Category: Editorial

Nigerian airline operators may be notorious for their ill-treatment of passengers; yet, there is a lot to condemn in the letter of complaint by the Chief Protocol Officer to the Emir of Kano, Isa Bayero, a Kano prince, to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), as not only reflecting poorly on the writer’s understanding of the sensitivity of his job, but also his duty of safeguarding the image of the revered monarch.

In the letter now widely circulated, the emir’s protocol chief accused the airline of “disrespect” over its refusal to delay a flight for the monarch. The airline, he said, had delayed their Banjul to Lagos flight by over one hour only to refuse to allow them to board their connecting flight to Kano because they arrived in Lagos 30 minutes before departure time. Saying he personally called Allen Onyema, chief executive officer of Air Peace, to inform him of the situation requesting the delay of the departing flight to Kano as a mark of respect to the “revered” Emir of Kano, he stated that “he (Onyema) flatly refused and avowed that he will not do that. I personally took this as an insult and a flagrant show of disrespect to his highness and the Kano people at large.”

The airline would later give reasons it could not accede to the request: By the time his call came through, boarding had been concluded, doors shut and the plane was already taxiing on the runway, about to take off. At this time, it said, the Banjul flight had just landed at the international wing of the airport and hence would still have to observe the mandatory Immigration, Customs and other arrival protocols – meaning that passengers in the plane ready to depart would have had to wait on the plane for nothing less than an hour. It claimed this situation was duly communicated to the royal entourage. As a way out, it claimed to have offered to put the Emir and his nine-man entourage on the 7 am flight to Abuja and from there to Kano at the airline’s expense – which was rejected.

Rather than accept the airline’s explanation, Bayero, who later addressed journalists in an air of regal hauteur in Kano would double down: it is either Air Peace apologises to the monarch within 72 hours or it risks losing passengers in the state.

We see the entire kerfuffle as a royal disgrace and contempt for the regular citizen in a democratic society. It was an example of gratuitous cockiness.

To begin with, it is hard to see any of the steps taken by the airline as being tinged with malice, let alone disrespect to warrant the extraordinary calls taken by the emir’s aide. It was Bayero who disrespected Nigerians and should tender an apology on behalf of the throne. We are running a republic, not a monarchy.

Would it have mattered if there were valid operational reasons for the delay at the Banjul end of the trip? And to imagine the length that the royal aide went to request for intervention in purely technical/operational issues. He wanted to bend rules as though he was in a palace. Isn’t that the same culture of impunity that killed the former national carrier – Nigeria Airways?

Even if there were grounds to believe that the airline acted improperly, there are ample provisions in the NCAA regulations through which errant operators could be called to order without the resort to vulgar threats of blackmail. In any case, it does not help the case of the complainer that the airline is already adjudged guilty even before the NCAA has had the chance to look into the merit of the case.  Bringing the good people of Kano into the picture is simply in bad taste.

Nothing in the above however implicates the airline. The point here is that such brazen resort to self-help by the mighty and powerful has no place where the rule of law subsists.

The month of March is designated as International Women’s Month and each year several events are lined up by organisations, groups and different UN and other international agencies to not only celebrate women but also to draw attention to gender issues and their impact on women globally, as the world works steadily towards gender justice and inclusivity.

Curiously, the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) led by the wife of Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, led a delegation to the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to present a birthday cake and flowers to the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, who celebrated her birthday on February 17. The governors’ wives were seen exuberantly singing a birthday song as they visited the President’s wife who of recent allegedly spends more time in Dubai than she does in Nigeria.

Expectedly, the video of their visit has gone viral and Nigerians have not shied away from showing their outrage at the seeming insensitivity of the women who ought to be seen to display more restraint of such ostentatious trips, possibly not from their personal accounts. In Nigeria, there are no constitutional roles for either the president or governors’ wives and as such there are no allocations to any office in their names. So, the conclusion is that they might be  surreptitiously spending tax payers’ funds.

