The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Akpo Esajere (1953 – 2024)

    Akpo Esajere (1953 – 2024)

    • A great journalist goes home

    He made his mark as a political journalist in a country still struggling for political redemption. Ironically, before he died on March 15, Akpo Esajere, former Group Political Editor of ‘The Guardian’, was said to have stopped following news about Nigeria because it was bad for his deteriorating health. He was 70. He hailed from the Isoko region of present-day Delta State.

    His daughter was reported saying, “He was disappointed, he complained about inflation and hardship Nigerians were passing through because of mismanagement of resources.” His avoidance of Nigerian news was a sign of the times. The country is faced with troubling political challenges, and the socio-economic consequences.

     As a political journalist, Esajere played a notable role in the fight for a better society. He participated creditably in the pro-democracy campaign against military rule in Nigeria, and pushed for good governance when the country returned to democracy.

    After earning a degree in Mass Communication at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1983, he joined Daily Times as Senior Sub-Editor the same year, beginning a career in journalism that lasted more than 30 years. The newspaper’s management recognised his “exceptional writing ability,” and moved him to the Features Desk. He became the pioneer Political Correspondent of the paper’s Political Desk in 1989, after covering the Constituent Assembly in Abuja, in 1988.    

    When he joined ‘The Guardian’ as Political Correspondent in 1990, it was the start of a new phase in his career that would lead to greater recognition. After four months of his arrival at the paper, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Political Editor. He became Political Editor in 1992, and was later Group Political Editor till he retired in 2016. As ‘The Guardian’s’ Group Political Editor, he serviced the paper’s three titles, and was said to have been uninterested in other positions, believing they “would preclude him from doing what he enjoyed doing most: reporting and analysing political developments.”

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    In a posthumous tribute, the pioneer Editor and later Editor-in-Chief/Managing Director of ‘The Guardian’, Lade Bonuola, who was instrumental in Esajere’s movement to the paper, said “what endeared him to me was his mastery of language.” He commended “his application to work, raising the level of the coverage of his beat to a new high.” Esajere, he observed, “was able to cultivate useful contacts in high political circles,” adding, “This manifested in the enrichment and depth of his political stories and analysis.” He attributed his professional success to his “diligence.”

     In other striking tributes, he was described as “an encyclopedia of politics,” “a strong political force,” “the Generalissimo of political news reporting.” These descriptions speak volumes about his professional stature, and the respect he enjoyed professionally.  

    Sadly, an account of a phone conversation he had with a former professional colleague some months before he died showed that he was heavy-hearted. His interlocutor had asked about his health and his life. He was quoted as saying, “My brother, I am barely surviving now. Any day I see good food to eat, I will thank my God. In this job, no pension, no gratuities; once you are out of office, people who were hitherto patronising you will forget all about you; you call some of them, whom you thought were close they’ll fake not recognising your voice again on phone.”

    He also said: “The young men and women at the helm of affairs now, in most of these media houses, are very toxic, they are rude and very unreliable… I am not ready for any young man to ridicule me; I’ll rather go into my grave with my integrity intact.”

    Indeed, Esajere’s thought-provoking lamentations say a lot about journalism practice and living conditions in Nigeria.

  • Lifeline to Ogun MSMEs

    Lifeline to Ogun MSMEs

    • A worthy initiative that others should emulate

    As prospects of improvement in the economic outlook of Nigeria continue to rise, it is essential to continue to commend initiatives at the subnational level which cohere with the efforts of the Federal Government to boost entrepreneurial development. One of such initiatives is the 2nd Edition of the Expanded National MSME Clinics organised in Abeokuta by the Ogun State Government. Components of the clinic included the handing over of “200 newly refurbished stores to 400 entrepreneurs at the Asero Adire [Fabric Design] International Market.” They also included the establishment of the Small and Medium Enterprises Industrial Land Acquisition Scheme (SILAS) which consists of a 1,000-hectare industrial hub provided with good roads and power, among other amenities.

    According to Governor Dapo Abiodun, the SME Park aims to provide a range of incentives such as subsidised land ownership rates, and rebates on taxes and levies, and the park will cover agro-allied and agro-processing, home and personal care, building materials, and chemical facilities. This would be in addition to the prompt processing of Certificates of Occupancy to make it easy for the allotted pieces of land to be available for use as collateral for loan sourcing purposes.

