Category: Editorial

•Northeast governors move to upend predecessors who dined with bandits

Barely a week into the saddle, Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani last week delivered a magisterially blunt appraisal of the security challenge in the Northwest zone. He said some former governors frustrated efforts to tackle the menace by cutting out of a unified front by the states and instead chose to fraternise with bandits, who have been formally designated as terrorists by Nigerian law. Affected ex-governors, according to him, adopted an “extremely wrong” approach in managing the affairs of their states and thereby fostered the lingering challenge of insecurity in the zone.

Sani did not name names, but states in the Northwest are  Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. Former governors are Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Aminu Masari (Katsina), Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara). The zone incidentally has an entirely new set of governors who took over on May 29, namely Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Abba Yusuf (Kano), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Ahmad Aliyu (Sokoto) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara).

Until his inauguration as Kaduna State governor, Sani was a member of the ninth Senate. Speaking while featuring on a Channels Television morning show last week Tuesday, he said efforts to contain insecurity in the Northwest failed because some governors wined and dined with suspected terrorists. “I remember when the Kaduna State Government and some states within the Northwest — and even Niger State, because they have borders with us — came together to work out a framework to tackle this issue of insecurity. We had a joint committee, joint funding, working closely with all the security agencies — the army, the air force and the police,” he stated. “But unfortunately, somewhere along the line, the alliance broke down when some state governors decided to start engaging the bandits and the terrorists, sitting with them, wining and dining with them, compensating them, negotiating with them,” he added.

The Kaduna State governor spoke against the backdrop of different approaches by states in the zone under the previous dispensation in dealing with the terrorists. Whereas some ex-governors – notably Kaduna’s el-Rufai – advocated a hard hand against the criminals, including carpet-bombing their forest hideouts, some other ex-governors negotiated with them and indeed handed out monetary inducements and social benefits to dissuade their aggression. This, according to Sani, resulted in breakdown of regional alliance and hampered progress in the battle against the terrorists.

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But there’s new thinking in the hub. “Only two weeks ago, I invited all governors from the Northwest to the Kaduna State Liaison Office in Abuja; I hosted them irrespective of party differences. They all came, we sat down together and came out with a kind of policy framework to tackle the problem of insecurity,” the governor said. “We agreed that we have to have a common approach to the issue and we have to move away from the mistakes made by some previous governors that decided to compromise the operation in the past when they started giving money to the bandits and negotiating with them,” he added. According to him, Northwest governors are in agreement on the need to tackle the problem and plan to reach out to the Niger State Governor Umar Bago “because we have a similar problem.”

Sani added that the governors are also planning to meet President Bola Tinubu as a group. “In one of my conversations with him, he agreed that I should bring the governors from the zone to meet with him on the issue of insecurity. So, we have to work together with a common agenda, plan and operation. That is the only way we can be able to solve the problem,” he said.

The governor, in our view, was bang on point. Not that what he said about some ex-governors fraternising with terrorists wasn’t already known, but it was yet instructive that it was acknowledged at such an official level. And Sani was also right about the effect factor. Lack of coordination in the battle against terrorists had weakened efforts by security agents to tackle them down and offered comfort zones for their nefarious exploits. Ex-governors who gave terrorists money in the hope of ‘buying’ security from them only indirectly funded their capacity to perpetrate insecurity. And the ‘soft war’ by way of social isolation of terrorists that should have complemented the ‘hard war’ fought against them by security forces was negated by the dealings of some ex-governors with the same terrorists. It was apparently taking a cue from the executive disposition that some communities awarded chieftaincy titles to terrorist kingpins! There was no way anyone could hope to win the battle against terrorists that way.

If terrorists will be defeated in the Northeast and elsewhere, the old approach that didn’t work must be firmly discarded; hence, the new governors are encouraged to faithfully pursue the new paradigm they’ve etched out.

•Coordination of security agencies is the right call.  But state police should be added to the mix

President Bola Tinubu struck the right chord in his call for coordination and cooperation among the federal security agencies.  His imagery, especially among music lovers, was especially apt.

