It was an uncommon path travelled by the Nigerian Army, with famed default inclination towards esprit de corps within its fold. The security service, penultimate weekend, dismissed two soldiers implicated in the gruesome murder of a prominent Yobe Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Goni Aisami.

The army announced summary dismissal of Lance Cpl. John Gabriel and Lance Cpl. Gideon Adamu, who were serving at the 241 Recce Battalion in Nguru, Yobe a State, and are accused of killing Sheikh Aisami on  August 19. The Islamic scholar reportedly had given Gabriel a ride from a military checkpoint where he was stationed, apparently in the innocent belief that the soldier embodied security and deserved assistance for his presumed selfless service to the society. Unfortunately, that belief turned out mistaken as Gabriel allegedly turned on the scholar and killed him while trying to steal his car. Adamu was said to be complicit in the plot. The two were apprehended by the Nigeria Police Force, and they were investigated by the  military police, which found them duly implicated.

In a statement, the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, said the soldiers were dismissed after facing trial at the headquarters of 241 Recce Battalion. According to him, they were charged and summarily tried in line with Armed Forces laws for conduct prejudicial to service discipline. They were found guilty and handed penalties that included demotion from Lance Corporal to Private rank, as well as dismissal. “The two dismissed soldiers will be officially handed over to the Nigeria Police, Yobe command in Damaturu for civil prosecution in the court of law,” the statement added.

By his statement, the army spokesman echoed pronouncements at a media parley in Nguru where Acting General Commanding Officer, 241 Recce Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel I. O. Sabo, had announced that the soldiers were being dismissed from the regiment and the army, and would be handed over for civil prosecution. “Obviously, these men can never represent us. We are being paid by the Nigerian taxpayers’ money to hold guns and defend this country, but these soldiers are not a true reflection of the Nigerian Army personnel. We want to assure you that we are law-abiding citizens and we want to dispense justice. If I am found wanting like these men, the same thing will happen to me,” Sabo said, adding: “What you are seeing is the ‘dekitting’ of these soldiers. We will collect all military belongings in their care and even send their families packing out of this place.”

It is a tragic irony indeed that soldiers in whom members of the public would vest confidence regarding their security allegedly turned rogue and became agents of ultimate insecurity to a well-meaning and civic minded citizen. There can be no cut more unkind than that, and it would be shocking if they had found refuge from due recompense in the military institution. With privileged access to force of arms, the military must not harbour members suspected of using that privilege access roguishly to violate society’s codes of decency, peace and safety.

It is noteworthy that by the measures taken on these two soldiers, the army toed the path of institutional accountability to the civil populace and submission to rule of law. This is commendable because the security service has not always been so disposed. A recent instance is the case of soldiers from 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Takum, Taraba State, fingered in the gunfight that attended the botched arrest of notorious criminal Hamisu Bala, (a.k.a. Wadume) by police personnel on August 6, 2019. Three policemen and two civilians were killed, with five other police officers injured in the gunfight that the army claimed to be inadvertent because soldiers involved were purportedly responding to a distress call and mistook the police personnel for kidnappers, while the arrested suspect was mistaken for a victim. The police countered, however, that the soldiers’ real motive was to free the arrested suspect at the cost of taking out the policemen who arrested him.

Upon Wadume’s rearrest and arraignment by the police, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered that the army officers charged along with him be released for trial. But the military refused to obey that order. Latest reports said the soldiers had been cleared of wrongdoing by a board of inquiry instituted by the military. Such internal mechanics had portrayed the military as insular to common justice, but the measure taken on the two dismissed soldiers might somewhat help to alter that image.

Without prejudice to the ongoing legal tussle on the right of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to shut down broadcast stations deemed to have run foul of the law, we daresay the parties should explore conciliation. What are the facts? The commission had, on August 19, ordered 53 television and radio stations to cease operating owing to failure to pay due fees. The stations were both public and private, including some state-owned stations and pioneer private broadcast organisations.

