NLC: FEC Lacks Constitutional Power to Deliberate on Minimum Wage
Tears, Wailing as Boko Haram Suicide Bombers
Return to Borno with Multiple Attacks 20
feared dead, over 100 injured in
three incidents
In Defence of Tinubu’s Reforms, Shettima Says President Imbued with Capacity to Fix Economy
Condemns mischievous fixation on president’s health status Berates those mocking Tinubu over misstep during June 12 anniversary Says Roosevelt, Kibaki fixed US, Kenyan economies
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima yesterday urged Nigerians to support the economic reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu, declaring that the president is robustly imbued with the capacity to fix the Nigerian economy, based on his antecedents.
Shettima, who also declared that the economic turbulence Nigeria was going through was not peculiar to the country but a global phenomenon, took a swipe at those who mocked the president for his misstep during the June 12 anniversary.
While acknowledging that Nigerians have the right to ask questions about Tinubu’s conditions, Shettima condemned what he described as a
STANDING WITH THE SARAKI FAMILY…
L-R:
Mrs. Tope Edu (née Saraki); former Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki; Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke; former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; and billionaire businessman, Mr. Adedeji Adeleke, when the Adeleke family went to console the Saraki family over the death of their mother, Chief (Mrs) Morenike Florence Saraki in Lagos... recently
Oyedele: Nigeria Can Generate More Revenue Without Raising Taxes, Hurting Economy
Says current tax system not producing right results Proposes tax exemptions for vulnerable people
James Emejo in Abuja
The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has said Nigeria can generate more revenue without raising taxes and hurting the economy.
Speaking during a television interview at the weekend, Oyedele said the right measure was not to introduce more taxes.
According to him, with the use of data, intelligence, and technology, Nigeria can close the tax gap by ensuring people who have not been paying taxes begin to pay.
He said the committee believed that having fewer taxes would be broad-based, and easy to collect.
“Certainly, you know the whole idea is that we have done whatever we are doing now for decades, and it hasn’t produced the right result,” Oyedele said.
“We have over 60 different taxes and levies, but we are barely even collecting enough money to fix roads.
“By the way, the entire budget, that’s the federal government’s, is about N29 trillion plus all the states in Nigeria, which is about N15 trillion. If you add it all, it comes to about N44 trillion. That’s around $30 billion.
“That $30 billion is even less than the budget of Kenya, which is around $32 billion. It is barely a quarter of South Africa’s budget at $130 billion. And of course, it’s even less than the budget of New York City, not even just New York State. So, clearly, Nigeria is
a poor country with the potential to be a wealthy country.
“So, we do believe, based on the analysis we have done and the data available to us, that the right way to go is not to introduce more taxes. And in fact, if you are going to raise the rates of any tax, it has to be something that we’re doing as a result of the consolidation and harmonisation.
“We do think that having fewer taxes is broad-based, easy to collect, and does not place a burden on the bottom of the ladder of society is the way to go.
“And by using data, intelligence, and technology, we can close the tax gap so that people who have not been paying before begin to pay – who have been identified as people who should be paying – and the poor people should be legitimately exempted, particularly micro businesses and low-income earners.”
Oyedele, according to TheCable, said the committee believes that with all these, Nigeria can easily more than double its revenue within a period of two to three years. He added that his agency had proposed that the federal government exempt vulnerable people from paying taxes.
“Sadly, the system we have today is trying to tax everything and everybody. You know, if it moves, tax it; if it moves again, tax it even more. That seems to be the approach we have today,” he said.
“You would imagine that those
who are selling sachets of water, which we call pure water, how much possibly can be their capital plus profits.
“With all the hard work, people are just trying to see if they can find N800 or N1,000 a day to take care of themselves and their families, which would cover their transport or feeding.
“But when we were speaking to market traders’ associations, they told us that these guys are paying about six to seven different levies every single day, and they give them some form of sticker.
“And that clearly is not acceptable. We’ve also seen truckers who are moving produce, including food, from one state
to another have to pay more than N450,000 in one single trip. Sometimes the stickers add up to more than 50.
“So, at the end of the day, this is the reason why, for example, if you looked at the last inflation numbers, even just between rural areas and urban areas, the difference in inflation is about 500 basis points, which is about five per cent, which you can only just explain by way of transportation but by the time you add the taxes to it.
“You see, that is one of the reasons why that differential is so significant,” he explained.
According to Oyedele, other decent societies have used these methods and it worked
for them.
He said this approach would fight tax evasion and stop people from breaking the law.
“So, we think that the approach to adopt is to exempt some of these vulnerable people, including (the sellers of) sachet pure water,” he said.
The tax expert also said the federal government needed to stop asking people how much they earn to tax them.
“We also believe that we should stop asking people how much they earn so we can tax them; we should first support them to be able to grow and create wealth, and then use intelligence to tell them how much they have earned,” Oyedele said.
“So, that way, we are sure that evasion and people who try to live above the law are a thing of the past. That’s how the decent society that we aspire to be like has been able to develop economics,” he added. Oyedele has been advocating for different tax reforms and relief for the informal sector.
In May, his committee announced that the federal government was working on a system that would provide tax relief to 95 per cent of the informal sector.
Oyedele said the plan was to exempt businesses earning N25 million a year or less, from the various taxes hindering their progress overtime.
IN DEFENCE OF TINUBU’S REFORMS, SHETTIMA SAYS PRESIDENT IMBUED WITH CAPACITY TO FIX ECONOMY
mischievous fixation on the president's health status.
He argued that the late presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Mwai Kibaki of Kenya fixed their countries’ economies despite their health challenges.
Speaking at the weekend during the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Townhall Meeting held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, Shettima said Nigeria’s economic problem was a global phenomenon with most countries worldwide facing one economic problem or the other.
Commenting on Nigeria's economy, he said: "Yes, our economy is going through turbulence, but is it confined to Nigeria alone?
who is robustly imbued with the capacity.
"We have never had it so good in terms of leadership. President Tinubu means well for the nation. And most importantly, he is inbued with the skills set to drive change and, in this country,” Shettima said.
Shettima took a swipe at Nigerians who took to social media to make a mockery of President Tinubu’s misstep during the Democracy Day celebration on June 12.
Roosevelt (FDR), with all his health challenges, was able to shepherd the American economy during the Great Depression and the Second World War, and because of the quality of his ideas, America became a superpower."
into Lagos through Maryland, there is even a statue that says this is Lagos; no one welcomes you to Lagos.
deliberations because it realised that it lacked the power to deliberate on the issue, also described governors who are dragging their feet on the minimum wage as lawbreakers.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who spoke to journalists shortly after last week's FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu, had stated that the council decided to drop the minimum discussion from its agenda to allow the president to make wider consultations on the issue.
However, the Assistant Secretary of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Chris Onyeka, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday, said the FEC lacks constitutional powers to consider the minimum wage.
He also criticised the governors for “displaying total ignorance," regarding the national minimum wage issue.
He said it was wrong for the governors to assume that the national minimum wage should be negotiated at the state level.
The NLC scribe said: "The minimum wage negotiations is a tripartite process between labour, government and the organised private sector. So, the government is supposed to put their side in order, just as labour is also supposed to organise its side.
"So, if the government is telling us that they are having issues on their side, that shouldn't be our problem. They should be able to meet and reconcile their positions and speak with one voice.
"Secondly, the FEC does not have the power to decide on the national minimum wage. So, I think that they realised that
they did not have such powers. That was why they withdrew the memo."
On what could be the way forward, Onyeka said that with the tripartite report before the president, "it is the duty of Mr. President to reach out to all the constituents and try to reach a consensus.
"Until that is done you can't submit anything to the National Assembly," he added.
Reacting to the insistence by some governors that they would not be able to pay a higher minimum wage, the NLC scribe said that such governors were not being honest with their position.
He also described the governors who defaulted in payment of the old minimum wage as lawbreakers.
Onyeka also said the labour leaders alone should not be expected to take the defaulting governors to court, stressing that the federal government ought to compel such states to implement the minimum wage law by applying the instrumentality of the law.
“The governors that are not complying with the payment of minimum wage are unwilling to pay. They are lawbreakers. He further said that as far organised labour is concerned, governors have benefited from the hike in the price of petroleum products; they have also benefited from the hike in the electricity tariff and they have also benefited from the devaluation of the naira.
"All of them have benefited by increasing their salaries. The members of the organised private sector have increased their costs; so, the only people that have not increased their own price are the workers,” he said.
"Let's talk about the global picture. Is any economy immune from the challenges of the times?"
He described President Tinubu as a man of ideas imbued with capacity who should be allowed to turn the nation around for the better.
"I can tell you, with all sense of confidence that the president we have now is a man of ideas,
The vice president, who veered off his prepared speech to berate those who mocked the president, said: “When the president stumbled in the June 12 celebration; it was not only disheartening and disenchanting, but stultifying and heartbreaking that some of our countrymen were celebrating. But I dare to put it to you that the hallmark of true leadership is not the ability to lift a bag of cement, but the capacity to come up with robust ideas to solve a nation's problems."
He noted that “one of the greatest presidents of the United States was Franklin D.
TEARS, WAILING AS BOKO HARAM
Shettima also referred to the accident that confined Mwai Kibaki (former President of Kenya) to a wheelchair, saying the unfavourable incident did not confine his (Kibaki’s) abilities to come up with robust solutions that made Kenya record doubledigit growth during his time as president.
While emphasising that leadership is about competence, the vice president clarified that “we are not asking you not to question the eligibility of your president's condition. But there is this mischievous fixation on the President's health status. We are not preparing for the Olympics but an institution that builds on the superiority of ideas.
“Your excellencies, this is a man when he became the governor of Lagos State in 1999, Lagos was a monstrosity, a huge slum. When you are coming
“But because of the quality of his leadership, ably assisted by the likes of the Minister of Finance, the monthly IGR of Lagos is now N61 billion. Lagos, as of last year, was the fifth-largest economy in Africa and is projected to be the third-largest economy by the end of the decade.
“So, this is a man that we need to all rally around. We need to support him.
“So, I urge you to be fair to this poor man. There's no doubt that every thriving economy draws life from the quality of reforms adopted to offer the people happiness, and will translate their business ideas into formidable enterprises. "These reforms must become ingrained in the fabric of our public institutions. By doing so, we pave the way for sustained progress and lasting impact that will outlive us all, creating a better Nigeria for our children and their children afterwards," Shettima explained.
SUICIDE BOMBERS RETURN TO BORNO WITH MULTIPLE ATTACKS
time, killed the traditional ruler of the hilly town.
Suicide bombing by the insurgents had stopped until yesterday’s incidents, which have fuelled fears that the reign of terror might have returned.
Confirming the multiple attacks, the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Barkindo Saidu, said: “In my presence, at about exactly 3pm, the first bomb in Gwoza was detonated by a female suicide bomber in the midst of the marriage ceremony. It affected more than 30 persons with various levels of injuries and instant death.
“Some minutes later, another blast occurred around General Hospital.
“Again, at the funeral services (janaiza), another lady rushed into the congregation and detonated another bomb with a lot of casualties.
“When we were in the hospital coordinating the rescue mission, another one exploded from a female teenager.
“So far, 18 deaths comprising children, adult males, females, and pregnant women, have been recorded.
“Nineteen were seriously injured and were conveyed to Maiduguri in four ambulances; 23 are waiting for military escort in the Medical
Regimental Services (MRS) Clinic.
“I am now coordinating for chopper tonight. I have mobilised emergency drugs to complement the shortage of drugs in Gwoza,” he added.
According to him, the degree of injuries ranges from abdominal raptures, skull fractures, to limb fractures.
Saidu added that he also received a report that there was a suspected suicide bomber in Pulka.
In his reaction, the Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Mohammed Shehu Timta, also confirmed that the attacks were carried out at various locations, including wedding receptions and a burial ceremony in the town.
He said: "The entire Gwoza council area is in serious mourning following multiple suicide attacks on our community.
"The first suicide attack was masterminded by an unidentified woman who sneaked with two children into a wedding reception of a popular young man in Gwoza; she detonated her Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) killing herself and many people.
"Few minutes after, another suicide bomber sneaked into a burial ceremony at the nearby and detonated Improvised Explosive
Devices, and as I am talking to you now, the third explosion just occurred few minutes ago with more casualties.
"At least, over 100 people were injured, and most of them who sustained serious injuries have been rushed to Maiduguri with military escort for proper medical attention.
"This is just a preliminary confirmation, as details of the casualties are still yet unknown, but I will keep you posted on any development.”
Also reacting to the incidents, the member representing Gwoza/ Chibok/Damboa Federal Constituency, Ahmed Usman Jaha, sympathised with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the multiple attacks, even as he prayed Allah to grant the souls of the deceased Aljannatul Firdaus, and wished those who sustained injuries quick recovery.
An eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Musa, said on the phone that the first suicide bomber targeted a wedding ceremony.
Dogo noted that they were still in shock to take stock of the number of people that were affected by the attack. He said several victims were evacuated to the hospital while security agencies were deployed to condone the area.
However, the state Commissioner of Police (CP), Yusuf Lawal, who confirmed the attack on wedding ceremony to journalists in the state, stated that it was carried out by a female suicide bomber.
Lawal said he was informed by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Gwoza, that at least six people were killed with 15 others evacuated to the hospital. In a related development, some IDPs from Gwoza, who were relocated to Yola, Adamawa State capital at the peak of the attacks on Gwoza about nine years ago, have pleaded that they should not be compelled to return to the town, requesting that they should be assisted to settle in the Adamawa State capital.
Speaking to THISDAY in Adamawa State, the leader at one of the camps, Jugule Hamed who fled from Bulamawaziri, said many of the settlements in Gwoza are still unsafe.
Another witness, Ibrahim Dogo, said: “Everywhere was thrown into panic as people had to run for cover,” adding that, “the serenity of the town was disturbed as we heard a very loud sound of explosives, accompanied with dust; then we saw bodies on the ground.”
WE SHARE IN YOUR GRIEFS…
Patience Jonathan: I Won’t Return to Presidential Villa for Any Reason
Akinwale
Former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has said she would decline if asked to return to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, stressing that she never told her husband to remain in office after he lost the 2015 presidential poll.
The former first lady spoke at a colloquium organised to commemorate the 60th anniversary
of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in Abuja.
Mrs. Jonathan, who delivered a speech on ‘Public Relations, Value Reorientation, and Economic Transformation’, said: “The stress of Nigeria is too much,” adding that she looks younger than she was while her husband was president.
“If you call me now for the villa, I won’t go there. I won’t. Don’t you
see how young I am? The stress is so much,” she said.
“The stress of Nigeria is so much. If God manages to bring you out of it, you should glorify God and thank him. It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.
“He has taken you there once; why do you want to go there again?
Me, I won’t go,” she added.
In 2015, Goodluck Jonathan lost
the presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Commenting on the aftermath of the election, Patience said she did not urge her husband to stay in office after he lost the poll.
She said Jonathan “willingly relinquished without a fight,” adding that the former president has become a model of democracy due to his actions.
Preserve and Protect Sultanate Institution, Sharia Centre, Miyetti Allah Counsel Sokoto Govt
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and the Centre for the Promotion of Sharia have kicked against the alleged subtle threats to emasculate the revered Sultan, who is the symbol of Islamic authority in Nigeria and emphasised the need for the protection and preservation of the institution of the Sultanate in the country.
The National President of MACBAN, Alhaji Baba OthmanNgelzarma, made the position of MACBAN known in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.
He said the institution of the Sultanate which dates over 200 years, should not be toyed with by politicians who were supposed to be channelling their energy into promoting good governance.
He said: “We believe protecting and preserving the institution of the Sultanate is a cardinal responsibility of every right-thinking personality in the country.
“We call upon the Sokoto State Government, especially the legislature, to tread softly and do all that is necessary to preserve and protect the institution that represents an all-important ideology that created it.
“Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) is worried by the media reports alleging that the Sokoto Government intends to whittle down the powers of His Eminence the Sultan, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III,” the statement said.
Othman-Ngelzarma said MACBAN stood firmly with the Sultan, adding, “because we believe he deserves better as he has shown the capacity to uphold justice and
equity in all his dealings.
“This is evident in his efforts to propagate religious and ethnic tolerance in Nigeria among diverse groups.
“His background as a military man, his resoluteness to speak the truth and his standing for the poor and underprivileged despite being an aristocrat makes him a model for leaders to emulate.”
In a related development, the Centre for the Promotion of Sharia has also warned the Sokoto State government against toying with the Sultanate council.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Aliyu Ibrahim Altukri, the centre said the sultan was not an institution exclusive to the Sokoto State government, but a revered position in which all Nigerian Muslims have a stake.
The centre said it joined MURIC, Vice President Kashim Shettima and Senator Shehu Sani who had expressed similar views.
The statement, however, commended the Sokoto State government for “clarifying that it has no intention to toe the line that is being speculated and affirming that it holds the Sultanate in a very high regard and esteem.”
The centre then warned groups which called for the arrest of MURIC’s director to desist from misleading leaders, reminding them that the work of civil society organisations was to protect the populace from exploitative tendencies.
The Sultan, the centre said, represents a belief system and heritage established by Sheikh Uthman Danfodio, which must be protected and promoted.
Shehu Sani: Insecurity Worse Under Buhari Than Tinubu
John Shiklam in Kaduna
Former Senator, Shehu Sani, has stated that the security challenges facing northern Nigeria were worse under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari than under the present administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Senator Sani stated this yesterday while speaking at the 40th anniversary and reunion of the’84’ set of Kagara Old Boys Association, an association of old students of Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.
The event was held at Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School in Minna, the state capital.
