The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Avoidable crisis

    Avoidable crisis

    UNICAL dental students have no business being stranded if the varsity had done the right thing

    A number of regulatory mechanisms have been emplaced to ensure that optimal gains are made from Nigeria’s investments in education, especially at the university level. These include the setting up of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 1962 which, among other functions, is charged with “quality assurance of all academic programmes offered in Nigerian universities.”

    They also include the establishment of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in 1978 with one of its duties being to “place suitably qualified candidates in tertiary institutions after having taken into account: (i) the vacancies available in each tertiary institution; [and] (ii) the guidelines approved for each tertiary institution by its proprietors or other competent authorities.”

    Such “competent authorities” include professional bodies, such as the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) which has, among other mandates, the “regulation of training in Medicine, Dentistry and Alternative Medicine in Nigeria.” The regulation of such training includes approving students admissions quota for different medical institutions and programmes, subject to the physical and human resources available to ensure quality instruction and highly-skilled professionals.

    It is therefore worrisome that, in spite of the foregoing regulatory measures, the University of Calabar (UNICAL) has driven their dental students into a cul-de-sac by persistent and long-standing violation of the approval limit of the number of students the institution has been allowed to admit, most likely due to the university’s carrying capacity.

    In place of the 10 students the university has had approval to admit, it has consistently admitted, sometimes, around six to 10 times.

    Read Also: Nigeria risks missing 2030 SDG targets, experts raise alarm

    The consistent excessive over-admission of students has had and is having grave implications for the students on the dentistry programme of the institution. The affected students, put at over 300 by some estimates, fear that their studentship may be terminated, after spending around four to six years on the programme.

    In a July 16 interview with Channels Television, the vice-chancellor of the university, Professor Florence Obi, said: “Our dentistry programme actually started in 2013-2014, and it started with this same aberration of over-admission of students and the quota of 10 was given in 2016. … [For] the past three years, we haven’t admitted students, because we were asked not to admit when they [MDCN] came for accreditation in 2022.”

    The vice-chancellor further said: “We were told that if we stop admission, they would work out modalities to graduate our students, and we did stop admission and they have actually been graduating some sets of our students. Unfortunately, this current set of students are about 60 and that is why we are having problems and the council is saying this group [of students] are too many [and that] they can’t bend [over] backwards again to accommodate them.”

    The VC also stated that the council said that “we should be able to send some of the excess students out,” and that the university has been ‘brainstorming’ on sending some of the students to other programmes within UNICAL or to dental programmes in other universities. She also noted that she was considering travelling to “perhaps plead with our Honourable Minister of Education to give us audience and attention and to also assist us in some areas [so that] we may be able to come largely with the solution to this [crisis].”

    Read Also: Nigeria risks missing 2030 SDG targets, experts raise alarm

    It is ironical that a member of the Nigerian university system that has been fighting spiritedly for university autonomy needs to invite the Minister of Education to help it to solve self-inflicted and self-indicting admission crises.

    In fact, UNICAL’s students disorientating and frustrating admission crises weaken the claims that are often made that the NUC is over-bearing in its oversight of the universities; that JAMB undermines university autonomy with respect to admissions; and that professional regulatory bodies tend to be unduly intrusive. For this reason, Nigerian universities need to assure the nation that they can operate seamlessly without external teleguiding.

    To forestall a future occurrence of the unacceptable UNICAL imbroglio, proper investigations need to be conducted to unveil what motivated the consistent over-admission and persistent defiance of the MDCN’s approval of the admission of only 10 students per year, based on the fact that the programme was granted only provisional accreditation. This raises the question: “If the university could be so defiant of the regulatory body so far, what would it do when it has received full accreditation?”

    Answers also need to be sought regarding who the officers of UNICAL who perpetuated the travesty were, and deterrent sanctions should be meted out to them accordingly.

    Moreover, systematic efforts need to be made to come up with fair and adequate measures for protecting the students from the indiscretion of the university. It is also necessary for the university to grant the affected students appropriate restitution and compensation.

  • ICPC’s shocker on MDAs

    ICPC’s shocker on MDAs

    Nigerians should be worried by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s (ICPC) report to the effect that only 84 of the Federal Government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have established Anti-Corruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs). Ninety-two are yet to establish the units while 127 had weak or ineffective ACTUs.

    The commission disclosed this on July 29, in a report presented at an investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, in Abuja.

    Musa Ali, the commission’s chairman, said as at the end of last year, “127 MDAs had weak or ineffective ACTUs, while 92 are yet to establish these units.” He said five others “had units in name only, rendering government anti-corruption efforts within those institutions ineffective.”

    We may not have an exact number of MDAs run by the Federal Government. Reports however indicated we had as many as 953 as at 2021.

    Of course, the reasons for the lack of an accurate number of MDAs are not far-fetched.