“You can’t have disharmony in an orchestra,” he declared, after his tour of the new Office of the National Security Adviser; and after also assessing facilities at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC). “We must,” he insisted, “focus on one tunnel; coordinate, share information, share intelligence and work harder.”

Good: the president also reported an encouraging uptick in hardware at the NCTC, thus declaring the country was in the right direction to achieve its security goal; and banish, once and for all, the current dire security challenges.  

These investments that just earned such presidential praise are laudatory.  But as the reward for hard work is more work — as that saying goes — the investments call for even more, if we must close the insecurity deficit.

That must come in even better structural chain of upgrades, which the president seemed to imply in his comments.  He should commit to them even more.  

Here, the Lagos story — how Lagos, when the president was governor — changed both the operational speed and funding of the Nigeria Police within its jurisdiction, is of particular reference.  The story of the Lagos Rapid Response Squad (RRS) has since become a national reference point.

But that wouldn’t have happened without a fundamental tweaking of the funding structure.  Security hardware — arms, munitions, armoured personnel carriers (APC), protective gears, patrol cars, communication gadgets without which control centres are nothing but shells — don’t come cheap.  Effective funding might just be challenging for the government alone — but not so for shared partnership with mutual benefits.

Compared to states, the Federal Government is big and strong.  But it appears not big and strong enough to tame today’s security challenges: Boko Haram and allied insurrection, banditry and kidnapping for ransom that funds that heinous crime, routine armed robbery, petty phone grabs and neighbourhood burglaries.  

Still, partnership in cost sharing with Business Nigeria, in exchange for safety and security of investors’ prized assets, which can have radically positive impact on the bottom-line, can work wonders.  It worked in Lagos.  There is no reason it can’t work Nigeria-wide, though on a grander scale.

The president pledged his government to doing whatever was necessary to support and re-jig Nigeria’s security infrastructure.  Whatever the details, funding would be crucial to making the plan sustainable.  The new government must therefore design a sustainable funding formula, preferably outside conventional thinking.

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That brings the issue back to cooperation and intelligence-sharing among the security agencies and effective coordination by their respective service heads. This really ought to be trite.  It won’t be the first time a president and commander-in-chief would commend these traits to the security forces.  Working for the collective is common sense.

But if such orders seldom worked in the past, what were the structural barriers?  These are what the president and his new lieutenants should ponder — and right.  A right structure can’t totally eliminate operational drags like conflicting egos or even costly but honest mistakes.  But an effective structure limits such tendencies to the barest minimum, other things being equal.

That’s the direction towards which the new administration should work.  It bears restating: even the most formidable of hardware would make little impact without adequate coordination.  Structural efficiency and effectiveness make coordination easier, if not exactly routine.  Which is why it’s good the new president is sounding the bugle early enough in his administration.

Still, even with the federal agencies humming like a well-oiled auto, it’s doubtful if a centralised policing structure can alone turn around the very daunting security challenges.  That is why the new government should, as early as possible, put in motion steps to re-introduce state police. 

The last raft of constitutional amendments gave the states the right to build and run own correctional centres, as a logical extension of their courts: magistrates’ courts and state high courts.  The only thing missing, in states’ criminal-justice system, is the police.  It’s time the latest puzzle, in that jigsaw, was added.  

Besides, Nigeria is a vast territory.  More (wo)men should be put on the ground to do effective policing.  State police offers bright intelligence prospects: natives are likely more intimate with their environment than others — so could sniff out crimes even before actual commission.

•Senate rejection of controversial Water Resources Bill puts paid to the bad rubbish

Former president Mohammed Buhari left office on May 29.  As with every administration, the past eight years in Nigeria’s history have many unforgettable issues that made headlines. However, one of the unforgettable issues was that of some murderous herdsmen that seemed to have escalated in the Buhari years. Nigerians grew up seeing the nomadic herdsmen moving their cattle round the country in search of food and water. For decades, there were no conflict.

However, the former president is himself a farmer with many cows in his Daura compound in Katsina State. Majority of the herdsmen are known to be of the nomadic Fulani stock like the former president and they can be found in many West African countries like Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Mauritius, etc.