The stations and those sympathetic to them publicly protested the measure, claiming it was too harsh given the economic situation in the country. Many of them have been having difficulty paying staff salaries and generating content and, thus, think government should understand why they were unable to fulfill their obligations under the NBC Act.

But the NBC contends that payment of annual renewal fees is a legal requirement to operate in the country that could and should not be waived. It regards the failure to pay as willful and a flagrant infraction of the law that ought not to be condoned.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has since approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to strike down the NBC order as unconstitutional. Joined by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), SERAP wants the power of the NBC to shut down broadcast stations in the country in Section 10 of the NBC Act revoked. The court has since granted an interim order suspending the licence revocation order pending when the interlocutory injunction sought by the plaintiffs would be argued on notice.

As the matter is before a court of competent jurisdiction, we would not be going into the merit of the case by both sides. However, we call on both sides to explore other means of reaching an amicable solution to the dispute. It cannot be denied that the Act had been in existence since 2004 and had been invoked many times in applying sanctions on television and radio stations. Some had been made to pay fines for various infractions at various times.

It cannot be denied also that the stations derive the power to operate from the licences granted them by the commission and both parties operate under the law. Questions that could be asked include whether the 53 stations had been paying the fees in previous years under the same law. And, what is the situation with stations that have been regularly meeting their obligations?

It is international best practice that such licences be renewed as prescribed by law. We call on the NBC to invite the stations for discussion. Since the N2.66b outstanding accrued over the years, payment could be spread in a way that would be found convenient for the parties.  It is a notorious fact that the economic milieu is inclement and advertising patronage is not really forthcoming.

Rather than wield the big stick, the Federal Government, acting through the NBC, should consider the overall interest of the people who would be denied education, information and entertainment should the licences be revoked. The stations are tools of mobilising citizens for the public good.

The legal route is windy and tortuous. Going that way might then not help much in this instance. We therefore call on stakeholders, including professional associations, trade unions, veterans in the industry and eminent Nigerians to wade in to achieve peace in the industry.

When the Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, turned 70, on August 31, he reinforced his reformist image. He unveiled an ambitious plan to build a N200 million Bishop Kukah Centre in Abuja, which, among other things, will provide leadership training aimed at improving the capacity of people in power.

Kukah said at the launch of his new book, Broken Truths, in Abuja: ‘‘I am specific about raising the fund for this centre locally, I want this to be a Nigeria-centric, Africa-centric policy centre that aims at trying to provide tools for good governance for those in office.”

He added: “Is it possible to convince politicians that politics is a noble game – and that it is a vehicle we can use to attain the common goal of our society? One is hoping that going forward, the right people will develop the right reflex for participating in politics in Nigeria.”

The centre will have a school of government, and also focus on interfaith dialogue, knowledge promotion and memory preservation. The vision is consistent with how he perceives his role as a faith leader. It is a statement on his social responsibility.

He triggered an intense controversy last year, when, in his Christmas message, he criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged “nepotism” and its negative effect on “national cohesion and trust.” It was yet another instance that reflected his reputation for speaking truth to power. Some people call him the conscience of the nation; some describe him as a voice crying in the wilderness.

His landmark birthday also highlighted his passion for social progress with his announcement of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Award project for young people. “We are looking at finding indigenous scientific solutions to our local problems,’’ he explained, adding that participants from across the country would be expected to come up with solutions to problems in their local communities.

The focus on Nigerian youths, the proverbial leaders of tomorrow, and the ICT orbit, described as the future of the globe, shows that the bishop is not only thinking about improving the country’s present circumstances but also about preparing the country for the future.

Born in Anchuna, in present-day Kaduna State, Kukah was ordained a Catholic priest in December 1976. He studied at St. Joseph Minor Seminary, Zaria, Kaduna State; St. Augustine Major Seminary, Jos, Plateau State; the University of Ibadan, where he got a diploma in Religious Studies; and earned a first degree in Divinity at Pontifical Urban University, Rome.

After getting a master’s degree in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, UK, in 1980, his intellectual inclination led him to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he earned a doctorate in 1990.