Sani, who said the meeting was to allow the old boys to share memories
and brainstorm on how to see the reopening of the school, said security challenges would be completely addressed if the government shows the desired commitment.
GSS Kagara has been shut down since the invasion of the school by bandits in 2021. Some students were abducted during the incident.
“The security challenges would be over in the whole country because what we have now is better than the one we had during the Buhari administration. There is every evidence that many of the top terrorists have been eliminated by our security forces. And if you compare what we are having today to what we had yesterday, it is still the best.
“Under Buhari’s administration, we had a series of attacks on schools, including attacks on Green Field University, Kaduna; Bathel Baptist School, Kaduna; Government Science College, Kagara; Federal Government Girls’ College, Yauri; Federal School of Agricultural Mechanisation, Mando; Government Secondary School, Kankara; Government Secondary School, Jangibe, all under Buhari’s administration. So, we are hopeful that things will be better,” he said.
Sani said while he supported the temporary relocation of Government Science College, Kagara, as suggested by the Niger State Government, he insisted that the school should be moved back to Kagara as soon as
the security situation in the area improves.
“It is unfortunate that the schools that produced some of the best hands in the history of this country are today the ruins of what they used to be. We must tell ourselves the fundamental truth that as long as we don’t provide education for our young ones, we will be creating a force that we will not be able to contain in future.
“Northern Nigeria must take education seriously; we lag in education; we have the highest number of out-of-school children today. The activities of bandits and terrorists have destroyed the educational fabric and basis of northern Nigeria.
“When we failed the election, I was with him (Jonathan). We were in the room when we were told ‘you had lost’. I did not whisper to him that he must stay because we would shed blood. Innocent people will die.
“And who will be the person? We don’t know. It might be you; it might be me. It might be my brother or sister.
“We don’t need anybody to die. We’re brothers and sisters. We are one country,” the former First Lady added.
Before the last general election, a coalition of northern groups procured the presidential form of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Jonathan.
The forms were purchased days
after he had asked his supporters to “watch out” when he was asked if he would contest the 2023 poll. Jonathan later said he did not give his consent for the purchase of the forms.
Human rights advocate, Femi Falana (SAN), had argued that Section 137(3) of the constitution disqualified Jonathan from contesting. But a constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) had countered Falana, saying Jonathan was “constitutionally” qualified to contest. A Federal High Court in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, eventually ruled that the former president was eligible to participate in the election. Despite the ruling and attendant speculations, Jonathan declined to participate in the election.
It’s Terrible Mistake to Assume North Can Be Marginalised, Says NEF
John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has affirmed that the rest of the country will make a terrible mistake if it assumes that the current challenges around security and weak economy have turned the northern parts of the country into marginalised territory in the scheme of things in Nigeria.
The spokesman of the forum, Abdul-azeez Suleiman, stated this yesterday while delivering a speech at an induction ceremony at Zazzau School of Health Technology Tukur, Zaria.
He said the northern region would continue to play a significant role in the affairs of the nation and would remember those who stood by it and those who attempted to take advantage of the current challenges for their selfish gains.
Suleiman said it was evident that the current leaders and governments in place were either unable or unwilling to effectively tackle these problems.
He stated that many of the leaders seemed more interested in maintaining their power and wealth than in serving the people and improving the lives of the northerners.
“This lack of commitment to addressing the basic socio-cultural and economic issues facing the North is unacceptable and must be challenged.
“The rest of the country will make a terrible mistake if it assumes that the current challenges around security and a weak economy have turned the north into marginal elements in all calculations on the future of the nation.
“North will continue to play a significant role in the affairs of the nation, and we will remember those who stood by it and those who attempted to take advantage of the current challenges for their selfish gains,” he said. He, however, admitted that the challenges facing the northern region were great, noting that with the right mindset and determination, they would be overcome.
While congratulating the students on their graduation, Suleiman tasked them to learn from the mistakes of the past, look ahead to the future, and work towards building a strong foundation for their generation. He implored them to be proactive in addressing the challenges facing their communities ranging from poverty, and insecurity to social injustice.
The NEF spokesman said by taking action and working together, the youth can bring about real change and create a better future for all. In her remarks, a lecturer at the Federal College of Education, Zaria, Dr. Rabi Bara’u, cautioned health students against ‘japa’
Adedayo
in Abuja
syndrome.
L-R: Senator Ikra Bilbis; Senator Tahir Mongunu; President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio; Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele; and Senator Diket Plang, when the Senate president led some of his colleagues on a condolence visit to Mongunu over the death of his father, in Borno State…recently
ACT OF PHILANTHROPY…
Presidential candidate of Labour Party in 2023 election,
Presidency, Obi Bicker over Budgets Implementation
FG not running four budgets, presidency clarifies Nigeria among world's most insecure nations, Obi insists
Chuks Okocha in Abuja and DavidChyddy Eleke in Awka
The Presidency and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday disagreed over the alleged implementation of four national budgets concurrently by the federal government.
While Obi has picked holes in what he described as the implementation of four national budgets concurrently, describing it as a recipe for chaos and frivolity, the Presidency denied that the federal government was implementing four budgets and accused the LP presidential candidate of relying on false claims by BudgIT to spread misinformation.
The Country Director of BudgIT, Gabriel Okeowo, had raised the alarm in a statement issued on Friday that the Nigerian government was planning to concurrently implement four national budgets.
Writing on his X handle yesterday, Obi said running for budgets was a flagrant disregard for fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.
According to the former Anambra State governor, "All available evidence
has confirmed that the Nigerian government is implementing four national budgets concurrently. This is in blatant disregard for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability.
"It is also a recipe for chaos, confusion, and catastrophe.
"This intentional action will lead to frivolous items in the approved budgets competing with essential projects for limited resources, further exacerbating the suffering of the Nigerian people.
"It indicates that the leaders are out of touch with reality and lack the competence to manage our nation's finances effectively.
"Unfortunately, this deliberate act of fiscal recklessness is being undertaken by elected representatives of the people, thereby betraying one of the cardinal pillars of democracy.
Leaders are elected to responsibly manage public resources in an organised way.
"I respectfully appeal and in fact, demand that this situation be reversed immediately in preference for a more responsible and transparent approach to budgeting.
"We must prioritise the needs of the Nigerian people, not the selfish
To Enhance Energy Efficiency, SON, ECN, Others Plan Review of Standard Performance for Air Conditioners
Stakeholders in Nigeria's energy sector have begun the process of reviewing the country's Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for air conditioners to enhance energy efficiency in Nigeria.
This initiative is spearheaded by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), in collaboration with the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the Clean Cooling Collaborative.
During a one-day (TC) review meeting held in Abuja, the Director-General of SON, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke emphasised the importance of updating MEPS to reflect current technological advancements.
According to him, this effort is aimed at positioning Nigeria competitively on the global stage.
“This revision is not just about meeting today's needs but anticipating and preparing for the future to enable Nigeria to participate in continental and global trade—the AfCFTA
and WTO. By setting appropriate standards for energy efficiency, we are not only contributing to global efforts to combat climate change but also enhancing Nigeria's reputation as a leader in sustainable energy solutions, potentially attracting more international investments and partnerships,” he said. Represented by the Deputy Director of Standards Development, Mr. Olalekan Omoniyi, Okeke urged stakeholders to significantly contribute to Nigeria's energy efficiency landscape, setting a standard for other African countries to follow.
“I am confident that this esteemed gathering of experts, stakeholders, and policymakers, each of whom brings unique perspectives and insights, will produce a robust and forward-thinking MEPS for air conditioners. Your expertise, insights, and collaboration are not just crucial but integral to achieving a standard that sets a benchmark for excellence and sustainability. Your active participation in this process will make our MEPS truly representative of our collective efforts and aspirations,” he added.
interests of a few,” Obi explained.
But in a swift reaction, the federal government debunked the claims that it was running four budgets in a fiscal year.
This was stated yesterday in a post on X by Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Mr. Temitope Ajayi.
Ajayi wrote: “Yesterday, @ BudgITng raised a false alarm based on rumours that FG is planning a 2024 supplementary budget. It is important to state that the FG is not planning to run four budgets within a fiscal year as alleged.
“The National Assembly only approved that implementation of the capital components of the 2023 budget and 2023 supplementary should be extended to December 2024 to achieve its objectives.
“Our country can’t achieve sustainable development when Federal, State and Local governments focus on only consumptive expenditures which is essentially what recurrent expenditures represent.
“It is the capital expenditures that drive economic growth, strengthen private-sector output and create employment opportunities for citizens.
“As a reputable civic organisation, BudgITng cannot afford to be flippant and be unduly sensational. Expectedly, @PeterObi has jumped on the false
claims to push his new round of misinformation.”
Nigeria Among World's Most Insecure Nations, Obi Insists
Meanwhile, Obi has lamented the level of insecurity in Nigeria, saying that killings and abductions taking place nationwide had placed the country among the most insecure nations in the world.
Obi has also clarified that he had no plans to join other politicians to form a mega party to sack the All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.
The former LP presidential candidate, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra State, also called on leaders to double their efforts, adding that if nothing was done, the country may slide into a failed nation.
The former Anambra State governor also called for the release of the detained leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and other freedom fighters and #EndSARS protesters, while efforts should be made to engage in dialogue.
Obi said: "It is worrisome what is happening in Nigeria with the news
of killings, abductions and others have made Nigeria one of the most insecure places on the surface of the earth. It is leading to a failed nation.
"I thank the government for their efforts so far, but there is a need to do more, and all leaders must come together to join hands and fight this. In the South-east, there is a need for the governors of the South-east to come together to be able to tackle it.
"Even with an economic agenda, I want to see the South-east governors work more closely. We want to see them come together and also bring together other groups in the zone," Obi said.
Speaking on the continued detention of Kanu, Obi said he did not see any reason for his continued detention.
"Rule of law is an intricate asset that we must cherish and live with. I use this opportunity to plead with the government to ensure that all those who are in similar conditions are released and discussed with. We are in a democracy and we should not be doing things that are arbitrary and not within the law," Obi added,
Speaking on the protests in Kenya and whether he would support similar protests in Nigeria, the former governor said: "I'm against rioting or destruction of the government's
assets and property because there are still scarce resources that we are going to use to repair them, but I'm not against peaceful protests.
"Peaceful protest is allowed, but it must be for a reason and not the personal interest of some people to satisfy a particular interest. It must be properly articulated and properly directed.”
"We are a democratic country and people have the right under the constitution to express themselves freely. They also have the right to peacefully protest and we must listen to them. We must listen to those who say they are not happy; that is why it is a democratic nation. We should stop acting dictatorial and behave as if this is not a democratic country.
"I know we are in a state of capture, but then, we should act in a manner that shows some decency," he added.
On whether there are plans for him to join other politicians to form a mega party against the APC, Obi said he had no such plans.
"I will rather say that I'm more particular about how the poor Nigerian can feed. I would rather talk about things that are affecting Nigerians today. We, politicians, are preoccupied by-elections, and that is not what I'm after. I'm talking about how to reduce the price of food.
ECOWAS Reviews Implementation of 0.5% Community Levy on Imports
Says Nigeria will receive over 50% of Global Water Fund
Olugbode in Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will review the implementation of community levy in the region at the ongoing 35th meeting of the commission’s Committee on Administration and Finance.
This is as the subregional bloc has said Nigeria will get at least 55 per cent of the global water fund.
ECOWAS had adopted a community levy of 0.5 per cent on all imports into the region, rather than the contribution from members.
However, there were challenges to the implementation of the protocol adopted in 2014.
Members of the commission’s committee that will review the levy are drawn from the 12-member states as three member states- Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic
had signified their intention to pull out of the 15-member regional bloc.
Members of the committee are in Abuja for the next five days to consider ongoing reform in the commission and the issue of community levy.
Another area the committee is expected to discuss is the commission's organogram, which has been in use since 2018.
The expected organogram review will touch all ECOWAS institutions, including the community court, community parliament, and the commission.
The review is expected to take into consideration the recent reduction of the number of committees from 15 to 7.
The members have a report of about 100 to 150 pages to consider during the five days.
At the end of the five days,
members are expected to adopt the proposal and then pass it to the council of ministers for their perusal and adoption.
In her opening remarks, ECOWAS Commission's Vice President, Damtien Tchintchibidja, stressed the need for the memberstates to adhere to the community protocol, especially the protocol on Community Levy.
She said: "I would like to make an urgent appeal to all member states so that they can comply as quickly as possible with the provisions of the protocol relating to community levy.”She stressed that remittance of community levy will “allow us to ensure the good functioning of institutions and the implementation of projects within the community."
She also raised the impact the exit of the three countries, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger Republic will have
on the community levy. She said: “I would like to remind you that the meeting of this day is held in a challenging context, characterised by uncertainties on a regional and global level.
“The announced withdrawal of our three member states appeals to us all in more than one way.
"We therefore must put everything in place to safeguard our unity, our secular ties, our spirit of fraternity and solidarity, as a result of an inclusive development,” she emphasised.
The chairman of the CAF, Ambassador Emmanuel Awe emphasised the need for members of the committee to sustain efforts in implementing policies and programmes that enhance and promote integration.
Meanwhile, ECOWAS has said Nigeria will get at least 55 per cent of the global water fund.
Michael
Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
Mr. Peter Obi (fifth left), presenting a N10 million cheque to the Proprietor of Holy Rosary School of Nursing and Midwifery, Most Rev Lucius Ugorji (third right), as part of his commitment to a robust healthcare system at the school premises in Emekuku, Imo State…yesterday
UNVEILING NEW CORPORATE IDENTITY…
L-R: Company Secretary/General Counsel, Rex Insurance Limited, Sheila Ezeuko; Managing Director/CEO, Rex Insurance, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu; Lagos State Commissioner for Finance and representative of the Governor, Mr. Abayomi Oluyomi; Non-Executive Director, Rex Insurance, Mr. Nnamdi Oragwu; Chairman, Rex Insurance, Mr. Ike Chioke, and Deputy Director, Lagos Control Office/representative of Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Mr. Bankole Ajibola, during the unveiling of Rex Insurance new
and launch of new corporate identity, in Lagos…recently
Expedite Action to Alleviate Excruciating Hardship in Nigeria, ASUU’s Rival Union, CONUA Tells Tinubu
Says withholding members’ salary illegal
Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has stressed the need for President Bola Tinubu to expedite action towards alleviating the excruciating hardship in the country as a result of various reforms of the administration.
The union also described as illegal the refusal of the federal government to pay its members three months’ salaries, despite the union’s non-participation in the industrial action declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
CONUA is a splinter group from ASUU, which was formed by university lecturers during the last prolonged strike by ASUU.
A statement issued by CONUA’s President, Dr. ‘Niyi Sumonu, yesterday disclosed that since the fuel removal and naira floating policies of the present administration, Nigerians have been going through a very difficult time, which needs urgent intervention.
“The Congress of University
Academics (CONUA) has, again, reviewed the state of the nation and noted the excruciating pains Nigerians have been going through as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy since May 29, 2023, and the subsequent policy of floating the Naira.
“The union further notes that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has
President Tinubu’s Executive Order ‘ll Ensure Drug, Health Security, Says NAFDAC DG
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has described the Executive Order just signed into law by President Bola Tinubu as a significant step towards transforming Nigeria’s health sector and one that would give local manufacturers a chance to excel and be competitive.
On Friday, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, announced the signing of the Executive Order in a statement titled: ‘Revitalising Nigeria’s Healthcare: President Tinubu’s Bold New Executive Order’. Pate, who announced in a post on his X handle, said the Executive Order, which is part of the Nigeria
Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative II, NHSRII, is aimed at addressing longstanding challenges within the nation’s health sector and aims to improve health outcomes for Nigerians.
Hailing the development in a reaction yesterday, Adeyeye said the President’s Executive Order aligns with the broader objectives of the National Health Strategic Reform Plan II, NHSRII, and the Presidential Initiative on Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), approved in October 2023.
Adeyeye said by granting waivers in critical areas of healthcare and its delivery, the Tinubu administration had displayed a commitment to the transformation of the nation’s healthcare sector, increasing local production of healthcare products, equipment, and consumables at
reduced costs, and promoting local investments.
“The President’s EO underscores his administration’s commitment to transforming Nigeria’s health sector. It aligns with the broader objectives of the NHSRII and the Presidential Initiative on Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), approved in October 2023.
This EO sets the stage for a sustainable and high-quality healthcare system for all Nigerians by addressing core challenges and providing a clear path for improvement.
“The perennial and persistent costly challenge of importation of all materials needed for manufacturing (except water) by local manufacturers became an open sore. As Director General, my professional heart ached for local manufacturers considering the import duties they have to pay for all materials, some packaging
materials and equipment,” Adeyeye said.
According to the D-G, since taking office, she has pushed for zero tariffs on medical supplies, including a short grace period to allow domestic manufacturers to catch their breath and focus on their core strength – producing high-quality medical products.
“Then came the Tinubu Administration, and then the administration of the cerebral Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Mohammed Ali Pate, and Coordinating Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, who put the interest of the 200 million plus Nigerians before their interest. Then the unimaginable started happening— giving local manufacturers a chance to excel and be competitive.”
NESG Backs CBN’s Decision to Stop Price Verification on FX Transactions
Dike Onwuamaeze
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has backed the recent decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to discontinue the Price Verification System (PVS) for foreign exchange transactions, saying it will remove regulatory bottlenecks and boost macroeconomic stability.
The CBN, in a recent circular, stated that with effect from July 1, applications for Form ‘M’ would no longer be needed by importers for validation via the Price Verification Report from the PVS. In a circular released last Wednesday, the apex bank said the decision followed recent developments in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market.
