The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Shambolic highways

    Shambolic highways

    • FERMA needs to be strengthened to cope with workload

    Works Minister David Umahi and Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo recently put the state of federal roads across Nigeria in graphic context. They lamented the appalling condition of the infrastructure in Edo State, describing the plight of motorists as both tragic and unacceptable.

    According to them, the situation resulted from years of neglect by successive administrations that could no longer be allowed to continue, considering the hardships faced daily by commuters.

    Speaking following an inspection of the Benin-Warri dual carriageway bypass, Umahi acknowledged that motorists could not travel 100-kilometre stretch on federal roads nationwide without encountering major challenges. He, however, praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his swift intervention and commitment to reversing decades of infrastructural decay.

    He noted that the President inherited a massive backlog of failed road and bridge projects from past administrations, but he has demonstrated courage, commitment and determination to reverse the situation.

    “President Tinubu met an overwhelming situation in terms of roads and bridges. You can’t travel 100 kilometres on federal roads without encountering serious difficulties. But the President is showing resolve, and Nigerians are already commending his efforts,” he stated.

    The minister illustrated the kind of collaboration that could quickly ameliorate the situation with the role being played by Governor Okpebholo. He praised the governor for promptly intervening in critically failed portions of the Benin-Warri highway after the termination of a contract earlier awarded to a construction firm under the NNPC tax credit scheme.

    “The contract was terminated after months of delay and poor work. We appealed to Governor Okpebholo to take over the first 23 kilometres, which he promptly awarded to another firm. The quality of their work is commendable,” he said.

    Okpebholo, for his part, recalled that on personal inspection of the Benin-Warri highway recently, he was disturbed by the sight of multiple accidents and stranded motorists. “I almost wept when I saw the number of vehicles, including trailers, that had broken down or fallen on this road. The situation demands urgent action, and I am glad the minister has joined us to push for solutions,” he said.

    The governor stressed that quality road infrastructure is not only essential for people’s welfare but also critical for the ruling party’s credibility.

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    The situation identified with Edo road infrastructure is replicated across the country, with surfaces of many highways scarred with potholes and gullies. Long stretches are hardly passable in many places, and there are portions where erosion has eaten away entire lanes.

    It is no hyperbole to describe the roads as death traps. Federal roads are major highways linking states in the country and are expectedly busy fares plied by all kinds of motorists. But travellers often found themselves stuck for hours on these roads that are in many cases difficult to navigate owing to pothole-ridden, and in other parts completely failed sections, rendering them impassable, especially during rainy seasons.

    A recent feature report by ‘Vanguard’ newspaper detailed harsh experiences of travellers in sore spots across the country. The report specified problematic highways to include Lagos-Ota Road, and sections I & II of Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan dual carriageway among others in Lagos axis. In the South-west, they include the Akure to Ado-Ekiti highway, Ado-Ekiti-Ijan-Road in Ekiti State, Ife-Ilesa and Ikirun-Otan Ayegbaju-Ila-Oke Ila roads in Osun State.

    In Oyo, there are the Ibadan–Ogbomoso highway, Ibadan–Ife road (especially the Oyo State axis), and the Ibadan–Ijebu-Ode as well as Ibadan–Abeokuta roads that have all but collapsed.

    In the South-south and South-east zones, the report identified the Itu-Calabar federal highway, dislocated sections of the East-West Road that is the artery linking the six states of the oil-rich region, and the Benin–Auchi–Lokoja road that is impassable except for portions partially rehabilitated by the Edo State Government between Benin and Iruekpen and from Agbede to Auchi, among others.

    In the North, there are sections of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway over which there are issues with the contractor and completion timeline.

    The Tinubu administration has a strong record in road development, with one of its most ambitious projects being the 750-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Many roads are receiving government attention nationwide, but more needs to be done.

    Like Umahi and Okpebholo explained, state governments must step up to collaborate with and complement the Federal Government, because the roads are located within their direct jurisdictions and plied by their people. In other words, states cannot idly wait for federal authorities if there will be rapid rehabilitation of road infrastructure across the country.   

    One thing needful at the federal level, however, is to strengthen the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to fulfill its mandate. This agency, with hundreds of engineers on its staff roll, should be empowered with an enabling law and budgetary provisions to rehabilitate and maintain federal roads on an ongoing basis.