With the effects of global warming hitting nations, the impact soon became very overwhelming and grazing fields started diminishing, just as lakes and rivers started receding, making it difficult for the herders to feed their cattle. In a very curious way, conflicts heightened after the 2015 elections. What were hitherto minor indigenes/settlers’ conflicts in some parts of the country escalated to serious conflicts which in a way gave birth to multiple deaths and insecurity.

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria became more militant and combative, leading to serious security problems as they saw themselves as pursuing the legitimate survival of their businesses. Their activities snowballed into high level insecurity issues and a multitude of other criminal gangs surfaced in ways that today, the food insecurity in Nigeria is traceable to the emergence of bandits, cattle rustlers, kidnappers and other anti-social elements. The country has not recovered ever since.

In what many saw as protecting his herdsmen constituency, former President Buhari seemed to have used kid gloves and did not want to buy the proposal for the establishment of private ranches as had always been the case in the past, and in many other countries. In its stead, the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) politics was introduced but resisted because the argument was that herding is like all other businesses and must not be pampered with other peoples’ lands in the name of grazing areas.  Many lives have been lost as the debates and defiance went on.

Even though the controversial National Resources Bill was equally seen as a surreptitious way to provide herders with water for their cattle across the country, the recent rejection of the bill by the senate on the eve of the president’s departure has been applauded by many. The bill, listed for concurrence on the order paper for consideration for passage was listed as National Inland Waterways Authority Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2023 (HB.173).

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The bill, if it had passed, would have concentrated the control of water resources around rivers Niger and Benue which cut across about 19 states in the hands of the Federal Bovernment. The states include Anambra, Kogi, Cross River, Ondo, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Kwara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Plateau, Bayelsa and Kebbi. Governors and their legislators had fought very long battles to make sure this bill did not see the light of day and the recent rejection by the senate seems like victory for the concerned states.

Even though the 9th assembly was widely seen as a ‘rubber stamp’ assembly, possibly due to some of their legislative missteps, we commend their stand on this unpopular bill. We believe that the Federal Government did not appear very sincere with the bill. Just like all other businesses, herders should be advised to invest in infrastructure for their business.

Brazil and Argentina are two of the world’s greatest producers of beef and their cattle farmers have not been as troublesome as Nigerian herders that are barely producing enough for local consumption. We just hope that the failure of RUGA and the Water Resources Bill would be the last Nigerians would debate about particular lopsided support for businessmen doing their own businesses. There should be no discomfort to others by a few just because they have one of them in power. The world has gone beyond this. Our system must be more functional.

• As we mark June 12 again, it’s time to reflect on our failings and love affair with democracy

At a point in the chronicle of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s quest to be president, some critics likened it to the tragedy of Moshood Abiola who won the election but did not actualise the people’s mandate at the polls. History has seen the June 12, 1993 polls as a colossal waste of a watershed hour in the nation’s history. It was seen as perhaps the best time the people of the country voted to quash the supremacy of tribe over higher values and a moment of cooperative piety, when people did not see faith unless it was faith in this country and its march towards an inexorable future.

Today marks 30 years of that moment. Abiola, like all great men of history, was a flawed creature. But he was one of us, and he had the fears, hopes, future and dream to renew this country. Clips from his speeches at that time about giving the country a berth in the world, reinvigorating our youth, bringing rigour to our debates, retuning the economy and fine-tuning our culture resonate today and also haunted the rhetoric of President Tinubu as candidate. It might have been three decades ago, but it is as though we just woke up a day after.

Yet, we cannot afford to forget the toils and bloodshed of those years. The military government under Ibrahim Babangida turned the first soldier into a potentate, an imperial lord whose sword shaped our fears and abolished our hopes. We cannot forget the rise of youth and students, the earthquakes of protests in major cities, especially in Lagos and Ibadan. We saw the political class coalesce and how every major stakeholder abided that phrase of defiance: “On June 12, we stand.” We were gung-ho with the republican spirit.

