An unwritten paradox has defined the United States up to this moment. It is the only country loved by most of those who have never set foot on its soil. It is also the one nation most despised by many who have not visited it. Loved and hated in nearly equal measure by people across the world. The return of Donald Trump to the White House is about to change all that for the worse. There is a growing wave of people around the world who are beginning to hate America with passion because of the actions of Mr. Trump. It is not hatred for Americans as a people but for the actions of its new government.

The day after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada,  spontaneous boos greeted the playing of the American national anthem at most sporting venues across  Canada. Previously, Canadians used to hail at the Star Spangled Banner. Similarly, hostile  street marches in Mexico and other Latin American countries greeted the arrival of planes bringing home deportees from the United States. Most of those Latin Americans who went to America as illegal immigrants went there in quest of the American dream, in search of a better life for themselves and their children in a land that had been historically touted as God’s Own Country, a place of gold and goodness.

Many of them may not even have paid attention to the fine points of migrant documentation as a condition for embracing the good life promised by the lure of America.  Now they are being hoarded home in plane loads of unfulfilled cargo and broken dreams. Some are returning home in manacles and leg iron, humiliated for the crime of dreaming.  Worse still, even the innocent are being mass branded as criminals and gangsters, carriers of poison in their blood with which they went to poison the perfect American stock.

This is not the moment to dispute the rhetoric of the new old man in the White House. Nor is it a time or even proper to query the right of sovereign states to protect their borders or define their national interests. It is only a moment to contemplate what damage Mr. Trump’s actions are likely to do to the image and conception of America in the minds of the peoples and nations of the world.

Tariffs have been slammed on many significant nations. China, Mexico, Canada.  The European union countries have been threatened with tariffs and other hostile acts of American economic nastiness. For instance, a purely domestic land legislation matter in South Africa has been greeted by indecent hectoring and bad language from the White House. South African leadership has responded in kind, indicating that bad manners is not the exclusive preserve of any nation irrespective of its gravity and the reach of its guns.

Plane loads of angry deportees  have been delivered to Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Venezuela and other Latin American nations. Mr. Marco Rubio, the new Secretary of State has travelled round to places like Panama to warn them of the bad days coming. Going round the world with a single message of threats to sovereign nations seems to be the new diplomacy from Washington.

Mr. Trump had earlier pulled the United States out of the World Health Organization thereby shrinking the volume of resources available to the poorer nations of the world for medicine and primary healthcare. Without any notice, the poor of the world have been rudely told to “look out for yourselves”. In the same vein, Mr. Trump, in the pretext to cut the costs of American government, has sent out his new billionaire friend. Elon Musk, to physically shut down the long standing department of USAID –United States Agency for International Development. Its work force of over 10,000 is being reduced to an inhuman 250. An agency established more than 40 years ago by late President John F. Kennedy as a bearer of development assistance for the poorer segments of the world is being shut down without notice or a humane programme. Its American and international work force is being suddenly laid off work while its worldwide stretch of humanitarian programmes is being shut down. The millions of mouths it previously fed will now go without food. The sick that depended on USAID medical outreach to continue living are being left to die  slow avoidable deaths. An epidemic of deprivation is being deliberately unleashed on the most vulnerable segments of our global humanity.

For President Kennedy and those who came after him and maintained the tradition of United States assistance to the poor and vulnerable, agencies like USAID were agencies of soft power, instruments for the projection of American power as a force for good and an instrument to help heal a world damaged and injured by the Second World War and the injustice of global inequity. But suddenly, these agencies of good are now being terminated crudely and rudely by a leadership propped up by democracy itself in a place of hope and original goodness.

Add to this potential well of international anti-Americanism, the groundswell of domestic ill will that is already being bred by the tsunami of firings and layoffs in many government departments in America itself- environmental activity departments, the FBI, the military, the DEI departments and those whose employment they facilitated. Not to talk of the hundreds of thousands through the value chain of agricultural and industrial production and those whose employment depended on the work of the illegal immigrants – farm hands, food processors, grocery shop packers and loaders etc.

This groundswell of brewing anti-Americanism is of course in addition to long standing and existing anti-American feelings around the world. In the Muslim word, that negativity towards the United States and its foreign policies and shows of power around the world over time is axiomatic. In Iran and Yemen, in Iraq and Lebanon, in Syria and a good number of the new Middle East states, America is merely tolerated because of its economic aggression  and cultural omnipresence.

This fertile ground of anti-Americanism in the Arab world is only being fertilized by recent US policy overtures. Take the latest proposal of Mr. Trump to purge the disputed Gaza strip of its indigenous Palestinian population  by relocating them to other Arab countries. This  disguised land grab and ethnic cleansing is being greeted globally by the international community as a further  deepening of the injustice against the Palestinians. It is also seen as an unjust strengthening of the colonialist oppression of the Palestinians by the Israeli occupation.

Even in the best of times, Arab fundamentalist anti-Americanism is both cultural and historically unavoidable. America as an efflorescent outgrowth of Western civilization. It is therefore essentially a Judeo-Christian manifestation of human civilization. To that extent, it remains antithetical to the values espoused and long cherished and pursued by the contrary Islamic civilization.

Similarly, Chinese anti-Americanism remains a latent force. Chinese do not need to make any special effort to cultivate an anti-American attitude. The Confucian ethos is inherently in competition  with the classic Western ethos most lavishly displayed by the United States as a global power. It is a power with a civilizational muscle and undisguised global dominating aspirations. To the Chinese state and public psychology, then, America is and has always been a competing power for world domination.

To the Chinese, anti-Americanism is part and parcel of a long standing global competition. For Mr. Trump to fire up that perennially latent sentiment with a 10% tariff on Chinese imports into the United States is to further weaponize a pre-existing sentiment. This is the reason why the retaliatory tariff regime by Xi Jinping was greeted with universal applause by a cross section of the Chinese public.

Anti-Americanism in Russia is alive and recent. In the aftermath of the Cold War, successive administrations in Moscow have carried on with the anti-American mindset except for the brief spell under Mikhail Gorbachev which was essentially a transitional regime. Vladimir has no problem with being inherently anti-American. He can operate a pseudo-capitalist economy for purposes of trading with the rest of the world. But in terms of values and global power competition, Russia is unashamedly anti- American and anti Western for reasons of power competition and ideology. An inherently authoritarian ethos on the basis of which Russian power is being groomed cannot but be counter democratic.  Even Mr. Trump’s inherently authoritarian manners do not impress the Russians as anything approaching the existent of the Russian establishment.

