SUNDAY 20TH AUGUST 2023

NEITI Seeks Implementation of Special Panel’s Report on Crude Oil Theft, Losses

NBA Probes UNICAL Lecturer, Adamawa REC, Abia Lawyer…

Governors Kick against FG’s Directives on Refund of Palliative Fund

N5bn grant to states shambolic, says ACF

is coming as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has described the N5 billion in palliatives and grants to each state as shambolic and unscientific.

federal government had approved a paltry N5 billion for each of the 36 states of the federation for procurement of food items and fertilisers as part

efforts to alleviate the suffering associated with fuel subsidy removal in the country.

This was the high point of the resolutions of the monthly National

6 Economic Council (NEC) meeting held on Thursday at State House, Abuja, which was presided by

Continued on page 5

Niger Coup Leader Pledges to Hand over to Civilian Govt Within Three Years

Mali, Burkina Faso dare ECOWAS, deploy warplanes to Niger Ousted President Bazoum will not be harmed, says PM Abdulsalami, Sultan-led delegation meet ousted president, coup leaders Nigeriens protest in Kano, call for Bazoum’s reinstatement

Festus Akanbi in Lagos, Kingsley

Nwezeh in Abuja and Ahmad

Sorondinki in Kano

The leader of the Niger junta, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, has said the army will hand over power to the civilian government within the next three years.

In a show of solidarity with the junta, Burkina Faso and Mali have deployed warplanes to Niger against possible military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after the defence chiefs of the regional bloc had revealed that they had reached an agreement on a “D-Day” for a military intervention to restore the civil rule in that country.

This is as the new Prime Minister of Niger Republic, Ali Mahaman

Lamine Zeine, has said the coup plotters who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum during a July 26 coup will not harm the ousted president.

NIGER COUP LEADER PLEDGES TO HAND OVER TO CIVILIAN GOVT WITHIN THREE YEARS

Also, a delegation from ECOWAS led by former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, yesterday, arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger Republic, where they met with the ousted president and the coup leaders in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to restore constitutional order in the country.

ECOWAS had given the Niger junta a week ultimatum to reinstate President Bazoum or face possible sanctions, including possible military action.

But the coupists had called the bluff of ECOWAS and vowed to resist foreign intervention.

Subsequently, ECOWAS Defence Chiefs were ordered to activate the region’s force for action to restore civil rule in Niger.

Speaking in a televised broadcast last night, General Tchiani said the coup leaders would hand over to a civilian government within three years, adding that within one month, the junta would set up a committee to study and form a new constitution for the country.

Tchiani spoke after meeting with a delegation of the ECOWAS led by the former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami. While stressing that Niger does not want to go to war, Tchiani said the county would defend itself if

the need arises.

He, however, added that the door for negotiation was still open.

ECOWAS was yet to react to the speech of the junta leader but Abdulsalami is expected to brief the regional bloc on the outcome of the meeting.

The delegation led by Abdulsalami was also received by Niger’s Prime Minister, Zeine, in Niamey, the country’s capital.

The plane carrying the delegation landed in Niamey at about 1p.m. yesterday, a day after the bloc’s military chiefs said they were ready to intervene militarily to reinstate Bazoum.

Abdulsalami was also accompanied by the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar.

The delegation also met the ousted President Bazoum and the coup leaders in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to restore constitutional order in the country

The meeting was the first-time foreign officials saw the ousted leader in weeks.

“We met Bazoum; we heard from him what was done to him. He told us about the problems he’s facing. We’ll take it to the leaders who sent us here,” said Abdulsalami. “Without doubt, the meeting has opened discussions to lead to a way to resolve this crisis,” he added.

A previous ECOWAS delegation led by Abdulsalami, two weeks ago, tried to meet Bazoum and the coup leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, but was not successful.

The country’s military junta had also, at the last minute, rejected a tripartite peace mission from ECOWAS, the African Union (AU), and the United Nations (UN).

The United States’ acting Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, was also denied permission to meet with Tchiani or with Bazoum, who had been held hostage since the power grab. Instead, Nuland spoke for two hours with other army officers.

Meanwhile, Niger’s national television reported that Mali and Burkina Faso have deployed warplanes to the country to counter ECOWAS’ forces.

“Mali and Burkina Faso turned their commitments into concrete action by deploying warplanes to respond to any attack on Niger,” the report said.

The television station said the military leaders from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger had convened on Friday in Niamey, the Nigerien capital, to decide on “concrete measures” in case ECOWAS chooses to “escalate a war.”

The two countries had warned that any military intervention

in Niger would be considered a declaration of war against them.

In a joint statement issued, the governments of the two countries said: “The disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger could destabilise the entire region.”

At the end of a two-day meeting of ECOWAS Defence Chiefs in Accra, Ghana's capital, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdel-Fatau Musah, stated that “We are ready to go any time the order is given. The D-day is also decided. We’ve already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention.”

However, he said the option for diplomacy was still available.

Most of ECOWAS’ 15-member states are prepared to contribute to the joint force, except Cape Verde and those also under military rule - Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

Ousted President Bazoum Will Not Be Harmed, Says Niger PM

Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister of Niger Republic, Zeine, has said the coup plotters, who overthrew President Bazoum during a July 26 coup will not harm the ousted president.

Niger’s junta had reportedly told a top US diplomat that they would kill the deposed President, if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule.

The new military leaders had also threatened that they would prosecute Bazoum “for high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger”, according to a statement read on national television by Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane.

But the new Prime Minister, Zeine, said the generals will not harm Bazoum.

“Nothing will happen to him, because we don’t have a tradition of violence in Niger,” Zeine, the most senior civilian appointed by the military leaders, told The New York Times in an interview from Dakar on the fate of Bazoum.

Zeine also insisted that the coup leaders had no intention of collaborating with Russia, or with the Kremlin-backed mercenaries of the Wagner group.

The New York Times reported that the coup leaders had cut off water and electricity to Bazoum’s house, where he had been confined.

Zeine, who was appointed Niger’s prime minister on August 7, was also questioned by the Times on the presence of 1,100 American soldiers

GOVERNORS KICK AGAINST FG’S DIRECTIVES ON REFUND OF PALLIATIVE FUND

Vice President Kashim Shettima. Governors Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Charles Soludo of Anambra State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Uba Sani of Kaduna State had briefed journalists on the outcome of the NEC meeting.

Speaking after the meeting, Zulum explained that the N5 billion “funding has to be shared with a formula as follows: 52 per cent of this money is given to states as grants, while 48 per cent of the N5 billion is to be paid back on an instalment basis within 20 months to the CBN by the states and the local government areas in Nigeria.”

But THISDAY gathered that the governors were said to have argued in their Wednesday’s meeting that since the funds were meant for palliatives, they should not be refunded by the states as directed by the federal government.

Some of the governors were also unhappy with the Chairman of the NGF and Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for accepting on behalf of the governors that the funds would be refunded.

Consequently, the governors, it was learnt, ended their meeting on Wednesday night in a shouting match.

THISDAY gathered that the meeting which started around 10 p.m. on Wednesday ended at about 3 a.m. on Thursday without any communiqué on how to resolve the issue of the palliatives.

It was further gathered that the disagreement among the governors was not along party lines.

Some of the governors were also said to have vowed to resist the idea of imposing the decisions of the Presidency on them.

Following the sharp disagreement over the palliatives, the meeting could not reach any agreement or produce a communiqué.

Multiple sources privy to the meeting told THISDAY that the cause of the disagreement was the directives contained in a memo by the Director General of the NGF, Asishana Okauru, that the palliatives would be refunded by the states.

According to the memo, any state governor who was not willing to refund the funds for the palliatives after the maturity date should not collect the funds.

The memo from the NGF Secretariat further directed that any governor, who was unwilling to refund the full funds for the palliatives should refund the N2 billion already collected by him as part-payment.

The memo sighted by THISDAY, which was signed by Okauru, and entitled: ‘Re: Distribution of Palliatives – Terms of FG Facility),’ said the states are free to opt out of the offer and return a sum of N2 billion already given to each of them.

According to Okauru in the letter, “I have been directed by the Chairman, H.E. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to forward the terms of the facility as follows: Facility size: N4,000,000,000; Loan (48%): N1,920,000,000; FGN Grant: (52%); N2,080,000,000.00 Beneficiary each state government; Tenure: 20 months; Interest Rate: Nil; Moratorium: Three months; Repayment Mode: Monthly; Repayment Amount: N120,000,000; and Security Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO).

“Your excellency is invited to note that this offer is optional and states that do not wish to participate may opt out and refund the N2 billion already disbursed to them.”

Two of the governors who spoke to THISDAY separately confirmed that there was a heated argument in the meeting over the palliatives.

They explained that the memo from the Okauru took them unawares.

The governors argued that since a position had been taken by the Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, there was no need for the NGF meeting.

One of the governors said: "The precedent is that any time there is a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), we meet first to take a position as a body, but in the morning of Thursday, we were just handed a directive from the Director General as if we were children.

“We did not agree on the content of the memo; that was why we had a heated argument and as I talk to you, we did not agree and as such there was no communiqué at the end of our meeting.

"We did not agree because the repayment amount, which is N120,000,000.00 monthly, simply means that the Central Bank of Nigeria will be directed to use the Security Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to deduct the money from the revenue due to the states.

"The palliatives are a relief to the states due to the hardships to states from the removal of the petrol subsidy. Why collect it back? To collect it back means that it is no longer a palliative," the governor told THISDAY.

According to another governor, "The NGF is supposed to be independent, but now, it seems that we have a chairman who takes orders and will want to force it down on us, the governors. This will be resisted."

It was also learnt that the administrative staff of the NGF was sent out when the governors’ meeting became heated.

Telephone calls put across to Okauru by THISDAY were not answered N5bn Grant to States Shambolic, Says ACF

Meanwhile, the ACF has described the N5 billion proposed for each state as palliatives and grants as shambolic and unscientific.

The Spokesman of the forum, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, in an interview with journalists

SEEKS

who cannot overcome the current challenge of accessing forex to shun petrol importation.

In a new policy advisory released by the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, the agency stated that the theft of Nigeria’s commonwealth by a few persons had done massive damage to the nation’s economy and therefore needed to be curbed.

NEITI recalled that as reported earlier, its audit reports covering 2009-2020, a period of 12 years, indicated an average of more than 140,000 barrels of crude oil daily loss, leading to the country being deprived of 619.7 million barrels, valued at $46.16 billion or N16.25 trillion during the period.

“This is more than Nigeria's entire foreign reserves and almost 10 times the size of the country's oil savings (excess crude account) as of 2022,” it noted.

The said panel, NEITI noted, was set up by former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration and inaugurated by the erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA) on December 6, 2022.

According to the agency, the investigative panel was established with the broadest possible terms of reference to advise the government on short, medium, and long-term measures to tackle oil theft and losses in the industry.

“NEITI was the only anticorruption agency to serve on the panel among other reputable Nigerians carefully selected for the assignment. The report of the panel

yesterday, said there is no basis for giving the same amount to Lagos, Oyo, Kano, and Bayelsa states, as their populations and statistics of eligible people differ.

Muhammad-Baba said, “I am not happy about such a blanket distribution of N5 billion to each state. In the first place, there is no basis for the distribution. I mean, if you are looking for poor people, are you allocating the same amount to Bayelsa, Lagos, Oyo, and Kano states, and you expect it to make an impact?

“This shows that we are doing things like what grammar people call ‘hunter’s pack’. You don’t plan, you don’t strategise, you just came out and made an announcement on that. There is no basis for sharing money with states on an equal basis.

“We are talking of poor people and poor people is a question of proportion, we know there are over 140 million poor people in

Nigeria. The number of people suffering from poverty in Lagos, Oyo, and Kano will not be the same as those living in poverty in Bayelsa, Taraba, or Jigawa. So, what is the basis? What impact is it going to make?

“You are accompanying it with 30,000 bags of rice. How many people is that going to reach? Take a state like Sokoto, for example. They have over seven million people by the latest National Population Commission estimate. So, how many people are 30,000 bags of rice going to feed?” he queried.

He noted that the government is not working on a definite plan, saying, “The government is implementing a shambolic policy; you need to come to the aid of the poor people, there is no doubt about it, that is scientific, but you need to do it in such a way that your intervention will not be a drop in the ocean.”

and 1,500 French soldiers fighting against jihadists in anti-terrorist operations with the local army.

Zeine, a French-trained economist who had served as finance minister in a previous administration, said “the moment will come to review” such military partnerships while praising the “extremely reasonable position” of the White House in trying to resolve the crisis through diplomacy rather than force.

In a related development, a volunteer militia force made up of civilians is also being organised in Niger in response to the potential ECOWAS military intervention.

Recruitment for a civilian militia force called the Volunteers for the Defence of Niger (VDN) was scheduled to commence yesterday in Niamey, the country’s capital.

Volunteers interested in joining VDN would gather at the General Seyni Kountche Stadium, where those older than 18 could be registered. Similar efforts are also set along the borders of Nigeria and Benin.

It was gathered that the militias will assist the military in various capacities, including armed combat as well as medical care, logistics, technical and engineering support

Nigeriens Protest in Kano, Call for Bazoum’s Reinstatement

In another development, hundreds of Nigerien residents in Kano State yesterday took to the major streets to call for the reinstatement of President Bazoum. hundreds of Nigerien residents in Kano State, yesterday, took to the major streets to call for the reinstatement of President Bazoum.

The protesters, however, implored ECOWAS to rescind its decision to deploy troops in Niger, stressing that dialogue was the best approach to resolve the conflict.

The protest, which took place at Wapa in the Fagge Local Government Area of the state, was led by Lawalli Mamman Barma.

Commercial activities were brought to a halt along Abbale Street, and Triumph as the protesters carried placards with different inscriptions, condemning the military coup that swept away the democratic dispensation of Niger Republic.

"We are calling on the ECOWAS to peacefully reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum’s democratic government," the group said.

OF SPECIAL PANEL’S REPORT ON CRUDE OIL THEFT, LOSSES

with specific, insightful findings and recommendations was presented to the former National Security Adviser, Maj Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), on March 28, 2023. The report is current and comprehensive in content, with specifics on what needs to be done.

“We now recommend that the government assemble a dependable team to develop an implementation plan with modalities and timelines to implement the report. NEITI can offer any additional required information and data to guide implementation.

“Our legitimate interest in the report is given the terrible damage oil theft has done to the country on revenues loss, environment, terrorism financing, stealing of Nigeria's crude, transparency, and accountability in the oil and gas industry,” it added.

THISDAY had reported that Nigeria’s inability to ramp up production to meet the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output quota may have cost the country a gross revenue loss of about N6.8 trillion in the first seven months of 2023.

The analysis showed that while the total oil production shortfall was approximately 113.52 million barrels between January and July, the country failed to rake in an estimated $9 billion, at an average oil price of $80 per barrel during the period.

Still on oil matters, NEITI recommended that with the petrol subsidy now gone, the

government should immediately launch a comprehensive welfare programme from the savings from subsidy removal.

The target, it said, should focus on transportation, possible review of workers’ salaries and emoluments as well as massive investments in physical infrastructure.

It also called for the creation of deliberate policy incentives and social safety nets for the poor and most vulnerable in health, access to micro credits, and relief in education, among others.

“The implementation should be open, transparent, accountable, and evidence-based to build citizens' trust required to record visible impact,” NEITI advised.

Another game changer, it stressed, was to encourage more local refineries to come on stream, especially those already awarded licenses to establish private refineries in Nigeria.

The incentives to accelerate the process, the organisation said, may include tax holidays, institutional support, and availing potential investors in the downstream sector of the available opportunities within the existing ‘federal government ease of doing business policy.’

NEITI added that a team of experts could be set up to work out the details, the nature of support needed, the mode of application, the gestation period, and the projected impacts on the economy within the short, medium, and long term.

“In this direction, NEITI strongly recommends that ongoing private

sector-led efforts in this area should be identified as a potential private investor initiative to address national emergencies and, as such, should attract presidential support such as visits, encouraging pronouncements, etc.”

Petrol Marketers May Shun Importation as FG Rules out Further Price Increase

In another development, the foreclosing of any further increase in petrol price by President Tinubu and the NNPCL may force many marketers of the product who cannot overcome the current challenge of accessing forex to shun petrol importation.

Following the alarm raised by the marketers that petrol price would hit N720 per litre in the coming weeks owing to the worsening of the foreign exchange situation and the depreciation of the naira, coupled with the rise in the landing cost of fuel, the President had last Tuesday through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngalele, ruled out further increase in the pump price from the current N580 to N617 per litre.

President Tinubu said rather than contemplate another increase in fuel prices, his administration would instead address the foreign exchange challenge and eliminate inefficiencies in the midstream and

LONG LIVE THE KING…

PDP: We'll Win Imo Guber Election to Reinvent Ourselves in South-east

Dismisses Uzodimma, Okorocha’s alliance

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Campaign Council for the November 11 governorship election and Governor of Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, and the party's governorship candidate in the election, Senator Samuel Anyanwu yesterday pledged to ensure that the party wins the election for the general

purpose of reinventing the PDP in South-east.

They also pledged to reduce the pains of the people of Imo State and bring back good governance in the state.

Both spoke at a meeting of the Imo State PDP National Campaign Council in Abuja yesterday.

Speaking earlier, Governor Lawal said: "Our party, the PDP, has placed a huge trust in us which we must tirelessly

Ex-Gov Emmanuel Not in Possession of Official Jet, Says Akwa Ibom Govt

Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Akwa Ibom State Government has dismissed insinuations that the immediate past governor, Udom Emmanuel, was still in possession of the governor’s official jet.

The state governor, Pastor Umo Éno, was said to have come under criticism after he boarded a passenger plane (Ibom Air) from Uyo to Abuja, recently, and subjected himself to security scrutiny at the Ibom International Airport. His critics had stated that he resorted to flying with Ibom Air because the former governor, Emmanuel, was still keeping the governor’s official private jet.

But speaking in a radio interview in Uyo at the weekend, the Senior Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on Research and Documentation, Mr. Essien Ndueso, said the decision by the governor to patronise the state-owned air carrier was in keeping with his promises of encouraging Akwa Ibom State Government’s investments to thrive and expand to meet up the demands of the present economic realities in the country.

“Remember, His Excellency, Pastor Eno, said he is not a governor who sits in his comfort zone in the office to receive reports from the fields, but one who will go out to feel and experience the realities of investments and public utilities

funded with public funds

“The governor has told his people that in appointing aides, he is not appointing aides that would carry his umbrella and phones since he is carrying them himself, but he would rather appoint people with the capacity to add value to his administration.

“Even at the airport, you could see him subjecting himself to thorough checks and other airport procedures, and that is because he wishes to lead by example. Such actions should not be misinterpreted, but seen as actions that make him more connected to his people,” Nduese said

The governor’s aide said it was rather unfortunate that the good intentions of his principal, in having first-hand experience with the state airline, were misconstrued, describing the allegation as a frivolous “beer parlour gist” aimed at tarnishing the image of the former governor. He urged the public to discountenance such allegations, as they were with no iota of truth.

He explained that Emmanuel, despite being the immediate past governor and former boss to the current governor, had not shown any overbearing attitude to his successor, but even came to declare during the state dialogue that there could only be one leader at a time in the state, being Governor Eno.

uphold by ensuring victory at the poll come November 11.

"Our objective is to secure victory and this is a crucial task that must be done because to secure victory at the polls will reinvent the PDP in the southeast.

“We will be very focused and determined, we pledge. We shall overcome," Lawal pledged.

He continued: "The victory of Senator Anyanwu is to reinvigorate the PDP in Imo which is the heartland of Igbo."

Also speaking, the governorship candidate, Senator Anyanwu, noted that he had embarked on reconciliation within the 27 local government areas of the state since his emergence as a candidate.

According to him, "Since my emergence, we have been trying to put things together.

The party under the state

chairman, set up a reconciliation committee headed by a very known chieftain of the party who has touched almost everybody to bring peace or reconcile everybody in our party. Especially those that are in crisis have been reconciled.

"You know in every party, it's not everybody that is reconcilable but you have to keep moving and we will keep moving to continue to reconcile but without being distracted.

"We have 27 LGs in Imo State and immediately I emerged as the candidate of the party, we embarked on a ‘thank you’ tour. Out of the 27 LGs we have toured 24 remaining three, which we are going to conclude by Wednesday next week," he explained.

He added: "The places the sitting governor cannot even go, we have gone there and come back.

"This election is not about me and the incumbent, it is about Imo people, Imo State, and the sitting governor.

"This is because Imo is traditionally a PDP state. What happened, in the last three years was an aberration, PDP won the election and was taken away by the Supreme Court. So, we know that PDP in every nook and cranny of Imo State is PDP. PDP is a party that has its fabrics among the people.

"I am the person that the incumbent governor will hand over to by January 15. We know ourselves. We were together in the Senate. There is nothing that he knows that I don't know.”

Meanwhile, Lawal has said the reported reconciliation between Senator Rochas Okorocha and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma poses no threat to the chances of the PDP in the forthcoming

governorship election.

He said this while fielding questions from journalists, after the formal inauguration of the council in Abuja yesterday.

In response to a question on the reconciliation between the two All Progressives Congress (APC), chieftains, Lawal said: “You know, Dauda will not be intimidated, I went through that in Zamfara State, Imo is not going to be anything new.”

Speaking about ongoing reconciliation in the Imo State chapter of the PDP, he said, “We in the party are always committed.

“As we always say, as a party, we know there will always be issues. What matters is how we resolve them. We are on top of the situation.

“I urge the people of Imo to remain resolute victory will be ours come November 11, in sha Allah.”

NBA Probes UNICAL Lecturer, Adamawa REC, Abia Lawyer

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations of sexual assault against the suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), Prof. Cyril Ndifon.

Members of the committee are the NBA First Vice President, Linda Rose Bala; Assistant General Secretary, Daniel Kip; Chairperson of NBA Women’s Forum and the Chairman of the NBA Calabar Branch.

The NBA also filed petitions against the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari; and a young lawyer of Aba Branch widely known as “the Baddest lawyer” on social media, Ifunanya Excel Grant. While Yunusa-Ari was petitioned over his role in illegally declaring the result

of the supplementary 2023 governorship election in Adamawa State as votes were still being counted, the complaints against Miss Ifunanya centred on her social media notoriety of posting pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking substances suspected to be hard drugs.

A statement issued yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of NBA, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, said the decision was reached by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the body at her recent monthly meeting presided over by its President, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN) and attended by all national officers.

The statement said: “The NBA NEC subsequently empanelled an ad-hoc committee comprising the 1st Vice President of the NBA, Mrs Linda Rose Bala; the Assistant General Secretary of the NBA, Mr. Daniel Kip; Chairperson of NBA Women’s Forum and the Chairman of

the NBA Calabar Branch, to investigate the allegations against the university lecturer.

“You may also be aware of the recent media report of the attempted bribe of Justice Flora Azinge of the National Assembly and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano.

“The NBA has, by a letter dated August 16, 2023, formally requested His Lordship to avail the NBA of further details in this regard to enable investigation into this allegation.

“In a similar vein, the national officers also deliberated at their earlier monthly meeting over the unbecoming conduct of some members of the legal profession. Following the resolutions of the national officers, the NBA has filed petitions at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee against Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral

Commission and Ifunanya Excel Grant, a young lawyer of Aba Branch widely known as ‘the Baddest lawyer’ on social media.

“Yunusa-Ari was petitioned over his role in illegally declaring the result of the supplementary 2023 gubernatorial election in Adamawa State while votes were still being counted. While the complaints against Miss Ifunanya centred on her social media notoriety of posting pictures and videos of herself unclad and smoking marijuana.

“While it is important to underscore the fact that none of the lawyers petitioned or being investigated is deemed guilty of professional misconduct until the LPDC hands down its decisions after a fair trial, the NBA President has emphasised the need for lawyers to continue to be of best conduct wherever they find themselves, and he reiterated that the present NBA leadership will not relent in ridding the profession of the very few bad eggs that may be found.”

L-R: Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, Chief Oma Eyewuoma; His Majesty Olu of Warri Kingdom, Ogiame Atuwatse III; and Iyatsere of Warri Kingdom, Chief Johnson Atselueghe, during the Praise Day marking the commencement of the second anniversary of the monarch in Warri, Delta State…yesterday

GRADUATION CEREMONY…

Ex-Boko Haram Members Storm Maiduguri, Protest Hunger, Poor Welfare

Four terrorist commanders, 13 others surrender to MNJTF

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

Some former members of the Boko Haram group protested in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at the weekend, alleging neglect by the government. This came as four commanders of the terrorist group,13 other fighters, and their 45 family members surrendered to troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

About 6,900 members of Boko Haram had surrendered to the

Nigerian authorities and renounced their membership of the terrorist organisation.

The former terrorists, who are undergoing a deradicalisation and rehabilitation programme at the Hajj Camp in Maiduguri, broke out of the facility and protested on the streets asking the government to pay them the N30,000 allowance it had promised.

The protest caused tension and gridlock along the Bulumkutu –Maiduguri Highway before the security operatives arrived to douse

FSRCC, NBC Raise the Alarm over Activities of Illegal Financial Operators

James

Emejo in Abuja

The Financial Services Regulation and Coordinating Committee (FSRCC), and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), have expressed worry over the rising activities of Illegal Financial Operators (IFOs) in the country.

In a joint statement, which was posted on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), both parties noted that the development portends grave risk to the public confidence and stability of the Nigerian financial system.

The FSRCC and NBC in their continuing efforts to end the scourge of IFOs in Nigeria, further issued advisory urging Nigerians to refrain from dealing with unlicensed or illegal financial operators, who lure and defraud unsuspecting members of the public by offering extraordinary returns on investments as bait.

They also advised Nigerians to verify the licensing status of such companies and schemes on the relevant websites including NDIC, CBN, PenCom, SEC, and NAICOM before investing in them.

The statement further urged the public to report any individual or entities suspected to be involved in such nefarious activities to law enforcement agencies.

It added that member agencies will continue to engage in regular sensitisation campaigns on the threats posed by the activities of illegal financial operators.

The regulatory clampdown

on IFOs had been intensified in recent times.

The Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr. Babatunde Irukera, had in November 2021 disclosed that the commission was partnering with CBN, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to address multiple potentially dubious conduct of certain money lenders, otherwise known as loan sharks.

A loan shark implies a money lender who charges extremely high rates of interest, typically under illegal conditions.

Irukera said the joint investigation followed continuing complaints about questionable repayment enforcement practices including public shaming and violations of privacy, arbitrary, unjust, unreasonable, or exploitative interest rates and or loan balances calculations, harassment, and failure of consumer feedback mechanisms.

He said the development had resulted in significant and understandable consumer aggravation and dissatisfaction.

He said initial inquiries demonstrated that many of the purported money lenders are not legally established or licensed by the appropriate authorities to engage in the services they ostensibly provide.

the tension.

The former Islamists reportedly said they were forced to protest to register their disappointment to the world and the authorities because they had been neglected, left without adequate food and other welfare amenities.

They said the authorities concerned had promised to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into the society to enable them to live a lawful life as responsible Nigerians.