  • An American illusion

    An American illusion

    • Genocide in Nigeria? Perish the thought

    For weeks now, the word genocide has buzzed around in the United States that Christians in Nigeria are faced with existential threat and require state support to save them. There have been attempts to twist the facts about the insecurity in the country to suit the narrative that the violence rocking parts of the country is informed by religious disputes. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    The security crisis in the country that started in 2009 is known to the whole world to have been religion blind; the Boko Haram that started then has attacked security outposts irrespective of the religion of the commander. Besides, there is no military or police unit that is composed of only Christians or Muslims. The insurgents are known to also have attacked mosques and churches, clerics across religious divides and denominations, markets have been sacked, and school children have been abducted in their hundreds without recourse to their beliefs across the North East zone.

     It had since burst out of the region to the North West and the North Central. Whereas the North East crisis has been largely the Boko Haram sect. buoyed by the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) operating across Chad, Cameroon and migrating southwards from the Sahel,

    what we have in Nigeria – be it the insurgency in the North East or the banditry in the North West or the kidnapping in other parts of the country – is pure criminality. When people are kidnapped, it is usually for ransom to sustain their nefarious activities and supplement the financing that comes from across the borders. In Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi States, when the criminals strike, it is Muslims who are majority in the area, who get killed. But when villages and towns in Southern Kaduna, Plateau and Benue come under attack, Christians are mainly those who are victims because they are in the majority in the area.

    What Nigeria needs now is help from the international community to contain the crisis, not condemnation. Had there been mass murder of Christians in parts of the country, the vocal Christian community would have cried out, especially if it is true that a number of Catholic priests and in some cases, seminaries, have come particularly under attack. But, even then, the very active and outspoken Catholic Bishops are not known to have attributed it to a war against the denomination. Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto Diocese who has been an activist for ages is not known to have cried out that his people are singled out.

    It is unfortunate that the matter has been taken to the American Congress with a view to getting Nigeria enlisted among Countries of Particular Concern, a group comprising Iran, Nicaragua, Central African Republic, Vietnam, North Korea, Tarjikstan, Burma, among others. They are countries deemed by the US to be engaging in or tolerating violation of religious freedom. Anyone conversant with Nigeria and its composition knows that it is impossible for a religion to dominate others up to the point of engaging in genocide. As a multicultural society, there are occasional skirmishes across cultural, communal and religion lines in various parts of the country, but they are not permanent, nor are they backed by the state.

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    Everyone knows that Nigeria cannot survive a religious war. It is bound to lead to Mutually Assured Destruction. Besides, the composition of government at the centre that controls the agencies of coercion makes it impossible to order the annihilation of a people

    It is interesting that both Houses of the National Assembly have taken up the challenge. The United States authorities that have started the process of having a Bill to so enlist Nigeria should listen to their counterparts from Nigeria. Senate President Godswill Akpabio who is not only the presiding officer of the upper legislative chamber but also chairman of the federal legislature is a Christian, while the presiding officer at the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas is a Muslim.

    As former Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has said, the matter should not be taken lightly. All agencies of government, diplomatic, security and legislative should get involved to stave off the likely consequences of enlisting Nigeria in the group as it could affect not only the country’s image, but equally lead to economic sanctions. Given the position of the United States as leader of the western powers, this could have devastating effect on our tottering economy. Men like Ted Cruz who champions the crusade in the US should be made to retract the campaign. Christian groups like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) should voluntarily speak out louder on the side of truth to assure all that the crisis in Nigeria is not religious. They should reach out to their counterparts in the US, including men like Senator Ted Cruz who should be told to stop taking up a battle that Nigerian Christians are not fighting. If about 50,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed as he and his fellow travellers have claimed, Nigeria would have fully exploded before now.

    Nigeria belongs to all and truth should not be made a casualty of the campaign.

  •  ‘Nnajigate’?

     ‘Nnajigate’?

    • If allegations are confirmed, it makes nonsense of screenings by security agencies and National Assembly

    The certificates’ (degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates forgery allegation against the former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, has again exposed the systemic dysfunction that bedevils the country.  The former minister had allegedly claimed that he earned a B.Sc. in Microbiology/Biochemistry from Nigeria’s premier indigenous university, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in July 1985. He had equally claimed to have taken part in the one-year NYSC and had attached certificates which an online newspaper, Premium Times, alleges are forged.

    Premium Times claims their lead came from a whistle blower about two years ago. Their investigations show correspondences from both the vice chancellor of the university, Prof. U.S Ortuanya, and registrar, Dr Ngozi Nnebedu, claiming that the former minister was never awarded a degree certificate because he did not fulfill the academic requirements as required by the university.

    The NYSC management equally disclaimed the certificate he had submitted to the Directorate of Security Services (DSS), the National Assembly and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    It was equally observed that the signature on the NYSC discharge certificate was not signed by the right Director-General of the NYSC in 1985.

    We are appalled at the cocktail of scandals trailing the alleged forgeries by the ex-minister. Universities, especially reputable ones like the UNN should not be involved in the type of double-speak that has unravelled in this instance.

