The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Abiola Olaniran (1989 – 2025)

    Abiola Olaniran (1989 – 2025)

    Nigeria and indeed the world has lost a promising entrepreneur and technology investor

    From a tech-savvy university undergraduate in Nigeria, he rose to become a globally distinguished trailblazing mobile game developer, visionary entrepreneur and technology investor. Abiola Olaniran’s success story is an inspiring example in the context of the disturbing exit mentality prevalent among the country’s youths, many of whom desperately seek greener pastures in Western countries.

    His death on July 16, at the age of 36, cut short a life of talent and unfolding promise.

    As a student of Computer Science and Mathematics at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, in his search for “an area of concentration,” he recounted in an interview, “I discovered that if I was going to go into application development, mobile gaming is the single category of applications that has the most requests from smartphone users.”

    A member of the OAU team that won Microsoft’s Imagine Cup in Poland, in 2010, he represented Nigeria in the world finals of the student competition in the same year. The Imagine Cup is a platform for students from around the world to apply their imagination, passion, and creativity to solve real-world problems using technology.

    After his success at The Imagine Cup, “I went into the Samsung Developer Challenge where I won the game and edutainment category. After all that, I became more sure that I was going to do this,” he said. He became “an individual developer” as a student. One of his first games then, “Road Blazer,” had about 40,000 downloads within a few weeks.

    He was also a Google Student Ambassador during this period. Through that network, he got to know about 88mph, a startup accelerator and seed fund focused on web and mobile companies targeting the African market. “I submitted my pitch with the application I had created. I was the only Nigerian at the time that got picked to go into their Accelerator Programme,” he said.

    In April 2012, he took a giant step and founded his own mobile game producing company called Gamsole. Within three years, by February 2015, the company’s games had been downloaded over 10 million times across 191 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. The company has created more than 35 games, including “Gidi Run,” “Monster Ninja,” and “Sweet Candy.”  According to him, “You have to design something with a global mindset, something that will appeal to everybody.”

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    Beyond game development, he supported African tech growth. For instance, he was, in 2015, one of the first investors in Techpoint Africa, which grew to become one of the continent’s leading tech media platforms. Techpoint Africa founder Adewale Yusuf recalled in a posthumous tribute that when his company “was still an idea on worn out notebook,” Olaniran was “the first person to cut a cheque, providing the seed money, and office space, that enabled us run our earliest groundbreaking stories.” He added that Olaniran “never wanted a spotlight, just progress.”

    Significantly, for his contributions, he was, in 2015, listed among “Forbes Africa” prestigious “30 Under 30” selection. The following year, he was featured among the magazine’s “30 Most Promising Young African Entrepreneurs.”  This international recognition made a strong statement about the rising profile of African gaming and reinforced Olaniran’s reputation in software building and technology business management.

    He also played an impactful role in educational technology. In 2020, he became chief technology officer at Kenyan ed-tech startup e-Limu. For almost two years, according to a report, “he oversaw a rebuild of the platform’s mobile apps, bringing game-design thinking to literacy and revision content used by more than half a million learners across East Africa.”

    Before his death, he was more involved in mentoring younger entrepreneurs and angel-investing across Africa’s tech ecosystem.

    Born in Badagry, Lagos, he had a passion for his country and believed in its potential for progress. He said: “If you are going to win in Africa, I think you should be in Nigeria… this is where you really want to be if you’re trying to build something that will be the biggest in Africa. Of course, I’m fortunate to be from Nigeria.”

  • Eastern rail corridor

    Eastern rail corridor

    It is gratifying that this axis of the country would soon have another rail line

    Nigerian rail transportation system dates back to the 19th century, with the first being from Lagos to Ibadan, built between 1898-1901. Other routes were built from region to region by the British colonial government. Beyond an enhanced movement of humans from one point to the other, the rail transport helped the colonial government move cash crops from the hinterland to the export zones.

    Rail transportation seems to be the cheapest form of transportation and is equally safer in comparative terms. It has equally proven to be more environmentally friendly than other means of transport.

    However, since independence, not much investment has been made by successive governments. This failure has impacted the movement of humans and goods. This has affected the state of the roads as goods transportation by large trucks puts undue pressure on the roads, causing accidents and road deterioration.