    One is their dynamic nature which can make them change as a result of government restructuring, mergers and even creation of new ones. Indeed, various governments had tried to prune their number to make them lean and mean, to save costs. The present government is confronted by a similar challenge.

    Another reason we may not have an accurate number of MDAs is the definition that may vary from report to report, as to what constitutes an MDA. We also have the problem of lack of a centralised registry with a comprehensive database of the MDAs.

    From figures presented in the ICPC report, only about 303 MDAs were captured. This suggests that others not captured were also caught in the web of definition, or the commission is yet to get to them.

    Even if we assume that the 303 MDAs in the commission’s report represent all the Federal Government’s MDAs, we should be worried that a significant number of them either have weak or no ACTU at all.

    This should not be the case in a country like ours where corruption has become a cankerworm.

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, who declared the public hearing open made this observation when he said “We gather not merely as legislators but as custodians of democracy and champions of integrity. The fight against corruption remains one of the most pressing challenges facing our nation, and we must confront this menace frontally with unwavering commitment and decisive action.”

    The speaker added that “Corruption undermines our institutions, erodes public trust, and stultifies our progress as a nation. It is an affliction that affects every facet of our lives and every sector of our economy.”

    Indeed, the Federal Government directed that ACTUs must be established in the MDAs to institutionalise accountability and transparency in governance; a noble objective if you ask us.

    Unfortunately, like many such laudable initiatives, those who are supposed to implement the policies foot-drag, especially when they bother on corruption.

    Read Also: FG to Nigerians: Libya is no escape route, it’s a trap – Dabiri-Erewa

    This is unacceptable.

    We therefore urge the relevant government departments responsible for enforcement of policies to swing into action. This is not one of the policies to be observed in the breach. Every effort must be made to make it work.

    But first, the government must at any point in time know the number of MDAs it has. If this means establishing a central registry where all their record would be kept, so be it. The number may change from time to time, but it is still possible to, at the press of a button, tell exactly how many such agencies are, at least for purposes of planning and allocation of funds.

    This should not be difficult with the government leveraging on technology.

    As former President Muhammadu Buhari noted, we must kill corruption before corruption kills us. We would have gone a long way in doing that if the ACTUs are enthusiastically embraced by public officials in the MDAs.

    Indeed, we would have substantially addressed the issue of corruption with functional and competent officers manning their ACTUs.

  • Corps members ‘season

    Corps members ‘season

    • Presidential honour, increased allowances are ways of putting smiles on corps members’ faces

    This can appropriately be tagged youth corps members’ season. Just last year, the Federal Government increased corps members’ stipend from N33,000 to N77,000, in line with the country’s economic realities.

    And now, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has honoured some deserving youth corps members. Again, just as the affected corps members were celebrating the honours, came also the news that Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has raised corps members’ allowance in the state from N20,000 to N30,000. The state is thus one of the states that have increased corps members allowance to reflect the country’s economic reality.

     In all the instances, that should be the spirit.

    Tinubu announced the honourees at the President’s NYSC Honours Award Ceremony (2020-2023) at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. By so doing, the president only continued in the tradition of the Federal Government to honour deserving corps members annually.

    Governor Fintiri and other governors who have increased corps members’ allowance too only did what a public official who is in a position to better the lot of these young ones on national service should do to make life meaningful for them.

    National service used to be a pleasant experience that many a graduate looked forward to. Many establishments readily supported the corps members with free accommodation, subsidised transport fare and generally augmented whatever the NYSC paid the corps members as allowances.

    But that was then.

     It would seem that was indeed the era that the corps members were seen as valuables tools for national development.

    Yet, this was a laudable scheme with the main goal of cementing the bond of unity among young Nigerian youths.

    Read Also: First Lady donates ₦1bn, relief items to Niger flood, fire, banditry victims

    Since its establishment in 1973, the Federal Government has taken some measures to build and sustain the confidence of participants in the scheme. One of these measures was its institution of awards for corps members who distinguished themselves during the one year national service in 1974.

    The NYSC National Honours Award is a significant feature in the annual calendar of events of the scheme.  Several corps members have received the national honours.

    So, it didn’t come as a surprise that President Tinubu decided to follow in the tradition by honouring corps members who distinguished themselves during the 2020-2023 service years.

    The president approved immediate employment of the 200 honourees into the federal civil service. He also awarded each of them N250,000 in recognition of their outstanding service.

    The president did not forget 10 corps members who suffered one disability or the other in the course of their national service as they were also offered automatic employment.

    “We will never forget their sacrifice,” he noted.

    Each of the honourees was also awarded a scholarship to pursue a postgraduate programme at any Nigerian university.

    “In appreciation of their service to the nation, all the awardees will receive N250,000.