The circular issued by the Acting
Director of the Trade & Exchange Department, W.J. Kanya, also referenced a previous circular dated August 17, 2023, titled “Go-Live of the Central Bank of Nigeria Price Verification System Portal ”.
The Price Verification System Portal is an online platform introduced by the CBN to ensure that the prices of goods and services for foreign exchange transactions are accurately verified.
It was aimed at preventing overinvoicing and under-invoicing, thus ensuring fair pricing in Nigeria’s import and export activities.
With the new directive, the apex bank said all applications for Form ‘M’, will now be validated without the need for a Price Verification Report generated from the PVS Portal.
The circular also noted that the
Price Verification Report is no longer a requirement for completing a Form ‘M’.
The policy change aims to streamline processes for authorised dealer banks and the general public, potentially easing the procedural burden associated with foreign exchange transactions.
Welcoming the CBN’s decision in a communique released at the weekend, the NESG noted that “with a more efficient importation process, the manufacturing sector will benefit from timely access to essential inputs as it will enable higher levels of production and enhance the sector’s contribution to GDP. The increase in industrial output will have a positive spillover effect on other sectors, further stimulating economic activity.”
“In the same vein, the reduction in bureaucratic bottlenecks will make Nigerian businesses more competitive globally. Lower operational costs and improved efficiency will enable businesses to offer more competitive prices, increase market share, and expand their export potential. This will contribute to a favourable balance of trade and strengthen Nigeria’s position in the global economy.
“Similarly, the policy change aligns with the CBN’s core mandate of maintaining price stability and promoting sustainable economic growth. By reducing the cost of doing business and enhancing supply chain efficiency, the policy is expected to exert downward pressure on production costs, thereby contributing to inflation moderation.
assured the nation that a series of measures are being put in place to alleviate the suffering of the people.
CONUA urges the president to expedite action on those measures, particularly the announcement of a commensurate minimum wage that will cushion the effect of this untold hardship being currently experienced by the citizens”, it stated.
The union also described as illegal the continuous withholding of its members' three months’ salaries occasioned by the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2022, saying its members never participated in the said industrial action.
It reads further, “The union wishes to once again call the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the continued withholding of the three and a half months salaries due to the strike action embarked by a sister academic staff union in the universities. CONUA, as a union, has consistently maintained that it never declared and was not part of the strike action.
“What the government had done was to lump together those who embarked on strike with those who did not. This is unjust and is tantamount to punishing the innocent along with the guilty. The federal government’s action goes against the judgment delivered on 25th July
2023 at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which affirmed CONUA as an independent union”.
“The president should note that withholding the three and a half months salaries of members of CONUA, who neither declared nor participated in any strike action, contravenes Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8, which states that “where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remunerations for the period of the lock-out and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of the period of employment”.
“This provision is consistent with global best practices. In conclusion, CONUA demands that failure to process and pay this outstanding salary could throw the Universities into serious crises and the peace, currently being enjoyed, could be jeopardized.”
CONUA further urged President Tinubu to pay attention to the remuneration of academics in the university which has been stagnant since 15 years ago, despite the steady rise in the cost of living and demanded an adjustment in the emoluments of lecturers to bring the best out of them.
NULGE Demands Financial, Administrative, Political Autonomy for Local Governments in Nigeria
Segun James
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has called for financial, administrative and political autonomy for local governments in Nigeria.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, the National President of the union, said the autonomy was important for Nigeria to grow its gross domestic product and curb insecurity.
Olatunji, who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said: “We must make local governments to be financially, administratively and politically autonomous.
“We must consider community policing so that there must be guarding at the community level.
“Our policing policy should not be reactionary, but pre-emptive to be able to address insecurity.
“Our opinion is that the local
government must be the platform for policing evolution in Nigeria,” he said.
The labour leader also called on the federal government to create a policy that would address unemployment at the local government level.
He called for revival of the vocational skills acquisition department of local governments.
According to him, this will ensure that women and youths in the rural communities are trained and empowered.
“The vocational skills acquisition department across local governments has been erased systematically, overtime.
“This level of government should be given adequate attention to address the needs of those in the rural settings.
“It will go a long way to improve livelihoods and ensure a better Nigeria for everyone,” Olatunji added.
JIHADISTS FLOODING NIGERIA?
OLALEKAN A. BABATUNDE argues the need to strengthen the country’s borders Nigerian leaders have much to learn from the ongoing campaigns in the
UK, writes SEUN AWOGBENLE
UK ELECTIONS AND LESSONS FOR NIGERIA
On Thursday, July 4, 2024, the United Kingdom will hold elections for the 650 parliamentary seats in the House of Commons. It is one of the more than 80 countries where elections are being held this year, in a list that includes some of the world’s biggest democracies. Barring any major shock, the Labour Party, led by Sir of the seats, making it the first Labour government in 14 years.
Nearly all the polls have placed the Tories behind the Labour Party. Research and data analytics firm YouGov, in its latest poll results, predicts the Tories are likely to slump to the lowest number of seats since the party was formed. The polls place Labour ahead of the Tories with an over 200-seat majority. Alternatives like the Liberal Democrats, led by Sir Ed Davey and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, are also
The UK is currently where Nigeria was in 2015, when it was anything but the ruling party. While I don’t particularly agree with all the propositions by Labour, I think it is in the nature of humans to seek change, and this is why the election is already a fait accompli. In any case, the Tories misfortune was long foretold—14 years of chaos, which reached its height with the folly of Boris Johnson and the ineptitude of Liz Truss.
the near total chaos, it appears that by the time he took charge in October 2022, the die had long been cast, and there was only so much he could do to change the situation.
COVID-19, and the Russia-Ukraine crisis, it has been a long and hard 14 years of Tory leadership. In retrospect, I believe that leaving the European Union (EU) and losing access to the EU single market, which previously allowed the UK free movement of goods and services with other EU countries, has been at the centre of the chaos. The situation was also not helped by the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck around the same time, and a war in Ukraine, which led to sky-high inflation and an unprecedented cost of living crisis. In response, the Bank of England has had to raise interest rates, which has impacted the cost of borrowing and mortgages.
Despite these social, political, and economic challenges, the pre-election campaigns have managed to stand out, demonstrating what is possible and offering an important lesson for emerging democracies like Nigeria. Since the day the Prime Minister announced the date for the election, campaigns by the political parties have been dominated by real issues and big ideas on the economy, the cost-of-living crisis, the National Health Service (NHS), immigration, climate action, and deepening public trust. They have managed to offer a clear roadmap on how they intend to address these issues if they are elected.
Even in situations where the proposals are considered outlandish or simply unrealistic, the parties still attempt to engage the public with their proposals. This practice is quite different from what you would see in Nigeria, where campaigns are never about real issues or big ideas; they are always about simple considerations like religion and ethnicity.
Where they are charitable enough, they make it about slogans and rhetoric, but never substance or the issues that matter. Apart from running a completely issuebased campaign, the leaders of the political parties have also been accountable by staying engaged in public debates and engagements to sell their ideas. This is unlike Nigeria, where people could win elections without attending a single debate or media engagement. In the last four weeks, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have featured in the ITV debate, the battle for number 10, a Sky News leaders special held in Grimsby, and a BBC question time leaders special at the University of York. If you have watched any of the public engagements, you would probably agree that they are unabashed and unsparing. I sometimes feel some sympathy for the political leaders when they are grilled like school boys, but this is the beauty of democracy and the power of democracy in action. I think this also highlights the frontline role of the media in setting agenda and shaping conversation.
Another important lesson for Nigeria is how campaign manifestos are fully costed and funded. The political parties provide a detailed cost implication of their proposals and highlight where the money the government intends to raise revenue for their ambitious plans, either through is different from the situation in Nigeria, where political parties present manifestos that are bland and scant on details. They also fail to provide the cost and funding for their plans, this should no longer be acceptable. Political parties must back their proposals with costs and funding details. Whatever the outcome of the UK elections, it is certain that the elections have enriched public discourse and strengthened British democracy. Emerging democracies like Nigeria can adapt some of the key learnings from this election. Nigerian leaders must not only watch; they must also take along the positives from the UK election, especially those of accountability, big ideas, and empirical proposals.
canbereachedviaseunawogbenle@gmail.com.
Last week, on 21 June 2024, there was a report in the Vanguard Newspaper tagged: Insecurity: Benin Republic,which it says was released by a Dutch think-tank, the Clingendael Institute, which has done later reported same story. It says an al-Qaidalinked group had crossed from Benin and settled in Kainji National Park in Niger State, Visiting the organization’s website, the 76-page report authored by Kars de Bruijne and Clara Gehrling, was released on 18 June
between northern Benin and Nigeria, came from four quantitative datasets of over 70 interviews with key informants interviews (KII) along the border. The report is not only timely but a much-needed information that national security and resilience. Immediately I saw the report, I went in search of validating it. I saw that among those who gave the research team support and advice in Nigeria was our own reputable Professor of History, Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, research on armed banditry in Zamfara State that culminated in a published book, I am a Bandit. In validating the report, I spoke with my academic contact in the Republic of Benin’s L’Universitéde Parakou with contiguous border with Nigeria’s Borgu who around their borders from some security Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Niger.
According to this contact, he said the three Beninese’s northern regions of Alibori,
Borgou was safe but Atakora bordering Burkina Faso and Togo was not safe from terrorist groups, and Alibori bordering Niger, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, which is the focus groups. Interestingly, the three sub-regions share some structural conditions that generate political violence and terrorism has become a systemic threat. The political instability in the Central Sahel’s Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger that ECOWAS is also coping with is a direct result of armed groups. Military coups are toppling democratic governments, and thereby changing the geopolitical landscape of the region among global superpowers.
communities a feeling of déjà vu. The porous regional borders have proved a security curse since their creation by the colonialists, and a cog in the wheel of community integration and economic cooperation. The ECOWAS Community Citizens along the borders live in fear and despondency. There have been some inter-border community clashes and maltreatment of Nigerian nationals along the Segbana-Tsamiya border in Kebbi State. In Nigeria in particular, the report is coming of residents living along the borderlines and beyond from violence and maltreatment
perpetrated by bandit groups in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger States. Many of their relations have been killed, maimed, displaced while their future plans and destiny distorted by criminals. Hearing that another set of violent perpetrators have joined their colleagues is worrying. The news makes me to remember cross-border criminals like the Beninese Hammani Tidjani and Nigerian Shina Rambo who unleashed a reign of terror on Nigerians in the early 2000. The populations have suffered a lot from armed banditry that do not respect international borders.
According to Hindustan Times while referring to the report, “a lot is at stake as Africa’s volatile Sahel region have settled in northwestern Nigeria…” What that in the northern region for the ordinary person is more violence, displacement and despondency. There are kidnapping, killing, displacements leading to food due to insecurity and ugly rankings by global security and terrorism ranking. The wildlife like lions in the park is at the risk of diminishing in numbers as a result of the
For the counter-insurgency, the arrival of
for the counter-insurgency campaigns of the military. Ordinarily, the cross-border movement by criminals would have been nipped in the bud by the immigration service, the police and intelligence agencies. It does speak to our inability to halt armed groups, as it is emblematic of our national borders’ porosity and weakened policing and intelligence. It seems to me Nigeria
to destabilise the region and Nigeria in particular.
As the Nigerian military records daily successes on its anti-banditry and counter-terrorism operations by killing of insurgents and rescuing of victims, it is crucially important for all hands to be on deck to strengthen the border security efforts and enhance coordination among security agencies. This shines light on immigration and intelligence services. weak border management. I have once recommended in a study I conducted for the International Organization for Migration in 2009 (shortly before Boko Haram outbreak) on national security and migration that the Nigeria Immigration Service should be split into two. There are service to deliver.
The service is statutorily charged with and monitoring of the activities of nonNigerians.
The breach of the NIMC’s database is a serious crime. The outcome of the investigation must be made public
Following public anxiety after a private company was revealed to be selling the personal information of enrolees, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) ordered an investigation regarding allegations of unauthorised access to the commission’s database. A shadowy organisation that is not one of the commission’s licensed partners
safeguarding, securing, and responsibly managing the data entrusted to us,” the NIMC director general and at the time. That nothing was done after that incident in March this year is now evident in another scandal that the commission
Last week, Paradigm Initiative, a digital company that works with young people across the continent, confirmed an online report that the National Identity Numbers (NINs), Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), and other sensitive personal information of Nigerians were indeed available for sale online. “We were able to confirm that what they were selling is NIMC’s data and we have proof. We got the NIN slip of the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani”, said the executive director of the organisation, Gbenga Sesan, who reaffirmed that the data of Nigerians being sold online were sourced directly from government databases. “We got the NIN slip of the number one data regulator in Nigeria, Vincent this is not a joke.”
manner of crimes, like identity theft and bank frauds. Such personal information details in their hands will be boon to their criminal businesses.
Violating the Nigeria Data Protection Act is a serious national security breach that should be taken seriously
In recognition of this offence, the United Nations, in a resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2013, titled ‘The right to privacy in the digital age’, called on member States to institute laws to put an end to illegal data collection and abuse of individual privacy. According to the UN, unlawful or arbitrary collection (and misuse) of personal data are highly intrusive acts that violate the rights to privacy and freedom of expression and may contradict the tenets of a democratic society. It therefore calls on all countries to respect and protect the right to privacy, including in the context of digital communication; take measures to put an end to violations of those rights and create the conditions to prevent such violations. Such recommended measures include ensuring that relevant national legislation complies with their obligations under international human rights law and enacting appropriate legislation regarding the surveillance of communications, their interception and the collection of personal data.
We consider this to be an abuse of personal data, a breach of privacy, and a betrayal of trust. More disturbing is that data breaches are becoming rampant as a growing number of private companies use the personal information of Nigerians for marketing or other reasons unrelated to those for which it was originally obtained. Although the federal government has promised the usual ‘investigation’, Nigerians do not believe that perpetrators would be apprehended or brought to justice despite the fear of possible misuse of these personal details by unscrupulous persons. Indeed, the fear is that this sensitive information could fall into the hands of criminals and fraudsters, including ‘Yahoo boys’ who are notorious for committing all
SUNDAY NEWSPAPER
EDITOR DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN
DEPUTY EDITORS FESTUS AKANBI, EJIOFOR ALIKE
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DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU
CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI
EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE
THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LIMITED
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA
GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, EMMANUEL EFENI
DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE
From the CBN to the Federal Road Safety Corps to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and others, Nigerians are daily subjected to a multiplicity of data collection. In the last few months, all the telecoms’ networks in the country have also directed their clients to link up their Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) with NIN which have also been largely complied with. Earlier this year, the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) announced that it was investigating two frontline banks in connection with alleged “unlawful disclosure of banking records to a third party, unlawful access, and processing of personal data.” At about the same period, the Bureau said it was investigating 110 companies for what it online lending companies, banks, telecom companies, and gaming companies. We do not know what has happened to that investigation.
Violating the Nigeria Data Protection Act is a serious national security breach that should be taken seriously. Anybody found culpable in the latest scandal should be brought to justice.
Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief(150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive. com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer
LETTERS
IMUDIA: TOO EARLY TO CONCLUDE SOURCE OF DEATH
Imudia few days ago hit me like a thunderbolt from a ravaging storm in a thick forest. In such a situation, hailstones are not only the sources of worry but the impending tree branches. The pains are scars. While the family should be allowed to grieve peacefully, it is worrying to discerning minds the narrative pushed out about the manner he died. Certainly, the security agencies are expected to investigate and probably unravel the cause of death. While awaiting the report of anticipated inquest, I am forced to point searchlight on the viral story about the death.
The social media portal from where
conventional news outlets took the news merely relied on conjectures as no credible sources were mentioned. It was reported brother moments before he died with instructions on the management of his estates. His two elder brothers are well educated. In fact, the most senior is PhD holder with specialty in Immigration Law. There is no evidence that any of his siblings has spoken to the press.
Secondly, the report said Nick spoke with his daughter, assuring her of protection and guidance even after his death. How did the online news outlets know that he indeed spoke to his brother and daughter?
It was also posited that Nick’s marriage collapsed after irreconcilable issues. This is
other than irreconcilable differences?
The Imudias are followers of Christianity, with uncommon high moral standing. In the community, most parents point to them as benchmark for their children to copy. With their insatiable desire for formal education, they were able to break the barriers of poverty and deprivation. The resort to suicide is therefore a very rare option for Nick. Assuming there is a business venture for him that went wry, the for a rescue. I agree that depression is not
In my strong opinion, there should not
be any hasty conclusion of suicide as the source of death. Though it is likely but not with certainty.
giant, had worked his socks off to attain enviable status. He may not be a regular face to his kindred but he contributed to the development of humanity and community in various forms.
Though we cannot bring him back to this sinful earth, we should at least ensure that the veil surrounding his death is unravelled. This, we owe him. Agbor lost another promising young man.
Nick, rest in peace! Williams Eghebi, Lagos
Editor: Festus Akanbi
08038588469 Email:festus.akanbi@thisdaylive.com
Second Banking Sector Recapitalisation: Adopting the Okereke-Onyiuke Model
As Nigerian commercial banks continue to roll out plans to surpass the new capital threshold introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nik Ogbuile wonders whether we still have the beauty of a dependable capital market industry and the attendant stock market administration that can offer the structures that can sweep every share presented, either for subscription or rights like the scenario that presented itself in 2006
Recent developments in the space have indicated that the banking sector must rise above its current status if the country’s economy must sustainable growth.