The leader of the NGWF, Erelu Fayemi who had hitherto been associated with gender advocacy was quick to issue a press statement in defence of the birthday visit, “Our Dubai trip to meet with agencies interested in investing in education coincided with Aisha Buhari’s birthday…” the forum wrote.

This type of childlike exuberance by the governors’ wives forum goes very far in showing why patriarchy would continue to blossom as women like these tend to show too much frivolities. While we acknowledge the freedom of association and movement as rights that the governors’ wives should exercise, we expect some discretion and sensitivity to be displayed by the women closest to the men that stir the affairs of a nation at the edge of the precipice socio-economically. The wife of the President is wrong to encourage such a visit even as Nigeria wonders why she has found Dubai more of a home while her husband frequently jets out to the United Kingdom for medical treatments. The governors’ wives ought to have been discreet if at all it was a coincidental visit.

The claim that they went for some conference or summit falls flat on its face. Why did their participation in the said events not go viral? How relevant was the event? Who are the governors’ wives to negotiate with agencies and investors on education either at state or federal levels? How competent are they to handle such issues? Which other countries’ first ladies attended on behalf of their countries, state or counties?

In Nigeria, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had announced the resumption of its strike, Nigerians are groaning from the effects of toxic fuel imported into the country which has morphed into chronic and crippling fuel scarcity, some Nigerians are trapped in war-torn Ukraine and the world is on edge and jittery about the possibility of a World War III. So what roles are those women playing as wives of decision makers in the most populous black nation with a lot at stake at the moment?

While we query the value the NGWF brings to the people of the 36 states, we are shocked at the rhetoric of a press release signed by Erelu Fayemi who used to pride herself as a social activist. What has changed? Has her new position stripped her of the empathy that drives activism? The other governors’ wives should let Nigerians know what value they have added to their husbands’ roles as governors.

Where are their motherly nurturing roles? Should they not use some valuable time especially in this month of March drawing attention of their spouses to the plight of women socially and economically, given the prevailing dire situations? Should Aisha Buhari not be a beacon for the governors’ wives in terms of discretionary behaviour? Could she not have declined such unnecessary celebration from the NGWF?  What if she celebrated her birthday in Katsina amongst the people? What is the lure in Dubai that she seems enamoured of?

Nigeria commenced the evacuation of her nationals from Ukraine on Wednesday, last week – nearly a full week after Russia launched military aggression against the country. The foreign affairs ministry on Tuesday outlined plans to begin evacuating more than 1,500 Nigerians fleeing the hostilities, saying chartered flights were departing our shores on Wednesday to bring the evacuees back from countries neighbouring Ukraine where they had fled to. The first batch of evacuees returned home at the weekend.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine penultimate Thursday, more than one million people have fled the country and over one million more internally displaced, according to the United Nations. Some 2,000 civilians were reportedly killed. In a statement early last week, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said no fewer than 2,090 Nigerians were among the refugees. Foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama had earlier said about 5,600 Nigerian students lived in Ukraine, with Nigerian nationals in the country totalling some 8,000 persons.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into neighbouring Ukraine in what was widely viewed as fascistic aggression, after months of military drills near the Ukrainian border that long foreshadowed his move. Whereas many suspected he had expansionist ambition, his avowed grouse was the plan by Ukraine to join Western-bloc North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which he objected to having in his country’s backyard. Following the invasion of Ukraine, many countries and multilateral bodies slammed tough sanctions against Russia. But it seemed that some nations, including Ukraine and some of her Western allies, initially doubted that Putin would ultimately carry through with the threat of military aggression to enforce his objection. Nigeria with many nationals residing in Ukraine was apparently of that mindset, which could be why there was no agenda for bailing out those compatriots ahead of the outbreak of hostilities. In other words, we saw the war coming but did nothing proactive to move Nigerians in Ukraine out of harm’s way.

Since the onset of the Russian invasion, there has been a stampede by refugees, including Ukrainians fleeing into neighbouring Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary from the conflict. With Ukraine’s airspace shuttered amidst the fighting, the refugees have had to flee through land borders with the neighbouring countries, while many others have been left stranded. In an initial response, the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) issued advisories to our nationals fleeing Ukraine on how to find their way to the neighbouring countries. It was later at a meeting with House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila that Onyeama announced plans to evacuate Nigerians who make it to the neighbouring countries.

