pledged to invest in the country in short order. He also travelled to the United Arab Emirates as well as a long series of meetings in New York against the backdrop of the United Nations General Assembly.

“Everything I have done in office, every decision I have taken and every trip I have undertaken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May 2023, has been done in the best interest of our country,” he noted.

If it was a speech of intention, it was of pathos. He acknowledged the pains and suffering in the land, irrespective of status or geography. But the poor groan.

“From the boardrooms at Broad Street in Lagos to the main-streets of Kano and Nembe Creeks in Bayelsa, I hear the groans of Nigerians who work hard every day to provide for themselves and their families.”

Read Also: 13 notable quotes from President Tinubu’s New Year address to Nigerians

During the holidays, his government ameliorated sufferings with travel subsidies, reducing by half the cost of travels through designated routes in the country, and free train trips. Such interventions will do in the new year.

But pathos will be meaningless without realism. As a proverb says, if you are crying, you should also look ahead. The times are tough and call for tough hides from one and all. Hence he urged with chastened optimism that “our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter.”

The recent Plateau carnage hovered over the speech, even if he did not say it but he spoke of doing better to secure our lives.

He listed some of the steps to improve power with a deal with Germany leader Olaf Scholz through Siemens at COP28 in Dubai, last year. He also unveiled plans to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands for maize, rice, wheat, millet and other crops. This would follow the 120,000 hectares for wheat in November, last year.

He has promised to reward-and-punish review of ministers and agency heads to bring discipline to performance.

More importantly, he called for all, including opponents, to work with him as “joint heirs of the Nigerian commonwealth.” It is time to put aside the malice and smear campaigns so that “the light each of us carries – men and women, young and old – shine bright and brighter to illuminate our path to a glorious dawn.”

It is high time he pursued these and bore in mind the tendency of some in the political elite to plume themselves in luxury while the mass suffer.
January 4, 2024
Ghali Na’Abba (1968-2003)
- He was a model politician
It is rare that a politician of Ghali Na’Abba’s calibre passes through our clime. Na’Abba, who died at 65, was a man whose plutocratic origins belie the battle that defined his political career and also, paradoxically, chastened his ability to offer more services to his fatherland.

He is known principally for two episodes. One was his role to save democracy from a leader who, in the guise of a constitutional reform, wanted to foist a third term on the country and make one man more important than a collective will.

Two, he led an impeachment move against President Olusegun Obasanjo. Although he could not muster the required two/third as prescribed by the constitution, he would rather fail on his feet than grovel before a man whose military residues still overshadowed a democracy in its first shoots.

President Obasanjo had worked the men and resources in the parliament, bureaucracy, civil society organisations and other sectors to craft a constitution that would replace the 1999 one given to us by soldiers, his constituency. He wanted to show himself a democrat rather than a man of guns. But he turned out to be no better. In fact, he was more the autocrat in a republican toga as he put a poison vial in the form of a third term in an otherwise great document. We lost both the body and bath water and we had no choice. Thanks to Na’Abba’s leadership.

By that move, he asserted the independence of the judiciary, a scar that still defaces our parliamentary practice today. The late speaker showed himself a model of parliamentary pride. We have never had any episode so stout by a legislature to demonstrate institutional integrity of the law chamber like Na’Abba.

He suffered for this because he was never allowed by conspiracy to return to the house. It is a testament that principle pays only as a tortured hero.

Born September 27, 1958, Na’bba grew up in wealth and in the ambience of aristocratic magnificence. But his comfort was resisted by the political establishment of the old Northern People’s Congress (NPC) because, in Kano, the reigning party was Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union, a radical realm in a conservative region. In the same mould, he also embraced the Kano palace and its aristocratic privileges, just as when the Ado Bayero visited his primary school.

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“He was such a humble man. He walked up to me, knelt down, held my hand, and said I am a human being like you, that I should speak and not be afraid of him. Then I started talking and eventually said what I was told to say. It was a very interesting episode.”

He also saw the political highflyers of the day and city.

Hear him: “I grew up in a family that was rich but also radical – that influenced a lot about my life. I used to have a lot of friends and was very liberal with money. When I was growing up in my family, I met a lot of people who were not even members of the family but were bearing the family’s name. Not only were my parents rich but were also community leaders.”

He recalled meeting men like the late Maitama Sule and Ibrahim Kashashi, as well as other ministers, some of them visited his grandfather.

“Right then, I started entertaining the idea that I should be a minister…in fact, that inspired me a lot to study political science. But destiny later played out as I became more than a minister – I became Nigeria’s number four citizen.”

He never gave up and even became part of the Coalition for Electoral Reform. He was not just a lawmaker; he was a conscience of our politics.
January 3, 2024
Ariya unlimited
- 72-hour #Greater Lagos Fiesta, a good way to end the year while looking forward to the next
A hardworking child deserves some time to unwind, so goes the popular saying. Lagos State government seems to appreciate the place of relaxation in the lives of Lagosians, hence it organised a 72-hour #Greater Lagos Fiesta, a non-stop entertainment show, from December 29, 2023, to the early hours of January 1, 2024. The fiesta took place at five centres: Badagry Grammar School in Badagry, Agege Stadium, Agege, Ikorodu Town Hall Ikorodu, Sol Beach Oniru, and Epe Recreational Centre, Epe, where more than 25,000 participants were treated to a variety of entertainment, including cultural performances, children’s corners, etc. There was massive display of fireworks that illuminated the skies, thus filling the air with excitement and joy.