Negative reactions to the new position of the from the same reaction experienced during the
that people and institutions most of the time do not want a change because they are not Considering the facts of the obvious advanadequate to assume that this second phase of the recapitalisation exercise will further optimize
achieve reasonable growth and development. “money is what money can buy”. Apart from its deep meaning in reaction to
re-colonisation of the Nigerian economy using -
cial institutions that were already waiting in the
because it has passed through the crucibles that can guarantee continuous growth”. Financial experts believe that it is this “continuous growth” that Cardoso and his team have decided to achieve through this second recapitalization process which can only be better than the past if the capital market authorities can mobilize the market to play the role of educating and informing the investors at the
strategy of the former NSE was deployed based on the facts that most of the banks in question can meet more than half of the capitalization mop-up from money bags would be achievable considering the kind of money in circulation income of banks make dividend pay-out a very attractive development today. Nigerians are the touch of a button.
those banks are not useful to that economy.found themselves in the same position of the post- recapitalizations.
money within our banking system has largely remained inadequate for what it can buy. So welcome to Olayemi Cardoso’s new call for us to revisit an action which he watched from the
that his constituency has become so livid with big ticket activities in the economy and needed of Nigerian banks to be of reasonable need to the just completed Dangote Petrochemical project is a very sure drive for this call. moved on to roll out their plans to surpass the Cardoso guideline. But the matter is not in the
beauty of a dependable capital market industry and the attendant stock market administration
or rights like a cyclone in the doldrums?
major supports to enable the banks achieve the goal or engage the investors across the globe to buy into the revolution which is a direct invitation to foreigners to consider the very important based on the fact that President investors and a follow-up could be initiated the fact that the industry will need to raise as
successful if we want to avoid another round of failed banks or legacy banks conundrum which echoes are still reverberating and remain
Deposit Corporation (NDIC) still has very sour failed payments growing in large digits every
years ago.
Nigerians can remember vividly how theaged by Professor Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke as the
Nigerians to create the Nigerian capital market as a major investment window into the economy. Roadshows were initiated across the country were built. Nigerians did not buy bank shares interests which snowballed into other equities that created a N13 trillion capitalisation for the within a small space of time.
a win-win for Nigerians and other investors who now leveraged on the communication sent out to the world. Prior to the Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke global investment campaign that was a major contemporaries at the New York Stock Exchange to the initiative.
the level of transparency which she brought to the NSE created a whole lot of trust since the business of stocks and shares has a lot to do with transparency and corporate governance
boomed and the banking sector was cleansed as appendages of families. Annual meetings
Nigerians became part of the people creating value for the Nigerian economy. Research materials trailing the very successful
which was little known for huge capital syndication than mobilising peanuts from leftovers has
kind of money needed cannot be fully raised foreign investors be of optimum use to achieve the desired targets.
management that the Nigerian Stock Exchange
the then NSE to mobilise ‘hidden-fund-holders’ women to buy into the new investment opportunities in banks was the main success story of the new banking structure opportunities. With road-shows and allied mega-marketing mix so easy and cheap to achieve.
-
port of the Professor Ndi-Okereke-Onyiuke team would be said to have been as good as deserving the credit that goes with the banking sector reform successes. Her ability to have developed an Exchange with nearly N14 trillion capitalization was the main impetus for the entire breakthrough
was believed to have created an opportunity for the NSE to be praised for supporting the economy in special measures and creating new directions for new managers in many other strategic institutions of government.
A strategic industry publication on the historic consolidation has also indicated
asking Nigerians to choose investment in shares instead of investment in luxury acquisitions and leisure trips and other unnecessary social
equity investors in banks were better because their share prices were so swift and values were of them to recoup their initial investments before the bubble burst in the capital market. Because the Nigerian capital market then was happening at the global front right from the onset and were quick with hedges and but the market remained appreciated by the numerous investors.
Looking at the Nigerian Exchange Limited
an income can only be made if it leverages the interest. Nigerians generally believe that the
indications that new ideas could be generated to seize the moments and help banks meet their case maybe.
be as a result of the current economic down-turn but the instability that has bugged the institu-
resulted to a weird and skewed demutualization that has not really produced the essence of subterfuge in the market. Nigerians deserve a capital market that will leverage existentialism instead of looking for new ideas from people and places that do not harbor any.
Cardoso
Okereke-Onyuike
Despite the challenges she faced upon assuming her role as Minister of Tourism, Lola AdeJohn, with her background in technology and banking, is determined not to rest on her laurels. She shares with Vanessa Obioha her mission to promote Nigeria through its inspiring stories, cultural heritage and abundant natural resources.
BY:
History is a tourism asset we need to explore
When Mrs Lola AdeJohn was announced as a nominee for a ministerial position by President Bola Tinubu’s administration last year, many expected her to be considered for a role in technology given her extensive career in banking and information technology. However, on August 16, 2023, she was appointed Minister of Tourism. Ade-John recalled watching TV when the news broke.
“I was happy because the pressure died down, but another set of pressure started,” she said on a rainy morning at a private location in Lekki. Dressed in a colourful midi dress with balloon sleeves matched with a pair of medicated glasses, Ade-John exuded confidence, purpose and bluntness with a tinge of humour. She did not shy away from discussing her health challenges upon resuming office, debunking speculation that she had been poisoned.
“I did not know what was wrong with me. I wasn’t the only one who ate the meal I bought so it could not have been poison.”
Upon assuming office, Ade-John realised that tourism is quite different from what most people thought. As someone who travelled mostly for leisure or business, she discovered that tourism is more than just an entertainment affair.
“People mostly look at tourism more from the entertainment business but there is a lot that goes into it before one can say the country is ready for tourism,” she said.
“Part of our job is to get people to attend these concerts or festivals but how do we measure attendance? We are not yet a digital economy so it’s difficult to gather data on attendance,” she continued.
The lack of data posed a big challenge for the minister.
“Where is the data? What are we measuring? How do we monitor? Those things don’t exist,” she said, stating that she went to the National Bureau of Statistics which is slightly different from that of tourism.
Leveraging her expertise in technology, having worked as a systems analyst in the oil and banking sectors and founded Novateur Business Technology Consultants, Ade-John has embarked on building a database and a website for the ministry.
“There is nothing on the web that is endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism. What that means is that there is nothing really to showcase Nigeria to the world. Yes, you have the embassies but they also have their websites. We want to have our own website and then link to other websites like the U.K. government did.”
Ade-John envisions this website as a comprehensive resource about Nigeria, covering everything from the states and the people to the food, festivals, activities, and other interesting places to visit.
She revealed plans to introduce digital tours.
“Especially for our children abroad,” she said. “Through virtual reality, you can travel to places as far as Obudu Ranch and immerse yourself in the beautiful landscape and nature. Do you know they have gorillas there? We are working with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation to see what we can do.”
Funding continues to pose a significant challenge for the ministry, affecting many of the plans laid out by the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) in the past seven years. However, Ade-John remains undeterred, drawing from her banking experience where “you just have to get
things done,” she said. “I’m used to getting things done. Sometimes it can be unconventional, other times it can be straightforward.”
So far, she has been meeting with potential investors and advocating for a tourism development fund to be negotiated with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
“People that pay for tickets and all that, they need to find a way of separating tourism taxes, and these come directly to the agency or ministry. These can be used to develop and advertise assets,” she explained.
In the past few months, Ade-John has been up and about, going about her duties with vigour. A week before we met, she was at the United Nations Tourism Executive Council 121st meeting where she represented Nigeria and expressed the country’s readiness to contribute to the global tourism agenda. She has also been touring heritage sites and other destinations across the country that would attract tourists and investors, significantly contributing to the country’s GDP.
Her main focus, she said, is domestic tourism.
“We are trying to get investors to use these communities to run these cultural assets.”
Currently, the minister revealed that Ikogosi Warm Spring in Ekiti and Obudu Ranch in Cross River have already taken off the revitalisation process to attract more tourists.
“We are also looking at investors for building desert safaris, Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi, Mambilla Plateau in Taraba. We have identified at least the top 20 destinations in the country.
“Nigeria is such a beautiful place. We are blessed with hardworking, intelligent people and vast natural resources. The only thing we don’t have is snow.”
Beyond identifying these destinations, Ade-John stressed the importance of infrastructural
development in accessing these places. From good roads to flights and electricity, these will, in turn, bring development to the community.
“Obudu, for instance, is right up on the mountains. They are building an international airport there and this will help develop other smaller industries such as transportation and commerce. Even though some believe that having an international airport there will not be beneficial, I think otherwise.”
Tourism has a lot to do with culture. Ade-John believes that local communities can benefit from tourism by selling stories about the place and the people.
“We sell the culture. We talk about stories and we sell stories, and these are accompanied by souvenirs that also tell stories.”
Having toured most parts of the country, a major concern for Ade-John is the cleanliness of our environment.
“People dump dirt in water, by the roadside, everywhere. So how do you want to attract people to come to your community if it is dirty? We do not take care of our assets” she said.
“In the villages and other rural communities, it’s not even about hotels, one can rent out a room. A room can be cleaned up and have mosquito nets to prevent mosquitoes. The villagers can cook good meals, and entertain you. That will give them a good experience.”
To this effect, the minister launched ‘Doctrine According to Tourism,’ a nationwide campaign that seeks to empower local communities with the knowledge and tools needed to embrace tourism as a catalyst for economic growth and cultural preservation. Through workshops, awareness campaigns, and community consultations, the campaign will actively involve local communities, indigenous groups, and marginalised populations, promoting meaningful engagement and empowerment to ensure everyone has a stake in Nigeria’s
tourism development.
“More importantly, it is about teaching the people our values and we are working with the National Orientation Agency (NOA).”
Understanding that tourism is associated with other sectors such as health, education, immigration, information, technology, aviation, transportation and so on, AdeJohn is often faced with challenges affecting these sectors. For instance, the high cost of a Nigerian visa continues to dissuade tourists from visiting the country. On the other side, she strongly believes that the proposed coastal highway will open up economic opportunities for Nigeria.
“The coastline starts from Senegal all the way to Cameroon. Imagine the traffic. Some potential investors are already showing interest in building resorts. Nigerians are not good at leisure tourism, it is only in Lagos that we have such.”
Another tourism asset not yet explored by the country according to Ade-John is history.
“History is a tourism asset. We have museums that house some of the relics of the 1976 coup and even the Biafran war but we do not showcase or take care of them”.
She however acknowledged the Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja for their work in preserving the nation’s history.
Part of her plans for the ministry is to ensure that tourism and history are taught in primary schools.
“The children need to know our history; that’s what tour operators live on. They live on our stories. If you go to Egypt, they sell their stories to you. Be it papyrus paper or pyramids. They sell stories. We want to sell Nigerian stories.”
In the hospitality sector, Ade-John is keen on ensuring that the hotels are properly classified and meet international standards.
“When you say a hotel is five-star in Nigeria, it should be five-star in other parts of the world. We are doing a reclassification, even for street food vendors. We want to ensure that the food is healthy for consumption.”
Even though her portfolio is not entirely familiar to her, Ade-John is getting herself acquainted with the people who have been moving the tourism sector forward. People like Ikechi Uko, the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market (AFTM) are helping her in showcasing the hidden treasures that can sell Nigeria to the world.
“We want to show the country to the right people by promoting these events that celebrate nature and wildlife.”
A major milestone for Ade-John is to get the federal government to prioritise tourism and its potential to boost not only the image of the country but contribute to the GDP. She recently resuscitated the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) which includes stakeholder ministries and state governments. This, she said, will provide strategic direction and oversight for tourism development in Nigeria. The council will ensure that tourism policies are well-coordinated and effectively implemented across all levels of government. The ministry has also commenced the review of the National Policy on Tourism and Hospitality with over 100 experts partaking in the exercise.
Touring the country has helped Ade-John discover interesting places such as the hidden tunnel in Epe attributed to the Queen of Sheba, the Koma heritage site in Adamawa, the mountains in Ekiti for hiking, and the King Kosoko Memorial Museum on Lagos Island.
“These little treasures are all about stories and we have to sell them.”
By promoting these treasures, AdeJohn believes that Nigeria could become a leading global destination by the time she concludes her tenure in office.
Ade-John
Photo: Sunday Adigun
...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous
Ajibola Basiru: A Rising Figure in Osun Politics
In the politics of Osun State, as in everywhere else in Nigeria, achieving and maintaining popularity is no small feat.
Ajibola Basiru, however, has managed to carve out a prominent position as the most visible face of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Under the leadership of Governor Ademola Adeleke, Osun has experienced a blend of achievements and challenges. Even though there have been commendable strides in certain areas, the administration has also faced criticism and scrutiny over various policies and governance issues. This mixed record has provided fertile ground for Basiru to assert himself as a formidable critic of the Adeleke-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.
Basiru’s rise to prominence is anchored by his extensive political background. As a former commissioner under the two-term administration of Rauf Aregbesola and later as a senator, the lawyer has garnered significant experience and insight into state governance. This is especially so given his tenure as National Secretary of the APC, further solidifying his influence within the party and across Osun’s political landscape.
Looking forward, Basiru’s name has increasingly surfaced as a potential candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election in Osun. In the eyes of political experts and commoners, Basiru is seen not only as a critic but also as a potential leader who could steer Osun in a new direction, should he choose to contest the governorship.
Clearly, the prospects of Basiru’s candidacy hinge not only on his political acumen but also on his boldness in challenging the status quo and advocating for change. His supporters believe that his courage and foresight are precisely what Osun needs to address its current challenges and propel the state towards greater development.
Paddy Adenuga: Chip Off the Old Block at 40
The adage “Like father, like son,” holds true for Paddy Adenuga, son of billionaire businessman Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. As he celebrates his 40th birthday, it is evident that he embodies the formidable legacy of his father, the best of the latter.
Dr. Adenuga, one of Africa’s wealthiest individuals, is renowned for his vast business empire, including telecoms giant, GLO and ConOil. Over the years, his entrepreneurial spirit, strategic acumen, and relentless drive have only reinforced his status as a titan in the business world. To date, Adenuga’s story is one of vision, determination, and unparalleled success. Thus, the question arises: Has Paddy inherited his father’s remarkable traits?
Born on June 21, 1984, in London, England, Paddy’s life has been a journey of ambition, intelligence, and resilience. From his early education in Nigeria to his academic achievements in the United States, Paddy’s path blends cultural experiences with exceptional intellect.
The younger Adenuga’s business interests are as diverse as they are impressive. At just 13,
he began studying Business Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, later transferring to Northeastern University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management at 18. Critics usually attribute this early
Bola Tinubu: Best Head with Most Fitting Cap
Leadership roles can often be transient, subject to the ebb and flow of political and economic tides. President Bola Tinubu is already one year into his term as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a position he assumed amid widespread acclaim.
In 2023, President Tinubu was unanimously selected to lead ECOWAS during the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. This unanimous endorsement showed how much trust and confidence his peers placed in his leadership capabilities. Tinubu, representing Nigeria, is committed to running an inclusive administration and addressing the pressing security and economic issues facing the region.
Since his appointment, Tinubu has consistently advocated for unity and progress within the region. He has focused on harmonising security frameworks to combat
terrorism and insecurity, promoting political stability, and enhancing regional economic integration. Tinubu’s leadership has been marked by efforts to mobilise resources and political will to implement regional initiatives aimed at fostering peace and development.
As Tinubu’s term nears its end, his chances of remaining ECOWAS Chairman have been bolstered by the apparent disinterest of Senegalese leader Diomaye Faye in taking over the role. This has fueled speculation that Tinubu might continue to steer the regional body, especially given the trust he has garnered from his counterparts.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s economic situation under Tinubu’s presidency has experienced fluctuations. With strong fiscal and monetary reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies and changes in central bank policies, the man has ignited both economic growth and challenges.
But, despite these ups and downs, experts remain optimistic about Nigeria’s economic prospects. After all, Tinubu’s decisive policy
exposure to business education to Paddy’s subsequent successes.
From 2002 to 2006, Paddy held significant roles in the family’s conglomerate, particularly in GLO and ConOil. His leadership saw substantial growth and innovation. In 2006, he ventured into the oil sector independently, cofounding Cayne & Cayne in London, which brokered petroleum products for Nigerian firms.
Since 2012, Paddy has only deepened his efforts to diversify his business interests. As Principal Director of The Catalan Corporation, he focused on oil and gas investment and consultancy until 2015. In 2016, he founded Pegasus Capital Investments Limited, focusing on food and beverage investments in the UK and the Netherlands.
As Paddy turns 40, there is a sense of anticipation about what the future holds for him. Just like his father, Paddy is expected to carve out a long-lasting legacy. Thus, the next decade promises to be even more exciting as Paddy continues to build on his impressive foundation and make his mark on the global stage.
measures are just the foundation for long-term stability and growth.
If Tinubu is performing well domestically, his potential to positively impact the broader West African region is promising. His proven track record at home suggests he could effectively lead ECOWAS towards greater stability, economic integration, and democratic governance.
The Rise and Rise of Jadesimi: Transforming Nigeria’s Oil Industry
Nigeria has long been a magnet for investment and innovation. This sector’s allure is not only in its capacity to generate immense wealth but also in its potential to drive national economic growth and development. No wonder someone as lowkey as Chief Oladipo “Ladi” Jadesimi continues to
stand out as a leading figure transforming the landscape through his strategic leadership of Aradel Holdings.
Aradel Holdings, under Jadesimi’s stewardship, recently announced a robust 36 per cent increase in crude oil production, reaching 13,250 barrels per day during the first quarter of 2024. This remarkable growth is mirrored in the company’s gas production, which rose by 36 per cent to 36.8 million standard cubic feet per day, resulting in Q1 revenues soaring 90 per cent year-over-year and profit before tax up by 62 per cent.