The soldiers surged to the streets. They made heroes of some otherwise unknown figures. Some of them became martyrs. Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist, was slaughtered and deprived his family, the country and the humanity the opportunity of a formal goodbye. His remains were never seen. Alfred Rewane, a plutocrat of plebian credentials who devoted his treasure to the struggle, was murdered in cold blood. The wife of Abiola, Kudirat, fell in a hail of bullets because of her trenchant voice for freedom. These were the prominent names. We cannot name many who died in those high-handed days. Those who were shot at on the streets, the anonymity of the market woman, student, father, mother, child, brother. Their sin was to ask back what the soldier took from them: the sacred fruit of their vote.

But we cannot forget as well those who toiled in hiding and stalemated the country and dared the behemoth of the IBB act. They were journalists, labour leaders, politicians, lawyers, students, et al. We cannot blot out the roles of newspapers like Abiola’s newspaper, the Concord Press, that went into oblivion under the draconian weight of the junta. Let’s remember the warriors of the pen in two major magazines, The News and Tell, and how the journalists were hounded and threatened. The editors, led by Bayo Onanuga for The News, and Nosa Igiebor for Tell, did not flinch in the face of terror. Their magazines marked the golden age of that genre and its graveyard but they embarrassed and exposed the hypocrisies and butchery of the soldiers. Some, like Alex Kabba of The News, took shelter in the United States Embassy before fleeing the country.

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The slight figure of Frank Kokori, the general secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) and his work with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). Kokori was the most wanted figure in the country because he led a shutdown of a critical sector of the economy. They combed cities and villages, but the man was in this country, clocking the regime to its final exit. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka had to stay in exile as he galvanised world opinion against a junta he once gave a chance and it even honoured him. Novelist Chinua Achebe defied his handicap to testify in the United States Congress.

Some politicians worked the military into a barbarian frenzy. Some of such figures were Anthony Enahoro and now President Tinubu. Tinubu became at once a financier and fighter. He was detained and subjected to indignities until he was able to escape through what was known as the NADECO route. We hail all the members of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, for standing firm. One of its members, Chima Ubani of blessed memory, who was always hailed as the governor of Lagos because he decided when Lagosians would go to work and when they would stay at home during the crisis.

 We cannot play down the sacrifice of many who blazed in hunger because of the economic paralysis of those days. Companies did not pay salaries and traders munched their investments. Fears of a national catastrophe forced some to leave the cities to their villages.

Yet, as heroic as those times were, we started to see big names negotiate the people’s patrimony. It was a time of perfidy, of treacherous horse trading, stabs in the back and upturning of social contract. The unanimity of the sing-song, “On June 12, we stand” became derided as “On June 12, we sit,” among many obscenities. Some courts became hostages of the junta while some traded with the opportunity.

But the battle came to end with the death of Sani Abacha who took over from his fellow traveller Babangida who had “stepped aside” under pressure. Yet, after the military yielded to a civilian democracy, we have seen over the years that the country still witnessed the throes of despotic hangovers. The incidents of Odi, do-or-die elections, brigandage of politicians and their acolytes, the hobgoblin of the soldiers who got elected into office without shedding their autocratic backgrounds only show we have had to treat those septic tanks over and again. Hence those who called for the military to intervene and undermine the polls that just happened ought to see this day as a reminder that we had a past of the caveman’s hubris that we should forget only with consequences.

We join all those who will see today as one for a reflection on the virtues of democracy, which, with all its flaws, is still the best that civilisation has woven as a system of popular persuasion, which U.S. President Abraham Lincoln defined as “the government of the people by the people and for the people.”

It shows that the only people who deserve freedom must watch from the tower of the vote.

• The world celebrates an icon whose music appealed to all, irrespective of class, race or creed

“My legacy is that I stayed on course… From the beginning to the end, Because I believed in something inside of me” – Tina Turner

Tina Turner, American-Swiss Rock ‘n’ Roll legend was born in 1939 as Anna Mae Bullock in a little Nutbush Tennessee town to parents who were sharecroppers. She died on May 24 at 83 in her adopted country, Switzerland. Tina went by so many aliases given her life odyssey and phenomenal success as a multi-award winning Rock ‘n’ Roll musician, dancer and actress.

