Category: Editorial

• The President should fire, or ask to resign, CBN governor and justice minister for their brazen show of partisanship and conflict of interests

If there was a Nigerian version of the Guinness Book of records, many political events and personalities in the Nigerian public space would easily have gained some spots in the book of bizarre in this pre-election season. The quest by some public officers in Nigeria to pursue their political ambitions at various levels can be aptly described as a semblance of the famous theatre of the absurd.

For the first time in Nigeria’s political history, there is a plethora of presidential aspirants, especially in the federal cabinet. While the constitution grants each citizen the freedom of association and the right to seek elective posts, there are offices that their mere sensitivity and for ethical, professional and moral reasons, they should be like Caesar’s wife, be above reproach.

The governor of the nation’s Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, and some ministers in the administration had indicated their interests in contesting for the presidency and governorship elections, come 2023. The AGF specifically wanted to contest for the governorship of his home state, Kebbi. Between Emefiele and Malami, the whole country was outraged to see posters and fleets of campaign vehicles in their names. Both allegedly claimed that they were gifts from friends and well-wishers.

At the height of the national outrage and questions about the propriety of a serving CBN governor and other government appointees contesting for the presidency and other political posts while still serving at their duty posts, the President held a valedictory session for all those with political ambitions and instructed at the end of the event that they  must all resign before May 16.

There are those who resigned, some resigned and allegedly withdrew their resignation letters while some are yet to resign. It was shocking to Nigerians and the global financial sector to see a sitting CBN governor get so partisan without shame and even wish to contest for presidency while still sitting on his table at the CBN. He has been scampering from court to court, including getting a ruling from a high court in his native Delta State, seeking to be allowed to run for office. For one at the apex bank that is the sole custodian of electoral materials and other highly sensitive national documents, many are asking whether Mr. Emefiele has the honour that that high office demands.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mamoud Yakubu, had hinted weeks back that INEC might seek alternative venues to store the sensitive election materials. This is as disappointing as it can get. We are as shocked as all Nigerians that the CBN governor can so trivialise both his office and that of the Presidency he seeks. We are equally disappointed that President Muhammadu Buhari seems to be extremely permissive with his cabinet members, even after hosting them to a valedictory session. Valedictory is the English version from the original words ‘Vale dicere’ meaning ‘to say goodbye’, valedictory expresses farewell, goodbye.

We cannot understand why those that had said their goodbyes are still sitting tight in their offices even when some of them have no sterling results to show for the offices they have occupied since 2015 in some instances. We expect the President to be firmer and more decisive. It is almost like the tail is wagging the dog. An Emefiele and a Malami ought to have been shown the door after they attended the valedictory session for those that had political ambitions.

The rigmarole of the appointees in oscillating between leaving and staying is a sure sign of loss of moral strength to serve the people they swore to serve at their inauguration. The flaunting of a series of brand-new campaign vehicles by both the AGF and the CBN governor says a lot about their offices and their personal choices. Indeed, for Emefiele and Malami not to take the path of honour and resign is a desecration of the offices they occupy. They should be relieved of their offices because their actions cast a slur on the integrity of the offices. In the case of Emefiele, integrity must be restored for Nigeria to regain its image in the global financial world.

Malami’s case is no less grave. He comes across as having conned the political process and taken the judicial branch for a ride. He was seeking a political office while serving as an appointee. Yet, he stood as a vanguard of the cause to sanction political office holders to contest while in office. He desecrated a canon of law: that you cannot be a judge in your own cause. He was shameless in his subterranean plot. He did not only play false to the judiciary but also to his boss the President whom he advised on the matter.

Even in prosecuting it, he was sly. He took the matter to an obscure court in the southeast, did not notify the other parties to the suit, and when the verdict came, it favoured his pre-determined position. He promptly wanted to gazette it to make it a fait accompli. He was restrained because the matter went on appeal.

Later he fell into a scandal about his gifts to party men in his Kebbi State. He denied it before he could not, and he accepted. Then he resigned his office after the president’s order before he did not.

Now, he holds the office, and still preens there after all his obscene acts on that seat. If the President does not have the strength of heart to show him the door, he has not evinced enough dignity to walk out.

