The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Fictive genocide

    Fictive genocide

    •Nigeria craves empathy over its security challenges, not sabre-rattling over brazen faith lies

    For the umpteenth time: no genocide in Nigeria — not of any people, faith or tribe. That means Nigeria’s branding, as a country of particular concern (CPC), by US President Donald Trump, is based on transparent lies.  If these lies are dispelled, whatever is built on them logically vanishes like dissipating quicksand.

    Let’s be clear, on the definition of genocide, with the word’s basic etymology of “genos” (Greek for “race”) and “-cide”: the deliberate and systematic killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic people, a particular faith, or even a particular nation or race. 

    The sinister quiet in this definition is that a state, peopled with rogue and murderous elements, must be behind the heinous slaughter.  Except in the case of Rwanda, when bitter Hutus ganged up to clean out Tutsis and even moderate Hutus, after Rwanda had sunk into complete anarchy, the state must collude for genocide to succeed. That’s not the case with Nigeria.

    Even with the regrettable mass killings, by Islamists and bandits; which affect everyone: Christian, Muslim and adherents of the many African faiths, a deeper analysis is instructive.

    In all these theatres of killings, only the North East, with Boko Haram and other Islamist strains, is well and truly Islamist.  But save their opening attacks on churches to stoke a retaliation and start a religious war, the overwhelming number of Islamist victims: killed, maimed, raped or displaced, have been fellow Muslims. 

    So, the bulk of North East Christian casualties were in the very early days of Boko Haram, under President Goodluck Jonathan.  The Owo church attack, under President Muhammadu Buhari, was an isolated event.  The suspects are being tried right now.

    Bandits, in the North West and part of the North Central (mainly Niger; but to some limited extent, Kogi and Kwara) are even starker. They are just brutal outlaws: out-and-out criminals bullying their victims, kidnapping for ransom to further fund their crime.

    North West’s banditry itself rose from economic tension: between Fulani herders (who complained of stratospheric rustling of their cattle — a charge they laid against the mostly farming Hausa kin.  Again here, the feuding parties are predominantly Muslim — and so are the casualties of the violence.

    The North Central — Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau (dub it the Middle Belt if you will) — and southern Kaduna in the North West, come with own historical tension, well before Boko Haram terror, which started in 2009.  These areas have a mix of Christians (proudly natives); and Muslims (who resent being called “settlers”, but which the mainly Christian indigenes insist they are).  To now detach these pre-Islamist violence as “proof” of “Christian genocide” in the Middle Belt is not only dishonest but clearly dangerous.

    That Middle Belt tension has resulted in a needless bloodbath over the ages.  Indeed, the Middle Belt and southern Kaduna have chalked up the highest number of Christian casualties from this condemnable violence.  Yet, it would be utterly — nay tragically — simplistic to deem the deaths there as “Christian genocide”. 

    In truth, it is a tribal conflict with a religious tone, not a religious conflict with a tribal tone. The US CPC blanket on Nigeria issues from conflating the two.  Such simplistic interpretation, a falsehood wilfully repeated and trumpeted by foreign lobbyists, most of them with ulterior motives, has led to this rushed decision on Nigeria.  Neither Nigeria nor the United States would profit from such shot gun thinking.  So, it’s high time good sense intervened — and prevailed.

    But by far the most ludicrous, of all the claims and counter-claims, is the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)/Eastern Security Network (ESN) situation in the South East. 

    The overwhelming majority of the South East are Christians.  If IPOB/ESN — ESN is the armed militia of the outlawed IPOB — are fingered in Igbo-on-Igbo violence, and IPOB/ ESN enforcers are mostly Christian and Igbo, would it be right to say the “Christian genocide”, in the South East, is “Christian-on-Christian” genocide?  Ludicrous?  That’s what the entire claim is.  It’s nothing but lies powered by faith bogeys.

    Daniel Bwala, himself a Christian from the North East, and presidential Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, is now sensitising the global media on the situation in Nigeria.  In all of the interviews he has granted, he has fingered IPOB and sundry secessionist lobbies abroad, as behind the lies of genocide. 

    These lobbies even date back to 2015, when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lost federal power to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); and President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, took power from President Jonathan, then well-loved in the South East.  Around that time too, IPOB’s rabid, hate-filled secessionist activities flared.  Witness: Nnamdi Kanu was first arrested in 2015.

    The BBC, in its report: “Are Christians being persecuted as Trump claims?” (November 6),  traced the alleged genocide numbers, being bandied, to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law — InterSociety, for short — a group, the report adds, the Nigerian government has accused of being rather chummy with Biafra secessionist lobbies, locally and abroad.  But InterSociety has denied that link.  Fair enough.

    Senator Ted Cruz, the moving spirit behind the Nigeria sanction in the US Senate, dubbed his advocacy Christian “persecution”.   Comedian Bill Maher, first mouthed “Christian genocide” in one of his comedy shows. 

    Both, however, seem to reference InterSociety numbers: “Since 2009,” Maher claimed on X, “over 50, 000 Christians in Nigeria have been massacred, and over 18, 000 churches and 2, 000 Christian schools have been destroyed.” 

    BRGIE — the Biafra Government in Exile, headed by Simon Ekpa, now jailed in Finland for pouring insurrection fire on his native South East, for his Biafra cause — as the BBC out it:  “had hired lobbying firms and met US officials, including Cruz”, a claim Cruz “declined to comment”, according to that same report.

