Category: Editorial

The represented female possibilities in a male-dominated world. On her way to becoming the first female vice-chancellor of a Nigerian university, she set striking records as the first Nigerian woman to earn a doctorate, and the first Nigerian female professor of mathematics education.

“The excitement I felt on receiving the news had more to do with seeing it in terms of opening up the field for women than anything else,” she said of her historic appointment as vice-chancellor.

“I saw it as an opportunity to show that women too could rise to the occasion. Also, I knew what the weight of the expectations of the women was. They were eager to see how things would go, and I was not going to let them down.

“Mind you, those who appointed me felt I was qualified for it. So, it was not just a case of wanting to satisfy the yearnings of the womenfolk. It wasn’t that simplistic.”

Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, who died on March 25, at the age of 89, left a legacy of distinction. Her accomplishments in academia are inspirational, and continue to inspire females in particular struggling to excel in a patriarchal world.

With a degree in mathematics from the then University College Ibadan, in 1954, she taught the subject at Queen’s School, Ede,  in present-day Osun State, before earning a master’s degree from the University of Vermont, USA, in 1959. She received a doctorate from the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1963. Her dissertation was titled ‘Dynamics of education in the birth of a new nation: Case study of Nigeria.’

Born in Warri, in present-day Delta State, she understandably took female education seriously because she had benefitted from education herself.  She was particularly interested in enabling female African students to study science and technology courses. This showed that she was forward-looking.

After a stint at the University of Ibadan, she taught at the University of Lagos from 1965 to 1985.  In 1976, she became a professor of mathematics at the university, where she headed the institute of education for a decade. Under her, the institute notably introduced innovative non-degree programmes for the benefit of mature women working as elementary school teachers.

As a mathematician, she was noted for her participation in the Entebbe Mathematics Project, from 1963 to 1975, involving Africans, Europeans and Americans, which produced mathematics texts that were good enough for use anywhere in the world.

Her roles as chairman of the curriculum review committee, former Bendel State, 1973 to 1979, and chairman of the Lagos State curriculum review committee and Lagos State Examinations Board, 1979 to 1985, were testimonies to her worth as an educationist.

When Alele-Williams became vice-chancellor of the University of Benin in 1985, it was a great opportunity to demonstrate her capability in higher education management.  She held the position until 1992. During her tenure, she, in her words, “dealt with” cultism at the university, which had become notorious for cult activities. She was an unlikely anti-cult fighter perhaps because she was a woman, but she showed that she had a tough side.

She had a famous fight with a set of lecturers who eventually left the campus. It was a sore point not only in the university’s history but the story of Nigerian education.

Her noteworthy services to education included membership of the governing council, UNESCO Institute of Education, consultant to UNESCO and Institute of International Education Planning, vice-president of the World Organisation for Early Childhood Education and later president of the Nigeria chapter, first president of the African Mathematical Union Commission on Women in Mathematics, and regional vice-president for Africa of the Third World Organisation for Women in Science.

A recipient of the Nigerian national honour, Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), in 1987, she was  a Fellow of the Mathematical Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Academy of Education.

The country’s ultimate tribute to her may well have been the Centenary Award in 2014.  She was among the 100 recipients of the award, “a special recognition of unique contributions of Nigerians to the socio-cultural, economic and political development of the country in the last 100 years.” It was a grand statement on her impact.

Only this sombre fact is clear: Dr. Joseph Kabungo, Zambian, former goalkeeper and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) dope doctor, at the final elimination World Cup match between Nigeria and Ghana, collapsed and died at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.  How he died, however, is a subject of hot controversy.

“Kabungo had a cardiac arrest when walking towards the team dressing rooms and collapsed on the floor,” an alleged report which the Game Control Department reportedly sent to the CAF team claimed.  ”Both team doctors and other medical personnel administered CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] on him but after a while he was taken to hospital and that’s when the terrible news was confirmed.”

But another tweet by Collins Poku, a Ghanaian and sports journalist, who claimed to be a living witness claimed: “They beat him, he fell and they trod on him.  He lost consciousness [and] was rushed to an ambulance closer to the Ghana dressing room for CPR.  The entire Ghanaian contingent watched on as resuscitation attempts were made with oxygen mask.  He was taken to hospital later and now this.  Sad.”