    “Finally, each award recipient will be granted a scholarship to pursue postgraduate programmes up to a degree in any university in the country,” Tinubu declared.

    The President was represented by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. He commended the awardees for their “discipline, commitment, selflessness, teamwork, patriotism, and integrity.”

    We commend the president for continuing in the annual NYSC tradition, but which for one reason or the other did not hold for some time (hence the combination of three years 2020-2023).

    We also praise the honourees who were selected among the thousands of them that participated in the service for being worthy of such recognition.

    In like manner, we thank Governor Fintiri and his colleagues who have put smiles on the faces of the corps members in their own little way. This is quite thoughtful of them.

    We urge the corps members to reciprocate the kind gestures by rededicating themselves to the core values of the national service.

    We also seize this opportunity to remind the NYSC about the case of some of the corps members who are yet to benefit from the arrears of the increased stipend that the Federal Government approved for them last year.

    They are waiting expectantly. NYSC should make it happen.

  • Bloody campus ballot

    Bloody campus ballot

    • ‘Do-or-die’ elections into SUGs signal death of Utopian ideals

    Elections into student union governments (SUGs) in tertiary schools have become characterised by clashes between rival groups, often involving use of weaponry and resulting in injuries or even fatalities. The trend entails fierce struggle for leadership positions in campus unions, reflecting the desperation culture that hobbles politics in the larger society.

    The fabled Ivory Tower where intellectual civility in democratic grooming should flourish has become rusty with violent contestation by students for power. Once envisioned as training ground for future leaders, student politics is now tainted with killings, kidnappings, cult-related confrontations and voter intimidation, among others. It’s future paradise lost, needing to be recovered.

    A recent feature report by ‘The PUNCH’ articulated the pattern on campuses across the length and breadth of Nigeria. The latest instance was in Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, where the SUG election on July 5, degenerated into a mayhem that entailed gunshots, use of teargas and a stampede by students that left many injured. There were also unconfirmed speculations of fatalities.

    Reports said the violence resulted from supporters of one of the candidates disrupting the process when it became apparent that their candidate was losing.  “The election was peaceful at first. But when it became obvious that ‘Voice’ (a candidate) was trailing another candidate named ‘Verify,’ his main opponent, tension started rising. ‘Verify’ had massive support across departments. That didn’t sit well with ‘Voice’ and his camp,” a student in the polytechnic was quoted saying.

    According to the student, what began as murmurs of discontent soon degenerated into anarchy as loyalists of ‘Voice’ called for reinforcement. “Armed youths stormed the venue. They snatched ballot boxes, and I heard gunshots. What I cannot confirm to you is if it was from the boys or from the armed security men who were around the area,” the student was further reported saying, adding: “In a split second, things degenerated. It became a full-blown stampede. Students were screaming and running in all directions. I escaped by the whiskers.”

    Amidst speculations that at least two students died in the incident, Auchi Polytechnic authorities were reported confirming deployment of security operatives, but they denied there were fatalities. “For avoidance of doubt, no student was shot or killed during the election, which was declared inconclusive due to observed irregularities,” director of the polytechnic’s public relations division, Dr. Angela Egele, said. She admitted, though, that security personnel had to be deployed on the day of the election to “ensure the safety of lives and property.”

    Read Also: 2025 Flood: 191 dead, 94 missing, 134,435 affected in 20 States – NEMA

    The catch is: that was only student union election in one tertiary school out of thousands across the Nigerian landscape.

    Campus elections are often highly contested, apparently because interested students see the union offices as stepping stones to bigger political careers. There is also commercialisation of student leadership whereby union candidacy is linked to control of campus contracts and corporate funding. But external influence as well plays a role. Managements in some institutions deploy administrative infrastructure to seek to influence outcomes. Worse, politicians in the wider society stoke desperation by backing candidate in trying to influence the outcome of campus elections. In effect, they encourage violence to intimidate rivals. Cult groups as well instigate rival student factions onto clashes where they sometimes use weapons, resulting in injuries or even deaths.

    ‘The PUNCH’ story cited another instance, the University of Ibadan, among many others. Violence erupted at the university earlier this year in the course of celebration that followed a students union election that had gone rather peacefully. According to the report, fracas broke out when supporters from Independence Hall of students residence staged a victory procession towards Zik Hall in the aftermath of the poll. That procession turned awry when the celebrators were rebuffed, turning into an altercation that left at least one student severely injured and others hospitalised.

    The university community reportedly was in shock and concern as students, many of whom had hoped for a smooth leadership transition, found themselves grappling with aftereffects of violence in a typically serene environment like the UI.

