The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Good to go

    Good to go

    • Students Loan is worth the wait given the amendments to the law to make it more inclusive and soften criteria for eligibility

    The students loan issue has understandably continued to generate widespread interest from diverse stakeholders. The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, had remarked that he had noticed that most of the requests for assistance that he had been receiving from his constituents as a legislator related to school fees and other educational needs. Consequently, he decided to sponsor a bill on students loan tagged “Bill for an Act to provide for easy access to higher education through interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Bank, established in this Act with a view to providing education for all Nigerians and for other purposes connected thereto.”

    Upon winning the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), one of Asiwaju Tinubu’s commitments was to ensure that no qualified Nigerian was denied education on the basis of financial handicap, and the Gbajabiamila students loan bill seemed to have provided a broad framework.

    On winning the presidential election, President Tinubu duly signed the students loan bill into law on June 12, 2023, and September, 2023 was set for the commencement of its implementation. However, there were strident criticisms of different aspects of the law. This, among other reasons, made it essential to shift the date of commencement to January 2024. But even that date came and passed.

    While supporters of the President saw this as evidence of untiring responsiveness to the continuing criticisms of the proposed loan scheme and a desire to be painstaking in the preparations for the take-off of the crucial scheme, the President’s detractors saw the changes in date as an indication of lack of intention to implement it.

    Then on March 14, 2024, President Tinubu forwarded a bill titled “The Students Loan (Access to Education) (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2024” to the National Assembly with a view to revising the 2023 one by accommodating various criticisms and proposals for amendment. It is that new bill that the President signed into law on April 3, 2024, and the new law has been greeted with approval by many stakeholders.

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    One of the key features or modifications in the new law is that it has expanded access to the loan by including candidates for tertiary education and those for vocational training in the potential beneficiaries. In fact, the new law is omnibus and forward-looking enough to accommodate other categories of beneficiaries in future.

    The sustainability of the loan scheme is also guaranteed by providing that one per cent of collectable taxes by the Federal Government would be ploughed into the loan fund. Moreover, the exacting criteria for eligibility such as parental income level and potentially difficult-to-procure guarantorship have been eased. It is also important to note in this regard that should a beneficiary die before offsetting their loan, both the beneficiary and their guarantors are freed of all liabilities connected with the loan.

    These and other features of the re-enacted students loan law appear to be more pragmatic, more responsive to key stakeholder criticisms and is a good way of subsidising education, because it has the features of both a welfare programme and a business engagement.

    To make the scheme achieve its objectives, it is necessary to devise and regularly revise the mechanisms for loan repayment. The issue of corruption is also a serious cause for concern which should continue to be innovatively addressed. In line with the methodical steps being taken in preparation for its take-off and the quality-enhancing revisions that have taken place so far, the law and operations of the students loan scheme should be subjected to regular review to ensure that it delivers the envisaged benefits sustainably. 

  • Phone kidnap

    Phone kidnap

    • Both the police and Lagosians need to be on the look-out for thieves who snatch phones and take money from their victims before returning them

    Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, has given marching orders to his area commanders and divisional police officers (DPOs) to clear off hoodlums who accost innocent commuters and brazenly seize their phones in the public in exchange for money, their areas of jurisdiction. Fayoade, who was reacting to viral videos of the new face of crime in the state, warned that he would not spare any of the police officers who allows such acts to continue in the state.

    Spokesperson of the state police command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin said : “CP Adegoke Fayoade has received with concern reports that young men in certain parts of Lagos State seize passersby’s phones to extort them despite the sustained raids being carried out by officers and men of the command.’’

    The new style of robbery is reminiscent of the practice in the state in the 1970s by thieves who would accost people wearing expensive necklaces and ask such victims to remove the necklaces on their necks and put them on their own (the thieves) necks all by themselves, with prayers, to boot (bo si mi lorun ko s’adura si).