    But by the book of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) — another NGO that monitors violence in West Africa — under 53, 000 Nigerians (Christian and Muslim) had died in such violence since 2009.  That almost equals the “over 50, 000 Christians” InterSociety claims to have died, within the same period.  Why would Cruz and Maher ignore ACLED but embrace InterSociety, if there is no unholy conspiracy somewhere? 

    In any case, the BBC was worried enough to note:  “The figures for Christian deaths cited by some in the US are alarming, but assessing their accuracy is hard.”  It added, rather gloomily: “For data that could be shaping US policy towards Nigeria, InterSociety’s work is opaque.” 

    Add the latest Nnamdi Kanu open letter to President Trump, claiming he and his ilk are being “persecuted” because they are “Jewish/Christian” faithful from the South East — another brazen lie!  You can feel the nest of intrigue from the IPOB end.

    So, from the suspect data that led to President Trump’s action, it is clear that his CPC categorisation of Nigeria is most unfair and hasty.

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    Still, other than telling the world our own true story — which the Federal Government has started doing — there is pretty little the government can do with willful conspiracy theories.  Not with the global explosion of rabid disinformation in the new media.

    But what the Federal Government can do, supported by all the states, is to double down on the war against terror.  On that, the Bola Tinubu government has achieved a lot in two years, building on the Buhari government’s foundation.  Even before the shake-up with the service chiefs, the armed forces, under Gen. Christopher Musa, the just retired Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), had scored brilliant hits, dispatching North East Islamists, and North West bandits and IPOB terrorists to early grave; and freeing many hitherto kidnapped victims.

    There is no indication that the new team, under Gen. Olufemi Oluyede — now CDS but Chief of Army Staff under Gen. Musa — would slow down.  Indeed, this CPC issue is added impetus to go for the kill and flush out these evil discontents. To secure citizens’ lives and properties is the basic duty of any state.  The Nigerian government realises that.  But it must do more.

    Still, perhaps, the most re-assuring thing out of this crisis is the cool, collected and measured way the Tinubu administration has insisted on deep, noiseless diplomacy to clear up any misconceptions on the matter.  That’s how it should be and the President has earned due praise for the focused way he is handling everything.  But one crucial confidence builder the government must add and fast: locate and expose terrorism sponsors.  If we can identify and cut off terror funding, the battle is as good as won.

    So, instead of sabre-rattling and threats of “gun a-blazing”, it’s in tracing and cutting off funding to terrorists that America could offer real help.  Nigeria wants to eliminate these violent vermin; and will gladly welcome help from friendly countries and partners. For Nigerians trying to stoke up these false narratives, for whatever motives, eternal and infernal shame!

    But before the US government starts waxing poetic over any pro-Christian invasion, it should remember that the Sahel regional security crisis, now gravely affecting Nigeria, resulted from the fall of Col. Muammar Gadaffi and the collapse of Libya — the deed of a previous US government, under President Barrack Obama.  That in itself should have poured cold water on “Christian genocide” in Nigeria.  It’s a lie from the pit of hell.

  • Time to shift ground

    Time to shift ground

    • NARD and the Federal Government must return to negotiation table

    Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on a nationwide strike from the midnight of November 1, 2025. This came after a series of warning strikes by the association, as a means of having its 19-point demand met by the Federal Government.

    ‎Like all trade unions, NARD feels that an all-out industrial action would force the government to accede to its demands, some of which predate the present government. But the government has no choice than to look into the demands, government being a continuum.

    ‎The strike is ongoing in about 91 health institutions nationwide.

    The demands range from salaries, working conditions, health infrastructure, benefits, COVID-19 allowance, systemic failures, Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), and 2024 accoutrement allowances.

    ‎Others  are release of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), with periodic reviews to account for inflation and other economic realities, health insurance for all medical and dental professionals, clearance of outstanding salary arrears, pension benefits, corrected allowances, specialist allowance, and full entitlement of house officers, among others.

    ‎Other sets of demands include the immediate reinstatement of five resident doctors whose appointments were unjustly terminated at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, in Kogi State, end to casualisation, promotion scales, reversal of appointment of non-medical personnel as honorary consultants (as they cite patient safety concerns) and immediate establishment of health management boards to improve governance and operational efficiency.

    ‎The strike is over a week old and casualties are being recorded across the nation. This is serious because life has no duplicate.

    ‎For a developing nation like Nigeria, the economic losses due to industrial actions can be huge and destabilising. We are concerned that the gains being made in the health sector by the present government could be lost if there is no immediate attempt to solve some of the complaints of the resident doctors, given their diverse functions in the health sector.

    ‎We regret that the strike was allowed to start in the first place, not because the doctors are sacred cows but because of the grave implications of any strike in the  health sector. Humans are a nation’s best resource and all efforts must be made to prevent avoidable deaths.

    Read Also: Nigeria and the challenging times

    ‎Health workers across the globe are valued because of their strategic importance. This is why nations across the world not only invest in training their own citizens but also poach qualified ones from elsewhere, especially developing countries.

    ‎In the case of Nigeria, it is a pathetic situation because despite the huge subsidies in training doctors, many of them travel out to other nations with better infrastructure and welfare after their subsidised training, living citizens with huge deficiencies. Nigeria has, like most developing nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, faced severe patient-to doctor ratio, falling short of United Nations benchmarks. This severely impacts our health and life expectancy.