In the stampede from Ukraine, however, African nationals have been victims of racial bias by border officials who reportedly obstructed them from crossing the border to safety – a trend that was spoken out against by the Nigerian government and the African Union (AU). Among others, African nationals, mostly students, accused Ukrainian security forces of stopping them from boarding trains headed to the border regions so to make room for Ukrainians. The AU, in a statement on Monday, said it was “disturbed” by reports that African nationals in Ukraine were being prevented from safely crossing the border to flee the raging conflict, warning that “all people have the right to cross international borders during conflict and, as such, should enjoy the same rights to cross to safety from the conflict in Ukraine notwithstanding their nationality or racial identity.” In an earlier statement, the Nigerian government expressed concern over reports of discriminatory behaviour by Ukrainian and Polish border guards against its nationals, saying it was paramount that everyone be treated with dignity and without favour.

Many of the students now fleeing Ukraine went there, owing to sloppy standards in the Nigerian education system; it is tragically ironic they are endangered in the Ukrainian conflict by sloppy rescue operations. A pertinent question is how equipped our embassies in those countries neighbouring Ukraine are to handle the emergency considering the notorious underfunding of Nigerian missions. With President Muhammadu Buhari having just approved some funds for the evacuation, it is hoped the embassies will be urgently resourced for the task on hand. No Nigerian life must be lost, avoidably, to the Ukrainian conflict.

The controversy trailing the provision of section 84(10) of the Electoral Act 2022 deserves the attention of the National Assembly. The section provides that “no political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party.” At the signing ceremony of the act, President Muhammadu Buhari urged the National Assembly to amend the section, which he deemed inconsistent with the provisions of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

The relevant provisions of the constitution, which section 84(10) is deemed to infringe upon are sections 66(f), 107(f), 137(g) and 182(g) which, respectively, provide for the resignation of “a person employed in the public service of the federation or of a state … at least thirty days to the date of the election.” The sections are with respect to contestants for the Senate or House of Representatives, House of Assembly, President and Governorship elections, respectively.

In his argument, President Buhari contends that the new section 84(10), which by implication will prohibit political appointees from participating in the political party’s primary, which comes up 180 days before the election, either as a delegate or contestant, is discriminatory and impinges on the 30 days provided by the constitution. We agree that a provision of the law that places a heavier burden on a section of the participants in an electoral process is discriminatory, and we urge the legislators to re-examine the provision.

The former Nigerian Bar Association president Dr Olisa Agbakoba SAN, argues similarly that “Section 84 restrictions on political appointees is an infraction of their guaranteed rights.” He further contended that: “The constitution makes clear it is invalid to create restrictions that interfere with the right of anyone, including political appointees, from participating in the political process.” On his part, Mr Kunle Adegoke SAN, said: “I believe that Section 84(10) of the Electoral Act, 2022 is in conflict with the constitution, not as regards the need for a public officer to have resigned 30 days to the election, but as regards the disqualification of a political appointee from participating in the primary election of a political party, whether as a delegate or as an aspirant.”

Canvassing that section 84(10) of the Electoral Act does not infringe the constitution, Ahmed Raji, SAN, argues that: “The first major challenge is that the act does not define who a political appointee is. Is a vice-chancellor of a government university one? What of the chief medical directors of our teaching hospitals? How about career ambassadors?” He opined: “And I do not see anything unconstitutional in the provision which is apt to have a salutary effect on the system. It does not deny them the right to participate.”

From the foregoing, it is obvious that section 84(10) has become a controversial section in the otherwise publicly acclaimed Electoral Act 2022. Before President Buhari assented to the bill, there was fear that he may refuse assent because of that provision. We are also aware of the popular belief that the legislators inserted the clause to tame the undue influence of governors who allegedly use their political appointees as delegates to overwhelm party primary elections.

