The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Fair is fair  

    Fair is fair  

    • Those keeping Lagos clean should benefit from minimum wage, too

    The news from Lagos State in the past few weeks is that the government has increased the average minimum wage of workers in the state to N85,000. This is an increase of N15,000, up from the Federal Government’s offer to workers of a N70,000 minimum  wage, after series of strikes from the labour unions in the country.

    However, the lamentations from the street sweepers in Lagos show that the increase did not extend to the sweepers whose main duty is to keep the streets clean. They often work under very harsh conditions, under the rain and under the sun, and at the risk of being killed by reckless drivers.

    Residents of Lagos can however feel the impact of these Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) workers. Streets are not some El dorado but the streets of Lagos have moved from the extremely dirty state to an improved stage.

    These street sweepers in Lagos are some of the most dedicated workers in town. They often defy the elements like rain and scorching heat while working. We therefore feel disappointed that they have allegedly been omitted from the new minimum wage. Some of them have been unable to feed their children, pay hospital bills and school fees and other sundry expenses, given the double digit inflation and food insecurity. They are still allegedly being paid the old N30,000 in a city like Lagos, with a very high cost of living.

    With a bag of rise selling at more than N100,000, rents very high and even transportation, most of the street sweepers and some of their superiors are in for a very hard time if this trend continues. In other climes, workers like these are treated with more respect because of the risks they take in the line of duty. Some of them have been killed while doing their jobs. We are not sure that they even have good insurance policy covers, given the risks in doing their jobs.

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    The Lagos State government might be taking a huge risk by not meeting the legal requirements of all the workers in their employ, whether they are high, medium or low income earners.

    Equity and justice is the name of the game. This misnomer should never have happened if there has been attention to details by the supervising ministry. It might be seen as a form of discrimination for this level of workers who, if they decide to down tools, might create huge problems for everyone, including those in government, because everyone produces waste and everyone takes oxygen and any pollution due to unhygienic environment impacts on every life in the state.

    The dignity of the worker is a huge responsibility of every government. Any form of inequity in the system lowers productivity and impacts the morale of workers. Part of motivation in the work force is equal treatment of workers in terms of salaries and wages, according to the law. When the state falters, the human instinct sets in and that means that an unhappy employer would neither be dedicated nor maximally productive.

    Lagos State government must investigate this report and ensure that if this is a mistake, it is corrected immediately and apology tendered to those affected.

  • No kid gloves

    No kid gloves

    •Lakurawa must be routed before it is too late

    Some call them Lakurawa. Others call them Lukarawa. We don’t know what they call themselves because, since about November 6 when the Sokoto State government made their existence public, they have not come out to say which of the two names is correct.

    Perhaps we would get a clue to this if they make known their mission. For instance, when Boko Haram came, they said they were opposed to book knowledge because western education is sinful.

    But whether they are Lakurawa or Lukarawa, neither sounds so pleasant. What is more? Both evoke fears in their areas of operation and beyond.

    Human Angle or HumAngle, for short, (a niche media platform that dwells on insightful and objective coverage of Africa’s conflict, humanitarian, and development issues) describes the new terror group thus:

    “A terrorist group has gained notoriety on the shores of Sokoto State after several years of covert infiltration and recruitment. Spreading cancerously to other states in the northwestern region, they have taken control of some fragile communities in the state, violating human rights and imposing corrosive doctrines on citizens.”

    Contrary to what many of us thought, Lakurawa is not a new terror group; it has always been there. Many people who should know have said this much.

    Some accounts say the group came pretending to want to liberate the people from the clutches of the existing terror groups only to now shed its messianic toga for its real identity, having consolidated and familiarised itself with the locals.

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    They are said to comprise mostly of foreigners from Niger Republic and they are worse than the very terror groups that they came, ostensibly to save the people from.

    Much as we need some understanding of where the new group originated from, and may be the aims and objectives, to understand how to deal with their menace, we don’t need to dissipate energy on these. What should be paramount in our minds is how to route them before they become a malignant tumour.