She was known variously as, the ‘Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll’, Simply the Best, What’s Love Got to do with It and simply as TT. Since the news of her passing, there has been an impressive global celebration of her life because she appealed to all races, creeds, genders, royals and peasants alike because she communicated humanity through her unique music, hair, dressing, dancing style, outstanding elegance and creatively alluring stage presence that was first noticed when she started off in the 50s with her first husband, Ike Turner in his band, Kings of Rhythm, that later became the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.

Her electrifying stage performances brought attention to her talents and Ike, the leader of the band married her in what she described in her autobiography, “My Love Story” as his attempt to formalise their relationship for business purposes. Ike Turner lived out the commercial intent by becoming a metaphor for domestic violence perpetrator in the music industry in America and even globally, given the fact that his abusive behaviour towards Tina became public knowledge. She left him after 16 abusive years and demanded nothing but to retain her name, Tina Turner.

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Tina had left him with just 36 cents in her wallet and the will power to survive on her own terms. She had said she preferred living as a slave to someone else rather than living as Ike’s wife. When she closed the door behind her as she ran for dear life, she only had her talent which no one could take away.  She eventually sold more than 200m records globally and with that her fame blossomed as a solo artist.

She won 12 Grammies, a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement Award, and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. She had the distinguished honour of being the first black artist and  woman to be on the Cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. She has been adjudged one of the 100 greatest Artists of All Time. She has a Star at both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and St. Louis Walk Of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice amongst a series of other awards.

Her life was a very inspirational one as she is globally seen as a survivor and a courageous woman who took the bold step to leave an abusive spouse and became a star on her own terms. She highlighted the dangers of domestic violence in and was involved in advocating for victims. 

Tragedies dogged her step almost throughout her life but she was resolute to live and love. Her two sons died before her, living her with two adopted sons from Ike’s earlier relationship. Despite all she went through, she still had a great sense of gratitude to Ike and always highlighted his good sides before drugs and alcohol set in. She always proudly said she neither did drugs nor abused alcohol.

In one of the greatest love paradoxes, she later married a second husband, Erwin Bach, a German music producer who was 16 years her junior but who loved her like no man ever did. They dated for almost 30 years before finally marrying in 2013. She renounced her American citizenship for the Swiss one just to live with the love of her life who proved his love in unique ways, including giving her his kidney after hers failed and she was at the risk of death. Even when she advised him not to, seeing that he had his life to live being a younger man, “My life is our life” he told her. In every way, her younger European husband compensated for the hurt her black older husband caused her.

Tina left a legacy of admirable elegance, perseverance and courage that endeared her to many across the globe. She was a trail blazer with unique qualities in 20th century music world. She was sexy without being sensual and her legs were so beautiful they were insured for millions of dollars when she was actively performing. She was as sassy as she was engagingly brilliant. The world would miss her but her legacy of courage that birthed phenomenal success will endure for centuries to come.

May she find peace.

• Godless ‘men of God’ debase human morality

Clerics ordinarily are respected members of community who are regarded as role models of societal morality and fear of God. They are expected to be life savers, not life takers, and their mere appearance tends to evoke a sense of solace and comfort for troubled persons. But there are some clerics who have been caught in acts so fiendish that they signpost the basest thing conceivable in human morality. Examples are two professing clerics who lately were found in violation of the law with the indulgence of their libido that resulted in deaths of hapless victims.

A Rivers State high court sitting in Port Harcourt recently sentenced a pastor, Chidiebere Okoroafor, to death by hanging for multiple murder. Okoroafor, who is the General Overseer of the Altar of Solution and Healing Assembly based in Oyigbo, Rivers State, was put through trial and found guilty of the killing of his choir leader, Orlunma Nwagba, who he allegedly impregnated. He also faced murder charges and was found guilty of the killing of Nwagba’s friend, Chigozie Ezenwa, and her 11-month-old daughter, Cresabel, on December 11, 2017, in Oyigbo council area of Rivers State. Reports said the women had visited the pastor’s house in Oyigbo for talks about Nwagba’s pregnancy, upon which he tricked them to a bush and allegedly committed the murder act at two different locations. Men of Rivers State police command had on December 17, 2017, arrested Okoroafor following an alarm raised by Ezenwa’s husband over the killing of the three persons.