Yet, another account by Osasu Obayiuwana, a British-Nigerian: “His name is Dr. Joseph Kabungo from Zambia.  He was on duty as doping officer.  He collapsed suddenly and died.  Cause of death not confirmed yet.  His family, the Zambia FA and the government of Zambia have been duly informed.”

Pending the time an autopsy confirms the cause of the late Kabungo’s death, we can only sympathize and commiserate with his immediate family, the Zambia FA, the entire nation of Zambia and CAF that sent Dr. Kabungo on his fatal final assignment.

Though accidents occur — particularly in sports with great physical exertions — football games should not be a journey of no return.  CAF should stay true to the late medic as he stayed true to the CAF assignment that claimed his life.  CAF should ensure the cause of death is medically proved and released without delay.

Whatever the cause of this death, it wasn’t exactly Nigeria’s finest hour — and that wasn’t because Nigeria lost the Qatar World Cup ticket to Ghana.  Football, as the great Pele quipped, is a beautiful game.  Win or lose, it stays beautiful.

But ugliness creeps in when wild fans go well and truly mad; with their mean, do-or-die attitude. That gives football a bad name.  From Kumasi to Abuja, there was a surfeit of that.

It certainly was ugly watching Ghana provide a travesty of a mobile stairway, which made jet-lagged Nigerian players first sit before jumping onto the mobile steps! At the Kumasi stadium too, hostile ball fans hit at the Nigeria team bus, in clear efforts to intimidate.

In Abuja, it was hooligans invading the pitch after a game had been lost and won.  Did anyone think those pre-and post-match antics would change the result?

Besides, how do you explain vandals, with absolutely no sense of value, invading the pitch, uprooting the grass and smashing up everything smash-able: coaches’ dugout and other assets in the technical area?

By a special Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports initiative, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group, just restored that pitch after eons of neglect.  But in a moment of madness, dregs trotted free into the stadium wreaked havoc on it all — and what for?  Because Nigeria lost a World Cup ticket?  It was a moment of high national shame!

Dr. Kabungo had better die a natural death.  Otherwise, Nigeria would stand fairly punished by CAF and FIFA for the ugly behaviour of its unruly citizens.  That would bring pain to the memory of MKO Abiola, ace philanthropist and late ‘Pillar of Sports in Africa’, who National Stadium Abuja was named after.

While congratulating Ghana on picking the ticket, against near-overwhelming odds, Ghana too should learn to tone down “win-at-all-cost”, which its aviation officials and ball fans exhibited at Kumasi.  Winning or losing a game is not the end of the world.

The Nigerian falter, despite a decent set of players, many of them in the form of their lives, again throws disturbing lights on the technical quality of Nigerian coaches.  Augustine Eguavoen showed brilliant flashes at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.  But since his team’s shocking ouster by Tunisia, it’s been down hill — not even with the bolster of his technical bench with Emmanuel Amuneke.

Still, losing a World Cup ticket isn’t the end of the world.  Mighty Italy, sitting European champions are missing the Mundial for the second consecutive time.  Algeria and Egypt are other African high fliers that would miss Qatar.

So, Nigeria should dust off this disappointment, rebuild and prepare for the future.  The next AFCON is Côte d’Ivoire 2023.  Now is the time to rebuild the Super Eagles, and make AFCON ’23 the starting point to challenge for the 2026 World Cup.

The super cop myth around the embattled and now suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, was largely dissipated when international fraudster, Ramon Abass, also known as Hushpuppi, implicated him as a party to a money laundering scheme to the tune of $1.1 million in July 2021. The subsequent indictment of Kyari by a court in the United States and the request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for his extradition to face trial in that country sent shock waves around Nigeria, given his sensitive position as Commander of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) under the office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), as well as his image as a no-nonsense officer who had zero tolerance for any form of criminality.