    But the Sokoto State government should not have allowed this group to fester for years before crying out, only for the defence headquarters to confirm their existence. The irony is that Sokoto used to be relatively quiet even when Boko Haram flourished. May be this explains the lack of suspicion on the part of the locals.

    We can also smell failure of intelligence here. Yet, its supremacy in the terror war is undeniable.

    Anyway, it is heartwarming that The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called for stiff action against the group:

    “Lakurawa, at this early stage of its emergence, must not be tolerated or allowed to entrench itself in our communities through benign neglect or kid-glove treatment, as was the case with Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes, and banditry in the northeast, north-central, and northwest regions, respectively,” the group said in a statement. It consequently calls on the Federal Government and the military to deal decisively with them.

    We agree. But, that is to the extent that we have to drive away the thief first, before coming back to tell the owner that he too was careless with the stolen item.

    The long-term solution to banditry and terrorism lies essentially with the northern leaders. The region’s political and religious elites have to resolve to deal with the issues of illiteracy, poverty and ignorance that provide the fertile ground for recruitment by the terror groups.

    We are glad to note that this call for introspection on the part of the northern leaders appears to be sinking fast as some of them have, unlike in the past when they pretended not to know the nexus between banditry and terrorism on the one hand, and illiteracy, poverty and ignorance, on the other. At least they are beginning to talk about it at some fora.

    But the issues should leave the drawing boards for implementation now. Some of the states in the north have begun this process. Others need to follow suit.

    The country has spent so much on terror war. This is good money that should have otherwise been spent on developmental projects.

  • Crunchy!

    Crunchy!

    MAN’s dire inventory data: a harsh present versus a long-term nirvana

    No surprise about the statistics the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) just pushed out: its factory inventory of unsold products ballooned in the first six months of 2024.

    By the numbers, presented by Francis Meshioye, the president of MAN, year-on-year, unsold inventory shot up by 357.57 per cent, in the first half of 2024, a great leap from the first six months of 2023. The corresponding figure for 2023 was N271.96 billion. But by 2024, it had jumped to N1.23 trillion.

    Not only that: MAN’s composite capacity utilisation also dipped, from 56.5 per cent Half-Year 2023 to 56.4 per cent in Half-Year 2024. At less than 60 per cent, capacity utilisation is not great. Still, the very slight decline, despite the heavy headwinds, shows some resilience. How far that resilience would last, with the headwinds unchanging, is open to question. But the omens appear not too good.

    Still, it’s not all bad news, even if the faded glows are nothing to crow about. For instance, though manufacturing output declined from N1.36 trillion in Half-Year 2023 to N1.34 trillion in Half-Year 2024 (1.66 per cent), the sector still grew by 9.97 per cent, if the second six months of 2023 were compared with the first six months of 2024.

    In real terms, however, the “growth” in numbers were fired by high inflation, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising to 34.19 per cent in June 2024. So, though MAN members posted higher accounting figures, the worth of the cash haul is far less. 

    This could make all the difference in staying in the market or dropping out — since hauling more cash for less materials could signpost a progressive decline in business fortunes. That danger is real for many firms in the MAN ensemble. Indeed, the MAN president declared that even with higher investment on paper in the sector — thanks to the Naira’s devaluation — the worth in real terms is far less.

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    Even then, there would appear some promising signs. Forced by challenges of costly forex (no thanks to the Naira’s floatation against foreign currencies), the sector is experiencing a gradual move to source local raw materials. That’s a good one for business restructuring. 

    If many MAN members can tow this line — including the first generation international conglomerates that would rather continue to import agricultural raw materials they can grow here — there would be less pressure on MAN for forex demands. That would be far better for the economy, and should expand MAN’s capacity utilisation.

    But the flip side of this exciting window is that MAN members — and that is most — still need forex to service, maintain, repair and upgrade their core machinery. That is a big challenge to local engineers and fabricators. 