    It was these nasty experiences that taught Lagosians who were fond of ostentatious display of clothes and jewelries to check such habit. Even if they attended social parties in glittering attires, they took along extra clothes with which they replaced the ones they wore to the party, when leaving. They equally removed their gold necklaces and hid them in their bags, so as not to draw unnecessary attention to themselves and thus made themselves less vulnerable to attacks by the thieves of that era.

    There were no cellphones then.

    Read Also; Nigeria’s security architecture stretched beyond elastic limits, says Tinubu

    But one of the solutions devised by Lagosians then can still work these days of cell phones. What people did then with their expensive clothes and jewelries that attracted undue attention to them is what some people do today with their cell phones that they flagrantly display in public. Most of the victims of these phone snatchers engage in reckless display of such phones as a status symbol, thus attracting the attention of the miscreants.

    This attitude must stop.

    Even when people have the means to genuinely buy such expensive handsets, they should sparingly display them in public. People have to be conscious of their environment. Even the police, as part of their security advisory usually urge members of the public not to display objects of value in their cars or wherever such things could attract the attention of hoodlums.

    Life has no duplicate; hence, it is better to heed such a piece of advice. Some of these thieves are so desperate that they can kill when their potential victims become stubborn or ‘uncooperative’.

    We call on the police in the state to continue with sting operations to mop up these criminal elements from the society. The police, no doubt, are trying but they need to do more.

    Lagosians too must be ready to provide the police with useful information that can help them in apprehending these thieves. The police would always appreciate this. Policemen are no super humans; they most often work on credible intelligence from members of the public, and this has often paid off. The source of such intelligence should not be allowed to dry. And the way to ensure the source does not dry is in the police treating the information provided them by members of the public with absolute confidentiality.

    We support Mr Fayoade’s warning that area commanders and DPOs in whose jurisdictions these new robbery style and other crimes fester should be heavily sanctioned. That is the way to put them on their toes and make Lagosians walk as free-born on the streets, without having to fear that some people are lurking around to dispossess them of their valuables.

  • Mines Marshals

    Mines Marshals

    • Their coming should ensure enhanced security around mining sites in the country

    There are at least three respects in which mining-related security in Nigeria is of significance. First, there is the issue of the theft of the nation’s mineral resources by illegal miners, which often requires the culprits to engage roughnecks to help them to secure the mining sites and suppress any challenge from the victims of the deleterious effects of illegal mining. Second, there is the issue of the influx of people of questionable character into the mining locations engaged by illegal or even legal miners. In fact, in some parts of the country, such as Zamfara State, the influx of such mine workers has been linked to a spike in insecurity. Third, there is the question of the environmental degradation of the mining sites. In some communities, insistence on the protection of or restoration of degraded land has resulted in conflict between the miners and the host communities.

    These are serious security challenges which require sustained, focused measures to address. It is therefore gratifying to note that the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Dele Alake, has launched and formally handed over Mines Marshals to the ministry “to secure the mining environment.” According to the minister, “the overall mines security would comprise the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the police, the army, navy, and the air force and be domiciled in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).” He further noted: “Before now, insecurity had bedevilled the sector. It combined with all variables to shortchange Nigeria in revenue. So, among others, the issue of combating insecurity in this sector became a must for the success of this mineral sector of Nigeria.”

    Read Also; Nigeria’s security architecture stretched beyond elastic limits, says Tinubu

    It is important that the minister recognises the need for the different security outfits to work together to reduce insecurity in the sector. However, this also calls for concern, given the tendency for the different security organisations to work at cross-purposes, due to what has come to be regarded as inter-agency rivalry. Efforts should therefore be made to ensure that there is synergy between the security forces and that there is clear-cut delineation of the specific roles of each of the security outfits.

    This is especially important because of the problematic form of federalism which the nation is practising.  Since there are different categories of security agencies arising from the concurrent status of security in the nation’s constitution, the ideal goal is to ensure that the people own the Mines Marshals. This would ensure that they enjoy the public’s confidence and guarantee them the optimum flow of human intelligence which is essential to maintaining law and order.