We hereby call on the President to fire Emefiele who even in the heart of the matter waxed defiant and employed expletives against members of the public. A CBN governor is made of urbane stuff, not the vulgarity of rhetoric, manner and body language as he has demonstrated.

In the same vein, we call on the President to fire Malami, who has not transcended in his conduct the balance and ethical integrity that office compels. Both men are no models of behaviour in office, and allowing them to continue will damage the offices of the CBN governor and attorney-general and minister of justice in ways that will take extraordinary moral rejuvenation to repair. We are not building a democracy for crass misconduct, but to enthrone mores that will engage a future of high ideals.

The arrest of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged N80 billion fraud is shocking. The EFCC reportedly arrested Mr Idris, following his refusal to report to their office, to answer allegations of fraud levelled against him. Few days after his arrest, the Federal Government suspended the AGF from office, in tandem with the civil service rules, in view of the serious allegations against him.

We are shocked at the humongous amount of money the AGF allegedly misappropriated, and we ask the EFCC to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations. If Mr Idris is found culpable, the law should take its course. We commend the decision to suspend the AGF, so that the investigators can have unfettered access to documents and personnel in the cause of investigation.

A report in the media claimed that the indictment was triggered off by an investigation conducted by the House of Representatives on the management of recovered loots. One of the reports claimed that the AGF had unilaterally sent N20 billion to the Ministry of Defence, another N20 billion to the Capital Development Fund, and yet another N19.6 billion was transferred to the African Development Bank (ADB).

The report indicted the AGF for breaking the provision of section 180(3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), which provides that: “No moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund of the federation, unless the issue of those moneys has been authorised by an Act of the National Assembly.” The dealings between the office of the AGF and the Central Bank also allegedly revealed a lot of discrepancies, as some deposits with the CBN, could not be traced.

There are also allegations that the AGF is linked to several high net-worth real estate investments in Abuja, Kano and Dubai. Of note, the AGF attained 60 years two years ago, and in accordance with the civil service rules, he ought to have retired. But in obedience to cronyism and tribalism, he was allowed to unlawfully extend his tenure. Tragically that illegal act appeared to have backfired, if the allegations against the AGF are proved.

But even if it is not proved, the AGF stands indicted for remaining in office, beyond the clear provisions of the Nigerian law. On this score, the least he should do, is to refund the two years’ salary and other emoluments received unlawfully from the nation’s treasury. It is also baffling that the AGF should have unhindered access to the billions of naira allegedly misappropriated. We wonder how he can expend such huge sums, without triggering an alarm in the nation’s financial system.

We consider it anomalous that one person, no matter how highly placed, should have authority to dispense any public fund, without an alternate authority exercising checks and balance raising an alarm. If such unfettered powers exist in the civil service, parastatals, and ministerial departments, it explains the high level of corruption in government agencies. We urge for an intricate web of checks and balances, with regards to the nation’s resources, at even every level.

It is very sad that while universities are on strike because the Federal Government said it had no money to pay teachers their negotiated entitlements, while out-of-school children, especially the Almajiris roam the streets because of the paucity of funds to put them in school; a whopping sum of N80 billion is allegedly mismanaged by Mr Idris. Until Nigerians begin to connect corruption to the deprivations benumbing the citizens, the issue of corruption would not receive the urgent attention required.

We urge the EFCC to ensure that the allegations against Mr Idris are not swept under the carpet.

Under Nigeria’s electoral laws, registered political parties are required to submit yearly financial accounts to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for vetting and publication. But the commission seems hamstrung on this statutory provision because parties aren’t making necessary records available timeously. Recent reports indicated that the commission has audited parties’ accounts up to 2016 and is working on their 2017 and 2018 accounts. That leaves some three years in arrears and isn’t something to cheer.

Section 225(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) prescribes that: “Every political party shall submit to the Independent National Electoral Commission a detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets together with a similar statement of its expenditure in such form as the commission may require.” Subsection (5) of that section stipulates: “The commission shall have power to give direction to political parties regarding the books or records of financial transactions which they shall keep and to examine all such books and records.” Section 15 of Third Schedule, Part I, Section F of the same law mandates the commission in subsection (c) to “monitor the organisation and operation of the political parties, including their finances,” and in subsection (d) to “arrange for the annual examination and auditing of the funds and accounts of political parties and publish a report on such examination and audit for public information.”