Reacting to the development, the state’s Commissioner of Information and Internal Security, Usman Tar, said ‘biometrics registration’ for repentant insurgents had resumed after the incident.

“As normalcy restored, officials of Borno State Government have on Friday resumed the biometrics data capture of repentant Boko Haram insurgents.

“A total of 6,900 repentant insurgents are processed under the multi-agency framework of Disarmament, Demobilisation, Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation,

Reconciliation, and Reintegration (DDDRRR) otherwise known as the “Borno Model,” Mr Tar added.

He explained that the data processing process was scheduled to be conducted in six batches by a certified team of intelligence and ICT experts with the utmost level of professionalism and confidentiality in data management.

“Due to a bridge in communication, those who were supposed to appear for the data capture at a later date appeared on Friday, August 18, 2023, and this led to confusion at a camp where the exercise was being conducted.

“The Borno State government wishes to assure the public that the situation is under control and normalcy has been restored at the venue of the biometric exercise.

“The incident illustrated the sensitive task which authorities face in re-inserting former fighters back into communities that have often suffered from years of attacks and kidnappings during a 13-year Islamist insurgency,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, four commanders

of the terrorist group, 13 other fighters, and their 45 family members have surrendered to troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

A statement by the Force Spokesperson MNJTF, Lt Col. Abubakar Abdullahi, said the feat follows escalating kinetic and non-kinetic operations by the Joint Task Force, coupled with a dwindling logistic supply in Boko Haram hideouts.

He said between 14 to 15 August 2023, “four key Boko Haram commanders, 13 main fighters, and a total of 45 family members, laid down their arms and surrendered to troops of Sector 3 MNJTF in Cross Kauwa and Baga of Kukawa Local Government, Nigeria.”

The terrorists surrendered; seven AK-47 rifles, one FN Rifle (SLR), nearly 440 rounds of assorted calibre ammunition, and other essential tools of insurgency.

In a breakdown, he stated that two commanders, nine main fighters, and 21 family members surrendered on 14 August 2023

to troops of 19 Brigade in Cross Kauwa and 403 Amphibious Brigade in Baga.

The terrorists voluntarily surrendered six AK 47 rifles, one FN Rifle (SLR), 20 magazines (with two fully loaded), 12 rounds of 5.6-millimeter ammunition, two hand grenades, three Bandoliers, and 180 rounds of 7.62-millimeter ammunition amongst numerous items.

Again, on 15 August 2023, two other commanders, four fighters, and 24 family members surrendered. He said the terrorists who surrendered at the 403 Amphibious Brigade location in Baga, submitted two AK-47 rifles, seven magazines, 99 rounds of 7.62-millimeter ammunition, two transistor radios, a cash sum of N213,800 and a variety of personal items.

“In response to this major breakthrough, the MNJTF has re-echoed an urgent call to all remaining Boko Haram insurgents, urging them to embrace peace and surrender as operations intensify,” he said.

Mark, Saraki, Anyim, Umahi, Kalu, Others Attend Ekweremadu’s Son’s Wedding

Peter Obi's presence at Barau's daughter's wedding excites Akpabio

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gathered in Abuja yesterday to honour a former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife Beatrice, as their son Lloyd got wedded to his heartrob, Tiffany.

This is a Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described the presence of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, at the wedding Fatiha of Amir, the son of Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, as a sign of a united Nigeria.

The PDP chieftains present included three former Senate Presidents – Anyim Pius Anyim, David Mark and Bukola Saraki – and PDP governorship candidate in Kogi State, Senator

Dino Melaye, among others.

The wedding, which took place at Basilica of Grace Anglican Church, Gudu District, Abuja, also attracted top chieftains of the ruling APC, including Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu; Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, and Ministerdesignate, Senator David Umahi, among other guests, who graced the occasion in solidarity with the Ekweremadus.

Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, had included Lloyd as one of his commissioners.

Recall that Senator Ekweremadu, who represented Enugu West senatorial district in the Senate for about two decades, is currently being held in a UK prison alongside his wife Beatrice after they were found guilty of organ trafficking and consequently sentenced to different jail terms in May, 2023.

A UK Court had sentenced the former deputy Senate President and PDP chieftain to nine years and eight months in prison.

The court also sentenced Mrs Beatrice Ekweremadu to four years and six months in prison, while a doctor who allegedly colluded with them, Obinna Obeta, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Ekweremadu and the two others were found guilty of organ trafficking but their sentencing was deferred to May. They allegedly procured a 21-year-old Nigerian and flew him to the UK with the intention to harvest his kidney for their ailing daughter, Sonia Ekweremadu.

Meanwhile, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has described the presence of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Obi, at the wedding Fatiha of Amir, the son of Deputy President of the

Senate, Barau Jibrin, as a sign of a united Nigeria.

Akpabio, according to a statement by his Media Office yesterday, spoke after the event in Kano on Friday.

He noted that the presence of many high-profile personalities at the wedding ceremony attests to the fact that Senator Barau is a peaceful man of the people.

The Senate President said, “You can see that even Labour Party Pesidential Candidate Peter Obi and his people are here; this tells you that Nigeria will remain united as one entity,” he said.

The wedding Fatiha, graced by Vice President Kashim Shettima, was between Amir and Bilkisu Aliyu Sani Madaki, the daughter of the Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Sani Madaki.

The event was held at the Isyaka Rabiu Juma’at Mosque, Goron Dutse, Kano State.

L-R: Mr. Uzoma Emenike; Graduand, Mr. Chibuike Emenike; Director, Christojas Couture Nigeria Limited, Lady Stella Emenike, Chairman, Christojas Couture Nigeria Limited, Sir Chris Emenike, and Uche Emenike, at the graduation ceremony of Chibuike from the University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom…recently

INVESTMENT MEETING…

L-R:

for Finance, Akintunde

UNICEF Urges FG to Prosecute Bandits for Killing Children, Women

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the federal and state governments to enhance their judicial systems for proper prosecution of bandits before the courts of law.

A UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, made the call while addressing journalists in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital at the weekend in preparation for

the commemoration of World Humanitarian Day. She lamented the absence of proper prosecution and punishments for bandits for the various crimes they perpetrate against humanity. She said: “We have international laws and also a legal system. Of course, Nigeria has its national laws and these laws have to be applied to prosecute and punish bandits.

“It scares me that bandits are

not taken to courts even though they have been assaulting and killing children and women, abducting and raping, etc.

“It scares me that no laws are applied to prosecute and punish them. If there is any legal process, I think there is a need for proper punishment for these people legally,” she explained.

The UNICEF Representative also faulted the method of relocation of IDPs to their ancestral communities which, according

to her, has still not ended the problems of the majority of the relocated IDPs.

She suggested that the relocation should be a betterplanned process that enables the relocated IDPs to properly rebuild their lives economically.

THISDAY reported that more than 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State, while the fear of attacks

WHO Monitors New COVID-19 Variant Detected in Four Countries

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja with agency report

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it is closely monitoring BA.2.86, a new variant of COVID-19, detected in Israel, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In a bulletin weekend, WHO said it is classifying the new version of COVID-19 as a variant under monitoring (VUM) due to the large number of spike gene mutations it carries.

“On 17 August 2023, WHO designated a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, that has been assigned the scientific name (Pango- lineage designation) BA.2.86 as a variant under monitoring (VUM) due to the large number (>30) of spike gene mutations it carries,” the bulletin reads.

“Currently, there are only four

known sequences of this variant reported from two countries in the European region and one country in the Region of the Americas with no known associated epidemiological connections,” WHO explained.

The WHO said the potential impact of the BA.2.86 mutations is not known at the moment, adding that it is undergoing careful assessment.

The organisation said it would continue to call for better surveillance, sequencing, and reporting of COVID-19 as the virus continues to circulate and evolve.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) said it was tracking the lineage of the virus.

“CDC is tracking a new lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19. This lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark, and Israel,” the

post reads.

“CDC is gathering more information and will share more about this lineage as we learn it,” it added.

According to the WHO, as of August 13, there were more than 769 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 6.9 million deaths worldwide. The toll is expected to be higher because many cases went undetected. WHO however added that it is too early to say whether the variant will be more dangerous than the currently circulating strains of the virus.

The UN agency said more data is needed to understand the threat BA.2.86 might pose, but had accelerated the classification due to its sheer number of changes.

The strain's dozens of genetic changes — an evolutionary jump on par with the emergence of the original Omicron variant in 2021

— have raised eyebrows among virologists as cases have started to crop up around the world. Its mutations include some changes in key parts of the virus that could help it better dodge the body's immunity from prior infections or vaccination.

"Deep mutational scanning indicates BA.2.86 variant will have equal or greater escape than XBB.1.5 from antibodies elicited by pre-Omicron and first-generation Omicron variants," Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, said in a slide deck published Thursday. The first US case of BA.2.86 was reported by a lab at the University of Michigan. According to records attached to the sequence uploaded to GISAID, a global virus database, the variant was sequenced from a sample collected by the university's clinical microbiology lab during "baseline surveillance."

IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL PANEL’S REPORT ON CRUDE OIL

downstream petroleum sectors that were causing fuel prices to increase.

Earlier, NNPCL had in a statement on its Twitter/X Handle stated that there would not be any further increase in fuel price.

However, the pronouncements by the president and NNPCL had left the marketing companies in confusion as they negated the free-market regime introduced by the Tinubu administration.

The National President of the Petroleum Products Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr Billy Grillis-Harry, told THISDAY, yesterday, that with

the announcement by Tinubu and NNPC, only marketers who can cope with the current forex issue can import petrol into the country.

Grillis-Harry argued that for the president and NNPC to rule out any increase in petrol price despite the soaring landing cost, means they have information that was not available to the marketers.

"Where the statement leaves the market is that those who have dollars to bring products will bring; those who don't have dollars will not and therefore, there will be no supply. That is just the reality.

"And then, the president may

have information that is very different from the one we have. Because if prices cannot change and there is no dollar to bring in products, it then means the government has information that we don't have, and they must be able to cushion the effect.

"Marketers have clearly stated that they cannot import based on the current dollar issue. And then, those who have already ordered some products before this time are not able to meet up with their obligation. Also, don't forget that NNPC doesn't need dollars to import," he added.

According to industry data, the landing cost of petrol has risen to N651.75/per litre, far higher than the N617 per litre NNPC had pegged the product.

A breakdown of the landing cost of petrol showed that as of last week, whereas the product cost was N627.82 per litre, the finance cost was N11.61, and the operations/ administrative cost was N12.32. This brings the total landing cost to N651.75 per litre. Marketers had insisted that with the current cost of the product, the appropriate pump price should be over N720 per litre.

stopped some children from ever attending school, according to Save the Children.

In April 2014, the abduction from a school in Chibok made global headlines and sparked the #BringBackOurGirls movement and protests, which attracted public support from celebrities and public figures, including Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton, and then First Lady, Michelle Obama.

However, new data analysis by Save the Children reveals that attacks on schools have been continuing out of the spotlight and highlights the violence that schoolchildren and teachers face across Nigeria.

In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. Twenty-five school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period.

The majority of these attacks took place in the North-west (49 attacks), followed by North-central (11 attacks).

These attacks have long-lasting consequences for communities and children’s access to education, often leading to the mass

withdrawal of children from school and school closures.

In Katsina State in the Northwestern part of the country, nearly 100 schools remain closed due to insecurity, affecting the education of over 30,000 children. In the aftermath of attacks, children and communities are left traumatised, and the majority do not receive psychological support.

During focus group discussions with affected communities, Save the Children staff found that many children were too scared to return to school. One girl, who survived the Chibok school attack, said: “I am afraid of being a victim some other day and afraid of dying or rape by the insurgents."

The Country Director at Save the Children Nigeria, Famari Barro, said more needs to be done to prevent attacks but also to support children and their families in the aftermath.

In 2015, Nigeria endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, which seeks to ensure the continuity of safe education during armed conflict and outlines commitments to strengthen the protection of education from attack, but it remains largely unimplemented at the state and community levels. Rural community schools remain vulnerable to attacks.

Ministers-designate Begin Documentation Ahead of

Monday’s Swearing-in

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Ahead of Monday’s swearingin ceremony of members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), 45 ministers-designate have begun their documentation at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) in Abuja.

The exercise, which was ongoing yesterday afternoon, followed the assignment of portfolios to the ministerial appointees by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.

The Senate had penultimate Monday confirmed the appointment of 45 ministerial nominees out of a list of 48 names forwarded to it for confirmation by President Tinubu.

The Senate withheld

confirmation of the appointment of three nominees, namely: Nasir El-Rufai from Kaduna State, Stella Okotete from Delta State, and Abubakar Sani Danladi from Taraba State, over security concerns.

THISDAY had reported that a statement from the OSGF late Wednesday evening had announced that President Tinubu would swear in the Ministersdesignate at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, August 21.

According to the statement signed by the Director of Information in the OSGF, Willie Bassey, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, the swearing-in ceremony will hold from 10 a.m. on the said date

Ekiti State Commissioner

Oyebode; CEO, InfraCredit, Mr. Chinua Azubike; and Governor Abayomi Oyebanji, at a meeting on the collaboration between Ekiti State government and InfraCredit to attract long-term investments in the state's infrastructure development initiatives, supported with technical assistance from KfW, in Ado Ekiti...recently

ALL EYES ON PROFITABILITY…

Abbas: We’re Taking Measures to Address Insecurity

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has said sequel to the recent spate of attacks in some parts of the country, the House is taking measures to nip the insecurity in the bud.

His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Musa Krishi, said this in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

According to him, Abbas gave the assurance during a condolence visit to the Emir of Zazzau, Amb.

Ahmed Bamalli.

Krishi said the visit was over the incident of the collapse of parts of the Zaria Central Mosque which killed several people and injured many others during the Asr prayer on August 11.

He said the visit was also based on a bandits’ attack that claimed two lives in the Kofar Gayan area of Zaria on August 12.

According to the spokesperson, Abbas promised that the House would also prevent a further resurgence of the attacks.

Krishi said the speaker expressed

NBA Pledges Support for Fagbemi as AGF

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), at the weekend paid a courtesy visit on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice-designate in Abuja, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) where he promised to support him to achieve success.

In his remarks, the NBA President described Fagbemi as a ’round peg in a round role’ and expressed the excitement of many lawyers about his appointment.

Maikyau pledged the support of the NBA as Fagbemi assumes office as the new Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation tomorrow.

While responding, Fagbemi

expressed his appreciation to the NBA President and his team for the visit.

He remarked that it gives him a lot of comfort, knowing that he has the support of the Bar. He then called upon the NBA President to present to the office of the Attorney General the NBA’s official position on law reforms and areas of improvement for the judiciary

TheNBAPresidentwasaccompanied on the visit by theAlternate Chairperson of the 2023 NBA Annual General Conference Planning Committee, Mrs. OyikanBadejo,whochosetheoccasionto brief the incoming Justice Minister of the forthcomingAnnual General Conference whichcommences on Friday, August 25, 2023 in Abuja.

NDLEA: Naira Marley, Not Our Ambassador

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has revealed its engagement with music star, Afeez Adeshina Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, is to encourage him to use his skills and platforms to put out content that will discourage millions of his followers and Nigerian youths from substance abuse, but insisted that the artiste had not been appointed an ambassador of the anti-drug agency.

The artiste had on Thursday 17th August 2023 led members of his team on a visit to the National Headquarters of NDLEA in Abuja to express his preparedness to join

the fight against drug abuse in the country.

According to a statement by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the clarification became necessary following continued misrepresentation of the purpose of the visit, especially on online platforms where some reports suggest that the BritishNigerian singer was appointed as an NDLEA Ambassador.

Babafemi said, “This is misleading and absolute falsehood as the pictures of the visit and the short video containing Naira Marley’s advocacy message to his followers were properly captioned and shared by the agency without any suggestion of such appointment.”

sadness over the unfortunate incidents and assured the leadership and the people of the Zazzau Emirate that the House had taken measures aimed at forestalling their recurrence.

Krishi said that Abbas assured the emir that the military would establish a formation around some

flashpoints to curtail future attacks on communities in Zaria and its environs.

He also quoted Abbas as saying: “I want to assure you that based on the way banditry wants to return, we in the House have taken some measures.

“We have started engaging the

military, and they will come and establish a formation around the female school at the Kofar Gayan axis. They have assured us that they would do that.

“I also want to assure you that as a son of the land and one of the kingmakers in this palace, I am ready to

contribute to the rebuilding of the mosque. “When it’s time for the work, let me know so that I will contribute my quota to the rebuilding of this important religious edifice. “We thank you for giving us this opportunity to come and condole with you.”

Allow Us Fix Nigeria’s Moribund Refineries, Female Engineers Beg Tinubu

The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), yesterday, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to allow female engineers to fix the nation’s moribund refineries.

Newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs. Atinuke Owolabi, made the call during the association’s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja.

Owolabi assured that female engineers spread across the various arms of the profession could fix the refineries within a year.

“All women engineers are ready

to come together and see how we can proffer solutions, making sure that we revamp these refineries. “So, we call on our president to challenge female engineers to revamp and rehabilitate these refineries, and I want to assure you that, within a year, just challenge us, we will make sure that the refineries would be put to operation by the grace of God,” she said. She said any nation aspiring for development must empower its indigenous engineers and manpower.

“It is imperative that our homegrown engineers are empowered and granted the right opportunity to showcase our competence,” she said.

She said women had inbuilt natural qualities of being good managers and being excellent, adding that their talents should also be explored in building roads and other critical infrastructure.

Owolabi said Nigeria should reduce reliance on foreign experts and give opportunity to local engineers, who are equally or more competent than their imported counterparts.

“I want to also implore our leaders, especially our president and governors, to empower indigenous engineers because we are very good.

“A country without engineers cannot develop,” she said.

Owolabi, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, promised that her administration would focus on mentorship and skill development for young engineers. She also pledged collaboration with other NGOs while reeling out planned development programmes for three Lagos communities.

Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo Declare Public Holiday for Traditionalists to Celebrate ‘Isese’ Day

Lagos, Ogun, Osun, and Oyo states have approved Monday, August 21, 2023, as a work-free day for public servants in the state to mark this year’s ‘Isese’ Day. Isese Day is set aside by traditional religious worshippers to celebrate Yoruba culture and tradition.

In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the day would be work-free to allow government workers, who are devotees of

traditional religion, to observe their annual festival.

His approval was contained in a circular signed by the State’s Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, sent to Permanent Secretaries of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.

According to the circular, the governor’s decision was made as a measure to promote indigenous culture and tradition in Lagos.

Sanwo-Olu also approved the date for the traditional worship-

pers to preserve cultural heritage in the state.

According to the circular with Ref. No: CIR/HOS/23/Vol.1/066, “It is hereby notified for general information that this Year’s Isese Day celebration will hold on Sunday, 20th August 2023.

“In restating its commitment to continue to provide the necessary support to traditional institutions in the State to promote our indigenous culture and tradition while preserving our heritage, Mr. Governor, Babajide

Olusola Sanwo-Olu has graciously declared Monday, 21 August 2023, a Work-free Day for public servants in the state.”

Work will therefore resume on Tuesday, 22 August at 8a.m prompt.”

In Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun, in a statement yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Lekan Adeniran, praised the existing harmony among the adherents of all religions in the Gateway State.

Nasarawa Tribunal: PDP Accuses APC of Manipulating Public Opinion

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of attempts to manipulate the opinions of the public as regards the ongoing tribunal in the states. The party also noted that no “amount of fake news” would deter PDP from retrieving its “stolen mandate.”

According to a statement obtained by our correspondent

yesterday in Abuja, the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Francis Orogu, also expressed concerns over “the distortion of key witness testimonies in the ongoing governorship election petition in Lafia.”

He said, “There was nowhere the state PDP returning agent or coalition officer denied the PDP’s petition before the tribunal nor did he say the figures allocated

to favour the PDP were due to human errors in all the alleged polling units and wards.

“The PDP’s key witness, Mr. Ayiwulu Baba Ayiwulu, presented an unambiguous and clear account at the tribunal.

“The APC’s aim to influence public opinion has failed. Withholding certain INEC documents won’t deter the PDP’s pursuit of justice. Other documents already

presented in court provide sufficient evidence to challenge the alleged mandate theft.”

In conclusion, the PDP leader reaffirmed the party’s commitment to transparency and urged the public to “disregard false narratives propagated by various sources. The ongoing tribunal process will continue to unfold as both parties present their cases in the pursuit of justice.”

James Sowole in Abeokuta

L-R: Chairman of NIPCO Plc, Chief Bestman Anekwe; Company Secretary, Mr. Paul Chukwuma Obi; and Non - Executive Director, Mr. Ramesh Virwani, at the company’s 19th Annual General Meeting in Abuja…weekend

As FG Beats Retreat on

big lesson that policies that are not well thought-out before implementation will not stand the test of time, reports Festus Akanbi

By now, it should have dawned on many economiccial institutions that rallied support for President Bola Tinubu over the multilayered economic reforms unveiled after his inauguration on May between ideas and reality.

The president had announced a total removal of the controversial fuel subsidy

was a twin policy decision which fetched the current administration accolades, especially from the World Bank President, Ajay Banga, who was convinced that President Tinubu is determined to do the right things and take the proper steps.

he’s doing early in his term, not easy; macro,tant. He’s very determined to do the right thing,” Banga had said.

However, as days passed by, the reality intive at home with a general dislocation to the nation’s economy. The seriousness of the situation is underscored by the latest threat of organised labour amid the proposed plan Analysts said that although President Tinubu has ruled out another round of fuel the last price adjustment has forced many businesses to close shops while others are being forced to scale down their operations.

They contended that the instability in the pricing of petrol is child’s play in comparison rates on the economy and amid the ensuing confusion, President Tinubu has announced several measures including the plan to sell a stake in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and 19 other national assets or entities.

He is seeking to raise capital from the sale project to reduce the government’s dependence on loans. On its part, the Central Bank of Nigeria has started introducing foreign exchange intervention measures aimed at clamping down on currency speculators in the foreign exchange markets.

There were reports that the apex bank has started introducing some measures aimed at reducing pressure on the naira at the parallel market. For instance, the CBN directed that the naira payment option for proceeds of Diaspora remittances should be made within a limit of -2.5 per cent to +2.5 per cent of the previous day’s average rate

Meanwhile, the naira on Wednesday got some relief as the NNPCL entered into an agreement with the Afrexim Bank for an emergency $3billion crude oil repayment loan. The loan is expected to provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPCL to assist the federal government reforms targeted at foreign exchange market stabilisation

The NNPCL/Afreximbank’s deal

aligns with experts’ call for the creation fall of the local currency. Speaking with Asset Management Company, Mr. Johson Chukwu, said there is an urgent need for the government to apply for a facility to create the needed backup for forex management.

When asked to suggest a quick way out of the current quagmire, Chukwu said: “My approach would have been to approach the balance of payment support line facility.” He maintained that this option is important and can serve as a low-hanging fruit given the fact that it would take a long time for the federal government to conclude its planned sale of its major assets. a position at which you can do an initial investors to buy up our JV assets. So, when also liquidate some of the debts we owe subsequently, say in the next nine months, even call for the re-evaluation of the value of the naira,” Chukwu said.

He explained that the priority of the government is to stabilise the exchange rate, saying if this is done, “we are going to achieve some level of stability in the pump purchasing power of an average household and reduce the level of pain some people are on stabilising the exchange rate because a lot of the problems we are having now come from the gyration in the exchange rate.”

Chukwu’s position corresponds with that of the Agora Policy, an Abuja-based

policy think-tank, which noted that forex and monetary policies should be part of a comprehensive economic plan where the exchange rate serves as a tool for export to foster overall development.

To address the present challenge, the think tank said policymakers must look to strike the iron while it is hot to avoid reform fatigue by seeking out sources of large dollar liquidity on concessional terms.

This, it said, can be achieved by exploring the option of a standby arrangement from ($5-10 billion) to acquire credibility. and external sector adjustments, Nigeria has the credibility to embark on key partnerthe report said.

means Nigeria has a window to obtain this funding if it is ready to push the envelope. the market ‘time to breathe’ as left unsolved, the Naira could come under fresh speculative pressures which might drive a return of policymakers towards the very pegged arrangement they recently jettisoned,” the report noted.

“The goal is to ensure that FX adjustments in a credible manner over the near and medium term,” the think-tank said.

Analysts observed that the naira has lost an essential source of support after statements revealed that adequate foreignexchange reserves at its disposal were much lower than previously disclosed according to a Bloomberg report.

The issue with the net reserves shown in the report last week means the central bank’s capacity to defend the naira is limited, the Chief Executive of Lagos-based CFG Advisory, Adetilewa Adebajo, said.

Analysts, therefore, believe that the extent to which the CBN could carry its interventionist role will determine the anticipated result of the exercise. According to Chukwu, ideally, the central bank must intervene. However, he lamented that the CBN as of today, doesn’t seem to have the the exchange rate.

And as the CEO of Cowry Asset Management puts it, the Central Bank of Nigeria is still the market maker in the forex market because we are practising a mono export economy and the proceeds of oil export go to the CBN. So as long as the CBN is the recipient of the largest proportion of remains the market maker, the only one who to intervene in the market.

L-R: Executive Vice President, Afreximbank, Dr. George Elimbi and Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari, at the signing of the $3bn deal between the two organisations last week Photo: Twitter

Tinubu

Two Decades of Glo: Epic Milestones of its Disruptive Enterprise

SChampion of the Masses

Advocate of Financial Inclusion

Globacom Office, Abuja

Lanre Alfred

REFLECTIONS -02

Thisday Life Lesson Elder: Forgive and Let God Decide

Two weeks ago, the first part of a conversation with one of the senior citizens on the THISDAY LIFE LESSON platform was published, where he shared three of the lessons he learnt and his experiences in the prison house where he spent seven years and 56 days before he was released. In this edition we shall proceed to share the nuggets. Please read on.

NUGGET # 4: FORGIVE AND LET GOD DECIDE

Four years ago when I first interviewed our guest, even though he tried to describe his prison experiences in the mildest way possible, suggesting that he had forgiven the individual whom he said jailed him unjustly I could still sense a spirit of resentment over what had happened.

The issue of forgiveness or unconditional love is a tough one especially when you are expected to love an individual who in the first instance wronged you.

Jesus in the Christian Bible laid the condition for forgiveness very clearly: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are the tax collectors not doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Don’t pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus was talking of unconditional love here. In an extension of that message on love, Jesus even admonished his followers to turn the other cheek if they are hit on the first-instead of a revenge. It has remained a hard injunction to follow.

A very prominent Christian leader while preaching on that same subject told his congregation point blank that he would not even allow the enemy to hit the first cheek and according to him if he succeeded by a mistake to slap him, he would return it seven times. That shows how tough the instruction is to the uninitiated. Our elder was also caught up in this complex injunction for some time and each time we discussed the issue of total forgiveness he always nodded affirming its importance. But something happened a couple of months back. Our elder did a personal note to me sharing with me his final decision to unconditionally forgive his jailer. We both agreed that holding someone in your hear for too long hurts you more than the person you are resenting.