Even though he admitted that Hushpuppi indeed paid some money into an account with his knowledge, Kyari said the purpose was to procure some clothing materials on

behalf of the former. Despite the widespread belief that an officer of his status and repute should on no account have any dealings whatsoever with people of shady character, many were still willing to give Kyari the benefit of the doubt, as the public awaited the outcome of investigations into the allegations by the police authorities.

However, the release of a video clip on February 14, 2022, by the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) showing Abba Kyari negotiating the release of some quantity of seized 25kg of cocaine, and offering to pay cash of $61,400 for the purpose dealt another lethal blow not just on Kyari but on the police as an institution. He has since been in detention with the NDLEA and charged to court along with six others on several charges bordering on conspiracy, obstruction and dealing in cocaine.

One question that has bothered many minds was how and why an officer supposedly on suspension and relieved of all police duties pending the outcome of investigations into allegations against him, still had the audacity to engage in an official capacity in the activities for which he was arrested by the NDLEA.

The fact that Kyari wielded an overbearing and clearly unhealthy influence within the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has again been confirmed by the revelation by the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr Anthony Ojukwu (SAN), that the cop was shielded from facing numerous cases that were filed against him since 2008. Speaking at a capacity building retreat for the House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights organised by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Mr Ojukwu said all the petitions against Kyari bordered around human rights violations.

In his words, “I summoned Abba Kyari up to eight times but the authorities shielded him. Every time they will say that he travelled to Lagos, Kaduna or somewhere else. He had so many issues and cases that were brought against him pending before the commission. Since 2008 to 2009, we have been summoning this officer because he had so many petitions against him but he was celebrated as a super cop. Thank goodness that God has used another way to bring him into account”.

But the truth is that the NHRC has no business waiting on God to do its job for the commission. But for the recent travails that have exposed the other side of Kyari, does it mean that the NHRC would have kept mum and the world would not have known of the intransigence of Kyari and the police authorities in responding to allegations of human rights abuses?

In any case, in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, special tribunals were set up in all the states to listen to petitions from aggrieved members of the public and ensure that justice was done to all those who had suffered human rights abuses by operatives of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Did the NHRC bring the issue of the petitions against Kyari before these judicial panels or at least encourage the petitioners to file their cases before them? It is certainly not enough for the commission now to draw attention to the excesses of Kyari and the police as an institution when the former super cop is now in obvious disgrace.

But this kind of behaviour is not limited to the police. Security agencies in the country over the years have been loath to allow their personnel to be brought to justice when they run foul of the law. This is a misbegotten sense of espirit de corps, which should have no place in a democratic polity predicated on justice and the rule of law. This revelation by the NHRC indicates once again the inordinate influence that Abba Kyari wielded and perhaps continues to wield in the police. It is difficult to believe that his hyperactivity on social media, showcasing his opulence and associating with elements of shady character never caught the attention of his superiors.

The NPF likes to portray itself as the friend of the public, which is indeed what ought to be the case. The recent massive #EndSARS protests across the country that led to the disbanding of the outfit, however, shows that a vast majority of the people perceive the police rather as enemy number one and perhaps rightly so. Kyari is only a mirror through which the police should see its true colours and hopefully take meaningful steps to effect fundamental institutional change. The police ought to be at the forefront of protecting the human rights of the citizenry, which unfortunately is not the case right now. Of course, there is no perfect police organisation anywhere in the world. But cases of police officers and men violating the human rights of citizens with impunity should be an aberration and not the norm.

Following the recall of five brands of male sex enhancement pills sold on Amazon by their manufacturers, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has issued an alert intimating the public of the recall of the drugs. The public alert with No. 010/2022, was signed by the agency’s director-general, Prof. Moji Adeyeye. The drugs were recalled due to a notification by Amazon to the Food and Drug Agency (FDA), U.S.A, of the laboratory analysis which found the products to contain undeclared Tadalafil/Sildenafil.

The alert said that the products are marketed as dietary supplements for male sexual enhancement and sold online on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com. This is not the issue. The issue, according to the agency, is that Sildenafil and Tadalafil in the drugs are ingredients known as phosphodiesterase (PDE-5) inhibitor found in FDA-approved products for the treatment of male erectile dysfunction. The drugs had to be recalled because the safety and efficacy of the two ingredients in them was yet to be confirmed. This has implications for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease who often take nitrates.