In the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2022, there are related provisions in Section 86. Subsection (1) mandates every political party to submit to INEC “a detailed annual statement of assets and liabilities and analysis of its sources of funds and other assets, together with statement of its expenditure, including hard and soft copy of its list of members or in such a form as the commission may require.” Subsection (3) prescribes access for the electoral body to “examine the records and audited accounts kept by the political party,” while subsection (4) provides that INEC “shall publish the report on such examinations and audit in two national newspapers and the commission’s website within 30 days of receipt of the results.”

Sunday PUNCH, in a report last week, cited INEC sources confirming that the accounts of political parties were audited up to 2016 while work is ongoing on 2017 and 2018 accounts. Even though the cited sources were circumspect about calling out the parties for failure to step up to the legal requirement within appropriate timeframe, there were enough indications of that factor being responsible for the delay by the electoral body in meeting up its mandate to audit and publicise the accounts.

There is no gainsaying the fact that it amounts to impunity on the part of parties when they fail to render their accounts to INEC for onward publication to the public. The parties are jostling to assume management of the Nigerian treasury at different levels through candidates being fielded for electoral offices, and it is difficult to envisage them being accountable with the common purse when they are having a challenge being accountable with their own respective treasury. Ideally, parties should be keen to render account of their financials to the public through INEC as evidence of their disposition and capacity to be accountable with the public purse. Lack of probity with public funds is an original sin in these climes and it is expected of parties seeking power to make a point of being different.

But the electoral body itself has not been sufficiently proactive in employing statutory instruments at its disposal to compel compliance by parties. It can be argued that the framing of the law is not adequately rigorous to be a strong deterrence – like the Electoral Act stipulating N1million fine for default by parties that deal in many multiples of millions in their internal processes. Still, the Constitution empowers INEC to “give direction to political parties” regarding their financials and a creative application of that provision could see the commission holding the parties to their obligation or applying sanctions for default. Both the political parties and INEC need to wake up to their responsibilities.

Less than a month to the 26th anniversary of the gruesome assassination on June 4, 1996, of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late undisputed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, and the most prominent face of the struggle for the validation of his unjustly annulled mandate, her son, Mr Abdul Abiola, has made a heart-wrenching plea to President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill his promise to bring the murderers of his mother to book. In a message on his Twitter handle, Abdul stated, “At the early stages of your second presidential campaign, I remember the things you said, so I know that you are a man of justice and equity, hence, my confidence in you. As this administration comes to an end, I would like to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the murder of my mother Kudirat Abiola. Her anniversary comes up in exactly a month from now. The confession of her murderer, Sergeant Rogers, must be investigated”. The torment and ache in the young man’s mind can be understood and is no doubt shared by large numbers of people within and beyond Nigeria.

In one of his immortal aphorisms, Africa’s first literature Nobelist, Professor Wole Soyinka, declares that “Justice is the first condition of humanity”. A community in which Justice does not reign supreme will be difficult to differentiate from an assemblage of beasts where might is right and the evil-minded can perpetrate their heinous acts, including the taking of human life, with reckless impunity. Alhaja Abiola was murdered in broad daylight in Lagos when the white Mercedes Benz car in which she was riding with her driver and personal assistant, which was obviously being trailed, was shot at as the vehicle sought to link the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Coca-Cola junction end of Ikeja. Kudirat and the driver did not survive the attack. The firm and unshakeable resolve with which she pursued not just the release of her husband from unjust incarceration but also the actualisation of the mandate he had been given in what is widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest election in the country’s history had obviously made her enemy number one to the General Sani Abacha dictatorship, hence its desperate determination to terminate her life at all cost.