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    About two years ago too, another online newspaper was alleged to have reported a contrary information about the authenticity of the ex-minister’s certificate.

    The issue is not whether Mr. Nnaji attended the university. The records show he was admitted, enrolled but did not graduate with his mates.

    Contradictorily, there is allegedly a letter circulating which he had written to the university years later to be allowed to retake the exam but what is not clear is what he did afterwards. The fact is that the university had written that they never issued Mr. Nnaji a certificate.

    He has resigned his appointment in what he claimed was his decision to “step aside as a personal choice not an admission of guilt but rather, a principled decision to respect the sanctity of due process and to preserve the integrity of the judicial proceedings currently before the court”.

    It is instructive that he had attempted to legally stop the university from giving information about his records.

    We are shocked that the messy scandal is being dubbed ‘a political witch-hunt’ and the ex-minister had his supposed media aides trying to defend their principal in what often appeared very laughable and puerile style of feigning ignorance of issues under review.

    Two questions are on the lips of every educated observer, “Was Mr. Nnaji awarded a degree from the UNN? How did he acquire an NYSC (even with the wrong signatory) discharge certificate with alleged conflicting dates of failed course retake dates and resumption of service year?

    The whole messy scandal points a torch to what is wrong with institutions in the country. We would have thought that the sad Salisu Buhari University of Toronto and age falsification scandals of 1999 would have made Nigerians, especially the political class and security agencies more thorough and painstaking in their investigations.

    Mr. Nnaji, if found guilty of the allegations would be seen as lacking in integrity. Public service is not for saints but like Caesar’s wife, they are expected to be above reproach.

    To have presented certificates he knew to be tainted for clearance as a ministerial nominee, if true, raises questions of character.

    The security agencies that are paid with tax payers’ money have over the years often done very shoddy jobs of investigating political nominees. The case of Kemi Adeosun, a former Minister of Finance comes to the fore as her NYSC exemption certificate was found to be fake. She resigned.

    Today, a former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology is embroiled in multiple scandals. The Nigerian Senate that prides itself on screening of nominees has again been exposed as either unpatriotic ircincompetent ‘screeners’, or both.

    More often than not, the screening processes are shoddily and childishly handled. In fact, many nominees are often bantered with and jokingly advised to, ‘bow and go’ for the most ridiculous reasons. Today the scandal is like palm oil on one finger that soils the rest.

    If proven, Mr Nnaji runs the risk of perjury and forgery charges.

  • Teacher deficit

    Teacher deficit

    • Better welfare package needed to stem the tide

    This year’s World Teacher’s Day offered stakeholders in the education sector in Nigeria an opportunity to reflect on the state of one of the most critical professions for the development of any society as well as proffer suggestions to address the challenges confronting this category of workers. Teacher’s Day is commemorated annually on October 5.

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) seized the occasion to draw attention to the chronic deficit of teachers at the basic education level relative to the number of children at this foundational stage of learning.

    The union attributed the severe shortage in the requisite number of teachers to deliver qualitative education, which it estimates at 194,876 personnel, to poor welfare, unattractive working conditions, weak motivation and low status.

    Decrying what it described as the alarming crisis of manpower in primary and secondary schools nationwide, the NUT stressed the need to decisively tackle this problem as a necessary condition for ‘Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession’, which is the theme of the 2025 commemoration.

    A consideration of the teacher-to-pupil ratio at the primary school level offers a graphic insight into the seriousness of the scarcity of qualified teachers at the basic level in Nigeria. While data for 2021 from the World Bank indicate that there were 30.4 million primary school pupils in the country, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) estimated that there were over 45 million children in primary schools as at 2023.

    Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that there are at least 10.5 million children between the ages of five and 14 out of school, with the northern states being the worst affected in this regard.

    To cater for an estimated population of 31.7 million primary school pupils, there are approximately 915,913 teachers bringing the primary school teacher-to- pupil ratio to about 1:35. However, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends a ratio of 1:25 teachers to pupils at the primary school level for effective learning.

    In reality, experts believe that many classrooms are overcrowded with actual ratios in significant numbers of areas going beyond 1:70 teacher-pupil proportions. It is thus obvious, for instance, that without considerably increasing the number of qualified teachers, it will be impossible to address the conundrum of out-of-school children which is a critical impediment to literacy levels in Nigeria.

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    It has become imperative for decisive steps to be taken to make teaching more attractive as a profession through competitive and fulfilling salary structures, as well as complementary supportive welfare packages.

    This is particularly important in order to motivate the best brains to teach at the basic level where it is necessary to lay a firm, qualitative foundation for young minds to be built on at higher stages of the education hierarchy.