    To complement these facilities, the state government intends to provide a range of conditional grants to entrepreneurs and market women in the state.

    As was to be expected, the Federal Government, represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, appreciated the efforts of the state government and commissioned the project and clinics. In doing so, the vice-president acknowledged the status of Ogun State as an industrial powerhouse of the nation and a committed supporter of the Federal Government’s efforts to assist enterprises and empower Nigerians. He therefore considered the national Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises clinics of the state to be a desirable bridge between the people and the government. 

    The vice-president then pledged: “Each exhibitor present at the clinic today stands to gain from our MSME instant grant of N150,000 each, courtesy of our esteemed private sector and His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.” Continuing, he said: “I hereby announce that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that almost 200 new applications within this market be granted free of charge to small business traders for one year and each of them should enjoy a grant of N100,000.” 

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    Considering the general belief that money is the lifeline of business, this pledge of financial support to the investors and traders is a welcome development. It is hoped that the beneficiaries of the funds would utilise them fruitfully and enhance their capacity to employ other Nigerians. It is also significant that the complementary efforts of the Ogun State government and the Federal Government, in this regard, mark the development of positive collaboration between these two levels of government. This has the value of mitigating the unwholesome widespread criticism of most of the state governments in the country for not showing enough concern for the citizens of their states in the face of hardships occasioned by the radical economic decisions that President Tinubu took to address the economic quagmire which the nation had been driven into by the reluctance of previous administrations to take tough economic decisions.

    The Ogun State government should explore other citizen-benefitting areas in which it can collaborate with the Federal Government, and other states should follow the noble example. The ongoing massive agricultural programme of the Mallam Umaru Bago-led government of Niger State is noteworthy in this regard.     

  • Befitting pay for judges

    Befitting pay for judges

    • Review of remuneration is the first step in rebuilding the third arm of government

    The move by President Bola Tinubu to improve the welfare package for judicial officers is commendable. Since 2008 when the emoluments were last reviewed, the judicial officers have used every opportunity to call for a fresh look into their case. However viewed, a monthly salary of less than half a million Naira for the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) who heads the third arm of government is unjustifiable.

    That the previous government was unable to grant them decent wages even after government workers’ salaries had been enhanced is an indication that successive governments had little regard for them.

    The expeditious treatment given the executive bill on the matter by the National Assembly, too, is commendable. It is an indication that all Nigerians are agreed that the judges are being poorly treated.

    Over the years, handling the judges has badly affected the administration of justice. With galloping inflation and society’s higher expectations from the men and women saddled with adjudication of disputes, as well as interpretation of the laws, standards have constantly nosedived. Yet, the remuneration has made it difficult to attract the calibre of professionals to the Bench even as judges are not permitted to engage in other practices.

    The Judiciary has come under heavy battering in recent years over real or perceived miscarriage of justice.

     This has been more pronounced in election seasons. It is time to cleanse the system by ensuring that the best available in the public and private sectors are drawn to cross-fertilise ideas on the Bench. The willing academics and senior advocates must be brought on board in a bid to ensure that the society once again has respect for the Judiciary as repository of moral rectitude.

    No society can grow and attract respect from foreign investors or even retain existing ones unless there is speedy and acceptable dispensation of justice.

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    Now that the Federal Government has expunged the judges from the general wage structure, other measures should complement the efforts. Training, locally and externally, should be stepped up for those who have been saddled with the task of keeping criminals out of the public space.

    While appearing before the Senate recently, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, had said the justice sector contributed immensely to the festering insecurity in the land. He said insurgents and bandits are usually released into the society on bail as soon as they are arraigned in court.

    The grundnorm makes provision for a National Judicial Council (NJC) that sees to maintenance of discipline in the arm of government. It is time for the council to sanitise the stable. The Judiciary is too central to good governance to be left to rot.

    All those involved in judicial reform and administration should see this as an opportunity to reinvent the Judiciary in a way that would make it the pride of all.