    The attempt by former President Goodluck Jonathan to revitalise the rail transportation brought more attention to the rail system and the late President Muhammadu Buhari administration completed a few of the rail routes, with the most viable being the Abuja –Kaduna route.

    It is therefore commendable that President Bola Tinubu has decided to apply about $3b of the foreign loan his government has requested to rejig the Eastern rail corridor. This is good, especially against the backdrop of the fact that it had been abandoned over two decades ago.  It will complement other rail tracks in the region and open up opportunities along the corridor. Rail infrastructure in the place will free the roads and facilitate transportation.

    For a country with the population of Nigeria, no investment in rail infrastructure can be said to be too much. Nigeria has one of the world’s highest numbers of road accidents and this translates to loss of lives, properties and goods. With the food insecurity that has persisted over the years, a viable rail transportation system would save lives and help in the movement of food products from the production states to the rest of the population.

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    The Nigerian highways would be saved the impact of haulage trucks and other heavy duty vehicles that not only pollute the environment but have statistically been proven to cause a high percentage of not just road accidents but traffic gridlocks that cost productive man-hours. Ease of movement is a great contributor to a nation’s productivity, so an effective rail transportation system is a valuable investment with huge returns.

    The economic value of a functional transportation system across any nation shows in the economic strength of such nations. It creates a value chain that spreads across many sectors. The number of employment for the operational and administrative sectors of the system is very huge. The value chain is linked in ways that many other sectors are powered from their participation in running the trains and services being provided.

    We commend the President for taking this step to rejig the Eastern rail corridor, and the National Assembly for assenting to the proposal. We believe that such thoughtful actions and executive legislative harmony are direly needed at this time if the country must be pulled off the multi-dimensional poverty level that has impacted the economy.

    Food insecurity is a huge problem and more people across the country can be encouraged to go into agriculture when they know that the transportation of their products would be seamless, given a functional transportation system.

    There is a global race to catch up with technology in the rail system, with most countries investing in high speed electronic rail services and their economies stand as evidence of a functional transportation system.

    We urge the people of the South East to see the infrastructure now being provided in the region as their own and protect them jealously. This is the only way they can feel the impact of the projects now being provided for them. To whom much is given, much is expected.

  • Suspicious

    Suspicious

    Death of prime suspect of AAUA students’ murder in police custody smells

    There is suspicion over the recent death in police custody of a prime suspect of alleged kidnapping and murder of two students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State. Students in the state have thus challenged the police and other authorities to unravel the circumstance of the suspect’s death towards ensuring justice for their slain colleagues.

    The two AAUA students, Andre Okah of the Department of History and International Studies and John Abba of the Department of Economics, were said to be friends and were both in 200 level in their respective courses before their disappearance from campus. Reports said after they had been missing for about three weeks, their colleagues reported the matter to the police, upon which the Ondo State Police Command launched an investigation that led to the arrest of a fellow named Femi Oladele and two other suspects.

    Oladele, a popular landlord in Akungba, had Abba as his tenant and was suspected of having masterminded his abduction along with his friend, Andre Okah, who were robbed before they were murdered. Okah, a female student, was also allegedly raped.

    The police said during interrogation, one of the suspects confessed that the victims had been killed and their bodies dumped at different locations in Ekiti State. Okah’s body was subsequently recovered by the police and deposited in a morgue, while efforts are under way to recover Abba’s remains.

    Late last week, the police public relations officer of the command, Olayinka Ayanlade, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the suspect was taken to the hospital after he fell ill, but he died at the hospital. According to him, Oladele had been in and out of hospital for treatment before he died on Friday. “Yes, he’s dead. Following his arrest, the suspect had been in and out of hospital under close medical supervision and was receiving adequate care before he died in the early hours (Friday). As of now, the decomposing remains of Okah have been recovered while efforts are ongoing to locate Abba’s body,” he said.

    Detectives from the command had earlier arrested other suspects, namely Ojo Michael, one of the suspected abductors, and Abdul Mubarak, who bought the iPhone 14 Pro Max that belonged to one of the victims. The command spokesman said two other suspects, identified as Kola and Michael, who allegedly withdrew N800,000 from the late Abba’s account, had been arrested and were in custody, fully cooperating with investigation.

    “So, we are asking members of the public to disregard any distorted narratives seeking to divert attention from the facts, and the command can assure that justice will be fully pursued and all those involved will be made to face the full weight of the law,” Ayanlade added.