    It is hoped that the Mines Marshals initiative would not be bedevilled by the challenge that has confronted some of the ancillary security agencies; e.g., Amotekun – the security outfit created by the Southwest states of the country. Their problem is that of lack of arms and related equipment, either in terms of quantity or quality. Special effort should therefore be made to procure sophisticated guns, armoured tanks and the like for the Mines Marshals.

    Moreover, facilities for the training and retraining of the Mines Marshals should be created to ensure that they are abreast of new developments in security maintenance in general and mining security in particular. 

    All said, the creation and launching of the Mines Marshals would increase what may be called the security density around the mining communities. Moreover, if well implemented and well-monitored to prevent corruption and human rights abuse, the highly-specialised nature of the marshals would make the government to be ahead of the criminals.

  • Not really low

    Not really low

    • Rejection of govt houses by civil servants over high prices shows that ‘low cost’ is relative

    With a housing deficit of 28 million as at December, last year, one would expect that every house offered to Nigerians would be bought even before they are completed. But it is turning out that this is not so. In other words, it’s not just a question of making houses available but also ensuring that other factors are right. This is one recurring lesson from the housing projects embarked on by different administrations at the federal level.

    Housing is an essential human need. Yet, Nigeria has an acute deficit of it. Available data put Nigeria’s housing deficit at seven million units in 1991; 12 million in 2007; 14 million in 2010; 20 million in 2018 and 28 million in 2023. This was despite the goal of Housing for all by Year 2000 that the Shehu Shagari administration set in the 1980s.

    The Buhari administration, like others before it had its own idea of how to tackle the housing deficit. It established the National Housing Programme (NHP), domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, with the sole aim of delivering affordable houses to beneficiary civil servants.

    Contracts were awarded for the construction of different categories of housing units in 2016 to 542 contractors for a sum of N27.488 million per unit.

    About 2,864 of the 6,022 housing units billed for construction in 46 sites across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are said to have been completed according to ‘Daily Trust’ investigation. Others are reportedly at various stages of completion. President Buhari had at the groundbreaking ceremony of the civil servants housing estate in Apo Extension, Abuja, under the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme, promised to build 5,000 houses yearly in each state for public workers for three years.

    According Daily Trust, “These included one, two and three-bedroom bungalows in states in the North- East, North-West and North-Central; blocks of 16 and 24 flats (condominiums) of one, two and three-bedrooms and bungalows in the South-South, South- East and South-West and the FCT.”

    Unfortunately, most of the houses that are ready are facing rejection. The same fate awaits others under construction. Reason: exorbitant prices.

    This is different from the Shagari era when the projects were politicised such that most of the houses were sited on the outskirts of the towns and people lost interest in them. Although with hindsight, those who rejected the houses then made a big mistake because most of those places that were seen as rural or outskirts have now become parts of the towns where the houses were then located.

    But what we are witnessing is a new dimension whereby Nigerians, particularly civil servants for whom the Federal Government built many houses in different parts of the country cannot own them because of their exorbitant prices. This is despite the fact that the government has asked that the houses be sold at the prices fixed by the previous administration.

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    That the experience cuts across all the geopolitical regions in the country says a lot about the pretension in our salary structure. If government says it is building low cost houses, and minimum wage is about N30,000, how many years would it take those at this lowest rungs to save for homes of their own? Of course the argument could be made that not all Nigerians would be landlords and therefore, low cost houses (no matter how low) cannot be an all-comers’ affair, the point is that wages are generally poor along the ladder. As a matter of fact, if the issue is about people owning houses purchased from their salaries, many Nigerians who have houses today would not have had one. What with the present inflation that has driven the cost of building materials beyond the roof while salaries have largely remained the same.

    We need to rework wage structures in the country to reflect reality. What we have on ground is unsustainable. We need to review salaries the way we have done for judges if we want to check corruption. Even if there is a mortgage system in place, it would work better where people still have something to spare after meeting their immediate needs. Mortgage cannot thrive when people practically live from hand to mouth every month.