    To jumpstart this feeder market, the Federal Government should push harder to make the Ajaokuta Steel Mill deliver for the economy. Besides, both the public and private sectors must invest more in research and development (R&D) as part of their core business. In the tradition of Town and Gown, our universities should be integral to such investments, for its sheer mutually beneficial value.

    Another bright spot is electricity power supply. It increased in the first six months of 2024 to a daily average of 11.28 hours. That is praise-worthy, though the problem, even with this improved daily average, is that it is near-permanently erratic. 

    A predictable power supply, merged with these improved daily averages, will really give manufacturing a boon. The flip side, of course, is that the cost of alternative power is still outrageous. The cost of diesel — the choice of industry giants — has shot through the roof. Petrol, which smaller businesses prefer, has since joined it there. This is one reason MAN members will be far better off with more stable electricity.

    But the stark reality of the MAN inventory crisis is how the current economic reforms seem to blight the present, while its goal is a future paradise!

    Petrol subsidy removal has unleashed a high energy cost. If that had always been the story of diesel — which the MAN giants had endured long before the liberalisation of petrol — floating the Naira, against foreign currencies, has added another layer of heavy costs.

    But as costs have gone up, the market from which to recover the costs is shrinking, with high inflation eroding general purchasing power. This is true of manufacturing as it is true of the Uber shuttle operator. The added danger is that headline inflation is on common goods — common goods as crucial and as critical as food!

    That’s the present crunch. So, the government should make necessary adjustments to bring relief to ventures and to households. That’s the imperative that this dire MAN data shrieks!

  • $10b more for power

    $10b more for power

    • Money is only a part of the sector’s problem

    Most Nigerians will, understandably, shrug off the latest push by the Federal Government for a $10 billion injection to bail out the beleaguered power sector. They ought to be forgiven the cynicism if only on account of the billions of dollars known to have been poured in by successive governments since 1999, with no commensurate results.

    Yet, as tempting as the stance is, the fact, and which remains undeniable, is that the latest push to salvage the sector stands no chance without massive injection of funds to upgrade and modernise its systems. 

    Only last week, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, told the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, on the latter’s courtesy visit, that the sector requires at least $10bn over the next 10 years to achieve a 24-hour power supply across the country.

    Apparently intent on passing the message of the improbability of the government going it alone, the minister had framed the government’s dilemma thus: “Can the government do it alone? No! This is why we need to marshal private sector funds while still retaining government interest and ownership. This is where ICRC comes in. We need to collaborate with the private sector, and the best way to do this is through concessions.”

    Most Nigerians would agree that the sector needs a critical rescue. The main issue is whether our penchant to throw money at problems will make a fundamental difference. We saw this during the Obasanjo administration during which it went on a procurement binge without as much thought to those basic infrastructures that would be needed to deliver the equipment to site, let alone any consideration for their seamless integration, post-installation. Most of them ended tragically in the bonded warehouses of the Nigerian Customs Service with all manner of alibi thrown about to explain the situation.

    The Jonathan administration fared no better. Under it, the unbundled power entities were handed over to firms that possess neither the financial muscle nor the technical expertise to run them, hence the current tragic situation that the country has found itself. 

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    This is why we couldn’t agree more with the ICRC Director-General that whereas while funding is crucial to its turnaround, the challenges facing the power sector are complex and extend beyond finances. In fact, merely by the billions of dollars that the sector has gulped in recent years, the money issue would certainly seem the minor part. Corruption, incompetence mixed with a good dose of bad faith would seem to have been the greater plagues that have dogged the sector.

    Which is why it can no longer be business as usual. At this time, the burden is on the government to explain to Nigerians in clear details, how the proposed $10 billion will be utilised and on what terms. This goes beyond the routine promises on paper but express justification of every item of expenditure, to ensure value for every kobo spent.