    Poll violence on campuses is a sad renunciation of high ideals associated with intellectual community that tertiary institutions constitute. Students, as tomorrow’s leaders, ordinarily should embody the hope of society’s maturation away from the desperation culture of mainstream political players. Now, students seem to be apprentices of those players; and rather than holding up the promise of displacing them with superior ethics, they’re deepening and indeed exacerbating the culture. This can’t continue to be so. Undergraduates in days of old used to be exemplars of high societal values. The present generation must chart a path back to that tradition.

    Part of the problem could be that electoral offenders in the larger society are rarely punished, and so there is no dissuasion from their being emulated. Students responsible for bloody ballots on campuses should thus be fished out and punished, so to serve as a deterrence to others.  

  • Naira only

    Naira only

    We welcome government’s policy of contracts largely denominated in our currency

     The directive from the Budget Office of the Federation, that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are to ensure that all contracts are wholly denominated in naira, and that no MDA should enter into a foreign currency denominated contract without the prior approval of the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, is a welcome development.

    For us, there should be a ban on foreign denominated contracts, as that would help buoy up our local currency. After all, naira is the legally authorised currency of exchange in Nigeria. So, the new measure should be enforced, as we have seen the stability of the naira, perhaps as result of the Crude-for-Naira Policy of the present federal administration.

    The directive also mandated MDAs to submit monthly budget performance report, and those who fail to submit would not get their subsequent capital and recurrent budget releases.

    We agree that the directive which seeks to ensure that budget releases are tied to the progress of project implementation, would bring greater efficiency to budget management. Another part of the directive, which is commendable, deals with enhanced management of personnel within the MDAs.

    The Budget Office will take steps to ensure more MDAs conform to the rules of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System. MDAs are also directed to submit monthly and quarterly reviews of nominal rolls to remove unjustified entries and allowances in the payroll. They are directed to refrain from initiating salary arrears or payment for promotion or other benefits on the IPPS, and to submit monthly reconciliation of such payments.

    The reference to a circular dated December 17, 2020, which directed that such requests should be forwarded to the Committee on Payment of Promotions and Salary Arrears shows that similar directive had been made in the past, but apparently with minimal compliance, hence the recent reminder. We hope the Budget Office would not fail to pursue the implementation of the present directive. As we all know, the challenge with our country is not necessary the absence of quality laws and regulations, but rather their effective implementation.

    Read Also: ‘Nigeria inches closer to exiting global anti-graft grey list’

    Unfortunately, the practice of denominating services in foreign currencies is not exclusive to the MDAs. Some private companies and individuals denominate their earnings for services and rents in foreign currency, actions clearly against the laws of our country.

    Yet, the Central Bank of Nigeria Act makes the naira the sole legal tender in the country, and makes it an offence for anyone to refuse to accept naira for any transaction within the country.

     So, the directive from the Budget Office is merely reinstating what the Nigerian laws provide, and any person or authority which refuses to accept naira for a business transaction is committing an offence punishable under our laws.

    We hope the window for approval by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy will not be abused. The authorising authority must ensure that approvals are only granted in rare and exceptional cases. The stability which the efforts of the ministry has brought to foreign exchange should be sustained and even improved upon.

     If the directives of the Budget Office are fully implemented and exceptions are rarely granted by the minister, the national economy would benefit from that. A stronger naira will improve the living condition of Nigerians, by enhancing their purchasing power. A stronger naira would make the recently increased salaries of workers even more beneficial.

     The National GDP and the value of the national foreign reserves would also improve. Indeed, the benefits of a stronger naira are unquantifiable. So, we urge the Budget Office, the Federal Ministry of Finance and all relevant agencies to ensure full implementation of the regulations.

    Once the economy buoys up, the other efforts of the present administration would be better felt by the ordinary Nigerians.

  • New reporting threshold

    New reporting threshold

    With this, the Federal Govt may have killed three birds with one stone

    By casting a single stone, the Federal Government may have addressed the three issues of transparency, tax compliance and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list at once. It directed banks and other financial institutions to begin reporting all monthly transactions exceeding N25 million for individuals and N100 million for corporate entities to the tax authorities, in line with the provisions of the new Nigerian Tax Act.

    The relevant provision says: “Every person who has an obligation to deduct and remit tax under this act or any other returns for tax legislation shall render monthly returns to the appropriate tax authority, as specified deduction of tax in the regulation issued for that purpose”.

    And then: “Without prejudice to section 142 of this act, every bank, insurance company, stock-broking firm, or any other financial institution, shall prepare, with or without demand be delivered by the relevant tax authority, quarterly returns to the relevant tax authority specifying the names and addresses of new customers;“…and existing customers in the case of (i) an individual, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N25,000,000 or more, or (ii) a body corporate, all transactions where the cumulative transactions in a month amount to N100,000,000 or more.

    ”Whereas the previous regime mandated banks to report deposits of N5 million —ostensibly to curb illicit financial flows, the new threshold, although set at a far higher pedestal, is certainly more embracing. Surely, it addresses the key concerns of FATF, particularly its five key recommendations in the aftermath of those grave deficiencies which eventuated in the country’s listing on its grey list in 2023.