    But students raised queries over the reported death of the prime suspect in police custody. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) described the death as suspicious and called for thorough and transparent probe. In a statement by the Chairman of NANS Joint Campus Council (JCC), Ondo State, Adekanye Adeboye, the student body clarified that its aim was not to apportion blame but to ensure justice and accountability, as part of its duty to protect the rights and interests of Nigerian students.

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    “Every life matters,” Adeboye said, urging the police command to carry out a professional and transparent investigation that will uncover the exact circumstances surrounding the suspect’s death. “We ask this, not out of distrust but out of a strong desire to ensure that due process is followed and that justice – true and unquestionable – is delivered, not just to the deceased AAUA students but also to the public that seeks closure,” he further stated inter alia.

    On its part, the AAUA Students Union Government (SUG) doubted the death of Oladele and issued the police an ultimatum to produce his body. In a statement, SUG President Salami Akeem, General Secretary Bakare Abiodun and Public Relations Officer Ajidagba Mosadoluwa said the sudden death of the suspect in police custody buttressed the need for transparency and accountability by the police.

    “In light of this, the students union is demanding that the Nigeria Police immediately produce the body of the deceased suspect… The students union further insists on a transparent, fair and timely investigation into the killings. We believe that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. This is the least owed to the grieving families, the AAUA community and the general public,” they noted.

    We add our voice to the call for a transparent and professional probe of Oladele’s death. While it is not out of the ordinary for the suspect to have fatally taken ill in custody, the death is nonetheless suspicious and calls for every measure necessary to prove it actually and naturally occurred.

    But even that should not foreclose justice for the slain AAUA students since there are other suspects arrested in connection with their murder, and who supposedly could answer for what happened. The hapless AAUA duo must not die in vain.  

  • Checking the menace

    Checking the menace

    The decision to establish a joint security outfit in the central region is welcome

    Governors of the North Central region of Nigeria have resolved to establish a joint security outfit that will assist in stamping out banditry, kidnapping, armed gangs and all forms of terrorist activities in the six states. This is in response to the spate of killings and destructions, especially in parts of Benue, Plateau, Niger, Kogi and Kwara states. Ostensibly, all previous efforts by the central military and police authorities to flush out the criminals only offered temporary reprieve at best.

    The six governors have therefore resolved to follow the step of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun) that was put in place by the governors of the South West. The governors noted that whenever the criminals in the North East and North West were under pressure, they spilled to the central region to wreak havoc.

    Although the governor of Nasarawa State had said in 2020 that the region would not embrace the idea of a regional security network, the song had changed by February 2025 when Governor Abdullahi Sule said they were working in concert to stamp out banditry as it had become obvious that only joint efforts could tackle the menace.

    Last week, helmsmen in the six states had come to a conclusion that the ungoverned spaces that span the whole area can only be combed when there is a shared strategy and move that would make the enemies realise that there is no hiding place anymore.

    This is one strategy that all the regions should examine and decide how best to implement. While the South Eastern states had earlier came up with Ebube Agu, it did not work because it was not properly established, funded and executed by all the five states in the region. This is perhaps the time to reexamine the existing framework in the interest of the people.

     It is now obvious to all that centralised institutions cannot rid the country of invaders from the Sahel region, and their local collaborators. The lip service paid to community policing over the years ought to stop now.

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    So far, the Nigeria Police Force has been opposed to having armed security forces. The force should realise that this has become inevitable. All the Inspector-General of Police should insist on is that the model should be carefully worked out with inputs from the existing security network in the country. In the process of working on amendment of the 1999 Constitution, this is time to look critically into the overall security architecture of the country, at both the federal and sub national levels.

    The central region is the buffer between the South and the North. Unless the criminals ravaging the far North are checked in good time, the South would soon feel the heat. President Bola Tinubu and his men should ensure that the region receives the attention it deserves now in the overall interest of the country.

    Besides, it is generally regarded as the food basket of the nation. Already, food inflation is at its peak. If the state of insecurity is unchecked, starvation could be looming, thus thwarting the reform the government has embarked on.

    Governor Sule and other leaders of the zone have a duty to ensure that lives and property in the area are safe. This is not the time to pass the buck, claiming that security is exclusively a federal responsibility. When section 14(2) of the constitution says the primary duty of a Nigerian government is the security and welfare of the citizens, it is referring to the three tiers of government. Something different and effective has to be put in place in the overall interest of the people.