    After all, the government, to our understanding, is already known to be pushing aggressively the Public Private Partnership model as indeed other initiatives to divest itself of its current strangle-hold on the sector. Again, if our understanding is that a major part of the plan is for the states to assume greater role in the business of electricity generation and distribution by whatever arrangement they deem as necessary, the other puzzle, and which we think requires clarification, is the

    minister’s glib reference to government retaining its interest and ownership of the sector. Surely, this cannot be the goal.

  • Averting double jeopardy

    Averting double jeopardy

    • Police have to be careful in handling the case of the two-year-old girl raped to death

    The circumstances that led to the death of a two-year-old girl, discovered within

    the premises of a mosque, in Ningi, Bauchi State, is heart-rending. According to media reports, the girl may have been raped to death, and her corpse wrapped in a cloth and abandoned. As part of the investigation to unravel the culprit, the police have arrested four persons. They include the parents of the deceased, a chemist and a courier who reportedly brought the victim’s body home.

    According to the spokesman of the Bauchi State Police Command, Ahmed Wakili, the persons arrested are the 17-year-old mother of the child, Lauratu Saleh, the 23-year-old father, Abubakar Usman, as well the chemist who provided initial medical aid and a relative who took the corpse to the father. The police said the arrests were made after a thorough investigation.

    We hope the police investigation was thorough enough, and those arrested are genuine suspects, as it would amount to a double jeopardy if the parents are merely arrested on flimsy excuses. 

    While we agree that the parents deserve to be questioned if police investigation showed they were negligent in taking care of the two-year-old child, it would be an overkill if on the premise of mere negligence they are arrested and charged for the murder of their own child, in such a gruesome manner. Such murder by the parents looks most unlikely, considering the alleged circumstances of her death.

     We therefore urge the police to take all necessary steps to unravel the rapist, who most likely was responsible for the murder.

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    As part of efforts to protect every child, we urge states which have not yet done

    so, to enact a Child Rights Act. While that in itself may not protect the child, it provides the parameters and expectations for the protection of a child. It particularly provides the responsibilities of the society and the guardian/parent to the child. Such an act also specifies the punishment, when a child is abused, which puts parents and the entire society on notice, on the expectations and responsibilities owed the child.

    It is sad that the communal living which is one of the hallmarks of the African society has eroded so much that adults have ceased to see child care as a community effort. In times past, every adult person who saw a child unaccompanied by an adult immediately assumed the role of a protector, until the parents or relatives of the child were identified. Sadly, what prevails now is a strange uncaring attitude that is not African.

    The worst case is the prevalence of the community as spectators who are more interested in taking pictures of incident situations, rather than going to the aide of the victim. With the advent of smart phones, those who should play the good Samaritan prefer to snap pictures for the social media. This new impediment to communal living and social care for the neighbour must be checked, if our society will not descend into the abyss. 

    We also call out on the administrators of the mosque, in Ningi, where the child was allegedly murdered. We urge them to also discreetly investigate what happened to the child, and how come their mosque featured in the bizarre incident. They should be willing to join forces with the police to unravel those who have dented the image of their place of worship. Going forward, they should take steps to ensure that their facility is protected as much as possible, from such perpetrators of evil.

    The rape and murder of the two-year-old child must not go unpunished. The police and the community affected by the incident must keep track of the investigation until those responsible for the dastardly act are apprehended and prosecuted. That is the only way the society can maintain its common sanity.

  • Happy birthdays to Tribune and Vanguard

    Happy birthdays to Tribune and Vanguard

    At 75 and 40, respectively, Nigerian Tribune and Vanguard Newspapers have chronicled Nigeria’s story with professionalism

    Two newspapers just marked their birthdays. Nigerian Tribune, one of the oldest surviving newspaper organisations in Nigeria, turned 75. Vanguard Newspaper, another iconic medium, became 40.