To carry his untidy trade war of tariffs to Europe will tempt to export anti-Americanism to an unlikely destination. Europe’s link to the United States is both ideological and strategic. In terms of global security the United States is joined to Europe at the hips. The trans Atlantic corridor has historically served as both a cultural and common defense bond. More importantly, the economic link between the US and continental Europe is also a cultural bond. A tariff war may breed anti-Americanism in Europe but will hurt both sides deeply.

For us in Africa, the Trump stampede could be damaging from the perspective of the little trade that has been thriving between some African countries and the United States since the passage of Bill Clinton’s AGOA trade agreement encouraging the export of African goods to the United States. The fear here is that though the volume of trade between the US and

Africa remains negligible, Mr. Trump’s primordial racism might tempt him to want to punish some “s-hole” counties with punitive trade measures.

MY people have a saying, to wit, what is rumbling in the bush is coming to the main road; so, wait for it there! And not just wait for it, prepare a net to catch it! Otherwise, if you allow it to come upon you unprepared, you will be done for! Last week, we highlighted on this page three inter-related criminal activities with the same motive of destabilising and unhinging the South-west before the 2027 General Elections. They are the clamour for the introduction of destructive and disruptive political Sharia in the South-west by elements who, regardless of any flowery language employed, do not mean well for the region and its people; the influx of bandits, Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists into the region; and the upsurge in the activities of cultists and kidnappers, thereby rolling back the successes against insecurity that the region’s political leaders had achieved through blood and sweat with the introduction of the Amotekun security outfit, snatched at great costs from the jaws of Fulani cabal’s strident opposition during the Muhammadu Buhari administration. There must be a reason for all of this for, as they say, there is no smoke without a fire. Someone said to me it is all about unseating the sitting president in 2027.

I have no issue at all with anyone being seated or unseated; political offices in a democracy are not for life but are tenure-barred. Even autocrats, dictators, and sight-tight leaders get removed from office by one cause or the other. And we have seen enough of the evils of military rule never to wish such upon ourselves again. In the same manner, I do not wish that the destruction and bestiality being witnessed in some parts of the country—the North and East especially—should come anywhere near the South-west. Mercifully, knowledgeable opinion moulders from the South-west have been quick to take the wind off the sail of the few rabble rousers stoking the fire and fanning the embers of political Sharia. State governors of the region had also been quick to act. Declaring quite emphatically that there is “no place for Sharia in Ogun State”, the governor, Dapo Abiodun, warned the agent provocateurs that their ill-conceived and ill-motivated action would amount to illegality – for which there would be a penalty. His Ekiti State counterpart, Biodun Oyebanji (aka BAO), warned against “activities that may negatively affect the state government’s policy of peaceful coexistence… and hinder the prevailing peace and fester hostilility in the State”. Oyebanji left the malevolent promoters of political Sharia in the South-west in no doubt that he, as the Chief Security Officer of Ekiti state, would not “hesitate to invoke the full weight of the law to protect the Constitution of the Federation and maintain peaceful co-existence in the state”.

 In Oyo State, where the brouhaha over political Sharia first emanated (in Oyo town to be specific), Gov. Seyi Makinde read the Riots Act to the proponents in a broadcast. He was quoted as saying:  “About the establishment of Sharia Court in Oyo town, people may try, but for us, I swore to uphold our laws and the Constitution of Nigeria. If their actions are within the law, fine. If not, they should expect that I will insist the law must be followed” Of course, no law backs their decision to fish in troubled waters. So, tails between their legs, the trouble-makers backtracked in the face of the law. What it means is that they were only testing the waters and flying kites. The question we must ask ourselves is: What are the benefits of Sharia in the places where it is in operation that recommends it to the misguided elements promoting it in the South-west? Sharia in the Muslim North is only for the poor and downtrodden. They are the ones that have their limbs amputated; after which they are offloaded—or they offload themselves – on the South where they come begging for alms. Were Sharia to be effectively and uniformly applied in the Muslim North, I make bold to say that many of their influential and powerful men and women—yes, even women!—would long have had their limbs severed!

With Sharia, the North is the poverty capital of the world. With Sharia, they are the most educationally backward sections of the country. With Sharia, they are the section of the country ravaged by VVF (Vesicovaginal Fistula). With Sharia, they are the harbingers of almajiris. With Sharia, some of the humongous pen-robberies ever witnessed in this country have been traced to them. What are the benefits of Sharia to the Muslim North that some South-westerners want us to also enjoy? Elections are rigged as blatantly in the Muslim North as they are in other parts of the country. The bloodletting in that part of the country in the name of religion surpasses what was witnessed during the country’s civil war. So, what is the good thing that Sharia, as enforced in the North, has wrought to make some people thirst for it like David longed for water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23: 15)?  Anway, the Constitution, Section 41 (1), guarantees to every Nigerian the freedom of movement; so, lovers of Sharia can relocate to where Sharia is in operation and enjoy it to the hilt without endangering the peace and tranquility of other Nigerians. Fortunately, many of the South-westerners advocating for Sharia are men of means and can easily relocate to states where Sharia of their choice is in operation. It is trite that one man’s rights stop where those of another start.

 Next is the reported invasion of the South-west’s forests by terrorists and bandits moving (or fleeing, as they say) from the North. But why should the South-west be their destination of choice? Is it because the South-west is seen as the least weaponised section of the country and, therefore, the most vulnerable? Or has it something to do with the political permutations by those who, less than two years out of power, have become so irascible and desperate to have “their” power back, willy-nilly? Whichever is the case, and whatever other reasons may account for the recent upsurge in this invasion must be tackled head-on. No one leaves fire on his roof and goes to bed. Gov. Makinde first raised the alarm early in the new year when he said he got an intelligence report that “during my birthday retreat, bandits had camped less than two kilometres from where I was staying. This underscores the seriousness of the situation”. Yes, it does! It is better imagined than felt what would have happened had the bandits struck! This is the same Makinde who, a fortnight thereafter, lost his elder brother! My condolences, Your Excellency!

In response, OPC leader, Gani Adams, has spit fire, warning that the South-west would be too hot for “terrorists and members of ISWAP” to hibernate or carry out their criminal activities. He added that OPC and other private security networks, including the traditional or local hunters, awaited the government’s support and mobilisation to get cracking. I counsel that all hands must be on the deck. Again, in response, the Amotekun Corps mobilised over 2000 personnel to comb South-west forests and flush out the criminal elements hibernating there. Is there anyone who doubts the security reports that South-west forests are awash with bandits and terrorists? Recent upsurge in kidnappings and other criminal activities in the region provide abundant evidence. Only last week, 10 travellers were reportedly kidnapped in the Owo axis of Ondo State. In fact, Owo and its environs have become a danger zone, being a fertile ground for cross-border kidnappers who have made life unbearable for the people. Something urgent must be done. As if that was not enough headache, cultists painted the ancient town red last month, killing, maiming and destroying life and property. In response, the state government clamped a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the town; it is yet to lift it. The Olowo of Owo led his chiefs to place a curse on the cultists, their supporters and sponsors. As good as these  initiatives are, they can only be temporary measures.