    As soon as the bill is passed to the presidency, we expect the President to sign it into law, and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to do the needful in liaison with the Ministry of Budget Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Finance in urgently perfecting the papers. Where supplementary appropriation is needed, this should be prepared and passed to the National Assembly immediately. We expect that this would elicit the confidence of all in the Nigerian Judiciary.

  • Hair stylist, dispatcher and chin chin

    Hair stylist, dispatcher and chin chin

    • Drug peddling is attracting foul new innovation

    It is a busy time for the operators of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). Their success is cheering but it is a signal that all is not well in the country with drug use. We should celebrate that our borders are closely marked, but it is no joy that many are defiant enough to try again. Who knows if some have, by their cunning and persistence, sneaked through?

    Parts of the plot seem routine until we realise some of it that might be comical if not fatal. We can give the NDLEA thumbs up for intercepting drug consignments in car compartments, unearthing it in transport bus tyres, recovering 426,888 pills of tramadol, including in Adamawa and Bauchi states. Kudos also for destroying over three tons of cannabis in Edo Forest.

    But they are indications that psychological and social demons assail the country, especially the young. The story of banditry and Boko Haram abound with the roles hard drugs are playing in fuelling their mayhem and perverted gallantry.

    It gets absurd when the news headlines focus on the two Nigerians who put a new twist in its social and domestic uses like 20-year-old hair stylist Josephine Odunu and 30-year-old dispatch rider Adesemi Ikporo did. According to news report, Odunu is not just a hair stylist; her profits surged from selling drugs. She does not sell it raw but as a locally made pastry called chin chin.

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    Ikporo may dispatch other articles but rides high on retailing chin chin. And who do they sell this normally tasty chin chin to? Students and happy people at social parties. The NDLEA has arrested them and put paid to their reptilian innovation.

    But what brought a society to such a pass in which to make money, some individuals are ready to damage the souls of children? It reflects the level of cold indifference that the yearn for profits has driven this society. They know chin chin is cheap and an easy way to snack. The children also know it is harmless, apparently. So, the makers and traders take advantage of cost. That is a way of differentiating themselves from other sellers. But cost is not enough.

    The other area is how it makes them feel. Lacing the article with cannabis will give the unsuspecting children a feeling of elevated power, a false compulsion to act with defiance. We have no report what this turned the victims to in their studies, sports and other recreational activities in school. More importantly, how did they relate to their parents? How much havoc has happened in the Yenagoa communities where they consumed that product? That ought to be researched.

    They also sold them at social parties. This might involve young and old, and we are not sure how it has turned out by way of crimes, domestic fights and turbulence, relationship between neighbours and even at places of work.

    While we commend the NDLEA for stopping this illicit market, we also call for efforts towards counselling the community. They have to identify all who have eaten chin chin of drugs, administer tests and trace their behaviours since they started to consume the substance.

    That is a first and necessary step towards cleansing. Discontinuing the traffic is not enough. Did some consumers desire it like addiction? Is there evidence of withdrawal syndromes? That is the story in Yenagoa. But with the frequent reports of nabbed traffickers of drugs, especially tramadol, we need wholesale programmes to identify victims and separate them for cleansing.

    It is clear poverty is not the only problem. Nor is it disease or illiteracy. Drug abuse must rank among those at the top.

  • Why always post-mortem?

    Why always post-mortem?

    • Government has to take proactive measures to prevent stealing of public funds

    For the umpteenth time, Nigerians are confronted with allegations of fraudulent activities against top officials of yet another public agency; the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). As with other known such allegations, we are talking about billions of naira lost or misapplied. Even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is still trying to unravel the full story of the alleged frauds in REA, we are confronted with another suspected fraud or misapplication of public funds in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

    Already, the anti-graft commission is beaming its searchlight on the REA. It said it has traced 27 accounts to REA’s managing director, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, whereas he only declared two accounts to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Ahmad is now suspended.

    The commission is also investigating N12.4billion COVID 19 funds, which were disbursed to the agency in two tranches. It suspected about N6bn of it has been diverted.

    What however triggered Ahmad’s suspension was about N1.2billion that was wired by him into the accounts of eight members of the staff of the agency.

