Last week, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf painted a pathetic picture of the state of primary education in Kano. “Above 4.7 million pupils are sitting on bare floors to take lessons while about 400 schools have only one teacher for all classes subjects and all pupils,” said Yusuf who put the current figure of out-of-school children in the state at 989,234. Not surprisingly, he blamed his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje for the problem. “Rather than building more classrooms and providing basic furniture in the schools, as well as hiring more teachers, the administration we took over from chose to butcher the land belonging to those schools. In some places, it demolished classrooms to create space for shops.” The schools that could not be sold, according to Yusuf, were closed. “The encroachment of public-school lands and the conversion of these vital institutions into private business premises is an affront to our communal values and a direct assault on our commitment to public education. This reckless appropriation of educational spaces for commercial use is unacceptable and must stop immediately.”

The growing number of out-of-school children has become not only a social problem but a serious national security challenge. More worrisome is what appears to be the lack of any concerted effort to deal with this vexatious problem beyond bandying statistics. According to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), a huge percentage of the world’s total number of out-of-school children come from Nigeria. And this is not only a Kano problem. While perhaps more pronounced in the north, no state is free of the problem which is compounded by projections that Nigeria’s population could rise to 440 million by 2050. Such uncontrolled population growth of largely illiterate people poses a serious threat to the survival of a nation. Besides, it is from this constituency that criminal cartels now recruit their members. After all, as the saying goes, an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.

Yet, there is hardly any national conversation regarding primary schools. This tragic error has become the bane of education management in Nigeria. Our obsession with university education is based on the warped thinking that we can build a house from the roof while we discount the foundation, which primary schools represent. A recent report by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) that no fewer than 27 states in the country have failed to access the sum of N54.9 billion basic education fund as of the end of March this year is very telling. The UBEC fund is an annual grant to help states upgrade primary schools. But to access the money, they are required to match the federal government’s grant. To evade accountability, many states ignore this facility even as children study under deplorable conditions, including lessons under trees and in dilapidated classrooms.

The growing population of out-of-school children is a symptom of the larger problem of irresponsible procreation. Unfortunately, population control is rarely discussed in Nigeria, not only because we choose to live in denial about what ails us but also because once we cloak an issue in the garb of religion, it becomes taboo for any serious engagement. The major concern about our rapidly growing population, as Dimos Sakellaridis, a population control advocate once reminded us, is the absence of infrastructural support. Especially since social services like schools, health care facilities etc. are not also growing at an equally comparable rate. In fact, they are deteriorating everyday which means that the only thing we are producing at a comparative advantage in Nigeria today are babies.

It should worry all critical stakeholders that a demographic crisis is already upon us. That there is a class dimension to this crisis merely compounds the problem. Deutsche Welle (DW), a German international broadcaster, recently produced a documentary on Nigeria’s exploding population. “Having a large family is a blessing from God. I am a product of a large family. I like a large family,” a resident of Makoko waterfront slum in Lagos who has three wives and 18 children reportedly said without a care about how to raise such a huge number of children that may end up on the street. “As a youth, I decided that, when I was older, I would have a large family.”

That mindset is replicated across the country by thousands of poor people based on the illusion that Nigeria is a wealthy country. We have never been one, though the potential was huge at independence 64 years ago. Even if we didn’t squander our riches, the rate at which our population has grown from 45.2 million to 229 million today would still be a problem. Meanwhile, in 1960, the population of the United Kingdom was 52 million, meaning that the country from which we were gaining independence had about seven million more people than Nigeria. Today, the UK is about 68 million, an increase of almost 14 percent over the past 62 years while Nigeria’s estimated population has increased by about 500 percent!

At some point we must come to terms with the reality that at the rate our population is growing amid dwindling resources, there is no way millions of children will not be left behind to our collective detriment. There must therefore be an enlightenment campaign on responsible procreation. “The resources available are unable to meet the basic needs of the growing population,” John Oyefara, a professor of demography at the University of Lagos, told DW. “This has resulted in inadequate facilities in our health sector, food security, housing, transportation and even employment.”

The numbers don’t look good. As of 2020, Nigeria’s share in the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) adjusted for purchasing power parity (which is used to measure both the economic growth and living standards in any country) amounted to approximately 0.81 percent. Meanwhile, using data from the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, Pratap Vardin, an Indian full-stack data science engineer, came up with a graphic of countries where the next 1,000 babies would statistically be born into based on population and birth rates estimates. By his projection, 57 of those babies would be born in Nigeria. That means we will account for about six per cent of children born into the world who will then have to battle for less than one percent of global resources!