This was also the fate of the late Pa Alfred Rewane, a key financier of the struggle, who was also murdered in cold blood in his own house in Lagos by the regime’s goons, and several other lesser known names who lost life, limb and livelihood in one of the darkest periods of Nigeria’s history. Indeed, Kudirat Abiola’s case is one glaring instance of the mysterious ways in which Nigeria’s justice system works, sometimes in intriguing ways to serve the cause of injustice. For, in October 1998, during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer to General Abacha, as well as Abacha’s son, Mohammed, had been charged in court in Lagos with the murder of Kudirat. Later, Kudirat’s personal assistant, Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, was also charged as an insider mole that betrayed his boss and revealed her movements on the fateful day to the assassins. Others brought before the law for being implicated in the crime included General Ishaya Bamaiyi, garrison commander in Lagos, Mr James Danbaba, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Rabo Lawal, head of the mobile police team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and Sergeant Rogers Barnabas Jabilla who became a star prosecution witness.

In the course of the trial, Sergeant Jabilla, who confessed to firing the shots that killed Kudirat and her driver but understandably left Shofolahan unhurt, gave evidence that he was obeying orders from his superior, Al-Mustapha, in carrying out these acts. He testified that it was Al-Mustapha who gave the ‘contract’ for the assassination of Kudirat to Rabo Lawal and that the killer team was then equipped with Uzi rifles complete with silencers, while the team was also provided with cash for the operation. He claimed that all these took place in the presence of Mohammed Abacha, son of the Head of State. Sergeant Rogers Jabilla confessed that of the three assassination missions he was sent on, only that of Kudirat succeeded while the attempts on the lives of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) chieftain, Chief Abraham Adesanya, and publisher of The Guardian, Mr Alex Ibru, proved abortive, although the latter suffered serious injuries.

However, in May, 2001, a Federal High Court in Abuja pronounced that Mohammed Abacha had no case to answer in the killing of Kudirat and that the testimony against him was based essentially on circumstantial evidence. He was consequently released. As the saga of the trial continued to unfold, a Lagos High Court on June 30, 2012, sitting at Igbosere, convicted Major Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan over the murder of Kudirat and the duo was sentenced to death by hanging. They were, however, discharged and acquitted of the crime by the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday, July 12, 2013. The appel?ate court was of the view that there was not sufficient evidence to incriminate Al-Mustapha in the murder and the presiding judge, Justice Rita Pemu, alleged that the judge at the lower court, Justice Mojisola Dada, was “stroked to secure a conviction by all means”. The two men were consequently set free.

Could this then have been a case of a murder without murderers or assassination without assassins? This fundamentally is the question that Abdul Abiola’s plea and poser to President Buhari as regards his mother’s assassination raises. Since the President during his campaigns had promised to bring the murderers to book, concrete steps ought to have been seen to be taken to achieve this objective. When crimes go unresolved in society and the state does not demonstrate convincing resolve to get to the roots of such infractions and bring culprits to book, criminals are emboldened to break the law with little fear of repercussion. It is thus not surprising that even with the transition from military dictatorship to this democratic dispensation since 1999, unresolved political killings continue to be a common feature in our polity.

For instance, the embarrassing murder of the chief law officer of the nation, Chief Bola Ige, in his bedroom in Ibadan on December 23, 2001, remains shrouded in mystery. Four days before Ige’s death, a member of the Osun State House of Assembly and a key actor in the factional politics of the state, Odunayo Olagbaju, was murdered in front of a police station in Ile-Ife. Chief Aminosoari Dikibo was, on February 6, 2004, assassinated in Delta State on his way to a South-South Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting in Asaba. Another case is that of Dr Harry Marshall, National Chairman of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), who was murdered in his bedroom in Abuja on March 5, 2003. Similarly, prominent Lagos politician and governorship aspirant of the PDP in Lagos State, Funsho Williams, was bound, stabbed and strangled in his Ikoyi residence on July 27, 2006. A governorship aspirant in Ekiti State on the platform of the PDP was assassinated in the state on August 14, 2016. These are only a few of the many cases of unresolved political murders that occurred across the country. This, of course, reflects the vicious nature of our politics, the do-or-die approach to the quest for political power and the willingness of political actors to do anything, including eliminating their competitors, to achieve their goals of winning political offices.

The Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission headed by the late Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, set up at the inception of the Obasanjo administration to, among others, unearth the culprits in some of these murders unfortunately turned out to be a star television reality show of sorts, with nothing concrete resulting from it. Perhaps what is needed now is a professional panel of seasoned security officials and criminologists who will investigate all unresolved political murders in camera and seek to find new leads to ensure justice is done. That is the best way to honour the memory of all those martyred in the struggle for the democracy we have today, and make killing of opponents less attractive to political actors.

What really happened at Aba Road in Sabon Gari area of Kano State on Tuesday? We ask this question in view of the conflicting reports emanating from an explosion that occurred there. While some account said it was due to gas explosion, another said it was a bomb blast. The explosion occurred around 9.30am on the road near a school, Winners Kids Academy, destroyed a residential building and shattered part of the school. At least nine persons died as a result of the explosion, with several others injured.

The account, which attributed the incident to gas explosion has it that it occurred at a welding workshop owned by a 25-year-old man, probably because a welding cylinder, carbide and other welding items were recovered from the scene.

The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, confirmed that nine bodies were recovered from the rubble of a storey building thar collapsed after the explosion. He said NEMA had mobilised excavators to facilitate rescue operations at the site adding that the agency would work with other agencies to see to the complete removal of the rubbles to be able to retrieve all the persons trapped there.

“Nine dead bodies have been recovered so far from the rubble of a collapsed building, beside a primary school following the explosions from a gas cylinder at Aba Road in Sabon Gari area of Kano’’, he said.

But this is different from the accounts of two persons who claimed to have witnessed the incident. One of them, Mansur Babajide, said, “As far as I am concerned, it was not a gas explosion, but a bomb, due to the high-density vibration.” He added that the explosion vibrated the premises of his workshop on Burma Road, a distance of about five kilometres from the scene. Another eyewitness, who resides nearby, Luke Okenwa, corroborated Babajide’s position. He said there was no gas dealer in the area. As a matter of fact, he said it could have been caused by suicide bombers who could have infiltrated the city.

While we do not doubt the reason adduced by the security agencies and the state government for the explosion, it is also important that we do not dismiss with a wave of the hand the account of those who said it was the result of a bomb blast. Lest we forget, a time there was when bombs went off regularly in Kano. Given the rate at which terrorists that have held the northern part of the country by the jugular operate, we need to be careful not to be caught off-guard should the criminals stage a comeback.

So, there is the need for clarification to enable those concerned situate the incident appropriately, with a view to putting in place appropriate measures to avoid a reoccurrence. Ordinarily, in these days of technology, there should not be any controversy over the cause of an incident which occurred in a limited space like the one in question. Science has the answer; the debris could be of help in determining the cause of the explosion. A thorough investigation is required to provide answer to the question of what led to the explosion.

However, whatever the cause, we agree with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, that we are losing too many lives to avoidable tragedies like explosions and building collapse. We need to curb the trend. Governments should stop issuing licenses to people dealing in combustible materials to operate near schools or residential areas. Moreover, whether the theory of bomb blast is true or not in this case, eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty. People in Kano and indeed all over the country have to be security conscious and report strange persons or movements in their vicinity while governments on their part should intensify the war on terror as well as address the socio-economic issues that gave birth to it.

World Hypertension Day, on May 17, drew attention to rising cases of the condition in Nigeria. Introduced in 2005 to raise global awareness of hypertension, the day is important because it helps to spread useful information on the potentially fatal condition.  The theme this year was ‘Measure your blood pressure accurately, control it, live longer.’

As the day was observed in the country, there was alarming news that about 80 million Nigerians are living with hypertension, and about 26.7milion of them receiving treatment. The large number of those not receiving treatment, more than 50 million, is a cause for concern. So is the overall number of those affected.

Executive Director of Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF), Dr Kingsley Akinroye, who gave these figures, said between 30 and 40 per cent of the population were affected. Nigeria’s population is about 216 million. He added that about one in three adults suffers from hypertension.

Also known as high blood pressure, hypertension is a condition in which the blood vessels have persistently raised pressure, or in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high. Ideally, blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg.  Any figure higher than 140 mmHg for systolic blood pressure and 90 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure, that is, above 140/90, is regarded as hypertension.

It is often without symptoms and, if untreated or uncontrolled, can lead to stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, heart failure, and other health complications. Many of those with hypertension are said to be unaware, which creates a situation in which many cases are untreated or uncontrolled.