  • Pelumi’s light

    Pelumi’s light

    • She showed her country, continent and race that great things are possible

    It was a long trip, but she proved superior to its challenges. Pelumi Nubi does not want the extraordinary feat of a solo drive from London to Lagos to limit and define her.

    Yet, no one can downplay what she has pulled off. She is the first person, black or white, male or female, to drive a car from London to Lagos.

    She, too, was thrilled. “I am joyful and overwhelmed,” she says.

    She was inspired by a number of factors. She is a familiar figure online for her regular travel offerings. She has also travelled to over 80 countries.

    The trigger was the feat of another Nigerian, Kunle Adeyanju, who pulled off a ride on bicycle through the same route. “He did it by bike two years ago. I was on the phone with him and mentioned how it was so cool what he did,” Pelumi said.

    By doing it for the black race, she inspired people who underrate themselves. As a youth, she inspired a generation. No one of her generation would belittle their gifts or the power that lies within them.

    She did not see her adventure as a picaresque challenge alone. She did it to let everyone find what was important in their dreams and see what she did as a fillip for accomplishment.

    Many people would contemplate doing a task like this and think themselves out of it. It may not always be cowardice but a sense of diminished self. But Pelumi Nubi did not go the route of vision alone. She snapped out of thinking into a rough-and-ready action. After one year of planning, she adapted her little Peugeot 107 purple car with kitchen, bed, provisions, podcasts and music, et al, and set out of her home in London, and said good bye to some who would travel by air to Lagos to welcome her. He car, named Lumi for light, set out at night and day.

    The journey was also a sort of communal experience for her, as she had what she called cheerleaders along the way in friends and family. This means that success can be lonely, but humans can help in making it a worthy experience.

    When she entered Africa, she made a remark: “When I crossed into Morocco, I literally broke down crying,” says Nubi. “And it wasn’t sadness. It was just this overwhelming feeling of [realizing,] wow, I overcomplicated this process in my head. I really thought it would be more difficult than it was. And it made me wonder what else in my life I was overthinking.”

    Read Also: Why I embarked on London to Lagos solo trip – Pelumi Nubi

    It shows that for the achiever, success often is rewarded by a sense that we are bigger than what we think.

    The trip was an education across cultures, languages, sartorial variety, and throughout she learned adaptation and safety.

    Her mettle was tested when she had an accident. She was unhurt but the car was so damaged that she could not continue after a repair delay.

    “It was definitely terrifying,” she says. “It [the truck] was parked in the middle of the road. No hazard light. I went sliding into it. I’ve never had an accident in my life, so it was like, ‘What the heck just happened?’”

    The irony was that her delays were not in Europe but here in West African borders where easy movement is guaranteed by ECOWAS treaty.

     Lagos State governor gave a car, house and tourism ambassadorship. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was not rewarding the vanity of one person’s triumph but her act as a model for all who want to do great things.

  • Fair and square

    Fair and square

    • Ministers must be fairly and transparently assessed to weed out non-performing ones

    Just as well: the Central Coordination Delivery Unit (CCDU) of the Bola Tinubu administration just launched the Citizens’ Delivery Tracker (CDT), though the CDT can’t still be accessed, via the Google Play Store, until a few days yet.  That is a major push towards open and transparent governance that should be lauded by all.

    What is more?  The tracker would guide citizens to assess ministers, in line with previously agreed performance — or non-performance — indicators, on the critical pillars of the administration, viz: reforming the economy to deliver sustained and inclusive growth, strengthening national security for peace and prosperity, and boosting agriculture to achieve food security.

    The other critical pillars are unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development, accelerating diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing and innovation; and improving governance for effective service delivery.

    Hadiza Bala-Usman, special adviser to the president on policy coordination, and by that the head of the CDCU, said at the launch that the CDT would mark the advent of the scientific, quarterly monitoring of ministers’ performance, which should build into a year-long assessment to determine those adding value, per the administration’s goals, or just mere burdens to be jettisoned as flotsam and jetsam.