There is ample evidence to suggest that most educated and relatively comfortable people in our society produce only the number they believe they can care for. In fact, most of the middle-class professionals who have embraced the ‘Japa’ syndrome do so for their children, despite the sacrifices involved. On the other hand, it is those who are at the lower rung of society who have no qualms about having as many children as they like without considering the welfare of those they are bringing into the world. Having allowed the majority of our people to remain chained to belief systems that shun family planning, we now have a huge but largely unproductive population on our hands. If we are to develop as a society, we need an enforceable population policy that is tied to incentives as it is done in several countries.

As I have written several times on this page, the 1974 controversial book, ‘Lifeboat Ethics: The case against helping the poor’ by Garrett Hardin has now become a ready handbook for policy makers in most immigration departments of Western countries. It also accounts for the rise of right-wing leaders to positions of power and why opportunities for ‘Japa’ are shrinking in most of these countries. Metaphorically, according to the late American ecologist and microbiologist who focused his career on the issue of human overpopulation, “Each rich nation can be seen as a lifeboat full of comparatively rich people. In the ocean outside each lifeboat swim the poor of the world, who would like to get in, or at least to share some of the wealth.” He then asked: “What should the lifeboat passengers do?”

This was the way Hardin answered his own question 50 years ago: “So here we sit, say 50 people in our lifeboat. To be generous, let us assume it has room for 10 more, making a total capacity of 60. Suppose the 50 of us in the lifeboat see 100 others swimming in the water outside, begging for admission to our boat or for handouts. We have several options: we may be tempted to try to live by the Christian ideal of being ‘our brother’s keeper,’ or by the Marxist ideal of ‘to each according to his needs.’ Since the needs of all in the water are the same, and since they can all be seen as ‘our brothers,’ we could take them all into our boat, making a total of 150 in a boat designed for 60. The boat swamps, everyone drowns. Complete justice, complete catastrophe.”

The critical point in Hardin’s thesis is that most of the countries from where citizens flee are suffering the consequences of the choices their people make, especially regarding an unbridled population explosion. “The harsh ethics of the lifeboat become harsher when we consider the reproductive differences between rich and poor. A wise and competent government saves out of the production of the good years in anticipation of bad years to come. Joseph taught this policy to Pharaoh in Egypt more than 2,000 years ago. Yet the great majority of the governments in the world today do not follow such a policy,” Hardin wrote. “They lack either the wisdom or the competence, or both. On the average poor countries undergo a 2.5 percent increase in population each year; rich countries, about 0.8 percent. Because of the higher rate of population growth in the poor countries of the world, 88 percent of today’s children are born poor, and only 12 percent rich. Year by year the ratio becomes worse, as the fast-reproducing poor outnumber the slow-reproducing rich…”

For decades, we have sold the myth, especially to the poor of our society, that the government is responsible for taking care of them. And that the only problem is ‘corruption’ which our politicians keep ‘fighting’. The message must be that everyone is ultimately responsible for themselves and their family. Conducting a conversation on this issue is more urgent than ever before. We need voices like that of the Zamfara State Council of Chiefs chairman and Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Muhammad Ahmad, who once cautioned low-income earners against marrying more than one wife. “Civil servants on a salary of N15,000 a month marry more than one wife and end up raising families they cannot cater for,” the emir said. “It is this attitude that is responsible for increasing out-of-school children because the parents cannot shoulder the responsibility.”

On the immediate challenge, Kano and the other states must find the human and material resources to take children off the streets and put them in schools. But in the long term, Nigerians must also begin to understand that only a moderate population growth that enables a high quality of life for citizens can guarantee a sustainable society.

President Muhammadu Buhari was less than a year in office when he realized that his officials would not be able to produce the budget for FY 2017 on time. His Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, was frantically seeking help, not only to produce the federal proposal, but also to reform and reposition the entire budgeting process. The 2016 appropriation bill was signed into law by the president very late in the year; and it was replete with irregularities. It then was clear to senior administration officials that the Budget Office of the Federation, an agency responsible for designing and drawing up the federal government’s budget proposals, required an experienced and suitably qualified leader to do the job. The man at the saddle then was clearly below his depth. Fourteen years earlier, Senator Udoma was the chairman of the Senate’s Appropriation Committee – an influential and powerful Committee that scrutinizes and approves the federal budgets and those of its over 300 parastatals. He knows a lot about the budgeting process and technicalities involved, and was therefore in a hurry to headhunt a man of requisite and cognate skills to lead the Budget Office.

 Enter Ben Ifeanyichukwu Akabueze. Early in 2016, Akabueze was appointed Special Adviser to the President on National Planning, but his job description did not include budget preparations. He had observed the debacle in the Budget Office and all the commotion surrounding the 2016 proposals, but in the nature of Nigeria’s public service, he could only offer suggestions. Somebody then mentioned to Udoma that Ben was the right man to fix the mess. After a few consultations and discussions and Senator Udoma’s recommendation, the president promptly moved Akabueze to the to the Budget Office as the sixth Director General with a clear mandate to ensure the presentation of the annual budgets to the National Assembly by September of every year; review the annual budget and advise on the necessity or otherwise of a supplementary budget and reconcile and monitor monthly performance of key revenue agencies.