Consequently, NAFDAC advised that members of the public should henceforth stop the purchase or use of Alpha male plus male enhancer with undeclared Tadalafil. Those in possession of the drugs should hand them over to the nearest NAFDAC office. In addition, the agency urged patients who experience problems associated with using any of the implicated products to contact their healthcare providers or doctors. “NAFDAC encourages healthcare professionals, consumers and patients to report adverse events related to the use of the products to the nearest NAFDAC office, or NAFDAC PRASCOR (20543 TOLLS FREE from all networks). The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which reported the story, said the agency also called on the public to report any adverse events via pharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng, or through E-reporting platforms available on the NAFDAC website, or via the Med-Safety application available for download on android and IOS stores.

We appreciate these details and urge members of the public, particularly those that have been using these sex enhancers, and those intending to use them, to take full advantage of it. We have many of such drugs all over the country. Indeed, the rate at which we are bombarded with advertisements of these ‘Be a man’ drugs, one would be tempted to think that man lives by sex alone.

We know that to be a man, as they say, is not a day’s job. Indeed, it was the great Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, who sang many years ago that it is not easy to be a man. Ko easy lati je omo okunrin …, the Juju maestro sang in one of his many evergreens. Of course, Obey was then speaking literally to the numerous bills that the man has to pick as the head of the house. The house rent, electricity bills, housekeeping allowance, and all. But that was in one of the country’s glorious eras when the ability to shoulder those responsibilities actually defined the man.

Nowadays, our minds wander to a completely different area when we see or hear ‘be a man’. Sex. Or, put succinctly, sex enhancement drugs otherwise known as aphrodisiacs. One would think the only way to demonstrate being a man these days is by showing prowess and stamina on the bed, given the way these drugs are advertised — online, in the traditional media, at motor parks, in public buses and what have you.

Sadly, many, if not most of these, drugs are harmful to our systems while some of them actually kill slowly. We are particularly worried because of the various kinds of products on the online platforms, from electronics to shoes, wrist watches, clothing, telephones, edibles, drugs, etc. that are shipped in without any test, either for efficacy of claims or safety, or both. Yet, many of the operators of the platforms know next-to-nothing about the products. The sector, despite its phenomenal growth, is either not regulated or under-regulated.

The recall of the sex enhancement pills, not due to our local efforts but due to external findings, shows how porous our gatekeeping process in stopping unwholesome  drugs and other products from entering the country is. This is not good enough. We urge the Federal Government to provide NAFDAC and other agencies in charge of this sector with the wherewithal to ease their operations while the personnel too should be more alive to their responsibilities. It is not particularly helpful to shut the gate after the horse had bolted. As they say, ‘prevention is better than cure’.

Rampant cases of examination malpractices across the country at all levels is one feature of the challenge of perverse values confronting Nigeria today. An instant of this menace was the decision of the Rivers State government to demote 14 principals of public schools as well as withdraw the operational licenses of 21 private schools over their alleged involvement in examination malpractices. Following a letter to the state ministry of education by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) listing 35 schools delisted for malpractices during the 2021 WAEC examinations, the state commissioner for education, Professor Kanye Ebeku, said “For all principals who are still in service and who superintended at the time this situation arose, we have directed that they be demoted. For all schools that are found in the list, we have directed that their licenses to operate be withdrawn forthwith”.

Even though the state government deserves commendation for not glossing over this indictment of staff and schools by WAEC and taking punitive action against the culprits, we do not believe it has gone far enough. So serious has the pandemic of examination malpractices become that mere demotion of staff or withdrawal of operational licenses amounts to no more than a slap on the wrist. Examination malpractice is a criminal infraction that should attract the full weight of the law. Officers who are demoted will remain within the system and, with time, ascend on their career path. Proprietors of schools that have their licenses withdrawn can register new schools and continue their atrocities. This is why, as experts have said, the offence of examination malpractice under the law is not treated as a misdemeanour but as felony.