With striking courage, he employs a combination of religious authority and intellectual power to demand social progress. He represents the cleric as an activist.

He is recognised for what he stands for, which has remarkably given him various roles under different federal administrations in the country. Interestingly, he is a social critic the authorities can’t ignore, and one they even find helpful.

In an interview, in April, he flaunted his impressive record of service to the country: “I have served three successive or even four presidents since 1999. I served in the Oputa panel, I served as a member of the electoral reform committee, and I was appointed secretary of the political reform conference.

“I spent about seven years, beginning from the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration right through to this government, going in between Abuja, Kaduna and Ogoni land to reconcile the people of Ogoni land with Shell.”

The projects he unveiled to mark his 70th birthday show his untiring quest for improved social conditions. We wish him many more years of service to the fatherland.

Segun Odegbami broke on the national consciousness with rare panache.  He came with sharp skills, and rare goal-poaching instincts that made Ernest Okonkwo, iconic and colourful sports commentator, to dub him “Mathematical” — or even “Algebraic”.

Odegbami came at the age of explosive wingers — the sharp and precise Odegbami on the right; the nimble and flexible Adokiye Amiesimaka on the left — Okonkwo’s very beloved “Chief Justice”.  Both were undergraduate internationals that added something fresh: audacious footballing skills need not be mutually exclusive to cutting scholarship.  Little wonder then both went on to make rousing successes of their later-life careers.

With his bulging silverware and golden goals, Odegbami’s legacy was assured.  He scored two of the three goals Nigeria put past Algeria to win their first African Nations Cup (AFCON) title in Lagos in 1980.  With IICC “Shooting Stars” in 1977, he also won Nigeria’s first continental club title: the African Cup of Winners Cup.

Such heights could have been his pinnacle, as they were with most of his sporting contemporaries.  Not “Mathematical”!  Instead, those hard-earned glories served Odegbami as mere stepping stones, as he went ahead to use the instrumentality of sports to positively impact his environment, aside from sustaining personal nourishment.

It started with sports journalism – basically column writing — in which Odegbami showcased his lexical craft, almost as audacious for a trained engineer (hardly the most felicitous users of language!) as his precision skills on the pitch.   That writing he has maintained till this day, becoming some raconteur on Nigerian sports and sports(wo)men.  That didn’t fetch him success when he ran for Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, showing how Nigeria often scorns its very best to settle for less.  But with his sparkling lexis and frothing style, laced with raw facts, he has over the years maintained rare fidelity to Nigeria’s sporting clans at their highs and lows: “Chairman” Christian Chukwu, when he needed urgent medical help, the mystery of “Goals-father” Rashidi Yekinni’s sudden passage; fitting memorial for “Defence Minister,” Yisa Sofoluwe, with three other former footballers, after his shocking death.

Odegbami’s foray into sports broadcasting opened doors for many a young Turk to find their groove.  A prominent example is Funmi Iyanda, the slim, tall and elegant lady who later would make her own mark as diva on television.

The latest manifestation of Odegbami’s ceaseless sports entrepreneurship is his new sports radio, Eagle 7, launched last June.  ”The brand of the station is coined after Nigeria’s biggest brand: the Super Eagles,” he told Premium Times,  ”and personally, my number as a member and captain of the national team of Nigeria was seven, hence mathematical seven” — savouring those glory and electrical days on the pitch.

He further gushed: “… Eagles 7 sports radio is a true Nigerian brand; the product of hard work, perseverance, commitment, success, and being truly African” — a co-mingling of national pride and personal glory that echoes anew the John F. Kennedy ultimate patriotic challenge: ask not what your country can do for you; ask instead what you can do for your country.”

That would appear the question Odegbami has asked and keeps asking, in his unending romance with his country, like some troubadour entirely devoted to his queen and lady.  The answer has, many times, been less than satisfactory.  His sports academy, Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy, Wasimi, near Abeokuta, Ogun State, has little or no government presence or support. Yet, it has been the path of many youths, via foreign university scholarships, to secure their sports-laden future.