    It is a glory to Nigerian journalism that both newspapers represent two ideas, two tendencies, two histories and more in the evolving drama not only of the profession but also of our country. Their stories are epics in survivalism, in twitting power, in showcasing the Nigerian periscope, in tracking the rise and fall of the state, our peace and turmoil, our genius and follies, and the unfolding vitality of our civil society sometimes at war with itself.

    They are also marking their anniversaries at a fraught time for the media when many journalists face existential definitions of their trade and careers, and whether, in just a few years from now, they may not be called journalists and are not sure what will become of their lives and vocations.

    Nigerian Tribune is associated with the first premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and he founded it as a Trojan for truth and justice. It was in the throes of Nigeria’s struggle for independence and the formation of the Yoruba quasi-cultural organisation, Egbe Omo Oduduwa. The body attracted icons of the tribe that would later turn it into the seed bed of one of Nigeria’s historic political parties, the Action Group (AG).

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    Nigerian Tribune stands as the only media house today set up to fight for independence and also to safeguard and pursue the interest and integrity of the then Western Region and the Yoruba race. It needed to be a voice then because it was a feisty time for news and views and the west wanted an audacious presence alongside such mainstays as The Daily Times and The West African Pilot, a newspaper established by one of Awolowo’s rivals, Nnamdi Azikiwe, in 1937.

    The paper follows in the tradition of Nigeria’s first-known newspaper, Iwe Irohin, that evinced nationalist brio but it was a Yoruba language newspaper. The Nigerian Tribune, from its small beginnings, became prescient in its founding as it served Chief Awolowo’s cause and his AG when he was in the battle not only for independence but for his own political life and the progressive struggles. It stood to be counted when the AG became a powerhouse roiling with ideas in the parliament, when Anthony Enahoro first proposed the motion for Nigerian independence, the excitement of the Western Region when the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and AG locked horns for supremacy in the region, in unfurling Awolowo’s Fabian ideas and how he executed project after project in the region, from Cocoa House to the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, in the crisis of the region that was to split the region ideologically forever between Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the ferments and deaths of “operation “we tie,” the prosecution of the treasonable felony and its cause célèbres, the incarceration, the rumbles and tragedies of the civil war.

    Perhaps because Awolowo did not become president, and perhaps because somehow the newspaper did not seek to transcend its original regionalist appeal, the newspaper has never been perceived as a national newspaper in readership, sales and content. Awolowo was a presidential candidate, and a hopeful for the nation’s state house before he died. But his newspaper, just like the patriarch, had ideas for all Nigeria but remained ensconced in an insular perception as the voice of the Yoruba. Nothing wrong with that. A newspaper does not have to speak for all. Sometimes when it does, it can lose its authentic voice.

    In fact, some newspaper historians can thank Nigerian Tribune for the development of such newspapers in the country, like the Observer in Bendel State, Chronicle in Uyo and Nigerian Tide In the southeast, and of course, the Daily Sketch, also part of the Lagos-Ibadan press.

    Many may also argue that the newspaper is not of the ideological hue of its founder, not in the mould of Lateef Jakande, Tai Solarin, Tola Adeniyi or Folu Olamiti. At one time it was the counterfoil to Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s National Concord, when that newspaper was a military apologist before its founder’s pirouette as a vanguard for democracy in the June 12 saga. But all newspapers, like every organism, must evolve. Its present corps of writers, while different, also follows a tradition of irreverence, if of a different digestion.

    Vanguard was a child of rebellion, founded by Sam Amuka, a ferocious columnist and writer of the sardonic brand, after he suffered injustice from another organisation. It also benefitted from the rebellion of journalists from another newspaper who made its beginnings refreshing. It began as a reader’s favourite in sports, fashion and culture news and features. It was founded at a critical point in Nigerian media when university graduates found the profession enthralling and its writing and presentation were free and breathtaking. Its founding editor Muyiwa Adetiba started a tradition that ran through men like Sunny Ojeagbase, Chris Okojie, Gbenga Adefaye to Mideno Bayagbon to now Eze Anaba. It has had great columnists like the famous ‘Lipstick’ with Doyin Omololu whose edgy and irreverent style engrossed readers for years, as well as Donu Kogbara’s dispatches.