Consequently, the Examination Malpractices Act, Cap E15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, not only stipulates offences that constitute examination malpractice but also outlines penalties ranging from three to five years imprisonment, with or without the option of fine. It would be a grievous error for this crime to be treated with kid gloves. For, at the root of the penchant for perpetrating electoral malpractices is the pervasive perversion of societal values such that people seek to reap where they have not sown as well as enjoy short cut to success without the requisite hard work.

On the part of the students, the lazy and indolent ones who have not invested the necessary time in diligent studies, seek to pass in flying colours either by fraudulently obtaining question papers in advance, copying from the more serious students in the examination hall or getting others to write the examinations for them. Similarly, teachers who have not done enough to prepare their students for success seek to take deceptive pride in having produced students who perform excellently in examinations, thereby enhancing their prospects of career progression. And schools seek to acquire the prestige that comes with their students performing brilliantly in examinations, which is the genesis of the so-called ‘miracle examination centres’ that candidates spend a fortune to enroll and take their examinations in.

Examination malpractices defeat the fundamental purpose of examinations, which is to offer the best and most accurate, objective measurement and evaluation of the mastery by students of a given subject matter. Students who pass examinations through fraud thus hold certificates that are not a true reflection of their knowledge and competence. Some studies have shown that these could later have dangerous implications for society. Imagine a situation where Ill-trained architects or engineers supervised building construction; or incompetent pharmacists prescribe drugs for patients. We know these could cause problems for the society.

It is unfortunate that things have degenerated so badly that many parents are known to actively aid their children or wards in perpetrating examination fraud by procuring examination papers in advance, bribing teachers and invigilators to permit fraud or getting proxies to write examinations for them. What matters is the end of obtaining certificates no matter how fraudulent the means and the larger society is the worse for it.

This is just as a not insignificant number of parents are also known to encourage and support their children to seek to get rich quick through high tech cybercrime popularly known as ‘yahoo yahoo’. All of these are redolent of a society in the throes of a cancerous crisis of values. Quite apart from forcefully applying the sanction of law for criminal infractions such as examination malpractices, there is also the urgent need for a mass enlightenment and reorientation campaign to inculcate new, more wholesome and life-enhancing values in the citizenry.

Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo was sworn in as the fifth executive governor of Anambra State on March 17. His inauguration marks a joyous end of his more than a decade quest to become governor. In 2009, he had contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost to Peter Obi, the then candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

It is interesting to observe that today, the two have switched parties and the former governor is now a member of the PDP. We find this quite interesting as it gives vent to the axiom that in politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent foes, but permanent interests. It equally proves that political parties are mere vehicles in the democratic process and in the Nigerian environment, politicians tend to easily oscillate from one party to the other, given that there seems to be no remarkable ideological differences.

However, we note that Soludo has come into office with a huge experience in both local and international economic policy formulation and advisory sectors. It is not surprising therefore that the people and indeed most Nigerians have great expectations from his government. All eyes are seemingly on him to see how well he would keep to his promise to do things differently in the office.

Expectedly, we note that his first action, in alignment with his vision of taking the road less travelled, was his decision to have a very low budget inauguration that did not cost the tax payers a dime. He cancelled the very extravagant post-inauguration jamboree that set most states back by hundreds of millions. His speech was as inspiring as it touched all the critical areas that are at the top of the list — security, law and order, inward integration, calling on his fellow elites to be more proactive and join in state and nation-building, inclusivity in government, revenue generation, etc.

He started his inauguration speech by acknowledging that he is an ‘employee’ of the people and would serve them as a loyal employee. He explained the low key post-inauguration plans as a means of saving money and showing that inaugurations must not be seen as some form of jamboree. Celebrations must not precede performance; work comes first and he demonstrated that by working for hours after the inauguration. He explained his economic policy of encouraging local production and promised to be the chief marketer for any brand produced in Anambra, the South East and Nigeria at large.