The impressive performance of Aradel Holdings can be traced back to a series of strategic initiatives launched in 2022, coupled with new measures implemented in 2023. As one would expect, Jadesimi is behind these measures, guided by the seasoned wisdom of its Board and the dedication of Aradel’s
Seinye Lulu-Briggs Elevated to High Chief Status in Rivers
Human brilliance knows no bounds, transcending gender, and manifesting in those who dare to uplift others with their vision and compassion. Such is the case with Dr. Seinye Lulu-Briggs, whose tireless efforts to improve lives have earned her a new and esteemed status.
Recently, Dr. Lulu-Briggs, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the O.B. LuluBriggs Foundation, was honoured with the prestigious chieftaincy title of Ununwe Gwoduma Emene of Ekpeye Land by Eze Ekpeye Logbo III, His Imperial Majesty Sir Kelvin Anugwo. Translating to “The Woman that Heals Ekpeye People,” this title was
conferred in recognition of her significant contributions to the development and well-being of the Ekpeye Kingdom. The title of Ununwe Gwoduma Emene comes with great honour and responsibility. But it is just right for LuluBriggs, considering both her corporate achievements and philanthropic gestures. In terms of corporate (ad)ventures, Lulu-Briggs has big names like Moni Pulo Limited (MPL), a pioneer indigenous oil and gas exploration and production company in Nigeria, under her belt. She was instrumental in acquiring and signing the Production Sharing Contracts with the
Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), which is why she is currently leading MPL’s gas commercialisation project to bring over 1 TCF proven gas reserves to market.
workforce.
The surge in Aradel Holdings’ production and financial metrics significantly boosts Jadesimi’s wealth, influence, and status within the oil industry and beyond. Moreover, the successful re-entry of Well 2ST in the Omerelu Field and subsequent inaugural oil production in May 2024 exemplifies his strategic foresight and operational acumen. However, despite his significant achievements, Jadesimi maintains a relatively low profile, focusing on delivering tangible results rather than seeking the spotlight.
Ultimately, Jadesimi’s leadership of Aradel Holdings has not only boosted the company’s production and financial performance but also cemented his status as a key figure in Nigeria’s oil industry. Unsurprisingly, as Jadesimi continues to steer Aradel Holdings towards further achievements, his legacy in the oil industry continues to rise.
Beyond corporate achievements, Lulu-Briggs is the Founder/Chairman of the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, a leading Nigerian NGO dedicated to enhancing the well-being of underserved communities. The foundation focuses on elder care, health, education, economic empowerment, water and sanitation, agriculture, and humanitarian services. An ordained minister, she also leads worship at the non-denominational Chapel of God International Worship Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Lulu-Briggs
Adenuga
Tinubu
Jadesimi
When Asue Ighodalo Engaged Edo People in Italy
My new friend, Dr Kunle Alonge, not really knowing who I am, often argues that I shouldn’t be taking sides. I look the man and ask am simple question - wetin concern you? I am opinionated and I really do not know how to sit on the fence on issues. This Edo own, I have taken a very strong position with Asue and unapologetically so. Olu Akpata is my friend. In fact, I am even closer to him than Asue but as a stakeholder in Edo – my third wife na Edo, my daughter Annette is 50% Edo – I must go beyond emotions.
After a major assessment of both candidates – only the two of them make sense in that Edo election, the rest are just comedians – I have come down in support of Asue Ighodalo. I will beg Olu after and I am sure he will understand.
In my many writings, I have stated why I am
MINISTER UJU KENNEDY: PANTOMIME IN MOTION
Mbok, where did they go and pick this lady from o? Seeing her speak and engage, you will not think too far to understand her role in politics. This one is a major mobiliser. You know those barely literate women leaders you find in the grassroots who mobilise women towards any candidate that meets their usual pecuniary demands.
I used to see them when I played the politics of NRC during the June 12 elections. Once they enter meeting, the whole place will erupt in shouts – mama di mama, mummy of Africa, mummyyyyyy waaaaaaa, our mummy – and she in turn will hail them back, drop drinks and scatter the place with money. She is usually the bridge between party leaders and the women. She is the one they would send to Abuja and she would return with goodies and make sure everything is shared equally. She is usually very powerful as she is the go-to person to catch all market women, female students, prostitutes, and any female grouping a party needs. It is that one that they have given the Minister of the Federal Republic o.
The crass roughness is still very apparent, the uncouth nature of her engagements and the lack of aptitude in grasping the issues that concern her ministry are so visible. From threatening to sue the United Nations to rushing to a school where a girl was slapped the way Sanwo-Olu usually rushes to a major fire disaster, all you see is a badly produced pantomime that elicits pity instead of laughter. What is leading to all these small yabis I have yabbed mummy this morning is that Arise TV show she went to attend.
Dr Abati asked her to name the six states in which she was launching a project and, in an attempt to answer, mummy stuck. She named two and started stammering, and as they usually do, turned it to aggression –look I don’t have to know all six… Mummy, you have to know abeg! Can we just get this cabinet reshuffle going abeg? Can’t wait. Kai.
RUEBEN ABATI: MAN IN PINK
Since I started my podcast, I have had some very brilliant guests. From Ruth Osime, through to Dele Momodu and Pastor Ituah Ighodalo who prophesied that I would soon climb the pulpit, and my brother Tonye Cole, have all sat on the green couch with me to discuss all sorts. From masturbation to bullying, to Tinubu, to Michael Jackson and much more have all been discussed.
That was how it was the turn of the erudite Dr. Rueben Abati. Dr. Abati seems to have achieved a national resurgence since he paired up with my brother Rufai Oseni at Arise TV. He has more than most shown that depth and clarity on issues make for very thorough engagement hence his immense popularity amongst Nigerians.
That was how I saw Baba walking towards me o. I first didn’t recognise him o. I thought it was Professor Peller, the late great magician headed towards me that Sunday evening. He was in a pink suit and red bowtie and Gandhi glasses. I asked my driver, “Who be this one wey dey come so?” My driver replied, “I know am o, na landlord of one of these houses as he carry purse for him hand.” I said ok ooo.
But as he walked closer, I recognised him o. I screamed: My lord. It was Dr. Abati the Great. He had squeezed me in as he was almost due for another of his massively popular programmes on Arise TV.
The talk was excellent, even though he appeared shy and uncomfortable.
The tables had turned; this was me asking him questions and not him doing the asking. From polygamy to Ogun Politics to social media irritants and even his professional trajectory starting from him as a student writing ‘letters to the editor’ at the beginning of one of Nigeria’s most brilliant media careers.
As he got more comfortable, he opened up. Come and see facts, historical data and super powerful analysis of issues and that was me just sitting down there with my mouth open, dreadlocks cascading
standing with Asue so I will not bore you guys with any repetition and moreover, my hand is paining me this morning, so no power to type plenty English.
Anyway, the gist I want to give you guys is the manner Asue took Italy. The man made a whistle-stop visit to that European country to meet with Edo stakeholders, and I tell you from reports that I have seen, Asue won much more than enough hearts.
The outpouring of love, the passion with which he spoke, the clarity of his thought and the powerful understanding of what is required to take the state to the next level.
From what I have seen in those clips and feedback from that trip, I am beginning to envy Edo State. What is remaining now is for us to do the needful and Edo will be blessed with superior leadership, and from there good governance will take root and begin to spread all over the nation.Let’s keep our fingers really crossed.
down my head and my legs shaking at such powerful intellect.
I had fun that day o and will surely interview Dr. Abati again, he was simply just brilliant.
LET’S PRAY FOR MUHAMMAD SA’AD ABUBAKAR III
My dear Sultan, these are very perilous times for this your community. From Kano to Benin and now Sokoto, politicians are disparaging our heritage, wrecking centuries-old traditions and institutions all for selfish and personal reasons. They do not care that their tenures are limited and short; they just move in and scatter things just like that.
See Kano. That Ganduje just scattered centuries-old structures just because he had only four years to be governor. Today, we are now seeing two Emirs in Kano. On your own side, the governor I heard just sacked 15 traditional rulers, attempting to change the rules on appointments of kingmakers and other such things that would really weaken your position.
My own is that, as long as he doesn’t remove your powers of sighting the moon and end fasting, I will not enter the fight. As a man with Muslim friends, I used to look forward to your sighting the moon because of the ram that used to come with it. Let them not just go and appoint one mumu with cataract in his eyes and will not be seeing moon o. But seriously, the traditional institutions must be preserved. They must be separated from politics so that their ethos will not be desecrated.
The traditional institutions have been weakened with the appointment of “funny” people as rulers, giving the politicians the power to mess up the system.
The Sultan of Sokoto is a highly revered position, the man holding the title is also a very well respected individual and as such the Sultanate cannot and must not be allowed to be a toy in the hands of a cockerel who most likely rigged his way in. Everything must be done to protect and preserve our traditional institutions from these ‘Nechromisers’ we call politicians. Na wa
Ighodalo
Abati
Kennedy
Sultan Abubakar
For Top Oil Player, Aisha Achimugu, Humanity Comes First
Most billionaires have vanities. Some pump their money into bizarre projects while others simply care about leaving lasting legacies. Both serve a symbolic purpose for these wealthy individuals.
Aside from a few flashes of trappings of wealth though, Nigerian business magnate, Aisha Achimugu seems to be one billionaire not too keen about luxury. As much as she loves a good life, Achimugu cares about social interventions.
A source revealed that the top player in the oil sector’s love for humanity is out of this world, as she has vowed to live all her life for the service of humankind.
She seems to eat and breathe kindness. The business mogul is a quiet, humble woman who does a lot for Nigeria without noise and fanfare.
The mother of three could pass, arguably, as Nigeria’s most charitable billionaire as her flame of philanthropy appears inextinguishable.
Last Tuesday, she displayed her fellow feeling when she doled out several millions of naira at an event in Abuja. As revealed to Society Watch by a source, the oil baron was at an event organised by Global Initiative For Peace, Love and Care for Julius Rone’s 50th birthday in Abuja.
It was organised to raise money for the less privileged who require money for different kinds of surgeries. Achimugu donated N20 million at the event in support of the cause. Achimugu also gave out One Million Naira to a seven-year-old violin player. The source revealed that the brilliant woman was impressed with the girl’s talent. This, as we gathered, was met with deafening applause.
As the 2024 gubernatorial election in Ondo State approaches, the political arena is abuzz with stories. Without a doubt, the leading candidate is Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the current governor of the state, who is running on the platform of the APC. True to his fortuitous names, Aiyedatiwa has proven himself remarkably a lucky man, astute and adept politician, assembling a team that not only builds upon the successes of his predecessor, the late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu but also boasts a surprising and high-profile cadre of additions.
At the forefront of this exceptional ensemble stands Dr. Olayide Adelami, a seasoned administrator who is his deputy. He is also his running-mate in the forthcoming election. Hailing from Owo, the hometown of the late Governor Akeredolu, Adelami’s wealth of experience, as an administrator, philanthropist, and politician, lends an invaluable depth of institutional knowledge to the cabinet.
Complementing the Aiyedatiwa team is Tayo Oluwatuyi, an esteemed aristocrat from Akure, the state capital, who assumes the pivotal role of Secretary to the State Government. He served as Akeredolu’s SSG in his first term and has been a council boss and Commissioner of Natural Resources.
Another highlight of this impressive line-up is the inclusion of Lady Omowunmi Isaac, a UK-based investment banker and accomplished accountant. Lady Isaac is a Nigerian politician and professional accountant who serves as the Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State.
The crown jewel of Aiyedatiwa’s cabinet master stroke is undoubtedly the appointment of Olukayode Ajulo, as the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. Ajulo, a renowned lawyer with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is the founder of Castle of Law firm, with a formidable presence in Abuja and several other countries.
Ajulo’s client list reads like a veritable who’s who of Nigeria’s elite. His deep-rooted connections span not only the governmental agencies but also the business, political and traditional institutions, a testament to his remarkable influence and reach.
Ajulo’s reputation as the “Mr. Fix-It” in Abuja’s political circles, having represented various political parties and played a prominent role in the National Intra-Party Advisory Council, further solidifies his status as a versatile and well-connected power-broker. It’s on note that without holding a public office, President Buhari conferred a national honours, Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) on him.
With this star-studded cabinet, Governor Aiyedatiwa has positioned himself as a savvy political maestro, unafraid to leverage the brightest and most influential minds to secure a successful term.
It was a moment of sober reflection recently when friends and family members of the late billionaire businessman and the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Arisekola Alao, gathered to offer prayers for him, 10 years after his transition. His hometown Oluwo-Nla, Ibadan, Oyo State, was filled with clerics, friends, and family members who all participated in the special prayers for the business mogul who passed away in the UK, in June 2014, at the age of 69.
However, as revealed by a source, 10 years after his death, the family members are yet to sheath their swords, as the gulf created in the family by his death continues to expand. No doubt, the late Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, was powerful and influential during his lifetime. In his 20s, the Oyo State-born industrialist had established a chain of businesses under the Lister conglomerate, which cut across food production, real estate management, insurance, transport and publishing. He was well-loved by many and musicians sang his praise to high heavens due to his magnanimity.
But as soon as the man of means and honour died in 2014, trouble began to rear its ugly head in his once peaceful household. His properties, which were a big attraction then, began to suffer neglect. His most cherished mansion in his hometown, where he had played host to presidents, heads of state, governors, ministers as well as many prominent people, is now a shadow of itself.
“The expansive estate has lost its former glory as rodents have taken over the place.
Pastor Umo Eno’s Giant Strides
Pastor Umo Eno, Governor of Akwa Ibom State, is not a greenhorn in the political circle in the state. He had contributed to the development of the state in various capacities before providence found him worthy to govern the state after winning the election in February 2023.
To the chagrin of those who never believed in his capacity to deliver on his campaign promises, they have refused to commend him for his laudable strides in building the state to an enviable height.
Following the teachings of the Bible, Eno was never caught in the web of casting aspersions on opposition leaders or parties like some of his peers do. Instead, he has continued to consolidate his ability to bring everyone together under the umbrella of peace and development, regardless of their party affiliation.
This, it was gathered, has further made him a delight of many who are ready to collaborate with him for the development of the oil-rich state.
As a man of God, he has ruled with the fear of God. He also works, hoping to be held accountable for his actions, a virtue that has seen
him deliver on his promises tremendously well.
Shortly after he was sworn in, he hit the ground running by telling those who cared to listen that he is in government house for serious work and not frivolities.
Eno disclosed that rather than chase many rats and lose all of them; he would rather focus on key areas incorporated in the Arise Agenda that will make the state an envy of others. He chose economic/industrial advancement and wealth creation, security management, sound educational and health sector management, infrastructural maintenance advancement and ICT development, rural development women and youth empowerment, agriculture revolution, tourism, sports/social development and environmental management, among others.
With his numerous achievements within one year, Akwa Ibomites have passed a vote of confidence on him to deliver more in the next year by touching almost all the local government areas with critical infrastructure projects, all aimed at developing the state.
With the reward for good work being more work, Eno is not relenting in bringing his repertoire of knowledge into play in enhancing
In a bold move to uplift and empower Nigerian women, Layal Jade-Tinubu, cofounder of Noella Foundation and CEO of Tots Toys, has unveiled an impressive N40 million initiative aimed at empowering young women in enterprise.
This bold move is set to transform lives, shatter glass ceilings, and inspire a brighter future for generations to come. Layal, wife of Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, is dedicated to driving positive change in Nigeria. Through the Noella Foundation, she aims to empower women to start, sustain, and scale their businesses. To achieve this, an Empowerment Fund of N40 million will be dispersed amongst 14 beneficiaries on June 29, 2024.
Noella Foundation, founded in 2018 by
The building is not only dirty but also in total disrepair,’’ a source disclosed.
Our source further revealed that the reason for the abandonment of this expansive building and many others is not unconnected to the controversy that arose over his vast estate barely a year after he passed on. His Will, which was certified by the Oyo State High Court of Justice in August 2013, was reportedly administered a couple of days after his burial last year by Dr. Oba Otudeko. The properties were shared among his 32 children, three wives, three relations as well as some individuals.
Sources close to the family claim that credit institutions that granted Arisekola funds are literally on the neck of the family, owing to his inability to offset the debts before his passing in 2104. Although the majority of these properties have been inherited by children and families, as stated in his Will, it was gathered that the banks are set to take possession of the properties from their new landlords in order to offset the credit facilities.
Nigeria.
Layal and Seyi Tinubu, has made significant strides in improving the lives of children and young people across Nigeria.
With Layal at the helm, the Noella Foundation is poised to address evolving challenges and continue making a positive impact in the lives of marginalised communities. Her commitment to social change and international partnerships will undoubtedly bring a refreshing perspective to the foundation’s work.
The ‘Be Empowered’ initiative is a testament to Layal’s dedication to uplifting Nigerian women and creating a brighter future for all. As the foundation embarks on this new chapter, we celebrate the potential for positive change and the impact that Layal Tinubu and Noella Foundation will continue to make.
Achimugu
Arisekola
Aiyedatiwa
Eno
an Akwa-Ibom that will stand out as one of the best states in
Behind the Veil of Forms
Raji Bamidele, whose solo exhibition recently opened in Lagos, echoes the success story of a generation of young artists through corporate support. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports
Bamidele explaining the concept behind his works to his guests
Bamidele with a cross-section of guests including the Absa Nigeria's chairman, Dotun Sulaiman
Challenging Barriers to Girls’ Education
Bukola Oyinloye, Faith Mkwananzi and Patience Mukwambo
Education systems foster equity when they intentionally create equal opportunities and provide equitable resources for all learners, regardless of their personal characteristics or background. They move beyond equity and towards inclusion when they recognise and address the diverse experiences and needs of different types of learners and foster their wellbeing (OECD, 2023), while they also provide quality when they are equitable, inclusive and attuned to the attitudes, norms and power dynamics that influence girls’ education.