  • Again, the flooding question

    Again, the flooding question

    That NIMET warns of flash flooding this July, in 20 out of 36 states, is alarming

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has dropped its usual rainy season bomb. In July — this month — 20 states, out of 36, spread across five of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, risk some flooding crisis, because of pounding rains.

    The states are Benue, Niger and Nasarawa (North Central), Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Yobe (North East), Jigawa, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara (North West),  Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers (South-South), Lagos,  Ogun and Ondo (South West).  No South East state is in this dire forecast — but that’s only for July.

    But let’s go back to May, to havoc already wreaked; and using numbers from StatiSense, an environmental monitor, as published by The Punch newspaper.

    That month, flood blighted some 116, 711 Nigerians, in 12 states.  The breakdown: Zamfara: 58, 386, Kwara: 11, 830, Lagos: 9, 324, Enugu: 7, 763, Bayelsa: 5, 328, Kaduna: 5, 149, Benue: 4, 577, Ekiti: 4, 290, Oyo: 2, 040, Sokoto: 2, 971, Taraba: 2, 473 and Borno: 2, 250.  Here, all the six geo-political zones were represented.

    Now, these were not just mere statistics.  They were realtime lives blighted (at worst), adversely impacted (at best).  This was the high cost of intrusive water.  Put in socio-economic terms, laced with the psychological burden of misery, these were avoidable tragedies, had we in place efficient and effective water management and flood control mechanisms.

    More seriously: the entire Nigeria — vast territory, thumping population, and all — would appear yoked as near-hopeless laggards, when the issues are environmental education, flood control and the requisite infrastructure to effectively channel roaring water, when the rain is heavy.  Yet, do a content analysis of newspapers, and even radio talks and television shows every year, and you would find the media not wanting in useful information, on how to face down flooding.

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    Still, a caveat: in this season of climate change, hardly any jurisdiction, even the most environmentally disciplined in the world, escapes flash flooding — a temporary trapping of a heavy body of water, that nevertheless dissipates in hours.

    The Nigerian species is, most times, different: they are near-stagnant floodings that wreak huge, industrial-scale havoc: destroying houses and treasured appliances in households, wrecking farmlands and destroying harvests, and flooding factories and destroying machinery.

    Why is this so, and why is it so recurrent, year-in, year-out here?  The answer may well lie in the NIMET counsel to flood-prone areas, in its July advisory.

    The NIMET advisory: “ … Relocate if necessary, clear drainage systems, prepare emergency kits, turn off electricity and gas during flooding, strengthen mudslide prevention and promote community awareness.”

    But for the first two, the other bits of advice are in order: emergency kits, switching off electricity and gas, pushing mudslide prevention and building environmental enlightenment — all of these are legit emergency protocols that should either help to avert the crisis or minimise it to the barest minimum.

    But “relocate, if necessary” and “clear drainage systems”?  Odd!  If you must locate every rainy season from your abode, how did you — or your landlord — even get the permit to build there in the first instance?  Clearly, the planning authorities, urban or rural, and nationwide too, have been snoring on duty!

    Then, “clear drainage systems” — seriously?  Isn’t this supposed to be a routine, everyday affair, for municipal authorities, for town and cities, where the huge population results in huge generation of refuse and allied wastes?

    That NIMET gives this as emergency advisory is proof that these municipal services have broken down, almost everywhere!  If the local governments clamour for “autonomy”, they all should be judged by how they bring back these every-day cleaning of gutters and clearing of drains, for which the old Lagos Town Council (LTC), and later Lagos City Council (LCC), was very famous.  Now, the old Lagos Island is fissured into many local governments — as other councils nationwide — but the sanitary result is worse, not better!

    But aside managing drain facilities, there simply aren’t enough of those facilities around.  As population always sprints before planning, it’s common to see built-up spaces without a central drainage system to channel and discharge water, before it builds up to destructive floods.  Don’t forget too the dumping of wastes in drains by many undisciplined urban dwellers.

    Perennial flooding is a true mirror of Nigeria’s rotten environmental culture.  To solve this problem, we must enforce basic town planning rules, and the local councils must employ daily gutter gangs to clean and clear the drains.  There is no other way.