He wore the hand-woven akwete from Aba women, his shoes were made in Ogbunike, the local delicacy, abacha, was from Umunze, the palmwine from one of the villages was an apt replacement for some imported exotic wines and spirits. His official car is from Innoson Motors in Nnewi. He expressed interest in moving the state up the economic ladder by taking hard but progressively productive decisions as the country moves away from an oil-dependent economy to a tech-based and more diverse 21st century economy.

We commend his attempt at pointing the torch inwards and seeking to return confidence in leadership, a value that seems to be in very short supply in the country. However, while we commend his proposed focus and leadership style, we see as seemingly too hasty his recent announcement through a media interview that the former governor, Willie Obiano, left a paltry N300m and a huge debt for the state.

While we do not in any way support profligacy in government, we would have expected the new governor to present a thorough audit of the last administration’s budgetary spending before making any statement. It is not always advisable to draw premature conclusions about preceding governments. Governments are not banks, so money made in the state is supposed to be used to work in the state. It will be interesting for the public to know the income and expenditure patterns of his predecessor to avoid ill-informed people making flawed judgments.

Beyond the above, we expect the governor to talk less and let his actions speak for him most of the time. We wish him and the state luck while we expect that he leaves worthy legacies for future generations.

Bolatito Ahmed Akanbi Tinubu is one politician in Nigeria about whom few could afford to be indifferent. You either love him passionately or detest him intensely. He did not jump on the political stage from nowhere, but picked his way carefully from the private sector where he had made a mark in the accounting and oil sectors, before venturing into the public space.

Today, the former Lagos State governor joins the ranks of septuagenarians; the elders club. In the three decades of his political participation, the man popularly referred to by his traditional title of Asiwaju, and hailed by another, Jagaban, bestrides the political scene like a colossus. In 1991, he was elected a Senator from Lagos State, and by the end of that decade, he was, upon the return to civil rule, elected governor of Nigeria’s most populous and most prominent state.

It was a great challenge. How could a state whose progress had been stalled by successive military governments after a foundation of prosperity was laid by the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande be nursed to life again? How could a state from which the federal capital was removed in December 1991 to Abuja without any form of compensation to sustain its development remain relevant in the scheme of things? There was a crisis of expectation and all eyes were on the newly elected governor.

Bola Tinubu swung into action ever before his administration was inaugurated. He set up a non-partisan panel headed by the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti to advise on the way forward in the diverse sectors of the economy and the society. The various sub-committees turned in a beautiful report on what to do. But, first, there was the need to reengineer the fiscal regime. It required courage to force increase in revenue. The governor showed he was a leader when he ensured that within his tenure, the monthly internally generated revenue moved from the N600m he inherited to about N10 billion.

While his wizardry in financial management helped in transforming the state to number one in internally generated revenue that translated into building better infrastructure, funding education and lifting the health sector, it also promoted persecution from the opposition party that had control of the centre. For more than one year, the Obasanjo Federal Government found excuse to withhold the revenue allocation to Lagos State’s local government areas ostensibly because the state dared to create local council development areas (LCDAs) to take development closer to the people. Not even the intervention of the Supreme Court would ensure the release. Again, the governor had to find ingenious ways to keep up the running of local government councils in the state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did all it could to take over the state during the 2003 election, but fell to the superior strategies deployed by Bola Tinubu.

It was the election of that year that showed Tinubu as a major political strategist and tactician. Unhappy that he was being taunted as a President without support from his zone, President Obasanjo who had lost the presidential election in the six South West states to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), was determined to triumph at the polls there in 2007. He succeeded in five, but lost the most important Lagos State. Bola Tinubu became known as “The Last Man Standing”.

Tinubu has been consistent politically. He was elected Senator on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic. The same party metamorphosed into AD in 1998, with the leading lights of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that fought the military to a standstill following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, spearheading the new party. At a point, when it became clear that the AD platform was too narrow to contest for national offices and remain relevant on the political scene, the party changed to Action Congress (AC), and later again, to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to accommodate break-away factions of other parties willing to cooperate with it. In the entire journey, Bola Tinubu remained steadfast, held Lagos together and ensured that no other political tendency succeeded in taking over.