    ‎In view of all of these, we recommend that government must apply all diplomatic and high skill negotiations to ensure that disagreements do not stretch from year to year, especially in the health sector.

    ‎Most of the doctors’ demands are just for basic needs that ordinarily ought to be a given. Health infrastructure provision is not just for the convenience of doctors, they are necessary to ease their work and give comfort to the sick.

    More often than not, the financial demand is so highlighted that it appears on the surface to be the flag. This is important but not the only reason.

    ‎Healthcare is not cheap, so government must invest hugely in the sector. If the saying, “a healthy nation is a wealthy nation” is anything to go by, then Nigeria must begin to pay greater attention to the health sector. This does not mean meeting all demands but opening communication points for productive negotiations with not just NARD but other healthcare workers’  associations.

    ‎While we believe that government often feels overwhelmed by sectoral demands, the fact also is that doctors and other Nigerians see politicians enjoy good welfare packages, with all sorts of allowances, including entertainment, wardrobe allowance, houses and very expensive cars paid for with the tax payers’ money. It becomes very illogical then to expect professionals

    ‎like doctors to be bogged down by unpaid salaries and allowances.

    We find it strange that the doctors are still being owed COVID-19 allowances five years post-COVID. Many countries through welfare encouraged the bravery of their healthcare workers at the time. Some of the healthcare workers paid the supreme price then.

    ‎We urge government to immediately reopen negotiations with NARD while solving the less challenging demands and making realistic and implementable policies that would be long lasting. For so long, successive governments have been accused of failed promises and lack of commitment to agreements. This can change with determination and commitment.

    In the social Nigerian parlance, “at all at all na im bad”. NARD would understand that the government cannot solve decades-long issues once.

    While we appreciate NARD’s grievances too, we urge the association to always hold fast through sheer commitment to their Hippocratic Oath as their commitment to the people who become the proverbial grass that suffers when two elephants fight. We urge the doctors to show compassion which is their main pillar as doctors.

    ‎Government on its part must show the doctors that they understand their demands and at least sort out the non-monetary issues that would ease their work. Spending decades studying and qualifying for practice must be rewarded.

    The medical profession might go the education route where most young people seeing how teachers are poorly remunerated often shy away from taking to teaching as a profession. We must put real value not just on doctors but all professions in the country.  

  • Anambra poll

    Anambra poll

    • Decision time as voters elect their governor

    Voters in Anambra State will head to the poll tomorrow to choose their preferred candidate for a new governorship tenure that kicks in on March 17, 2026. They will decide between the incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo who is seeking re-election to a second term on the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform and 15 other contenders.

    Other notable contenders in the poll include Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) and John Chuma-Nwosu of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In all, 16 out of 19 registered parties currently on the roll of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are in the fray.

    Anambra governorship will be the last off-cycle poll to be conducted this year by the electoral body and the baptism for its new helmsman, Joash Amupitan, a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The state fell off the election cycle in 2005 when Dr. Chris Ngige was kicked out mid-tenure by the judiciary for not having been duly elected governor and Mr. Peter Obi was affirmed in his place. It also pioneered the trend that has now seen seven other states falling out of the election cycle.

    Some 2.8million voters are on INEC’s register for tomorrow’s election holding across Anambra’s 21 local government areas. Amupitan lately said the poll would be conducted in 5,718 of Anambra’s 5,720 polling units, as voting would not take place in two polling units having no registered voters. Speaking at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the helmsman explained that the commission would deploy 24,000 personnel for the election.

    Since his assumption of office in recent weeks, the INEC boss has repeatedly affirmed the commission’s readiness for the election. Speaking earlier this week during on-site inspection of the agency’s facilities in Anambra, he said: “Our responsibility is to the people of this nation. We are fully prepared to deliver an election that is fair, credible and reflective of the people’s will.”

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    The chairman urged all stakeholders to work for a seamless poll, cautioning against what he described as “attempts by vested interests to discredit the process” and stressing that the commission remained focused on discharging its constitutional mandate. “We are committed to carrying every stakeholder along in this process. Transparency and partnership remain the bedrock of our credibility,” he stated.

    During the visit, Amupitan directed that all election materials must arrive at polling units by 7:00am and the polling process must commence at 8:30am without delay. Counting and collation of votes, according to him, must take place in the presence of party agents and collated results must align precisely with Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) records. He gave assurance that strong security is in place to safeguard personnel, voters and materials throughout the process.

    Even though Amupitan avows personal responsibility for the Anambra election, reality is: he is relying heavily on preparations the commission has been making before he took office on October 23. But the commission’s members of the staff themselves have not shied from affirming readiness for the poll.

    They promised professionalism and efficiency of operations as would ensure smooth electoral logistics. INEC had conducted mock accreditation in Anambra East by which it tested the upgraded BVAS, with National Commissioner Kenneth Ukeagu reported saying the commission was “99 percent ready” for the poll.

    Security agencies as well declared their readiness. At the ICCES parley on Tuesday, a representative of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Hassan Abdullahi, said robust security measures were in place to ensure a hitch-free poll. These, according to him, include “enhanced surveillance, deployment of sufficient security personnel and improved intelligence gathering to prevent any attempt by disruptive elements or desperate politicians to undermine the electoral process.”

    He urged political parties and candidates to encourage their supporters unto conduct that protects the integrity of the electoral system. “Any form of violence during the elections will be met with strong, uncompromising response,” he warned.