In one of the notes he shared with me two weeks ago, he expressed his thoughts this way: “I have had reasons to seek revenge, but I have chosen to forgive and let God decide. I have concluded I have survived not because I am some expert at devising infallible survival techniques that would without fail, transport one over all conceivable obstacles, but because the Almighty God holds firmly to the promise that I received on the 4th of July 1984.

Due to this reason, I have learnt to forgive those who have hurt me badly. From those who accused me wrongly to those who owe me and who want to hold on to what they are withholding. They are free to do so. I make no more claims. Let the Lord decide.

I learnt this over a long period of reflections that when you forgive those who have offended you from your heart, you are actually doing yourself a lot of good. I would say I have maintained good health

because I have learnt to let go. Our elder is 88 and he drives himself and also does virtually everything by himself. He says he is health and would like to attribute this to the fact that he had chosen to cleanse his heart of any toxicity associated with unforgiveness. If you are Christian, you cannot but forgive whomsoever must have wronged you.

I want to note on forgiveness and the importance of letting God guide you through every path

Or, shall I relate the near-tragic incident where I was driving and was stopped at a police checkpoint, and when the police passed me, I moved without noticing that a little girl had chosen at that same time to cross the road? She was knocked down by the car, but she emerged uninjured.

I have a lot more occurrences like these, but my ability to forgive and let go of things that hurt me has in return spoken grace for me in the sight of God. Those who owe me and who want to hold on to what they are withholding, are free to do so. I make no more claims, let God take the wheel. This is the level of contentment I have attained in Christ now.

I have decided now, to go after what is right in the sight of the lord which gives me fulfilment and peace of mind. If I do not get into a monastery to live out what is left of my life, I will partner with an old friend to live a semi-monastic life, doing whatever good that we can to those in need and waiting for the day of the Lord. This is contentment, living a life free of worries but hinged on

God’s directives. With God there’s love and peace that supersedes all human understand, and I say ......all is always well!!!!!!

The Federal government, for some reasons best known to them, decided to stop feeding prisoners. I was not in the least disturbed. But see what happened. At this same time, the Sokoto branch of the organisation I was working for then discovered that I was in prison there. The State Coordinator and three of his senior staff came to see me. From that day, a member of staff of that company came very early every day, to the prison, to ask me what I needed for the day. Hence, he bought all the food raw from the market and delivered it through the prison governor to the kitchen to be prepared for me. I told my wife to stop coming to Sokoto. I was in good hands, she should take care of the family.

This proved to me again that the Holy One would never forsake his children in times of need has not forgotten me. Once you have that faith in Him, He will always show up when you need him the most.

NUGGET #5: DEVELOP A HABIT OF PRAYING

One good thing about the prison is that you can devote your time to prayers without being distracted. Isolated as you are from the rest of society, you could focus 100% of your attention on your spiritual development.

Many persons often overlook the power of prayer. It can be an arduous task to many with little faith and even those who claim to have a strong belief in God can be discouraged during difficult times.

While in Ikoyi prison, I developed a habit of praying fervently. It was one of my prison mates , Mr. Olu, that suggested we pray every midnight. This was around May 1984, we agreed and I became the group timekeeper, waking all up at midnight. We remained faithful to the program till we were separated in March 1985. I began my personal vigil in September 1985, in Sokoto and it has remained a permanent feature in my life.

The exercise was spiritually rewarding and it was a perfect way to get started on what the day had to offer. If you accompany that from the outset with fasting, the result would be spectacular.

NUGGET #6: TRUST YOUR NEIGHBOUR BUT BEAR IN MIND YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.

This is like an evergreen lesson : for it was first shared in my first interview with our elder four years ago. I learnt this the hard

way during my ordeal and that was why I came up with that lesson. If you trust your neighbor, you might be disappointed, reasons be that I have always trusted people, and it has always ended up in bitter disappointment. Let me illustrate with my first experience in elementary school, I learnt the lessons the teacher taught us, and I believed in the teachings word for word and practiced especially the moral lessons. There was a day I saw two boys quarrelling and I told them that teachers said we should not fight, why don’t you stop? I tried to pacify them, but I couldn’t and what came to my mind as a young boy was to put myself between the two parties. And, as I did that I received general blows from both parties. But one of the boys went home and told his mother that I teamed up with the other boy to beat him up. The boy’s mother, then, went to report to the head teacher that I teamed up with the boy to beat his son up. The story was twisted completely. I still remember vividly in 1945, when the head teacher stripped me naked in the class and gave me 24 strikes of the cane. For doing no wrong! The real truth known to the two boys was that I was trying to stop them from hurting each other. That was my first experience. Up till this time, I could not explain why that would happen.

The second one was a reverend gentleman who accused me of something I didn’t do. He didn’t stop there; he preached a sermon about it on Sunday. But something I noticed about those things was that each time it happened, God always stepped in and elevated me to a higher level where I believe he wants me to forget the whole issues. But I still remember because my memory is not blotted out. That was the second one.

Then came the accusation of contracts in the organisation I worked for. I had nothing to do with the contracts, not because I didn’t have the power to do so, but I just felt that my primary duty in the comapny was to change the scheme to make it more effective and more relevant to the growth of Nigeria. I was not concerned about awarding contracts. My goal was to use the money provided to make sure that the Scheme met its objectives. And the monies voted to the scene were spent on what they were allocated for. I made sure all the allocations were spent on what they were meant for; they were not wasted. The money that was spent didn’t come from our allocations at all; it came from a different source, a source I didn’t even know existed. There was a different financial window between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Scheme. We had a facility where departments could go outside their budgetary allocations to spend money. I was not aware of all those; yet I was punished for something i had no idea about.

So that’s why I say trust your neighbour but always remember, you might be disappointed, so don’t get angry when you are.

So, I am not saying I was not found guilty, but I am saying the Tribunals were illegal, as the laws were backdated. So, if you are found guilty by a kangaroo court, you are not guilty because you were not tried under proper legal conditions. Thus, I was not guilty of anything. I was just punished for what I didn’t do.

I have had reasons to seek revenge, but I have chosen to forgive and let God decide. I have concluded I have survived not because I am some expert at devising infallible survival techniques that would without fail, transport one over all conceivable obstacles, but because the Almighty God holds firmly to the promise that I received on the 4th of July 1984

Whisky with a Green Heart: The Macallan’s Unwavering Commitment to Sustainability

The Macallan, with a two-century commitment to sustainability, stands as a trailblazer in ecofriendly practices within the Whisky industry. From responsible sourcing to carbon footprint reduction, it seamlessly blends exceptional spirits with environmental consciousness. The latest edition, The Macallan Harmony Collection Inspired by Intense Arabica, was recently unveiled in Lagos. Vanessa Obioha reports

In recent months, The Macallan, a prestigious Scottish whisky distillery, has been making strides in promoting sustainability through its innovative single malt series, The Harmony Collection. This series represents a bold exploration of sustainable packaging, as the brand combines innovative techniques with naturally sourced materials used conscientiously at the end of their life cycle.

During the unveiling of its latest edition, The Macallan Harmony Collection Inspired by Intense Arabica, in Lagos, in July 2023, notable personalities were immersed in an evening that celebrated the harmonious interplay between two beloved beverages: coffee and whisky.

This second edition in the collection is inspired by the Ethiopian Arabica coffee bean and celebrates the world of coffee. At the heart of the collection are five coffee masters who collaborated with The Macallan Whisky Maker, Steven Bremmer, lending their knowledge, creativity, and passion to bring this whisky to life.

Under the guidance of The Macallan Brand Ambassador for Abuja, Adeyinka Adepetun, and The Macallan Brand Specialist, Rasak Makanjuola, alongside the support of renowned coffee brand Happy Coffee International, attendees which included OAP and Vice President, Marketing, Wakanow, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi; renowned fashion designer, Mai Atafo; GM M-Kopa Nigeria, Babajide Durojaiye, actor Eso Dike; beauty queen and Miss Africa 2022, Precious Okoye, and Daniel Atteh, embarked on a sensory journey.

Blending European and American oak casks, Intense Arabica exudes notes reminiscent of strong espresso, a perfect complement to coffee indulgence. Guests gained a newfound appreciation for coffee flavours akin to savouring The Macallan’s single malt.

The Macallan prioritizes sustainability by responsibly sourcing ingredients like barley and corn, promoting eco-friendly practices. The coffee used during the event was harvested from Taraba, a state in Northeastern Nigeria prominent for its production of cash crops such as coffee, tea, groundnuts and cotton. Throughout the event, guests were educated about the similarities between whisky and coffee, from the aromas to the roasting process. The event’s highlight was a captivating pairing ritual, showcasing the delightful harmony when whiskey and coffee unite.

“This collection represents a celebration of the artistry and passion that goes into crafting our whiskies, as well as a unique opportunity to explore the interplay between two of the world’s most beloved beverages,” said Brand Education Manager, MEAI, The Macallan, Joddie Marriot.

The Macallan’s homage to coffee extends beyond flavour, with the Intense Arabica edition encased in a fully recyclable and biodegradable presentation box. This ecofriendly packaging is crafted using natural by-products from the coffee-making process, including discarded bean husks.

Inspired by Intense Arabica followed the triumph of the first limited edition under The Macallan Harmony Collection, Rich Cacao, which presented an exciting fusion of chocolate and whisky.

Launched in Nigeria in December 2022, Rich Cacao draws inspiration from a Spanish chocolate factory. Created from a blend of European and American oak casks, it offers

an exceptionally rich single malt with a deep chocolate profile, perfect when paired with indulgent chocolate. The packaging also highlights The Macallan’s sustainability commitment, using recycled cacao pod husks.

The Macallan’s sustainable packaging efforts are part of its environmental goals to ensure that all packaging is sustainably sourced and widely recyclable by 2025. The brand is committed to maximising its ability to reduce, reuse and recycle materials used within its products. Specifically, it repurposes spirits-making waste, evolving cardboard for recycling, increasing recyclable glass content, and reducing packaging weight. In 2021/22, distillation coproducts were repurposed for energy generation. Currently, 98% of their packaging is recyclable and sustainable.

Sustainability has always been second nature to The Macallan dating as far back as 1824. On its 485-acre River Spey Estate in Scotland, over 60,000 trees of 27 species and more than 70 wildlife species thrive. These woodlands provide a home for European Protected Species and a diverse ecosystem. The land, farmed since 1543, includes 100 acres for unique barley cultivation.

Its natural habitat also helps in the distillation process. From its green roofscape to the aesthetic design of the distillery. Since the end of 2021, The Macallan Estate has been operating on 97% verified renewable energy comprising electricity, biomass steam and gas. The running distillery uses heat from a closeby biomass generating plant– which uses recycled organic waste to create energy– and electricity from a private wire supply.

The Macallan is generally guided by sustainability. This is reflected in its Sustainability and Responsibility goals which focus on four pillars: protecting the environment, giving more, engaging great people and promoting responsible consumption. Under its environment protection pillar, the brand has four concentration areas which are to sustain wood, protect water, reduce carbon emissions, promote a circular economy, and conserve habitats. Given that the Scotch Whisky Association has mandated distilleries to reach a Net Zero emissions by 2040, following the impact of climate change, The Macallan is aiming to become a carbon-neutral business by 2030 for its distilleries, offices and travel, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70% compared to 2016 levels. It has also included the reduction of emissions relating to the grain whisky used in its blended whisky from North British Distillery.

As a whisky maker, water is a crucial ingredient in The Macallan’s product. To reduce water consumption at its production sites, especially in areas facing water scarcity, the brand has made significant strides. In Scotland, The Macallan maintains an ‘Excellent’ rating from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency compliance scheme for water abstraction and return. In the Dominican Republic, the brand is undertaking projects to replenish water consumption, including reforestation and supporting more efficient water use at production sites.

Another critical aspect of The Macallan’s sustainability mission is its commitment to achieving zero waste to landfill from its operations by 2025. The brand also advocates for sustainable wood sourcing by tracing oak supply to the region of origin in Europe by 2025 and in the US by 2030, while ensuring that all its production sites incorporate nature and biodiversity strategies. A typical example is its production site in the Dominican Republic

where sugar cane is sourced from local sustainable partners.

With over two centuries of dedication to sustainability and a legacy of positive action, The Macallan has emerged as a trailblazer in the Whisky industry’s sustainable practices. From responsible ingredient sourcing to reducing its carbon footprint, The Macallan embodies the

seamless fusion of exceptional spirits and eco-consciousness. As the world embraces sustainability, The Macallan serves as an indomitable inspiration to the Whisky industry and environmentally conscious consumers alike. With every sip, The Macallan celebrates a sustainable future, a legacy of positive action, and a toast to generations yet to come.

R-L: Adeyinka Adepetun, Rasak Makanjuola, Hammed Adebiyi, Precious Okoye, Mai Atafo & Daniel Atteh

Daniel Atteh

Charbel Jabbou

Loannis Simos, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi & Hammed Adebiyi

Brand Education Manager, Joddie Marriot

WHERE AFRICA’S RESOURCES ARE

IKE OKONTA pays tribute to Anyafulu, a politician with a difference

AN UNCOMMON GRASSROOTS POLITICIAN CALLED BRIDGET ANYAFULU

See Page 20

FOR THE MINISTERS ETIM ETIM lists areas of urgent attention for the government

Since I began my career as a journalist and public intellectual in 1989, my focus has always been national – asking the question how come Nigeria has not been able to realise her potential as the giant of Africa. However, of late I have come to begin to question this focus, asking whether I shouldn’t also be looking at the local – the states and the local government areas and how they are contributing to the general malaise that is Nigeria.

A couple of months ago I took a trip to ordinary people were faring and whether the democratic experiment embarked upon by our political leaders since 1999 had impacted positively on them. Asaba has been the capital of Delta State since 1991. It is an average-sized town rapidly transforming into a city. Its politics has been dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 1999 without a break. When I asked friends and other acquaintances in the town to be introduced to the political

direction: Bridget Anyafulu.

See Page 20

EDITORIAL FOR TINUBU’S FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

The interesting point is that Bridget State House of Assembly, representing Oshimili South. Ordinarily, one would assume that she is a political neophyte, yet to be tested in the furious cut and thrust of Nigerian politics and yet to prove her mettle. But that assumption is as a House of Assembly member, Ms Anyafulu had made it her business to tackle social and economic problems in Asaba and other surrounding towns, be it garbage collecting, taking care of out of school children, or indigent hospital patients unable to pay their fees.

But that is not all. Bridget Anyafulu is also blessed with the common touch – a rare attribute of the Nigerian politician. I ceremony of an Asaba notable. She had just won the election but was yet to be sworn in. She came to the venue of the ceremony with only one political aide in tow. She was simply dressed in a white gown. When we were introduced she simply smiled and asked me what I thought were the major social, economic and political challenges confronting Asaba and the other towns comprising Oshimili South Local Government Area and that she was anxious to get to work to address these problems.

I found her approach refreshingly commendable. Most Nigerian politicians, on

See Page 21

up questions they ask is whether luxury and whether the money to be allocated to constituency projects they will execute is sizeable enough. But Bridget Anyafulu did saw it, her election was a call to serve the people of Asaba diligently, and she was determined to do exactly that.

Asaba and environs have been under the sway of the PDP since 1999. Bridget Anyafulu is a member of the PDP. I do not know if this is a good thing, but the fact of the matter is that PDP has not performed very well in the capital city and indeed state-wide since the advent of the Fourth Republic. Unemployment is at an alltime high. Major towns and cities suffer schools are dilapidated. Agriculture, the major bulwark of the rural areas, has not been given the attention it deserves. routine. Even so, the PDP has continued to win election after election.

Bridget Anyafulu has to work extra hard to prove that not all politicians in the PDP are dyed in the colours of incompetence and corruption. Indeed, she has taken the rights steps by asking what the challenges facing Asaba voters are. And it seems to me that they are legion. First, there is the question of what the town needs to fully

an oil-producing state. Asaba roads are disgraceful. Nnebisi Road, the major commercial artery of the town, is the only good road in the town. When you journey into the inner quarters of the town you are met with untarred roads and muddy The immediate past governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, embarked on a major project of There is more work to be done in this area.

Another problem begging for attention is youth employment in Asaba. It is estimated that 70 percent of Asaba youth roam the streets every day looking for work that is simply not available. This is because the state government has not provided the enabling environment for businessmen to establish factories and other commercial enterprises in the town. This has to change. There was a time when the Asaba Textile Mill, established when Dennis Osadebe, an Asaba native, was premier of Midwestern Region, provided good paying jobs. Sunday Odogwu, another native, also established a bag-making factory in the town, in the early 1990s. All these ventures have since collapsed. Clearly, there is need for a bold new policy regime prioritizing the establishment of factories in the town.

Bridget Anyafulu also must draw the attention of the Delta State government to the disgraceful state of the town’s schools and hospitals. She needs to make the point on the now a major cosmopolitan town on the cusp of transforming into a big city, and that this metamorphosis brings with it the challenges of population increase and with this the need to provide funds for adequate schools, hospitals and public housing. To leave these to the ordinary people to provide themselves is to invite anarchy, and close on its heels, crime and violence. The state government must step in to provide these needs.

If the little I saw Bridget Anyafulu do as a member of the Delta State House of Assembly is any indication, then clearly democracy in Nigeria is not all sorrow and tears. In small pockets in this vast country, politicians are stepping forward and addressing the needs of their people.

Our task as journalists and public intellectuals is to continue to urge our politicians to enlarge the coast of their good deeds, and doing so, save democracy in Nigeria.

Dr Okonta was until recently Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Politics, University of Oxford. He now lives in Abuja

It is high time we rethought what our real resources are and how to optimise them, argues AYODELE OKUNFOLAMI

KPIS AND PRIORITIES

Where Africa’s Resources Are

Nigeria’s northern neighbour has been in the news for two fortnights now. With the celebrated coup d’état that has suspended the poor nation’s constitution for a military dictatorship, I will simply call it Niger

Anyway, although a couple of coups had happened before now in Sahel Africa having similar imprints. Nigeriens’ internal response as well as that of the international than coups before it despite having similar imprints of being led by young soldiers, Islamic and mostly all being landlocked former French colonies. already known: agelong and continuous imperialism by mainly Western powers.

years wanting their slices. Nigeriens, like Burkinabe, Malians and Guineans used the off the yoke of France and its puppet leaders. The Economic Community of West African States, the Western actors at the Berlin junta insisting on return to democracy better termed status quo.

Because of the gross misgovernance of those ousted leaders and their colleagues marking time in fear of a similar treatment, one struggles not to defend these overthrows, something that should have been summarily abhorred today. Alas, other Africans are asking God when their own ‘independence’ from election produced oppressors would come.

However, what I find indefensible is the way Nigeriens openly endorsed 63rd Independence anniversary some days after the coup with equal number of breaking from the French jail to march means ability to freely choose who will

the Soviet pioneering the never completed Ajaokuta “Steal”, Chinese illegally mining here and there, West or East, democracy or dictatorship, capitalism or communism, their only target is to suck Africa dry.

The Niger situation has made worth. We are awash with series of stories of the quantity and quality of the mineral resources making it the bride of the rest of the world. The question is, what are Africans themselves doing about their God-given resources? How simply because France powers their only sell weapons at inflated prices for you to continue killing yourselves.

KPIS AND PRIORITIES FOR THE MINISTERS

ETIM ETIM lists areas of urgent attention for

the government

blessing Africa so much and God replying that he would balance it with the kind of people he would put there. I disagree. I rather say, God blessed every nation equally but differently. My father once told me, every land has gold, we have only not dug deep enough. Truly, Africa has the richest concentration of natural resources such as hardwood forests, and tropical fruits. It is estimated that 30% of the earth’s mineral resources are found in the continent. At the same time, evaluating it individually no with the most valuable resources worldwide. United States, Canada and China. I pointed this out to tame our worth. After all, we once boasted to have crude oil, today, more and more countries are discovering it.

We claim to have all these resources and yet we are on our knees begging raw wheat land, which is the most arable in the world. We continue to push more people to join the over 60 percent that are on the farms, yet we are hungry. While the Netherlands that lies below water level has less than two percent of its population as farmers can feed the whole world. Agriculture has gone recruiting idle hands to cultivate agbado and cassava. What is the quantity and quality of yield we get per hectare? How much milk or other biproducts do we get from our restless cattle?

Africa cannot continue to brag about being rich in timber that we log, then are charged in

We brag about cocoa that we sell at buyer determined prices only for us to buy more a country less the size of Lagos state, produces to Nigeria that has the capacity to produce but oil producing Nigeria is still waiting for Dangote and Port Harcourt refinery phase make batteries, phones, electronics and cars currency for dollars to buy cars.

More pathetic is that the Stone Age ended, not because man ran out of stones but because man found better and cheaper ways to achieve things. A time is coming, and has even come, when these so-called natural resources will mean nothing. Hoping our leaders become sensible enough not to put us in other peoples’ them to introspect. The African revolution

colours are the same. We cannot continue to produce what we do not consume and consume what we do not produce. It is high time we rethought what our real resources are and how to optimise them. We cannot continue to blame the colonial than half a century after their departure. India that is on its way to the moon was also colonised by Britain. So was Malaysia, Australia and many others.

Africa’s revolution lies in realising her real resource does not lie beneath her feet, but between her ears. It this population that should be harnessed for its greater good. And I don’t mean manpower I mean the empowered man. Not physical strength that worked in Western plantations, that has been replaced by machines, but in intellectual strength to produce African solutions to African realities.

There is a distasteful joke of angels pointing out God’s unfairness at creation for Okunfolami writes from Festac, Lagos

With their portfolios announced recently, the new ministers have their work cut out for them, and I will like to send a personal note to the key ones. With 48 members, this is the largest cabinet in the history of the country, and coming at a time of severe economic challenges, it is important for the President to prioritize his agenda and develop KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for each of them. The following are my thoughts on what their priorities and KPIs should be.

As Minister of Works, David Umahi

Abakaliki into a well-laid out city with that passion to the whole of the eastern states. That region has the worst network of federal roads in the country and Umahi should not be squeamish about starting the rehabilitation from his home region. This is not about favouritism; but necessity. Aba-

are all federal highways in the South East that have completely broken down. I know the eastern region like the back of my palm and I have crisscrossed the region on these roads in recent years. They are terrible and unpassable. This is one of the reasons our Igbo brothers and sisters feel so marginalized and forgotten in this federation. These and other federal roads should receive immediate attention from the Tinubu administration, especially the ones in the South-South region. There is the notorious

Umahi’s priorities: All federal roads in the South East and South-South regions should be fully rehabilitated. His KPIs: Achieve 80% reduction in portholes on all federal roads across the country.

The new Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyar, should ensure that agriculture and food production receive adequate support from the government. I am pleased that the administration recognizes that food security is so important that it is now a major plank

Families are starving as food prices continue to soar. The brutal war in Ukraine is also responsible for the rising costs of food in many African countries, including Nigeria. Before the war broke out February last year, the continent relied on grains like wheat from Ukraine. But imports have been severely hampered as Ukraine, through which grains are shipped into announced in his nightly radio address to his

For me, this is an opportunity for Nigeria to ramp up on wheat and grain production and well by doubling rice production from 4.5

increase in fertilizer price and the protracted insecurity in our food belts, it is likely that food output has dropped. President Tinubu should millet and meat and dairy.

I commend President Buhari for his initiatives in fertilizer production which greatly improved its availability and investments in agriculture through the Anchor Borrowers’ Program. It is now Tinubu’s turn to further boost food production in the country.

Priority: Drastic reduction in food prices through massive food production. KPIs: Self

of lives and property, and this is where the Minister of Defence, Muhammed Badarau and the Minister of State, Bello Matawalle, do come in. The fact that two ministers were governors of Jigawa and Zamfara, the two most violent-stricken states in the North West, makes their appointment into the defence ministry so intriguingly apt. They should now avail the security agencies of the intelligence, sociology and psychology of insecurity, not only in their region, but also in the whole country. The major cause of violence in Zamfara has been the illegal mining of minerals in that state. Matawalle knows a lot about this, as well as the acute poverty and corruption over there. Zamfara is among the poorest states in the country and their governors have done little or nothing to help address this. Instead, Zamfara has been noted for tales of massive corruption. All its former governors, including Matawalle, have serious EFCC cases to answer.

I have written several articles on the continued killing of innocent farmers and hapless citizens in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Southern Kaduna by ethnic militias and cross-border terrorists. These are the farming communities of Nigeria; and I have wondered how on earth it is possible for our security forces to be incapable of stopping these mayhems. I therefore ask our defence ministers; our armed forces and our policemen to do whatever is possible to save Nigeria from these Sahelian terrorists, Janjaweed murderers and domestic ethnic militias. Similarly, President Tinubu should abandon his plans to send troops into Niger and, instead, focus more on winning the war against terrorists in the homeland.

Priorities: Drastic reduction in killings across the country and defeat of terrorists.

KPIs: Adequate maintenance of air assets and reduction in air crashes; acquisitions of modern military hardware; training and motivation of troops.

Education means a lot to me and it is a very important driver of national development. As a former DG of the Nigerian Law School, and former University of Maiduguri Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tahir Mohammed comes highly recommended as the new Minister of Education. His number one priority is to ensure that we don’t have ASUU strike and ensure that they are adequately provided with funding and modern learning facilities. The students’ loan scheme should be reviewed and made workable.

His priority: Uninterrupted school Adequate funding of public universities; completion of abandoned projects in our campuses and rehabilitation of all unity schools.

It is high time we rethought what our real resources are and how to optimise them, argues AYODELE OKUNFOLAMI

PETER ISHAKA

EDITORIAL FOR TINUBU’S FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

The incoming ministers have their jobs clearly cut out

The nomination of at least one person from each of the 36 states of the federation found

by the Senate are duties imposed on the president by section 147 of the 1999 Bola Tinubu recently sent 48 names to the Senate. At was withheld for three on grounds of ‘security report’. But not a few Nigerians were disappointed by the whole process beginning with the unwieldly list comprising mostly politicians without notable public service achievements. Besides, the job of the Senate attached to the names.

While there is no constitutional requirement to assign portfolios along with the nominees, our considered view is that for transparency and accountability in the public arena, the president should have forwarded the names of his nominees along with their proposed portfolios. This would have helped the Senate to conduct detailed hearings on the competence and temperament of the nominees. Of course, there are those who argue that any future re-assignment of ministers by the president will be constrained by the initial designation of portfolios. But such an argument does not hold water. The experience and convention of other nations, notably the United States that pioneered the presidential system of government, enables future redeployment without also in our country.

nominees is particularly important in our country of the civil service to underpin the performance of ministers is uncertain. But as it was in the past, the Senate failed Nigerians on this occasion. The sessions lacked rigour. The practice of exempting past members of the National Assembly from any questioning is wrong and must stop. Discharging nominees is not the place for the display of some petty espirit de corps!

DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI

SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI

CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO

TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

Barring any last-minute change, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will be inaugurated tomorrow, with the portfolios shared last Wednesday. Whatever may be the misgivings of Nigerians who believe that Tinubu has placed more emphasis on politics in the selection of nominees and cabinet placements, we can only hope that the members understand the challenge of present-day Nigeria.