    The immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2020 announced such initiatives as a special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools, harmonised retirement age of 65 years and 49 years of service for teachers, reintroduction of bursary awards for students studying education in higher institutions and provision of loan facilities for agriculture, housing, cars, motorcycles, among others, to augment teachers’ income.

    Unfortunately, most of these incentives have reportedly not been implemented, thus necessitating the urgent intervention of the current administrations at all levels to ensure their actualisation.

    The near tripling of revenue earnings by the three tiers of government as a result of the economic reform policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration should be utilised to decisively improve the welfare and motivation of teachers, enhance the quality of manpower, bridge the deficit of personnel at the basic level of the country’s educational system and frontally tackle the challenge of out-of-school children.

    We also urge the education authorities to heed the plea by the NUT for a reversal of the decision to remove the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) from benefitting from budgetary allocation. The TRCN is critical to the quality and performance of the teaching profession.

  • It’s not true

    It’s not true

    •Mercifully, an-ex British envoy clears the air that there is no genocide against Christians in Nigeria

    It is just as well that a former British diplomat, Mr David Roberts, has corroborated the Federal Government that there is nothing like genocide against Christians in Nigeria. The rebuttal was sequel to a viral video in which a man with a Nigerian accent claimed that over 500,000 Christians were killed in the country last year.

    Taking a cue from that, a comedian, Mr Bill Maher, who hosts the longest-running talk show in the United States, ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’, parroted the falsehood that a systematic genocide was going on in Nigeria. The claim thereafter went viral in the social media.

    Both the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris, and a former presidential aide, Mr Reno Omokri, refuted the claim as false, baseless, despicable, and divisive.

    Roberts had served for years as a director of the British Council in Abuja. So, he should understand the country’s complex and diverse situations.

    “I lived in Nigeria as a British diplomat and toured the entire country. It is ridiculous for anyone even to suggest that half a million people were killed as part of a genocide against Christians in Nigeria by Muslims last year alone, “ Robert said.

    He added: “And this is not just some Christian genocide. In fact, more Muslims are killed in these attacks in Nigeria than Christians — a fact highlighted by the Institute for Economics and Peace in their annual Global Terrorism Index.”

    Robert is quite right.

    No doubt Nigeria is having complex security issues, from religious extremists exemplified by Boko Haram, to banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, ritual killings and what have you. But the victims cut across religious or ethnic borders and anyone, irrespective of colour or creed, could be caught in their cross-fire.

    The violence in the country has been compounded by the sacking of democratic governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

    The good news is that the Federal Government is fighting the battle fiercely. Successive administrations had acquired some sophisticated military equipment to facilitate the onslaught against the terrorists and other criminals troubling the land. And, good enough, appreciable gains have been recorded.

    For example, with the concerted efforts of the country’s security personnel, the Bola Tinubu administration has succeeded in significantly degrading the terrorist groups.

    Over 13,543 terrorists and criminals were neutralised and nearly 10,000 hostages rescued in several military operations across the country between May 2023 and February 2025.

    Moreover, the government has secured the conviction of 700 suspects.

    Only last month, the military captured some of the leaders of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan – commonly known as ANSARU, Nigeria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate.

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    These included: Mahmud Muhammad Usman (aka Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar), the self-styled Emir of ANSARU; and Mahmud al-Nigeri (aka Mallam Mamuda), Abu Bara’a’s proclaimed chief of staff and deputy.

    What all of these tell us is that the fight against terrorism and allied crimes in the country remains work-in-progress.

    While we appreciate the genuine concern of friends of the country who are worried about the needless shedding of the blood of innocent citizens by criminal elements, we urge mischief makers to refrain from peddling falsehood about the security challenges.

    The fact of the matter is that the average Nigerian, especially in the southern part of the country, does not care much about religion. Yet, no one would be happy to hear that people of the same faith with them are being selectively and wantonly eliminated for no just cause.

    As the Minister of Information noted, “It is doubtful that foreign interlopers into Nigeria’s affairs are aware that the current heads of both the armed forces and the police force are Christians—a fact that underscores the inclusivity of our national leadership.”

    Moreover, two leading Nigerian religious leaders — Rev. Dr. James Movel Wuye and Imam Dr. Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa, co-founders of the Interfaith Mediation Centre, were in March awarded the inaugural Commonwealth Peace Prize for serving as model for peacebuilding in all 56 Commonwealth countries.

    Rather than stress the things that divide us, thereby threatening peace in the country, Nigeria’s real friends should try to focus on things that unite us.

  • Who are they?

    Who are they?