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    With regard to the Federal Ministry of Health, the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis gave the minister, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, and the permanent secretary, Daju Kachollom, 72 hours to appear before it, to explain the alleged misappropriation of $300 million meant for the funding of malaria since 2021.

    Chairman of the committee, Amobi Godwin Ogah, is unhappy that the permanent secretary had shunned three previous invitations and threatened to have her arrested if she failed to appear before the committee this time around. “Malaria is now an epidemic in Nigeria. The government has always wanted to help the people, but most times the civil servants are our problem. This money has been made available since 2021. We have been inviting the permanent secretary. This is the third time we are inviting her to come and explain to us what has happened’’, Ogah said.

    It is sad that the country is always having these sorts of nasty experiences from public institutions saddled with ameliorating the sufferings of Nigerians. REA was set up with the noble objective of providing rural dwellers with stable electricity supply. This is laudable because it comes with a lot of advantages. If rural dwellers have stable and cheap power supply, the motivation for urban migration would have been curtailed, with the possibility of even development across the country.

    Now, that noble objective is being threatened with stories of alleged fraud against top officials of the agency.

    Similarly, malaria is a major killer in Africa and the Federal Government has been making serious efforts to get rid of it before 2030. But, how does that materialise when we are not having accountability for monies voted for its eradication? How do we achieve that when, rather than account for how they spent allocations for it, those responsible for the management of the funds resort to asking people to talk to the committee asking questions on the misappropriated funds? Ogah asked: “Have they used the money? If they have not used the money, where is the money? It is a matter of simple explanation. But they have been running away, calling all manner of people to talk to us.’’

    This is disheartening. But more worrisome is the fact that the government is always doing post-mortem on financial matters; that is, moving into action after public funds had been stolen or misapplied. This is not good enough.

    We need structures in place that would make it difficult for public officials to have unhindered access to huge public funds such that we would be talking of billions of naira stolen or suspected to have been stolen or misappropriated only after the money had left the government’s purse. What are the accounts sections doing? What are the auditors doing?

    We urge Mr Ogah and his committee members as well as the EFCC to do their work of following the money, with a view to getting back for the government its stolen funds. Where frauds are detected, the concerned officials should be prosecuted to serve as warning that public funds are not to be tampered with.     

  • Call Gumi to order

    Call Gumi to order

    • His utterances are divisive and could compound our problems

    The World  Institute for Peace had given the Federal Government  seven days within which to arrest and question the famous Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, to determine his level of involvement in the spate of insecurity that has reached an alarming stage in the country. The institute alleged that it is surprising that the Sheikh frequently makes very controversial statements against the military and other security agencies each time they carry out campaigns against the terrorists and bandits.

    The group’s chairman, Lamina Kamiludeen, made the request in Osogbo, Odun State. He also questioned when random abductions would end. He requested to know whether the Islamic scholar was above the law. Kamiludeen insisted that the government must urgently address the concerns of the people.

    Sheikh Gumi has gained notoriety in the past few years over his interventions at certain times that terrorists and bandits have struck in different parts of the North West where they have been abducting children and adults, and demanding various sums as ransom.

    Curiously too, Gumi’s media consultant, Tukur Mamu, was in September 2022 arrested in Cairo, Egypt, while on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj, on allegations of his involvement with terrorism financing. His case is still in court.

    Sheikh Gumi’s interventionist proposals are often shrouded in controversies as many believe that even though negotiators abound across the world under certain circumstances and situations, his own comes off  very

    blurry. He recently declared  that the Federal Government has no right to declare anyone a terrorism financier after the government, through the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NIFU) released a list of more than a dozen names of  people found to have been allegedly financing terrorism in Nigeria, top on the list being his close ally, Mamu, who is alleged to have received about $200,000 in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train victims in March 2022.

    Many analysts are confused  with the rhetoric of  Gumi who on several kidnap cases had stepped forward and offered to be a negotiator between victims’ families, governments and the terrorists. While many believe negotiations can be functional, the utterances of Gumi often contradict his posturing as a peacemaker.