A fellow of three renowned professional bodies, (Institute of Chartered Accountants; Chartered Institute of Bankers and institute of Credit Administration), Akabueze came highly recommended for the assignment, and he soon proved that his selection was one of Buhari’s few fit-for-purpose appointments. Ben or Pastor Ben, as friends fondly call him, is one of the nation’s brightest, analytical yet unassuming professionals. For about nine years prior, he had served as the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Lagos State, having been appointed by Gov. Tinubu in 2006 and reappointed by Gov. Fashola in 2007. Before then, he was the Managing Director & CEO of NAL Bank (now Sterling Bank) from 2000 to 2005.

There were rumours then that it was Asiwaju Tinubu, then National Leader of the APC, that had facilitated his appointment as the SA to the President, and subsequent deployment to the BOF. Both Akabueze and Udoma refused to comment on this when I asked them. A few months after Ben took the job, Senator Udoma told me in his office. ‘’I am lucky to have Ben around. He is sorting out the headaches in the Budget Office’’. I told Udoma that I knew Akabueze well, and that he had in December 2000 tapped me to lead the Corporate Communications department at NAL. ‘’He will make a difference’’, I assured him. I have been blessed to walk and work with the best of Nigerians in my long careers spanning two professions. Akabueze’s leadership and accomplishments as the nation’s chief budget officer between 2016 and 2024 are transformative, tangible and outstanding. I salute him for his unblemished records and sterling achievements in all of the two terms. He served with dedication, diligence and commitment.

Under him, the budget office recorded improvements in the quality and comprehensiveness of the budget documents, leveraging technology to achieve improved levels of citizens’ engagements in the budgeting process. We now have full disclosures of federal government’s payments; improved transparency, governance, service delivery and accountability. Multi-lateral and bi-lateral project tied loans as well as grants and donor-funded projects are now reflected in the federal government budget, unlike in the past when the process was marred by opacity and lack of clarity. In addition, fiscal risks and contingent liabilities are also included in the budget pack. There’s been also improved coordination and collaboration between the executive and legislature leading to a return to the predictable January-December budget cycle, for the first time since 1999. Until then, it was only the military regimes that were able to issue budget speeches on New Year Day. Another important change that Ben and his team introduced is the inclusion of the budgets of all government-owned enterprises in the federal budget presented by the president to the National Assembly. Further, there’s also been significant improvements in the budget and expenditure management of the MDAs.

Internally, Akabueze also restructured the BOF and took his management and staff through a visioning process that developed a vision and mission statement for the organization. Its mission is to provide efficient and qualitative budget functions to Nigeria, geared towards promoting fiscal sustainability, transparency and accountability in public finance management for national development in line with international best practices. Clearly, the achievements listed above are in with the mission. Its vision is to be a world-class technology-driven budget institution that is a catalyst for equitable distribution of the nation’s resources to engender sustainable socio-economic development. It is for no reason that he’s also known as Mr. Budget.

Last week, I asked Akabueze to review his tenure at BOF and all the other significant positions he’s held. As he is wont to do, he contemplated the question for a while and then said, ’I have done my best. Nigerians should do the assessment’.

Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and its commercial hub, Lagos, have been ranked as the first and second cheapest cities for expatriates to live in Africa for 2024, according to Mercer’s Cost of Living rankings.

The report highlights the cost of living is a crucial consideration for expatriates when selecting a city for relocation, as it impacts their quality of life and financial stability.

The findings attribute the affordability of these cities to currency depreciations, which have significantly reduced the cost of living for international assignees.

Blantyre in Malawi comes third on the list while Durban in South Africa and Windhoek in Namibia comes fourth and fifth respectively.

Here is a list of the top 10 cheapest cities to live in Africa with their global rank

1. Abuja, Nigeria

2. Lagos, Nigeria

3. Blantyre, Malawi

4. Durban, South Africa

5. Windhoek, Namibia

6. Gaborone, Botswana

7. Lusaka, Zambia

8. Tunis, Tunisia

9. Cape Town, South Africa

10. Johannesburg, South Africa

[TheNation]

Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company (AEEPCO), operator of the NNPC/Aiteo Joint Venture on OML 29, has confirmed the detection of an oil leak at its Nembe swamp facility in OML 29, Nembe Kingdom, Bayelsa State. 

AEEPCO, in a statement on Wednesday, noted that its Oil Spill and Emergency Response Team was immediately activated and all production from OML 29 were shut down as a precautionary measure to mitigate the impact of the incident.