These challenges are enormous and in all areas of our national life. Following removal of fuel subsidy and merging of the foreign exchange rates, Nigerians are groaning under the soaring prices of items, particularly consumer goods. Basic staples, ranging from rice, proteins, grains, cereals, bread, carbohydrates, and beverages have been priced beyond the reach of most citizens.

In the security sector, scores of people are killed daily in different parts of the country either by terrorists, bandits and sundry other cartels of armed gangs. The parlous state of infrastructure has become alarming; and most rural areas are yet to experience any meaningful form of development despite the annual budgetary allocations for that purpose. Also, the rule of law reigns substantially in rhetoric. Healthcare delivery is still poor and educational standard continues to slide and a large chunk of the population still live below poverty line.

Ordinarily, good gov ernance is focused on the people, their safety and welfare, the optimal allocation of scarce resources and the effective implementation of policies for service delivery. But that is not what we witness in Nigeria today. In recent years, the statements that emerge at the end of the FEC once-weekly meetings betray a lack of seriousness. It is almost always about award of contracts, upward review of previously awarded contracts, or termination and re-award of contracts sometimes without any process, etc. Meanwhile, the myriad of problems confronting the nation are hardly ever seriously considered except such discussion had to do with transactional matters.

As President Tinubu therefore inaugurates the FEC tomorrow, we hope he will hand down performance targets and timelines to individual ministers as a basis for subsequent evaluations. That’s what a time like these demands

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 to the Editor LETTERS

MR PRESIDENT, FIGHT THE NIGERIAN WARS

It is in the nature of embattled American are beset by issues of legitimacy or internal troubles. To wage a war against a perceived enemy of democratic values, an American president assumes control as commander- in -chief of that country’s military, political and economic resources. Politically, an American president’s public ratings grow from being lame duck to being sort of a custodian or a police human rights. At some point, these wars often jumpstart an ailing economy, just because of the energy which the deployment of men and materials injects in the system. Some presidents also use wars to divert attention from issues at home, to give them time to consolidate. Such was the case during the Bill Clinton years when his position as president was challenged by the Monica-Lewinsky Affair. From denial after denial of culpability in the affair, and from being relentlessly pursued by a federal prosecutor, Clinton turned his attention elsewhere.

It was the same scenario during the Bush

years. Both the Bushes had a hard time keeping news organisations indicated that the US economy was in some kind of recession. But as soon as the Bushes, working in cahoots with Tony Blair activated the propaganda of the weapons of mass destruction, WMD, Americans easily forgot or were made to forget about their own recession and looked up to their champion who appeared to be standing on a moral ground of justice, human rights and focused on the liberation of Iraq from the monster Saddam Hussein who was alleged to be gassing his own people with chemical weapons. In a recent wringing of hands, Mr Tony Blair, erstwhile British Prime Minister has come out to beg for forgiveness, saying that there was no such thing as WMDs in Iraq.

The above scenarios appear to be no different from Mr Tinubu’s interest in war with Niger.

Let’s begin with him: at home here in Nigeria, Mr Tinubu has serious issues with legitimacy. Apart from there being a report by the EU that the election that brought him in as president

rivals in the election early in 2023 are in court contesting the outcome of that election. That is why I believe that there are many other issues that I believe Mr Tinubu should be worrying about instead of going to Niger as a conquistador. Many Nigerians, and especially the elite of the elite appear unconcerned about those issues.

But here we are with Mr Tinubu presiding over a people who for eight years endured hardship that a lifetime can ever offer. Under Mr Tinubu’s predecessor, life in Nigeria was very hard and almost worthless: Nigeria experienced two recessions, overtook India as poverty capital of the world, and cows appeared to have been much more important than human life, with killings, kidnappings followed by an extremely weak naira.

Today though, nobody would have expected that Mr Tinubu would have applied the Rehoboam’s scorpion whip on Nigerians. But that’s what he has done. The suffering in the

land has quadrupled, what with his suspension of the fuel subsidy. That apart, he has launched a program to tax and squeeze Nigerians with tethers and for now nobody can breathe. The economy is slower than he met it, and those willing to either end it through the japa route or through the Lagoon in Lagos are increasing substantially.

And then, instead of, as we say it in Sapele, for him to siddon for one place and work, Mr Tinubu wants to go to Niger to ‘restore’ on the side of a colonial power notorious for stealing African resources and impoverishing African people. How very unfortunate. One would have thought that he would be working to apply himself to the economic issues – weak naira, epileptic power supply and putting square pegs in square holes.

Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, publisher/ editor -in- chief of WADONOR cultural voice of Nigeria

As President Tinubu inaugurates the FEC tomorrow, we hope he will hand down performance targets and timelines to individual ministers as a basis for subsequent evaluations. That’s what a time like these demands

Expanding the Frontiers for Nigerian Creatives

The Niger Delta region, home to the country’s largest export – crude oil, grapples with negative narratives arising from climate change and oil-related issues. Thankfully, a transformative initiative, Naija to theWorld, is determined to reshape not only this perception, but also Nigeria’s overall international image. The initiative aims to highlight the creative talents from the region, who have achieved remarkable milestones on the global stage in its debut. In an exclusive conversation, Vanessa Obioha engages Efe Omorogbe, one of the driving forces behind the project, discussing the upcoming event set to take place at New York’s iconic Apollo Theatre.

The Niger Delta Story We’re Telling is Not about Oil

favourable perception of the country globally.

Now, Buckwyld Media Network and Black House Media (BHM) are elevating this creative momentum with their new collaborative project titled Naija to the World (NTTW).

“Naija to the World is not a concert or an event. It is a solution; a platform that curates showcases, and intentionally sells arts, entertainment and media products from Nigeria to a global audience,” explained Efe Omorogbe, founder of Buckwyld Media Network. “As the world gets more and more curious about music and films and TV shows, fashion and lingo as well as food and stuff from Nigeria, there’s a dire need for us to establish platforms that are run by people who understand the products. They understand the creators of the products; they understand the history behind the products. It’s important that they have a presence in the spaces where this product is showcased and sold to a global audience.”

NTTW is partly a realisation of Omorogbe’s longstanding vision for Nigeria’s creative sector, particularly its music scene. As a creative entrepreneur, music enthusiast, and activist, Omorogbe has always recognised Nigerian creatives’ potential to shine on the global stage. Even prior to the international acclaim of artists like Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy, Omorogbe firmly believed in the allure of Nigerian music.

“The Nigerian music I grew up on, I always thought it was worldclass. It’s a wide variety of sounds, eclectic sounds. I grew up on the likes of Ebenezer Obey. I grew up listening to Rex Lawson, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Bongos Ikwue, Chris Okotie, Onyeka Onwenu, Sonny Okosun, Orlando Julius, Oriental Brothers, and countless others. They made music that remains impactful today.”

Music has always been second skin to Omorogbe. So, it was not surprising when he found himself in the music industry. From managing talents like 2Baba to floating his creative resource and production solutions company, Buckwyld Media Network, Omorogbe has always been at the forefront of the music industry.

But his love for music is not just limited to artistic expression. It encompasses concerns about artists’ intellectual property rights and equitable royalty systems. He identified the lack of structured business solutions for promoting and monetizing music as a historical gap that has now been addressed by the growing wave of Afrobeats. Omorogbe argued that the music itself has always been exceptional; the crucial factor lies in structuring and supporting the creative arts.

itself has always been excellent.”

In his estimation, this surge in global recognition is attributed to increased monetization opportunities, a driving force behind Naija to the World. Set to unfold at New York City’s Apollo Theatre in September, the exhibition aims to spotlight Nigeria’s creative ingenuity and cultural vibrancy.

For its debut showcase, the organisers selected the Niger Delta region.

“The Niger Delta is a fantastic place to start because I personally believe that it is the number one incubator of talents in the creative ecosystem. I’m not referring to just performers, it includes the writers, the producers, the tastemakers, the broadcasters, the novelists, playwrights, the poets, etc,” he explained.

To be sure, Omorogbe clarified that NTTW is not about regions but experiences.

“Naija to the World” can be about a crew. It can be about YBNL or Mavins All-Star. It can be about the Nollywood invasion and we are showcasing select producers, films and actors. Other installments would not be based on regional concentration.”

In telling the Niger Delta story, Omorogbe emphasised its triumphs beyond oil. The Niger Delta region is home to the country’s biggest export, crude oil, providing over 80% of Nigeria’s GDP. But the stories that often emanate from the geo-political zone are mostly heart-wrenching: from the disasters caused by climate change to crude oil theft. However, the region has a rich cultural history, and 10 out of 20 creative talents in the industry have emerged from the region.

“We’re telling the Niger Delta story to a global audience and the Niger Delta story we are telling is not about oil exploration. It’s not about oil spillage, conflict or crises, militancy and underdeveloped communities, equity and politics. We are telling the Niger Delta story about the triumph of talent. We are telling a story that says ‘okay, you know about the oil, you probably have profited from the oil or used the oil. You’re probably curious about the issues around oil. We put that aside for three hours on September 16 at the iconic Apollo Theatre and experience the Niger Delta in a whole different light.

In recent times, there has been a conscious push to promote the creative economy given its recognition as the second largest employer of labour. In 2022, the creative industry generated $4.2 billion according to research data provided by Jobberman. That figure is expected to balloon to $15 billion by 2025.

Divided into Media and Entertainment, Beauty and Lifestyle, Visual Arts, as well as Tourism and Hospitality by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),

the sector holds the potential to not only bolster the economy but also provide employment opportunities for the youth. Beyond its economic contribution, the creative industry has thrust Nigeria onto the global stage. The nation’s music, films, and even its beloved Jollof rice have played a pivotal role in showcasing the country’s creative talents, resulting in international recognition. Think of Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Mo Abudu, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Chimamanda Adichie and of course, Hilda Baci who recently made the Guinness World Record with her cook-a-thon. Collectively, their creativity has helped in shaping a

“The music was already there. It’s always been there. There’s nothing Burna Boy, Wizkid is doing today that is much more different than what was done in the past. I even dare say the people who came before them. I don’t think that there’s something much different or much better with the music, from the artistic and creative perspective, today than what we had 15 years ago with Wande Coal, 2Face Idibia, StylPlus,” he said.

“The key has always been the structure supporting the arts, the business solutions, the marketing, the promotion, the packaging, the monetization, it’s always been the areas that we needed to improve upon and then most of these things also had direct connections with the state of the economy, the state of the country as a third world country, the problems of the larger society of infrastructure, of disposable income. They had their impact on the structure supporting the music, but the music

“So, we would not be able to throw in every single cultural or artistic element from all the region, but we’ll be able to tell a compelling story that gives the attendees a clearer idea of what the location and the people are about, and how they have and still are helping to shape creative enterprise in Nigeria, how their work is helping to redefine Nigeria’s cultural identity on the global space. That is what the celebration at the showcase is about. And we’re sure that the experience will be worth everybody’s time.”

Omorogbe disclosed that the showcase will feature music performances, comedy, fashion and even the prominent Seki musical by Yibo Koko is part of the lineup. A documentary is also in the works to enhance the overall audience experience.

In putting Naija to the World together, Omorogbe has found a worthy partner in Ayeni Adekunle, the Founder of BHM, drawing from his deep-rooted love for the creative industry.. The duo are keen on telling original African stories conveyed through live concerts, exhibitions, films and documentaries. Together, their goal is to offer an alternate perspective on Nigeria’s identity and heritage, with the Apollo Theatre event poised to be a representative showcase of Nigeria’s impactful presence on the global stage.

Omorogbe

HighLife

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

The World Celebrates Herbert Wigwe at 57

Being a lampstand is an obligation of civil and corporate leadership. But few of these lampstands have managed to remain unextinguished, serving as sparks of hope and optimism for bystanders. This is not the case for Herbert Wigwe, the supreme giant of Access Holdings Plc. At 57, Wigwe has proven himself to partners and rivals alike, demonstrating industry and originality.

Umaru Bago: A Governor for All

In many ways, the role of a leader is multi-dimensional. The leader is a father, a protector, and an individual with the interests of his followers at heart. Going by this description, Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State is doing well. His commitment to the people of Niger is progressive and now encompasses much more than is usually attributed to his peers.

Different narratives persist regarding the conduct of Bago as the executive governor of Niger State. For one, it is believed that his consideration for the people is divided as he is only 49 years old. A man of 49, they say, would not commit his life to politics. Another narrative is that he appears to have no burning passion to improve the circumstances of his people because he does not shout it out.

In truth, Bago is a different governor than his peers. His approach to governance is such that his intentions are demonstrated through actions rather than words and promises. Thus, in interpreting Bago’s commitment to the good people of Niger State, one has to look at recent actions.

The most apparent of Bago’s recent doings is the resolution of the Minna-Bida road project. According to reports, Bago made sure to collaborate with relevant institutions to make sure that the project was completed and the setback that once brought shame to the state has been permanently removed.

Bago himself is believed to have disclosed that he secured the assistance of the Islamic Development Bank and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, obtaining N3.5 billion in the process. He further committed these funds for the compensation of individuals that have been affected by the project.

The road project is just the latest manifestation of many doings by Governor Bago. At this time, it is believed that the governor has started to make moves to transform every important industry in the state, securing wealth and happiness for his people.

This kind of commitment is greatly desired by all. Thus, given the opportunity to enjoy it, the people of Niger State will be glad to have chosen Bago as things progress in this direction.

It is that time of the year when a deluge of global recognition and commendation arrives at the doors of Wigwe, the Access man. For 2023, the Access Holdings giant clocked 57. Understanding his place in the Nigerian, African, and global banking industry, heavy cheers accompanied his birthday celebrations.On social media, CEOs of multinationals made sure to celebrate Wigwe for his many accomplishments. And while the Access Holdings giant was grateful for their goodwill, he was far more enamoured with the cheers delivered by the staff, customers, and investors of Access Holdings. Wigwe did not take a day off on his

Dozy Mmobuosi: On a Mission to End Medical Tourism in Nigeria

Sometimes, one is tempted to think that nothing is certain in this world. All things seem to flow in an everchanging narrative of highs and lows. It is clear now that individuals like Dozy Mmobuosi are part of the reasons that this flow happens. At the moment, Mmobuosi’s role is a positive one as it is focused on medical health in Nigeria.

The latest doings of Mmobuosi, the founder and CEO of Tingo International suggest that the health sector in Lagos may witness a transformation. According to reports, Mmobuosi has instituted a hospital Equity Specialist Clinics & Diagnostic Services (ESCDS) in Lagos,

57th birthday, August 15, 2023. Instead, he arrived at his office with his usual calmness and sense of responsibility. But his staff were not as casual. No, they received him with salutes and cheers, to which he responded favourably.

But one cannot fault the Access staff. Wigwe has shown himself to be an engine of positive change wherever he is. In the case of Access Holdings, Wigwe virtually determined the growth of the company by himself. He changed its narrative by granting it corporate life energy. Then he promoted it to able minds, securing their help to stretch its shadows across the lands and seas, for which reason Access Holdings is a global entity.

Today, following Wigwe’s doings, Access Holdings is a massive institution. Only two or three other banking institutions exist at its level in Nigeria and it has no equal with reference to global presence. One can tell from the rate of expansion that Wigwe is still working hard at refining the fortunes of Access Holdings.

necessary. Going by the explanations of Mmobuosi, ESCDS exists to provide opportunities for highquality healthcare services. Since the establishment is modern and offers an exhaustive list of both diagnostic and therapeutic services, Mmobuosi believes that he can use it to bring an end to medical tourism in the country.

To be sure, medical tourism is considered one of the cancers assailing the healthcare industry in Nigeria. With many leaders refusing to use the country’s medical resources, Nigerians easily lose faith in the majority of healthcare centres. But Mmobuosi is changing this narrative with ESCDS. With the success of this centre in Lagos, others are expected to be established in Abuja and Delta soon.

an establishment that the businessman and tech entrepreneur launched to help meet the health needs of Nigerians.

Mmobuosi’s ESCDS is located in Lekki and is the first of his medical centres. Subsequent centres are also expected to finetune the provision of needed health services in Nigeria, thus creating a network of such stateof-the-art hotspots. All of this is to ensure that Nigerians can access medical help whenever

By doing so, Mmobuosi has reduced some of the stains on his reputation on account of the allegations that he has engaged in fraudulent business practices. The reports of these allegations are uncertain, unlike the optimistic outcomes attributed to his work with ESCDS.

How Timehin Adelegbe Became the New Political Tiger to Watch in Ondo

Among the many components of influence, relevance, and power, loyalty is considered one of the most versatile. With a loyal subordinate, a leader can walk much further in the dispensation of duties. This is why the lawmaker representing Owo/Ose Federal Constituency in Ondo State, Timehin Adelegbe, is Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s right-hand man. Adelegbe is a person to watch out for now and in the coming years.

Regarding the current state of politics in Ondo, street analysts and commentators disagree on many points. However, one area they all agree on is that the absence of Governor Akeredolu is enabling more political tigers to show their true selves. Among these tigers, Adelegbe is the most consistent. He is still loyal to the governor’s mandate and is steadily carrying it out within his sphere of operation.

This is not the first time that Adelegbe has demonstrated immeasurable devotion to Akeredolu and everything that the governor represents. At the close of his first time in office as Ondo State governor, Akeredolu made strong moves to get the political nomads in

his cabinet on his side. And he succeeded.

One reason Akeredolu’s moves proved to be a success is that Adelegbe went out of his way to support him, satisfying the queries of the aforementioned nomads regarding the faithfulness of the governor. At the same time, Adelegbe became the go-to person in Akeredolu’s administration.

At present, Akeredolu is on leave and recovering the strength he exhausted in times past. Adelegbe is doing just what he has always done: protecting the interests of the governor until the latter returns. Such a shade of loyalty is uncommon among politicians, signifying that Adelegbe is a different breed.

Based on all of these, it is not altogether surprising that the lawmaker is held in high regard within and outside Ondo. With his contributions, it would not be strange to hear that Adelegbe has been nominated for a federal position in the coming years. Of course, one would have to assume that his appointers can convince him to serve the nation instead of devoting himself solely and exhaustively to the interests of the citizens of Ondo.

Bago

Mmobuosi

Adelegbe

Wigwe

Celebration Times… Alao Akala Celebrates with His Wins

Good things come in at least three waves. This is true for Olamiju, the son of the former Governor of Oyo State, the late Adebayo AlaoAkala. First, Olamiju won the Ogbomoso North/Ogbomoso South/Oriire Federal Constituency seat at the National Assembly. Secondly, he celebrated his victory with relatives and friends. Now, he needs to show that he has noble intentions as he ticks off the promises he made to his people. This is also a good thing.

The Akalas of Oyo State recently organised a thanksgiving service in which they attributed the latest big win of the family to God. Surrounded by close relatives, friends, and their well-wishers at their local church, First Baptist Church, Okeelerin, Ogbomosho, the entire family held up the hands of Honourable Olamiju in gratitude to God. By this, they demonstrated the new House of Representatives member’s devotion to God.

Although the thanksgiving celebrations did

not extend beyond happy recollections of the event that illustrated Honourable Olamiju’s new status, it helped put into perspective how difficult it was for him to secure that position. After all, his rise to power was unprecedented, no different from his father’s ascension to political power from wearing a police uniform.

Folks would recall that Honourable Olamiju won the elections for the Ogbomosho North/South Oriire Federal Constituency about six months ago. Scoring 33,268 votes, Olamiju came first and pushed out his closest rival, Olufemi Onireti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who only polled 27,126 votes.

Although a proud member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Honourable Olamiju is already showing that his approach to governance is much softer than what is attributed to the party’s methods.

Biggest Battle Ahead as Timipre Sylva Plans to Take Bayelsa from Douye Diri

Time reveals the validity of every plan. This is one of the consolations available to the people of Bayelsa State in the face of multiple contenders for the governorship position. Will the governorship crown remain with Governor Douye Diri or will Timipre Sylva succeed in taking over? Time will tell, but one can attempt to work it out ahead of time.

Recently, Sylva came under the bus for having a hand in the spate of attacks in Opu-Nembe, a community in Bayelsa State. Based on speculations, the thugs that attacked the community were lodged in a hotel owned by an associate of Sylva. It was further alleged that Sylva used the attacks to sound a

The Chronicles of El-Rufai

warning to those in support of Diri’s second-term aspiration.

Although the allegations against Sylva lack any conclusive evidence, their existence indicates that Diri has more influen tial people on his side than his rival. In f act, while Sylva is being accused of doing all sorts of evil, Diri is getting accolades. Granted, the majority of these accolades are from the latter’s officials, but these officials are loud and refuse to entertain contrary assertions.

Given the history between them and the nature of politics, it is not strange that Sylva wishes to depose Diri. But he has to do better or the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Bay elsa will be boring and a walkover for Diri.

How Kwara Governor Finally Humbled Lai Mohammed

Politics is a game that easily transforms into a dangerous contest of power and relevance. In many ways, it can now be said that in Kwara State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is the only tiger on the mountain after years of multiple face-offs with the former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

Deciding the most influential person in a Nigerian State can be challenging, whether or not there is a sitting governor. Such was the struggle in Kwara State once AbdulRazaq and Mohammed set their sights on each other. With neither of the men bowing their heads, the people of Kwara could only wait for both tigers to tire themselves out or for one to end up with blunt claws.

Based on the most recent happenings in the state, Mohammed is evidently the tiger with blunt claws. More so, AbdulRazaq has managed to pluck out even the shrouded teeth of Mohammed, leaving nothing but shadows of the latter’s influence in the state.

Upon the departure of the former President

of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the former minister lost his political arm of strength. This translated to AbdulRazaq gaining the upper hand in Kwara. And even though Mohammed eventually got a new appointment as Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, his power no longer reaches Kwara.

This was recently demonstrated in the individuals included in AbdulRazaq’s cabinet list. A careful scrutiny of the governor’s choices shows that Mohammed’s pawns are all cleaned out and no single commissionernominee would recognize Mohammed as a benefactor.

Meanwhile, AbdulRazaq is raking in the benefits of being the sole power in Kwara. Recent reports show him going all out to secure the loyalty of his people, demonstrated by how he is tackling issues of insecurity, drug abuse, and unemployment in the state.

For the Moghalus, It’s All Praises to God as They Cheat Death

To the God-fearing person, life is a series of events with each determined by the hands of the Almighty. Kingsley Moghalu and his wife, Maryanne, are examples of such people. Recently escaping the cold fingers of death, the Moghalus did not fail to acknowledge the enduring mercy and favour of God over their lives.

Things are heating up on social media with the news of the Moghalus having narrowly escaped death in an elevator. The event which took place outside the shores of Nigeria has gotten well-meaning individuals praying for the family of the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria

(CBN).

According to reports of the incident, Moghalu and Maryanne were both in the elevator when it suddenly ground to a halt. Seeing that they had not arrived at their destination, the Moghalus understood that the elevator was stuck and they would need help to get out safely.

The Moghalus stayed in the despondent situation for about 30 minutes before help arrived. While they were stuck between floors, they became aware of the uncertainty of human life and how one does not know what is around the corner. Thus, the Moghalus once again reassessed themselves and concluded that only God can guarantee safety. Following this,

Maryanne advised folks to devote time to prayer before doing anything.

Ordinarily, the elevation mishap with the Moghalus would not raise any virtual dust. However, it was not long ago that a medical doctor, Vwaere Daiso, was severely injured and died after an elevator reportedly crashed from the 10th floor of Lagos Island General Hospital, Odan. As a result, anything to do with elevators in the country or outside is sensitive to Nigerians.

The Moghalus are fine. This has only helped them appreciate their lives. It has also renewed their passion to continue to inspire those that love and follow them.

Ambition can be a good or bad thing depending on the situation at hand. For former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir ElRufai, things are looking hazy. The recent reports about him suggest that he is not happy with the way things played out with respect to the role assigned to him in the new government. But is that enough reason to miss out on his son’s wedding?

Saturday, August 12, 2023, was the wedding of Bello El-Rufai, the eldest son of the former Kaduna State governor. Bello tied the marital knot with his beloved, Aisha Habibu Shuaibu. And while the ceremony was held in Abuja among relatives and friends, the father of the groom was noticeably absent.

According to reports, it was ElRufai’s successor to the Kaduna State governorship seat, Uba Sani, that stood in as Bello’s father. And while speculations abound as to why El-Rufai was absent, some self-proclaimed social analysts are quick to point out that the former Kaduna State governor is still disgruntled with the issues of state and country.

It is not news that El-Rufai stood out during the recent verification of the ministerial nominees in the House of Senate. Readers would recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu nominated him to take up a ministerial position in the new government. However, El-Rufai did not show up for the confirmation exercise.

According to reports, El-Rufai was not happy to be included in the ministerial list. Allegedly, he considers his contributions to Tinubu’s emergence as necessitating a higher political status, one superior to the suggested ministerial appointment. Analysts have tied this allegation to a statement once made by ElRufai in which he pointed out that being a minister is essentially meaningless since he has already served the country in that capacity.

Thus, considering his absence at his son’s wedding, El-Rufai’s alleged issue with the appointments of Mister President might be responsible. It could also be that El-Rufai was simply too busy to attend the wedding. Whichever is true, the picture that folks are getting from his absence at the wedding does not paint ElRufai in a positive light.

Akala

El-Rufai

Akala

Mohammed

Olugbenga Agboola: A New Kind of Superhero

Except you have been under a rock for some time now, you may not have heard of this company, Flutterwave. With a valuation in excess of $3billion and a staff strength far over 700 mostly Nigerians, this company stands out as the beacon of hope in this our beleaguered country. Recently, it ran into mild turbulence in another African country which it easily shrugged off and continued with its quest for global domination by establishing its presence in over 30 countries, carrying out transactions that touch lives in such a way that it literally has become a very critical part of modern day living.

The other day, I met its young CEO and major promoter, GB. As he spoke to me, I was opening my mouth and finding it very difficult to swallow spit. This tall and gangling handsome “boy”

was employing more Nigerians than the Nigerian Army, police and customs put together. For me, especially at this time where we have all lost hope, GB and his team at Flutterwave are beginning to look like superheroes o. I even heard that they are employing more people on the back of a novel management trainee scheme which is amazing with the level of “japa” and unemployment in the country. A structure that is engaging these numbers must really be supported and applauded. You know how Nigerians can be, imm ediately I posted my picture with him on Whatsapp, I started to hear all sorts. Negativity is our bane and the fact that this young man has amongst others succeeded very beautifully,

in swimming against the tide did not make any mark on their black consciences. The very good thing however in all of these is that his testament is standing very clearly for all of the world to see. Flutterwave has come to stay and elegantly so and it is no wonder that as we speak, Stock Exchanges all over the world are literarily begging Flutterwave to come and list on their Bourse because of the huge economic potential of that move. I hear our own NGX is well positioned to have this company listed in the near future and this will go a long way in not only deepening the markets but will better position the market to serve the huge Fintech community which is one of the most vibrant on the globe. So, my brother, GB as Mr. Macaroni will say, “you are doing well.” Well done.

DON’T CRY FOR NASIR EL-RUFAI

I can just imagine how Mallam will be feelling. He will just be in one corner, sulking like a child that has been denied milk from his mother’s breast. The child, not minding that this denial was temporary, will first go to a little corner looking for pity and when he doesn’t have it, he will go into a hissy fit and pull down the roof with screams.