    Tomorrow will show the genuineness or otherwise of these upbeat claims. INEC will be measured against wider expectations regarding its preparation for the forthcoming general election, while the security agencies will prove their capacity to dispassionately keep the civil peace amidst partisan tension.

    Voters themselves must be on their best behaviour and make a reasoned choice from options on offer. It is expected that votes will count when counted, and the outcome will be a true reflection of the people’s will. May the best candidate win.

  • Unnecessary alarm

    Unnecessary alarm

    • Can anyone sustain the allegation of $25m grant misuse against NFF?

    The House of Representatives recently resolved to set up an investigative committee to probe an alleged misuse of about $25m grants from the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) over a period.

    The adoption of the resolution followed a motion co-sponsored by Adedayo Adesola representing Apapa Federal Constituency of Lagos State and Nwaeke Uche representing Ebonyi State constituency. The period under reference is allegedly over a 10 – year period of 2015-2025. The lawmakers allege that the level of sports development is not commensurate with the funds made available over the period.

    They said that “In December 2016, FIFA sent an audit query over the handling of a $1.1m development grant to NFF and reported that US$802,000 lacked proper documentations, prompting the then sports minister, Solomon Dalong, to order an independent audit and ask NFF to account for receipts and disbursements”. This was not an isolated case because, “between 2018 and 2019, NFF officials and the then President, Amaju Pinnick, faced public criticism and were subject of EFCC and ICPC probes and court actions tied to alleged mismanagement of various funds and sponsorship monies”.

    The most recent controversy is about the $1.2 million which NFF allegedly used to construct the Birnin Kebbi Stadium, Kebbi State. There are allegations that the structure on ground so far is not commensurate with the alleged money sunk into the project. The representatives are demanding accountability from NFF.

    Football has become a trillion-dollar global business, bringing to the world huge socio-economic gains. It is not called the ‘Beautiful game’ for nothing. Nations under FIFA rules have benefited from the organisational structure of FIFA and other continental affiliates. Football has become as lucrative as it is now a tool for national pride when well-run by federations.

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    It is on this premise that we feel very concerned about the headline of the current controversy. We are here talking about two unrelated stadium projects; one in Nigeria, the other in Kenya, with the former assisted by FIFA. The Kenyan project is being built by the Kenyan government for the 2027 AFCON, costing millions of dollars. The Nigerian Kebbi Township Stadium costs about one per cent of the Kenyan project.

    While we believe that every citizen is entitled to freedom of speech, Mr. Peter Obi seemingly inferred a shady deal about the Kebbi stadium, citing the Kenyan Stadium cost as though they are on the same scale in cost and circumstance. Even if there is financial impropriety in this particular instance, more information could bring better clarity.

    The NFF has often performed below average and can often appear financially opaque, but we must not always assume the worst based on a flawed narrative. The federation on its part must be accountable and use all grants from both FIFA and CAF for sports development in a country as blessed as Nigeria. Accountability is the soul of international businesses. Trust is built through such acts of transparency. The scandal around the 2022 Qatar World Cup has so far claimed many football administrators. This shows that FIFA is like Big brother that is always watching.

    On the part of the law makers, we commend their quest at this time but we also believe that they might have failed in their oversight functions on the sports ministry under which NFF operates. The National Assembly must be more proactive than reactive.

    Accountability is never based on arrears but is a consistent present action. Probes, especially in a developing country like Nigeria do not often yield the best results, oversight functions help to keep track and put the checks and balances of democracy active and effective.

    Football as a global sports is fast redefining the socio-economic stands of nations and Nigeria occupies a prime position in the world. As the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. If Morocco and South African federations are seemingly taking their national football infrastructure to the global stage, thereby encouraging development of the game in their countries, Nigeria can do better.

    Nigeria is seen as the nation in Africa with the greatest influence on national leagues across continents, given her star exports. NFF must, like Caesar’s wife, be above reproach.

  • Bad eggs

    •Amotekun must not be tired of identifying and punishing them

    Importantly, the recent exposure of some fifth columnists within the Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, highlighted the need for a review of its recruitment process and constant monitoring of its officers.

    The commander of the corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, was quoted as saying the organisation’s “intelligence” showed that three of its officers, Abu Taiwo, Akinsipe Victor, and Akinjumi Julius “have been sponsored not only to undermine and disparage the management of the corps but totally to distract the attention of the corps from its core mandate of the provision of security to lives and property.” He added that they had been suspended and declared wanted. He stressed that the men had acted “in isolation.”

    It is commendable that the organisation was able to identify these officers allegedly working against its interests. “We are looking for them to come and answer… If they are innocent, everybody will see,” the commander said.

    There should be no room for officers who undermine the organisation’s work. The suspects must be found and prosecuted swiftly to serve as a strong deterrent.

    Operation Amotekun was launched in January 2020 by the governors of the six states in the country’s Southwest – Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti – “to ensure an end to insecurity in the South Western, Nigerian region.”  It is the country’s “first regional security outfit initiated by a geopolitical zone.”

    The background of the suspended officers is unclear. Members of the security outfit are supposed to be drawn from local hunters, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Agbekoya, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and vigilante groups.

    They are expected to assist police, other security agencies, and traditional rulers in combating terrorism, banditry, armed robbery, and kidnapping, as well as settling herder-farmer conflicts in the region.