  • Some progress

    Some progress

    It is heartwarming that some terrorists are being convicted, but these look like the foot soldiers. What of the big names?

    The report that 54 individuals arraigned in Phase 7 of the Kainji Detention Facility Terrorism Trial have been convicted gives some succour to the victims of terrorism, and reassurance to the majority of Nigerians. Since 2010 or thereabout when Boko Haram terrorists birthed in Nigeria, the grave consequences of their evil acts have been sources of pain and anguish for Nigerians.

    As if that affliction is not enough, other terrorist organisations like Lakurawa and the so-called bandits, have since surfaced in the already traumatised northern part of the country.  

    In the east, IP0B/ESN in the name of championing a separatist agenda have turned into a terror machine, afflicting deaths and pain on the people.

    While the foot-soldiers of the terrorists are often ragtag men and women, their levels of operations show that they are well funded. They operate with sophisticated weaponry, such as AK47 and AK49, rocket launchers, patrol vehicles and motor cycles. There are even allegations that sometimes helicopters are used to bring in supplies for these bands of criminals.

    But, the Head of Strategic Communication, Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr Michael Abu, has said the government is determined to combat extremism, dismantle funding networks and strengthen national security through judicial enforcement.

    He said that in the phase 6 trial, the prosecution secured 200 convictions out of 237 trials. According to him, “The verdicts delivered from the trials resulted in prison sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years, all to be served with hard labour, underscoring the severity of the crimes and the Nigerian justice system’s resolve to uphold accountability and deter future transgressions.”

    Nigerians have been told that there are prominent persons funding terrorism, and they can’t wait to know them. For, unless they are reined in, the bands of terrorists would continue to increase.

    Some years ago, the Federal Government said it had identified some terrorism financiers and would prosecute them. On this page we called for public trial of these persons, to serve as a deterrent for potential men and women who may be nursing such evil intention.

    Also, the United Arab Emirates declared that they had given names of some terrorist financiers to the Federal Government some years ago, even as they went ahead to quickly try those involved within their jurisdiction.

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    But for reasons not in the public domain, the former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, SAN, refused the public entreaty to try, name and shame the financiers of terrorism in Nigeria. We urge the present attorney-general to now name the convicts.

    It may be unlawful for criminals who have not been convicted of any crime to be paraded, but not so those who have been convicted of financing the terrorist actions that have afflicted lives across the country. We heard that some foreigners are involved in financing terrorism in Nigeria. The public needs to understand the dynamics of such criminality. For instance, is such financing related to the illegal mining, as some pundits have claimed?

    The war against terrorism is one that everyone should be mobilised to prosecute. If, for instance, foreigners are involved, Nigerians need to know their modus operandi, so that they can be on the look- out for similar traits. Again, such information would aid them to desist from conducts that may be aiding the local or foreign financiers. Where they witness such traits with those living or working around them, they would inform the security agencies. Public communication is crucial in the battle against terror.

    We commend the national security agencies, especially the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and his team, and that of the AGF, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and his team, for the feats achieved so far and urge them not to relent, until our country is cleared of these evil men and women.

  • Mixed vibes

    Mixed vibes

    •Sweet-sour inflation numbers. But they point where the government should face in the next two years

    The inflation data for June are a basket of numbers, as they are a clear mirror of how the Tinubu economic reforms are doing: mixed results.  Inasmuch as no logical mind can say nothing is happening, it gives a lot of room to confuse and confound the emotive to the contrary.

    But the numbers are useful as a critical mid-term window: where the government should beam its focus in the next two years — work extra-hard on food inflation.

    By the June 2025 consumer price index (CPI) data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) just released, though headline inflation dropped from 22.97% in May to 22.22% in June — 0.75 % — food inflation rose by 1.06 %: from 2.19% (May) to 3.25% (June).

    Though those margins appear insignificant — with the craving, at least among the poor and the vulnerable, that inflation should dramatically dip to enhance earning power —  the worry is the rise in food inflation still trumped the fall in headline inflation.

    Foodstuffs that fired that flare were dried green peas, fresh pepper, white dried shrimps, crayfish, fresh meat, plantain, flour and ground pepper, among others.