This is what I think the great Mallam is doing now. His humiliation at the confirmation hearings due to some petition leading to the ministerial denial has led him into a quiet corner, where he is sulking. His strategy is very obvious. We have started seeing little noises in the press of how our dear great President, went on stage in Kaduna to beg him to join his cabinet during the campaigns. We have also been inundated with reports reminding us of the role Mallam played during the Emefiele “cash swap” scandal and also his role in getting northern governors to accept and work for a power shift to the south.

All these are initial rumblings of the

volcano, sending a very subtle but very strong signal to Mr. Tinubu that you are playing with a rattlesnake o and that if the needful is not done, na fire o.

The other day, I saw a picture with a cartoon suggesting that Tinubu had sent people to go and beg Mr. El-Rufai in his little cottage outside of the country. My people, my take in all of this is very simple. Mbok, this man cannot have all the sense in his head. He has tried since the age of 43 being in one government or the other. If the system says he should go and rest, then let him go and rest. It is not this his appointment that will solve all of these our problem.

Mbok, El-Rufai should go and rest abeg. I cannot shout. Na wetin? No be only him dey joor.

NYESOM WIKE IS DANCING IN THE SUN

One good thing about me is that, me I used to know how to blank things and just turn my back and walk away. The moment I saw the huge “bula balu” list of ministerial nominees, I just shook my head and went to put afang for microwave. A better use of my time.

So, all that comedy that regaled Nigerians during the confirmation hearings, did not

concern me. Apart from watching Keyamo apologise and also watched the other one with two credits, I largely ignored the whole thing. But the farce that is inherent in the offices they gave this crew, was too large in its comedic appeal to be ignored. Wike as FCT Minister? A brilliant move. This is what they call in literature “irony”. Me, I was expecting him at the Niger Delta Ministry with the wahala in that sector, especially with oil theft and all. Being a very powerful Rivers ex-governor, he would have been better suited to join Tompolo in the creeks complete with his “pepper dem” band to apprehend all of those huge boats stealing our oil. I used to imagine, Wike on the same boat with Tompolo patrolling the creeks and immediately, they sight a pirate ship, Tompolo will scream – Nyesommmmmmm and Wike will scream – Fireeeeeeeee and the boat will sink and immediately, his band will play – Wike Pepper dem and he will jump into his monkey dance and we’ll all shout Wike for President. Is it not Tinubu, he will always deny us even this little opportunity at a laugh to relieve our tension. He don carry Wike go Abuja. Na wa.

DELE

ALAKE: SHOULD WE RESIGN?

Nothing is more shocking than this appointment. Solid minerals? This is what they used to call square peg in a round hole. If you ask me, Mr. Alake is the one that delivered this election to the great Jagaban. His brilliance and perfect understanding of the use of media to sway public opinion although gestapo-like in execution remains undeniably brilliant. Me, I am still bowing to him with respect with the way he sold his extremely difficult candidate. He meandered the shark infested waters of Chicago, drug scandal, fake bishops, bullion vans and so much and helped deliver one of the greatest miracles in African electoral history.

For all of that, he has been rewarded with the Solid Mineral Ministry. A cabinet back water if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong o, that ministry if properly harnessed could be the most important and strategic ministry of them all, but sending Alake there just goes to show the irrelevance of the ministry in the

Agboola

greater scheme of things.

Well, if na me, na to send in letter, dust up my passport and return to America and be driving my taxi in peace. But will he get the sense and be the man? I doubt it. He will be there until they appoint him Comptroller General of Girls Guide, before he will see the handwriting. Na so he dey be.

KAYODE OTITUJO: PAINS OF A CORN FARMER

It is not in this Agbado economy that a corn farmer should be going through the kind of pains Chief Otitoju is going through. Chief is a brilliant media strategist and a former Commissioner for Information in Ekiti State.

In his retirement, daddy sought approval from the Lagos State government to run a farm on one stretch in that Lekki area. The canal setback farm behind LERA Zone 4, Freedom way was set up in tune with Mr. Governor’s policy on urban farming and tree planting.

The 1.472 acre farm cultivates plantain, trees, bananas and our President’s favourite crop- maize.

However, despite approvals from Lagos State parastatals -LERA/NTDA, LASPARK and Land Bureau Governor’s Office and on the basis of which annual Land Use Bills demand notices are sent and paid, Sodehinde and Mr. Adegbite of the Lagos State Drainage Ministry have carried bulldozer to damage the gates of the farm, thereby opening it to drug users and other such colourful characters in the area.

Sadly, that stretch apart from the farm, also houses all sorts o. Mechanics, barbers, brothels and all sorts and their businesses are still running without interference. It is this agbado farm that is the one that is stopping the government from operating efficiently.

Please Mr. Sodehinde, there is nothing a calm discussion will not resolve. All these “alaye” behaviour is low especially in the face of all these approvals being paraded and much more importantly in the face of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s resolve to support such a beautiful enterprise. Guys you are making the governor look bad. Simple.

WALE EDUN: LET’S GET SERIOUS

Ok, just as I was writing this column, it was announced that Mr. Wale Edun is now the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, making him a very powerful and critical member of this cabinet. His qualifications for this position are not in doubt but what will be on show will be his ability to navigate us out of the woods.

You know the APC are very good at shifting blame. First it was Jonathan’s PDP for eight years of Buhari and now it is “Buhari, destroyed the economy” we are hearing and when we are bored of piling mud on Buhari, it is how Emefiele went to secretly borrow money using our Foreign Reserves as collateral as if it was not under the same APC government that it happened.

My brother Edun, we are not holding our breath o, if events of the last 90 days are anything to go by. Nigerians have been slammed by a tsunami of economic violence. We have seen jobs disappear overnight, we have seen the naira beaten to a pulp and fuel prices hit the roof with inflation slamming the 24% mark. How you are going to reverse all of these is what we are waiting to see. You will have to be very clear in mind and astute to battle these headwinds and deliver sterling performance in rapid succession.

I really do wish you well. I really do wish you God’s guidance in this herculean task that you have been given. For our sake, I pray for your success because your failure will be just too much to comprehend, I swear. I really do wish you well sir.

PHILLIP SHUAIB: NOT IT’S NOT YOUR TURN

I almost fell off my couch when I read this. In a speech to some visitors, my brother Governor Obaseki said that the people of Edo State will not do “emilokan” to choose their next governor. This was in apparent slight at his long-suffering Deputy Phillip who had run to court to stave off an apparent impeachment process. This story is like a badly scripted Nollywood movie. You see, we have moved from court to coup and now to

FESTUS KEYAMO: THE MAN DIED

I got a terse message during the week – Leave Keyamo alone.

He put his name – Feyissetan Akeeb Kareem. Now I do not know if it is his real name and I sincerely wish it is his real name so I can tell him and Nigerians why I have been so harsh on Keyamo.

You see, Keyamo started very strongly as a rights activist. He made a lot of noise o and caused so much wahala in positioning not only his views but himself. We followed him and believed in him. His peak was suing the present president who was governor at the time on his educational qualifications. He was the champion of the masses and a worthy potential successor to the iconic Gani Fawehinmi. Then he had a Saul of Tarsus moment and fell off his donkey. His case was really bad o. Worse than Saul who later

became Paul. He still remained Festus after falling off the donkey but his positions and carriage were now very very much like Balak.

My brother, I have watched Keyamo as a former fan and devotee with tears in my heart. People change course in life no doubt, but this one is just too much. Going against very strong principles, cold facts and strident positions is fearful and worrisome.

Moving very dizzyingly from one extreme position to the other in less than 10 years?

It’s crazy to say the least.

As I watched him apologise the other day at the Senate, I bowed my head in resignation. That apology marked the very lowest in public service, the final crash of integrity in a man and as the great Prof Wole Soyinka said, “The man died.”

Emilokan all in a bid to stave off Mr. Shuaib as the next governor of one of the least developed states in the land.

I face a contradiction in this matter. I am always of the opinion that deputies should be the obvious choice of replacement in the spirit of continuity and very subject to the decision of the people. But nine out of 10 times, it is the Governor himself that will lead the mob to crucify his deputy. Why this is so, continues to baffle me. In most cases, the deputy is humiliated and shoved aside by his principal and usually one commissioner in most cases, the Commissioner of Finance is propped up. Why na finance commissioner is very obvious even to the little virgin down the lane. So, in trying to rubbish Shuaib’s ambition, the very ungrateful Mr. Obaseki has gone on the “Edo no be Lagos” mantra to stamp- it is not your Emilokan on Mr. Shuaib.

This is a very strong label to give an ambitious politician, seeing what the Emilokan is doing us at the centre and Mr. Shuaib will have to show the Edo people that his own Emilokan is not of the Agbado variant.

Anyway, I wonder what must have happened between these two especially if you take into consideration the role Philip played in his second term emergence. It was a herculean fight and Mr. Obaseki had no hope. No strong political footing with a colourless personality made him an inevitable whipping boy of the grand master of Edo politics- Oshiomhole.

But in came Phillip on his white horse and helped Obaseki ride to victory. I really hope that it is not woman or money that has caused this one again o. Confused.

MR. MACARONI AND MR. ELUMELU: A WONDERFUL PAIR

If you follow Mr. Elumelu on Instagram, you will know what colour of shirt he wears every day, you will see his beautiful daughters and you will see his very beautiful wife struggling to be part of the reality show – ‘Keeping Up With the Elumelus.’

Let me confess, bad belle aside, I love following him. His fashion sense is on point now — except for the black court shoes — and his passion for Africa and whatever he is doing with his foundation remains very commendable.

So, his skit with the very funny Mr. Macaroni hit me perfectly. I loved it. It showed them walking away from a meeting at his Heirs Holdings office and Mr. Macaroni offering Tony’s bank billions of naira and Tony feigning joy and then Macaroni saying ‘ohhh na audio money” and Tony laughing and saying “you are doing well.” Both laughed and Mr. Macaroni bowed and thanked Tony very profusely for his services to the industry. I felt warm and actually felt like giving Tony a hug. I loved the spontaneity that came with the skit and the genuine respect Tony has for talent as could be seen from his carriage and gesture. Well done to both of them, I really really liked the skit. Thanks.

SEX IN HIGH PLACES

The clip was nauseating. It was a large crowd of Law students from the University of Calabar. They said they were tired of the harassment from their dean. The placards were graphic and their pain palpable. They accused him of all sorts and sang and carried his image on their poster.

In his defence, the man said that it was his opponent in the faculty election that was orchestrating it, citing the fact that the students would not have known that they were holding a meeting with the VC at that time without insider information.

As a man with two daughters in the system, I have interest. No parent will be happy to hear these stories. Taking advantage of your power to demand sexual gratification from students? It’s abhorring and nauseating.

If you try it with any of my daughters, I will definitely take matters into my own hands and report myself to the nearest police station and allow the law to take its toll on me.

What could be more despicable than this, I wonder. Whattttttt. Mr. Dean, if these allegations are true, you had better resign your position and check yourself into a facility because na real kolo mental case you be. Kai and sad.

Keyamo

Azeez Yusuf’s

Service to Humanity

Azeez Yusuf is a multifaceted individual with a heart full of passion, charity, humanity, love, and a strong devotion to God.

Beyond his success as a foreign businessman in the Republic of Gambia, Yusuf has become a revered figure with an open ticket into the presidency due to his remarkable philanthropic contributions and thriving business ventures in the country. He has garnered immense support and admiration from his numerous followers.

The philanthropist has taken it upon himself to champion the well-being of the underprivileged and support the youth in grassroots communities, often overlooked by the government. His company, SHAIDA and Sons International Limited started the noble tradition of giving back to society in the Republic of Gambia, earning him numerous accolades and recognitions from the country’s government through his Big Apple Foundation.

In recent times, this Gambian-based Nigerian lawyer has provided palliative support to small-scale business owners and petty traders within the 13 wards of his constituency in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria. This initiative aims to alleviate the impact of subsidy removal on the families benefiting from the program, organised under the Ninalowo Empowerment Foundation. For him, service to humanity is a noble act that can significantly improve our society.

His significant contributions to society and his efforts in uplifting people out of poverty have earned him praise and acclaim from various organisations. Yusuf was honoured with awards such as Philanthropist of the Year and Grassroots Politician of the Year, by the Emperor Awards organisers. He also received an honorary doctorate in science from the International Entrepreneurship University in the USA, acknowledging his remarkable entrepreneurial achievements.

Furthermore, Legacy Forum Magazine recognised him with an award for his commitment to human capital development, service to humanity, and philanthropy.

Apart from his philanthropic endeavours, he is also a respected member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and holds a membership card in the prestigious Eko Club. He serves as the Grand Patron of the Yoruba Community in the Gambia. With business interests spanning countries like Turkey, Dubai, the United Kingdom, The Gambia, and Nigeria, he has proven himself to be a successful serial entrepreneur. He is a remarkable individual who has made his mark in the realms of business, philanthropy, and grassroots politics. His dedication to uplifting the underprivileged and his numerous achievements have endeared him to many, making him a shining

Again, Meram Indimi Finds Love

Borno State-born business magnate and founder of Oriental Energy Resources Limited, Dr. Muhammadu Indimi, is blessed with beautiful and fashionable daughters. But beyond that, they are as controversial as they are beautiful. This explains why newshounds prey on their stories the way hungry lions prey on powerless games.

Social media was agog last Saturday when Meram, one of the pretty daughters of the Kanuri-born billionaire gave marriage yet another shot.

About three years ago, Meram ended her first marriage with Baffa Dandatti Abdulkadir. They tied the knot in 2018 at a fairy-tale wedding ceremony that shook the bustling city of Maiduguri. But the marriage packed up a few months later. As gathered, the cracks were instantaneous within just two weeks into the marriage.

Many were startled when Meram dropped a hint on social media about how difficult it was for her to move from her dad’s place into her matrimonial home. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The beautiful daughter, who runs a health and beauty brand, SkinnySeung, finally dropped a bomb when she came back to social media to announce her final departure from her marriage. She also

When Sijibomi Ogundele hit Nigeria’s business climate a few years ago with the Sujimoto luxury real estate, not many knew that the outfit was just an extension of his many big dreams.

At the outset of his business, he faced a lot of daunting challenges. But his uncommon daring spirit and survival instinct made him overcome the teething challenges. Today, after he has stamped his feet in the real estate world, he has proved to all that it was just a starting point for him. He has since spread his tentacles and broken new grounds.

The brilliant business mogul is currently making waves with his new audacious plan to unleash a colossal digital bank, Motopay, that he believes will be worth USD$50 billion before 2030, with over 100 million users.

This ground-breaking endeavour

Green Africa Airline’s Boss, Babawande

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do - Sarah Ban Breathnach.

About one decade ago, when Babawande Afolabi dreamt of establishing an airlines business that would compete favourably with many across the shores of Africa, some of his friends sneered at him, while some others saw it as a mere dream that can never come to pass. But the investment strategist never allowed the attitude of the naysayers to kill his dreams.

Those that know him attest to the fact that once he sets his mind on a project, he pursues it with gusto and will never look back until it’s achieved.

Initially, many were stunned by the idea of a young man in his 30s bursting onto the scene in the tough terrain of airline business. The self-effacing business mogul has showcased that he is here for serious business having dreamt and worked on this project for a decade.

Today, the Osun State-born investment

strategist has registered his name among the top high-flying businessmen in the country.

A source revealed to Society Watch that Green Africa Airlines is currently playing on the lips of aviation experts and analysts for its world-class innovation. He is being described as the new champ in the Nigerian aviation space.

At the moment, the young and vibrant businessman is putting to good use his international investment financing background to pull resources with Green Africa Airlines which flies to popular local destinations, including Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Akure, Enugu, and Ilorin.

It was further gathered that his sole objective is to redefine Nigeria’s aviation industry and he wouldn’t stop until he achieves it.

Afolabi’s incursion into the aviation sector has no doubt taken many out of the labour market, with his outfit employing hundreds of staff.

hinted at her depression and anxiety. With that, she irrevocably gave credence to the assertion that Indimis girls hardly value marriage. Their freedom is more important to them.

However, just as tongues began to wag about her single status, Meram was finally hit by another Cupid arrow. Saturday, August 12, 2023, she walked down the aisle with her new lover and Turkish businessman, Yakup Gundogdu.

As disclosed by a source, family members and friends of the bride, including her mother and sisters, were so excited to see their girl fall in love and tie the knot again at the family mansion in Maiduguri, Borno State.

In attendance for the traditional Kamu were the crème de la crème in society. The A-list guests included the governor of the state, Prof. Babagana Zulum.

Many of them took to social media to express their joy and prayed for the bride as she opened a new chapter in her book of life with Yakup.

Meram is one of the three Indimi gorgeous sisters from Samimra Indimi, the half-Swiss and half-Chadian wife of the oil mogul. Her other sisters include Adama and Mairama.

is poised to transcend the realm of FinTech, catapulting the payment industry into uncharted territories and redefining the very essence of financial management.

As the digital curtain rises, Motopay unveils its pièce de résistance, an allencompassing platform that defies convention.

Seamlessly blending scanning-topay functionalities, social connectivity for chatting with loved ones, a dynamic e-commerce marketplace accessible to all in Nigeria, and an array of powerful and affordable features.

With access to millions of potential buyers, Motopay is to make an indelible mark on the landscape of digital banking and technology, not only within Nigeria but across Africa.

After this, who knows what he may be dreaming of next?

Newly married couple: Gundogdu and wife, Meram

Ogundele

Yusuf

Boom! Musawa is Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy

Tomorrow, President Bola Tinubu will swear in a fresh cohort of ministers.

As President Bola Tinubu prepares to inaugurate a new cabinet tomorrow, Vanessa Obioha profiles Hannatu Musawa who will oversee the newly formed Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy and the challenges she would navigate towards achieving the ambitious goals of the Destination 2030 campaign administrations. For instance, during Goodluck Jonathan’s regime, billions of Naira were injected into the Nollywood industry and loan facilities were given to individuals to help them achieve their creative dreams. However, not all loans were returned and the money distributed created discord instead of harmony.

Among them stands Hannatu Musawa, poised to assume a unique mantle, overseeing the Ministry of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy. But what lies beyond the ceremony’s pomp and circumstance is a journey towards a dynamic future, where cultural identity meets economic prowess.

Musawa’s ministerial portfolio is a departure from previous ministerial titles that primarily focused on culture and tourism. The nation now recognises a creative economy which in the past few years has been pushed forward as a critical contributor to the economy given the global impact of our music and films. A creative economy will encompass other forms of the creative industry such as media, beauty, tourism and visual arts.

Drawing from a distinguished trajectory in the political arena, Musawa emerges as a figure of substance, having last served as the deputy spokesperson and deputy director of public affairs for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council. Her unwavering dedication to public service has paved a path marked by resilience and strategic acumen. Her educational background boasts lofty degrees in law from international universities. Her LinkedIn profile also stated that she is an activist for women and human rights and a lawyer. Apart from being a writer and a poet, Musawa’s knowledge of the creative economy seems limited, although she was appointed as a special advisor to the president on creative economy before her ministerial role. This does not in any way underrate her ability to handle such ministry. If anything, Nigeria has a knack for discovering hidden talents, irrespective of one’s educational or career background. Musawa surely will set the ball rolling once she settles in office.

While identifying the global impact of Nollywood and Afrobeats, Musawa champions a dynamic renaissance for the creative domain.

Her blueprint dubbed Destination 2030 encompasses not only the establishment of pivotal public-private alliances and innovative funding avenues, but also strategic implementations, enriched educational avenues, and purpose-built spaces to dismantle the confines that have long curtailed the boundless potential of individuals and industry alike. Similar ambitions have been taken by past

10Dollar Restates Dedication to Nurturing Emerging Talent

Iyke Bede

With a five-year presence in Nigeria and two decades of operation in the United States, 10Dollar, an entertainment outfit focused on capturing emerging talents in Nigeria, recently reiterated its commitment to support emerging artistes in Nigeria.

The renewed commitment was made during a meeting with journalists held at the Lagos Airport Hotel. Comprising 10 Dollar Show, 10Dollar Music, and 10Dollar Entertainment, CEO, 10Dollar Otedola, emphasised the strategic approach of using these facets of the holding to provide an ecosystem to support emerging artistes’ careers.

“10Dollar has injected millions of dollars into the Nigerian entertainment industry to raise and expose upand-coming artistes to the limelight,” Otedola disclosed.

With a track record of promoting diverse talents, 10Dollar has been a driving force behind the success stories of several rising stars. From hosting budget-friendly shows that give lesser-known artistes a platform to shine, to curating a thriving music label that nurtures raw talent, 10Dollar has consistently shown its dedication to the growth of the arts.

As part of its commitment, it introduced two budding acts: Iboy MP and Queen Sapphire. They join the extensive list of signed acts to 10Dollar Music. Both acts are expected to release their first singles under the label on September 1, 2023.

In the future, 10Dollar intends to help new artistes gain exposure through their upcoming 10Dollar app, designed to absorb new acts into a growing online community of artistes, music lovers, and potential investors.

Therefore, in creating partnerships between the government and individuals, Musawa would have to put in parameters that would ensure that the funds are channelled into the right places. In creating educational opportunities, Musawa would have to be specific in this area. Does she intend to grant scholarships to individuals to study abroad and improve their skills? Or is there a plan to have more creative academies in the country? Also, how would beneficiaries of such programmes add value back to the industry?

In building spaces for entertainment to thrive, it will be interesting to see how the ministry plan to implement such projects. Already, Del-York International and the Lagos State Government are embarking on building a film city in Lagos. Will the minister replicate such projects in other parts of the country?

The litmus test that beckons Musawa’s tenure lies not merely in the grandeur of words but in the crucible of action. How these ambitions will unfurl in reality remains the critical threshold for the steward of culture’s evolution.

As she embarks on this transformative journey, perhaps a glimpse into the digital tapestry of her persona could unveil a dimension yet untapped. It might be prudent for the minister to revisit her posts on X (formerly known as Twitter). A curatorial gaze reveals a curious conundrum – a writing cadence adorned with capitalisation of each word, where even the humble conjunction and the unassuming article partake in this typographic waltz. There is also the ‘Boom!’ effect that reverberates at the inception of some of her posts about President Bola Tinubu. For instance, her post announcing the reasons why the president arrested the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, was introduced by the word ‘Boom’ and a glowing star.

But who knows, the ‘Boom’ effect may work eventually if she manages to put the creative economy in the spotlight during the tenure of this ‘progresssive’ administration.

It’s Music and Basketball on Spotify

By Vanessa Obioha

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Giants of Africa, popular streaming platform, Spotify, partnered with the not-for-profit organisation to bring together music and sports, as a way to inspire the next generation of African youth. Since 2003, Giants of Africa has positively impacted over 40,000 African youth across 17 countries, providing access to basketball courts, camps and clinics. For the anniversary this year, they brought together youth from 16 different countries, including Nigeria for the inaugural Giants of Africa festival held between August 13 - 19, 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Music and sports have always been playmates, and the Nigerian Youth basketball team is using this to propel them to greater heights. Taking inspiration on and off the court, Segun Nanakumo, a member of Team Nigeria is inspired by Patoranking, who moved “from a rat-gum seller to a big artist”.

The closing ceremony presented by Spotify, had performances by Davido, Tiwa Savage, and RADAR Africa artist, Tyla,and Bruce Melodie.

10Dollar Otedola

Minister- designate, Hannatu Musawa or Simply Musawa

The Nigérien Imbroglio as a Prelude to World War III: Scenarios and Dynamics

Many are the pointers to the coup d’état in Niger Republicbecomingafoundationforthemaking of another World War. Recall how World War II started in 1931 with the invasion of the Chinese province of Manchuria.The reported reason was the Japanese quest for raw materials needed to fuel growth of Japanese industries. Recall also that the origin of the official World War II battles has been dated to 1939 when the Sovieto-Japanese forces clashed in the Khalkin Gol River in Manchuria. The battle lasted for about four months and the Japanese suffered a serious defeat.

As noted by the Harry S. Truman Library regarding the invasion of Manchuria, ‘the United States, along with other countries, criticised Japanese aggression but shied away from any economic or military punishments. Relations between the U.S. and Japan worsened further when Japanese forces took aim at Indochina with the goal of capturing oil-rich areas of the East Indies.’The United States was not happy with this development and therefore, not only embargoed scrap metal, oil and aviation fuel heading to Japan but also froze Japanese assets in the United States. More interestingly, the United States asked Japan to withdraw from their conquered areas of China and Indonesia.

Again, as explained by the Harry Truman National Archives, ‘Japan, sensing conflict was inevitable, began planning for an attack on Pearl Harbour by April 1941. The alliance systems of Japan, Germany and Italy were put into action by this time, but Russo-Japanese relations were cordial. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941 brought the United States officially into World War II.’The rest of the story is most unfortunate as the United States would respond with the Little Man of Hirochima and the Fat Man of Nagasaki in Japan. These are some of the critical dynamics of World War II.

The situation of international politics in Niger Republic as at today is not in any way different. The whole hullaballoo in Niger Republic is actually not the reported assault on democratic rules or what the ECOWAS has called an unconstitutional change of government or what is ordinarily referred to as a coup d’état against an elected government. The governments of France and the United States, in particular, and other Western allies, in general, prefer the return of the ousted President Mohammed Bazoum to power by all means than returning the country to constitutional order. This is simply because President Bazoum is currently the adjudged most reliable ally of the West in protecting Niger as a source of uranium to France and the United States. The situational reality of the management of the coup is such that the way Japanese could see that war was inevitable in 1941 is not different today in Niger. War has become inevitable despite the on-going diplomatic efforts.

Scenarios and Dynamics

First, there is the likelihood of Africa coming against the United States and its other allies in the foreseeable future. The scenario may take a revolutionary format in such a way that Africans will begin with protests against Westernisation in various ramifications. Pro-Western leaders will be difficult to find or to come to power through the ballot box. Neo-colon-ial influence has the potential to be brought to its lowest level. For instance, the message and implication of the coups d’état in the various affected Francophone is that the privileged ties that have characterised Franco-African relations are now being queried. Anti-French sentiments are also growing in Francophone Africa.

When a coup takes place, the first victim of such a coup is always the elected president who is often perceived to be serving as puppet to foreign governments. From this perspective, it can be rightly observed that countries under pro-French presidents are most likely to be the next to be ousted. This means that both the African Union and the ECOWAS should be prepared for greater challenges in the foreseeable future.The strategic interest of concern is how not to block the access of France and the United States in particular to uranium. The United States has invested billions of US dollars in the exploitation and development of uranium in Niger and are not in any way prepared to let their investments be in vain.. The ousted president has been a major protector of their investments. This is why the survival of the ousted president is more important than the rhetorical question of returning to er65*

The issue to note is that when the people of Niger complain about

foreign exploitation of Niger’s raw materials or when Nigériens kicked against the admission of unwanted French troops sent out of Mali, they have generally been arrested by President Bazoum and incarcerated. This has always angered the people of Niger Republic. This partly explains the support for the coup and also partly why the coupists want to try the ousted president for high treason.