    Apart from naming the Amotekun men who are on the run, the security outfit paraded “four notorious suspects” who had been arrested in connection with robbery and kidnapping in the state. Among them is Ogungbemi Adebayo, 29, who Adeleye said had “confessed voluntarily that he is an informant to kidnappers in the Ademekun power line area at the Ago Dada Camp.”

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    It was discovered that he was working for “Fulani men” who had trained him on the use of AK-47 rifles. He was among informants who regularly communicated the movement of farmers and security personnel to the bandits in the state’s forests, and he said they were paid N150,000 monthly for their role.

    This case provides an insight into kidnapping for ransom, which remains a serious security challenge across the country. It suggests that kidnappers are aided by informants. The organisation must, therefore, intensify its efforts to identify and arrest such spies. 

    In addition, the commander named Nasiru Suleiman “who, over three months, had been dismantling a government caterpillar parked in a government yard along the Akure-Ondo Road.”

    He stated that Saliu Nureni, 57, “was arrested around NEPA market for alleged robbery and setting ablaze the property of the victim, and threatening to kill the victim.” Another suspect, Ahmed Oladimeji, was “arrested with the generator and alternator he stole around Igoba in Akure.”

    These arrests further demonstrate that Amotekun in the state is alive to its responsibility of enhancing local policing presence. For instance, in September, the Ondo Amotekun corps announced the arrest of “six major kidnap suspects,” and said it had dismantled “a terrible kidnap syndicate.”

    However, the organisation must continuously review its operations towards improved performance; it must ensure that internal saboteurs and external criminals do not succeed. 

  • Wanted!

    Wanted!

    •Nigerians need governors that can complement FG’s efforts in mitigating hardship

    All Progressives Congress’ (APC) National chairman, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, has added his voice to those urging Nigerians not only to focus on what is happening at the federal level of governance, but rather look more in the direction of their local government chairmen and governors. This is because, unlike before, the state governments  now have more funds to play with, courtesy of the removal of fuel subsidy and merging of the foreign exchange markets in 2023, when President Bola Tinubu was sworn in.

    Yilwatda spoke on Monday, at the launching of a book, ‘Vicious Red Circle’, written by Alex Ugochukwu Oriaku, in Abuja.

    According to the party chair, “Governors now receive two to four times more than before. They can focus on bigger projects, but they must also improve the daily lives of the people,” he said.

    Yilwatda added that ‘’we know that two years ago, what they used to share was about N400 billion per month. But today, the last they shared was N2.2 trillion. No governor in Nigeria today collects less than three times, four times of what they used to collect before. None.

    “They can do more for their people. They are focusing now on bigger projects. And to me, this is a turnaround that we need in governors. I would say, talk to your governors. Talk to your local government chairmen. Let them do more. Talk to the APC governors to do more.’’

    To this extent, Yilwatda is right. The governors now have more cash in their hands. Before the advent of the Bola Tinubu administration, all the three tiers of government used to share an average of N400billion monthly. Today, this has ballooned to about N2.2 trillion, a significant increase, if you ask us.

    Unfortunately, there is not much to show for this in many states, as some of the governors embark on grandiose projects that have little bearing to the needs of the people, rather than concentrate on essentials.

    This explains why many Nigerians are wondering where the much-talked-about extra cash the governors are getting is going into.

    There is no doubt that the removal of fuel subsidy and merging of the exchange rates have caused some dislocation to prices of virtually all items, including foodstuffs, the least the people would have expected was for the governors to show compassion by making some of these monies percolate to the mass of the people who are directly bearing the harsh effects of the economic reforms.

    It would seem the Federal Government is not oblivious of this harsh reality, hence its several initiatives to cushion the effects of the economic reforms.

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    We are here talking about schemes under the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, like the Consumer Credit Scheme that was launched in February, 2024. The aim is to enable Nigerians purchase essential goods and build credit histories.

    We also have the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Bus Initiative to provide an alternative to rising transportation costs after the fuel subsidy removal, with public transporters paying only half of the cost of installation.

    Then the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, (NELFUND) from which about 1,000,000 students have benefited, with the Federal Government paying the tuition fees of students in tertiary institutions whose parents cannot bear the burden, as well as giving each of the beneficiaries N20,000 monthly upkeep allowance.

    If only many state governments had complemented the efforts of the Federal Government, the effects of the economic reforms would have been somewhat minimal on the people.

    We urge a change of heart in this regard, and Yilwatda has a major role to play. With his party, the APC controlling about 24 state governments out of 36, he should use his influence to get the state governments to be more sensitive to the plight of the people. That is the only way the party can have it easy at the polls, especially as we are gradually approaching the build-up to the 2027 General Elections.

  • High expectations

    High expectations

    • Nigerians look toward the new Service Chiefs for faster solutions to the country’s security challenges

    While visiting communities recently attacked by bandits in Rijau and Magama local government areas of Niger State, the state governor, Mr Mohammed Bago, called on residents to be prepared to defend themselves against attacks, stressing his determination not to negotiate with bandits or pay ransom for the release of kidnapped persons because it has turned the crimes into lucrative businesses.

    But, asking residents of Niger State to be prepared to defend themselves against attacks by bandits and kidnappers suggests that the governor did not believe that the rash of measures he announced to deter banditry, such as imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Minna, the state capital, banning commercial motorcycles or tricycles, except in cases of medical emergencies, banning mining activities in eight local government areas and planning to recruit 10,000 new members into the Joint Task Force (JTF), the state vigilante outfit, were likely to check the menace of banditry and kidnapping. The irony is that no indication was given of how largely unarmed citizens were expected to confront and thwart their always heavily armed attackers.