So, if our “Mathematical” spoke of “hard work, perseverance, commitment and success,” that would appear his routine grind in a very challenging environment.

Still, that challenge has never stopped him dreaming dreams, where not a few felt there was no way.  When he adopted then tom boy, policewoman Chioma Ajunwa, then soccer-loving young lass, not many saw the potential.  Later, Chioma would land Nigeria’s first-ever gold in any event – long jump was her winning sport – at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996; incidentally where Odegbami’s immediate constituency, Dream Team 1, grabbed Africa’s first football Olympic gold.

“Mathematical” Segun Odegbami has done so much for his country.  Though with other 1980 AFCON winners he received the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), getting a higher national award, to mark his 70 years, could just be an excellent idea.

It’s fair and just reward for an unapologetic patriot, in an era when many feel they can’t rise unless they put their country down.

As preparations for the campaigns for next year’s general elections scheduled to commence formally on September 28 gather momentum, there has been a reported surge in applications by politically exposed persons and other Very Important Personalities (VIPs) for special police protection. This is particularly against the backdrop of the current high rate of insecurity across the country. Indeed, even before now, the sheer number of policemen and other security agents attached to VIPs, including politicians and political office holders, wealthy businessmen, entertainment and music stars, among others, has been widely perceived as dysfunctional and inimical to collective public safety.

With a total staff strength of approximately 371, 800 officers and men as at 2016 to a population of about 200 million people, Nigeria is severely under-policed. The requisite ratio of one policeman to 400 residents as stipulated by the United Nations is far from being met in Nigeria where the level of insecurity ideally requires a far higher number of policemen to citizens than the international.prescription, to effectively tackle crime.

We thus have on our hands a paradoxical situation. Insufficient number of policemen is a key causal factor of high rate of crimes across the country. But an inordinate proportion of the relatively few policemen available are deployed to guard privileged individuals, thereby further worsening and endangering public safety. In the final analysis, the safety of both the elite and the masses is compromised and life continues to diminish in value.

Even though President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2015 directed that 10,000 policemen be recruited into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) every year for five years, it is not clear how far this target has been met, especially as the recruitment process has been characterised by needless disputes between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the police force over which of them has the power to undertake the task, resulting in litigation at some point. The high crime rate has also resulted in high casualties among the police, with many being killed or wounded by criminals, while others routinely retire and some are dismissed for misconduct.

It is unjust and immoral for government to prioritise VIP security over general public safety, as safeguarding the lives and property of all categories of citizens is the primary responsibility of the state and the basis of its legitimacy. In any case, continually increasing the number of policemen deployed to protect privileged citizens is unsustainable in the long run. It is eminently more reasonable to work towards having a police force that is adequately manned, equipped, empowered and motivated to patrol, maintain surveillance over and ensure safety in urban and rural public spaces and communities, to drastically reduce general level of insecurity for all and guarantee individual security for the rich and the poor alike.

More effective deployment of technology in crime prevention and detection will also help considerably in reducing pressure on police manpower and enhance greater efficiency in the provision of security for all. While it is inevitable that police protection will be provided for certain categories of public office holders, for example, the present number of policemen currently deployed indiscriminately to protect all manner of supposed VIPs is indefensible and the situation should be remedied urgently. Private individuals who believe that they need special protection should avail themselves of the services of private security organisations and these in turn should be properly regulated by government, with requisite standards of manpower training and specialist security management capacity. This will in turn create jobs and be a boost to the economy, at least to some extent.

The Federal Government’s call on state governments in Nigeria to brace up to their responsibility of checking the menace of flooding could not have come at a better time. Earlier in the year as is the tradition, the meteorological agency had warned that 32 states were prone to experiencing varying degrees of flooding this year.

The agency’s Seasonal Climate Prediction and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency’s Annual Flood Outlook for 2022 had served notice to states to be prepared for the inevitable. Coastal states know that they are likely to confront the challenge yearly, while high-risk flooding is predicted for Borno, Kaduna, Delta and Bayelsa states, specifically.