Medical experts blame the rise in hypertension in the country on a number of factors, including unhealthy diet (red meat, high salt intake and low consumption of green leafy vegetables), sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise, obesity, smoking and air pollution , increase in cholesterol levels, excessive alcohol consumption, stress and inadequate night sleep.

These identified factors show the importance of personal responsibility in preventing hypertension. People must pay greater attention to their way of life.

Non-preventable factors include: family history, inheritance from parents, pregnancy, age, gender, and race.

Poverty and anxiety are also listed as factors. Insecurity too has been blamed for increasing cases of hypertension in the country. The authorities should be concerned about the health consequences of the country’s security crisis and poor socio-economic conditions.

Unfortunately, there is no proven cure for hypertension. This is why prevention is better than cure. People should regularly check their blood pressure.

It is reassuring that treatment can lower blood pressure that is too high, and mild hypertension can be brought under control through lifestyle changes. According to the President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Innocent Ujah, “The reality is that it is a common disease and a silent killer. It is not a death sentence but can be controlled with regular check-up, lifestyle changes and medication.”

Availability of healthcare facilities and access to treatment are crucial in managing hypertension. It has been argued that health insurance coverage for hypertension treatment, subsidising medication cost, and provision of free generic medications through collaboration between government and pharmaceutical companies will improve access.

Increasing high blood pressure awareness is vital towards reducing the burden of hypertension in the country. A survey by the NHF showed that awareness of hypertension is more in the urban areas, and more among women.  This means there may be a greater need to target rural areas and men in public enlightenment campaigns.

It is important to reach the more than 50 million Nigerians said to be living with untreated or uncontrolled hypertension, and help them to possibly live longer. This is the right response.

The firing of Gernot Rohr as the Super Eagles coach gave off some uproar in the country, but not as much as what came afterwards. It was bad enough that many thought the ex-Bordeaux manager performed poorly the task of shepherding Nigerian sports ambassadors to trophies.

But after that, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) did not seem to have its fortunes under lock as a new coach, former Eagles defender Austin Eguavoen, failed to fly as the team fell to the Black Stars of Ghana. It was one miscue after another.

Nigeria had been licking its wounds when a big accounting weakness in the country football came to the fore. Rohr received a reprieve from world soccer body, FIFA – also known as the International Federation of Association Football. FIFA ruled that Rohr be paid the sum of N157 million as arrears the NFF did not pay him before he was knocked off the coaching chair.

It may be justice for Rohr, but it was not decency. The man was not true to himself when he said it was not because of the money, or else he would not have collected the cash himself. It was about revenge, and he may not have taken the route of malice if he was not fired.

Yet, the firing of the self-confessed Franco-German raises fundamental questions about how we run sports in this country.

Rohr was signed to a contract, but the funding came from a private firm, Aiteo, because of what the NFF saw as the bureaucracy that kept the coaches in the past from receiving their money. We had instances in the past, including Clemens Westerhof, who took the country to Olympic gold. Things went well with Rohr before the COVID-19 era, and the coach, in spite of his uninspiring performance, received his entitlements upfront.

But the bad times hit Aiteo, and the firm could not comply with its financial obligation as the pall of the pandemic ruptured its pocketbooks.  This led to a rescheduling of the contract, and the NFF arranged to pay, according to its leadership, its six-month salaries that should have ended in December.

Apparently, not all of his obligations were covered, and hence the FIFA ruling that came with a deadline. The reason for Aiteo’s intervention must read as the company’s fulfilment of its social responsibility. For that it must be commended. But it covered Nigeria’s inability to meet budgetary obligations. If the NFF relied on the budget, according to analysts, Rohr might have been owed far more than FIFA ruled, and that would be because the system would have delayed his payment. So, outsourcing it was a sort of corporate rescue. He had FIFA to run to for help.

Others, especially Nigerian players, have nowhere to seek salvation. The players that played for the last World Cup have yet to be paid. They are Nigerians, and they get justice but the justice of the damned.

How are they going to handle the payment of the new coach entitlements? The Federal Government has now agreed to pay through an intervention fund in the sports ministry. We ask? If they can do so for the foreign coach, what of the Nigerians who are waiting for their own?