    Perhaps it’s some comfort that rice and gari — Nigeria’s prime twin-staples across board — were not captured in that inflationary bag.  But that comfort turns cold with the NBS data listing the likes of fresh meat and pepper (fresh or ground), aside flour: which could hold for other staples: bread; and yam flour, which processed, births the likes of amala, very popular in Nigeria’s South West.

    That these veritable — and cheap — staples are still threatened by inflation should wake up the administration to the harsh opposition spectre of a blatant resort to cynical politics of the belly: to dismiss the administration’s reforms as a journey to nowhere.  If the government too had been in opposition, it’s doubtful if it wouldn’t have played a similar card.

    Either way, both would have been wrong.  Bad-mouthing painful reforms, to which the three leading candidates pledged themselves in 2023, would have jeopardised the current pains, which logically should be followed by expected relief.

    But then it shows that ever-possible bind: how hunger can be weaponised to delude the hungry and angry into a non-existent nirvana, instead of waiting out current pains to gain deserved comfort.  The nearer elections draw near, the more brazen the opposition would play that card.  So, the government should do well to focus more on food prices, under the ambit of reduced poverty and food security.

    Still, the situation might not be as dire as it looms, if the government — across all strata — runs in the right direction.  Dr. Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), has suggested a better management of Nigerian food stock, vis-a-vis food exports into the West African bloc.

    His theory is that since the CFA — the uniform currency in Francophone West Africa — had appreciated against the Naira, buying Nigerian foodstuffs has become cheaper to these countries.  How that is even possible is a mystery: where is the CFA economy to make that currency appreciate against the Naira, when the Lagos economy alone is stronger than all West African economies, except Nigeria’s?

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    Perhaps the Naira is effectively under-valued in real terms — a worry not a few had expressed, even before its floatation from 2023?  Still, the important point, on food inflation, is for the government to market-manage the Nigerian food stock, such that the bulk of it is retained for local mouths.  The government might want to look at more vibrant grains and commodity boards.  That way, food inflation should plummet.

    But aside management, the surest strategy is to reach at thumping food production.  The talk already is to transit from cutlass and hoe-driven tilling of small farms to extensive tracks bowing to tractors and sundry mechanised tools.

    That’s the right path to go — and this is not for the Federal Government alone.  The six South West governments outed with an idea of collective farming schemes, stressing mechanised farming of vast tracts; with each state chipping in with own comparative advantage(s).  What’s the development on that front?

    If the harvest booms enough this year — and it’s both dry season and rainy season harvesting — and storage and preservation is much improved, and that is the story year-in, year-out, for the next two years to start with, the poor food situation and high food inflation may well be a tale of the past.  Now is the time to work toward that.

    But again, the food scenario and how to go about it is only a metaphor for the entire economic policy.  It’s high time the government worked hard at obvious and definitive trickle-down, felt by the most vulnerable.  That’s the only motivation for the masses to retain hope in renewed hope.

  • Oba Sikiru Adetona (1934 – 2025)

    Oba Sikiru Adetona (1934 – 2025)

    One of Nigeria’s longest-reigning and widely revered traditional rulers joins his ancestors

    After six and a half eventful decades on one of the most exalted thrones in Yoruba land, and indeed Nigeria, the Awujale of Ijebul and, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, joined his ancestors on July 13. His transition marked the end of a momentous era in the evolution of the institution of traditional governance among the Ijebu.

    His ascension to the throne was no doubt a manifestation of destiny, as his father, Omo Oba Rufai Adetona, an aspirant to the stool, conceded his right to his son, Sikiru. Thus, the 26-year-old future monarch, born on May 10, 1934, who was studying to be a chartered accountant in the United Kingdom, returned home to occupy the historic throne of his ancestors.

    A prince born into a royal family, Oba Adetona inherited greatness as he was crowned the Awujale of Ijebuland on April 2, 1960. Sixty-five years after, on exiting the throne following his death at 91, he had consolidated phenomenally on that greatness through his strong character, integrity, courageous adherence to principle and fierce commitment to the development and modernisation of his terrain.

    After his crowning as the 57th Awujale of Ijebuland, he became a member of the Western Region House of Chiefs where he was appointed as a minister without portfolio alongside some other eminent traditional rulers in the government of the Western Region. It is indicative of the high esteem in which the young Awujale was held that he was strongly considered to serve as President of the House of Chiefs before the role was given to the much older and highly respected Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi.