The trial judge, Justice S.O. Benson, ruled that available evidence and confessional statements by the pastor showed he committed the crimes. The judge said the prosecution proved the case of murder against the cleric and ordered that he be hung by the neck until he dies or a lethal injection be administered on him.

Speaking to journalists after the trial, prosecution counsel, Precious Ordu, expressed satisfaction with the verdict, saying: “Justice has been served to the state, the complainant and the convict. This will serve as a deterrent to all those who intend to commit similar offence because it is justice for all.” For his part, defence counsel, Innocent Ekwu, said his team would appeal the judgment because “we have grounds on which we believe that the defendant did not commit the offence.”

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In another instance, a catechist at St. Martins Parish, Mbape in Adikpo deanery, Kwande council area of Benue State, is said to be at large following the death of a lady suspected to be his lover. The catechist, identified as Oliver Vershima, was said to have fled when he was caught with the corpse of the lady as he planned to dispose of it. Reports cited a resident of the community telling journalists that the incident happened last Saturday.

According to the source, Vershima was caught with the body around 7p.m. on Saturday and upon being questioned, it was discovered that he had impregnated the lady and they tried to terminate the pregnancy, but the lady lost her life in the process earlier on that Saturday. “To conceal this, the catechist hid the corpse inside his room until night so he could take the body out of the village. Unfortunately for him, he was caught while trying to carry the body out of the village, but he later escaped,” the community resident was quoted saying, adding that though the lady’s identity was yet to be ascertained, she was believed to be from a neighbouring community.

Confirming the incident, Benue State Police Command spokesperson, Catherine Anene, said the body had been recovered and deposited in a morgue. She stated: “The corpse of the young girl who was said to have visited her man friend was recovered and taken to the mortuary after a report was received. But the said Oliver is yet to be seen as he ran away after he brought the corpse out of his room.” The spokesperson added that investigation was ongoing and the cause of death yet unknown.

The depravity of morals that the supposed ‘men of God’ were linked to is so sordid that such wouldn’t be expected even of Godless men. It is difficult to see what knowledge of God they ever had or taught to their followers, not to mention that they failed expectations to be good examples that can be emulated. We applaud the justice dealt with the verdict on the randy general overseer, while we hope that no effort is spared to apprehend the fleeing catechist so that he is brought to account for his misdeed. But the moral here is that the hood never makes the monk and people should be wary of making themselves vulnerable to wolves in sheep’s skin.

• •With fresh blood injected into governance in 18 states, we expect paradigm shifts in administration

Eighteen new governors-elect joined 10 others who were re-elected March 18. Governorship election would be held in the remaining  eight states at some future dates. The states where new governors emerged are: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi and Enugu. Others are Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Ñiger and Plateau. The other states where power changed hands are Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara. In the remaining 18 states, it is either the incumbents’ tenures had not lapsed or they were reelected for another four years.

We congratulate the governors that have just been sworn in and wish them successful tenures.

However, we must hasten to add that they must eschew bitterness, especially where there had been animosity between them and their predecessors, either as a fallout of the demands of governance or the political campaigns. Now, elections are over. We expect governance to take the centre-stage. What should be paramount in the minds of the new helmsmen is how to impact the lives of the people who voted them into power and not ego or other mundane matters. In some places, we are already seeing bitterness even as some of the new governors are yet to settle down.

This is why some governors abandon projects started by their predecessors no matter the cost that would have been incurred on those projects or the benefits to the people. This is one of the reasons we have abandoned projects all over the country. Scarce resources should not be sacrificed on the altar of petty rivalries. If any project must be discontinued, it must be for genuine reasons of their irrelevance or misplaced priority. As a matter of fact, some projects cannot be abandoned again when we consider what has been spent on them. The new governors have to think through how to make a good case out of such a bad situation rather than abandoning those projects outright.

Again, one good development since 1999, particularly in the Muhammadu Buhari years is the gradual movement toward federalism. Although we are not there yet, the situation is not as bad as it was in 1999 when we returned to civil rule. Then, virtually everything, including items that should be under the purview of state governments were being handled by the Federal Government. These included power, railways, central police force, etc. Today, however, the narrative is changing.