    The newspaper also evolved to a more “serious” one for political and economic reasons. Its segue was seamless and a testament to the management’s versatility and flexible vision. Like the Nigerian Tribune, it has come to be known for its regional appeal, in its case to the Niger Delta region, especially Edo and Delta states. This enriched the variegated pool of the media offering, and gives voice often to little-known tendencies and voices of the country.

    We congratulate these two institutions in journalism, and wish them well in these turbulent times.

  • Ondo election

    Ondo election

    •Let there be peace, and let the best candidate win

    Voters in Ondo State are heading out tomorrow, Saturday, November 16, in an off-cycle poll to elect the person they would want to take office when a new governorship tenure kicks in on February 24, next year.

    Ondo became one of the eight states that have fallen off the regular election cycle following a Court of Appeal verdict in February 2009 that upheld the petition tribunal’s invalidation of the emergence of Dr. Olusegun Agagu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2007 governorship poll, and affirmation of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party as duly elected. Besides Ondo, other states that are off-cycle in their governorship elections are Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi, Ekiti, Osun, Anambra and Edo.

    Tomorrow’s election will hold in 3,933 polling units located in 203 wards across Ondo’s 18 local government areas. Although there are 2,053,061 registered voters on the roll of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the state, only 1,757,205 who picked up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from the electoral body are eligible to vote tomorrow. Of existing 19 registered political parties, 18 are fielding candidates for the poll, although it is widely seen as a two-horse race between incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Dr. Agboola Ajayi of the PDP.

    Both INEC and the security services have indicated they are deploying massively for the election, besides other relevant agencies that will be involved. The electoral body will post 15,732 ad-hoc staff on electoral tasks across the 3,933 polling units, and that is not mentioning scores of other officials who will be on duty beat. The agency accredited more than a hundred domestic and international organisations that will deploy some 3,500 observers, besides more than 100 media outfits that are assigning some 700 accredited personnel on election coverage.

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    On its part, the Nigeria Police said it would deploy 36,637 personnel from various specialised units, including the Special Intervention Squad, Police Mobile Force and Counter-Terrorism Unit for the election. It will also be working in concert with other security services like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) that announced it would put 6,000 officers and men on election duty. Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun ordered a ban on all vehicular movement on roads, waterways and other modes of transportation from 6a.m. to 6p.m. within Ondo State territory on election day, with exemption for essential services like ambulances, fire services and accredited media personnel.

    It is a shame that conducting elections in our clime is like going to war, unlike in other climes where elections are utterly non-disruptive of the daily run of events. But that is the reality we face. At the signing of a peace accord by political parties and their candidates in Akure, the Ondo capital, last weekend, Chairman of the National Peace Committee and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, urged party leaders and candidates to accept the poll outcome once it is adjudged free, fair and credible, and to seek legitimate and peaceful means of addressing any concern that may arise thereafter. “I want to call on all stakeholders to work assiduously in their capacities to ensure that peace reigns supreme during this election, and that the Ondo State off-cycle election sets a precedent for other off-cycle elections to emulate,” he said.

    INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu said the commission had perfected its plans to deploy staff and materials timely to all voting and results collation locations across the state, including those in the riverine areas. “I will not be tired of appealing to political parties and candidates to note that your signatures on the peace accord document alone will not guarantee a peaceful election. The peace accord is not an automated, self-activating document. Your commitment to its implementation is critical. Therefore, as you sign the peace accord, you should commit yourselves to its implementation and pass the message to your supporters at all levels for compliance,”  he added.