    It was perhaps because it was during the tenure of the then Premier of the Western Region, Chief Ladoke Akintola, that he was installed as Awujale that Oba Adetona got embroiled in the bitter and contentious politics of the region in the First Republic. Even though the leader of the opposition at the federal level who was also leader of the Action Group (AG), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was present at his installation, the young monarch was perceived to be inclined on the side of Akintola in the vicious struggle that later ensued between Akintola and Awolowo for the control of the soul, both of the AG and the Western Region.

    Consequently, it was not surprising that in the Second Republic, when the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the offshoot of the AG and also led by Awolowo was in power in Ogun State, Governor Olabisi Onabanjo of the UPN suspended Adetona from office for what was widely perceived as a minor infraction of protocol.

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    This was later elevated to an outright removal of the Oba from office, following the recommendation of a tribunal of enquiry that purportedly found him guilty of sundry allegations, including political partisanship. Although Oba Adetona mobilised some of the best legal brains led by the late Chief Rotimi Williams to fight what he saw as an unjust removal, it was the military intervention of December 31, 1983, which overthrew the civilian administration, that saved his reign.

    Over the next 42 years, the Oba presided over the affairs of his subjects with such dignity, courage and modernising flair that enhanced both his personal prestige and the influence of the Awujale throne as an institution. He was known to aggressively encourage and mobilise prominent indigenes of Ijebu to invest in their home land, leading to widespread construction of residential buildings as well as establishment of assorted commercial and industrial enterprises.

    He transformed the hitherto derelict palace into a structure of marvel, elevated the annual Ojude Oba Festival into a global cultural event of high touristic value and rejuvenated the Ijebu age-grade system.

    He was known to speak up against dictatorial military regimes, especially in defence of the rights of Ijebu indigenes. Oba Adetona was the moving spirit behind the Ijebu Development Board on Poverty Reduction to promote economic development.

    One of his enduring legacies is the endowment of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, (OOU), with the Oba (Dr) Sikiru Kayode Adetona Professorial Chair in Governance at the institution’s Department of Political Science. He further established the School of Governance Studies at OOU to promote public policy and leadership development; an institute that has now been affiliated to the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), on the directive of President Bola Tinubu.

    His conferment with the national honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, (GCON), the first for any traditional ruler in the country by the President, was eminently deserved.

  • Moment of truth?

    Moment of truth?

    • We need to know why Port Harcourt refinery packed up barely six months after recommissioning

    If merely for the dark clouds that have trailed the Port Harcourt refinery since it was recommissioned in November, last year, the announcement that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is considering selling the complex could not have been entirely surprising.

    Last week, newspapers reported the Group Managing Director of the company, Bayo Ojulari, as telling Bloomberg at the 9th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria, that a strategic review of NNPC’s refinery operations is currently under way and expected to be concluded before the end of the year, and that the  sale of the entity is no longer off the table.

    “So refineries, we made quite a lot of investment over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies. We’ve been challenged. Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated,” he was quoted to have said.

    He would also add: “But what we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now”.

    Could it be, finally, the moment of truth, coming from the new helmsman, after years of deception by the previous managers? We cannot but shudder at the implication of the twist. Of course, it is entirely the prerogative of the company’s management to undertake whatever restructuring it deems necessary, one of which is an outright sale.

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    Only that in this particular instance, the so-called restructuring is being forced by the revelation that the refinery currently delivers far less than the citizens were promised (or is actually delivering nothing), – in effect, that citizens’ hope in its highly publicised revamp has been misplaced.   Nigerians might wish to recall that the 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) facility only commenced production and trucking of products barely eight months ago – precisely on November 26, 2024.  Barely six months after – in May, it had to be shut down supposedly to enable maintenance to be carried out. And now, two months after that rather ridiculous shutdown, the announcement coming from far away Vienna, Austria, is that things are not exactly what they seem.

    Considering the billions of dollars of taxpayers’ funds spent to get things up to this point, it is tempting to imagine that the country may have been scammed again.

    Surely, the development not only raises fresh but grave questions about the initial claims by the NNPCL that the facility had been successfully restreamed, but would appear an unquestionable vindication of those who had along insisted that the refurbishment was a sham.  Having indulged the company with serial cover-ups in the past, Nigerians should not allow the latest one by the NNPCL to pass.