Secondly, the issue of how to take electoral democracy and sustainable development cannot but be another important dynamic.The Nigerian Political Science Association held a virtual seminar on‘the Nigérien Crisis: Its Development, Interests, Implications, and Pathways to Resolving It’ on Thursday, 17th August, 2023 during which the question of democracy and development was raised for discussion. In the same vein, at the 153rd session of the ‘thruMYeyes with Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, on August 17, the matter of how to address democracy and development was again raised.

In other words, the intellectual challenge is the determination of how to prioritise: which should come first? Should democracy come before national development?Without any whiff of doubt, the two can always go pari passu. They can both constitute two sides of the same coin. In fact, development is nothing more than a socio-economic and a politico-cultural objective, while democracy is the environmental instrument for achieving development objectives. It should be recalled here that at the

One interesting implication is the use of military force to redress a coup d’état. A coup is the use of force to remove a supposedly-elected president. Because of the use of force in coup making, it is considered unacceptable and unconstitutional. But why is force not used to ensure that elections are not rigged and that electoral malpractices are prevented? What is wrong in sanctioning rigged or fraudulent elections by use of force? Interrogatively put, will military intervention in Niger Republic put an end to coup making in the future? There is nothing to suggest that military invasion is an antidote to coup making. The main dynamic of coup making in Africa is bad governance, political unfairness, unnecessary ethnic bigotry, and leadership selfishness. Perhaps the most critical implication is the future of the principle of subsidiarity in the governance of Africa. The African Union adopted the international principle of subsidiarity by which questions that are better and conveniently addressed are left to the regional and sub-regional bodies to solve. Now, there cannot but be a problem in the foreseeable future as the ECOWAS has been fully seized with the coup imbroglio in Niger Republic. However, press reports have it that the African Union is opposed to the use of military intervention to resolve the Niger saga, while the ECOWAS is pushing for military intervention. Will the principle be redefined?

Sixteenth Franco-African Summit held on June 19-21, 1990 in La Baule in France, democratisation was made an official conditionality for the grant of development aid by Europe to Africa. In other words, military dictatorship was consciously outlawed. MostWestern countries approved of the La Baule development aid conditionality.

The understanding of democracy as at today in Africa is changing. In fact, it is also being questioned. Should democracy be detrimental to development? Explained differently, is an unconstitutional change of government more important an issue than a controversial election or rigged election that brought an elected president to power? In Niger Republic, the unresolved question is whether it is the release of the ousted president that takes priority or the development issues for which the ousted president was accused, allegedly for flirting with foreigners to exploit the national resources to the detriment of the people’s interests.

For example, the Nigériens are openly aggrieved that their uranium is purchased at a very cheap rate but sold at the international market at a rate that is more than 700% of the initial cost of purchase. They complained about lack of electricity generation in Niger while the export of uranium from Niger Republic to France is used to provide electricity for the French without outage. As a result of this, animosity vis-à-vis France began to grow, and spreading gradually. Apparently because the ousted president has not been listening to public complaints, and probably because the Commander General of the Presidential Guards has not been in good terms with the ousted President on this very issue, the French and Americans have been compelled to support the president, at least, for being the reliable protector of their interests in Niger. Unfortunately, the people of Niger are not only in support of the coupists but also, with the coupists, are opposed to their former colonial master.

The dynamic of a World War III is therefore best explained by the fact of the non-preparedness of the United States and the French to allow the closure of their access to the Nigérien uranium, which is reputed to be one of the purest, if not the purest, in the world. If the new president of Niger is hostile to the French and Americans, it can still be pardonable. However, for the French and Americans to wait and see their influence reduced and replaced by Russia in Niger is perceived to be intolerable and unacceptable. Consequently, the imminent war in the making cannot but be between France and the United States, on the one hand, and Russians on the other hand.

Niger Republic is only conceived to be the required battle ground for the proxy war. Even though France and the United States have military bases in Niger Republic, their troops are most unlikely to be directly deployed to the theatre of war in Niger. As a result of this unlikelihood, they are compelled to pressurise the ECOWAS to do the battle on their behalf, but accepting to fund and provide other necessary logistical support. In this regard, Nigeria, in particular, is carrying the burden of the pressure for various reasons: it is the giant of the ECOWAS region. Nigeria is more solvent than all other members. Nigeria accounts for about one-third of the ECOWAS annual budget. Nigeria is also the military giant on which the French and the Americans largely count to help restore the constitutional order in Niger.

Thirdly, the ECOWAS region, and particularly Nigeria, has the potential to be destabilised beyond imagination. At the ECOWAS level, the regional organisation cannot but be seriously weakened if not completely dismantled. It should be recalled that it took a lot of efforts for the Communauté Economique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEAO) (Economic Community of West Africa), comprising only the Francophone West African countries to accept the idea of one regional body.The CEAO was the rival of the ECOWAS which consists of Anglophones, Francophone and Lusophones unlike the CEAO.

The CEAO was established in April 1973 following the signing of the Abidjan Treaty. It was really meant to contain Nigeria’s influence in the region. The way Professor Daniel Bach of the University of Bordeaux in France put it is quite interesting: ‘almost simultaneously, the creation of the CEAO was an attempt by six francophone countries - the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Niger, upper Volta, Mali and Mauritania - with the active support of France, to counterbalance Nigerian influence within West Africa’(vide The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 21, No.4, 1983, pp.605-623).The CEAO was later compelled to give way to the ECOWAS but the Anglophone-Francophone mésentente is yet to disappear. Unlike before when efforts were strenuously made to preserve the French identity with the express support of France, the situational reality of today is that France is no longer wanted in some countries. Besides, they are divided on the issue of coup in Niger.

The Implications for Nigeria

There are some indications that France’s Emmanuel Macron is planning air raid of Niger Republic to compel the coupists to accept to release President Mohammed Bazoum currently kept under house arrest in his palace. The relationship between President Emmanuel Macron and Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has grown to the level of an entente cordiale to the extent that France is doing whatever is possible to make PBAT commit the ECOWAS to a military intervention in Niger Republic.

Without doubt, there are proponents of military intervention in Niger who argued that coup making and military rule has become obsolete in political governance.They say that the ECOWAS should put an end to coup making once and for all. They also posit that unless the ECOWAS use military force to compel the coupists to return to constitutional order, the regional body may end up with disintegration. Put deductively, the ECOWAS cannot afford the luxury of eating its words again after the experiences in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea (Conakry).

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Tinubu

ARTS & REVIEW ARTS & REVIEW

Ambitions and Ascent of a Woman

Chidinma Nebo, a.k.a. Shimmer Goddess, has her sights set on future fame, thanks to her mellifluous voice and versatility in the creative industry. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes

Not even under the restaurant’s ambient lighting did the al- lure surrounding the young lady, who goes by the stage name Shimmer Goddess, ap- pear to wane that Thursday night. The Enugu State native, whose real name is Chidinma Nebo, sat down to talk with her interviewer at a table in the raised area of an upper-room restaurant while exuding an unforced and natural charm. In fact, except for her chocolate-coloured weave-on straight hair and, possibly, her stage name, there was nothing else about her that wasn’t natural and unforced.

Obviously, Thursday nights at this upscale restaurant that calls itself ZaZa belong to its off-peak nights. In other words, they are not the nights when one would find as many diners as one would expect on Fridays and Saturdays. And talking about ZaZa, it occupies, quite un- obtrusively, a corner of a building that houses along Agoro Odiyan Street, a side street that branches off the arterial Adeola Odeku Street in the Victoria Island neighbourhood of Lagos.

The fact that the industry owes Shimmer God- dess its undivided attention cannot be denied, even by the most obtuse listener, after hearing her mime covers of modern favourites. Later that night, she would, after the long-braids- and-Fedora-hat-sporting emcee, Felvin Brain, announced her with flourish, mount the dais to belt out, back to back, two hits: Shaggy’s “Strength of a Woman” and Frank Sinatra’s “You Are Too Good to Be True.”

Talking about her soulful rendition of both hits—to the awed admiration of her captive audience—that alone should have left no pundit in doubt as to whether it would win her the good graces of the industry’s pooh-bahs. Indeed, this performance, which spectacularly earned the diadem as the cream of the restaurant’s main gigs, deserves nothing less than a five-star rating.

Her stage presence, which easily rates as flawless, was an eloquent testimony to her being long accustomed to performing on stage. As for her vocals, which by the industry’s standards are first-rate, they were a pleasant addition to the night’s entertainment package. In a nutshell, she is a classic case of a talent whose light is hidden under a bushel, despite having an impressive résumé.

A career such as hers that promises future stardom ought to have bloomed by now, given her lustrous antecedents. She had, growing up as the first daughter and second child of a middle-class couple in the oil city of Port Harcourt, shown all the right signs of brilliance in the industry. It’s something that she has always had in her, she explained. Reason why, even at the tender age of seven, she was already a chorister in her church. She also clinched the diadem as the best public speaker at Brain Field Secondary School in Port Harcourt, where she became the valedictorian.

Years after those early stages of pursuing her life’s calling, the 2015 history and international relations graduate of Ebonyi State University would find herself segueing through such Broadway-style musicals as Love and Its Other Sides, For Love and Country, Ini, Ada, and Flower, among others. More relevant to that penultimate Thursday’s performance were her appearances at such reality television shows as the MTN Project Fame in 2011, Star the

Peakmas ads, Porkoyum Instagram ads, Airtel radio drama series,and voice prompts for Eko TeleMed. Perhaps her earlier certificate course programme in linguistics and communications from the University of Port Harcourt stood her in a good stead to feature in such television productions as Hustle in 2017, Truth the Series in 2018, Unmarried in 2020, and Clues the Movie (a short film).

In addition to all these is a musical film – titled Can You See Me Now? – which she produced and should be hitting the screens before the end of the year.

Still, Shimmer Goddess doesn’t seem to be about to rest on her oars any time soon. This is despite having two singles, “Bambam” and “3-1 (three-one)”, that have already hit the airways, even if they are seemingly eclipsed or unheeded among the Babel of other hits. Besides, it helps that she has a finger in every pie in an industry that swarms with talents, which can be explained by the fact that her creative juices are constantly flowing.

In the not-too-distant future, she envisions herself using her modes of expression to tell true Nigerian stories rather than the storylines promoted by the local film industry. She counts on her resourcefulness and passion for “making things work” to stand her in good stead and remain relevant for a long time in a volatile industry.

Is it any wonder it seemed difficult for her to identify musical icons who embody her aspirations as role models, even when she acknowledged Tiwa Savage as a hard worker and had good things to say about Yemi Alade?

20.

Winner in 2013, and The Voice ofNigeria in 2015, as well as her appearances on soundtracks like Unmarried in 2020 and Ricordi in 2022. She also did voiceovers for

Shimmer Goddess

Shimmer Goddess on stage

Jagun Jagun: Finally, Something Truly Epic from Nollywood

Toni Kan

Fictional narratives compel us to suspend disbelief.

This willing suspension of disbelief is required as you settle down to watch Femi Adebayo’s delightful and bloody epic, Jagun Jagun, especially if you are someone with a handle chronological or otherwise.

as is the fact that Ogundiji, son of Ogunrogba, has

But while we cannot vouch for historical or geographical accuracy, there is no doubt that Yorubaland out of history as a composite of, say, Ogedengbe, the

The presence of revered Ifa priest Chief Ifayemi enough to assuage those prone to quibble. But not to split hairs, Femi Adebayo has given truly compelling narrative with visually stunning It is also redolent with proverbs and animist and Judeo-Christian allusions.

Jagun Jagun is an enjoyable movie conceived on an epic scale.

be glued to the action unfolding on the screen, and anyone with half an ear will notice the tongue twisters and puns that litter the movie.

“No, Gbontogun.”

The biggest play on words happens with Ogun, my below-basic Yoruba, I can tell yields a bountiful harvest of puns from Ogun (war) to Ogun (charms)

MOVIES

to Ogun (sweat). The Oguns come fast and furious. The movie, which could as well have been subtitled War,” is really no more than the shenanigans of men

The story is an easy one and plays along the trajectory of familiar tropes. Ogundiji is a gun for hire who has managed to put many undeserving fellows on the throne. Their tenuous hold on power is buoyed by Ogundiji’s fearful warriors and the demonic Agemo, who, when unleashed, changes the tenor of every battle.

of war, where they will be turned into warriors, the eponymous Jagun Jagun.

warriors. (Cue the unnecessary similarities to The

Woman King.)

One of the new enlistees is Gbotija, son of Lagbayi, we notice as he travels to Ogundiji’s school of war-

to converse with trees and all things made of wood, he manages to impress at the end, thereby coming to the attention of Ogundiji. But Gbotija does not just have an uncanny relationship with trees and wood; he is also a bit of a rebel, “Princess” Kitan, the daughter of the self-styled “King” Ogundiji. A tryst near the palace leads Gbotija to save the Queen,” but instead of gratitude, Gbontija is caught in the crosshairs of Ogundiji’s envy.

Coleridge notes that Iago’s hatred of Othello comes from what he describes as “motiveless malignity”

and a wish to exert his power and supposed intellectual superiority.

The same can be said of Ogundiji’s hatred and envy should have given Gbotija a gift for saving her life, head?”

edge goodness are the beginning of Ogundiji’s downfall, signalled not really by his ill treatment burns alive for doing a good deed.

without seeming to leaves him progressively shorn trusted demonic assassin, is retired, leaving him at the mercy of “mere” warriors who are easily swayed by mere speech.

The duel that Ogundiji instigates between the adopted father and son is straight out of the lore

-

between Ogundiji, Gbotija, and Kitan mimics that hear the shouts of adulation trailing Gbotija and not

Femi Adebayo’s movie proceeds at a controlled pace; the characters do not shout as is typical of despite the presence of funny men, Mr. Macaroni and Woli Agba; and above all, it gives us characters who manage to transliterate Yoruba into English with relish.

The producer and villain of the movie, FemiAdebayo, His tic is both a source of menace and pity because, hostage by his own body.

ToniKan,anaward-winningwriter,editor,and PRexpert,writesfromLondon.

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Five Solos and a Tale of Eco-feminism

Defying the downpour, visitors were ushered into the recent VIP opening of the group show Five art gallery, Q-Gallery. The show, which showcases three female and two male artists, is yet anagainst gender barriers, and bridge the age barriers retired civil servant whose canvasses parade some abstract paintings inspired by mud and clay colours. with charcoal and, much later, paint. From painting as a pastime, she advanced to being an exhibiting every viewer.

With Taiye Erewele, it was quite natural to tap into African women. Her personal experience is broad,

ofArt’s best graduating student. Later, she obtained an MAin Visual Arts from the University of Lagos. This

“I am a storyteller; I tell stories of the female gender,”

thing about my paintings are the pose, gesture and that you can put yourself in the shoes of the subject. I want the viewer to imagine that this is who they are.” -

when she is anticipating love, and when she is happy environment. Using mainly oil paint on textured

canvas and denim jeans, she gives the viewer a taste of herrepresentationalimpressionism.The2015graduate by her late mother and Afrocentric modernisation. Through his choice of materials, another expericonsumerism resulting in the over-exploitation of natural resources. Using eco-friendly wood and discarded materials, his art highlights issues such as climate change, freedom of expression, and child rights, among others.

While exploring nature through his landscape paintings, Joseph Ayelero draws upon life in the suburbs as the subject of his creative pieces. The multimedia artist who studied general art at the Yaba College of Technology develops from the imaginary to the real world.

The radical feminist and leading female artist, canvas to the show. The pieces are the product of

“I wanted to show masquerades but I was afraid

is to inspire thoughts and ideas. I have been doing this masquerade-themed pieces for more than seven years.”

her way of showing resistance to the erasure of female representation in African art as well as the patriarchal system of governance and living in African culture.

“It is my opinion that there is some misogynistic content driving this patriarchy that is constructed

The rivers are considered feminine; they are called

rhetorically.

namely Issues in Contemporary Nigerian Art, the

Rele Gallery, Zeebah Foundation Exhibition Opens Today

An art exhibition titled organised by Rele Gallery, in collaboration with the Zeebah Foundation, to

of its yearly residency initiative opens today,

The Rele Arts Foundation boot camp and residency programme alumni artists would be featured in a collective exhibition, according to a signed statement from the foundations. -

EXHIBITION

Kareem, and Valerie Fab-Uche to commemoprogramme,” the statement disclosed. residency programme, it is an initiative that strives to inculcate in up-and-coming artists well as the tools needed for artistic growth. of the Young Contemporaries Residency and the continuation of artistic growth and evolution.

A screenshot from the movie

Yinka Olatunbosun

A painting displayed in the exhibition pre-colonial worship of the river goddesses, where the rivers were sacred, to the present-day situation where we now throw trash into the rivers. Is this

IN THE ARENA

As Niger Junta Embraces Dialogue

After25daysofdiplomaticstand-off,theresolveofNiger’smilitaryregimetoembracedialogueandnegotiationapparently signals a renewed hope for West Africa’s troubled, but promising democracies, Gboyega Akinsanmi writes

For the first time since July 26, the diplomatic standoff between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the junta in Niger Republic significantly eased off last week. This became public knowledge last Sunday, about 24 hours after some Nigerian Islamic scholars held a meeting with Niger’s coup leaders in Niamey.

The leader of the Islamic leaders, Sheik Abdullahi Bala Lau attested to the disposition of Niger’s coup leader and President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, General Abdourahmane Tchiani to put an end to resistance and embrace détente to resolve the country’s political crisis. The stance largely raised optimism among key actors globally.

Likewise, Niger’s Prime Minister, Mr. Ali Lamine Zeine, reinforced Lau’s attestation on Wednesday at a session with the President of Chad Republic, General Mahamat Deby, who also usurped political power through coup d’etat that took place in April 2021. Zeine, appointed by the country’s military regime, emphasised the willingness of the junta “to talk to all parties.”

However, the junta came up with a plan to prosecute Niger’s deposed leader, President Mohammed Bazoum for treasons just after it opted for diplomacy. The plan fuelled scepticism among key actors, especially the UN, about the junta’s commitment to honour the resolutions of the ECOWAS Authority after its two extra-ordinary summits on Niger’s political instability.

All these developments coincided with the second extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS Authority. Beyond diverse economic and political sanctions already imposed on the Sahel country, the summit unanimously ordered the deployment of the ECOWAS Standby Force to restore constitutional order in Niger. Again, this resolution further delineated members’ collective action against unconstitutional regimes whether in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali or anywhere within the bloc.

Now that the military regime is willing to negotiate and has also apologised to the Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority, President Bola Tinubu for snubbing his delegations, the global community, especially the AU, ECOWAS, EU) and the UN, are optimistic about the prompt management of Niger’s escalating internal instability. As shown in diverse reports, its escalation has compounded the sub-region’s hydra-headed crises.

Before the key actors sit at the negotiation table hopefully this week, the junta’s rapprochement no doubt calls for proper understanding of internal and external dynamics that triggered the suspension of the Constitution of the Republic of Niger, 2010 (as amended). Experts in international affairs are divergent on the drivers of the coup. The junta itself did not clearly pinpoint the core catalysts that propelled its rebellion against the constitutionally established government, even though it alluded to the deterioration of the country’s internal security.

As diplomacy is now being ramped up on all sides to restore constitutional order in the Sahel country, all actors, first and foremost, need to appreciate Nigeriens’ thirst for true freedom, not just political independence, but also economic liberty that grants them absolute rights to their human, mineral and natural resources. At the meeting with the Chadian leader last week, Zeine emphasised the need for Niger “to be truly independent.”

This quest is rooted in an agreement France brokered with all its colonies worldwide on December 26, 1945, just few months after the end of World War II. Under this agreement, France created CFA for all its colonies. The pact, as archival records have shown, mandated French colonies to maintain 85 per cent of their foreign reserves with the Banque de France.

In aggregate, as former AU Representative to the US, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao recently revealed, African francophone countries have for 78 years saved over $500 billion in foreign reserves with the Banque de France. And this agreement remains in force; even after they became independent with four stringent conditions, which foremost economists argued, have only benefitted France and its allies.

As indicated in the agreement, the first condition relates to the fixed exchange rate, which the French authorities set at one Euro to 655.957 CFA. Also, the agreement requires France to always guarantee unlimited convertibility of CFA into Euros. It further requires that foreign exchange reserves must exceed money in circulation by a margin of 20 per cent. It lastly emphasises the principle of free capital transfer within the franc zone. With these agreements, experts in economic and monetary sovereignty largely agree that France’s former colonies only exist as mere independent political entities, but largely lack control over their economies.

For analysts, these conditions have not only constituted barri-

POLITICAL NOTES

ers to development in most African francophone countries. They are equally responsible for economic stagnation. As a result, eight of these countries, including Niger, proposed to withdraw from France’s foreign reserve system in November 2019. The proposal became urgent after the establishment of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, which requires signatories to maintain a certain percentage of their foreign with the regional bank.

It was sequel to a 2017 agreement, which President Emmanuel Macron signed with French colonies during his official visit to Africa. Under this pact, Macron agreed to allow France’s ex-colonies access to at least 50 per cent of their foreign reserves in the Banque de France. Till date, however, France has not honoured this pact, a breach of understanding that Benin’s President Patrice Talon has challenged at different times.

As the key actors converge in the coming weeks to resolve the Niger crisis, the ECOWAS Authority, irrespective of their leanings, needs to collectively share this sentiment, though insufficient to trigger internal rebellion against a duly constituted regime. From this perspective, according to diverse reports, Niger’s putschists did not in reality revolt against democracy, but against French imperialists out of their quest for true freedom.

For decades, also, Niger, like its counterparts in Central and West Africa, has been a victim of resource exploitation, which most of its nationals believed, has only profited France at their expense. Despite being Africa’s largest producer of uranium ores, diverse socioeconomic indicators consistently ranked Niger among the world’s least developed countries.

As shown in the 2023 World Population Review, Niger prides itself as the world’s sixth poorest country. Also, Global Hunger Index ranked it 115th of the 122 countries afflicted with chronic hunger in 2022. In the 2022 Corruption Perception Index, Niger is simply an infectious kleptomaniac state, which has compounded its extreme poverty index, currently standing at over 41.8 per cent of its population.

Besides, the key actors must approach the negotiation table with a clearer understanding that Niger’s ethnic politics triggered rebellion against Bazoum’s government. Conventionally, as diverse documents have shown, Hausa, Zarma, Fulani and Kanuri, which collectively constitute about 90 per cent of its population, dominate Niger’s domestic politics to the detriment of Arabs, which only accounts for 0.4 per cent.

In practice, therefore, Nigeriens from the majority ethnic groups are always appointed to occupy strategic positions in the Presidency and Armed Forces, among others. But Bazoum, a Nigerien of Arabian stock, attempted at altering this arrangement, hence stoking rebellion that the country’s democratically constituted government.

Each of these dynamics suggests that the Niger crisis takes root in its chronic development crises, though with its internal and external complexities. Consequently, key actors must properly appreciate the divergent contexts to the crisis to enable them develop strategies for effective engagement and management.

But compelling the putschists to restore Bazoum, whom they perceive as a purveyor of French imperialism, might dim the hope of speedy resolution of the crisis.

Oshiomhole’s New Blame Game

SincetheAllProgressivesCongress(APC)cameinto power in 2015, the senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly, Adams Oshiomhole, has demonstrated that he is a good apostle of the politics of blame game introduced by the party. Immediately, former President Goodluck Jonathan lost power in 2015ontheplatformofthePeoplesDemocraticParty (PDP), Oshiomhole and his APC wasted eight years blaming the 16 years of PDP for all the challenges facing Nigeria since the amalgamation of 1914.

For eight years that former President Muhammadu Buhari was in power, Oshiomhole never raised his voice to condemn how Buhari plunged Nigeria into a huge debt trap, which he was servicing with 96 per cent of the country’s revenue as the former Edo State governor has suddenly revealed.

But in his renewed the blame game last week, Oshiomhole admitted that the economic situation in the country was dire, and insisting that President Bola Tinubu inherited “a terrible economic situation.”

Speaking with reporters after a meeting with Vice-President Kashim Shettima at Aso Rock, the former Edo State governor said: “The government inherited a terrible economic situation. Everybody knows it. The government inherited an economy in which our total national revenue was barely enough to service our debt burden, spending 96 per cent, which is to say every N100,000 Nigeria earns N96,000 is going to repay debts, to service debt. So, you have only N4,000 left to pay all the salaries.”

Throughout the eight years of the Buhari government, at no time did Oshiomhole blame or his

government for mismanaging the country. But now, he has suddenly found his voice and realised that Tinubu inherited bad economic challenges from the Buhari government.

Oshiomhole’s critics believe that his relationship with Buhari was strained by the former president’s role in his controversial removal as the National Chairman of the APC.

Many analysts also believe that if Oshiomhole falls out with Tinubu and another president takes over in the next general election, he will blame the current president for Nigeria’s economic woes.

To Oshiomhole, the blame game is endless. But he should be reminded that leaders are elected to fix problems and not to keep on ranting endlessly over who created the problems.

Tinubu

Oshiomhole

BRIEFING NOTES

Challenges before Fagbemi, the New AGF

Of all the ministerial portfolios, the only one that is directly created by the Nigerian Constitution is that of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice.

For instance, while Section 151 (1) of the 1999 Constitution specifically states: “There shall be an AGF who shall be the chief law officer of the federation and a minister of the government of the federation,” sub-section 2 of the statute book specifically defines the qualifications or criteria for the occupant of the office.

Section 174(1) goes ahead to state that the AGF shall have powers: (a) to institute and undertake criminal proceedings against any person before any court of law in Nigeria, other than a court-martial, in respect of any offence created by or under any Act of the National Assembly; (b) to take over and continue any such criminal proceedings that may have been instituted by any other authority or person; (c) to discontinue at any stage before judgment is delivered any such criminal proceedings instituted or undertaken by him or any other authority or person.”

Subsection 2 states that “the power conferred upon the AGF under subsection 1 of this section may be exercised by him in person or through officers of his department.”

Subsection 3 states that: “In exercising his powers under this section, the AGF shall have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process.”

While the powers of the AGF cover the entire federation, those of the state attorneys-general are limited to their respective states. For instance, Section 195 (1 and 2) of the Constitution states thus: “There shall be an attorney-general of a state who shall be the chief law officer of the state and a commissioner for justice of the government of that state.”

This makes the position stands out as the sole position officially recognised by the 1999 Constitution which everybody looks up to for stability, adherence to rule of law and law and order not only in the governance structure, but in the affairs of the nation.

The tenure of the immediate past AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) was characterised by impunity, disobedience of court orders, intimidation and harassment of the judiciary, arrest with trial, or inter-agency squabbles.

This is why many Nigerians are looking forward to a new era with Chief Lateef Fagbemi, an accomplished lawyer who became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) at a record time of 10 years at the Bar.

Tomorrow, President Bola Tinubu will swear in Fagbemi in an elaborate ceremony in Abuja, marking his official role as the 24th Attorney-General of

the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice. With a legal career that has flourished with professional achievements for close to four decades, Fagbemi, the longest-serving lawyer and the second SAN on the list of nominees, stands tall as not just one of the most distinguished professionals.