However, despite significant progress in improving girls’ access to education, challenges remain around the quality of the education girls receive once they secure access (Unterhalter et al., 2014; Sperling and Winthrop, 2016; UNESCO 2020; Psaki et al., 2021, 2022).Addressing constraints in relation to girls’ education therefore remains a priority for governments and development actors globally. However, to do this successfully it is essential that there is a thorough understanding of the intrinsic, pedagogic, systemic and societal barriers that girls face in accessing equitable, inclusive, quality education (British Council, 2017).
Drawing from the British Council’s work in Africa, including research conducted with teachers and school leaders in Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria and Tanzania and a stakeholders’ report from Kenya, this chapter aims to contribute to that understanding. It outlines the key barriers to equitable, inclusive, quality education in four key areas that influence children’s development and learning: the classroom; the school environment; households and communities; and the policy and legal environment.
Key Findings
Inclusive classrooms
Inclusive classrooms provide positive intellectual, social, emotional and physical spaces for children to learn (Ambrose et al., 2010). They are characterised by supportive pedagogy and classroom management, with teachers avoiding gender stereotyping in their actions and stereotypes removed from the curriculum and learning materials. Evidence from the research in Africa suggests that teachers have mixed
views about the creation of inclusive classrooms.
Most wanted to have an inclusive classroom and sought to create an inclusive atmosphere; however, some were unable to do so because their own attitudes and beliefs unconsciously reinforced gender stereotypes or because they lacked resources to enable different teaching and assessment practices.
Inclusive school environment
Inclusive schools promote gender parity in enrolment and achievement, eliminate gender stereotypes and provide girl-friendly facilities, curricula and processes (Sperling and Winthrop, 2016). This includes specific practices such as providing girl-friendly spaces, adequate hygiene and sanitation, support for menstrual hygiene management, sex and life skills education, adequate childcare arrangements for teenage mothers and initiatives to address school affordability. The research evidence suggests that teachers and head teachers value the provision of environments like these, but often this does not translate into practice. Generally, teachers and head teachers were unaware of government sexual and gender-based violence guidelines and there was little training in gender mainstreaming. Budget was limited for provision such as girls’ sport and toilet facilities, while school documents rarely contained explicit gender equality statements. Teachers, head teachers and students all knew about school-related, gender-based violence, but there were limited mechanisms, such as safeguarding, in place to address it.
Inclusive households and communities
Inclusive households and communities hold supportive attitudes and cultural practices around girls’ education and make educational decisions that advantage girls. The research evidence reveals that girls’ schooling is constrained by a combination of intersectional challenges
relating to poverty and cultural perspectives and practices, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. High poverty levels meant a lack of money for school fees, uniforms, school supplies and, in extreme cases, hunger and famine. Sometimes, girls supplemented family incomes through hawking and petty businesses. Specific to rural and semi-urban areas were cultural perceptions that girls’ education is of less value than that of boys, parental neglect and child marriages. These challenges resulted in absenteeism and lower completion rates for girls.
Inclusive policy and legal environments
Legislation underpins frameworks for inclusive systems (UNESCO, 2017), while policies attempt to guide what happens in classrooms, schools, households and communities. The research evidence highlights the existence of legislation and policy demonstrating the importance of supporting girls’ education in the classroom (e.g. in relation to gender discrimination), the school environment (e.g. physical safety) and households and communities (e.g. culture, safety). However, the findings suggest that, although considered important, the creation of inclusive schools and girl-friendly spaces is hampered by a lack of knowledge, resources and, in some cases, policies.
Recommendations
Clarifying understanding
Evidence of mixed perceptions of inclusive practices suggests limited understanding among educators of terminology used in relation to girls’ education and inclusion, which in turn highlights limited training around gender and education. There is a need for greater clarity in the way gender and education are discussed in policy documents, guidelines and documents by international development actors. Relevant classroom or school-level examples of what specific terms mean in practice should be included in such documents.
Collective reflection on gender and education
The findings highlight the challenges teachers and school head teachers face when creating inclusive school environments, not least because teachers are often working on their own. Collective reflections around gender
and education should be mainstreamed at the school level, into everyday conversations between teachers (both female and male) and school head teachers, as well as with communities. This will show teachers that the work they are doing is part of a collective action, potentially encouraging them to persist with their efforts. The integration of gender and education issues into school policies and codes of conduct could also help address schoolrelated, gender-based violence, the elimination of which increases girls’ participation rates and enrolment (Sperling and Winthrop, 2016). In contexts where children undertake paid work or have family responsibilities, flexible learning schedules can encourage girls’ enrolment.
Providing training and support on policies
Evidence suggests limited knowledge and understanding of existing national policies and limited school-level implementation. For new policies or updates to existing policies, governments should provide training for school head teachers and, where possible, teachers, who can then sensitise other teachers at the school level. It is important that training is accompanied by adequate and relevant resources, as well as support on how best to apply these resources in a way that promotes inclusive, girl-friendly schools and classrooms. In contexts where school-level policies exist, these should be integrated with national policies.
Building strong school community relationships and partnerships
The findings highlight a range of household and community barriers to girls, including poverty, cultural practices and sexual and other forms of abuse, with some teachers attempting but failing to address issues on their own. Authentic, continuous engagement with communities will help schools to identify ways in which they can better support communities to address barriers to girls’ education. Developing relationships with trusted community leaders and working in partnership withthem to sensitise communities about practices that adversely affect girls’ education can help transform existing power dynamics that currently deprioritise girls’ education (GEC, 2023).
Until the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission exercise restraint or the president intervenes, the disagreement between the two agencies will continue to constitute an
embarrassment,
not only to the two organisations but to Nigeria, Wale Igbintade writes
The recent public spat between the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) over recruitment of police constables has again embarrassed the two organisations and also threatened federal government’s efforts to ensure an improved manpower for the Force.
Before now, the contention between the two agencies was on who has the powers to recruit police constables until the Supreme Court laid the dispute to rest by ruling in favour of the PSC.
However, the current trouble started when the NPF rejected the recent recruitment conducted by the PSC. The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, had in a statement argued that though the Supreme Court gave the PSC the power to recruit constables for the Force, it did not give it the power to recruit unqualified and untrained individuals. He alleged that the exercise was marred with corruption and irregularities.
The statement added that the rejection of the list by the Inspector General of Police (IG) followed a deluge of complaints from unsuccessful candidates and stakeholders over the disappearance of names of those who were screened and successful up to the final stage.
“Several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise,” he reportedly said.
Adejobi added that the list also contained names of candidates who had failed either the Computer-Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening, as well as those disqualified after being found medically unfit.
He argued that it is the police that would bear the brunt of the recruitment of unqualified individuals and not the PSC.
But the PSC challenged the NPF to provide evidence that the recruitment was tainted with corruption and irregularities.
The spokesperson of the commission, Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement demanded that its list of successful candidates and that of the police be subjected to a forensic audit using the result of the JAMB computer-based test.
The commission denied that the recruitment was marred with irregularities and asked
the police to provide evidence. It appealed to President Bola Tinubu to protect it and rein in the NPF to respect the constitutional mandate of the commission to recruit, noting that the Force was created to enforce the law and not to circumvent it in whatever guise. Ani also said the successful candidates should be allowed to proceed on training without delay.
Also, the PSC Staff Joint Union insisted that the recruitment process followed due process, stressing that the exercise aligned with the result of the CBT of JAMB.
The union insisted that the IG’s claim that the recruitment exercise was marred with irregularities and alleged corruption was diversionary.
In a statement jointly issued by Ogundeji Remi and Adoyi Adoyi, on behalf of the Joint Union Congress of the PSC, the union stated that despite the powers of the PSC as spelt out by the Constitution and the subsequent interpretation of such powers by the Supreme Court, the Nigeria Police Force would still not allow the commission exercise its constitutional powers to recruit persons into the police.
Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended,) states that PSC “Shall be responsible for the appointment and pro-
motion of persons to offices (other than the office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force; dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons (other than the IG) and formulate policies and guidelines for the appointment, promotion, discipline and dismissal of officers of the Nigeria Police Force.”
On the other hand, Section 18(1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, which was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari, states that: “The responsibility for the recruitment of constables into the Nigeria Police Force and recruitment of cadets into the Nigeria Police Academy shall be the duty of the InspectorGeneral of Police.”
This is not the first time the PSC and NPF would clash on the same issue. Since 2018 when President Buhari gave a nod for the recruitment of 60,000 police constables (10,000 each year), only less than this number have been recruited in the last four years due solely to the same disagreement.
When the approval was given in 2018, the arrangement was that 10,000 men each would be recruited in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, but the disagreement between the two organisations halted the exercise from 2019 until late last year when the issue was partially resolved.
POLITICAL NOTES
The commission had filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja, which was dismissed in December, 2019 for lack of merit.
But when it appealed the decision, the Court of Appeal agreed with its prayers and nullified the recruitment of 10,000 constables by the NPF. It held that the Police Act relied on by the IG “is null and void being in conflict with the constitutional powers vested in the Police Service Commission.”
The NPF consequently approached the Supreme Court, which on July 11, 2023, laid to rest the contentious issue. The apex court held that the PSC is statutorily mandated to recruit constables for the NPF.
But rather than coming together to find a way to work together, the two organisations have been working at cross purposes and bickering. Those sympathetic to the PSC believe that it was in bad faith for the NPF to come up with a new excuse to discredit the commission after the Supreme Court.
One of the reasons allegedly proffered by former US President Barack Obama for excluding Nigeria from his state visit to Africa was because of the weakness of the country’s institutions, which to Obama, put democracy in peril.
The current situation whereby the IG and the PSC are publicly throwing missiles at each other without restraint, will not augur well for the nation. It will embolden criminals and leave the rank and file demoralised. As is usual with every conflict of this nature, police officers who are deemed to be sympathetic to one faction against the other will suffer persecution while two giants fight. The fact that successive heads of the PSC, who were retired Police officers, have not resolved the dispute should be a pointer to the fact that it is entrenched and institutional.
The ball is in the court of President Bola Tinubu, and he should kick it in the right direction. This rivalry will not end until there is a definite action from the president.
The president, as the head of the Nigeria Police Council, appoints the IG who reports to him.
The president also appoints the Chairman of the PSC.
He should therefore set up a committee to harmonise the various issues agitating the parties to this conflict and implement a solution that is in accordance with the law and the Supreme Court’s decision.
Who is Afraid of the Sultan?
VicePresidentKashimShettimalastweekhinted at an alleged threat to the office of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, by the agents of the Sokoto State Government.
SpeakingattheNorth-westPeaceandSecurity Summit in Katsina State, Shettima told the state government that the Sultan is an institution that must be guarded and protected, adding that the Sultan goes beyond Sokoto as he represents an idea that belongs to the entire country.
BeforeShettimagavethisadvice,theExecutive Director of the Muslim Rights Council (MURIC), Prof. Isiaq Akintola, had raised the alarm that the SokotoStateGovernmentwasplanningtodepose the Sultan. He cited the removal of 15 traditional rulers for various offences by the state governor,
Ahmed Aliyu, in April.
But the state government, while responding to Shettima, denied any plan to dethrone the monarch, describing the allegation as false.
However, to confirm that there is no smoke without fire, the Sokoto State House of Assembly has passed thestateEmirateCouncilAmendmentBillthroughthe first and second reading.
The bill, if signed into law, would among others strip the Sultan of powers to appoint kingmakers and will alsostriptheSultanofpowerstoappointdistrictheads without government approval, among other things.
Though the state Commissioner for Information, Sambo Danchadi, had explained that the law guiding the appointment of traditional rulers in the state had notbeenchanged,thealarmraisedbythevicepresident
andMURICshowedthattherelationshipbetweentheSultan and the state government is not rosy.
A faceless group had accused the revered monarch of partisanshipduringthe2023generalelectionbuthadprovided no evidence to support the allegation.
Toavoidincessantmistrustsbetweenstategovernments andtraditionalrulersinthestates,itishightimetraditionalrulers insulated themselves from partisan politics and focused on their palace duties and other traditional roles, while the state governorsshouldconcentrateonprovidinggoodgovernance and dividends of democracy to the people. Frequent clashes between governors and traditional rulers are unnecessary.
This is why the Sokoto State Government should be circumspect and exercise restraint in dealing with issues concerning the Sultan, given his role as the influential head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
Abubakar
Argungu
Egbetokun
BRIEFING NOTES
Are Kidnappers Threatening the Peace of Lagos?
Following a recent abduction of Fouani brothers in Lagos, Ejiofor Alike writes that security agencies should maintain a red alert to avert further threat to the state, which serves as a sanctuary for people from all parts of the country and foreigners in the face of the nationwide insecurity
Lagos State, which is perceived to be largely insulated from the insecurity ravaging the country, recorded a major security breach recently when five individuals, including three Lebanese brothers from Fouani Nigeria Limited, a major distributor of electronics, were abducted on Friday, June 14.
The three Lebanese were Abbas Fouani; Youssef Fouani, and Amtal Fouani, while the other two victims were the boat driver and his assistant.
They were said to be travelling from Apapa to Victoria Island by boat when they were ambushed and abducted near Falomo Bridge and taken to an unknown destination by kidnappers who made a demand for $1.5 million ransom.
The boat carrying them was, however, recovered on the following day in the Ikorodu area of the state.
One month before the incident, the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transport of Nigeria (ATBOWATN) had called for more marine police officers to combat crimes on the Lagos State waterways.
The ATBOWATN President, Tarzan Balogun, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that with the security challenges in Nigeria, the waterways had become alternative routes of escape for criminals.
However, the Lagos State Police Command’s spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, later announced the rescue of the five victims after four days in captivity.
According to him, the brothers were rescued on a Monday night in Orugbo Iddo by men of the Marine Police.
“They were rescued late last night in Orugbo Iddo. Our marine police with the support of the Nigerian Navy brought them to shore,” Hundeyin reportedly said.
It was not clear if the $1.5 million ransom was paid by the families of the victims.
Though the incident was not the first kidnap case recorded in Lagos State, it shook the business community due to the wide publicity it enjoyed and the personalities involved.
In the past, billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans, had led a terror gang that collected ransoms in dollars in a lucrative
kidnap business in the state for more than five years.
It took the intervention of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Office of the Inspector General of Police (IG) for Evans to be arrested at his residence at No. 3, Fred Shogboyede Street, Magodo, Lagos on June 10, 2017.
However, due the fears Evans had instilled in his victims who were warned not to report to the police before or after regaining freedom, his criminal activities only became public knowledge after his arrest.
Before this latest kidnap incident, some residents of the state had raised the alarm over the spike in
cases of kidnappings in the state, especially around Alimosho and Amuwo Odofin Local Government Areas (LGAs).
However, these incidents did not enjoy wide publicity as they did not affect Very Important Personalities (VIPs).
For instance, a 13-year-old girl, Miracle Adereti, was kidnapped by an unknown gang in the Ikotun area on December 1, 2023 on her way home from school.
Her father, Segun Adereti, while lamenting the abduction of his daughter, was quoted as saying: “We have received threats warning us not to involve the police. But as a family, we are deeply distressed and have no choice but to seek help from law-enforcement agencies.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, had in March this year paraded suspected kidnappers.
Parading the suspects, the CP stated: “This is a case that deals with kidnapping, which happened on February 20, 2024, where three men, one in military uniform, accosted a young man and subsequently abducted him in a Honda Salon car and demanded ransom.
“The victim then transferred the sum of N400,000 to his abductors before he was released to another group who took him away in their Toyota Camry car, obtained him of his diamond earrings, gold earrings, Cartier wristwatch, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, and then demanded a ransom of N6.4million.
“Upon reporting the case, luckily, the victim was able to identify a young lady whom he saw pointing at him before the incident,” the CP added.
Earlier this year, there were also alleged incidents of abduction of men by terror gangs suspected to be homosexuals in the highbrow areas of Lekki and Banana Island.
In response to the growing incidence of kidnappings in the state, the police in April confirmed the arrest of nine members of a suspected kidnapping gang, terrorising the Lekki-Ajah axis of the state.
The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumiyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the arrest, said that mobile policemen from MOPOL 20, Ikeja, and Maroko Police Division, carried out the operation to arrest the suspected kidnappers.
He said the arrest was made after a shootout that lasted hours around one of
NOTES FOR FILE
the suspects’ hideouts in the Lekki-Ajah axis of the state.
The police spokesperson said the suspects were members of a notorious gang of kidnappers operating in the Lekki-Ajah axis.
He said their arrest followed a series of complaints from members of the public over an upsurge in kidnapping along the Lekki-Ajah axis.
Adejobi added that during the raid, three Point of Sale (POS) machines, allegedly used for the collection of ransom, and 10 mobile phones, were recovered from the suspects.
“In a more recent happening, on March 17, 2024, at about 10:30 p.m., the Commander PMF 20, Ikeja, Lagos, led a joint team of mobile policemen and officers from Maroko Division to a suspected den of kidnappers where they arrested nine suspected kidnappers.
“Three of their victims were also rescued, while 10 mobile phones and two POS machines were recovered from the suspects,” he said.
The latest incident involving the Fouani brothers has fuelled the need for increased security to ensure that the state retains its position as a sanctuary for Nigerians and foreigners.
Reacting to the incident, the Director General the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, had stated that the incident left the entire manufacturing community shocked and concerned about the safety of its chief executives and workforce.
Also reacting, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had vowed to ensure the arrest of those behind the kidnapping of the Lebanese nationals, including the Managing Director of Fouani Nigeria Limited, Muhammed Fouani.
Sanwo-Olu assured residents, particularly business owners and religious tourists, of adequate security in the state, saying his administration was committed to making the state peaceful, attractive and homely.