    In October 2023, he was quoted as declaring that Nigerian Christians and southerners cannot be trusted with power like northern Muslims. He had alleged that they have taken over all the ‘juicy and lucrative’ positions in the country. His constant reference to historical power play and coups and counter-coups are nothing short of sheer emotional manipulation that cannot foster peace. Peace- making is a global concept and negotiators try to be neutral and objective. His many rhetoric seems very far from the realities on ground.

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    Sheikh Gumi can do better than use his position as a cleric to fan embers of division in a country already so polarised along religious and tribal lines, with huge collateral damages. It is contradictory to claim to negotiate with terrorists and bandits and then continue the flawed narrative that northerners are better leaders, citing former President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged nepotism as “not evil (wicked) because it did no harm to anyone, if it cannot promote your interest, it cannot harm it either…”.

    There is no worse contradiction than the diverse narratives of a Sheikh Gumi who has a good platform to not only intervene for the release of terrorism victims but to foster peaceful co-existence of a country so divided along tribal and religious lines. Pitting the Northern/Muslim region against the Southern/Christian does not highlight him as a neutral arbiter. He must not be seen to be speaking from both sides of the mouth as it escalates tension and can be inciting. As one who deals with the minds of adults and children, he must be wary of playing up sentiments that can be combustive.

    The government on its part must exercise its powers to keep citizens to obey the laws of the land. Turning a blind eye to Gumi’s narratives can be counter-productive. He is seen as a role model by many and leaving him to continue to use his platform without checks and balances does not elevate peace in the country.

    Nigeria is a secular country and must protect all the citizens to avoid a proliferation of religious/tribal supremacy battles. Gumi must be made to operate in ways to foster overall national peace

  • Death on the wheel

    Death on the wheel

    • Such tragedies can be averted by routine health checks

    The shocking story of a commercial bus driver, on a University of Ilorin (Unilorin) shuttle dropping dead on the wheel, is a reminder of the grim possibilities of sudden death. 

    That can be minimised though, by simple health checks. But these checks can’t be mainstreamed without mass health literacy; and without tamping down fatalism — what will be, will be — among faith zealots, even among the most sophisticated.

    That’s the challenge facing governments of the federation, particularly the local governments. Local governments are supposed to run primary health care, the very base of the health care pyramid, with a stress on prevention which is better — and far cheaper — than cure.

    The driver’s case was truly shocking. But it could have been more tragic — leading to a crash and possible loss of lives and limbs — had one of the passengers, closest to the driver, not known one or two things about cars. Aside, he was also very alert.

    His direct, eye-witness account: “The other person beside me just called my attention, shouting: ‘Baba!’ [referring to the slumping driver] multiple times. By the time I looked up, he was already gasping, and the bus was drifting away from the road. I had to press the brake, take control, and bring it to a halt. He was pronounced dead at the school clinic. Everything happened within 30 minutes.”

    Thirty minutes! That might look very sudden for a life ebbing away. But the warning signs would have built up for days, even months. 

    Still, a stark health illiterate — even among the generally literate — wouldn’t notice anything, beyond the odd dizziness here or a splitting headache there. Sound health education schools you to attentively listen to your body; and act immediately to fob off a crisis. That would appear not the case of the ill-fated Ilorin driver. We can only commiserate with the family and friends he left behind.

    With a biting economy and a very harsh weather, stress is very common, even among the well-heeled. Indeed, stress would appear the most acute global threat to wellness. With the daily hustle getting more grinding: the poor getting over-worked for less pay; but the rich also falling victim to own peculiar lifestyles, stress appears inevitable, in modern, exerting living.

    Which is why everyone must take basic precautions: in routine medical tests to gauge cholesterol level, blood pressure, fasting lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, full blood count and cardio-vascular capacity, as advised by doctors.

    Cholesterol level: to gauge and control excessive, thus injurious, fat in the blood; blood pressure: to monitor and control abnormally high blood or low blood pressure — the one can lead to stroke; the other can paralyse bodily activities. Both can be fatal; fasting lipid profile: to avoid needless dizziness, leading to sudden slumps; fasting blood sugar level: to fend off diabetes; full blood count: to confirm there is neither excess nor shortage of blood; cardio-vascular capacity: to ensure the heart is strong and sound, since it’s the “pump” that energises the bodily functions, and BMI — body mass index — test: to ensure healthy weight, as against underweight, overweight and obesity.