    •We join Otedola in appealing to the government to name fuel subsidy thieves

    Executive Chairman of Geregu Power PLC, Mr Femi Otedola, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the full report of the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede panel that looked into the issue of fuel subsidy fraud. The panel was set up by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    Otedola made the appeal in a statement reacting to the allegation by Umar Sani, a former Special Adviser (Media) to ex-Vice President, Namadi Sambo. Sani had claimed that Otedola’s (then) Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. benefitted from the scam he is now criticising.

    “I implore President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release the full Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede report on subsidy fraud as Nigerians deserve to know the truth”, Otedola said. Apparently having set up the panel, the government lost the courage to see it through.

    ”It is on record that the Presidency at the time called on the late Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, to halt the investigation. Let the report be made public so the real subsidy thieves can be unmasked,” Otedola pleaded.

    Although it was what Otedola saw as a malicious claim by Sani that brought the issue of the subsidy fraudsters to the fore this time around, that is not our concern here. Otedola said he has instructed his lawyers to slam a N1 billion defamation suit against Sani, since his company then, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. never benefitted from the subsidy scam for the simple fact that the company only imported diesel which enjoyed no subsidy as the diesel market had long been deregulated before then.

    We leave how that pans out to the courts.

    What interests us, as indeed millions of Nigerians, is the issue of subsidy fraud and the need to unmask the thieves, retrieve our stolen patrimony from them  and also serve them their due desert.

    Nigerians have come a long way about this matter and there is the need to bring closure to it. As Otedola himself noted, the Aig-Imoukhuede panel was not the first to be set up to unravel what actually happened during the subsidy regime. Before it was the Farouk Lawan committee.

    Unfortunately, the committee could not conclude its assignment because the chairman of the  House of Representatives Committee on the probe, headed by Farouk Lawan, was compromised in a sting operation organised by the Department of State Security (DSS) and Otedola. Otedola said he became a subject of victimisation by  subsidy fraudsters when they discovered he was the one behind the probe.

    Lawan fell for the marked money used for the sting operation and was arrested and prosecuted. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment for bribery.

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    It was after this that the Aig-Imoukhuede panel was set up.

    Whilst the Lawan committee uncovered fraudulent payments over three years of about N1.7 trillion, Aig-imoukhuede ‘s committee indicted 21 companies for allegedly collecting N382 billion in one year (2011), in subsidy payments for fuel that was allegedly never delivered.

    What is clear from both reports is that a lot of underhand dealings took place during the subsidy regime.

    It is instructive that successive Nigerian governments, including even military regimes, shied away from subsidy removal in spite of its criticism in some quarters, like the World Bank that described the subsidy regime as ‘opaque, costly, unsustainable, harmful, and unfair.’

    Nobody wanted to dare the civil society groups that always staged protests whenever any attempt was made either to remove or reduce fuel subsidy.

    It took the Bola Tinubu administration the courage to do the rightful even though it has come with some pains to Nigerians.

    This is why we agree with Mr Otedola that the government should open the book of rememberable as it concerns the fuel subsidy, as documented by the Aig-Imoukhuede panel.

    The government should at least name and shame those who brought Nigerians to this sorry pass. It is the least it can do to assuage the pains of Nigerians.

  • Be warned

    Be warned

    •Nigerians must heed SEC’s warning on AI generated investment scams

     The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has raised a red flag over the activities of criminals who use artificial intelligence generated Ponzi schemes to scam unsuspecting Nigerian investors. The commission warned Nigerians to be wary, emphasising that: “These platforms are not registered or regulated by the SEC; yet they continue to mislead the public with false claims of AI-driven investments. They pose serious risks to investors, hence the commission issued series of disclaimers against their activities.’’

    No doubt, those who fall prey to these scammers are mostly the greedy, who easily get enchanted with promises of unfathomable benefits from investments. The commission recalled that platforms such as CBEX, Silverkuun, and TOFRO operated illegally advertised AI-powered trading systems that promised unrealistic returns and those who keyed into them got scammed.

    We join our voice to that of the commission to warn Nigerians not to get carried away by promises of profits or returns on investment that have no relationship to economic realities.

    The commission advised Nigerian investors to be extra vigilant as fraudsters exploit deep fake videos and AI-generated content to lure their victims. To give their fraudulent platforms an air of credibility, they also manipulate videos to give impression of endorsement by politicians, celebrities and TV hosts for their schemes which they share as adverts on social media groups.

    As stated by the commission: “Scammers are exploiting AI to fabricate endorsements and testimonials that appear genuine. This has made traditional fraud detection methods less effective, hence the need for tech-enabled regulation and greater public awareness.”