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Not a few Nigerians hailed President Buhari when, as part of his government’s last-minute goodies he signed into law a constitutional amendment granting power to states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. He did the same to railways which has now moved from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List. There were at least 14 other items that the former president assented to their amendments last month, but power and railways would seem the most profound.

With regard to power, it has long been realised that the Federal Government alone cannot ensure regular and uninterrupted electricity supply in the country but successive governments had been shying away from taking the bold step that Buhari took.

The same thing applies to railways. States now having their own railways come with a lot of advantages too. Now, regional cooperation and collaboration would be facilitated and, aside the fact of saving cost, it would also help in the movement of people and goods which would also impact positively on economic activities as well as the lifespan of our highways.

Although, state police is still not allowed in the country, some concession has been made in this regard too. That is why we have an organisation like the Western Nigeria Security Network code-named Amotekun in most states of the southwest, to enhance security. Similar outfits exist in other parts of the country.

As we observed earlier, we may not be there yet, but the state governments should also begin by taking advantage of these few positive developments. We expect that the new governors particularly, would want to lead the way. They should come into government with open mind and hit the ground running.

It would be better for them to collaborate with their counterparts in other states with a view to seeing how far they can go in controlling the resources in their states. As a matter of fact, it is private individuals, in some cases foreigners, that are exploiting resources in some states, albeit illegally. With unanimity of purpose, the state governments would make significant progress in taking charge of these resources and using them for the benefit of the people. Many states that are going cap in hand to Abuja for handouts every month do not have any business with such executive begging.

All said, we look forward to having fresh ideas in governance in all the states, irrespective of whether the governors are new or old.

• •Reelected ASUU President has duty to lead the teachers with tact this time around

Reelection of an official by any group or community is regarded as validation of the previous term. Therefore, when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held its National Delegates Conference in Jos, Plateau State in May, many Nigerians had thought a new leadership would emerge in view of Professor Emmanuel Osodeke’s rancourous first term. But, he was returned unopposed.

What then should be expected in his second term? A major highlight of his first term was the longest industrial action in ASUU history since it was founded in 1978. He led his executive to take the Federal government to task for infidelity to a 2009 agreement. The union insisted that the pact must be fully honoured despite the inclement economic climate partly occasioned by a global recession and the devastation in the wake of the deadly Coronavirus disease.

From February to October last year, the universities were shut, and the bewildered student population left roaming the streets, with some recruited into undesirable groups. Some may never recover.

Drums of strike are being beaten again. This would not be in the interest of the society and tertiary education in Nigeria. The university teachers are calling for salary review, and payment for the eight months they refused to work. Citing the “no work, no pay” principle, the Federal Government said it would not pay for the eight months the union rejected pleas by governments and well-meaning Nigerians to cease fire.

Just before the industrial action was called off in October, last year, the then Minister of Labour dragged the lecturers before the National Industrial Court (NIC) on the grounds that the strike was illegal. Following resumption of work, and government’s decision that it would only pay half salary for October, the teachers, too, sought judicial intervention. Now that the NIC has declared the government as operating from the right side of the law, we could only appeal for leniency in the interest of industrial harmony.

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Truth be told, the situation in the universities is unsuitable for learning and research. There is the need for the authorities to look into the welfare scheme that would promote scholarship, improve on facilities on the campuses and check overpopulation. This calls for a wholesale review of the scheme of running the institutions. The governance structure that makes all public schools dependent on government funding is long overdue for change. The international best practice is that universities should be autonomous, thereby leaving the governing council of each to decide the template on which it would run. This is the only viable antidote to industrial discord in the schools. There is hardly any country where the government only bears the load of public tertiary education. Yet, ASUU is opposed to payment of fees in the universities. 

It is gratifying that President Bola Tinubu has promised that the schools would, under his watch, be encouraged to charge viable fees to pay their lecturers and provide facilities, with scholarships, bursaries and loans made available for indigent students. 

It should be noted that unless the country realigns its education system at all levels, development would remain a mirage.