It also shows how the delay of transforming budget to cash is often an excuse for wrongdoing. We have to learn to organise money for utility or else money will serve the wrong purpose and open our coffers to corrupt individuals.

We hope that the sort of international embarrassment from Rohr would not repeat itself. Too many examples of how easy solutions often become tales of sweat and pain.

We have lost count of the number of meetings that the striking university lecturers and Federal Government officials have held over the incessant strike in our public universities, even in the last seven years of the Buhari presidency alone. Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had on March 14 declared an initial eight-week roll-over warning strike which it again rolled over on May 9, to allow the government more time to resolve all outstanding issues. The union’s president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said in a statement that “After extensive deliberations, noting the Government’s failure to live up to its responsibilities and speedily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) within the additional eight-week roll–over strike period declared on 14th March 2022, NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for 12 weeks to give government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.” The statement added that the strike would take effect from 12.01 a.m. on May 9.

Before these roll-over actions, ASUU had embarked on a prolonged strike on March 23, 2020, which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, a thing which both combined to keep students at home for more than nine months.

Unfortunately, despite the meetings upon meetings that followed these strike actions, the universities have, at best, been functioning in fits and starts. What this tells us is that what is needed in the matter is bringing the true spirit of collective bargaining to bear by both parties. In other words, they have to come to negotiation table with an open  mind rather than come combatively prepared not to shift ground. What the occasion calls for is the spirit of give and take.

The root cause of ASUU’s grouse with the Federal Government lay in the past. Specifically, it is about an agreement that both parties struck in 2009. It includes non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) on funding for the revitalisation of both states and Federal Government’s universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ ASUU Agreement and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) platform instead of the government’s preferred Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

Other issues are earned academic allowances; state universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries and non-remittance of third-party deductions.

The Federal Government announced the disbursement of some money to meet some of these requirements last year. Apparently, this has not been in tandem with the agreement reached with ASUU, hence the rolling over of the strike. The usual excuse is lack of funds.

This may be true; but only to some extent. Several actions of those in government and politicians generally do not support this claim. We here refer to what may be regarded as the latest action on the part of the political players that gives the impression that there is too much money in the system. This is the N100million nomination form fee that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) collected from each of its presidential aspirants. Many Nigerians were surprised with the ease with which each of the aspirants paid the money. Even though some of them claimed some amorphous persons or groups paid and obtained the forms on their behalf, Nigerians do not believe this claim.

This is even the more despicable, happening under a ruling party that came into power on the crest of a change mantra. And at a time the country is said to be short of cash.

This is only one example of the ostentatious displays that readily put a lie to claims of lack of funds to run the government or fund social infrastructure.

Incessant closure of universities due to strike has its implications:  it makes academic calendar unpredictable; thus, it is only the time of admission to the university that is known, no one is certain of the time of graduation. Again, as we saw recently, various universities have had to adopt various academic calendars, a thing which compounds admissions and other processes for other stakeholders. Prolonged strike in the universities also have implications for the quality of teaching and learning, which makes the holders of certificates issued by many of the universities to be subjected to all manner of remedial programmes before they can be employed, especially outside of the country.

Apart from the problem of half-baked graduates, prolonged strike also makes students available for all manner of activities which they would otherwise not have had time for if their schools were in session. As the saying goes, an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. We witnessed that much during the #EndSARS protest in October 2020. The scars are still very much around, and enough to remind us that a second protest of such magnitude would be disastrous indeed. Again, we are seeing flashes of that in several parts of the country.

We must avoid an escalation at all cost. This is why President Muhammadu Buhari must personally wade into the matter. The buck stops at his desk. Let it not be said that our universities were under lock and key for the better part of his eight-year tenure.

The lecturers must be ready to accept certain facts of life. One is that the agreement of 2009 might no longer be feasible. Two, we do not know any system where workers dictate how they should be paid. So, both parties should be able to work around resolving these issues amicably. But then, funding is key for the universities. Many of them are shadows of their former state. The government must be ready to improve on funding even as it must demonstrate its readiness to curb ostentatious lifestyle among its officials.