“The security of life and property is paramount, and we do not leave anything to chance on that,” the governor said.
“I want to assure all our citizens and businesses, both national and international, that Lagos will continue to remain safe and peaceful,” Sanwo-Olu added.
The police and other security agencies should also ensure that Lagos remains insulated from the nationwide insecurity.
Naira Abuse and EFCC’s Two-faced Justice
Many Nigerians were shocked last Tuesday when Justice Kehinde Ogundare of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos struck out the charge of naira abuse filed against celebrity bartender, Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge also directed Cubana Chief Priest to forfeit the sum of N10 million to the federal government as part of an out-of-court deal the defendant agreed with the EFCC in lieu of the charge. The trial judge simply adopted the terms of settlement agreement with the EFCC Cubana Chief Priest was arraigned by EFCC on April 17, on a three-count charge of naira abuse. The offence contravened the provisions of Section 21(1) of the CBN
Act of 2007. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him and was subsequently granted bail in the sum of N10 million.
At the proceedings, counsel for the EFCC, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, informed the court that parties in the charge entered into the out-of-court settlement and the same was duly signed by both parties.
The defendant’s counsel, Chikaosolu Ojukwu (SAN) commended the reasonable action of the anti-graft agency in having the matter resolved. He said the defendant is equally remorseful and promised to turn over a new leaf going forward. He also said that the consequences of the settlement is for the court to dismiss the charge.
Many Nigerians condemned the ap-
proach adopted in the prosecution of the Cubana Chief Priest over naira abuse.
Recall that before his arraignment, two previous defendants that were arraigned for the same offence were convicted. While the first was given an option after she was convicted, the second was sent to prison without any option of fine.
Even though the EFCC said the settlement agreement with Cubana Chief Priest was pursuant to Section 14 (2) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004, many wondered why the same section of the EFCC was not invoked in the two previous cases that involved less-influential Nigerians.
They are of the view that the two previous offenders should have been given the same treatment. With this two-faced justice system, only the poor will continue to face the law while wealthy individuals will continue to enjoy preferential treatment.
Olukoyede
Sanwo-Olu
ENGAGEMENTS
Protest of Democracy’s Dark Offspring
Between Nairobi’s glamorous city centre and its surrounding inner city slums of tin shacks and shanties, democracy and good governance have been shocked into a rude awakening.
Central Nairobi is the abode of fancy five star hotels, conference centres, ornate government offices and parliament buildings. If you are a tourist visiting Nairobi for the first time on a fleeting visit, you are likely to leave these precincts with a scented impression of Kenya, the favourite post card tourist destination for Western holiday makers. From city centre to the safari hubs and back can convey a false impression of the African jewel that Kenya is reputed to be. If however you tarry a little longer and get a local cab to give you a tour of the soul of Nairobi, you are more likely to leave Kenya with mixed feelings and deep concerns about the African reality.
Outside the charmed circle of city centre with its glass towers and marble entrances and facades, patchwork of deliberate greenery and high rise apartment blocks, you are greeted by shanty towns, tin shack dwellings of the poorest of the poor.
The events of the last fortnight in Kenya are about to re-write the conventional and received wisdom about democracy in Africa. Until recent weeks, Africa’s conception of democracy was limited to the ritual of elections in relays after tenure durations. Once you were known to hold periodic elections and emplace a successor government, you qualified to be branded a democratic nation. And on the list of successful African democracies, Kenya has always been ranked highly by Western adjudicators of democratic credibility in spite of its extremes of internal social and economic divisions. It has always had the external trappings of what the West likes to see in African democracies over and above what the majority of Kenyans feel in their daily lives.
On the contrary, Nairobi city centre has just witnessed the footprints of what we may call democracy’s “midnight children”, the dark forces that have bred underneath the veneer of democratic good manners. These are the generations of youth and forgotten people whose expectations have been fired by the promise of democracy over the years. They have now woken up to ask themselves what democracy really means for them and their future generations, There is a generational leap between the youth rioting and protesting in Nairobi and their parents. Their parents were content with voting at election time and going home to wait for the fruits of Uhuru which never came. These parents perhaps never saw a reciprocal relationship between their ballots and the rights of citizenship that democracy is obligated to deliver to them. In many ways, President Ruto walked into a familiar trap. Whenever an African elected leader receives accolades from the West for doing the ‘right’ things, the people at home need to take a second look. Since being elected president of Kenya, President Ruto has shown a relentless desire to be in the good books of the West. He had unilaterally sent a contingent of Kenyan policemen to proceed to Haiti to restore order in the tiny nation overrun by gangsters and criminal gangs that has neutralized and sacked the elected government. He has made a flamboyant state visit to the White House and received accolade as ‘a special ally’ and favourite friendly nation of the West. This has been followed by the cultivation of a special relationship with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In return for Kenya’s urgent need for a credit window of $2.8bn dollars to avoid an embarrassing imminent debt squeeze and default, the IMF recommended a tougher taxation regime. The president duly and obediently forwarded to parliament a Financial Bill with a slew of taxes on goods and services that directly impact the living standards of an already distressed populace. That bill set off the fuse of social disquiet for a population already in dire straights of hardship and deprivation.
The rest is now history. More than 20 have died. Bloody protests and riots have reduced central Nairobi to ruins and charred remains. Parliament has been sacked by the protesters. A detachment of the same police that was sent to Haiti to rein in criminals and gangsters has been deployed with live bullets to control those the president described as ‘criminals and gangsters’! Nairobi city centre has witnessed the footprints of democracy’s dark offspring.
Times have changed. The younger generation of Kenyans (Africans) have been to school and back. They are on social media with their opposite numbers in the rest of the world from Washington to Teheran, from Kiev to Johannesburg. They are comparing notes on the things that matter to ordinary people. They have come to demand that democracy must mean what it means. The reciprocity between power and responsibility to the citizenry is now being demanded by the street people. To these people, democracy must reciprocate the obligation to vote with the responsibilities of power to improve real lives. Those who vote have returned to demand jobs, freedom from poverty, education, healthcare and greater say in the things that matter to them. Democracy is no longer a one-sided coin that demands that the people vote and look away as their lives degrade. If the people ask for their rights nicely and do not get a polite response, the dark side of the mob ensues.
The protesters in Nairobi city centre are not likely to be nice in the ways they ask that the rights of citizenship be reciprocated by the responsibilities of power. Those who are elected to power can no longer write legislations that impose endless taxes on the people and retire to the luxury of state villas. The street people are insisting on their right to say ‘No’ to bad governance. The people who have trooped out to express their anger and disquiet in
Nairobi are not ‘criminals’ or miscreants. They are angry citizens. They are the dark offspring of democracy, those who were promised so much but now find themselves with empty hands, hungry stomachs, without jobs and worse still without hope,
The anger in the streets has led to ugly sights. Parliament has been razed. Parliamentarians have fled. The president has been forced to retreat untidily from his Finance Bill. Initially he talked tough about forcibly enforcing the ‘sovereign will of the Kenya nation’. Then he compared notes with his security people and they probably advised him to dismount from his high horse of power and arrogance. He has rescinded the Finance Bill and undertaken to enter into dialogue with representatives of the angry youth. But the youth and angry street people insist now that the president must resign from office for breaching the social contract that defines every democracy. He is not likely to do that. Between the government and the people, the bond of reciprocity has been broken. The social contract is in breach and will require unusual political management to restore. Meanwhile the government must find the money to remain in the good books of the IMF and World Bank who got them into the trouble in the first place.
The fires of Nairobi have caused some heat in far away Nigeria. Nigerians have for long been caught in the throes of deep social and economic distress. With the active encouragement of the oracles of Western ‘blood’ capitalism (IMF and the World Bank), the new Nigerian government of President Tinubu has been encouraged to take off so- called subsidies on petroleum products, electricity, foreign exchange, telephone calls, and literally every service and social good that keeps the lives of common people going. People have openly wondered why our own crisis of abysmal governance and the resultant hardship has not quite burst into open lawlessness and near anarchy given the size of the Nigerian w ounded population. Many Nigerian commentators have expressed fear that the Nigerian situation could be only a boiling cauldron that could explode into uncontrollable fiasco any time. The Nigerian government remains optimistic that it can muddle through as
usual and manage to escape catastrophe. That optimism remains strong mostly out of the fear that a Nigerian hardship protest would overwhelm the already stretched and wobbly state apparatus.
In many ways, Nigeria embodies the contradiction of African democracy. We embody and celebrate the form rather than the content of democracy. For instance, Nigeria has recently been celebrating several milestones of ‘democracy’. In particular, we recently celebrated a number of ‘democracy’ landmarks. These range from twenty five years of ‘unbroken democratic rule’, a period when our only achievement is the succession of elected governments at all levels through four year relay changes of baton. In a nation that became the hallmark of endemic military despotism for decades, this sounds remarkable. There was also the anniversary of the June 12, 1993 election. Again the contradiction of that has often been lost on many Nigerians: what is deemed the fairest and freest election yet in the nation’s history was conducted by a military dictatorship which is however castigated for obstructing a democratic transition! There was of course the celebration of one year of the newly installed President Tinubu democratic government.
Yet, not until recently has the question been raised in Nigeria as to how democracy translates into the welfare of the ordinary people. While this connection remains unexamined, the size of Nigeria’s poor population has ballooned. The sense of entitlement of the political class has literally sacked the national treasury in funding luxuries and perks. Nigeria’s army of the underprivileged has grown into a multitude mired in violence and self -destructive insecurity. Nigeria’s dark offspring have grown into a dangerous army that is making the rest of the country dangerous and insecure.
Therefore, one lesson that the Nigerian political establishment can take away from the fires in Nairobi is to begin seriously and systematically addressing the central question of our time: How can we make democracy translate into a rapid improvement in the living conditions of the majority of our people? That should be the major item on the agenda of the National and State Assemblies going forward.
President Ruto
NEWS
LET GOD TAKE CHARGE…
Ex-SGF, Anyim will Join APC Soon, Says Ebonyi Chair
Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha, has claimed that former Senate President and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, will join the party soon.
Emegha said he had made frantic efforts to bring the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national leader into the APC and he has accepted to join the party.
He said this was why his pictures were used in the local government and councillorship elections APC rally held in Ivo, the
Ejiofor Alike
Nigeria’s crude oil production is expected to rise in the third quarter (Q3) of 2024, as new fields come onstream following the ongoing efforts to revamp existing oil and gas assets to boost output, a report by the Society of Energy Editors (SEE), has revealed.
In the report, titled ‘Third Quarter Outlook for Nigeria Energy Sector,’ the editors, however, predicted potential labour unrest in the downstream and upstream petroleum sectors in solidarity with organised labour’s agitations.
This latest outlook, which highlights the key trends and challenges expected in Nigeria’s energy sector during the third quarter of 2024, was produced by Fellows and Associates of SEE to provide advisory and guidance for the oil and gas industry.
The report, released by the Executive Secretary of SEE, Mr. Chuks Isiwu, noted the efforts of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in the 2024 marginal fields bid round to impact investor confidence and boost production.
The report, however, highlighted key challenges, including security issues in the Niger Delta, ongoing divestments by oil majors, lack of investments, decaying infrastructure, poor governance structure, and poor implementation of the Petroleum
former ex-SGF local government yesterday.
Emegha, who stated these during the rally, described Anyim as a critical stakeholder of the APC.
He said on July14, everyone would know that Anyim is a critical stakeholder of APC in South-east.
“I took it personal to be going to him on the need to join us because it will not be possible for the entire south east to be negotiating without a man like him.
“I am a fulfilled person today because I have seen APC poster bearing his name and image in APC rally. It is because of his exigencies that makes him not
to be here in this rally.
“I have made frantic and personal efforts and met him in Abuja on the need to join us because of his wealth of experience.
“He is such a wonderful personality and there is no way you can put his picture in our (APC) rally programme without
Industry Act (PIA).
In the downstream and midstream sectors, the report said the refineries would operate at limited capacity due to unending maintenance and upgrades, while adding that fuel imports will remain high and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Petroleum subsidy, the report said, will remain a significant burden on government finances.
“With fuel sold at different prices across the country in line with subsidy removal, price hike could hit 300 per cent in some states compared to the same time in 2023,” the report added.
The report also revealed that gas production will increase as new projects come online, while LNG exports will remain strong as Nigeria maintains its position as a key global supplier.
According to the report, power generation will also increase during the period under review, while transmission and distribution infrastructure upgrades will continue. It also predicted funding shortfalls due to lack of investment coupled with grid stability issues.
On labour issues, the report stated that the cost-of-living crises would continue while “electricity sector workers may protest over unpaid wages and benefits. “Workers are also poised to show solidarity with organised labour over cost-of-living crises,” the report said.
his consent. He has already confirmed to be part of APC and that is why his picture is allowed in our programme today.
“I stand here to announce to us that Senator Anyim Pius Anyim is a member of APC. He is not only an APC member, but a stakeholder in APC.
“By 14th of next month, you
will know that he is not only a stakeholder of APC in Ebonyi State, he is a stakeholder in the entire south east of APC,” Emegha stated.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who was represented by his deputy, Princess Patricia Obila, commended the people for turning out en masse during the rally and urged them to continue to support the APC-led administration in the state. He assured the people of the state that his administration would resolve the boundary issues in the local government.
Chairman of the local government, EmmanuelAjah,assuredthepeoplethat he would provide more democracy dividends if re-elected.
Shettima Leads FG’s Delegation to Console Police Affairs Minister over Mother’s Demise
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima yesterday led a high-level federal government delegation to Keffi, Nasarawa State to offer condolences to the Minister of State for Police Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, on the passing of her mother, Hajiya Aisha Sulaiman-Danladi.
Hajiya Aisha Sulaiman-Danladi died on Thursday, June 27, 2024 at the age.
Speaking at the family’s residence, the vice president said he was there at the instance of President Bola Tinubu to commiserate with the family over the demise of their mother and
paid glowing tribute to the late Hajiya Aisha Sulaiman-Danladi, highlighting her positive impact on the community.
Shettima, according to a statement issued by his Media Assistant, Stanley Nkwocha, said: “Everyone I have encountered so far has been showering encomiums on her. May Allah grant her Aljannah Firdaus and may Allah grant the family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
“Death is an inevitable destiny that is hanging on everyone’s neck. But the beauty of her life is that she left behind a legacy of goodwill and respect.”
The vice president also reiter-
ated the federal government’s commitment to the advancement, security, and welfare of the citizens.
He said: “May Allah continue to bless us and grant our country peaceful coexistence, prosperity and progress. “Her demise is indeed a huge loss to us all, and our President is indeed mourning with her immediate family and this community.”
Shettima further restated the government’s support for the bereaved family and the entire community.
“Our strength lies in our unity and shared experiences. Today, we stand together as one nation, one people, sharing in both joy
and sorrow,” he added. Responding on behalf of the family, Dan Ruwatan Keffi and Alhaji Bala Fari expressed deep appreciation for the high-level visit.
“We are encouraged to have you all here today, especially thanking Mr. President for sending such a strong delegation led by his deputy to console us over the passing away of our mother.
“We are very grateful and I pray that just as you have all come here to see us, May Allah grant you all journey mercy to your various destinations. It is not every time that we receive such powerful and big personalities in our community,” Fari stated.
Middle Belt Forum Berates MACBAN over Rejection of Senate’s Bill on Ranching
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has queried the rejection of the Senate’s bill on ranching by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), describing MACBAN’s viewpoint as narrowminded and sectional.
In a statement signed by the President of Middle Belt Forum, Dr. Bitrus Pogu, the forum observed that the bill, sponsored by Senator Titus Tartenger (APC, Benue North-
West) aims at providing ranches for pastoralists in their states of origin. The ranches, according to the bill, will be overseen by the National Ranches Commission.
He said the series of unprovoked attacks on farming communities by herders over competition for land use was one of the significant challenges the bill sought to address.
“This is because the bill provides in part IV Section 23 (1) that “Any person who contravenes any provi-
sions of this Act or regulations made hereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N50,000 or imprisonment for five years or both.
“The bill further provides in part IV, Section 22 (1-7) that “Movement of cattle from one ranch to another or market place shall be only by vehicular means. No livestock or cattle shall be allowed by any individual, group of persons or organisation to wander, roam,
move or graze outside the national ranches,” Pogu said. Pogu explained that “the above sections represent the cardinal ethos of the bill, which shall when effective, stem the criminal activities of herdsmen and criminals who hide under the false narrative of farmer-herders clash to perpetrate heinous crimes, which have led to unimaginable reign of terror on innocent farming communities in all Middle-Belt states and other parts of Nigeria.
Pope Francis Rallies Global Finance Heads to Back Debt Relief
Pope Francis has charged world financial ministers and leading economists to support an international mechanism to alleviate foreign debt, lamenting that a “poorly managed globalisation” has deprived millions of people of a “dignified future.” Francis’ remarks were delivered
during a recent meeting with participants in the “Addressing the Debt Crisis in the Global South” conference, which was jointly organised by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and Columbia University New York’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IDP). The conference was attended by some 50 finance
ministers, economists, and international development agency heads.
The pope further stated, “We find ourselves facing a debt crisis that mainly affects the countries of the south of the world, generating misery and anguish, and depriving millions of people of the possibility of a dignified future.”
“Consequently, no government can morally demand that its people suffer deprivations incompatible with human dignity.” He also called for a “new international financial architecture” that breaks the financial-debt cycle that has contributed to a current global debt now estimated at $313 trillion.
Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
L-R: Senior Pastor of Living Faith Church, Bishop David Abioye; Founder, Margaret Lawrence University, Mr. Paul Odili; Mother of Founder, Mrs. Margaret Odili; Vice Chancellor, Margaret Lawrence University, Ernest Izevbigie, during the dedication of the university hospital in Abuja… yesterday KINGSLEY ADEBOYE
civil service under her watch — without flinching. Imagine that in the “world’s best civil service”, people are living abroad and collecting salaries in Nigeria and the head of the civil service was not aware. The heads of agencies were even regaling her with more scintillating stories for effect. There is no hint that they were queried for negligence. If it was their personal companies, would they be paying workers who had relocated abroad? The truants had superiors they were reporting to and we need to know what they did about the truancy. We are yet to be told anyone has been held responsible for the fraud.
I would really like to know what Yemi-Esan has contributed to the making of the “world’s best civil service” as she prepares to bow out. She spoke about building a wellness centre to enhance productivity — and I don’t have anything against that. But has it really enhanced their productivity? That is where I would like to see the results of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). My biggest concern about the Nigerian civil service is productivity which I measure mainly in terms of efficiency. Can Yemi-Esan put her hand on her chest and say that the Nigerian civil service is more efficient today than it was when she took over as acting head in September 2019? That would be something.
To be clear, I am not blaming Yemi-Esan for all that is wrong with the civil service. That would be very unfair. Civil service in states and local governments is not any better. I am only questioning her judgment. When you have interacted with the civil service
RIVERS TO CROSS
The war between Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers state and Chief Nyesom Wike, his godfather-turned-archenemy, has reached a stage that should worry us all. It is easy to treat it as a Rivers problem and look away or watch it like a Netflix series, but — as we saw with Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram insurgency — sociopolitical instability in any part of Nigeria is a threat to not just the national economy but also the overall security health of the country. I think violent godfather vs godfather face-offs started with the Dr Olusola Saraki vs Alhaji Adamu Attah bout-up in Kwara in 1983 but it is now commonplace. All good people must step in and stem the slide in Rivers. Ominous.
in advanced societies, you have to question our understanding of standards. We do not appear to know the kind of civil service we want. That is why Yemi-Esan thinks this is the best in the world. Civil service is the engine, or brainbox, of government. This is where policies are designed and implemented. This is where service delivery connects the state and the society. If we don’t get it right, we are going nowhere. In serious countries, the civil service is probably the most respected institution. When we talk about “state capacity”, it is the civil service we are referring to — in the main. Recruitment and promotion standards are tough because of the high barriers. In countries like the UK, India and Japan, it is first-class brains that populate the civil service. Professionalism and high ethical standards are an article of faith. In Nigeria, recruitment into the civil service is more of welfare scheme where we dump those who cannot find their preferred choice of employment. Slots are sold to hustlers or allocated to politicians, so we usually end up with many civil servants who don’t give a hoot about their jobs.
Let me apply caution here. I am sounding like I do not have any regard for our civil service. Far from it. I have interacted with many decent civil servants who are passionate about their job. The problem is that they are so few they are insignificant. The civil service is dominated by buccaneers who will not lift a finger if they are not going to get pecuniary gains. They are the ones who enable politicians and
political appointees to loot the system — and they do this mainly to help themselves, not that they love the politicians that much. Many political office holders will tell you that it is civil servants that show them how to cheat the system. How can Nigeria be great if they don’t change their ways?
Finally, when Yemi-Esan spoke about the truants collecting salaries for doing nothing, I was listening intently for two things: one, that all involved in the cover-up have been identified and punished; two, that she has introduced fool-proof measures to make sure this will not happen again. On the first one, she was completely silent. She gets on very well with the negligent MDAs heads, apparently. On the second one, it would appear the strategy is to be doing physical verification every four years and, thereafter, regaling the public with the tales of the truants. That is not good enough. If a problem has been identified, the logical next step should be to design a clear strategy to reduce or eliminate it.
Meanwhile, when we discuss the problems of Nigeria and lament that we are stuck in underdevelopment, the same cheating and negligent civil servants will open their mouths. To them, collecting salaries for doing nothing is not a crime. Aiding and abetting fraudulent payment of salaries is not a big deal. Fraud is not corruption. Stealing is not corruption. It is smartness. “After all, our Ogas are stealing billions,” they will say. Until we recognise our individual roles in the underdevelopment of Nigeria, we cannot begin to have a useful
And Four Other Things…
SUDDEN DEATHS
Mr Essien Etop Andrew, deputy comptroller in charge of revenue at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), slumped and died while fielding questions from the house of reps committee on public account on Tuesday. This is yet another death of a uniformed public officer that made the news — not just because of his position but it also happened in the public glare. While I pray that Andrew’s family be comforted, I know that the tendency is to blame sudden deaths on supernatural forces. Nigerians, irrespective of status, are slumping to their death so often. Doctors will say most sudden deaths are avoidable, just that we ignore the warning signals. We really need to watch and act. Sad.
RECKLESS RUTO
In an attempt to cut the country’s debt-torevenue burden, President William Ruto of Kenya recently proposed tax rises. Ruto initially wanted to tax bread — perhaps the daftest thing any president has ever tried in human history. For crying out loud, who taxes bread? Is that not a case of “village people” having the upper hand over Ruto? Despite a climbdown — the legislators passed a modified bill — the initial version had generated so much bad blood amid economic hardship that it created a momentum that led to riots and 22 deaths. There is a science about resistance to reform and reading the room that leaders must understand. Hope President Bola Tinubu got the memo? Combustible.
THE DANGER OF RUNNING MULTIPLE BUDGETS CONCURRENTLY
way into the new year, sometimes as late as June or after. While recurrent budgets would terminate with their financial year, the capital budget usually extended into the new year but would close immediately a new budget was passed. Effectively, even in those years, two budgets were never in operation together. To be sure, the January to December budget cycle has not been reversed by this administration but what has happened now with multiple budgets running at the same time not only rolls back some of the progress made but amounts to some retrogression. The administrators of a country should constantly be obsessed with raising the bar, not lowering it.
During the initially rowdy session in the House of Representatives on Thursday, the multiple budget issue was narrowly framed as a contest between legality and morality. As Hon. Kingsley Chinda and Hon. Ado Doguwa argued, it may be not be illegal to have the budgets for different financial years running at the same time. But doing so may also not be immoral, contrary to Doguwa’s position. Things are not wrong only when they are illegal or immoral. Running the budgets for different years at the same time is simply untidy. This aberration makes it difficult for citizens, accountability actors and even oversight institutions to track budget implementation. The opacity that ensues from the confusion may negatively affect budget implementation or even enable sharp practices. Also, it does not make us look like a country that is serious or knows what it is doing.
The government has not publicly explained why it is going into this uncharted and ungainly territory. According to Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the extension was to allow the administration to fully implement the 2023 main and supplementary budgets. Possibly he got that from prior briefing or from the executive communication to the parliament. In fairness, that sounds like a reasonable excuse. But that is what it is: an excuse. Extending the lifespan of the two budgets of 2023 to the end of 2024 (when the 2024 budget itself should be terminating) is not the
only option available to the administration. A neater approach would have been to fold the unimplemented part of the two extended budgets into the expected and inevitable supplementary budget for 2024. It must be said that most capital budgets are actually multi-year in nature and the budget template has a column for indicating whether the proposed projects are new or existing ones. So, carrying one capital activity or project into the budget of another year is standard practice and is a neater option. The fact that there is presumably funding for the 2023 budgets makes
it easier to roll them over into the expected supplementary budget. Instead of always bending over to speedily approve whatever requests come from the executive, the leadership of the National Assembly should strike a balance between supporting the president to deliver on his mandate, providing necessary checks, and preserving the institutional integrity of the parliament. Ultimately, a rubberstamp parliament doesn’t serve the country or both parties. The tides turn so quickly in the National Assembly, and even the most powerful presidents might not be able
conversation on how to end this rot and move towards greatness. We will keep talking down on Nigeria as if we are blameless.
President Bola Tinubu spat fire on the development. “We must ensure those responsible are held accountable and restitution is made. The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch.” Music to my ears. Unfortunately, the story ends there. It is just the way we are wired in Nigeria. Our instinct is to show initial outrage and normal service resumes shortly after. Do we still remember the drama of Mr Kemebradikumo Pondei, then acting MD of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), “passing out” at a senate hearing in July 2020?
Remarkably, checkmating truancy in civil service is not as complicated as making banga soup. A simple electronic clock-in and clock-out system can help. Improving efficiency will be easier under a system that has a working M&E mechanism — implemented with deliverables clearly written on paper. Introducing timelines to process documents and time stamps on the documents as they move from desk to desk will help monitor efficiency to a large extent. But, most importantly, how and who do we recruit into service? The rot starts from there. The world’s best civil services recruit the best brains. In Nigeria, recruitment is a welfare scheme. You can’t build the best civil service that way.
NO COMMENT
Are you following the row between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the recruitment of 10,000 constables? The war over who has the statutory power to recruit between PSC and NPF started under President Muhammadu Buhari and even ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the commission. But that has not solved the problem. Comedy and tragedy had a get-together recently when the police rejected the final list, alleging the disappearance of the names of some successful candidates, claiming — now, you won’t believe this — that the exercise was fraught with “corruption”. Pot and kettle easily come to mind. Wonderful.
to protect overly pliant presiding officers, who at the end of the day are just firsts among equals. For the same reason, it is equally important for the president not to think his goodwill with the National Assembly is inexhaustible. He needs to weigh his options more carefully and not put his allies in difficult or vulnerable positions. Other factors, including geo-political sentiments and alignments, come into the mix of executive-legislative relations in Nigeria. No honeymoon lasts forever.
There are people who believe this muddled budget state is deliberate. However, I opt to be charitable on this. My sense is that there is an unspoken challenge somewhere. The challenge could be from a law or a process or from the quality and experience of personnel. But I will argue that it is better for the president to address whatever the challenges are than to keep extending the lifespan of budgets. We don’t know what percentage of the 2023 capital budgets is outstanding (with regular and publicly available budget implementation reports, this should not be a mystery). But here is a question: if it happens that some portions of these budgets are still not implemented by 31st December, what will happen? The president will request for another extension and the pliant parliament will promptly grant the request? This hypothetical question illustrates why the current approach is ungainly and wrongheaded.
Budgets, especially the capital components, are a continuum. For sundry reasons—including exuberant revenue projections and attendant funding shortfalls—hardly do we achieve even 80% implementation of our capital budgets. Logically, whatever is outstanding from one budget should thus be rolled into the next one. It is good that the Federal Government wants to take capital budget seriously, including increasing provisioning and achieving 100% implementation. But this lofty goal will not be achieved merely by giving capital budgets unnatural lifespans and confusing everyone. It can only be achieved when the administration takes more seriously the sanctity of the budgeting process and ramps up its own capacity for diligent budget planning, monitoring and implementation.
Tinubu
“The security challenges would be over in the whole country because what we have now is better than the one we had during the Buhari’s administration” – Former Senator, Shehu Sani mocking former President Buhari for his inability to tackle insecurity in the country.
SIMON KOLAWOLE
‘The World’s Best Civil Service’
It was like magic. In 2006, my wife enrolled for a post-graduate programme in the UK. After getting accommodation, she was informed by the landlady that as a student, she was entitled to exemption from council tax. All she needed was to notify the authorities on her status. My wife and I went to the council office and were attended to as soon as we arrived. We explained what we wanted and we were asked to submit a copy of her admission letter. Two days later, we got a mail approving the exemption. There was nothing like “oga is not on seat” or “we can’t locate your file”. I understand the process is now automated — you submit the application online and get a response within 48 hours.
Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, the head of the civil service of the Nigerian federation, has just declared that Nigeria has the “world’s best civil service”. Please raise your hand if this statement sums up your experience of our civil service. I can’t see any hands. Maybe I am not communicating. Let me reframe: if your experience of our civil service — local, state, federal — has been as smooth as the UK instance I just shared, kindly raise your hand. If you’ve ever gone to a government office to apply for building approval or renew a vehicle licence and you were treated with respect and never had to pay above the official fee, please let me see your hand. No hands
Yemi-Esan
up yet? Well, I give up at this stage.
Yemi-Esan, after being a civil servant for decades, had this to say about the dire situation towards the end of her career: “You know I am always proud of civil and public servants
WAZIRI ADIO
POSTSCRIPT
because Nigeria has the best civil service in the world and I can say that confidently anywhere.” To be fair to her, she was speaking during a sporting event organised for civil/ public servants as part of activities marking the 2024 Civil Service Week, so I assume she was displaying sportsmanship — or, rather, sportswomanship. She has to be kind to her colleagues, sure. She cannot look them in the eye and say “most of you are lazy, greedy, incompetent, truants and criminals”. That would not be nice.
But what is life without ironies? The same Yemi-Esan had this to say about the “world’s best civil service” thereafter: “Recently, a circular went out to all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) stating that they should do a physical headcount (of staff). That means everybody on the nominal roll that is receiving salaries should appear physically, and the names of those who did not show up for the exercise should be forwarded. In the circular, I cautioned that permanent secretaries and CEOs that give wrong information will be held liable if anything is discovered outside of the information that was given.” Can you see? Even the most senior civil servants had to be forewarned!
Yemi-Esan said it was discovered after the exercise that many workers in the “world’s best civil service” who had been receiving salaries all along had actually relocated abroad. The
system ensured they were still being paid for doing nothing. Let me quote her properly: “I actually called one of the heads of the agencies and queried why there is such a large number of people earning salaries and are not on their desks. I asked how the agency came about such a huge number of the purported workers.” She said the head an agency told her she ain’t seen nothing yet — that some of the ghost workers flew in from the UK for the verification exercise. Welcome to the world’s best civil service. There is so much to unpack about the Nigerian tragedy from Yemi-Esan’s narration. I don’t know where to start from. But given that she has been head of service for over four years, I should start from her. How did she arrive at the conclusion that we have the world’s best civil service, not even one of the best, which means every other country is below us? Can she show us her workings? Can we see her marking scheme? What are the service standards by which she did her appraisal and reached her conclusion? This is very important so that we can be on the same page with her. Her standards must be so low and warped. That is something to worry about. I will return to this shortly. Also, she was gleefully telling us the unflattering story of the stinking rot in the
The Danger of Running Multiple Budgets Concurrently
After a slight drama on Thursday, the National Assembly promptly acceded to President Bola Tinubu’s request to extend the lifespans of the capital components of the 2023 main and supplementary budgets from 30th June to 31st December. The Federal Government, as some legislators and others have pointed out, will probably end up running four budgets concurrently this year: the two extended budgets, the 2024 budget, and the expected 2024 supplementary budget. BudgIT has rightly described this as ‘an anomaly with no precedence.’
Running the budgets for different years— whether three or four—in the same year is tardy and difficult to justify. It will likely create confusion, limit transparency and narrow the execution bandwidth. This development, unwittingly, reveals something about the government: it is still struggling to get to grips with the basics of diligent planning and implementation.
Interestingly, this is not the first time the Tinubu administration is running multiple budgets simultaneously. Toward the end of last year, the administration started implementing three budgets: the N819 billion of the amended 2022 supplementary budget (which Tinubu submitted for amendment on 12th July 2023); the
N21.83 trillion budget for 2023 that it inherited; and the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget for 2023 that it proposed on 31st October. Many people might have missed this development, but I pointed out the incongruity on this page seven months ago.
While assessing the 2024 appropriation bill which was submitted to the National Assembly on 29th November 2023, I wrote: “It is conceivable that we might have three different budgets in operation at the same time. At least some of the capital items in the supplementary budgets for 2022 and 2023 are likely to stretch into the new year. This will be untidy for accounting and tracking purposes. This probability again questions the rationale for including some capital items in the 2023 supplementary budget when they can be accommodated in the 2024 budget.”
Assuming that the amended 2022 supplementary budget terminated before or by the end of 2023, the administration has been implementing three budgets since the beginning of this year—the two budgets from 2023 and the budget for 2024. The lifespan of the capital components of the two budgets of 2023 was first extended to March 31st, then to June 30th. And now to December 31st. The administration was not stopped from or questioned for operating three budgets concurrently late last year and early this
year. So, the incongruity was normalised, the administration got emboldened and even decided to raise the ante.
The 2024 supplementary budget is just a matter of when, not if. The Senate spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has announced a date (July) and a figure (N6.6 trillion). Even when the budget preparation is the preserve of the executive, it is plausible that there has been prior consultation between the executive and the legislative arms. It is a known fact that the administration has almost exhausted the approved borrowing plan for the year because of the usual revenue underperformance.
The government will also need to accommodate the new minimum wage in its personnel budget whenever they reach an agreement with labour unions. So, there is a shortfall already, and the government will either resort to ways and means or do a supplementary budget to bridge the gap.
If the central bank lives to its promise to keep ways and means within legal limits, a supplementary budget is thus inevitable. It is actually better than unpublicised overdraft from the central bank if only because the country will know what is going on, rather than only get to know after the fact.
When the 2024 supplementary budget finally gets proposed and approved, the Federal Government will be operating four
budgets simultaneously. Running the budgets for different years in the same year is a bad practice that should not be encouraged. The government might have deserved a pass in 2023 when this anomaly first occurred because that was a transition year and the president and his team were still new to running things on the executive side at the federal level. But that excuse is no longer available. The administration has spent more than a year in office. For this to be happening again is either indicative of a desire to operate outside of established tradition or a lack of respect for the discipline that should attend budget implementation or a reflection of serious capacity gaps within the government.
Whichever it is, it is not a good look. No country that wants to be taken seriously will treat budgets with such haphazardness. And no serious administration will put its country in such an unflattering spot. Even when there is still much work to be done, a lot of effort had been put in, over time, in the attempt to straighten the budgeting process in the country. For instance, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2019 successfully returned the country to the predictability of the January to December budget cycle. Prior to this, budgets were passed