    We urge SEC to collaborate with the nation’s intelligence and security agencies to fight the scammers on all fronts. The commission should in particular work with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) proactively to deal with the new challenges.

    The SEC has promised: “We are moving from reactive to predictive oversight. This is essential in combating fraud and systemic risks in our market;” Nigerians must take it by its words and demand that it walks the talk.

    The huge losses that Nigerians suffer in the hands of Ponzi scammers should worry all stakeholders. We demand for a review of the relevant laws to prevent and punish those who engage in such fraudulent schemes.

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    There should be long prison sentences for those who engage in such deceitful activities. If the existing laws are not far-reaching enough, the National Assembly should review and make them stiffer, while security agencies should have dedicated departments with the technical know-how and resources to constantly look out for such scammers, so that their activities can be nipped in the bud early enough.

    The names of those who engage in such schemes should be in the public space, so that in addition to the legal consequences for their actions, they would suffer public strictures of naming and shaming. As part of putting the public on notice, the commission, in concert with security agencies, should not hesitate to name all such unregistered schemes operating without license, in the interest of the unsuspecting public.

    Alternatively, SEC should have a running website with the names of all registered schemes, easily accessible to the general public.

    While the commission and the intelligence and security agencies work to aid the diligent public, individuals must resist the urge to fall prey to unrealistic expectations. When a scheme makes promises akin to money doubling of investment, every week or every month, a discerning investor should know that such promises are unrealistic.

    The tendency to believe that one will be among the lucky few to benefit before the scheme bursts should be resisted. Perhaps, there should be some punishment for those who deal with unregistered schemes, despite notice, as a further deterrent.

  • One death too many

    One death too many

    •We pray that never again would we see the kind of Arise TV’s Somtochukwu’s death

    The tragic death of 29-year-old Somtochukwu Maduagwu in the early hours of September 29 seemed to have dampened the joyous ambience that normally heralds the country’s independence anniversary on October 1.  There has been national outrage across the country not because she wasn’t mortal but just due to the circumstances that led to her tragic death.

    Reports from neighbours, and later by the police authorities, allege that Somtochukwu had jumped from her third floor apartment balcony in panic to flee from some marauding armed robbers that attacked their Katampe area building on the fateful day in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Her death has sparked national outrage because insecurity for many years has been of serious national concern. Many concerned Nigerians, including political leaders, past and present, have registered their condolences with her family, friends and her employer, The Arise Media Group.

    While we appreciate such outpouring of grief and condolences, we believe that more attention must be paid to security, given that insecurity impacts everyone and governments at all levels are charged by the constitution to ensure the safety and welfare of citizens.

    Many Nigerians daily lose their lives to the high insecurity in the country. There is food insecurity because many farming communities have been scared off by attacks from Boko Haram, bandits, murderous herders and other types of insurgents that are making life difficult for Nigerians.

    The people seem helpless in the face of the impunity of the social misfits who attack people at every turn. All sectors of the economy are impacted by insecurity and the socio-economic life of the country takes a huge hit.

    We are bothered that Nigerians continually live in fear as travelling, especially by road, has become dangerous due to attacks by armed bandits and kidnappers. In the case under reference, residents were in their houses which, by the way, were supposed to be safe.

    If the accounts of how a Somtochukwu died is anything to go by, she was desperate and her alleged attempt to jump down from her apartment was clear evidence of her lack of trust in the system. If she had trusted the system, she might have called a reliable Emergency number, believing the security agencies would have rushed to her help. Her alleged attempt to jump down was not a deliberate suicidal attempt; it was desperation in self-help.

    It is disappointing that the police allegedly arrived minutes after the robbers left. Even after the incident, it took them a while to give an update, given that much of the information in the crime scene was by residents whose accounts might not be very credible due to trauma and fear.

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     It surprises Nigerians that the FCT does not have readily available CCTV footages to refer to in such cases. If these had been in place, a lot of assumptions and hear-says would have been eliminated and may be the robbers apprehended.

    Security in the nation’s capital should be a priority. What this singular issue has done is sending wrong signals to the world about our sense of security.

    We are not expecting perfection as no nation has a crime-free environment, but there must be maximum attempt to make cities and villages secure. There must be urgent investment in digital security equipment, including drones, which many Nigerian start-ups are producing and even exporting. The police must improve their attitude to emergency calls and learn how to swing into action to protect crime scenes to assist investigations. Security is a specialised field and agencies must act as professionals who ought to serve and protect lives. Seeming post-mortem analysis is an ill-wind that blows no one any good.

    We appeal to the police to carry out thorough investigations into this incident to give justice to the dead and closure to the family.  The government on its part must scale up security across the country.  