Regardless of the motive for that section, our interest is that the state of the law should be clear and unequivocal and fair to all Nigerians. But clearly the legislators feel that the section is constitutional, and is wrongly interpreted by the opponents. Since that provision has far-reaching implication for those affected by the section, we urge those aggrieved and who have the locus standi to approach the court for a proper interpretation of the validity of section 84(10) of the Electoral Act 2022.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Leo Irabor, was dead serious as he declared at a conference on security during the past week that armed forces personnel are being overstretched as they are deployed in many states of the federation to perform roles that are constitutionally outside their purview. We are all witnesses to the deployment of the officers and men of the armed forces for joint patrol or even to man road blocks in the 36 states of the federation.

These are basic police functions, including prevention, detention and prosecution of crimes. The armed forces are only invited to intervene when states are confronted with internal security breaches such as the insurgency as witnessed in the Northeast in recent years, especially because of the international dimension it has taken. It could be conceded, too, that what has come to be regarded as banditry in the North West has escalated beyond the capacity of the police force.

However, drafting the military to combat armed robbery and even kidnapping in all parts of the country is an indication that the police are extremely weak. It was weakened by failure to recruit over the years. During the Obasanjo administration, there was an attempt to react to visible depletion of the numbers over the years; thus a decision was taken that 10,000 personnel should be recruited annually. The presidential order was disregarded by those who ought to have given it effect. Since then, the police hierarchy and the Police Service Commission have regularly been at loggerheads over who should handle recruitment. It is simply sad that in a country that has a Commander-in-Chief who is not new to the responsibilities of the office as a retired general and former military Head of State such wrangling could be allowed to stand in the way of smooth operations of the police force.

It is obvious that the police need and deserve much more than they got in the past and are still getting today. They need more men and material resources. The last time that the force was well equipped was in the Second Republic, but the military intervened in the political process and cut down funding. Training too has been in short supply. Both locally and internationally, the officers need to be retooled for modern policing. But, whenever there is paucity of funds, the police budget is one of the first to be slashed. The whole country and its leadership must come to the firm resolution that we need a better police force than we have, with all the branches such as intelligence, special branch, anti-fraud, among others. Only then would the force be respected by all.

The curriculum at the police colleges has to be reviewed to keep pace with new methods of investigation devoid of torture of suspects, speedy investigation and arraignment and promotion of human rights of others, especially the youth. This must be done urgently to free the armed forces personnel for their primary duty of securing the country’s territorial integrity. Otherwise, the fate that befell the police would soon become their lot as they could be spread too thin. It is shameful that more policemen are deployed to guard duties with “big men and women” than general security. Many of them are seen carrying bags and making purchases for wives of public officers and even chieftains of industry. They are usually made to clear the way for the officials and when that is done, hapless citizens are harassed and cleared off the streets for easy passage for the “big men. Many Inspectors-General of Police have made attempts to reduce such needless deployments without success.

The professionalisation and restructuring of the security forces would not be complete until the government ensures scrupulous implementation of relevant laws. The Nigerian Armed Forces Act and the Police Act as amended recently make provision not only with regards to their duties and responsibilities, they also lay out the structure that have, in most cases, been abandoned. The Police Council, for example, that should comprise all the state governors with the President at the head has hardly ever been summoned to deliberate on the way forward. The Act mandates the Council to be consulted whenever an Inspector-General is to be appointed, this is not the case. This must change.

It is even unfortunate that one of the casualties of the on-going review and amendment of the 1999 Constitution is the loud clamour for state police as a means of ensuring federalism in its true sense. The intractable security challenges confronting the country have proven beyond reasonable doubts that one centralised police force, controlled from Abuja, cannot comprehend and appropriately respond to the complex security and other challenges.

Nigeria is a plural society; hence the decision of the founding fathers to opt for a federal system of government. If the country is to know peace and experience unimpeded development, the police should be decentralised. The armed forces that are established to ward off external aggression would therefore be in position to concentrate on the arduous task at hand.