The 64-year-old, who hails from Ijagbo in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State, is coming on board loaded with experience. He graduated from the University of Jos, Plateau State, with a Second Class Upper degree in Law in 1984. He bagged a master’s degree in Law (LLM) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in 1987.

A year after completing his law degree at the University of Jos, he was called to the Nigerian Bar in August 1985, marking the beginning of his 38 years of flourishing legal career. He became a SAN after just 10 years at the Bar, the minimum statutory period of active legal practice a lawyer must reach to qualify for the rank. By the time he was sworn into the rank the following year, he was 37 and the youngest person, then, to ever hold the rank.

Fagbemi cut his legal teeth and honed his skills under the tutelage of a renowned lawyer, Afe Babalola, for 11 years.

His law firm, Lateef Fabgemi & Co, also known

as Temitope Chambers, which he established later, is now 21 years into practice. The law firm handles cases for clients across the country from its offices in Oyo, Lagos, and Abuja.

With diverse areas of law practice in arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, commercial law, and land and border disputes, the ministerial nominee has handled some high-profile political and corruption-related suits.

The jurist has deployed his legal arsenal in defence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) both as the major opposition and the ruling party.

Being a member of reputable local and international bar associations, Fagbemi has contributed immensely to the development of Nigeria’s jurisprudence – teaching and delivering lectures across universities in the country.

He deploys his mastery of the law in rendering consultancy services for key government institutions and state governments in Nigeria.

However, he will face an inefficient justice system where he has worked in for 38 years.

NOTES FOR FILE

Fagbemi will inherit a rotten justice system that is grappling with massive corruption, disobedience of court orders, executive lawlessness and impunity by law-enforcement and security agencies. He will also face the rot created by the past administration’s misuse of pardons and withdrawals of cases.

Interestingly, he had acknowledged these challenges during his Senate screening, where he emphasised that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) must not defy court orders. Responding to inquiries about federal agencies disregarding court directives, Fagbemi, accompanied by over 10 senior advocates during the screening, discussed the need for the DSS and EFCC to investigate before arresting, rather than arresting before investigation.

Regarding a President’s response to the violation of court orders, he added, “I think with respect, you will not find the President flouting any order because the Attorney General will be made a party to.”

He also suggested the merger of the EFCC and ICPC. According to him, one of the anti-graft agencies should be for the sole purpose of investigation while the other exclusively pursues prosecution.

He underscored the importance of thorough investigations into corruption cases, exemplifying this with the case of an international fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, more commonly known as Hushpuppi, who the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted an extensive covert investigation leading to his conviction by a United States court.

When queried by the lawmakers about his approach to handling cases involving unexplained wealth, Fagbemi expressed, “Truth be told, we fight corruption but at the same time, the way it is being fought in Nigeria leaves much to be desired. That is the truth.”

Will Fagbemi be an AGF that will properly advise the government on the constitutional and legal issues, one that upholds the rule of law and denounces lawlessness like disobedience of court orders? Will he hold a promise as an AGF that truly represents the interest of the public in legal proceedings for the enforcement of law and the assertion and protection of public rights?

Given the fact that it is the function of the Attorney General to advise the government on the constitutionality of policies and actions taken or embarked upon by the government, in addition to providing legal services to support law enforcement agencies and every department or institution of government, a lot of issues on rule of law and constitutionality in a nation definitely rests on the office of the AGF.

With his enormous wealth of experience, it is expected that he will tackle these challenges frontally.

DHQ, This Ambush is One Too Many

After delaying the confirmation of the tragic incident, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) last week admitted that 36 officers were killed during the ambush and helicopter crash that occurred in Wushishi and Shiroro Local Government Areas of Niger State.

The Director of Defence Media Operation, Major General Edward Buba, disclosed this during a biweekly briefing on operations of the DHQ.

On August 14, an aircraft conveying wounded soldiers from a scene of an ambush by bandits in Wushishi LGA, crashed in Chukuba village, Shiroro LGA.

Several military personnel were reportedly killed by terrorists who attacked Kundu village near Zungeru.

“Our troops entered into an ambush in the general area of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger

State,” he said.

“Theambushledtoafirefightwhichresulted in the death of three officers and 22 soldiers, while seven were wounded in action.

“As a result of this, there was need for casualty evacuation whereby the air force helicopter was dispatched.

“While that operation was on and inbound to Kaduna, the helicopter crashed.

“It crashed with 14 of the previously killed in action personnel at the ambush, seven of the previously wounded in action personnel at the ambush, two pilots of the helicopter and two crew members.”

The defence media director urged the public to remain patriotic and to be wary of propaganda spread by terrorists.

No matter how the military would want the

story to be told, this ambush is one too many.

It has to put its house in order and unleash its superior firepower on these non-state actors that have been causing Nigeria a nightmare.

The leadership of the armed forces should go back to the drawing board and map out war strategies against these terrorists. It is a huge shame for the military of the giant of Africa to be embarrassed by the ill-equipped and poorly-trained terrorists.

The terrorists that occupied several kilometres of the Nigerian soil where they unleash terror on the civilian population and security agents should be the priority of the Nigerian government and not the political situation in Niger Republic.

The troops being mobilised for the Nigerien military operation should be deployed to recover all the spaces seized by terrorists. No inch of Nigerian soil should be controlled by terrorists.

Musa

The only ministerial position directly created in the Nigerian Constitution to perform some specialised duties is that of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. Wale Igbintade writes that the ministerial nominee, Chief Lateef Fagbemi, who has a legal career spanning four decades, has enormous opportunity to make a difference

Fagbemi

Mounting Undue Pressure on the Judiciary

As Nigerians eagerly await the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPT), recent actions by the federal government have sought to address the mounting pressure on the judiciary. Last week, the government took the step of dissolving the Secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP), citing its approval of billboards with the title: ‘All Eyes on The Judiciary,’ which the government considered as an act of blackmail against the judiciary.

Abuja residents woke up last Tuesday to see these billboards, prominently displayed on major roads with the striking title: ‘#All Eyes on The Judiciary.’ The advertisements, which were put up as the presidential election tribunal prepares to deliver its verdict on the petitions challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the general election, was sponsored by a group known as the Diaspora’s for Good Governance.

Their purpose was clear – to exert pressure on the esteemed judges of the panel, with a view to ensuring that they do not compromise the integrity of the case at hand.

The ASP is the Statutory Panel under the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) charged with the duty of ensuring that advertisements conform to the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of advertising ethics of the advertising profession.

A statement by the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, confirmed the dissolution of the panel. He said the council also suspended its Director and Deputy Director in charge of regulations to allow investigations into the issue. He also ordered the removal of billboards.

It said: “The Advertising Standards Panel of the Council also erred in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisement failed to vet guidelines on the following grounds: The cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement is a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Court. Hence, it’s jus pendis.

“A matter being jus pendis and awaiting judicial pronouncement is, by virtue of the Nigerian legal system, precluded from being a subject of public statement, debate, discussion, advertisement, etc.

“The advertisement is controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace. The advertisement is considered blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and particularly the Honourable Justices of the Tribunal who are expected to discharge their judicial functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.”

The ARCON DG said the Council would set up a committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the “erroneous approval” of one of the concepts of the advert and the breach of the vetting guidelines.

Before the emergence of billboards in Abuja and some cities across the country, some people suspected to be the supporters of some presidential candidates in the last general election had limited themselves to social media where they have been drawing the attention of the judiciary and judges handling petitions filed by aggrieved political parties and their presidential candidates in the February 25 presidential election to ensure justice in the petitions.

However, as the billboard were being pulled down and the advertising body dissolved, Abuja residents adopted a new method of passing the #All-Eyes-on-The-Judiciary message across. On major roads in the city, the residents stood waving flags with the same inscription: #AllEyes-on-The-Judiciary.

Two days after, another billboards with the inscription “Dear Nigerians… 25% in FCT is a Must… #All-Eyes-on-The-Judiciary.’ surfaced on major roads and streets in the city.

There is also the photo of bats with the inscription: ‘#All-Eyes-on-The-Judiciary,’ all made to communicate the message for which was ordered to be pulled down.

In Nigeria’s history, the judiciary has never been faced with mounting pressure as it is facing currently. Since after the general election when the battle for the validity of the results of the elections shifted to the various Election Petitions Tribunals, many Nigerians have turned their focus on the judiciary, insisting that it should deliver substantial justice without fear and favour.

When the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), a technology that would drastically reduce electoral malpractices, Nigerians had thought election results would be more credible and less prone to legal challenges. But this was not the case.

Opposition parties alleged that the same INEC in their estimation flagrantly and willfully refused to use BVAS or follow its rules and regulations in the presidential and governorship elections. This made the several results it announced controversial and the subjects of litigation.

With the results of the 2023 general election declared and the aggrieved parties asked to go to court, the only option left before many Nigerians was to be anxious.

Supporters of some of the candidates want the Nigerian courts to brave it out, like the Supreme Court of Kenya and annul the election if it is indeed found to be deeply flawed or fraudulent as alleged by the candidates who lost the election.

While the Supreme Court had on many occasions annulled several governorship elections, it has never tampered with the outcome of a presidential election, whether in the Second Republic or the current dispensation since 1999. This raised questions as to whether the irregularities that led to cancellations of governorship elections were not present on a larger scale in the presidential elections.

With some controversial judgements by the Supreme Court such as the judgement that affirmed former Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, as the valid candidate for his senatorial district and a previous judgement that declared a governorship candidate who came fourth in the governorship election as the winner, the question on the lips of many Nigerians believe that shocks await them from the third arm of government on the issue of the various election petitions.

While the pressure by the partisan supporters of some presidential candidates was frontal, others from some eminent Nigerians were subtle. For instance, in his last Easter message, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, reminded the judges handling election petitions that the future of the country depends on how they arrive at their much-awaited judgement.

He added that Nigerians are saddened that the judges’ sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten their reputation as the last hope for all citizens.

The renowned clergy said it was sad that their hard-earned reputation is undergoing very severe stress and pressure from those who want justice on their own terms.

“Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as the interpreters of the spirit of our laws. The future of our country is in your hands. You have only your conscience and your God to answer to when you listen to the claims and counterclaims of Nigerian lawyers and have to decide the future of our country.

“We pray that God gives you the wisdom to see what is right and the strength of character and conscience to stand by the truth. You have no obligation to please anyone. Our future depends on how you arrive at your much-awaited judgement,” he said.

Also, a public affairs analyst, Olu Fasan, implored the court not to use technicality in subverting the will of the people. He specifically urged the Supreme Court not to treat politicians as if they are fungible or substitutable, but to annul the election and order a rerun for there to be direct electoral links between the governed and those governing them. He urged the apex court to be brave like the Supreme Court of Kenya, which can annul the election if it is deeply flawed or fraudulent.

A lawyer, Eragbai Ifidon, wondered why the government was afraid, asking if they were not the one that asked the aggrieved political parties to go to court.

“Are we now in a military regime? What are they afraid of? Well, the guilty are always afraid,” he claimed.

However, Inibehe Effiong, a human rights lawyer, said the removal of the billboards in Abuja was a violation of the constitutional right to freedom of expression.

“There is nothing inciting in this message and no one should be targeted for that,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter.) The law allows the courts to be amenable to criticisms and scrutiny,” he said.

Also weighing in on the issue, the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside, has said the #All Eyes on the Judiciary slogan on billboards across the country is far from being offensive. In a tweet on Friday, Peterside said the slogan should not have been offensive to a right-thinking person.

“For the record, methinks #AllEyesOnTheJudiciary is a neutral slogan that should ordinarily not offend a right-thinking and sincere person in a civilised society. I can understand someone rejecting a negative slogan like ‘let us turn our noses up at the judiciary.’’’

However, a ministerial nominee who spoke to THISDAY in confidence slammed the supporters of the candidates who lost the election for threatening to create a hall of shame for judges that undermine the tenets of the judiciary and come up with ridiculous judgments on election petitions.

He warned that any attempt to ‘intimidate’ the Nigerian judiciary would be an invitation to crisis.

“Any attempt to destroy the judiciary as these characters are bent on doing, is an invitation to another Sudan. Just as they often issue the empty boast that they are a different movement and the judiciary should not mess with them, they will soon realise that the judiciary is also a different kind of institution with which they cannot mess with,” the ministerial nominee wrote.

With the alleged failure of the INEC to make the elections credible, free, fair, transparent and therefore acceptable to all the stakeholders, the judiciary is now under immense pressure.

As the Nigerian judiciary prepares to deliver judgment on the 2023 presidential election, Wale Igbintade writes that at no time in the history of Nigeria has there been intense pressure on the third arm of government as now

The APC Beyond Buhari

The APC was birthed out of Mr. Buhari’s resilient appetite for presidential power. Its victory in the 2015 presidential election satisfied that hunger and lavishly fed it for eight years. His victory then was a product of both his northern regional cultic followership and a nationwide rejection of Mr. Jonathan’s bumbling presidency. Eight years afterwards, Buhari’s appetite for apex power has been fulfilled, richly rewarded and arguably squandered in terms of a credible legacy. His pet nativist hegemony project came full cycle and even overreached itself. With a largely expired national relevance, Buhari has since gathered his belongings and returned to the pastoral anonymity of his native Daura.

Looking back, the coalition of parties that gave birth to the APC was an inconvenient marriage of political convenience. There was nothing in common among them. There was a pseudo social democratic CAN. There was an ultra conservative CPC literally owned by Buhari himself. There was also a nationalist right wing ANPP, and an ethno nationalist APGA. To complete the picture was a renegade and opportunistic centrist NPDP made up of a faction of governors who broke off from Jonathan’s PDP.

The cardinal objective was to cobble together a workable electoral coalition to wrest power from the PDP after 16 monotonous years. The idea of a multiparty coalition eventually gave way to the even better idea of a single opposition party. A unified party was required to win an election if the hegemony of the PDP was to be toppled. The nation was hungry for a change from the PDP whatever the name of a viable and credible opposition.

Mr. Buhari facilitated and galvanised the marriage. He provided the amalgamation with a presidential mascot albeit one with a national name recognition and leadership mythology. He also came dressed in an untested mythic garb of leadership prowess, governance prudence, barrack discipline and a reasonable level of personal integrity and austerity. Above all, he had managed over the years to build up a huge cultic following among the northern mob of rough uneducated and unemployed youth and regional power fanatics. Part of the motor park fable around Mr. Buhari was the infantile notion that once elected president, he would jail all the corrupt former government officials, recover the ill- gotten wealth and redistribute same among the poor masses. His political salesmen required no better set of unique selling points.

Thus was born the APC, a party tailored more towards wresting power from an effete incumbent than for the effective governance of a country in desperate need for responsible leadership. Given the tenacity of African power incumbents, the APC was more honed for the task of contesting the outcome of the 2015 presidential election possibly up to the Supreme Court. It spared little time rehearsing a governance and leadership model for the nation. “Anything but Jonathan” was the slogan in town!

But when the results tumbled in mostly in favour of the APC and Mr. Jonathan conceded defeat to Mr. Buhari, it was an overrated and unprepared APC that had to set up a government and ascend the pinnacle of national power. Victory came as a rude surprise with power as an unanticipated burden. Time has passed. Buhari has fulfilled his long standing ambition of wearing the toga of President and gone home after completing two terms of eight wasted years . It is now time for the party to take stock of its stewardship and contemplate its future as a ruling party.

With the benefit of hindsight, the emergence of the APC reinforced Nigeria’s historic tendency towards a credible two party architecture as previously recognized by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida. To that extent, the emergence and electoral victory of the APC as and when they occurred was a positive political outcome, one which promised a great dividend for Nigeria’s democracy and future political party architecture. The new party came to power on the wave of expectations greater than its capacity and

preparedness.

Even then, having successfully hounded the PDP out of power at the national level, the APC had two tasks. First, it had to develop into a party with a national membership spread, credible internal democratic structure and a definable ideology to anchor its policies on. It had a mandate to rule and to govern more creditably than the party it ousted. But beyond its logo and Buhari as electoral mascot, there was nothing substantial about the APC.

Regrettably, however, the APC has not grown beyond the logic of its incoherent origins. It has turned out to be just merely a ballot paper alternative to the PDP. After close to a decade in existence, it has no ideological identity, no policy coherence, no record of sensible governance at the federal level and state levels. Admittedly, an isolated number of APC ruled states (Kaduna and Lagos especially) have managed to show signs of some progressive policy direction and arguably a bit of good governance. But the party has hardly tried to galvanize an effective grassroots membership to consolidate over eight years of power dominance at the center.

From the very top, the APC remains an embarrassing ideological proposition and oddity. I doubt that from Mr. Tinubu to the most mundane foot soldiers out there, that word ideology ever comes up even in casual conversations. I doubt that most of the party faithful have ever bothered about the meaning of the word “ideology”! But as a political organization, we need to dress up the APC and its leading lights in some ideological garb in order to make sense of their quarrels or at least give the party a reason to exist. As my friend George F. Will would insist, “We can dignify …disputes among small persons of little learning by connecting them with great debates about fundamental things.”

Let us therefore confront the ideological curiosity of the APC. Here is a so- called ‘progressive’ party led by an unabashed archconservative in the person of former president Buhari and now a buccaneer social democrat in the person of Mr. Bola Tinubu. This is one of the greatest ironies of recent political theory and history. Ordinarily, progressivism indicates a bias for social democracy in its dynamic context. It should signal a commitment to continuous social and economic democracy and change along progressive lines. Progressivism is decidedly partisan on the side of the masses while acknowledging the entrepreneurial class as an engine of growth and wealth creation. Instead, Nigeria’s “progressives” are a loose collection of free wheeling brief case capitalists, commission agents, primitive accumulators and racketeers in every imaginable merchandize.

The party previously led by the diehard

conservative Buhari is now under the wings of Bola Tinubu. He may be sympathetic towards the plight of the masses in whose name he is mouthing incoherent policies while they bear the early brunt of his IMF-style policies. Buhari was a confused advocate of Medieval economic fundamentalism of controls and over regulation of nearly everything from domiciliation of government bank accounts to the distribution of fertilizers to peasants.

In spite of its abysmal performance in government for over eight years, the APC predictably “captured” power in the still contentious February 2023 presidential elections. Mr. Bola Tinubu, Buhari’s effective political ‘God Father’ is now incumbent president. He has accordingly, moved to rejig the leadership of the party to serve his own power ends. He has quickly hand picked a new party Chairman in the person of the former dollar-hugging Kano governor, Mr. Ganduje . He has also ousted Mr. Omisore as party Secretary.

A preliminary view of the political calculus of the party going forward indicates an entrenchment of interest in the basic regional and sectarian equations that handed power to Mr. Tinubu. The initial changes in the leadership architecture of the party indicate a reinforcement of the South-West, North East and North Western power base of the party. There also seems to be an incremental confidence in the effectiveness of a predominantly Muslim orientation of the party leadership. This much can be gleaned from the initial skirmishes around the party headquarters .

In spite of its victory and electoral majority in the number of governorships and a clear parliamentary majority after the 2023 elections, however, Mr. Tinubu now recognizes that he cannot take the pre eminence of the APC for granted. He needs to strengthen the party in order to govern and also maintain a basic continuity of political authority. He cannot easily forget so easily that the pre-eminence of the party in the present political spectacle remains tenuous. The party was substantially challenged at the February 2023 election as may become more evident when the tribunal and court challenges of the outcome are concluded. A 36% voter score of less than 8 million votes out of less than 20 million total votes cast at the presidential election out of a registered voter population of 80 million plus cannot give

a ruling party comfort.

In addition, between the two opposition parties – the PDP and the Labour Party- there is enough groundswell of popular support especially Mr. Peter Obi’s Obidients to keep the APC awake for the foreseeable future. As things stand, the APC still has an existential challenge: how does it survive in and of itself as a political party? How will it persist as a ruling party in and of itself given its regional incoherence? Above all, how will it survive as a strategic national institution of democratic stability if its existence is dogged by far reaching but latent regional and sectarian under currents?

Even now on the eve of Mr. Tinubu’s first 100 days in office, there is a palpable fear that the future of the party is headed into turbulent clouds. A few prominent party faithful have resigned in protest to the recent leadership changes. Of course, the party could somehow tinker its way through this initial immediate post election patronage and pork barrel stretch of the new administration. Mr. Tinubu can expect to enjoy some party solidarity and superficial unity in these honeymoon days of anticipation of patronage and appointments by party people.

Beyond the appointment of ministers, there are still numerous boards of federal parastatals, ambassadorial positions and sundry sweetheart contracts to be dispensed. But when that is over, it will be clear that the majority of party members will have been left out in the cold. They may go shopping for other party umbrellas well ahead of the next election season.

In spite of the present appearance of camaraderie, the APC cannot hide its many headaches and underlying troubles. But in whichever direction we look, the party is threatened by internal contradictions and gaping cracks that lie deep in its very foundations.

The APC was born out of a private political ambition. It prevailed for eight years only because it won the presidential election in 2015 against a leaderless former ruling party. Having repeated that feat in 2023 in spite of its dismal performance in government under Mr. Buhari, it is only likely to survive in power if it can transform itself from an African “Big Man” party to a broad based grassroots party. Otherwise, the future political landscape of Nigeria belongs squarely to youth based populist movements like Peter Obi’s Labour Party and its Obidients or others in that mould. The real terminal danger for the APC is in the future fights among its many ambitious contenders for Mr. Tinubu’s throne if he falters. The even greater danger to the hegemony of the APC lies in the massive discontent of the youth followership of its opponent parties.

Ganduje

Amnesty: The Difficult Reforms with Popular Results

Sokari George

The new interim management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is making an eye-popping innovative performanceandprogressiveimpactsin thelivesofthebeneficiariesand this has continued to justify the purpose of creating Nigeria’s first disarmament programme.

Notethatallovertheworld,thetaskofgranting amnestytorepentantmembersofarmedgroups, recoveringofarmsfromthem,rehabilitatingand reintegratingthemintothesocietyremaindelicate programmesoftenwithdoubtfulandhazardous endresults.ThatwaswhywhenthefederalgovernmentsetupthePresidentialAmnestyProgramme (PAP) for the ex-militants of the Niger Delta in Nigeria,manypeopleexpressedpessimismthat it would not work and in that fact, it was not going to be sustainable. But about 14years later, PAP is not only standing tall, but it has become one of the best contemporary examples of how to establisharesilientandsustainabledisarmament programme.

Has PAP met all its core objectives? Surely, not 100%. But if not for the historical success ofthearmedrecoveryprogrammethatwitnessed huge cache of deadly weapons surrendered by thousands of repentant militants who were granted amnesty, perhaps, Nigeria would have become a forgotten geographical entity by now. PAPrestoredpeacethatiscurrentlybeingenjoyed intheregiontodayanddespitesomeweakpoints, ithascontinuedtoimproveonitsperformanceby keepinganeyeonitstargetfromoneadministration to another.

Having said that, it is important to state that the Amnesty Programme is in its momentous transformational trajectory under the current interim management. Since its creation in 2009 bytheadministrationofthelatePresidentUmaru Musa Yar’Adua, PAP has had successive government and management that tried to ensure that its objectives are met. However, PAP under the current management is witnessing a new level of remarkable impacts.

It is interesting that as beneficiaries and keen observers continue to express satisfaction, and passingavoteofconfidenceonthenewleadership ofPAPonthenewscaleofpositiveimpactsofthe programme on the lives of the people, they are evenmoreawedthatbeyondtheirexpectations, PAPisfurtherexpandingitsimpactsbytouching morelives,especiallythosewhoneverbenefitted anything before since the programme started. Thisundeniableandnoticeabletransformation isdrivenbyacreativereformiscurrentlyradically changing the narrative of the mandate of the programme in the Niger Delta area, unprovoked, detestable and condemnable distractions from detractors notwithstanding.

As expected, behind any change or development, there must be a man. In this case, the transformer and driver of this progressive performance at PAP is no other person than Major-General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd), the Interim Administrator of PAP.

Interestingly, he is unstoppably, making even bigger steps and making more daring moves despite fierce opposition by evil-minded, jealous, unpatriotic and corrupt elements that are afraid and inimical to change. Against all odds thrown at him, the general has fearlessly continued to trudge on, blazing the trail.

Changing the Narrative: Factor’s Necessitating Same

Observers have been asking two major questions concerning the new development at PAP: What is the driving force behind Gen. Ndiomu’s determination to transform the programme in such a way that PAP has been making more impacts more than successive leadership and management? And why is it so?

Recall that when he took over at the helm of PAP, he made a clearly poignant statement that set a template for his policy actions. The addressequallyaddressedthequestionsabove. According to Ndiomu, “Under my watch, we shall place premium on transparency, accountability, and hard work; there shall be a clear departure from the past trajectory to a purposeful, resultorientedadministration.Weshallequallyembark on reorientation, training, and empowerment of the ex-agitators in line with the present realities of the nation.

“It is my desire to uphold the sanctity of the corevaluesfortheestablishmentoftheAmnesty Programme that borders on Disarmament, Demobilisation and Re-integration, which form thetripoduponwhichtheProgrammepresently stands,” Gen. Ndiomu said.

When he made this statement, people did not fully comprehend what he meant and what was coming until he fully took over, settled down and started to work. They are, however, stunned by his actions, a focus on reform that is changing the narrative completely.

Apart from that, over the years, the Amnesty Programme has rolled out different empowermentprogrammesbasedonthethreecardinaltargetstotrain,empowerandengageex-agitators. However, the immediate past administration of President Muhammed Buhari, dissatisfied by the lack-lustre performance, contemplated on winding down the programme.

Therewereallegationsborderingoncorruption andfraudulentactivities.Theprogrammewasalso accusedofgrossmismanagementofresources allocated to it to pursue the actualisation of its mandate. For instance, the former National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Buhari, Major-Gen.BabaganaMunguno(rtd),hadalleged thatsinceitsestablishmentPAPhassquandered a staggering sum of N712billion and it is unable to account for it.

Beside that, they were critical observations that since the programme began, about 30,000 ex-militants were captured and billions of naira have been invested on their training locally and internationally, as well as their empowerment programmes.Despitethat,thenumberseemed not to reduce thereby giving rise to suspicion of fraudulent activities.

In a related development, there were bugging issues arising from complaints, especially from many ex-militants who said that they were yet to benefit from the trainings and other empowerment opportunities created by PAP. These and political interests from the region and at the federal levels were factored in the alleged failure of PAP to meet up its mandate and expectations.

However,afterasuperiorargumentprevailed, the idea of winding down the programme was shelved. It was in the midst of these issues that Gen. Ndiomu was appointed as the Interim Administrator of PAP and within a short period of time, he has made tremendous mark.

Performances

The new PAP under the leadership of General Ndiomuisredefininggovernanceandmanagement in terms of excellent service delivery. From differenttraining,empowermentprogrammesthat include skill acquisition in different areas, regular disbursement of scholarships, establishment of cooperativeasastrategyforsustainableeconomic empowerment,engagementsofthousandsofexmilitants who have successfully completed their training in Nigeria and abroad among others, the new PAP is on the move.

Youth Empowerment

It is important to underscore the fact that the primary targets of PAP are the youths, that is, the over 30,000 ex-militants who were registered as those to benefit from PAP. Since General Ndiomu tookover,hehasrevivedthehopeandaspirations of the youths through diverse empowerment programmes.