In the entire South-west today, and not in Owo or Ondo state alone, cultism—and youth restiveness -has become a time bomb. And the reasons for these are not far to fetch. A new debased culture—the “jeun s’oko” culture – the breeding ground of area boys and girls, area fathers and their ‘alright, sir’ foot soldiers – grew steadily and stealthily with the new political leadership of the South-west since the 2000s, trampling the Yoruba “Omoluabi” culture of old. Politics of primitive capitalist accumulation and of obscene display of ill-gotten wealth has become the order of the day. If you can’t beat them, joining them has become the credo. The JAPA syndrome used to afford everyone an escape route but with Donald Trump and the wave of anti-immigration rhetorics and actions sweeping across the United States and Europe, the slamming in our face of this window of opportunity for those anxious to escape the hellhole that Nigeria has become will exacerbate the desperation of our people. Take the statistics and you will find that the South-west has far more of its population in the Diaspora than any other part of the country. Therefore, the South-west will suffer more now that the JAPA opportunity is receding.

If we fail to prepare a net for the rumblings and other eventualities itemised above, we will have ourselves to blame. The time to act is now!

I am surprised and greatly disturbed to hear that members of the NASS are proposing 31 additional states to the present already behemoth,overbloated and unwieldy 36 state structure that Nigeria operates. I see this needless venture in the midst of more critical national issues as nothing but jesters playing out Baba Sallah's Alawada Kerikeri histrionics and bofoonery. How can they be talking about creating additional 31 states when over 2/3 of the present states are unviable entities existing on life support and merely dependent on the federal centre for monthly oxygenation under section 162 of the 1999 Constitution? How can we be talking of going through the stringent provisions of section 8 of the 1999 Constitution for a meaningless exercise that adds no value to a nation gasping for existential breadth?

How can they be talking about creating new states when hunger, starvation, squalor and melancholy envelope inhabitants of the present minion states that literally beg for crumbs from the Abuja master's table? All that Nigeria needs now are only two things to correct the inherent injustices in our warped federalist system and move towards growth and development:one additional state in the South East to equal others; and a brand new Constitution that is legitimate,people-driven,authochtonous, credible and referendum-compliant to help correct our deep fault-lines and lopsided federation that make some states mere vassals consumers of the national cake without knowing or caring how the cake is baked. The NASS should immediately drop this provocative,funny and phoney butterflies-chasing and stop insulting our collective intelligence. Their present venture amounts to rubbing hot pepper deep inside Nigerians' already bruised bodies of gaping sores. NASS, enough is enough please.

The founder of Love World, also known as Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, has revealed why some gospel artists left the church.

Prominent singers such as Sinach, Frank Edwards, Joe Praize, and Eben have exited the ministry.

For a long time, speculation surrounded their departures.

Many claimed they left due to restrictions on ministering outside Christ Embassy.

For instance, as Sinach’s international music ministry grew, her presence at Christ Embassy became scarce, which allegedly displeased Oyakhilome.

It is believed that Oyakhilome asked her to return and actively participate in the church’s singing ministry.

In a recent video circulating online, the pastor said: “Why did it happen? The church was turned into a party place, not a place of prayer where God’s word was truly celebrated. They were not soul winners; they led praise in church, and when it was time for prayers, they were gone.”

The cleric further lamented that worship in the church had changed, becoming more about personal celebrations than true worship. He criticised the musicians for commercialising their talents, charging fees for their performances, and allowing secular influences to infiltrate the church’s music.

“I did at the beginning and celebrated them, but when I changed, they refused to change with me, so I had to let them go.

“God was getting my attention, telling me this was not the way. I told them the Lord wanted us to do the right thing.

“They had become too popular, and because they were making even little money… do they know what big money is? The little money they were making was too attractive to them, so they didn’t want to follow me. So they made a detour. I hope they all repent. They are not worship leaders,” he stated.

[Dailypost]

Nigerians seeking accommodation in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are not having the best of time.

House agents are said to have turned the experience into a nightmare.

Abuja is known for its beautiful landscape, tree-lined boulevards and bustling metropolis. It is the seat of Nigeria’s administrative and political power.

Home to various embassies, government parastatals, private companies and universities, among other amenities like stadiums, hotels and an airport. Abuja embodies the promise of a better life for many migrants who flock to the city in search of greener pastures.

However, findings by DAILY POST revealed that, for those who seek shelter away from home, the dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

The housing market in Abuja has become a minefield where unsuspecting renters fall victim to the deceitful tactics of housing agents, who exploit their desperation.

The government and private estate developers have not been able to close the gap between supply and demand, resulting in poorly constructed buildings.

Hence, the pressure on infrastructure has overstretched the city, forcing many to the neighbouring states such as Nasarawa and Niger states.

Not only is it a problem to find affordable housing but the cost of a home in Abuja is also way higher than its monetary value, which includes an incredibly long period of hunting and, for most people, the physical and mental stress of choosing between waterlogged estates or a house unreasonably far from their workplace.

However, that is only a tip of the challenge as the road from inspection to final payment is lined with many crooked agents.

DAILY POST gathered that it has become compulsory to pay an inspection fee when searching for an apartment in Abuja.

It has also been reported that they influence house owners into jerking up their rent.

Speaking to DAILY POST, Abdul Abubakar narrated the number of times he was duped by a supposed agent in his quest to get an apartment.

“The number of times I have been scammed is alarming. Some agents have turned this practice into a business, where they collect fees from multiple people under false pretenses.

“On several occasions, I was taken to view an apartment and charged an inspection fee, only to discover that the apartment had already been rented out to someone else.

“Yet, these agents continue to bring apartment seekers to view the property and charge them,” he said.

Also speaking, Mike Okonkwo, who moved to Abuja last year, said he eagerly began his search for a one-bedroom apartment, describing his experience with housing agents as a far cry from what he had expected.

He said, “My worst mistake was allowing my desperation to get the better of me when I eventually paid a commitment fee for a property based solely on the agent’s description and photos.