Seizing the opportunity of Nigeria’s participation in the recent 6th European Union – Africa summit, which held in Brussels, President Muhammadu Buhari published an article in Politico, an online/offline magazine reputed to be one of the most influential publications for the EU in Brussels. The central thrust of the piece is the mass emigration of youths from Africa to Europe, and the deleterious consequences for both continents. Although this phenomenon of large numbers of people leaving Africa for the more developed climes of Europe began several years ago, it has in recent times assumed alarming proportions. Indeed, those who seek desperately to migrate out of Africa for Europe do so often at great risks to their lives as they try to escape from their home continent through hazardous danger-laden deserts or no less turbulent seas, that claim many lives daily. This shows that those who take such risks consider the perils of migration preferable to their socio-economic conditions back home.

President Buhari noted in the piece that not only does the large scale migrations of youths occurring in Africa on a daily basis deplete the continent’s pool of talents, it is also the cause of political crises in Europe where powerful domestic pressure groups have arisen to oppose the high migration rate of people into their respective countries from Africa. This is understandable as most of the African immigrants into Europe are less educationally qualified and thus available to take on lower paying jobs to the disadvantage of host populations. The President advocated creation of opportunities for Africans at home so as to provide alternatives to emigrants’ decisions to take life-threatening boat journeys in search of more favourable existential opportunities elsewhere.

Contending that Europe will not find a sustainable remedy for this problem by further reinforcing its Fortress Europe approach, President Buhari made a case for the recalibration of the economic relationship between Europe and Africa to focus on job creation. Noting that Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, with the continent’s inhabitants making up a quarter of the world’s population, he stressed that this would imply a huge youthful market right on Europe’s doorsteps but also, with attendant increased trade, a growing middle class with money to spend. He argued that both continents can take mutually beneficial advantage of the fact that Africa is currently the fastest growing population on earth while the EU is presently Africa’s largest trading partner.

According to the President, “Moving forward, it is clear what a new economic deal between our unions will entail: For Africa, it must offer a chance for a fundamentally new economic deal. For Europe, it must provide the chance to rid itself of a trade policy that quashes job creation in Africa and hinders efforts to stem economic migration to Europe”. He cited the example of agricultural subsidies to European Union farmers to the tune of €50 billion designed to keep European food prices cheap but which renders Africa’s exports uncompetitive. Consequently, with the export market distorted against them, African countries are deprived of foreign exchange and the capacity to invest meaningfully in agriculture.

While we agree on the need for less unequal and more mutually beneficial economic relations between Africa and Europe, the present skewed relations between both continents to the advantage of Europe is, in our view, not the fundamental cause of the mass migration from Africa that President Buhari addresses. In the first place, the phenomenon of large scale migration from Africa is no more a phenomenon involving only the youths. The trend now is for even older persons, including property owners, to   seek to migrate from the continent. This indicates widespread disenchantment with socio-economic conditions on the continent and loss of hope in the possibility of a bright and better future.

Even if economic relations between Europe and Africa were to be rendered more equal and just today, there is hardly any guarantee that mass migration from Africa will be significantly reduced. This is because at the root of Africa’s developmental quagmire is poor governance and low quality leadership. Thus, the phenomenon of massive corruption across African countries diverts into private pockets funds that should have been invested productively to improve living standards. In the same vein, to cite another example, even funds that should have been invested in the military institutions of many African countries to enable a more vigorous and efficient prosecution of the war against insurgency, terrorism and religious extremism tends to be embezzled, thus worsening the challenge of insecurity that is also a key factor prompting large numbers of people to seek more secure livelihoods elsewhere.

The continuing mass emigration of people across age and socio-economic categories from Africa is thus a serious indictment, first and foremost, of Africa’s leadership and political elite. Even if more just and equitable economic relations between Africa and Europe is established and results in a more productive and efficient economic performance, there is no guarantee that large scale corruption will not erode whatever benefits that may accrue.

Of more critical importance then is for Africa’s leadership elite to take a hard look at their own governance styles with a view to enthroning higher standards of governance on the continent. This will entail institutionalising mechanisms of peer review that makes African leaders act as mutual checks and balances on each other, as well as holding themselves accountable to higher standards of governance.