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    Aside from these basic tests, add a kidney function test. Kidney failures don’t often manifest symptoms until it’s too late. A liver function test is also necessary, particularly for folks that quaff a lot of alcohol and also smoke.

    Women should also do a complete hormonal make-up test to get a glimpse of the general wellness of their body. Women — 40 and above — should do a mammogram, which can detect lumps in the breast to prevent breast cancer, so prevalent in the West African region. For men above 45, a prostate test is imperative, before it becomes cancerous. Again, prostate cancer is most prevalent among the African male.

    For many however, the challenge is not health literacy or otherwise. Even for many families with sound health education, funding is always a big challenge, which leaves many folks to live in denial, hoping the worst wouldn’t come.

    That funding challenge has made imperative the mainstreaming of health insurance. Here, Lagos State has taken the bold initiative with its “Ilera Eko” scheme, with a premium plus, for an individual, going for as low as N15, 000 a year. Other states — and the Federal Government too — should push similar policies and aggressively mainstream them as the Lagos government is now doing, among the various economic demographics.

    But as important as medical tests are, dietary discipline is also critical to wellness. So, the government should, as part of a public health emergency, invest in dietitians as public health educators, to mainstream mass dietary literacy. After all, a heathy nation is a strong nation.

  • CDS’ warning

    CDS’ warning

    We cannot ignore General Musa’s warning about subverts behind insecurity in the country

    It is as though we are a nation in a trance. The spate of abductions has stunned the country, with its citizens wondering if this is now a nightmarish normal. But a context came from the lips of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, who blamed it on elements in the country who want to bring down the government.

    This is a grave statement if it is made by anybody in the polity, it is ominously weightier because it was Nigeria’s first soldier who uttered it. He said the bad eggs among us want to “cause rancour and mayhem,” and are targeting underdevelopment. What it implies without much elucidation is that Nigeria is not just battling hordes of criminals who kidnap persons, loot, murder and destroy. The hoodlums are committing crimes of subversion. It means they are political.

    We do not believe General Musa is flippant, and he uttered those words with a sense of gravity and urgency. It is therefore important for the nation and its intelligence forces to be at work to ferret out all those who have hands in these waves of violence. It has started by releasing some names behind terror in our country.

    For a country just out of the turmoil of an election season, it implies the bitterness of the past year that involved tribal and religious reverberations and personal baiting has not abated. It has been converted into a spasm of revenge by taking a toll on innocent boys and girls in schools, helpless old men and women in remote, apparently ungoverned spaces and markets and highways. It is a set of dedicated hoodlums with riches and political motives weaponising jobless youths and making them rich through plunder.

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    President Bola Tinubu has been warning that there are persons who are fighting the state, and the top military officer only reinforced what the president might have been saying when he spoke of corruption and smugglers fighting back.

    Yet, the situation is dire and calls for the government to summon its imagination and resources to tackle this present danger.  Only recently, Kaduna State has been in the crosshairs of fear and trembling. The rapidity of the incidents is so staggering, it is hard for citizens to keep pace of events and numbers. While we thought the Chibok girls macabre plot was the limit, the number is now beaten by the kidnap of 287 students, not in Borno but in Kaduna. We witnessed a few years ago when, in defiance of the then President Muhammadu Buhari, the goons whisked boys into the forest for long hours of trekking. We also witnessed recently over 80 persons kidnapped after the 287 agony from Buda community in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. In Sokoto, 16 Koranic pupils were abducted while in Borno, many women were ferreted away from an Internally Displaced Persons’ camp.

    General Musa has reiterated the efforts of the military to stop this crimson plot. But it must be said that the rapine and swagger of this goons will not have been so bad if the communities helped the army. These criminals are not ghosts. They eat, and therefore they have cooks, suppliers of food stuff. They drink water, and so they either buy them or go to streams or enjoy the facilities of borehole. They cannot acquire all these themselves without the help of society. When they kidnapped hundreds of children, they must have crossed hamlets and villages. Their motorcycles were not soundless and the communities are not earless.