“It turned out to be a disaster: the property was in a dire state with damp walls and broken facilities in the kitchen and bathroom.”

On her part, Amina Sule bemoaned how house agents have almost become predators feeding fat on their prey, expressing disappointment on how things have turned out in Nigeria.

“It is incredibly disappointing to see how everything in this country becomes an opportunity for scam. Nigerians need to do better.

“I have found myself in several verbal arguments with these scammers. The situation is frustrating, especially when you’re trying to find a place to live and instead, you are met with deceit and exploitation,” she lamented.

According to another victim of house agents exploitation, Kehinde Adeoye, the house market is rife with scams and the house agent is the latest cash cow in Abuja, adding that the lack of regulations governing the housing market in Abuja and its environs has made it easy for the agents to operate with impunity, leaving tenants with little recourse when they are victimised.

Again, Anniefiok Essien, who hails from Akwa-Ibom state but moved to Abuja to earn a living, said his experience with Abuja housing agents had been very unpleasant, revealing that the agents abandoned him to his fate after renting out a two-bedroom apartment in a storey-building with damp walls.

“My experience has been disappointing, to say the least. I moved into my current house six months ago after paying 20 per cent to agents who shared the profit among themselves in my presence.

“My house is in Mararaba and it is a two-bedroomed apartment.

“The rent was N850,000. The agents charged me an additional N150,000 for the house.

“I have yet to recover all that money because they have not fulfilled their promise to me. The kitchen is in bad shape. I have used my money to renovate the house, yet they swore they will use part of the 20 per cent to offset the bills.

“Just last week, after accepting that it is a waste of time waiting for them to fix some of the bad items, I coughed up N30,000 to fix the doors. The caretaker and the agent are all the same.

“During the rainy season last year, the walls got soaked in water. I am talking about a storey-building. God forbid that anything happens,’’ he lamented.

Narrating his own ordeal, Solomon Ogwuche described how desperate Abuja house agents could be, especially insisting to collect inspection or viewing fees.

“I had one agent who gave me a hard time because I refused to view an apartment without first seeing a video of it.

“I didn’t want to waste my time or money on a viewing fee for an apartment I wouldn’t even like. He insisted that I didn’t need to see a video and that I should just come, pay and view it. His attitude changed entirely when I stood my ground, revealing how desperate they are to secure the fee without any genuine service,” he narrated.

Also speaking to DAILY POST is a couple, Judith and Ameh Peter, who said house agents frustrated them immediately they moved to Abuja after their wedding, stating that they also used several apps to find a house in their preferred location.

“Agents built a house ‘on top of our heads.’ When we first came here after our marriage, we had a budget for the kind of house we were looking for but to our shock, it became a tall dream to find one.

“We used several housing apps to find a house targeting our preferred location. First of all, the agents charged us inspection fees. The lowest we paid was N3,500. Imagine paying about three of them daily. Their transportation fare was also on us.

“The annoying part was that many of the agents we met did not take us to the location we agreed on based on pictures and videos. We trusted them since they were from a registered platform.

“But it is either they told us the house key was with the main agent or that they had a better property to show us. At the end of the day, we had to pay outrageous charges to settle down and focus on other things,” the couple concluded.

According to Sunday John, who lent his voice to the house agent exploitation in Nigeria, “These agents are like bloodthirsty sharks, eager to exploit anyone they can.

“If you are seeking an apartment, be very aware and vigilant. It’s essential to protect yourself from being taken advantage of by these unscrupulous individuals.

“The practice of charging inspection fees in Abuja has become a way for housing agents to scam people out of their money.

“It’s vital for Nigerians to stand up against such practices and demand better.”

Ifeyinwa Ubani said she moved to Abuja following her transfer from Asaba, Delta state, explaining that she has been to no fewer than 20 properties before deciding to settle down in Karu, a suburb of Abuja

She said, “I can tell you that I have seen over 20 properties in this city before I finally paid for the present one in Karu.

“The agent charged me 20 per cent which he said included legal fees. Yet, we did not sign any contractual agreement with a lawyer or witness.

“He brought out an old form which required scanty details after I transferred the money to the landlord’s account. I was very disappointed. I had better expectations of Abuja.”

Another resident, Paul Igoche, who shared his horrible experiences with DAILY POST, narrated how six different people showed up when he was about to pay the rent of the apartment he acquired after a painful long search.

“During my house search, one agent decided to help me find a suitable apartment in one of the estates in federal housing, Lugbe.

“We toured many locations around Lugbe to find one. Each time I thought my struggles had come to an end, I realised that I had only just begun.

“Finally, when I was about to seal the accommodation deal, six people showed up, all claiming that they were the main agent.

“One said he had direct contact with the owner, and the other one said she was the one who convinced the landlord to bring down the rent because the facility was old.

“The one I contacted said he brought me to the property and convinced me to pay. It was very embarrassing. Everyone had a stake including those I had never met. You needed to see the entourage of agents that followed me,” he added.

On his part, Michael Akor said the gross illegalities being perpetrated by the middlemen (agents) have continued to bite potential tenants hard in their search for apartments in Abuja and its neighbouring localities.

Akor said their activities range from extortion of a high amount of money from potential tenants as agent fees and inspection fees, defrauding the potential tenants of their money without giving them a house, and sometimes, kidnapping the potential tenants.

“As a concerned citizen and a former victim of the current wave of illegalities of the house agents, I am lending my voice on the issue.

“The extortion has made acquisition of houses by tenants within the places under consideration a Herculean and risky venture, especially for low income earners.

“The high vulnerability of people to the fraudulent outings of these agents need to be looked into.

“A one-room self-contained house that used to be N70-80,000 around Mararaba now goes for between N250-350,000. On a normal level, the house owner charges N150,000, but the agents end up inflating it to N250-300,000. Some potential tenants get kidnapped in the process or get defrauded,” he stated.

He urged the government to take proactive measures to curtail the ugly trend by clamping down on the house agents to halt the illegality.

“There should be proper and favourable housing rules which should be tailored towards curtailing the excesses of house owners and agents.

“The agents and house owners should be strictly monitored to operate within the ambit of the law through proper license and certification.

“Potential tenants should also be highly cautious and put excess desperation aside when looking for a house.

“This will reduce their vulnerability to the fraudulent intentions of house agents and house owners.

“On this, payment should be made only after an intensive verification of the authentic details of the house.

“The government should also intensify its effort in providing affordable houses to low income earners through housing schemes,” he concluded.

[DailyPost]

Pity the lot of Nigeria’s once formidable Peoples Democratic Party as it today wriggles in death throes. Given its well-known reputation as a bad mother, it is no surprise that some of the children of the PDP who rose to prominence on the platform have been quick to disown the party. Even worse, to poke fun at their mother.