    But it is even more reassuring that the CDT, though novel and primal to critical feedback and citizen governance, would not be the sole criterion for judging ministers. With no disrespect to citizens, many feedbacks often reflect frothing emotions, soaked in naked and reckless partisan bias — for or against the sitting government.

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    It’s good, therefore, that the assessment criteria, particularly the performance indicators, come with ministers’ own feedback, on prospects and genuine challenges of each ministerial portfolio; and how the incumbent is juggling the pluses and minuses, to reach the set goal.

    It also comes with the minister’s own signed performance bond — which ab initio every ministerial appointee had signed; swearing them to the administration’s critical goals in policies and programmes.  That way, a serious, rigorous and introspective minister would have done his or her own self-assessment; and should have arrived at a verdict, even long before CCDU’s official report card.

    Indeed, the prospects appear great — at least on the surface — for an open, rigorous and scientific monitoring and assessment: one that is likely to fairly judge everyone, without fear or favour, other things being equal, in the best tradition of classic public service.

    Still, other things are seldom equal simply because of the human factor.  That factor is often driven by perception — which could be wrong or right — which in turn colours attitudes, judgments and finally, prejudices.  So, the assessment criteria should be progressively tweaked and streamlined, so that it can, with quantitative data, even counter adverse public opinion, which are not right in every particular case.

    The President himself needs an iron political will, without being insensitive to credible public opinion, so much so that he finds the guts to stand with a minister who though seems unpopular for now, only needs time to pull off his or her agenda.  Besides, a minister might just be grappling with long-seated systemic challenges, which do not dog other ministries.  Sacrificing such would make little sense.

    Let the current order not repeat a classic Jonathan-era error: of sacking then power minister, Barth Nnaji, who nevertheless was perceived — at least from the citizens’ side — as one of the most performing ministers.

    Still, such conflicts (to borrow that concept from drama) should be few and far between.  A well-wrought feedback and assessment criteria should most times be in tune with common sense and popular opinion. 

    If every minister is committed to the administration’s tasks, most of them should pass the muster.  But for the few that don’t, the administration should develop the routine will to ease them off; and replace them with more competent and productive hands.  Right now, it’s race against time to the Nigeria of our dreams.  So, it’s time for some quantum leap, via superlative performance all round.

    Still, this bears repeating: monitoring ministers for good performance should not equate hectoring for foul inquisition.  No minister should develop a phobia of being  harshly or unfairly judged.  Ms Bala-Usman, CCDU boss and “headmistress”, should make that doubly sure.  That would be her own ultimate criterion for assessing the assessor.

  • Fishing expedition

    Fishing expedition

    • NIMC’s initiative to issue multiple IDs sidelines it core duty

    The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is planning to roll out three identity cards with payment and social service delivery capabilities expected to enhance user experience. The cards – a bank-enabled national ID, a social intervention card and an ECOWAS national biometric identity card – are billed for inauguration next month, subject to approval of the launch date by the Presidency.

    Reports cited Technical Adviser, Media and Communications to the Director-General of NIMC, Ayodele Babalola, saying the bank-enabled national ID card would meet the needs of the middle and upper classes in the society who typically use banks. “Also, activation of the National Safety Net Card is expected to meet the urgent needs for authentication and a secure platform for government services such as palliatives. The focus will be on the 25 million vulnerable Nigerians funded by current government intervention programmes,” he stated. “Additionally, ECOWAS cards will be issued on an as-needed basis in collaboration with the Nigerian Immigration Service,” he further said, adding that Nigerians would start getting the three identity cards within one or two months of the launch.

    “We shall be implementing the following programmes to revive the general multipurpose card issuance. First is the bank-enabled national ID card in collaboration with Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and banks, while the second programme will be a social intervention card under the National Safety Net Card. The third rollout will be an optional ECOWAS National Biometric Identity Card. We are looking at May for the possible launch, but that is also subject to presidential approval. It is just to finalise some very important details. The project will be powered by AfriGo, which is under the Central Bank, but everything stops at the table of the President,” Babalola told ‘The PUNCH’ newspaper in an interview.