    We join our voice to the call for a peaceful election in the ‘Sunshine State’ tomorrow. It is noteworthy and laudable that unlike past elections in Ondo that were heralded by violence or its rhetoric, electioneering leading up to tomorrow’s poll has been uniquely tempered. This should be carried forward into the election proper and its aftermath.

    All eyes will be on INEC to live up to its promise that there would be significant improvement in three areas: namely voter accreditation with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System device, timely deployment of poll officials and materials (logistics), and the result management process pertaining to uploading results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal. Voters themselves need to be well behaved and should spurn inducement to vote-selling. But they can be helped greatly onto such comportment by confidence-boosting processes of INEC. Let the people freely choose and let that choice be honoured.

  • Tunde Bakare at 70

    Tunde Bakare at 70

    •We wish the activist Pentecostal priest many happy returns as he joins the septuagenarian club

    Even as an activist Pentecostal priest with an intense political complexion, he caused quite a stir when in 2019 he announced that he would be Nigeria’s president after Muhammadu Buhari. “To this end, I was born, and for this purpose, I came into the world,” he told his church members.

    In 2011, he had accepted the offer to be Buhari’s running mate in the presidential election, under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). They were unsuccessful. In 2022, he participated in the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to pick a candidate for the 2023 election ahead of Buhari’s completion of two terms as president. He was unsuccessful, but loudly asserted that he had participated in the primary righteously, by which he meant that he had not tried to use money to influence the delegates who voted.     

    Passionate about Nigeria’s progress and a vigorous promoter of good governance, Pastor Tunde Bakare, who turned 70 on November 11, can be described as a liberation theologian. “Nigerian political leaders have mostly not demonstrated empathy,” he was reported saying at a recent event. 

    He had rebelliously converted to Christianity in 1974, having been born into a devout Muslim family in Abeokuta, in present-day Ogun State. He founded The Latter Rain Assembly, now known as The Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), in 1989. As the overseer of the church, he is known for his pugnacious preaching style, and sometimes controversial sermons.

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    After studying law at the University of Lagos, he practised with some notable law firms before establishing his own law firm in 1984.

    He was a member of the Deeper Life Bible Church and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, where he founded the Model Parish, before he launched his own church, which brought a different flavour to Nigerian Pentecostalism.    

    He projects himself as an incorruptible leader. By some accounts, he was said to have rejected humongous money gifts and luxury car gifts on a number of occasions because he considered them questionable. He said he rejected $50,000 from the Goodluck Jonathan administration, which he considered a bribe offer.

    In 2014, when he represented Ogun State at the National Conference, he rejected the N12m allowance for delegates. He was reported saying, “We go with integrity of heart, it is not money. The God of heaven will prosper us.”

    According to a striking birthday tribute by his “close confidant,” Dr Segun Oshinaga, about two years before the end of the Buhari presidency, “the President attempted to give his friend a gift.” “It was an offer of an oil block,” he said, adding, “Many would have jumped at it calling it divine supply.” But Pastor Bakare told Buhari, “Thank you Mr President but I cannot accept this gift. It will spoil my brand. Oil block is a national treasure and if I get it just because I’m the President’s friend, then it becomes morally indefensible.”

    As a co-convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), which led significant civil demonstrations towards good governance, he displayed not only courage but also a commendable sense of patriotism. He said he distanced himself from the organisation after it was hijacked by the Jonathan administration. 

    As part of the activities to celebrate his 70th birthday, he donated a solar inverter to the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, demonstrating the importance of giving back to society. He said: “When I turned 50… I transformed my primary school into a model primary school. When I turned 60, I decided to contribute to my secondary school, Lisabi Grammar School. With the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lisabi received N474m, and today there is a Tunde Bakare House on the premises.” He added: “Now, as I turn 70, I felt it was time to give back to my university… I don’t have to be President to make an impact.”

    We wish him many happy returns as he enters his septuagenarian years.

  • FUTA opens application for Computer Science in Distance Learning

    FUTA opens application for Computer Science in Distance Learning

    The Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) has opened applications for admission into Computer Science for the 2024/2025 academic session in the Open and Distance Learning Centre (ODLC).