It is noteworthy, for instance, that in a number of African countries where democracy has collapsed in recent times, large crowds have turned out on the streets to cheer and welcome the aberrant soldiers back to power. This should tell African leaders that the fundamental causes of disaffection and disenchantment that fuel mass migration lie essentially in internal, rather than external factors.

From a reluctant church leader, he became a well-respected voice of redemption. His journey to ecclesiastical eminence and his performance as a champion of faith bear signs of the miraculous.

When Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), a Pentecostal megachurch with headquarters in Lagos, turned 80 on March 2, his flock fittingly celebrated him for “A life of holiness, humility, consistency and focus.”

In an interview last year to mark his 40th anniversary as the head of the church, he said when he was told that he would occupy the position, his response was “God forbid.”

After joining the church in 1973, 20 years after it was founded in 1953, he served as an interpreter to the founder and first general overseer, Rev. Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, translating his Yoruba sermons to English. He was ordained a deacon in 1975, and became a pastor two years later. In 1981, he succeeded the departed general overseer who had chosen him for the position. He was 39 at the time.  His elevation to the apex of the church was a turning point that eventually led to his career switch from academia.  He resigned his teaching position at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, to work as a full-time general overseer after playing the role part-time for three years.

With a first degree in Mathematics in 1967 from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, a master’s degree in Hydrodynamics from the University of Lagos, and a doctorate in Applied Mathematics in 1975 from the same university, Adeboye was equipped and set for an academic career but he believed God had other plans for him.

He had stints as a mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos and the University of Ilorin before he left the academic world for the religious realm.

Under his leadership, RCCG has expanded phenomenally, and ranks as one of the biggest Pentecostal churches.  As of 2017, it reportedly had branches in about 196 countries. “In the developing world we say we want churches to be within five minutes’ walk of every person,” he said in an interview. “In the developed world, we say five minutes of driving.” This approach has its own challenges and complications.

He demonstrated his vision for the church when in 1983 it bought the large expanse of land for the Redemption Camp in Mowe, Ogun State, which has been developed to an impressive extent. The project has inspired several other faith-based developments in the area.

Two notable institutions, the Redeemed Christian Church of God Bible School founded in 1990, and Redeemer’s University established in 2005, also reflect Adeboye’s vision.

He introduced programmes that showed his passion for soul-winning, particularly the Holy Ghost service in 1985, and the Holy Ghost Congress in 1998.  The first Holy Ghost Congress held in Lekki, Lagos in December 1998 was attended by more than seven million people, according to reports by CNN and the BBC. The scale of the open-air religious meeting attracted international attention.

Interestingly, in addition to soul-winning, he preaches the prosperity gospel, arguing that “while we have to worry about heaven, there are some things God could do for us in the here and now.”

From a lowly background in Ifewara town, in present-day Osun State, Adeboye has grown to international stature. He was listed among the 50 most powerful people in the world by Newsweek magazine in 2008; and named among the 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2019.

He is a recipient of two Nigerian national honours, Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2008; and Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in 2014.

Untainted by scandal and perceived by his followers to be radiating righteousness, he is regarded with respect, sometimes with awe, not only by sections of the public but also by people in power in the country who regularly seek his counsel and endorsement.

At 80, he remains a force to reckon with. He reimagined the church, and his legacy may well be that it can be further reimagined.

The question of s3x workers in the country, especially in the north, is one of the underreported and under-analysed problems in Nigeria. It is a malignancy festering under the deceptively robust skin of the nation.

The Bauchi State government entered that moral fray recently by identifying 575 women for training that should take them away from the streets and enlist them in vocations of dignity to themselves and value to the society.

The females live in Banyan Gari area of Bauchi metropolis. The Bauchi State government is embarking on the training in collaboration with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE). They have identified a number of subjects, some of which are often associated with the women folk, and they include hairdressing, cosmetology, catering, tailoring, computer literacy, poultry, fishery, micro-enterprises, among others.

It is going to be a three-month affair, and it should inculcate at least the basic knowledge of the trades in the women. We also expect that after the training, the state government and the NDE will provide an enabling environment for them to integrate into the business world.