    Read Also; Ondo Guber: Aiyedatiwa, Ibrahim, Akinterinwa others get certificates to contest primary Monday

    The identity agency had recently unveiled details of the proposed multipurpose national ID card. It explained in a statement that the initiative, which is a collaboration between NIMC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and NIBSS, aims at broadening user options available to domestic consumers while fostering delivery of services in a more innovative, cost-effective and competitive manner. According to the agency, the bank-enabled identity card will be equipped with payment capability for all types of social and financial services, and would address the need for physical identification by allowing cardholders to prove their identity, gain access to government and private social services, promote financial inclusion for marginalised Nigerians, empower citizens and encourage greater participation in nation-building initiatives.

    NIMC’s head of corporate communication, Kayode Adegoke, said the national ID card layered with verifiable identity features was backed by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007 that mandates the commission to enroll and issue a general multipurpose card to Nigerians and legal residents of the country. He added that only registered citizens and legal residents with National Identification Number (NIN) would be eligible for the card that would be produced according to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and be positioned as Nigeria’s default national identity card. “In addition to this functionality, cardholders will be able to use the cards as debit or prepaid cards by linking same to bank accounts of their choice. The card shall enable eligible persons, especially those financially excluded from social and financial services, to have access to multiple government intervention programs,” Adegoke stated inter alia.

    Many Nigerians would argue that the national identity scheme has always been long on promises and short on delivery. At the outset of identity registration by NIMC, the promise was that the NIN would be enabled with issuance of a general multi-purpose card to every registrant. But extremely few and privileged Nigerians have gotten the card. One could recall that former President Muhammadu Buhari was issued one in sheer act of symbolism by NIMC in 2015, while other registrants have been routinely issued registration slips with no use beyond serving record purpose of bearing their NIN. Registrants have, in effect, been shortchanged regarding the promise of utility values of the multi-purpose card. It is helpful that NIMC is now acknowledging its statutory onus to issue registrants a multipurpose card, which is one of the cards being rolled out under the new initiative. The agency is, of course, under a new leadership and that may be the factor that will make all the difference.

    Even then, the multiple cards venture by the identity commission smacks of fishing expedition when its core mandate is begging for fulfilment. The agency reported that 104.16 million Nigerians had been captured in its database as of December 31, 2023, which is less than half of the country’s 220 million estimated population. With the noose on persons yet to get registered increasingly tightening, rowdy scenes are yet being witnessed at the commission’s registration centres nationwide, signalling a pressing need to harvest those registration seekers into its data bank. This is a more urgent task confronting the identity agency in our view, and we would urge that it concentrate on its duty to register all registrable citizens and legal residents and issue them with the NIN, which is the biometric DNA of citizenship.  

  • Abimbola Davis (1957 – 2024)

    Abimbola Davis (1957 – 2024)

    • One of those who scuttled the June 12, 1993 election dies

    He was an infamous lieutenant of the villainous leader of a group best remembered for its anti-democratic character. The death of Abimbola Davis, at the age of 66, on April 5, brought back memories of the pro-democracy struggle in Nigeria in the 1990s, and the activities of a group ironically known as Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), which acted as a spoiler. 

    Davis said in a 2022 interview: “Well, people always think that ABN was one association. No. It was called Associations for Better Nigeria, so there were a lot of associations involved. For instance, I actually headed a particular one called the Committee of Compatriots.” He explained that various associations merged to form the ABN in 1992, under Arthur Nzeribe, a billionaire businessman and politician who died in 2022.

    As the country looked forward animatedly to democratic governance after eight years of military rule under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the ABN pursued a campaign to keep Babangida in power.  The dictator had designed a convoluted programme to restore democracy, but there were signs that he was unwilling to leave the stage. The ABN was widely believed to have been sponsored by the deceitful dictator, which Davis later confirmed.

    Read Also: June 12: Thirty years after

    Dramatically, two days before the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election, the ABN, alleging corruption, obtained a mysterious high court injunction against the holding of the poll. The court order was reported to have been issued at night, which reflected a dark plot.