    Yet for them to thrive in such communities, is a failure on two fronts. One is the lack of civic input and commitment to the safety of the communities, especially in the north. Two, we must stress that the

    Department of State Services (DSS) ought to step up its game. It is obvious that it requires an overhaul.

    If the army is looking overwhelmed, it is because the key inputs of intelligence and civic cooperation are lacking. Perhaps hence the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced that the Federal Government is weighing the option of enlisting the help of the United States and other unnamed countries to tackle this existential problem.

    “We’re aware that it is not just the U.S. that has offered to help,” he said. “Other countries have also offered to support Nigeria. But what we can tell you is that the government is still reviewing these offers and the position of government will be made known.”

    This is not a time for bitterness but for all to work together for the Nigerian commonwealth. If the economy is in the process of repair, it does not pay us for some to exploit for discontent and subversion.

    If the U.S. and other nations would help, we must prioritise the use of technology. Warfare today is less about brawn but brains, less about men in boots but the software of intelligence, especially artificial intelligence. That is what can upend the foes in the land.

  • Oba Lekan Balogun (1942 – 2024)

    Oba Lekan Balogun (1942 – 2024)

    • The most educated Olubadan departs

    There was unusual suspense when it was his turn to be crowned the Olubadan of Ibadan, the pre-eminent traditional ruler of the prominent ancient Yoruba city and capital of Oyo State. Under Ibadan’s long-standing traditional rulership system, the hierarchy was clear and the successor to a departed Olubadan was clear.  But the predictable and seamless Olubadan succession system had been complicated by the controversial 2017 crowning of 21 high chiefs as kings, or Obas, in the land under the then governor, Abiola Ajimobi. Ibadan had hitherto been under one king.

    Oba Lekan Balogun, the Olubadan of Ibadan, who died on March 14, aged 81, was among the elevated high chiefs at the time. But he was already positioned, as the Otun Olubadan, to succeed the then Olubadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji. 

    Oba Adetunji, who reigned from 2016 to 2022, inspired by a strong sense of tradition, had opposed the creation of new kings, and his supporters took the matter to court. In separate judgments in 2018 and 2019, the Oyo State High Court nullified the installation of new kings in Ibadan. Also, the state governor, Seyi Makinde, withdrew their crowns, and parties in the conflict reached an agreement to pursue an out-of-court settlement to restore peace.  

    In this context, the Olubadan succession system seemed threatened. It was, therefore, a triumph of tradition when Oba Balogun became the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadan in March 2022, after the death of Oba Adetunji. The succession was based on the old system.

    Oba Balogun thus became the first Olubadan to be crowned as an Oba before he was crowned as Olubadan. Governor Makinde described his coronation as “victory for the sons and daughters of Ibadanland, and restoration of our traditional systems.” He observed that Oba Balogun “climbed the 22 steps on the Olubadan line starting from the lowest rung of Jagun Olubadan over a period of 39 years,” and urged the Olubadan-in-Council “to ensure that the laws having to do with the ascension to the throne of Olubadan remain sacrosanct.”

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    Interestingly, Makinde, in July 2023, re-elevated 10 Ibadan high chiefs to kings, stating that it “will not undermine the authority of the Olubadan nor alter the Olubadan succession arrangements in any way.”

    Oba Balogun studied at Brunel University, London. He earned a master’s degree in Administration and Economics in 1973, and later got a doctorate. He was the most educated Olubadan in the history of the throne.

    He ascended the throne after a multi-faceted journey. He worked as a lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He was an editor at ‘The Nigerian Pathfinder’, a monthly magazine, and a director at ‘Triumph’ Newspaper, Kano. He was a management consultant to Leyland, Exide Battery, and Nigerian Breweries; and worked for Shell BP, where he headed the Industrial Relations, Recruitment and Scholarships, Planning and Development units.  

    As a politician, he contested the 1983 governorship election in the old Oyo State as the candidate of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP). He was a senator from 1999 to 2003, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning, and a member of the Senate Committees on Appropriations, Security and Intelligence, Police Affairs and Defence.  The Senate adopted a resolution to immortalise him by naming one of its committee rooms after him.