Hehascontinuedtoengageyoungpeopleinthe Niger Delta, inspiring them to be productively engaged,tothinkbeyondcrudeoil. Forinstance,atthe thirdNigerDeltaMSMESummitheldinIkotEkpene, Akwa Ibom State, recently, the PAP boss charged theyouthstoembraceMSME.Representedbythe Head of Reintegration, Musa Wilfred, he charged the youths to rise up to their responsibilities and takeadvantageofthemoment.Hetoldtheyouths to rise above entitlement mentality and set the stage for success.

“We must understand the times and take advantage of them properly. We must map out opportunities.Wemustbeinaplacewhereweare able to adequately predict the future. We must innovate and remind our delegates that there is virtueindiversityandresilience.Goodthingsdon’t come cheap. There is a notion about the region out there, and we must all agree jointly to alter that narrative.

“Asyoungbusinessowners,youmustunderstand thatbeyondinnovation,collaboration,networking, accesstofunds,loansandgrants,andlobbying,you have a role to play. You must embrace discipline and mentoring. You must understand that good things don’t come easily. You must understand that for every height you want to attain, there is a price to pay. Young leaders must be ready and willing to pay the price”, he said.

Statisticsshowsthat65%ofthe30,000ofthe ex-militants are said to be currently undergoing training/schooling; 55% fully and successfully

reintegrated back into society as law-abiding and economically productive citizens, while 45% are still waiting to be empowered in the same vein.

As part of training and empowering the exagitators, PAP under Ndiomu is also sponsoring 75 pilots and aircraft engineers to South Africa and France for type-rating as part of its aviation trainingscheme.ApressstatementfromPAPoffice stated that, “Enormous windows of employment opportunitieshavebeenprovidedforex-agitators in the oil-rich Niger Delta region to thrive.”

The statement further stated that, “Under Ndiomu, a total of 847 delegates are undergoing training in the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in various ICT specialized fields with certification in digital marketing, e-mail marketing, social media marketing, computer appreciation, search engine optimization as well as technical and computer writing. Similarly, the PAP is sponsoring 75 pilots and aircraft engineers to South Africa and France for type-rating as part of the programme’s aviationtrainingschemewhichGeneralNdiomuisvery passionate about,” it stated.

When broken down, the figure shows that 35 delegates are pilots while 40 are billed for aircraft engineering.

Consultations with Leaders and Traditional Rulers

Theroleofthetraditionalrulersinfosteringpeace anddevelopmentinoursocietyisindispensable.In thiscontext,itisevenmoreunderstandableinthis context in the sense that, some of the key leaders and members of the ex-militants have become traditional rulers and influential members of the society,suchasGovernmentEkpempolo(Tompolo), EbikaboweiVictor-Ben(akaBoyloaf),ChiefAjube Bibopiri(akaShoot-at-Sight),KingAtekeTomwho was crowned in 2017 as the first Amanyanabo of Okochiri,Okirika,RiversState,aswellasHon.Fara DagogowhoisnowafederallawmakerrepresentingDegema/BonnyFederalConstituencyofRivers State in the National Assembly.

It is equally imperative to mention that there cannot be any meaningful development without peaceful collaboration and partnership. On this note, General Ndiomu factored the engagement ofthecustodiansofcultureandtraditiontowards ensuringthatimplementationofPAPprogramme is seamless.

It is notable that the traditional rulers live in the midst of the people and interact with them sotheyknowthebeneficiariesdowntotheirfamily backgrounds.

Establishment of Cooperative

OneofthemostinnovativeprojectsthatNdiomu has introduced and will be remembered for as a legacyprojectistheestablishmentofacooperative known as the Presidential Amnesty Programme Cooperative Society Limited (PAPCOSOL), an initiative designed to enhance sustainability of the empowerment and reintegration of exagitators into the society. The overall objective of this cooperative is that it is not enough to train andempowerex-militantswithrequisiteskillsand abandon them to go and search for jobs.

The cooperative, PAPCOSOL, which already has a seed capital of N1.5 billion for take-off was launched in Abuja by the Interim Administrator of PAP, Ndiomu, with pump and pageantry with high profile dignitaries in attendance.

HeadmittedthefactthatPAPhadimplemented various reintegration initiatives on training and empowerment/employment of the ex-agitators butdidnotmeetexpectationthusleadingtomany criticism of the programme in the past. PAPCOSOL, his brainchild, is thus conceived as the most durable approach to sustainable reintegration of ex-agitators.Accordingtohim,“Asconceptualised, PAPCOSOLwillbecloselysupervisedbytheOffice of the Interim Administrator of PAP-being its key administrativeandstrategicguide.Thecooperative is expected to work with beneficiaries of PAP to identifybusinessesthataligntheirmotivation/skill areas,setupandturntheprocessintoaprofitable venture”, he said.

Hesaidtheinitiativewouldfocusonagriculture, particularly rice farming and cassava, among others, just as it will also invest in manufacturing. This is going to be done in collaboration with the European Union (EU), International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Bank of Industry (BoI), among others, Ndiomu disclosed. More funds, he said, would be injected into the scheme.

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Nigerian Tourism on the Cusp of Global Reckoning

An Essential Platform for Tourism Growth

The recent announcement by the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of the creation of a stand-alone Ministry of Tourism, and the appointment of a substantive Minister to run the Ministry is ample proof of the genuine intention of this administration to recognise tourism as a significant low hanging fruit for Nigeria’s economic growth and for the development of the industry.

The ministerial appointee, Ms Lola Ade John is a notable professional with cognate experience in the information and disruptive technology space and I am positive that her appointment to the Ministry of Tourism is just what the industry needs at a time like this.

Globally, the tourism value chain is a trillion-dollar industry that interconnects many sub-sectors, providing employment for millions of people and serving as a major contributor to National GDP’s. Sadly, Africa only accounts for 4% of this market.

There is need for all stakeholders in the industry to awaken to their responsibilities and collaboratively work towards the growth of the sector. The value chain of Nigeria’s tourism economy is vast. From the hospitality sector to aviation and transportation, destination management, souvenir production, event packaging, carnivals, festivals and cultural promotions, among others, the opportunities of leveraging this key growth sector to create jobs, shore up revenue and add to the nation’s GDP are limitless.

As administrators, my team and I strongly believe that to become a tourism hub in Africa, we need to develop domestic tourism first. The development of domestic tourism will increase the country’s attraction to sponsors and investors. They will, in turn, develop the industry, develop our tourism assets, leading to further infrastructural development that will let loose the huge potentials of the tourism industry.

Certainly, the new Ministry of Tourism offers the required growth structure for promoting the country as a destination of choice for many across the world, particularly as the demand for Nigerian tourism is strengthening and gearing up to surpass the 2019 pre-COVID levels, when international tourist arrivals accounted for over 2.2 million people, with receipts in excess of $1.4 billion. Across the world, tourism has recovered by 80% of its value, post-COVID, while Africa has recovered by as much as 88%. The opportunities for domestic growth of the sector are therefore very apparent.

There is equally now hope that domestic tourism, which is six times larger than international tourism, and constitutes more than 70% of tourism markets, will witness the collaborative drive that it requires from all stakeholders and this will result in the increase of inbound tourism. This will be good for the development of Nigeria’s rural communities, where a lot of the tourist sites are located.

We must address several challenges to fully realise our tourism potential. Investment in infrastructure development is crucial, alongside the improvements to transportation networks, accommodations, and tourist facilities. Public-private partnerships can play a vital role in attracting investment and expertise. In addition, we must prioritise the safety and security of tourists through effective security measures and proactive risk management strategies. By building trust and confidence, we can assuage concerns and create a welcoming environment for visitors.

Some quick ideas that come to mind for prompt intervention and growth of tourism in Nigeria include the following:

Commissioning of a National Tourism Development Master Plan

For coordinated growth of the sector,

there is need to inaugurate a National Tourism Development Master Plan in line with the National Development Plan 2021–2025 that fits with government’s long-term aspiration, as encapsulated in the Nigeria Agenda 2050 for the measurable and coordinated growth of the sector.

air transport infrastructure, combined with streamlined visa processes, will attract a larger number of visitors, providing a significant boost to the tourism industry.

Strengthening Institutional and Human Capacity Development Across the Industry

(ECOWAS). This new development offers Nigeria another window of opportunity to showcase the best of her culture and diversity to the rest of the world.

Key benefits of this landmark achievement in Mauritius, would include the setting up of a UNWTO Tourism Academy in Nigeria, access to UNWTO tourism grants for supporting the local industry, and technical assistance for the activation of the Tourism Satellite Account.

According to the UNWTO SecretaryGeneral, Zurab Pololikashvili at the event, “the agenda for the organisation of tourism in Africa has become updated for inclusive growth (which reflects the newer challenges of post-pandemic tourism and the priorities of members), as such, the vision for African tourism is that of stronger governance, more education and better jobs. Therefore, there is the need to innovate more around Africa as a brand, in a manner that would enhance tourism by unlocking its growth through investment, alongside public-private partnerships.”

Also, some of the achievements of UNWTO over the past year were pointed out as including the expansion of tourism investments across the continent, the promotion of gender equality in all roles and youth empowerment, in line with the advocacy for “Brand Africa” to drive regional tourism outcomes.

Brand Africa is a powerful tool that Nigeria can leverage on to enhance the tourism sector. By showcasing the nation’s unique cultural heritage, vibrant traditions, and warm hospitality, we can create a distinct and compelling brand identity. Collaborative marketing campaigns, both domestically and internationally, can highlight Nigeria’s diverse attractions, captivating potential tourists and dispelling any misconceptions about the country. Emphasising Nigeria’s position as a gateway to Africa’s rich tapestry of experiences will further enhance its appeal to global travelers seeking authentic and transformative encounters. I am gladdened that such an analogous brand already exists at the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority.

We will work together to promote the “Tour Nigeria” brand to accelerate the growth of tourism, collaborate with international organisations, neighbouring countries, and regional tourism bodies.

Activation

of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA)

The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a standardised quantitative tool required for capturing tourism related data, which is necessary for coordinated nationwide planning and development. There is therefore need to domesticate the TSA in Nigeria.

Placement of Tourism in the Federal Constitution

Due to its multi-faceted nature, tourism is a concurrent matter that involves all tiers of government. Accordingly, there is need to engage with the National Assembly to properly place tourism on the Concurrent List in the federal constitution and remove all ambiguity around it. This is necessary for tourism to thrive as envisaged.

Leveraging on the Open Skies Agreement and the Single African Market

The Open Skies Agreement, a key component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, has the potential to transform Nigeria’s tourism landscape. By removing restrictive air travel regulations, the agreement fosters greater connectivity and accessibility, making it easier for international tourists to explore Nigeria’s tourism assets. Improved

There is need to improve the range of skills necessary to provide quality services and experiences within the industry by partnering with stakeholders and educational organisations to provide the required skills and capacity for personnel and practitioners.

The standardised training system should attract young and mature Nigerians back to study and training, and provide them with specialised skills and pathways to new careers in the tourism, hospitality and services sectors. The training should be more vocational and not just academic.

Encouraging Tourism Investment and Funding

There is need to create a functional Tourism Development Fund, as well as an enabling environment for tourism investors to thrive and drive the development of tourism sites, assets and destination marketing. Also, financial institutions should be incentivised to act as partners in progress by providing single digit long term development loans to the industry.

New Regional Leadership Role

At the just concluded 66th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa, which held between the 26th and 28th of July in Mauritius, Nigeria was elected into the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), and as Vice Chair of the Commission for Africa.

This is a major step for Nigerian tourism, and it confers huge advantages for regional and global visibility, as it came on the heels of the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States

By cultivating collaborative partnerships, we believe that Nigeria can benefit from shared knowledge, expertise, and promotional opportunities. Joint marketing initiatives showcasing Nigeria’s unique offerings within the African context will bolster our brand visibility on the global tourism stage. Furthermore, we would look to actively participate in international tourism events and leverage on our digital platforms to reach a broader audience, going forward.

Conclusion

Nigeria stands at the threshold of a transformative era in its tourism industry. By harnessing the opportunities presented by the Open Skies Agreement and the AfCFTA, addressing the challenges posed by inadequate investments in the sector, and leveraging the power of the “Tour Nigeria” brand, we can propel the tourism sector to new heights.

Through sustainable practices, infrastructure development, collaborative partnerships, and effective promotion, we can unlock our tourism potentials and emerge as a sought-after destination. This will be executed by embracing innovation and disruptive technologies, and preserving our cultural heritage and natural wonders.

As we welcome the new Minister for Tourism, I am hopeful that in our time, Nigeria can secure its place on the global tourism map while making a positive contribution to sustainable development.

Chief Coker is the Baba Eto of Yorubaland and Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority.

Folorunsho Coker

Lola Ade John

Beware of the Coup Belt

Femi Fani-Kayode

Despite the hysteria about who has been made a minister and who has not and the euphoria about which portfolios they have been given or not been given, let us remain focused on the major issues of the day and not take our eye off the ball.

And other than our economic and security challenges the most weighty issue is the conundrum that we are presented with in Niger Republic and the challenge of military Governments in our backyard.

The Facts are as Follows.

Sudan, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guniea have all been plagued with coup d’etas and military governments over the last three years.

They have formed a formidable and intimidating ‘coup belt’ of unelected military rulers which stretches from Guniea on the western flank of the West African sub-region right on the Atlantic ocean up across the southern flank of the North African Sahel and the Lake Chad region all the way to East Africa and the Pacific Ocean.

They have effectively drawn an iron curtain and uninterrupted chain of unelected and unconciable military juntas right across the center of our continent dividing North Africa from the rest of the continent.

It follows that the greatest challenge of our time is to ensure that this leperous belt of unconstitutional governments does not get any bigger, stronger and wider and that the virus of military interventions and coups does not spread any further.

We must, no matter the cost, fight for and defend our democracy and preserve our freedom and way of life.

We cannot do this by relying on foreign and regional armies to come and save us and neither can we achieve it by marching into Niger in a gung ho attempt to restore democracy.

We can only do so by winning the hearts and souls of our people by providing good governance, justice and accountability for them.

Once you do this and any military adventurer tries to do a coup, the people themselves will come out in the streets in their millions to denounce and resist it.

In such circumstances you will not need any foreign force to come and reinstall or reinstate you. This is the point that President Bazoum failed to appreciate. He allowed his people to suffer under the yoke of the French and was totally oblivious and insensitive to their yearnings and aspirations to be freed from the vestiges of neo-colonial bondage.

That is what the mutineers took advantage of. Let us hope that other African leaders can learn from his mistakes. If they do, we shall go from strength to strength and democracy shall flourish in our respective countries. If they do not they can expect the worse. The choice is theirs.

Permit me to conclude this contribution with a final word on the misplaced notion that a military assault or threat of it on Niger would be a fruitful endeavour and the best and only way to restore democracy in that beleaguered nation.

After the meeting of the Chiefs of Defence Staff and military commanders of the ECOWAS countries in Accra on Thursday the following definitive statement was made by the commanders of the ECOWAS Force.

They said, “we are ready to storm Niger Republic”. This is despite the counsel of the African Union and powerful North African countries like Algeria not to do so.

I am constrained to respectfully put the

following questions to these ECOWAS military commanders and I challenge them to provide the answers.

Can we successfully attack a country where the civilians are holding rallies in solidarity with their supposed oppressors?

Surely, in the end, no one will come out victorious as these things are always easier said than done.

Russia thought Ukraine would fall in two weeks yet today it is well over a year, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are still being lost and the war is still raging.

Quite apart from that has this ECOWAS “force” already been formed or will they divide the operation into sectors with each country taking a sector?

Where is the Command HQ located? Who takes care of Nigér’s sector 3 of the MNJTF in the Lake Chad, for I guess they will withdraw their troops?

If Burkina Faso and Mali join Nigér forces, as they threatened they would, who blocks the southward movement of the insurgents and terrorists scattered around the triangular borders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigér?

Is the Russian Wagner force still active in the region? Have we prepared adequately to handle the weapons and drug-trafficking across the borders with Niger since our partners in that nation are now our enemies?

Even with them working with us, cross border crimes are still serious issues. Will the AU or the UN or the West be responsible for the logistics? As at now Nigeria can’t afford to do so like it did in ECOMOG. We simply do not have the

financial wherewithal or the resources.

In my view we should still vigorously pursue the application of conflict resolution mechanisms in order to buy time to address these questions. We must approach the entire matter with the utmost caution, wisdom and care.

If Niger Republic and her allies deliberately open a corridor for the elements of ISIS, AQIM, ISWAP, etc to move into Benin and Togo, ECOWAS’ weakest link, then the whole of Nigeria’s western borders, from Sokoto to Lagos, would be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Already some of the elements have penetrated into Niger State, around Borgu and Shiriro, very close to Benin Republic and some states in the South-west of Nigeria.

These questions need answers. There is no doubt in my mind that an attack on Niger Republic would result in a massive military conflagration that will engulf the entire West African sub-region and which would eventually spread to North, Central and East Africa.

The mutineers and coupists have agreed to dialogue and now ECOWAS wants to use force, launch an attack and endanger the life of President Bazoum? This hardly makes sense.

If we are not careful and if we

refuse to use diplomatic means to resolve this matter we may end up throwing ourselves into the greatest and most destructive war in the history of Africa and few African nations would survive it. That is what the proponents of an attack on Niger are toying with.

Treading the path of war is a reckless and dangerous adventure which would result in a frightful and horrific Dickensian nightmare and Shakespearean tragedy. May we never see it.

In conclusion let me say this: If the Western powers, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European Union and even France are worried for their vital and strategic interests on the African continent in the light of all this I sincerely and honestly believe they have every right, reason and need to do so because the stakes are high.

The Russians and Chinese Ought to Be Worried as Well

Apart from those that wish to depopulate and destroy our continent and sell their arms, no-one, least of all the African people, stands to benefit from a rash collective of vicious and unaccountable military governments strewn across Africa or from what may end up being a massive continental war which, to all intents and purposes, may end up transmuting into a proxy one between the world’s super powers.

Worse of all such a war will probably be partly fought by mercenary armies from both sides of the divide.

May God deliver us from evil.

Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, writes from Lagos

Tchiani

Lawal to APC

“You know, Dauda will not be intimidated, I went through that in Zamfara State, Imo is not going to be anything new”

– Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council, Dauda Lawal, dismissing the reconciliation between Senator Okorocha and Governor Uzodimma poses no threat to the chances of the PDP in the forthcoming governorship election.

WAZIRI ADIO

The Danger of an NNPC of Everything

NNPC Limited grabbed the headlines from Wednesday after announcing its $3 billion loan from AFREXIM Bank.

According to NNPCL, the loan will assist the Federal Government “in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilising the exchange rate market.” To ensure that no one missed the import of its messianic intervention, the national oil company framed its terse statement with this screaming kicker: Relief for the Naira! The media, both traditional and social, lapped up the nifty frame.

Without a doubt, the Naira deserves some relief, Nigeria needs massive dollar inflows to address the supply constraints in its foreign exchange market, and NNPCL merits some commendation for standing in the gap for the country while foreign investors and development partners are still hesitant. However, there should be concerns about NNPCL becoming a company for everything. And the worry is not only about how NNPCL will be distracted from its core functions but also about potential abuses.

Many may have missed it but NNPCL was somehow involved in the recent visit by Nigerian Islamic leaders and clerics to Niger Republic. The peace mission clearly yielded some fruits, as the head of the junta met with the religious leaders and expressed readiness to dialogue with ECOWAS. This, too, is laudable. Blessed are the peacemakers! But we don’t need NNPCL, now a limited liability company, to be an all-purpose company that can dabble into diplomacy and religious affairs today, external reserve management tomorrow, and whatever else catches its fancy or that it is pressed to do the day after, or at any other time. It is a slippery slope.

Let’s look at a few issues and claims around this loan before we move on to the central issue. What NNPCL has done is similar to a farmer taking a loan against his future farm produce to pay rent of many years in advance to his landlady who has an emergency. In its case, NNPCL has taken a loan from AFREXIM Bank and made it available to the country as payment for future taxes and royalties. This has the potential to do two things simultaneously: one, it will boost dollar supply in the country and swell its forex reserves; and two, it will translate to predictable cash for all tiers of government when drawn and converted to Naira.

NNPCL has the latitude to do this based on its assets. As mentioned earlier, it is also a good thing to do, as it provides the country some necessary, even if only temporary, breather. Contrary to claims by some, this is not part of our public debt and thus parliamentary approval is not needed. It is a loan taken by a limited liability company. However, the fact that this is technically not a public debt does not exclude it from public scrutiny. This is not a purely private transaction. The loan has implication for current and future revenues to the government. Besides, NNPCL is owned by all Nigerians, with ministries of finance and petroleum holding the shares on behalf of all of us.

The company will repay the loan with future earnings on its crude oil. So, it is a resource-

GCEO NNPC, Mele Kyari backed loan, which in most cases are expensive, non-competitive and opaque. In all its spin offensive, NNPCL has not provided any information on the tenor and the terms of this loan. All that the company boss has said is that the loan will be repaid with “a fraction of proceeds from future crude oil production.” What this fraction amounts to is left to the imagination. This raises serious questions around transparency and accountability. Nigeria will definitely need massive forex injection, preferably in form of concessionary, long-tenor loans, to address its dollar supply shortfall. Without disclosure about interest rate and the duration of the NNPCL loan from AFREXIM bank, it is difficult to assess whether this is a good deal or not.

There will definitely be a cost to the loan, and the cost will not just be to the company but also to the federation. The interest will contribute to the company’s costs, which in turn will affect its profitability and the dividends due to its shareholders. Also, the cost will be higher when oil prices tank: the lower the price of oil, the more barrels of oil that will be needed to pay the principal and interests of the loan. Yes, there will always be trade-offs, and in this case between having some urgent cash up-front and reduced income in the future. In a way, it is a trade-off between today and tomorrow. It is always good to put all the cards on the table and not misrepresent things.

On the issue of misrepresentation, NNPCL made two extravagant claims in what it projected as facts about the loan—’facts’ which were excitedly amplified by social media handles of the Presidency. NNPCL categorically stated that the loan will not affect petrol prices and that because of the loan, petrol subsidy will not return. These optimistic claims want us to assume that the only factor that determines the price of petrol and the existence of subsidy

on petrol is the exchange rate. It is such a wild assumption to make, and NNPCL should know and do better, except the purpose is political propaganda.

While substantial, and assuming it is immediately available for disbursement as claimed, the $3 billion loan is not enough to fully address the supply gap in the forex market. At best, it is a temporary relief. Nigeria still needs to find more dollars to bridge the supply gap and to ensure a stable and fair value for the Naira. Even then a stable and fair exchange rate will not keep the price of petrol the same if the price of crude oil continues to rise. Also, the twin desire of NNPCL not to increase the price of petrol and not to incur subsidy can only hold till it exhausts its current stock and if the price of crude oil stops rising or falls. Crude oil at $100 and above makes nonsense of NNPCL’s exuberant claim. Maybe the company has devised a way of controlling the international price of crude oil.

Instead of making fantastic claims or adorning Spiderman’s garb, NNPCL will serve the country better by concentrating on the thing under its control: focusing on its core job and doing it well. A timely editorial in the Africa Oil and Gas Report puts this succinctly: “NNPC should focus on the technical job, not playing games with financial engineering.” The points are so well made and I do not intend to repeat them. Here is the link: http://bitly.ws/SvtI .

We don’t ned an NNPCL that has a Messiah Complex. NNPCL can contribute more to the federation in various ways. One, it should improve Nigeria’s oil production, especially by boosting output from the prolific assets owned 100% by its upstream arm, NNPC Exploration and Production Limited (NEPL, former NPDC). Two, NNPCL should step up collaboration with others to improve Nigeria’s oil production and reduce oil theft. We are still struggling to meet our OPEC quota, which is much below our traditional 2 million barrels per day. We have been hovering between 900,000 barrels and 1.4 million barrels per day for some time now. More oil production should result in greater forex inflow.

Three, NNPCL should stop pledging crude oil in different forms of financing arrangements as these ultimately affect the revenue and the forex available to the country. As a side note: a significant portion of NNPCL/NEPL crude has been pledged under different financing arrangements such as pre-export financing, Eagle Exporting, NLNG third party financing, forward sale financing etc. A fraction here and there adds up, and the federation is poorer for it.

Four, NNPCL should discontinue its Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement because it robs the country of needed forex. The DSDP is basically a barter scheme through which NNPCL sells crude oil to commodity traders and asks the traders to supply petrol of equivalent sum. For context, the federation share of the oil produced in Nigeria is usually split into Federation Export and Domestic Cride Allocation (DCA). While the Federation Export earns foreign exchange, the DCA returns as Naira, since the petrol is sold in Naira. In recent

years, and due to different reasons, there has been a precipitous decline in the federation share of oil to the extent that almost all our oil is allocated now to DCA, which is turned to petrol through DSDP. The sum of this is a massive decline in the dollars earned through crude oil sales.

As a result, oil inflows to the Nigeria’s external reserves shrank from $44.7 billion in 2008 to $7.2 billion in 2022, according to official figures. This is despite the fact that oil prices surged to historically high levels in 2022 due to the War in Ukraine and despite that oil still accounts for more than 80% of our exports. A major factor implicated in this head-scratcher is the crude oil for petrol swap which starved the Nigeria of forex inflows at a time other oil-producing countries are building up their reserves. In a post-subsidy era, NNPCL does not need to be the sole importer or provider of petrol. Therefore, it should re-allocate more of federation’s share of oil to Federation Export that will bring in dollars. Consistent flow of forex is actually more useful for our dollar supply, external reserves and FAAC disbursement than a one-off loan.

Five, NNPCL should resume making remittances to the Federation Account. Last month, the company paid N187 billion to FAAC as PSC profits and interim dividend payment. I understand the company is likely to make another payment this month. This should be sustained on a monthly basis. For about two years, NNPCL stopped making payments to FAAC, citing subsidy (or under-recovery), other deductions and other obligations shouldered on behalf of the federation as its reasons. With subsidy gone (hopefully), a major part of that alibi should be gone too.

And lastly, NNPCL will be more useful when it is efficiently, transparently and accountably run like its admirable peers in other oil jurisdictions. NNPCL transformed from a government corporation to a limited liability company in July 2022. It changed names and logos, and it did it with a song and a dance. It is still early days, but there is little to suggest that any fundamental shift has occurred in the culture or the DNA of the organisation.

An NNPCL that dabbles into everything will not be the new organisation envisaged under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). Before long, the company will relapse to its ungainly past of serving as a profound theatre of sleaze and opacity (by the way, the monthly financial and operational reports and even audited annual reports that NNPC commendably started have not been sustained by NNPCL). And in a short order, the organisation will revert to the slush fund/ personal piggy bank for political authorisers. Of course, willing managers will also leverage this amorphousness for personal relevance and insurance. The $3 billion loan might have been motivated by good intentions, and it sure serves an immediate good. But as the saying goes: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We need to be alive to the not-so-hidden dangers and erect sturdy guardrails.

.