    The Federal Government needs to get to the root of the matter. Both the NNPCL and the contractor, Maire Tecnimont SpA, have a lot of explaining to do on how things got to this point. Nigerians need to know whether or not the necessary guarantees were in place to protect the country’s interest. It comes basically to addressing the question of how a newly refurbished refinery could, so soon after the fanfare of its recommissioning, slip into dysfunction and the extent to which the contractors could be held liable.

    Until these issues are resolved, we can only urge that NNPCL take things easy. In the meantime, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) should be interested in who did what, and whether or not, any laws were broken. It should hold more than a watching brief on what is going on at the NNPCL.

  • Diplomacy by bullying

    Diplomacy by bullying

    •Trump administration’s bid to force foreign deportees on Nigeria sucks

    Nigeria is under pressure, along with some other African nations, to take in Venezuelans being deported from the United States by the administration of President Donald Trump. But the country isn’t disposed to obliging, foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar has made clear.

    The minister said recent economic and diplomatic sleights of hand against Nigeria by the Washington administration were likely results of its refusal to accept the Venezuelan deportees – some of them straight from American prisons. But the country will not succumb, because it has enough of its own challenges to handle.

    Trump, from July 9 to 11, met at White House with leaders of five West African countries namely Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal. Many people wondered that Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not invited.

    At the Washington forum, the American leader announced a 10 percent tariff on Nigerian goods exported to the U.S. – a move observers interpreted as retaliatory for President Tinubu’s participation in the BRICS summit that held about the same time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Trump had vowed to impose tariffs on countries that associate with policies of the BRICS alliance that go against U.S. interests.

    BRICS is an economic grouping formed to challenge political and economic dominance by the West. Originally comprised by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, it has expanded its membership to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Nigeria isn’t a full member of the group, but became its ninth partner-country back in January.

    Also in recent weeks, the U.S. embassy in Nigeria introduced a new visa policy restricting Nigerians to a single-entry non-immigrant visa valid for three months – down from five-year multiple-entry visa previously issued. Many Nigerians construed the new visa policy to be in response to Tinubu administration’s own policy by which e-visas  with three-month validity are to be issued applicants for short term stay in Nigeria. The regime hitherto is five-year multiple entry visa for American visa applicants.

    Speaking lately on a national television programme, Tuggar said the tariff hike and other measures by Washington were not necessarily because of Nigeria becoming a partner-member of BRICS. “You have to also bear in mind that the U.S. is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the U.S. – some straight out of prison,” he explained, adding: “It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud! We already have 230 million people. You will be the same people that would castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelans from U.S. prisons to be brought in.”

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    According to the minister, accepting the Venezuelan deportees into Nigeria may indeed only be the beginning. “The issue of accepting Venezuelan deportees, honestly, I don’t think is something that Nigeria is in a position to work with. And I think it would be unfair to insist that Nigeria accepts 300 Venezuelan deportees. Maybe that might just even be the beginning,” he said.

    On the visa policy, he explained that Nigeria still offers five-year multiple-entry visas to U.S. citizens; the only change being addition of electronic visa option for tourists and business people who may not wish to undergo the standard visa application process. “What Nigeria has done that differs is simple. We used to have a visa-on-arrival that wasn’t running efficiently. We introduced these online electronic visas that you can apply for so that it saves you time, instead of just arriving and then going through the process of getting the visa when you have already arrived,” he said. “We have different categories of visas. There are people who are first-time travellers who are coming as tourists. They’re probably not likely to come back to Nigeria again, maybe because they’re coming for a short while. They are those who get 90-day visas,” the minister added.

    It is amazing that in the conduct of diplomacy, the American leadership believes it must be its way or the highway. The international community ordinarily runs on mutual respect by countries for the sovereignty of one another, not on imposition of one sovereignty on another.

    We commend the Nigerian government for rebuffing the pressure by Washington and urge it to stand its ground without making apologies. Critics should wise up that this country has come of age and needs to show it by taking positions based on its self-interest, not by docility towards the preferences of other nations – even world powers – anchored on those nations’ own interests.

    The media can help with opinion moulding by rightly diagnosing issues and rejecting foreign aspersions.

    Part of the trouble, of course, is that we measure our self-worth by the approval of others because of developmental challenges that bedevil our nation. It is high time government at all levels worked harder at remediating these challenges and give Nigerians a sense of pride in their own nationhood.