  • Dangote Refinery vs PENGASSAN

    Dangote Refinery vs PENGASSAN

    • While the refinery must obey the law on unionism, the union too must know that strike has limit

    Nigerians would, no doubt, have heaved a sigh of relief at the relatively swift ending to the tussle between the Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union (PENGASSAN) over the former’s dismissal of some workers on union-related matters.

    Going by the account of PENGASSAN president, Festus Osifo, the problem started when close to 1,000 workers filled forms to join PENGASSAN in accordance with Section 40 of the constitution. The union, he said, wrote to Dangote Refinery to inform it of the development only for the company to send teams to verify those names shortly after which it handed them sack letters. Some 800 workers were said to be affected.

    However, whereas the allegation of sabotage also featured at some point, Dangote Refinery merely insisted that the disengagement of the workers had nothing to do with the issue of unionisation; and that it was as a result of the ongoing reorganisation in the company.

    Thanks to the government mediators, matters have since been resolved. The workers would now be re-engaged by other entities within the Dangote conglomerate with no loss of pay, even as both parties recommit to the right of the workers to unionise.

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    Yet, settled as the dusts appear, it is trite to say that the issues provoked by the ruckus are such that the country can only ignore at the risk of stability. In the situation that parties not directly related to the issues in conflict have been counting their losses in millions of dollars and of man-hours lost, Nigerians can only shudder at the overall costs of the showdown over what is an unequal scale of revenge by the union against perceived power.

    A telling example is the post-strike assessment by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) of 283,000 barrels of crude, the 1.7 billion standard cubic feet of gas – all of them lost each day the strike lasted; in addition to the 20 percent shortfall in power supply experienced; all because PENGASSAN chose to figuratively poke its finger in the nation’s eye to prove the potency of its fading power, rather than engage.

    Whether of orchestrated rage, acute sense of unbridled power, or even the matching fire of inscrutable arrogance, it is not exactly that Nigerians are unfamiliar with the unions’ hard tactics in their endless contestation with the authorities even when issues at stake have little to do with welfare in the workplace.

    In this particular instance, it is sad to note that PENGASSAN merely acted to type. Without adequate notice and with no pretences to seeking a negotiated pathway, it directed its members in various offices, companies, institutions, and agencies to cease all services effective 12:01 am Monday, September 29. Those stationed in various field locations were to down tools from 6:00 am on Sunday, September 28.

    It went further: “All processes involving gas and crude supply to Dangote Refinery should be halted immediately,” and “All IOC (International Oil Companies) branches must ramp down gas production and supply to Dangote Refinery and petrochemicals”.

    Such directives, even in extraordinary times, would have been deemed as a bridge too far in the fight for their members’ rights. Aside being a declaration of war on Dangote Refinery as indeed every Nigerian, it was a case of the union being unable to appreciate the weight of public interest when put side-by-side with those of its members.

    Although a nominal third party, the NNPC Limited said that the industrial action “has impacts that extend beyond the Dangote Refinery. The disruptions pose systemic risks to energy supply, personnel and asset security and the wider economy”.

    It further avers: “A sustainable solution is required to prevent such an extensive interruption of the overall energy security infrastructure and to safeguard national energy security and stability”. If we may add, such disruptions, which for all intents and purposes, amount to gross irresponsibility on the part of PENGASSAN , should never again be condoned by the government. In fact, class action suits by those directly impacted by the PENGASSAN directive should not be ruled out under our relevant laws. 

    Having said that, it is a well-known fact that there has been no love-lost between the oil industry unions and the Dangote Refinery right from the time it started operation. And this goes beyond the typical, mutual antipathy as one might expect of a union versus management. Safe to say that theirs go a long way back to 2007 when the sale of the two refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to the Bluestar Consortium promoted by Aliko Dangote was aborted by late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, largely at the instigation of the unions.

    With the $20 billion Dangote Refinery now fully on-stream, not only has the mutual antipathy persisted, it has manifested in a different form. Yet, it is inevitable that the union would want more members in to further solidify the base of its staying power, anchored on the need to have a say on matters pertaining to the interests of its members. The Dangote Refinery, ever suspicious of union activities, apparently considers this an anathema of sorts, particularly at this time, one fraught with dangers to its long term, corporate interests.

    Interestingly, a similar scenario had been enacted in an earlier confrontation between Dangote Refinery and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), particularly its petroleum tankers wing. Whereas the problem, far from resolution, appears to have been kicked down the road, the challenge for the parties is how to find the common ground for cooperation and mutual respect. Rather than work at this, both parties have chosen to be big on the ego side while missing on good faith.