Being s3x workers, they need a lot of encouragement and vigilance. If after all the training and expense, they are left to their own device, there is no guarantee that they would not return to prostitution, and walk the streets at night and defrock themselves of the dignity that the training and attention have bestowed on them.

We must note that Bauchi State is not the only state in the north with this scourge. It is widespread and sometimes accepted as a state of being. The difference between the s3x worker in the north and south is that a good percentage of the northern s3x workers derive from the marital culture.

Some of the women are often products of divorce. They marry young and without skills. Some of them marry before their teenage years. Because the men are supposed to have only four wives, their libido and polygamous thirst may crave additional wives, so the practice among some is to discard one of them and marry a new one.

The discarded one is left on the streets without skill or kin, and the profession she falls on is what is regarded as the oldest in the world.

In the south, we have lots of them, young girls abandoned by parents and isolated by poverty. We often talk of the girl child as endangered. We forget that the young female, after marriage or weaning from their parents, resort to s3x work as a means of livelihood. It has been said that even Nollywood became a shelter and escape for the s3x worker at a time.

The training in Bauchi and the Nollywood example indicate that the women do not love to retail their bodies as wares to randy men. They do it to survive.

We also have instances of s3x workers from the south, especially from Edo State, travelling to Europe in a racket of prostitution just because the Nigerian economy has made them of no value to themselves.

While the issue in the north is more cultural, in the south it is mostly both cultural and economic. We can also say that if the men in this society do not provide the reason for the women to become s3x workers, they would not be. It is evidence of a phallocentric being of the Nigerian state.

Bauchi State must be commended for its bold step, but it must bear in mind that training 575 s3x workers is tokenistic as there is a big tribe of young women, disenfranchised from a mainstream economy and culture and craving relevance for their souls.

The alarm raised by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) that animal hides (ponmo) treated with chemicals injurious to human health are being imported into the country is frightening. While the hides were said to have been treated and imported ostensibly for industrial use, they were said to have found their way into the food market where Nigerians who see ponmo as a special delicacy now prefer it to the local variant.

This is a serious cause for concern as NAFDAC that has charge to ensure that all food and drugs meet specification for human consumption has spelt out the likely consequences of eating the toxic hide. It is said to have injurious effects on the liver, kidney and heart. The agency’s director-general, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, also warned that it could increase the number of cancer cases in the country.

Two likely causes of importing and buying the ponmo are that it is cheaper than the ones produced and sold locally. The importers therefore feed on the ignorance of Nigerians who are unable to distinguish between the one fit for consumption and the harmful one. Besides, the unscrupulous business men are driven by the profit motive. Poor consumers, too, want the cheapest products and, having identified them, are unwilling to probe further into the source. Government has a duty to protect Nigerians. It is bad enough that the means of processing the ponmo in the market is dangerous to human health, but importing even more dangerous ones is simply unacceptable.

NAFDAC must step up its act. Markets and warehouses should be combed for the toxic delicacy. But, more importantly, the borders and ports must be well policed. Why do we have the Customs, National Standards Organisation and ports health organisations if they cannot check the importation of obnoxious products into the country?

Indeed, this matter is serious enough to attract the attention of the executive and legislative arms of government. President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Chief Executive, should set up high-powered inter-ministerial bodies to check the menace. Lawmakers also should take interest for once in things that directly affect the lives of Nigerians. They are known as representatives of the people and should be seen to act appropriately so. Nigeria is already confronting so many communicable and non-communicable diseases such as cholera, malaria, Lassa fever, among others, and seeking means of combatting AIDS, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc.  We have a duty to prevent the dangers posed by the imported ponmo before it consumes many people.

We should do this also from the point of advocacy. People should be taught simple ways of testing the toxicity of what they eat. Government should ensure that NAFDAC collaborates with the information agencies to promote this. Other food products being imported into the country should be tested to ensure that they conform to standards. In Europe and America, no one could attempt to tamper with the health of the citizens without incurring the wrath of the government. Anyone caught in the nefarious act would be made to face the full penalty spelt out by the laws of the land. This would then act as deterrence to other unscrupulous importers.