    In some other states and local government councils in the North, the authorities have resorted to negotiating with bandits and other criminal elements while also paying ransom to procure freedom for kidnap victims. In other instances, communities have been known to pay criminal elements to provide protection for the people or to enable farmers gain access to farmlands. These are indications of the seriousness of the country’s persistent security challenges and the huge task ahead of the new Service Chiefs appointed last week by President Bola Tinubu.

    At their confirmation screening by the Senate on October 29, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Oluremi Oluyede, Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Waheedi Shaibu, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Idi Abbas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Kennedy Aneke demonstrated an awareness of the problems in the country’s security sector and outlined plans to more effectively guarantee safety of lives and property, as well as the territorial integrity of Nigeria. They promised to achieve improved national security through intensified use of technology, military self-reliance through local arms production, boosting troops’ welfare and morale, and enhanced professional training, among others.

    Promising to prioritise welfare, healthcare, education and housing for the families of soldiers, the Chief of Defence Staff pledged to make intelligence-led, data-driven warfare the backbone of joint operations, emphasising that “We cannot continue to rely on foreign suppliers for our weapons. It is economically unsustainable and strategically risky. My focus will be to strong local military-industrial base that can produce what we need to defend the nation”.

    A major challenge that the new Service Chiefs must immediately confront, in our view, is ensuring that the substantially enhanced funding for defence and security translates into a commensurate enhancement in the safety of lives and property across the country.

    While the country’s defence budget for 2022 was $2.8 billion (N1.15 trillion), this has increased to an allocation of $4.91 billion (N4.91 trillion) for 2025. Allocations to other security agencies in the 2025 budget include N1.31 trillion to the Ministry of Police Affairs, N1.11 trillion to Immigration and Civil Defence under the Ministry of Interior; N690.84 billion to the Office of the National Security Advisor, N638.84 billion to service-wide votes and N2.56 billion to the Police Service Commission.

    Increased funding has no doubt enabled an intensification of the military’s onslaught against terrorists, violent religious extremists, bandits, kidnappers and other criminal groups across the country.

    For instance, scores of bandits’ and terrorists’ leaders have been killed in the North and hundreds of their foot soldiers neutralised in the Northwest just as the ferocity of the Boko Haram zealots has been significantly curtailed in the Northeast.

    However, attacks by invading herders on farming communities in the North-Central continue unabated while kidnapping, armed robbery, communal violence, ritual killings, rape and other assorted crimes are still being committed across the country.  There is a consensus that more progress ought to have been made in protecting lives and property in Nigeria, to reflect the better funding of the armed forces and security agencies.

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    It is thus critical that the new Service Chiefs accord priority to achieving greater transparency, accountability and efficiency in the utilisation of available funds for stipulated purposes in the defence sector. Loopholes that make possible the criminal diversion of military allocations to private pockets must be blocked, as this has been an alleged factor over the years in the military’s inability to decisively overcome insurgent challenges to the country’s stability and cohesion.

    We welcome the new Service Chiefs’ desire to emphasise local weapons production but this should not be at the expense of continued procurement of requisite equipment for troops in the short to medium term until higher self-sufficiency in local arms production is attained.

    It is heartwarming, in this regard, for instance, that the Chief of Air Staff informed the Senate during his screening that the $1.2 billion Super Tucano aircraft fleet is operational and playing a vital role in counter-insurgency offensives. However, the procurement and production of equipment must be accompanied by proper attention being paid to the welfare, motivation and morale of troops.

    In a recent contribution on the floor of the Senate, for instance, the former Senate Leader and one time Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Army, Senator Ali Ndume, decried what he described as the poor welfare of Nigerian soldiers, claiming that they received a daily feeding allowance of N5,000 and a monthly salary of about N100,000.  While Ndume ‘s comparative analysis of the pay of troops in Nigeria and a number of other African countries may be misleading, especially when population size, number of troops, availability of resources and severity of socio-economic and security challenges are taken into account, the troops must be properly compensated and justly rewarded as they place their lives on the line to safeguard the territorial integrity, national cohesion and political stability of Nigeria.

    There is no doubt that enhanced inter-agency collaboration among the army, air force, navy and intelligence services has also contributed to the successes recorded so far in the military’s counter-insurgency operations. Even greater collaboration in joint operations and coordinated planning is imperative for more future successes and a speedy conclusion to a needlessly protracted war against non-state actors challenging the Nigerian State and desperately seeking to dismember the country.

    The new Service Chiefs must inject greater flexibility, dynamism and tactical creativity in the operations of the military.

    That the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lt. General Emmanuel Undiendeye, retained his position is obviously an indication of the satisfaction of the Commander-In-Chief with his performance. We hope that this will spur him to further improve on the efficiency and efficacy of the intelligence agencies as credible, accurate and proactive intelligence gathering is indispensable in modern symmetric or asymmetric warfare.

    If it is true, as the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence recently alleged, that capital allocation to some of the intelligence agencies for 2024 has not been released, this anomaly must be urgently remedied.

    All said, the Service Chiefs already have their job cut out for them. We can only hope they will live up to expectation and justify the confidence reposed in them by the President.