We hope Professor Osodeke has learnt useful lessons from his first term that only led to colossal loss to the lecturers who are usually expected to take calculated steps. The industrial action was called off without extracting any major concession from government.  He should have learnt that diplomacy is embedded in every negotiation. Inflexibility only leads to a disastrous end. The union, too, should not leave the leadership unchecked. There must be regular consultation to ensure that the best interest of members are served at all times.

Last year’s strike led to fragmentation as the medical and dental teachers who hardly join in industrial actions had pulled out and were fully paid. Professor Osodeke whose second mandate expires in 2026 should have his eyes on the legacy he would be leaving for his successor. It is in the interest of all that our universities are turned around as institutions of excellence comparable to the best in other parts of the world.

• Other northern states should emulate Borno in educational development

In continuation of the commendable focus of his administration on enhancing the quality of public education in Borno State during his first term, it is instructive that the governor of the state, Professor Babagana Zulum, kicked off his second term last week with the laying of the foundation of the 25th mega-size secondary school to be constructed by his government since 2019. Twenty-four of these mega school structures, each of which has 30 classrooms that can accommodate a total of 1,800 students with particular focus on technical education had earlier been constructed in the administration’s last four years in office, before the commencement of the latest addition located in Gambou Ward of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council.

The prioritisation of education by the Zulum administration right from its inception was demonstrated by its rehabilitation of over 108 existing primary and secondary schools and the construction of additional 1,000 classrooms across the state thus far. Other new initiatives are the reintroduction of Mock examinations in secondary schools as well as the introduction of centres of excellence to enable government harness the potentials of underprivileged children.

At the ceremony to commence the construction of the new mega school, Governor Zulum announced new measures to consolidate and improve on his government’s attainments in this critical sector. The central and most critical of these is the administration’s plan to employ 5,000 new teachers and other categories of staff for public primary and secondary schools in the state, to improve the quality of teaching and administration. The governor explained that new teaching and non-teaching staff would be needed for the commencement of afternoon primary and secondary schools in the state, to address problems of school congestion and increased enrollment of out-of-school children.

For a state that was for years the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, with the depletion of schools and the high rate of attrition of students and teachers due to incessant attacks on educational institutions, it is heartwarming that the number of children who have resumed their education has risen to the extent that afternoon shifts are being introduced. According to the governor, the introduction of afternoon schools will necessitate increased numbers even of non-teaching staff and he had thus directed the Office of the Head of Service to identify qualified staff currently redundant at government offices who will be trained in school administration and deployed to hold non-teaching positions in the afternoon schools.

A positive fall-out of the policy, apart from the employment of substantial numbers of new teachers will thus be the efficient and productive deployment of currently employed but largely underutilised staff in the public service to schools.

It is a measure of proactive thinking on the part of the government that it is also planning for adequate security measures to ensure the safety of the afternoon schools since classes may extend to early parts of the night. Notable stakeholders in education in the state have understandably commended the government’s initiative while offering suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of the new policy.

The immediate past Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Borno State, Mr Muhammed Jubril, was enthused that the recruitment of the new teachers would fill the huge gap created by the large number of teachers killed by insurgents in the past few years, while stressing the need for a more equitable and efficient distribution of teachers among schools in the state, as some schools are more severely affected by teaching staff shortages than others. Noting that the 5,000 teachers to be recruited will only cover secondary schools, he canvassed for the recruitment of a larger number to cater for primary schools. We understand however that it is wiser for government to employ only the number it can afford to pay at this time even as it plans towards additional recruitment in future. And those to be employed must be qualified and competent.

Professor Zulum is one of those northern governors who has recognised the imperative of decisively addressing the educational deficiencies of the region, both to accelerate rapid socio-economic development and to ameliorate poverty. Statistics by the relevant agencies indicate that educational performance in the north continues to be poorer than the south. Although it is the most populous part of the country, the North is estimated to account for over 70 per cent of the estimated 13.2 million out-of-school children in the country. According to data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the majority of children aged 10 and above in northern states destabilised by insecurity have not finished six years of basic schooling and Borno is one of the worst affected states in this category, with a figure of 84 per cent of young children who lack access to education. In this regard, Governor Zulum offers a sterling example to his colleagues in the region of the way to go.

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