Last Tuesday as the Senate resumed plenary, a former PDP Senate leader, two-term governor on the banner of the party, and before then, multi-commissioner on the platform of the PDP, that is, Senator Godswill Akpabio, now sitting comfortably as All Progressives Congress, APC Senate President took the joke to another level.

Responding to the prayer by Senator Ned Nwoko to set up a Senate ad-hoc Committee to investigate the crisis in the PDP following his defection, Akpabio with a smirk said:

“This defection is an earthquake, one that will lead to many other PDP senators dumping the party.”

The prayer by Nwoko for a Senate investigation into the crisis in the PDP, undoubtedly, epitomises the low level the party has gone to. Even those who speak for the party today at almost every level are doing so not out of conviction but for selfish reasons.

The intervention by the Board of Trustees, BoT into the latest crisis in the party in the face of contention over the position of National Secretary has now been enveloped with controversy.

The BoT ordinarily should be the conscience of the party, able to through moral suasion and institutional memory of its members, help to nudge the party towards good manners.  

However, that intervention has now been riddled with controversy. The first controversy is the moral fettles of the chairman of the BoT, that is Senator Adolphus Wabara. When it suited him very well not too long ago, Wabara easily played anti-party by ruling out his party’s prospects in 2027 in Abia State when he affirmed the Labour Party governor, Mr Alex Otti for a second term.

Beyond that is the way the BoT has gone about the duty of arbitrating between the contenders for the position of National Secretary. While the BoT may be commended for its decision to seek expert advice from one of the leading legal experts in the party, Dr Taminu Turaki SAN, the BoT’s seeming refusal to vigorously interrogate the issues at stake is befuddling.

The main contention presently in the PDP is that Senator Samuel Anyanwu who was elected to the position in 2021 did not resign the position to contest the party’s governorship ticket in Imo State.

This correspondent like many others within and outside the party may have been troubled by the morality of the act. However, the constitution of the PDP allows such actions. Section 47 (5) of the party’s constitution gives the leeway for party executives to stay on in their positions and seek elective offices.

Why the BoT closed its eyes to this constitutional matter is mind-boggling. Even more, is the fact that a group of stakeholders could come together to remove an officer elected by the National Convention and foist such a person on the party.

It means that two, three, or more stakeholders could gather together and take a resolution that could become binding.

This correspondent has seen the copy of the report of the Dr Taminu Turaki one-man committee that was mandated by the BoT to interrogate the issues. His report was revealing.

However, questions are hanging from the report. One of such is the issue of the import of Section 47(5) of the PDP Constitution that allows party officials to contest for politically elective positions. One is puzzled as to why the issue was left out.

The issue of the stay of execution was covered with legal jargons in the Turaki report which stretched the claim that Udeh-Okoye had become National Secretary by the time the judgment was given!

The PDP constitution has methods for the removal of an officer, and especially one elected by the National Convention. It does not allow somebody to be removed by “Stakeholders” which is an amorphous term that could include anyone including Senators Akpabio and Nwoko, two ‘disgruntled’ PDP children.

Beyond the legal sophistries is the political permutation going on that make some to look at the PDP as a total embarrassment. Senator Anyanwu has been accused by some to be an associate of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who as everybody knows is working for the APC administration.

But we also will not forget that Sunday Udeh-Okoye, the other contender for the office of National Secretary was widely reported to have also been a pawn in the hands of Wike in the removal of Prince Uche Secondus as national chairman.

We will also not forget that Samuel Anyanwu as national secretary turned his back on Wike in collaborating with the Atiku camp during the 2023 General Election. Even more, it is no secret that Wike did not support Anyanwu in his bid to be governor of Imo State.

It is against this background that the dynamics in the PDP must be interrogated towards ensuring that the PDP survives the present intrigues. As it is, the BoT which ordinarily should have brought the moral suasion has lost its bearing. It is no surprise that delinquent PDP children can thus make a mockery of the party that once gave them the platform to shine.

On the backdrop of the inflationary pressure ravaging the economy, experts in the financial sector have said that the plan by the federal government to disburse cash palliatives to vulnerable families across the country is ill-informed and capable of stoking further inflation.

They also observed that the employment of the strategy by the previous administration failed to achieve the desired result, arguing that repetition of a failed strategy would not augur well for the economy.

Amidst the economic hardship in the country, fuelled by skyrocketing inflation and Naira devaluation, the federal government had revealed plans to distribute N75,000 cash transfer to an estimated 70 million “poorest of the poor” this year.

The measures, according to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, was as part of President Bola Tinubu’s directive to address extreme poverty and create a more social safety net.

The ministry, according to Yilwatda, aimed to deploy the programme across all 36 states of the federation by the end of January 2025, targeting the registration of up to 18.1 million Nigerian households through the National Identity Number (NIN) system.

“We want to deploy by the end of January across 36 states to ensure we start harvesting the NIN number of up to 18.1 million Nigerian households that we need to capture as fast as possible so that we can make payment for them.

“The target of the president is that we should target 15 million households. And an average household is about 4 to 5. We are discussing here roughly about 70 million households with about N75,000 per person this year,” the minister noted.

But speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the experts opined that poverty was still rife in the country despite the deployment of cash sharing measures in the past. They said that the resulting inflation from the cash sharing initiative would hurt the economy

It will fuel inflation, foster dependency —Victor Chiazor, FSL Securities

Victor Chiazor, Head, Research, FSL Securities, argued that though the initiative would offer immediate financial relief, albeit minimally, it would foster the culture of dependency. He stated that a more sustainable approach would be to create access to cheap credit facilities and foster entrepreneurship to create jobs that stimulate local economies. “The plan to disburse cash palliatives to the poorest as a means of poverty alleviation is a commendable initiative, as it offers immediate financial relief.

Economically, it has the potential to stimulate aggregate demand and ease the immediate financial burden on vulnerable populations. However, concerns remain regarding its effectiveness, as it could contribute to inflation and foster dependency rather than sustainable economic empowerment,” he said. He stated that the initiative also has significant flaws, as the majority of the extreme poor remain unbanked, limiting the reach and effectiveness of the programme.

He remarked that the initiative could also serve as an opportunity to misappropriate funds by some of the political class.