    However, the election was held, with the boss of the electoral commission stating that the court lacked authority to stop it. The contest was between M.K.O. Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC).

    Three days after the poll, in the middle of the collation of the votes, the ABN dramatically obtained another court injunction to halt the counting and verification. The electoral body, this time, bowed to the court order and suspended the announcement of the election results the following day.  By this time, it was clear Abiola had won.

    The Babangida regime subsequently annulled the election, triggering street protests, particularly in Abiola’s Southwest base, that led to the reported killing of more than 100 people by security forces.

    The ABN’s role in the series of events that culminated in the annulment of the election left a huge blot on its image, and discredited its leaders, particularly Nzeribe, its driving force, and Davis, who headed the organisation at some point. The organisation, in essence, contributed to the extension of military rule in Nigeria, and the emergence of two other military regimes before democracy was restored in 1999.

    Interestingly, Davis later offered a public apology for his anti-democratic actions at a press conference, and went underground.  He claimed to have also worked for Abiola’s camp towards restoring democracy.  But his enduring image is that of an anti-people collaborator with despotic power.

    He hailed from Ibadan, in present-day Oyo State, and graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. “I am an author, I have authored six books,” he said about himself. He was the Chairman/CEO of Capital 3 Limited, a strategic and business consulting firm focused on retail market development. He was also the Chairman of Books & Sports Limited, a company focused on film, documentary production and entertainment. He served as the Chairman of the Policy Commission on Solid Minerals established by the Federal Government and the Nigeria Economic Summit Group in 2005.

    An enthusiastic golfer, he was the President of the PoolPlayers Conference of Nigeria, affiliated with the World Pool Players Association, and was instrumental in signing Nigeria to participate in pool at the Olympic Games in 2005.

    More than anything else, he will be remembered for his unprogressive political activities that encouraged the continuity of dictatorship to the detriment of democracy.  

  • Dosunmu Market fire

    Dosunmu Market fire

    • Time for a thorough review of markets in Lagos to avert a reoccurrence

    In the past four months, there have been at least four fire incidents in markets across several locations in Lagos State. Perhaps, it is time for a comprehensive review of the safety and security standards in the markets.

    Last Tuesday, Dosumu Market, on the Lagos Island, went up in flames. According to the Lagos Territorial Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye: “the fire started from the Penthouse of one of the buildings where a man was carelessly refuelling a generator before it ignited the fire and escalated to other buildings. There were many generators in the building that further compounded the escalation.”

    He said that four buildings collapsed, out of the 14 buildings affected by the fire. By conservative estimates, goods worth millions of naira were lost to the fire, and many businesses have been displaced. The fire, which reportedly started in a three- story building on Jankara Street, spread to other areas, and it was difficult to contain it because of the lack of access roads for the fire fighting vehicles. There was also lack of water, although the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) eventually helped the fire fighters.

    According to ‘Punch Metro’, a similar fire incident which occurred in March engulfed four buildings in the Idumota area of the Lagos Island. According to Mr Farinloye, emergency responders were faced with the challenge of water supply.

    Another fire incident happened at the plank market located at the Awori Bus Stop in the Abule Egba area, in February, resulting in loss of goods and services worth millions of naira. Again, in January, fire engulfed the 14-storey Mandilas Building, which consumed 450 shops, 30 offices, two hotels and five restaurants, causing losses to about 6,700 traders.

    With the frequent spate of fire incidents,  it is time the relevant agencies of government establish and enforce the minimum safety measures that should be applicable in the state, especially in public places like markets. While, agreeably, some of the markets grew out of residential areas, thereby making control difficult, the fire incidents are pointers that necessary measures must be taken to forestall such incidents in the future.

    Of course, there would be resistance by the owners and the traders, but it is the role of government to do what is in the best interest of the generality of people.