The question is, “what is being done?”

As in previous years, there is no evidence that states take such advisories seriously. All that most of them do is wait for the disaster and then cry to the Federal Government for assistance. Yet, by arrangement,  the first line of defence against ecological tragedies such as flooding and desertification is expected to be offered by the states. Since the Federation Account Act was promulgated in 1980, the various tiers of government have had funds allocated for such unfortunate occurrences. At first, one per cent of derivation fund went to the ecological fund account. By 1992, under the Babangida administration,  it was increased to two per cent. Today, it stands at 2.32 per cent, out of which one per cent goes to the Federal Government, 0.72 to the states and 0.60 to the local government areas.

While a case could be made for review of the formula such that nearly half would no longer go to the centre whose role is to intervene in disasters beyond the capacity of states and local governments,  citizens have a duty to ask how the money allocated for the purpose is expended. Soil erosion that has continually ravaged parts of the country is not abating, nor are the states in the North sufficiently paying attention to the need to curb desertification. We support the call to make at least two-thirds of the fund available to the lower tiers of government, but a structure similar to what obtains at the centre should be put in place.

In disbursing what accrues to it for intervention in environmental disasters, the Federal Government statutorily allocates 20 per cent to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 10 per cent to the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and 10 per cent to the Nigerian Agricultural Land Development Agency  ((NALDA).  Civil society organisations (CSOs) acting on behalf of the people, have a duty to scrutinise expenditure in this respect.

In attempting to be accountable,  the Federal Government in July released a list of 332 projects it is executing with ecological funds, claiming that 266 have been completed. This should be easily verifiable by the CSOs and the media.

We challenge each state to order an audit of its ecological fund and list projects executed in the past five years. The world has woken up to the reality of an acute need to care for the environment and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.

The national, state and local legislatures, too, should rise to the responsibility of being the watchdog for the people that the members represent. It should have dawned on us now that the days of recklessly expending national resources are over. Loopholes must be plugged, especially in this wise, to save the environment,  protect lives and property as well as disruption to livelihood as witnessed  during the 2011 catastrophic flooding.

When bad times come, they are like an epidemic. The poor feel the pangs in every aspect of their lives, including how they worship and how they heal.  No wonder that Nigerians are generally anxious over the cost of one of the vital items that keep them alive: drugs.

From the retailer to the manufacturer to the buyer, complaints now attend the cost of drugs. It should not surprise, but it does worry us all the same.

According to the Consumer Price Index from the National Bureau of Statistics, the nation’s inflation topped 19 percent, the highest in 17 years.

Naturally, it affects vital aspects of our lives, especially food items. But close to food is drugs. Both are required for a healthy life. But according to a survey undertaken by the Vanguard newspaper, the prices of drugs have leapt from between 30 percent and 500 percent in six months. And no essential category of medication is immune.

For instance, the prices of antibiotics, anti-hypertensives, anti-histamines have risen from 30 percent to 85 percent. Syringes have jumped from 50 percent to 100 percent. Infusions that cost N120 now go for as high as N700, a 500 percent hike. Analgesics like Paracetamol that went for N50 per sachet can only leave the stalls at N100. The inflation scourge touches drugs for orphans, cancer, pregnant women and chronic illnesses.

The rise in the value of dollar to the Naira is a major factor. The Naira now goes for as high as N680 in the parallel market, and its consequences for the cost of drugs are inevitable. This may be the case for imported drugs, and that sector dominates the market. But even for local manufacturers, it is not a relief. They obtain about 80 percent of their active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, from abroad, and they are also under the spell of foreign exchange pressures.

The bad news did not start in the past few months, but they have become even more desperate.

For companies that depend on imports, and this is nearly all of them, their capacity to forge ahead is sharply undermined. This may lead to shutdowns. Apart from making drugs more inaccessible to the people, it will add to the now ominous crowd of the jobless.