“Furthermore, a similar approach was implemented by the previous administration, yet poverty levels remained largely unchanged, highlighting the need for a more impactful strategy. A more effective approach to poverty alleviation would be investing in human capital development like education and skill acquisition, enhancing access to quality healthcare, access to cheap credit facilities and fostering entrepreneurship to create jobs that stimulate local economies. These measures, if effectively implemented, would provide long-term economic benefits, ensuring self-sufficiency rather than short-term financial relief “ Chiazor added.

It will increase consumption amidst supply gap —David Adonri, Highcap Securities

Speaking in the same vein, David Adonri, Vice Chairman, Highland Securities, said: “Cash palliative and trader money presumably distributed to alleviate poverty and empower petty traders by the failed administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was a conduit pipe used by persons in that administration to loot the national treasury. What President Tinubu is now planning will consume N525 billion which will further damage the financial health of the federal government, which is currently in an excruciating debt trap.

Nigeria is a poor country without the financial wherewithal to undertake such an exercise without hurting the economy. The initiative is worthless as the amount proposed cannot feed a poor recipient for more than two days. It is wasteful and capable of increasing consumption amidst a huge supply gap which may fuel inflation. Whoever thought of this idea does not have the interest of the economy at heart. It is a politically motivated policy which has no benefit to the economy.

The only way to alleviate poverty is to invest in jobs that offer gainful employment. If the N525 billion about to be needlessly lavished and probably embezzled by the Federal Government is used to support production, it will have multiplier effect on the economy in terms of closing the supply gap that is fueling inflation, creating wealth and generating massive productive employment for poor and rich people.”

To address the issue of mass poverty in Nigeria, Adonri emphasised the need for the government to mobilize all the domestic factors of production to build a self-reliant, self-regenerating, and an import independent producing economy that would generate mass employment and maximize domestic wealth creation. He noted that without a secured and enabling environment, production is not feasible.

It is weaponization —Renaissance Africa

In his own submission, Ejike Nwuba, CEO, The RenaissanceAfrica, said that giving out paltry “handouts” to indigent people “has never and can never ameliorate poverty. It is a total sham and it is a total waste of resources,” he said.

According to him, “The implication is that our political actors are, inadvertently, weaponizing poverty to keep the people in their stranglehold.

If we are sincere about alleviating poverty, we must teach our people how to fish instead of giving them fish to survive on. The government should invest in quality education, capacity building, vocational skill acquisition, power, infrastructural development, incentives for small and medium scale businesses, and implementing policies to improve ease of doing business in Nigeria if they are serious about ameliorating poverty”.

It’s not sustainable — Eze Onyekpere

The Director of Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere contended that there was nothing wrong in distributing palliatives but the manner in which the government is going about it is wrong. He said, “The first challenge is to understand the concept of the proposal by the Federal Government in the name of poverty alleviation which is called a palliative. The dictionary meaning of a palliative is ‘of a medicine or form of medical care relieving symptoms without dealing with the cause of the condition’. Thus, we are not discussing attacking the root causes of poverty but merely attacking its symptoms.

“The second challenge is the lack of credible, transparent and verifiable register of poor Nigerians. What we have is an opaque manipulated register only known to those in the corridors of power and serving their interests which incidentally do not coincide with the interests of the poorest of the poor. A credible register should be open to the public for scrutiny but the current register is not open.

There is not one iota of guarantee that the money will reach the poor. The third challenge is that you do not use borrowed money for palliatives and distribution to the poor. Such an exercise is done from the proceeds of savings and income earned from retained revenue.

It is not sustainable to borrow for such exercise and this raises the poser; how will the nation pay back these borrowed funds? To confirm the lack of transparency in this exercise and similar exercises in the past, there is a clear lack of impact from previous rounds of cash distribution.

There is no empirical basis to determine impact. This is a clear waste of resources which could have been channeled to growing and developing sustainable means of livelihood in agriculture, skills and other value adding interventions.”

Palliative should reduce cost of living — Aigbe

Senior Program Officer at the Centre for Development of Democracy, CDD, Aigbe Austin, said, “If you ask the Nigerian government today where the poorest of the poor are located, they’ll tell you, in rural areas.

But we don’t even know where our poor people are located, we don’t have them synchronized in a database that we can say there are 10 people with disabilities in this area or there are 10 people who earn less than a dollar a day that we want to reach. We’ve seen the corruption in the so-called cash transfer in the previous administration. Even at the commencement of Tinubu’s administration, his own minister was involved in the same charade of corruption.

I think what should be palliative is to reduce the cost of living. It is wrong to just hand over money to people without earning it, even if it means digging the ground and refilling it and paying them for it. Any money handed over freely does not really produce any results.

The Executive Director, Global Rights Nigeria, Abiosun Bayeiwu, asserted that, “The promise of N75,000 cash transfers to 70 million Nigerians may sound ambitious, but experience has shown that one-time or short-term financial interventions rarely create lasting economic change. Poverty is not just about a lack of cash, it is about a lack of opportunity. To put things in perspective, in 2019, the TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes were launched, offering small cash loans to petty traders.

The hope was that these funds would stimulate micro-businesses and lift people out of poverty. However, without long-term economic reforms, the impact faded quickly. Today, the situation is even more dire. Inflation is above 28 per cent, the Naira is unstable, and fuel subsidy removal has worsened hardship. You need to understand that more than 60 per cent of the population are multidimensionally poor.

The core problem lies in the structural issues that make poverty hydra-headed and self-replicating. How far can N75,000 go when a 50kg bag of rice now costs about N60,000? Even if every naira reaches its intended recipient, the relief will be short-lived. Without policies that drive industrialization, job creation, and access to affordable healthcare, education, and security to ensure their stability, these types of intervention will, at best, provide momentary relief that may last at best – a week, but will continue to leave millions in the same cycle of hardship”.

On how the cash palliatives will really get to the targeted poorest of the poor Nigerians, considering the pervasive corruption, she said, “History gives us little reason for optimism. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government announced cash transfers to the most vulnerable. But there is no evidence that its intended recipients, those in rural areas and urban slums–the real “poorest of the poor”—ever received a kobo. Instead, cases of ghost beneficiaries, political favouritism, and outright embezzlement marred the process. Similarly, in 2022, the National Social Investment Program (NSIP), meant to provide financial aid to the needy, was riddled with scandals. Even the Humanitarian Minister at the time, Sadiya Umar Farouq, admitted that funds had been mismanaged, yet no real accountability followed.

“If this new N75,000 transfer programme lacks a foolproof distribution mechanism, it risks becoming another opportunity for elite capture, where politically connected individuals siphon funds while the intended beneficiaries remain neglected. Who is verifying the beneficiaries? Who is monitoring the disbursement? If these questions remain unanswered, we may simply be watching another cycle of economic injustice unfold.