    The government should review the building approval plans of the markets, even if some buildings would have to be pulled down, to grant access to vehicles in times of emergency. Also, the safety measures must forbid generators to be placed above the building floor levels. The practice whereby generators of all sizes are placed on floors above the ground floor for the comfort of the owners, but at huge risks to the general public, must be stopped by government and market stakeholders.

    Read Also: Market activities suspended in Central Lagos

    The government can also make greater efforts to improve power supply to the markets. Also, public water supply, especially emergency points, is fundamental to public safety. A situation whereby the fire fighting vehicles have to go far from the scene of fire to get water, defeats the enormous investments of the state in the state fire services.

    With respect to the last fire incident at Dosumu Market, we commend the collaboration between the emergency responders, both state, federal and private, in containing the fire.

    We urge property owners and traders to collaborate with government to save their investments, and put minimum safety measures in place. The common practice of resisting government efforts to effect necessary changes exposes them to the kind of calamity that befell Dosumu Market.

    While sympathising with the victims, we urge them to note that the gains made over the years, through illegal structures and practices, must have been lost to the fire incident.

  • The culture risk

    The culture risk

    • Idris Okuneye, alias Bobrisky, is turning an elusive prey in our conservative culture

    His name is male, even in a culture where names can have gender ambiguity. He is Yoruba and his first name is Idris, inevitably male. His surname is Okuneye. While he is self-styled the “mummy of Lagos,” he prefers to enmesh his profile in a mystery by calling himself Bobrisky, with all its evocations of recklessness.

    He says he has transformed from male to female but he does not yet bear an official female name. He has not even addressed the issue. He appeared in court recently under his male name, which confirms the view of many that he is only putting up an act. So brazen has been his performance and so dubiously authentic that he was christened the best dressed female at a public event, and it was a movie premiere. The movie took a subordinate step to the crossdresser impresario at the event.

    But that was not the only irony. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) nabbed him for another act of overindulgence. He was abusing the naira in public. He was thereafter arraigned before a Lagos High Court judge, not for abusing a body, or a gender, but the nation’s asset that is also going through its own trial of identity: the naira.

    Some observers have wondered why, of all offences, Okuneye, alias Bobrisky, was not charged with abusing his body, his heritage, his country, or his tribe, or for that matter, his gender.  Why would the EFCC think that it was doing a great service to the country against corruption by nabbing a fellow whose main problem with a conservative, Christian and Muslim, and even traditional society like Nigeria was not related to naira and how it survived or died in the temple of use and abuse.

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    To be clear, to abuse the naira is regarded as an offence, and Okuneye himself was contrite in court and said he was not going to repeat it, and he is probably hoping for as much mercy as the trial judge would proffer. Many, though, out of sheer ignorance and even cultural revulsion, are asking why the EFCC thinks it can stop the menace of crossdressing with all its reverberations of homosexual sins by charging him with an impotent charge of abusing the naira.

    The police have said that is the offence he has committed. That has led observers to believe that he was served that charge because the anti-graft agency, as it is often called, did not see any charge other than that. To them, it is a frustration of the anti-corruption fight against a man who might have committed not an economic sin, but a cultural iniquity.

    But they have no charge in the law against crossdressing. The man is clean as a whistle in that department. Yet, the society, especially its conservative stripe, is aboil with righteous indignation against a man who calls himself a woman and who has generated not just mystery but also mystique.

    We do not have a culture police endorsed by the constitution. So, it is believed that the rage against Bobrisky is not really the naira, but against a holy cast of mind. It is not an economic crime, but a fly in the face of our culture that abhors ambiguous gender identity and against lesbianism or sodomy. Which raises a question. If the offence is naira abuse, why not go after many, especially in high society, like a traditional ruler who made a necklace of the currency? It is therefore seen like trying to catch a thief who committed theft but whose real sin, adultery, is not in the law. That in itself is lying without seeming to lie. It is corruption in trying to fight corruption. It is therefore seen as hypocrisy.

    We hope that Bobrisky does not end up a cultural icon default, no matter how perverse, after he might have served his term, therefore thriving over a system that failed to slaughter him.