When the mass of the people can no longer afford genuine drugs, they will go for the cheap. They will become victims of the quacks in our midst who make fake drugs. The buyers are often illiterates who cannot discern where to obtain good medications. Again, the quacks often profit from the poor because the outlets for such fake products abound in poor neighbourhoods.

This will endanger their health even more, and lead to new ailments. Already, some fellow citizens who take regular drugs like anti-diabetics and anti-hypertensives no longer take the medications, and this will lead to new complications and, where no rescue comes, fatalities.

Other than patronise faked western drugs, citizens will resort to trado-medical options. This is not bad in itself but it throws up its own peculiar challenges. Apart from the many quacks among them, that sector has not enjoyed much regularisation or standards. It is a great potential for medical breakthrough but we have not made enough strides to turn it into a national asset for our physical wellness.

When such citizens do not go there, they turn to churches and other forms of worship centres who propagate divine healing. We cannot verify any of the claims but they have a strong hold in the people’s consciousness. Faith is a potent pull for the sick and vulnerable.

This is what the economic times can inflict on the people. While urging the government to tackle the poor state of prices, we call on regulatory agencies, including the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) to tighten any loose end in confronting fake drugs.

The paradoxes seem endless. Just a few days after the agriculture and rural development minister, Mohammed Abubakar, claimed that terrorist attacks have not significantly affected agricultural production in a country with a double digit inflation and increasing malnutrition, there are reports that terrorist warlords have gone into big time farming in parts of Kaduna State.

These saddening reports came a few weeks after the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, told President Muhammadu Buhari in a memo that terrorists are now creating a parallel government in the state. The governor, citing intelligence reports, claimed they are occupying some communities and consolidating their hold on them.

The scarier part of the memo to the President is that detailing that the terrorists seem to have promulgated a law to ban political activities in the areas under their control, including the forthcoming 2023 elections. The group of terrorists issuing the threats are said to be Islamic extremists who abhor democracy and other secular systems of government. They even prevented the 2021 census from holding in most of the 11 wards of Birnin Gwari.

So, the report that the terrorists have now occupied the most arable lands in Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna and gone into big-time farming cannot come to the authorities as a surprise. The heartbreaking aspect is the report that they are using locals as free labourers and with no protection from either the state or Federal Government.

We condemn totally the fate that has befallen the helpless people in those communities that the terrorists have captured. Under international labour laws, each worker is supposed to be protected and paid for his labour. The communities eke out their livelihoods from farming; so, the idea that terror groups have dispossessed them of their lands is bad enough. To now enslave them on the same lands can only be compared to the activities of the Western and Middle Eastern slave merchants of the pre-colonial era. To think that slavery has for centuries been abolished and the Birnin Gwari people are reliving the awful experiences all over again is just sad and unpardonable.

While we bemoan the occupation of farmlands in parts of Kaduna State, it is equally heartbreaking that Zamfara State farmers are scheduled to start negotiations with terrorists in their state. It is really a disappointing time for both the state and federal governments that they have been unable to provide the basic fundamental of government, that of securing lives and property. The Zamfara State case is equally pathetic because, for so long, the people have been at the mercy of the terrorists who have moved from kidnapping to taxing the farmers, and are now occupying their farmlands.

We are disappointed that with all these heartbreaking tragedies, the Federal Government seems helpless, even with the recent BBC documentary on the terrorists. Obviously, the agriculture and rural development minister seems very ignorant of the sector he swore an oath to protect. Saying that terrorist activities have had no significant impact on agricultural production is not only fallacious but very disappointing for one paid with tax-payers money.

In climes that hold public officers to account, the minister ought to have been sacked or the outrage his comments caused across a country where there is diminishing agricultural productivity due to terrorist activities would have forced him to resign immediately.

Even though Kaduna and Zamfara states were in the news recently, most agricultural states like Benue, Plateau, Edo, Ondo, etc. are reeling under the effects of terrorism. There are serious fears that there would be worsening food insecurity in the coming years for a fast growing population.

The governments and public officers must sit up and take serious steps to protect Nigerians from terrorists. Mortgaging the people’s freedom to the terrorists is not what democracy is all about.