    Although, Hafsat Bakari, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), had in November 2024, stated that the country had achieved upgrades in those five recommendations, the latest directive would seem a further push to close whatever gaps that still exist.

    Read Also: Five Caribbean countries Nigerians can visit with only passport

    Of course, it also seeks to bolster transparency since business activities are far more accurately captured by banks financial statements as indeed the books of every player in the financial system; beyond those two of course is to improve tax compliance, particularly now that the new tax regime is set to take off.

    It bears stating that nothing either in the directive or the grave governance issues that gave rise to it could be considered new or particularly strange. Whether it is money laundering, terrorism financing or tax evasion/avoidance, the issues have been with us for such a long time as the government’s awareness and recognition of the need to deal with them one way or the other.

    The only difference this time around is that the Bola Tinubu administration has chosen to be rather bold, imaginative and methodical, in tackling the problems heads-on. Now that the instruments are increasingly in place to address not just a problem that perennially stokes global concerns, but one that also undermines government’s ability to deliver good governance, the least expectation is that those charged with the responsibility will move with speed and precision, and with a keen eye on local peculiarities.

    After all, this is a country where a so-called N25 million turnover in an individual account, may well be pooled funds, (Proof of Funds), by a student to back up a visa application for foreign studies. 

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) now rechristened Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), in particular, must go beyond the hype; if anything, we expect to see requisite capacity demonstrated, not only in terms of hardware and software but also in highly skilled manpower. The same with the banks; we expect full cooperation to ensure that things work seamlessly. 

  • NNPC to NNPCL

    NNPC to NNPCL

    •That transition can’t happen without fidelity of numbers

    The ongoing storm between the Senate Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) has to do with the paramountcy of clear numbers in company books. That is the key to transparency, as opposed to opacity.

    If the old Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) must morph from a mere government cash trolley, with ever-present opacity, to the new NNPCL, conceived as a lithe — even mean — commercial, independent and viable national oil company (NOC), competing with other international oil companies (IOCs) in Oil and Gas, and reaping value for its investors, then its attitude to book-keeping must radically change.

    That’s the long and short of the ongoing PAC/NNPCL excitement in the Senate. 

    We hope that after the three-week window the Senate PAC just granted Bayo Ojulari, the NNPCL group chief executive officer (GCEO), the vista would be much clearer; and NNPCL, by its books, would have earned very high investor and general public confidence, as Nigeria’s No. 1 state investor in Oil and Gas — upstream, midstream and downstream — the clear driver of the Nigerian economy.

    The numbers in question are from audit queries: N103 trillion in liabilities; and N107 trillion in assets. The Senate PAC insists the audit gap must be filled — and rightly so.

    “These questions did not originate from the Senate or any arm of government,” Senator Aliyu Wadada, chair of the Senate PAC told the committee session, which included the NNPCL boss, after weeks of failing to honour his invitation. “They were extracted from the audited financial statement of the NNPC Ltd by the auditor-general.”

    The drama had started on June 18, when the Senate PAC very publicly rebuked the top management of NNPCL, led by Dapo Segun, chief financial officer (CFO). The clear irritation had to do with the apparent lax reporting in the company’s books between 2017 and 2021.

    For starters, the accounting showed that an NNPCL subsidiary, the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), posted a N9 trillion profit. But the mother company itself grossed a N16 billion loss.

    “How can a subsidiary report trillions in profit,” asked a clearly peeved Senator Wadada, “while the parent company bleeds losses?”

    There could be a logical explanation, though: NAPIMS could be a lone high flier in the midst of incurable laggards, so much so that such common blight came to blast the overall fortune of NNPCL itself — or more accurately, NNPC: that period was the era of transition. But then, that was the point: if the accounting wasn’t so topsy-turvy, the numbers would have perfectly explained the situation.

    Indeed, the PAC chairman minced no words while docking NNPCL: “We are looking at over N210 trillion in just two categories. These are not mere rounding errors; they raise fundamental questions about transparency and financial integrity.” 

    Then, the messy audit — or more correctly, the chaotic auditing (or was it editing?) of the audit, which NNPCL allegedly dumped on the public without taking the extra efforts at reconciliation: N103 trillion as audited expenses, under which was N600 billion retention fees; as well as legal charges and auditor payments, all without proper documentation to back them up.

    Again, Senator Wadada wondered: “How do you quote N600 billion in retention fees with no contract to back it up? There are legal fees with no record of the legal services tendered.”

    Then, the “receivables” fiasco — NNPCL listed N103 trillion under receivables. But the snag was, just before the hearing, the Senate PAC alleged, the company generated numbers different from the audit statements it already made public!