Markets are under the schedule of local governments. They should be empowered to do regular surveillance with a view to securing what the Nigerian people eat. We can no longer afford to lose lives when such could be prevented. We should not be in the 21st Century while living as those in the 19th Century. If we care about building up the patriotic spirit of the people, especially the youth, there is the need to demonstrate concern for things that affect their lives and livelihood. One way of doing this is ensuring the quality of things consumed in the country.

The late Eddie Ugbomah (December 19, 1940 – May 11, 2019), actor and pioneer among Nigerian film producers and directors, once caused a stir among the younger Nollywood clan.  He mentioned a particular actor, claimed he starred in 20 ritual films, yet got crowned as actor of the year!

That was years ago, before the current epidemic in reported ritual killings.  The actor at the receiving end first balked; with not a few of his actor-generation dismissing the old man as archaic.  Still shortly after, he stopped starring in ritual films!

That’s the power of peer censure, even if those at the receiving end would first fight back.  That’s the power of suasion, friendly or hostile.

The Nigerian government and people have every cause to be alarmed at the soaring cases of ritual murder.  Even more, they should be worried that many suspects claim they got the hunch and tricks from the social media; and from Nollywood films, which favourite themes are ritual killings.

“… Ritual killings have assumed a worrisome dimension in recent years … Recently in Ogun State, four young men, one of whom is 18 years old, murdered their 20-year-old female friend for money rituals,” Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, said on a visit to Daily Trust in Abuja.  ”One of them said they learnt about using human parts for money from social media.”

This diagnosis is spot on.  But not the minister’s reflex crackdown on film and social media contents. He said he had directed the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to weed out ritual contents in films and videos.  The Federal Government, he pledged, would also be the all-seeing “Big Brother” ridding the social media of dangerous contents.

Inasmuch as the authorities could wield their right to sanitise public contents, a rigorous difference must be made between good-natured tweaking for public good and a crude invasion of the creative space.

In truth, the bulk of ritual films seldom glamorise the evil.  The general format would appear as good old James Hadley Chase, whose racing novels script the most perfect of crimes, with all its rogue thrills and frills, class and dash.  Yet, Chase’s abiding theme: there is no perfect crime.  No matter the crime’s seeming sophistication, the law always catches up with the criminal.

That generally is the direction of most ritual films on Nigerian screens.  Most — if not all — of the ritual characters end up in grief; though there could be cases of careless handling and loose interpretation of roles, which could well glamorise ritual killing and money without sweat.  But all that could be corrected with tighter script writing, directing and editing.

Which is why, instead of the reflex crackdown by handling NFVCB the big knife, the minister and his agencies ought to work more closely with Hollywood: its script writers, film directors and producers.  Happily, the minister himself suggested something similar.

“I have also directed NFVCB to engage with stakeholders in the film industry,” he told his Daily Trust hosts, “in order to express the concerns of the government and Nigerians on the need to eschew money ritual content in their movies.”  That’s suasion.  It’s likelier to work better than official coercion, which by the way, might be fraught with abuse.

Regulating the social media and censoring films (beyond the acceptable professional threshold) enter the realm of free speech — a palladium of democracy.  Besides, ritual killing, as evil and disturbing as it is, is society’s reality, which its mass media should mirror, if they were to fulfil their surveillance function in basic mass communication theory.

But surveillance cannot be an end in itself.  The society surveys to correct.  So, to black out ritual killings in films, knowing full well it is an epidemic, would be living in a fool’s paradise.  Cracking down on films trying to mirror the ugly situation, with a view to correcting it, is tantamount to killing the messenger because he brought a bad message.

Still, all stakeholders can work on concerted plans to attack the problem.  Film makers can make creative flicks that project the self-destructive futility and stupidity of ritual killings for money.  That is what the present situation demands.

But beyond the make-belief: the political elite must project less the culture of wealth without sweat; which drives the grand delusion of slit-a-throat-and-get-rich-quick.  A more responsible behaviour from those in office and in politics will go a long way.