  • Justice for Ikenna

    Justice for Ikenna

    •This matter is a litmus test for Cross River’s AG

    The video circulating in the social media, concerning the negligent prosecution of five murder suspects, namely, Pastor Uchenna Peter Chinweikpe, Valentine Aloysius (aka my father, my father), Elvis Ntui, Pastor Effiong and Barry, (the last three still at large), allegedly involved in the murder of one Princewill Igbunaju Ikenna, in Ikom, Cross River state, two or three years ago, deserves the urgent intervention of the Attorney-General (AG) of Cross River State, in the interest of justice. We demand for diligent prosecution of the suspects and punishment for state officials found negligent or complicit.

    According to Mr Ernest Onyeka, younger brother of the murdered Ikenna, the incident happened on September 4, 2023, when they noticed that his elder brother was missing. By the next day, Ikenna was identified by his father and Mr Onyeka, dead, with three bullet wounds, and his car stolen. He alleged that through the help of the deceased car tracker, they traced the car to a panel beater in Lagos, the morning after the incident.

    At the workshop, the panel beater was changing the colour of the car. He reportedly told the police at Lagos State that one Pastor Uchenna Peter Chinweikpe, gave him the car to work on, and when the pastor came, he lied that the car was a gift from a congregant in Lagos. Further enquiries from the pastor’s wife showed that the pastor was in Ikom on the day of the incident, and when the pastor was drilled, he allegedly confessed he drove the car all the way to Lagos, over the night, after the incident.

    The pastor confessed before the police that he went to Ikom on the invitation of one Pastor Kingsley to preach, and after the programme, he and the Pastor Kingsley and two other fellows accosted the deceased, and that he was there when Ikenna was shot and killed by Elvis and one other guy.

    After the alleged confessions, the matter was transferred to Zone Six of the Nigeria Police Command, in Cross River State. Mr Onyeka said the matter was subsequently charged to the Cross River State High Court, Ikom Division, before Justice Ashu Ewah.

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    The circulating video caught the attention of the AG of Cross River State, and he ordered an investigation. The report of the investigation released by Anthony Okon Effiom Esq., solicitor-general of the state, confirmed that Justice Ewah granted the suspects bail on health grounds, on a date different from the day the matter was originally adjourned to, and when the prosecution was not in court. The judge subsequently went to participate in election petition tribunal, and ever since, the trial was abandoned, and the suspects are walking freely, and engaged in their so-called pastoral work.

    The brother of the deceased further alleged that after Pastor Uchenna was granted bail on health grounds, he was in his church preaching, and exhibiting no sign of ailment the same week.

    We consider the events surrounding the trial of the suspects in the case of murder of Ikenna, a travesty and mockery of the Cross River State criminal justice system and we call on the AG of the state to rise up to his duty. As the chief law officer of the state, what happened is an indictment on his office and the state judiciary.

    All those involved must be held accountable. The state chief judge should ensure that the matter is taken before another judge, since Justice Ewah has not shown diligence in handling the matter.

    We commend the AG for the interest shown so far, but wish to notify him that the case may define his time in office. So, he should ensure that justice is done to all parties in the murder case.

  • ‘Role’ reversal?

    ‘Role’ reversal?

    •Our banks deduct customers’ money illegally. But now, it’s Lotus Bank that takes customers who defrauded it during a glitch, to court.

    The sights are only too familiar: of a typical accident scene with hordes of able-bodied Nigerians – the so-called desperately poor – scrambling to help themselves to the spilled contents, whether it is fuel or other goods, oftentimes at the risk of lives or limb. Imagine the chaos being replicated in the digital space with its multi-layered firewalls of protection in the aftermath of a glitch. That apparently is the bitter pill recently served on one of the nation’s financial services providers, Lotus Bank, in the aftermath of a glitch in its systems. Now, the bank has asked a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, to help recover N1,133,808,604.31 allegedly withdrawn by hundreds of its customers when the system failure hit the bank’s electronic payment platform in July.

    According to the motion on notice filed by the bank before Justice Daniel Osiagor, 718 of its customers fraudulently withdrew and transferred funds, apparently knowing that the amount exceeded their account balances on July 20, 2024. In the quest for reparations, it also dragged the 45 banks before the court over the transactions.

    While such glitches are unfortunate, they are ordinarily not unusual in the complex ecosystem in which information technology and financial services interface. It is one of the perils of the digital age when a minor glitch could occasion monumental losses in cash and reputational damage. And whereas no system can be entirely glitch-proof, the need to minimise such glitches is precisely why financial services and fin-tech companies invest heavily in their digital infrastructure. Still, things happen.

    To start with, we would have imagined a situation in which adequate mechanisms would have been in place, particularly at the industry level, to ensure easy and perhaps straightforward resolution of matters like this without the need for an external body – the courts. That the ‘victim’ bank had to head for the court to get the process reversed can only but mean that such industry-specific mechanism does not currently exist; it therefore speaks to the urgent imperative that a new governance structure be put in place to address the problem, if only to guard against future occurrence.

    We therefore urge the court to expedite the process if only to ensure that a party is not enabled to unduly profit from that malfeasance.

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    Yet, the more troubling part in the fiasco is how easily these customers took advantage of the unfortunate glitch to abuse the system – which is what it is, really.