However, she recommended that, “The government must stop looking for cheap scores and instead address multidimensional poverty by investing in and strengthening structures for human capital development; give communities quality schools, ensuring housing security, access to quality healthcare.

“Ramp up infrastructure for businesses to thrive – electricity, access to fuel, transportation network; Create jobs and ensure access to credit. Build capacity and support for small businesses. Nigerians are not lazy, they want to work and earn a honest living; Curb insecurity which is at the heart of Nigeria’s hunger crisis; Ensure transparency through biometric registration and real-time public tracking of disbursed funds.

Decentralize fund distribution to prevent bureaucratic bottlenecks and ensure money gets to the grassroots; Implement independent monitoring by civil society organizations, not just government agencies. Otherwise, this will be another expensive political gesture that fades into history, leaving poverty untouched.”

It can’t significantly reduce poverty — ActionAid

The Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, AAN, Andrew Mamedu, expressed concern that the Federal Government’s ¦ 75,000 conditional cash transfer scheme can not significantly reduce poverty across the country. Mamedu said: “Past social protection programs in Nigeria have failed to yield significant reductions in poverty. Given the lack of structural economic reforms and the continuous rise in poverty, there is skepticism about the transformative impact of this scheme.

The ¦ 75,000 conditional cash transfer scheme, while commendable in its intent, offers limited potential to significantly reduce poverty in Nigeria. With households receiving ¦ 25,000 monthly, this amount is grossly inadequate to cover even basic needs given the current inflation rate of 34.8% and high living costs. Most Nigerian households require much more to meet essential expenses such as food, healthcare, and education.

The cash transfer serves as a temporary measure rather than a sustainable solution to poverty. While it may provide some immediate relief, the lack of integration with long-term empowerment programs (e.g., skills acquisition or livelihood initiatives) reduces its potential to uplift households permanently. Despite previous social protection programs, poverty remains widespread and continues to rise.

“The question remains: If these programs have not yielded significant improvements, what impact will this cash transfer scheme have? Without clear, tangible results, it’s difficult to determine whether such initiatives are effectively addressing poverty or merely offering temporary relief. To truly address poverty, the program must evolve into a comprehensive social safety net that includes livelihood empowerment, job creation, and efforts to curb inflation.

“Corruption remains a major concern that could undermine the effectiveness of the cash transfer scheme. Despite the well-intentioned goals of the cash transfer program, pervasive corruption in Nigeria raises concerns about whether the funds will reach the intended beneficiaries.

Previous initiatives have faced challenges related to mismanagement and fraud, leading to skepticism about the current program’s integrity.
Recently, there have been allegations that certain state governments and politicians in Nigeria have been clamouring to be given the opportunity to generate the beneficiary list and have been submitting fraudulent beneficiary lists for the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.

These claims suggest that individuals who are not genuinely impoverished are being included, while the truly needy are excluded. Such actions, if verified, exacerbate corruption within the system by diverting funds away from the intended recipients, thereby undermining the program’s credibility and effectiveness.

“The National Social Register (NSR), which is supposed to serve as the basis for identifying beneficiaries, has faced credibility issues, including concerns about data accuracy and potential political manipulation. These issues can result in the exclusion of genuinely poor households or the inclusion of ineligible ones. But we hope the current Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Minister, Nentawe Yilwatda will uphold his words when he said they won’t allow politicians to compromise the cash transfer register.

So, to ensure that the palliatives reach the intended beneficiaries, the government needs to engage local communities, civil society organizations, and credible NGOs in program implementation and monitoring to ensure fairness and equitable distribution”.

[Vanguard]

US President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of Joe Biden, his predecessor.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said revoking Biden’s security clearance and ending intelligence briefings to the former president is payback for how he was treated in the wake of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s security clearances, and stopping his daily intelligence briefings,” Trump said.

“He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the intelligence community (IC) to stop the 45th president of the United States (me!) from accessing details on national security, a courtesy provided to former presidents.”

Former US presidents usually receive intelligence briefings long after leaving office.

REVENGE MISSION

In 2021, Biden ended intelligence briefings to Trump after the then ex-president was accused of inciting the January 6 insurrection.

Biden had pointed at Trump’s “erratic behaviour” as reason for the revocation.

“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings. What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” Biden had said.

Trump’s decision to revoke Biden’s security clearance is the latest in a revenge tour of Washington as promised during his campaign.

The president has revoked the security clearance of some ex-federal government officials who criticised him — including those of Anthony Fauci, former infectious disease expert; and Mike Pompeo, his former secretary of state.

The US president has also promised to fire some FBI agents who worked on the cases of the January 6 rioters.

“I would fire some of them because they were corrupt. I have no doubt about that,” Trump said.

“I got to know a lot about that business and that world. We had some corrupt agents and those people are gone or they would be gone. And it would be done quickly and very surgically.”

Trump previously revoked security clearances of more than 50 former intelligence officials. They had signed a letter in 2020 wherein it was stated that the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the imprimatur of a “Russian information operation”.

In a pre-emptive move, Biden issued an unconditional pardon for Hunter in December. The departing president had also pardoned his siblings and their spouses in a bid to keep them away from Trump’s vengeful grasp.

The US president is offering Biden-era federal employees a “buyout plan” — which would see them embark on compulsory paid leave till September or risk being fired.

Trump has vowed to shrink the size of the federal workforce and save millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, a task he is carrying out alongside Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO.

[TheCable]

When, last week, Senator Adams Oshiomole bombed the National Assembly with bold and well publicized claims about who was looting the nation’s mineral resources, I realized that it was time to take up the next leg of my planned series of conversations about the solid minerals sector and its likely impact on the economic future and fortunes of the Nigerian State. For the record, there are three major factors that kindled, and are likely to sustain, any conversations one wishes to hold here about the solid minerals sector in Nigeria.

The first is that the sector is one of the quickest routes to alternative, high-volume national earnings in foreign currency; once it is very well managed. The second is that the new measures being put in place to revamp the sector are coming on well. The third, and very significantly, is the need to deal with the frequently re-echoed claims about the plundering of the nation’s solid mineral output by a cartel of powerful individuals. This last point puts new pressures on the government of the day, to deal with the matter once and for all.

Regarding the first point, it is fairly obvious that solid minerals hold great prospects for increased forex earnings and that, notwithstanding the potentials of Agriculture as a strong competitor, our current security challenges diminish the capacity of the agricultural sector to make the needed impact. The needed comprehensive development, strategic regulation and holistic management of the mining sector is the only way of putting its actual capacities for impact on national earnings, job creation and overall increase in national productivity on the table.