    Again, Wadada was unsparing: “The new document completely distorts the figures in the official audit. We find that not just ridiculous, but deeply troubling. How do you proceed to finalise audited accounts while still reconciling such massive figures? These aren’t internal memos” he further slammed, “they are public documents that potential investors will scrutinise.”

    Any fair mind would agree with that verdict — and we do. These books are messy and chaotic. NNPCL can’t take such chaos to its initial public offering (IPO), due in 2028, and expect to be met with investor confidence. It would have been bad enough, were NNPCL just any other company. It’s even more serious because this is the heartbeat of the Nigerian state, trying to push in its main trading business of Oil and Gas, into the hands of the investing public. There should be no margin for sloppiness!

    Even if there were logical follow-up reasons to explain these flaws, they would appear as locking the stable doors after the stallion had galloped clear. For a state company many times charged — and fairly so — with opacity, transiting into a public-owned firm, these gaps go much more than an accounting slur. They go deep, very deep, to further question the firm’s readiness to abandon its pristine sloppiness, for a more respectable and much more trust-worthy new path.

    Read Also: Prove Nigeria’s commitment to global treaties, pass reserved seats bill, NCWS tells NASS

    Still, it’s welcome that both PAC and the NNPCL management have come to a new understanding, with the appearance of Ojulari before the committee. By the way, the GCEO’s much-postponed appearance added no sheen to the firm’s image, for it seemed to give the impression — at least in the highly judgmental emotive lane — of delay tactics, for a corporate citizen that had something to hide.

    It’s good that the Senate PAC accepted the chief helmsman’s long absence in good faith. It’s even better that, despite earlier raising an 11-point query for NNPCL, PAC has granted a three-week window for the GCEO to comb the books and come up with logical answers. 

    It’s good too that PAC has clarified that though it craved answers to its queries, in the best tradition of public accountability, from parliamentary financial oversight globally, it never for once suggested that any money was stolen — in any case, not conclusively so. Therefore, those gaps must be accounted for, as the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation recommends. 

    Though it has lost needless lead time, now is the chance for NNPCL to provide the answers, now that GCEO Ojulari has pledged himself to doing so. Though he asked for four weeks, let the answers not go beyond the three weeks that the Senate PAC has granted.

    However this probe pans out, let this be the last time that NNPCL would allow itself to suffer public ridicule on account of alleged shabby accounting. Transiting from NNPC to NNPCL might not exactly be a walk in the park. But tight accounting is one way the company can demonstrate that it is primed and ready.

  • Falcons, so super!

    Falcons, so super!

    • Naira ‘rain’, other gifts from an appreciative president and country

    SPORTS is a global elixir and unifier. When it comes to football globally, which is referred to as the beautiful game, the excitement for teams, countries and fans can be electric.

    So, for Nigerian female football team, the Super Falcons, winning the 2025 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) was as exciting as it was historic.

    This is the tenth victory for the 10 times gallant Nigerian team.

    The 2025 WAFCON was hosted by Morocco. The final was a stunning phoenix-like comeback for Nigeria in the second half of the game, having been behind the host nation by two goals at the end of the first half.

    Nigerians as always were united in celebrating the success of the young ladies who put in everything to succeed. There was an amazing display of unity, determination, strength and patriotism. All the teams that played came prepared to lift the cup, but as it turned out, the Super Falcons were determined to again stamp their superiority in Africa for the 10th time.  Permutation about the Nigerian team losing at the finals was rife but in the end, the ladies affirmed their superiority resoundingly by lifting the coveted trophy.

    On July 28, they brought the cup back to the country and were received by an excited President Bola Tinubu and a very supportive First lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, at the State House. Then came the gifts; a hundred thousand dollars each for the players, fifty thousand dollars for the technical team, a national honour  for the team and their managers, a three-bedroom apartment at the Renewed Hope Estate in Abuja for the players and their handlers.

    Read Also: Tinubu praises Timi Dakolo’s ‘beautiful’ song at Super Falcons reception

    Also, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, announced a donation of ₦10 million to each of the players and technical team members on behalf of the 36 state governors.

    As expected, there have been commendations and condemnations for the presidential gesture. While some applaud, others believe the gifts were too much given that the girls received their allowances and the Nigerian Football Federation received the FIFA $1million dollars price money.

    Beyond the gifts, we rejoice and congratulate the team for this victory and continued history of excellence. They are steadily inspiring both governments and the people across Africa, that sports need extra investment, especially female football, given a culture that often excludes women in several sectors. There are millions of other young girls across the country that more investment in the game can encourage  to use their talents in that game.

    We equally believe that the political class has many lessons to take away from the young ladies. Their sense of unity and patriotism is unparalleled. The team is a cocktail of different ethnicities and religious beliefs but they believe that personal excellence must manifest in team work, and showcase the love of the game and the people who are entertained globally through the game. Each of the team members is super qualified for the game.