At the grand finale at Oniru Beach, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the event was observed simultaneously at four other locations of the #Greater Lagos Fiesta, where he was represented by top government officials who led other fun seekers into the New Year in a festive and celebratory spirit. This was against the usual practice of having the grand finale at the Eko Atlantic City. The simultaneous grand finale aimed at exposing the fun-lovers and tourists to the state’s rich beachfront potential. Participants also had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, and flavours that make Lagos such a unique and vibrant city.

Over the years, the fiesta has proven to be a very engaging and mind-blowing event, providing fun and entertainment for Lagosians in their various localities across the five IBILE divisions (Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos and Epe).

The countdown also has various economic dimensions as it showcased the best of local cuisine, arts and crafts, and traditional performances. That it has also positively impacted the state’s economy through massive sales of goods and services to thousands of fun and entertainment lovers throughout the event is incontrovertible, given the sheer size of the crowd at each of the venues. They all needed various services, including toilet facilities, that must be provided and paid for by the fun seekers. It is in some of these areas that the involvement of the private sector had to be acknowledged.

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Musical superstars like Davido, Olamide, and Teni, as well as Mayorkun, Spyro, SEYI Vibez, Small Doctor, Shallipopi, and Flavor were on hand to entertain the fun seekers. But it was not an avenue for the super stars alone. It was also an avenue of discovering and nurturing new talents in the entertainment and creative industry, while young and talented entertainers were also exposed to bigger platforms.

The fiesta also succeeded in curbing youth restiveness that often characterises festive seasons in the state. The youths were conspicuously missing on the streets where they used to pester vehicle owners for money to celebrate the season. This was a big relief to motorists, particularly the private vehicle owners.

One of the very first things that would scare people about such a massive event is security. But, the state commissioner for tourism, art and culture, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, had assured of adequate security for the event. It is instructive that they were able to maintain security throughout the three days as there was no single negative occurrence in any of the locations; a testimony to the adequate security architecture in the state.

We commend the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture and other stakeholders for the resounding success of the fiesta. We urge the organisers to follow up on some of the gains of the fiesta; like the upcoming artistes discovered during the event, with a view to nurturing them into stars that would be reckoned with in the entertainment sector. It is a singular event that can cement the bond of love among the different ethnic groups that make up cosmopolitan Lagos. Entertainment is like football; it has no ethnic, religious or other colouration. It is a powerful unifier sans borders.

The state government should sustain the fiesta and look forward to improving on it. It is a fantastic way of bidding farewell to an outgoing year and welcoming the new one with a bang.
January 3, 2024
Fare discount

• All’s well that ends well

Initially, it sounded unbelievable and so was greeted with much cynicism: That the President Bola Tinubu administration had announced a 50 percent discount in inter-state land transportation fares across 28 luxury bus routes nationwide from December 21, 2023 to January 4. And that train services on the Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itapke, and Abuja-Kaduna routes will not only be free but are expected to maintain their existing schedules throughout the yuletide season.

Days after Dele Alake – the Minister of Solid Minerals who doubles as chairman of the six-man Inter – Ministerial Committee on Presidential Intervention – announced the measures and gave assurances that the government will be working with transporters, road transport unions, and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to seamlessly deliver on the special initiative, it is noteworthy that the initial scepticism has since evaporated.

Expectedly, the public scepticism centred largely on how the initiative would be delivered, given the country’s size and diversity. There were questions about the choice of the private companies to take part since the government does not operate transport fleets, the routes involved, and how the government would track the number of passengers for accountability purposes since the government will ultimately shoulder the cost of the subsidy.

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As one might expect, there were those who wondered if the initiative was actually necessary since, in their opinion, only a tiny minority of the travelling public would use those established transport firms.

With just a few days left for the initiative to run its course, clearly, Nigerians, and indeed the government, can look back with some level of satisfaction that not only have those initial misgivings given way but also the stated objectives have substantially been met. On December 29, the government announced an addition of 20 new motor parks – a clear indication of the warm embrace of the initiative by the citizens.

Of course, the thousands of Nigerians who benefited had good words for the government for coming to their aid at a most difficult time. For the two pivotal associations – the Association of Luxury Bus Owners (ALBON) and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) – it certainly heralded a new era of partnership, a fruitful one, something that the government might want to fine-tune, going forward. Ultimately, it was a lesson in the government’s responsiveness to the yearnings of the people.

No doubt, such well-meaning interventions are the least a caring government can do. In fact, they are what reasonable citizens expect, and so the government cannot be faulted for doing what it did.

Yuletide is, after all, like no other in terms of the associated mass movement of citizens across the length and breadth of the country. At a time when many citizens are looking up to the government for one form of palliative or another, it is commendable that the authorities demonstrated such empathy. All travellers needed to do to benefit from the government intervention was to show up at designated motor parks. Their pockets experienced relief directly.

To us, it makes no difference whether the programme covered hundreds or thousands, or even millions. In fact, it is unrealistic to expect that every single traveller during the yuletide season would benefit. What is important is that the beneficiaries are Nigerians, and that they are able to experience the impact of the measure. The point is that the intervention helped in mitigating hardship, and in ensuring the mobility of citizens who may have been unable to afford the cost of travel. On these, we have no doubt that the government has delivered, and consider the government’s funding as money well spent.

We note the government’s assurance that this will not be a one-off thing. We expect the government to utilise the lessons learnt to forge a better, more robust template with the aid of information technology.

January 2, 2024