    He authored books, including ‘A Review of Nigeria’s 4 Years’ Development Plan 1970-1974’; ‘Nigeria: Social Justice or Doom’; ‘Power for Sale’; ‘Arrogance of Power’; ‘Nigeria, The People Must Decide’; ‘To Lead is to Serve’; and ‘The Portrait of An Activist.’

    The completion of the new palace for the Olubadan was a major milestone in his two-year reign, though he did not live there till he died. The construction of the palace was said to have started nearly 20 years ago. The new palace is a game changer because before its completion an incumbent Olubadan’s residence doubled as the palace. 

    Oba Balogun was seen as a moderniser. His death, after such a short reign, possibly robbed Ibadan of the fruits of his modernising influence.  

  • Special status for Lagos

    Special status for Lagos

    • Time has come to accede to this laudable quest

    Good ideas never die. However long it takes, and whatever the intensity of opposition, they manage to filter into discourse. This is applicable in the case of the quest for a constitutional special status for Lagos State.

    Indeed, Lagos has paid much price by being the administrative headquarters of the country in different modes since it became the first colony on March 5, 1862. It later became capital of the Southern Protectorate, and later Nigeria after the amalgamation of the  North and South by Lord Frederick Lugard.

    The operational ports are cited there, and according to the National Bureau of Statistics, despite being the smallest state in size, about 10 per cent of the population reside there.

    The consequent pressure on the infrastructure and its bulwark of support for the nation are the main reasons for the quest to accord it a special status akin to that given the current federal capital, Abuja, that houses less than a fifth of the Lagos population. By law, the Federal Capital City draws one per cent of the federal budget.

    Following in the steps of his predecessors, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has continued to stridently canvass special attention to the state by the Federal Government. At the end of a parley by the political elite in and from the state on Monday, Governor Sanwo-Olu again made the case, and the communique from the meeting validates his position. Unanimously, all members of the state executive,  legislature and federal lawmakers resolved to pursue the case, citing the burden that the city bears as the most cosmopolitan, commercial and industrial nerve-centre, and the lingering effect of its rile as federal capital up till December 1991.

    Besides, examples from other countries that have effected a change of their federal capital indicate that it is the appropriate thing to do. Abidjan, former capital of Cote d’Ivoire, retains its glamour and allure. Most political functions are retained in the city apart from its economic central role, despite the capital having moved to Yamoussoukro by the late President Felix Houphoet-Boigny in 1983.  The same could be said in the relation of former Tanzania’s capital city to Dodima which now houses the administrative headquarters.

    In South Africa, the situation is a little different. While Pretoria is regarded as the capital, it is only the executive or administrative headquarters, Cape Town is home to the Legislature, and the Judiciary is located at Bloemfontein. That way, attention is paid to all, in addition to the most populous city, Johannesburg.

    We agree with Governor Sanwo-Olu that the ongoing constitution review should find means of compensating Lagos for its role in national development and holding the country together.

    Read Also: Lagos plans free zone for drugs manufacturing

    Similarly, it is time to review whatever constitutional impediment remain on recognition of the state’s local council development areas. Since the Supreme Court’s pronouncement in 2004 that they are “inchoate”, a lot has happened to further justify their creation. A number of states that are far less populous have created such development areas. As a country that should pull all stops to promote development, there is no reason why such development areas should not be created.

    Lagos rightly feels cheated as many states created with it in 1967 have since given birth to others. Perhaps the most popular is Kano from which Jigawa was carved out. Kano has 44 local government areas and Jigawa 27. This means the old Kano has 71 LGAs to Lagos’ 20. Yet, each local government council draws funding from the Federation Account to aid development. Old Oyo State was split into Oyo and Osun with 63 LGAs between them, Bendel into Edo and Delta, Gombe carved out of Bauchi and Katsina from Kaduna, the old East Central State now has five states, among others. Lagos continues to draw people from all over the country, but lacks commensurate compensation for the arduous role. The least it could attract is one per cent of the federal revenue as pertains to Abuja.

    At the rate that the city is growing in population, unless its budget improves exponentially, it could soon slide into a huge urban slum as the revenue would be inadequate to maintain the current infrastructure, let alone meet development expectation. This is one task that we expect the federal legislature and executive to undertake dispassionately during the tenure of the 10th National Assembly.