    A statement by the ODLC Director, Prof. F. I. Alao, noted that the centre would expose all categories of learners and candidates to innovative blended learning approach.

    He said distance, the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and age are no longer barriers to getting a B.Sc in Computer Science.  It described tuition as highly affordable and lower than most regular programmes.

    Alao urged candidates to utilise the world class laboratories and computing facilities available, adding that they would be eligible for mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme on graduation before the age of 30 and get the same certificate as regular students.

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    He said candidates seeking admission to 100-Level should possess one of the following: five credits in the SSCE/GCE/NECO,  including English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology or Agricultural Science or Economics or any other relevant subject  taken in not more than two sittings.

    The don said direct entry applications into 200-Level requires two A’Level credit passes in Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry.  He said Upper credit pass in National Diploma in Computer Science from recognised tertiary institutions in addition to O/level is also required.

    He noted that those without JAMB-UTME result can also apply, adding that application form is N20,000.

    “Don’t allow your child lose this opportunity. It is a new dawn as technology drives the learning space, join the train. There is opportunity for young school leavers, working class and those in regular employment to apply.

    Visit https://odlportal.futa.edu.ng/account/student/login to complete your application and experience a highly innovative blended learning approach suited for all categories of candidates,” the don added.

  • Grid collapse and corruption

    Grid collapse and corruption

    • What the EFCC chief has revealed calls for an emergency on power

    It should come as a shock to many. But if it is not a shock, it is because, as a nation, we are used to so many such revelations that we are inured to bad news.

    Yet, the revelations of the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede about the collapse of power supply and corruption should concern everyone who wants progress in this country and who wants us to enjoy regular power in homes and businesses.

    He said, in a session with the National Assembly, that corruption was at the heart of the many shutdowns of the national grid. He said contractors were applying substandard equipment and this has not been able to withstand the pressure of electricity surges and led to collapse. The nation has been in the dark doldrums consistently in the past few months.

    It may be true as the Minister of Power has asserted that a national grid, rather than regional and state-level installments, was not sufficient anymore for the country.  The minister, Adebayo Adelabu, also had to grapple with the plunder of bandits when stretches of northern Nigeria slid into darkness and compelled the president to intervene for the restoration of electricity.

    But the points made by the EFCC chief are a more profound worry. It is putting the blame on contractors. He said: “Investigations carried out by the EFCC showed that contractors in the power sector, who were awarded projects to supply electrical equipment, often opted for substandard materials.

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    “As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigations we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears,” he asserted.

    This assertion is serious, and it shows that a lack of patriotism will always combine with greed to make life difficult for all. But it raises a few questions. How did the contractors arrive at the equipment they have been applying? Have there not been due diligence? The government department in charge is the u So, what role has the BPE played in this drop in contractual credibility?

    It is nothing new that contractors collude with government officials to ruin public works, but the EFCC chief’s revelation is even more stark.

    He said the level of efficiency and execution is less than 20 percent.

    “People who were awarded contracts to supply electricity equipment, instead of using what they call 9.0 gauge, will go and buy 5.0. Every time you see the thing tripping off, the thing gets burnt, and all of that, it falters and it collapses. It’s part of our problems,” he said.

    He expatiated that, “We discovered that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not done up to 20 per cent of our capital project implementation and execution. And if we don’t do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development? How do you want to grow as a nation?”

    So, his concern was not about power alone but infrastructure development in general.

    “Our mandate this year is to work with the National Assembly to see if we can meet up to 50 per cent of our execution of our capital project for the year.”

    If we attain 50 per cent, he said, we will be “fine” as a nation.

    The National Assembly and the nation should not take the revelation lightly. It poses a fundamental question. We must hold the culprits responsible. The EFCC ought to fish them out and prosecute them. Scapegoats are necessary in this matter of power emergency.