The coalition of political forces that culminated in formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was another attestation to Tinubu’s mastery of the political process. He realised that without such a combination of forces, the PDP would live to its boast that it would remain in power for at least 60 years. He coupled the various parties, including in the main the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) led by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Congress for Political Change (CPC) led by General Muhammadu Buhari, and Tinubu’s ACN. The masterstroke removed President Goodluck Jonathan from office.

Today, as he marks his 70th birthday, a torrent of tributes has continued to pour in. Aside the colour added by his pursuit of the APC presidential ticket, his legacy in Lagos continues to speak for him. He had attempted to start an independent power supply to the state by the ENRON initiative frustrated by the Federal Government, started a traffic police in the form of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). He conceived the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme, among others. While some have pointed at the desertion of his group by some former chieftains as a mark of his poor judgement of human character, his knack for spotting and nurturing talents also speaks for him. Lagos State is by far better today than it was in 1999 when Bola Tinubu became governor.

At 70, his accomplishments shall stand as monument that he is one of the greatest politicians and visionaries Nigeria has produced.

What’s really happening at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO)? The long-running story involving a former acting director-general of the agency, Chima Igwe, who was demoted for making a false claim about his academic qualification, has taken a puzzling turn.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, was reported to have defiantly “promoted” Igwe based on an internal  memo  signed by the institute’s acting director, human resources management and administration, C.A. Ibe, dated March 21, 2022, and titled, ‘Reverting to status quo on the position of Dr Chima Igwe as Director, Chemical, Fibre and Environmental Technology Department.’

According to the memo, “following the recommendation of a report of the ministerial committee on the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi, the directive of the Governing Board and the approval of the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, the status quo on the position of Dr Chima C. Igwe is hereby maintained.”  The communication emphasised that Igwe “remains the substantive director of the department.”

This development, in effect, not only reversed Igwe’s earlier demotion but also glossed over what led to it. He had claimed to have a doctorate from a university in Benin Republic, based on which he had benefitted from unmerited promotions for about 18 years, including becoming the agency’s acting director-general in 2019.

In reality, in the period he only had an attestation letter issued by his supervisor at the Universite D’Abomey Calavi, Benin Republic, in 2002. He had not completed any doctoral programme, and did not have a PhD. But he had misrepresented his academic qualification and moved up the ladder at the institute based on the misrepresentation.

An investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), prompted by public outcry, eventually exposed his fraudulent academic claim. He was removed from the position of  acting director-general and demoted by the FIIRO board to the position he held before rising on account of his false academic claim.

In the middle of the scandal, he returned to the university, completed his doctoral programme, and received a certificate dated 2020.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2021, had directed the ICPC to prosecute Igwe “for giving false information to his employer” and receiving undeserved salaries based on the misrepresentation of his academic qualification. He is facing trial at the High Court in Lagos.

His reinstatement as a director at the institute raises questions about propriety and government hierarchy. It is puzzling that those cited in the memo made it possible for him to return to the position despite the scandal. Specifically, the ministerial committee on FIIRO, the agency’s governing board, and the minister who ultimately approved his reinstatement, acted without a sense of propriety.

More importantly, their action amounts to contempt for superior authority because it goes against the stance of the president who had ordered his prosecution for deterrent effect.

In addition, the position to which he has been restored was said to have been occupied by another officer who will now have to step down. Apart from possibly creating avoidable complications, this is untidy.

All this is happening as the institute seeks to appoint a substantive director-general, the lack of which has reportedly hampered its operation for about two years.

An advert dated March 14, 2022, stated that the position was open to only internal officers, which is allegedly contrary to the usual practice of making such a position open to applicants even from outside the agency.

This restriction is allegedly meant to favour Igwe because his reinstatement as a director makes him qualified to apply for the position of director-general.  Also, it has been alleged that the advertised criteria downplayed postdoctoral experience to favour Igwe.

It is unclear if these allegations are true, but they show how Igwe’s curious reinstatement as a director has created a fertile field for conspiracy theories.

His reinstatement is unjustifiable. Those responsible for it, particularly the minister, are not worthy of their positions.