    Most of them are professionals in other human fields. A player like Michelle Alozie is a Yale graduate, Molecular Biologist and a cancer researcher. Some others are excelling and combining other duties beyond football. On the contrary, most Nigerian politicians are in it for economic expediency and influence peddling alone. They are often less concerned about success either on a personal or team levels. Merit often matters less to an average politician, reason most of them are not putting their best to the offices they hold in trust for the people.

    Divisive rhetoric that whittles down performances has not stood in the way of team spirit and patriotic zeal. The ability of women to excel in fields that merit is the criterion can be seen from the brilliant performance of the Super Falcons. They have a record of 10 victories on a continental level and have shown more presence at the FIFA Women’s World Cup than the Super Eagles in their own category.

    However, the female team has not gotten an equal support from the Nigerian Football Federation and many governments in the past. This is where the President Tinubu gifts serve as a form of restitution for women footballers. He has set the bar high for future teams and governments.

    On a continental level, Morocco must be commended for their efforts in improving facilities that are putting them on the same scale with many advanced countries. Their more than 10 years investment in football has seen them doing very well in scaling up their standing in football infrastructure and both male and female football performances. They did very well in Qatar 2022, they have been hosting many FIFA competitions and are in line to co-host the World Cup in a few years. This shows that investing in the beautiful game as a country ought not to end at providing funds during or after competitions.

    Beyond football, many Nigerian athletes have had to switch allegiance to other countries due to the tacky handling of their issues by our sporting bodies like the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Cycling Federation of Nigeria (CFN) whose latest loss of Favour Ofili to Turkey was widely reported. She cited the neglect shown by the AFN at both the Japan 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics to her affairs and that of 14 other athletes as very distressing not just to her but an embarrassment to the country in global terms. Government must escalate the supervision of these federations more effectively.

    The Moroccan effort must be very financially rewarding and we recommend that Nigeria take a cue and do all it takes to invest in all sports as nothing unites like sports. It would be mere rhetoric to always talk of unity while neglecting the greatest unifier – sports of any kind. There is no racial, tribal or religious bigotry in teams across the world on the scale seen in politics. We expect that just like no one bothers about who scores the goals as far as the person is playing for Nigeria, that ought to be replicated in politics where often the most incompetent get offices they don’t deserve, based on mundane considerations.

    As for the gifts given to the team and managers, we advise that they manage them properly with the help of financial advisors to avoid what now seems like an epidemic amongst former sportsmen who in times of illnesses and old age infirmities often cry out for public help.

    We congratulate the team and their managers for the victory and Miracle of Rabat.

  • Jonah Isawa Elaigwu, Political Science Scholarship and Discourse on Federalism in Nigeria

    Jonah Isawa Elaigwu, Political Science Scholarship and Discourse on Federalism in Nigeria

    • By Tunji Olaopa

    One of the reasons I always return to my professional starting point in the Presidency is essentially because it constituted a seminal grounding foundational space where several political, non-political and technocratic actors hammered the rehabilitation of the Nigerian state. Indeed, IBB drew into his kitchen cabinet a significant number of intellectuals from the corps of political scientists in Nigeria including professors Omo Omoruyi, Bolaji Akinyemi, Humphrey Nwosu, Ibrahim Gambari, Sam Oyovbaire, Tunde Adeniran, Tunji Olagunju, Adele Jinadu, A. D. Yahaya, Jonah Elaigwu inclusive, among others. It was in the seminal climate of policy work where these scholars worked with a legion of others within a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary matrix in the Presidency that I began to cut my professional teeth not just as a civil servant but as a scholar of public administration. It was at the Presidency that I first started at the Speechwriting Unit, and then began to make my way round all the critical sectors, ministries, departments and agencies. This constituted a most significant and rewarding learning curve for me in terms of the challenges and opportunities I had to confront and engage with.

    However, outside of the structures, procedures ad processes that make up the institutional composition of the civil service, the Presidency was also where I met a different level of mentors, seniors, leaders, professionals and technocrats all of whom contributed to the shaping of my professional maturation as a budding scholar-practitioner. It was at the Presidency that I first met the late Professor Jonah Isawa Elaigwu. I had been posted as a chief policy analyst to the secretariat of the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC), set up by the Babangida administration. The PAC was headed by the late Prof. Ojetunji Aboyade, and Prof. Elaigwu was one of the eminent expert-advisors that made up the Committee. Other members of PAC were Dr. Michael Omolayole, Prof. Francis Idachaba, Prof. Ikenna Nzimiro, Prof. A. D. Yahaya who replaced Prof. Yaya Abubakar Aliyu when the latter died and Chief Effiong Essien who replaced Prof. Iz Osayimwese when he took up an appointment in Vienna.