Two related events occurred last week, in connection with the sector. The first was the aforementioned Bombshell of Oshiomole, wherein he claimed that there were two distinct laws guiding solid mineral exploitation in Nigeria, among other allegations. The second was the securing of a UN agency study facility for critical minerals in Nigeria.

The first point, that Oshiomole’s intervention, is not a new claim or story. There were also some (hushed) and even more elaborate details when some of us went on study tour, to look at the economic potentials of the Zamfara State during governor Yari’s tenure. Oshiomole only voiced a subsisting perception, and claim, that is at least 30 years old.

It is not a matter that I would like to dwell upon at the moment, because it is probably best to take it together with the twin economic sins of oil bunkering and illegal refineries. They are northern and southern equivalents of the same elite-facilitated malfeasance and would be taken together some other time for full treatment.

Concerning illegal refineries, a perfunctory check will show you that the Federal Government has destroyed at least 300 illegal refineries in the last ten years alone. Why? What is the total land area of the entire South South, that it should house so many refineries? Why did the number of illegal refineries drop close to zero in Rivers State, when then Governor Wike threatened to sack every Local Government Chairman in whose domain an illegal refinery was found? This was addressed on this page on January 2022, under the title, “Governors, Just Look at Wike”. 

As for the securing of a UN agency study facility for critical minerals in Nigeria, the point to note here is that this will help the sector, through the development of a roadmap on Nigeria’s critical value chain from extraction to beneficiation. It is to be funded by the Global Council for Critical Minerals, as one of many low hanging fruits secured for the sector in recent times.

The study, which will examine the country’s critical minerals resource/reserve and set international best practices for value development, will be carried out by UC Davis and supported by Core International. The point to note here is that we are likely to walk away with the cheery news of both the upgrading and upscaling of actionable information on what the sector has to offer to the nation and the world.

This brings us to the submission we made about this sector here a few weeks ago. That was shortly after the ban on solid minerals exploration and exploitation in Zamfara state was lifted by the federal Government. The lifting of the ban came after more than five years of zero mining and exploration activities. A “no fly and no go” zone was also imposed on the area, with miners, mining sites and environs grounded since 2019. The ban was predicated on the perceived security and humanitarian concerns of the Buhari government, as the entire Zamfara axis boiled over continuously during the period.

One fact was clear before and after the ban was lifted: The activities of illegal miners, bandits and other miscreants continued unchallenged. It even got much worse. What was initially conceived as a temporary solution to an obviously big problem thus took on a life of its own. As was stated in the article, titled “Alake and Matters Arising in the Mining sector”, the lifting of the ban was “apparently based on new, intelligence-driven, and better-coordinated, security operations that led to the progressive and visible elimination of major leaders of criminal gangs and leaders of bandit groups”.

It was in the national interest to lift the ban, because of the expected and obvious gains to be derived from a reactivation of mining, and related, activities in the Zamfara axis. That the nation has now secured a UN agency study facility for critical minerals in Nigeria is because there is a mining sector to talk about. It would not have happened if the initial step of lifting the ban on mining activities did not take place.

The question of development of a roadmap on Nigeria’s critical value chain, from extraction to beneficiation, would not have arisen if the mining sites were still shut down. Nor would there have been any talk about the funding of such an endeavour by the Global Council for Critical Minerals, but for the lifting of that ban.

The UN agency study that is now poised to examine the country’s critical mineral resources and reserves, in order to recalibrate for the better and more sustainable international best practices for value development, will be carried out by UC Davis and supported by Core International. The point to note here is that we are looking at both the upgrading and upscaling of actionable information on what the sector has to offer. It means that there is a mining sector that is worthy of such attention right now.

Going back to what was said here back then: “While the ban lasted, the miners who were officially and formally granted lease by the mining cadastral office to carry out mining activities had to hands off, and stay off, the area. While these duly recognized miners were held in abeyance by the ban and the law, the space they left unmanned was taken over by non-state actors like bandits and illegal miners. The proceeds of these questionable mining activities were going into the pockets of individuals, especially bandits. Marauders and sundry socially disruptive stakeholders were also the beneficiaries.

The massive quantities of gold, lithium, copper and other associated minerals in the state were thus being mined during the period of the ban, but not in the interest of the nation or its treasury. The positive security mileage that would have come from the ban, as well as the good intentions behind it, were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the ban unintentionally opened the space for unlawful activities that worsened the security problems in the area”.

The Presidential Artisanal Gold Miners Initiative (PAGMI) under president Buhari, which was designed to bring the unlicensed fringe actors in the sector within a regulated umbrella, did not successfully block the obvious revenue and resource leakages. The renaming of illegal miners, as well as the setting up of a presidential initiative to make the best of them, did not still bring most of them within the Standard Regulatory Environment (SRE) and framework established for the sector.

We called for a review of PAGMI last year, demanding timelines for the full integration and streamlining of all miners. This must be realized quickly or industry cohesion. Yes, mining activities are back in Zamfara with a security tax force, known as the Mine Police or Mining Marshal Police. But more still needs to be done, so that the expected improvements in government revenue materializes in real terms and with minimal hiccups.

It is obvious that the UN agency intervention keys into the spirit of the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Nigeria signed with France on training and capacity building for mining professionals. Such further technical and financial capacity support can only lead to the further development of the sector.

This backs up the point made here in the aforementioned article, thus: “Ours is a nation endowed with substantial solid, liquid and gaseous mineral deposits, for which extant internal capacities are not enough. It is only through clear-eyed technical partnerships, technological support, security of the operating environment and reforms and guaranteed regulatory compliance that the sector can be taken to greater heights”.

As the ministry is fleshing out the full capacities of the mining sector again, after a season of partly ill-advised hibernation under Buhari, it should be taken to new levels of impact.  All the talk about increased revenue and economic diversification of the Nigerian economy will be nothing but smoke, for as long as we do not do the needful in a holistic manner. The policies, the partnerships, the funding and international collaborations are needed to get us to where we ought to be in the mining sector.

To make the best of the UN agency intervention, which is coming after the MOU with the French, we must have the following, as was observed here before:| “(1) Availability and accessibility of high-quality geological data. (2) Popularization of the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP). (3) Improvements in critical infrastructure. (4) The leveraging of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). (5) Review of existing incentives frameworks. (6) Disaggregating and evaluating fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to ascertain to what extent they are competitive and aligned with investor expectations and global industry practices”.

In sum, this is the sector to look at for much more than forex earnings; while agriculture is recovering from years of merciless denudation.