    Was the matter brought to the attention of the customers after the event? And did they fail to make the necessary restitutions? To the extent that the bank has gone to court on the matter, the only plausible deduction is that they did and that those involved somehow failed to do the needful. That would have been most unfortunate were this to be the case.

    The development, a measure of how the virtues of honesty and integrity have come to count for nothing in our society, also speaks to how the fear of consequences has proven to be less and less of a deterrence to misdemeanours. Surely, the bank not only has the right but the abounding duty to recover the funds which are actually other depositors’ money.

    Still, there is another flipside equally deserving of mention. While in this instance, the bank is the one sinned against as opposed to being the sinner, most bank customers would readily testify that this is only one exception to the general trend, and that overall, the reverse is oftentimes the case.

    As it is, the bank has the means to hire a battery of lawyers to press its case against the customers, what about the hordes of victims ill-served by the financial services sector by way of failed transactions and sundry charges for which any prospects of restitution would appear forlorn?

  • Centralists vs. federalists

    Centralists vs. federalists

    DisCos and state power regulators war on the tariff front

    In July, the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) introduced a lower Band A tariff for its Enugu State customers. It slashed it from N209/kilowatt-hour (a standard electricity distribution company — DisCo — charges nationwide) to N160/kilowatt-hour.

    But the old DisCos balked.

    That has triggered a tariff war between state regulators and the DisCos, with the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) first siding with the DisCos but later opting to make regulatory peace between the two.  The latest trouble shooting is fixed for Lagos, this week, according to a report in ‘The Punch’.

    Meanwhile, a war between electricity centralists and federalists is roaring, both quoting the use — or misuse — of the Electricity Act 2023, which federalised the electricity market, against the old regime, with NERC as sole national regulator.

    The Forum of Commissioners for Power and Energy in Nigeria (FCPEN) — the new electricity federalists on the block — insist state regulators have the power to fix tariffs in their own market space, vide the Electricity Act 2023.

    But the old DisCos — centralised retail power marts under NERC — counter that states can’t fix tariff on inter-state electricity from the national grid.  In other words, until they can generate, transmit and distribute own exclusive power, they are in no position to fix tariff.  They are not, because there are associated costs — or subsidy — to be shared.  If you can’t cover all your costs — and subsidy, they argue, is cost borne by someone — you can’t logically slash tariffs.

    The latest to join the battle is Dr. Sam Amadi, pioneer NERC chair; after the DisCos, their voice a rather trenchant Sunday Oduntan, the boss at the Association of Nigerian  Electricity Distributors (ANED), and official DisCo spokesperson.  Both Amadi and Oduntan would appear electricity centralists at heart.

    In an interview with Nairametrics, an online medium, Dr. Amadi doubted the state regulators’ capacity to run the electricity market, saying they lack both the technical expertise and the cognate experience to do so.

    He accused the Federal Government of a political rush to decentralise, thus giving very little thinking to states’ human and technical competence; the power minister: for not showing enough leadership and foresight to ease state regulators into a completely new area, in which they are virtually at sea; and even NERC: for not doing enough modelling, via deliberate training, to envision the NERC and States Electricity Regulatory Commissions’ (SERC) seamless work, in a federalised electricity market.

    Yet, he too admitted that the original privatisation of 2013 was a mess, with the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) carved out among political cronies, with neither capital nor technical nous to add value.  He feared that might have been the same for the new SERCs.  He, however, counselled that the process be deepened — as seemingly flawed as it is — instead of seeking another escapism via amendment to the law — escapism that could create future problems.

    Oduntan is more combative, nay rabid, in his anti-state regulators’ stance. He swore that any attempt to crash tariffs, without paying the full power cost of production, will crash the market.

    ”So, when the regulator in the state says the DisCo there should sell at a lower price, the question to be asked is this: ‘Is that price below the cost price?’” he told ‘The Punch’. “If it is below the cost price, then the company will collapse.  So, it won’t work.  They cannot do it.  If they insist, then they will destroy the power sector.”

    But EERC had in July, when it slashed its tariff, countered that it had accounted for the full cost. Joe Aneke, Governor Peter Mbah’s special adviser on power, claimed the regulator based its tariff calculations on its distribution costs, after accounting for the full cost of power from the national grid.  NERC disagreed with it back then though, virtually warning it off the enterprise, before assuming its latest role as a conciliator.

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    Still, after all the brickbats, this is the sobering point: centralised regulation has made little dent on Nigeria’s electricity woes.  Otherwise, there would be no need to federalise the process.  So, Electricity Act 2023 is an idea whose time has come.

    Yet, adequate costing — and that need not tear the roof — is critical to a sustainable market.  So, those screaming about correct costing should not be shouted down.

    But the NERC — being the pioneer regulatory agency — must do much better in this new reality than how EERC’s customers were forced to revert to the old Enugu DisCo higher tariff — N209.50 — against MainPower, the local DisCo’s new rate of N160.40.  That blackmail was by Enugu DisCo halving the electricity supply to MainPower, throwing half of the market into darkness, and forcing the customers to pay the old higher rate.  EERC still protests that alleged sharp practice.

    NERC should pave a new path in its Lagos parley with all the stakeholders, in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).  Instead of state regulators and old DisCos sticking to their guns, NERC should link both, encourage them to look again at the numbers, and strike a healthy compromise that would work for the market.

    Federalised power is the future of the market.  Pending when states can generate, transmit and distribute, NERC should help midwife a workable transitional cost regime.