    Read Also: Nigerian engineer builds all-in-one SaaS platform for African businesses

    To understand the PAC and the significant role Prof. Elaigwu and other played in it, some background information is required. The PAC was put in place as sounding board for expert insights, among other things, to push forward many of the governance and policy implications of development programmes of the administration. A particular policy that provided the grounding for my research and foray into public administration scholarship involved the renowned economist and former DG of NISER Ibadan, late Prof. Adedotun Phillips. The Dotun Phillips Study report on civil service reform of 1985 and the Civil Service Reorganization Decree of 1988 had been commissioned by the Buhari administration in 1984. And with IBB resolve to latch on to US type presidential system introduced by the 1979 Constitution that birth the second republic as his governance template when he took on the title of President, his administration inherited the Phillips Study Report to harvest its recommendations that aligned the civil service with the presidential system of government. Indeed, apart from reinventing the Udoji Commission’s earlier attempt to log Nigeria into the global wave of managerialism that was reshaping the frontiers of public administration praxis, a most significant recommendation of the Phillips Report was the replacement of the parliamentary system with presidentialism, and the significant documentation of the implication of this for the governance structure of the Nigerian state, especially the civil service, and the larger implications for Nigeria’s federalism. The PAC therefore served as the locus of a critical policy-engaged research interrogation of many of these initiatives through policy advisory professionalism constituted around the expertise and technocratic knowledge of significant individuals who debate governance and policy matters that could shape Nigeria’s social contract.

    One of the most intractable harms done to the Nigerian Constitution, commencing from the inauguration of military rule in 1966, was the dismantling of the vitality of Nigeria’s federal system. The new federalism inaugurated by the military was a lopsided one that disarticulated the relationship that ought to exist between the centre and the federating units. One of the most fundamental areas impacted by this lopsidedness is fiscal relationship among the three tiers of government, especially in terms of revenue allocation. There is also the implication of this for conflict resolution and the building of a developmental state in Nigeria. We have since been having the constant debate around the lingering issue of the necessity of state police, in the face of mounting insecurity in Nigeria, as a testament to this unresolved intergovernmental relation for example.

  • Transforming health sector

    Transforming health sector

    • No section of the country should complain of marginalisation within two years of Tinubu administration

    Over the years, it has been said that Northern Nigeria, especially the far North, is the least developed part of the country. From the economic sector  to the health, education, housing and even the civil service, all indices point to a region calling for special attention. This must have informed the Tinubu administration’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Blueprint that has impacted more people in the North.

    As leaders from the North gathered in Kaduna to review the performance of President Bola Tinubu’s performance in its two years in office earlier this week, officials of government from the region led the charge in defending its equitable distribution of resources. Leaders such as Alhaji Atiku Bagudu who is in charge of economic planning and budgetary matters, Professor Ali Pate of the health and social welfare ministry and Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, rose stoutly to explain government policies and combat the narrative that the North has been shortchanged.

    One area where the government came out shining after presentation of facts was the health sector. It is a well-known fact that maternal health has been neglected in the region for too long. In 154 facilities, obstetric complications are treated free under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Armed with statistics, Professor Pate explained that 74 local government areas in the North had been designated as priority areas, with 500 primary health care centres upgraded.

    Read Also: NEC approves fresh funding for NEMA, States to boost flood response

    One disease largely peculiar to the region is the Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), resulting from birth complication mostly among pregnant girls. The Federal Government has taken up the responsibility of full treatment, including surgery, with a view to rehabilitating them, thus curing them of being socially ostracised for no fault of theirs.

    There is so much more to be done in the North and other parts of the country. This has little to do with this administration as infrastructure, health, education and other sectors have cried for rehabilitation for so long. It will obviously take more than two years or one term of a government to achieve. Leaders at the federal and other tiers of government have to roll up their sleeves, work in coordinated manner to take Nigeria out of the doldrums.

    The Tinubu administration has demonstrated good faith in the past two years and needs encouragement from all. Needless ethnic sentiments can only distract and possibly derail the plans that have been laid out by the government. Even those in opposition should just come up with more beautiful and concrete plans, realising that Nigeria is in crisis situation requiring all hands on desk.

    What confronts the country today is akin to a nation at war on all fronts. A government that saw the need to bring down the cost of dialysis all over the country, build more than 1,000 primary health care centres, intervene directly in giving livelihood to the vulnerable and is collaborating with the sub nationals in boosting production of pharmaceuticals deserve commendation for coming this far in only two years.

    Government has said that its target is health security. We hope it could be achieved substantially within the next two years. It is not a matter of the North or the South. All Nigerians deserve better health coverage through the insurance policy that has remained largely restricted to federal civil servants. Government should work out a policy for other workers in the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Politicising matters of concern to all is not in the national interest.