    In all, the issues being clear enough lend to no ambiguity:  the right of the workers to join whatever unions that suit them. This right is non-negotiable. This right, being not so much of a choice but of the law, deserves to be respected by Dangote Refinery in particular. We say this to the extent that the unions too will play within the confines of the law, and by doing nothing to put the interest of the business into jeopardy.

    Here is a final reminder to the unions: each time they seek to press their case about Dangote Refinery acting in bad faith; of being anti-union or even worse; a fact not easily lost on Nigerians is their complicity in fostering not just the corruption but the rot that currently assails the industry. If Nigerians are not buying their verbiage, as it is in the current case, it is only on account of their desperate quest for equity with soiled hands.

  • A fruitful stewardship

    A fruitful stewardship

    •Mahmood Yakubu’s scorecard at INEC is impressive

    Professor Mahmood Yakubu will in a few weeks be bowing out as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after 10 years in the saddle. He makes history as the longest serving helmsman of the electoral body, having been in office for two terms of five years each. He was tapped to the job subject to Senate clearance in November 2015 by the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who also reappointed him to a second tenure in December 2020.

    Yakubu presided over two presidential elections (2019 and 2023), just like his immediate predecessor, Professor Attahiru Jega, who umpired the 2011 and 2015 polls although within a single tenure in his own case.

    Besides the 2019 and 2023 general elections, Yakubu also presided over INEC’s conduct of no fewer than 19 end-of-tenure and off-cycle governorship elections, and more than 300 supplementary polls into legislative houses at both state and national levels. His tenure at INEC is hallmarked by extensive reforms – both in terms of changes to the electoral legal framework and digitisation of the electoral process.

    It is under Yakubu’s leadership that election schedules have become calendared: for instance, national elections are slated for the third Saturday in February of an election year and state elections a fortnight after.

    Following this pattern, the commission has already fixed the dates for the conduct of the next 10 general elections spanning 2027 to 2063. This should help all stakeholders, including political actors and election observers, to plan ahead and work towards better coordination with the electoral commission.

    Among changes to the legal framework under Yakubu, the 2022 Electoral Act amendment has legally enshrined the use of digital tools in the electoral process, unlike the 2010 amendment that did not make that provision and allowed for successful legal challenge of the use of Smart Card Readers by the Jega-led commission in the 2015 general election.

    Retaining permanent voter cards (PVCs) that was introduced by the former commission, Yakubu upscaled the use of technology by way of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a digital device that combines fingerprint and facial recognition in ascertaining the identity of voters before they are allowed to cast their ballots. This has been a game-changer that severely curtailed voter impersonation and multiple voting – tendencies that had plagued the Nigerian electoral system.

    His leadership also introduced the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, an innovative platform that allows the public to track polling unit results as they are uploaded in real time during polls, ahead of collation at constituency levels.

    IReV has been successfully deployed at governorship and other lower constituency polls. It suffered a glitch during the 2023 presidential election, however, and the attendant controversy is the lowest point of Yakubu’s tenure at INEC. But its backup protected the election’s integrity.

    The electoral body under Yakubu has also fully moved online nomination of candidates by political parties, applications by political associations to be registered as parties, as well as application for accreditation as election observers by observer groups and journalists, among other processes.

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    Another major stride of Yakubu’s leadership at INEC is the facilitation of increased access of voters to the polls. Hitherto, creation of additional polling units was a political hot button that compelled the previous commission to make do with splitting unduly large centres among the 119,973 polling units created in 1996 into sub-units known as voting points.

    Yakubu, however, managed to pull off transforming those voting points into autonomous units, leaving the country with 176,846 polling units that were operated for the 2023 general election. The size of the voter register has also swelled from some 68.83million registrants that Yakubu inherited in 2015 to 93.5million registrants on roll before the 2023 general election.

    Since 2023, there has also been continuous voter registration on a standardised – as opposed to previously ad hoc – basis that has brought millions more voters onto the register. The flip side, though, is that the ballooning voter roll has also translated into dwindling percentage turnout of voters, because increasing voter population that is not matched by proportionately increasing quantum turnout at elections only shows up as inverse percentage turnout.

    A monument to Yakubu’s shortfall in office, however, is his failure to usher in electronic voting in Nigeria’s electoral system.

    Perhaps the strongest point of Yakubu’s leadership at INEC was his entry point. He consolidated on the achievements of the Jega commission and didn’t go reinventing the wheel, and was thus able to tremendously improve the performance of the commission, more so with the advantage of time that he had.

    Like his predecessor, the outgoing INEC boss comported himself with civilised restraint in the face of virulent criticisms. This has helped to keep political temperature on the leash and allowed no manoeuvring room for mischievous inciters; and naturally, the country has been better for it.