“This is a precautionary measure while mobilising additional resources to contain the spill. The cause of the spill is currently undetermined. However, we are proactively engaging with stakeholders to mitigate the immediate effects,” the statement added.

Commenting on the incident, AEEPCO’s group managing director, Victor Okoronkwo, said: “During our operations on Monday, June 17, 2024, the subject leak was detected. A Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) with stakeholders has been initiated to determine the cause of this incident.

“While we regret the production losses to the Joint Venture and the nation and the potential environmental impact, our current priority is to expedite an efficient spill management process in line with regulatory standards and collaborate with all stakeholders to restore production and mitigate associated risks.”

[Leadership]

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said Nigeria would probably not have anything to do with banditry if the country had not changed its national anthem in 1978.

In 1978, the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo dropped “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” written by Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda.

“Arise O Compatriots” written by Pa Ben Odiase became the anthem until the government of President Bola Tinubu reverted to the old anthem last month.

The anthem bill speedily passed first and second readings at both chambers of the National Assembly and  was afterwards assented into law by President Tinubu.

Speaking during a visit to the Nigerian Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja, on Tuesday, Akpabio said passing the old anthem bill is one of the significant achievements of the National Assembly under his leadership.

He added that the Student Loan Bill was another significant bill that was passed by the federal lawmakers.

“The bill that was sent to us by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on students’ loans and scholarships to enable Nigerian vulnerable students; the less privilege to obtain higher education,” Akpabio said.

“And as I speak to you over 30,000 Nigerian students have been selected to benefit from it. That is one of the bills I would say appeals to me the most.

“The other one on social impact is reverting to our old national anthem. A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel made up of Nigerians set up to receive input from all over the world in 1959.

“So, when people say we are bringing colonial anthem, please look into the history of the “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”.

“If we kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria, because if you took your neighbour as your brother you would not want to kill your brother, if you took your neighbour as your brother, you would not want to into the farm and behead your brother.”

While Nigerian Afrobeats powerhouse, Rema, was dazzling at the Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Spring-Summer Show during Fashion Week in Paris on Tuesday, his global hit ‘Calm Down’ was plucking trophies at the 2024 ASCAP London Music Awards.

‘Calm Down’ snagged the coveted Song of the Year and Top Streaming Song awards.

The song’s co-writers and co-producers, Michael Hunter aka London, and Andre Vibez were also credited as winners.

While Nigerian Afrobeats powerhouse, Rema, was dazzling at the Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Spring-Summer Show during Fashion Week in Paris on Tuesday, his global hit ‘Calm Down’ was plucking trophies at the 2024 ASCAP London Music Awards.

‘Calm Down’ snagged the coveted Song of the Year and Top Streaming Song awards.

The song’s co-writers and co-producers, Michael Hunter aka London, and Andre Vibez were also credited as winners.

The wins bring Rema’s American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, ASCAP’s awards tally to three; the most by a Nigerian/African artiste.

Rema is the most awarded African artist in 2024, with six awards won so far.

He has won 1 Trends Awards in Brazil, 1 iHeartRadio Music award, 1 ASCAP Pop Music award and 2 ASCAP London Music awards.

DAILY POST reports that ‘Calm Down’ recently became “the first Afrobeats song in history to earn over 1 billion on-demand streams in the US,” according

[DailyPost]

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has nominated caretaker chairmen for the 23 local government areas of the state.

Fubara sent the list to the state House of Assembly led by factional Speaker, Victor Jumbo, on Tuesday.

The nomination came amid a renewed political crisis in the state, as former council chairmen have refused to vacate their offices after their tenure expired.

Fubara’s communication to the assembly was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday night by the Clerk of the House, G.M. Gillis-West.

According to the statement, the assembly invited the nominees for screening on Wednesday by 8 am.

The crisis in the state worsened on Tuesday as protesting youths loyal to Fubara dislodged chairmen who refused to leave their offices.

A policeman was killed at the Eberi-Omuma secretariat in Omuma Local Government Area during a clash between supporters of Fubara and those of his predecessor, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

To prevent further breakdown of law and order, the police announced on Tuesday evening that they had taken over the 23 council secretariats.

The three-year tenure of the  expired on Monday but they vowed to remain in office, citing the Local Government Amendment Law 2024 enacted by the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly.

See the names of the caretaker chairmen nominated by Fubara below:

1. Abua/Odua LGA – Madigai Dickson

2. Ahoada East LGA – Happy Benneth

3. Ahoada West LGA – Mr. Daddy John Green

4. Akuku Toru LGa – Otonye Briggs

5. Andoni LGA – Reginald Ekaan

6. Asari Toru LGA – Orolosoma Amachree

7. Bonny LGA – Alabota Anengi Barasua

8. Degema LGA – Anthony Soberekon

9. Eleme LGA – Brain Gokpa

10. Emouha LGA – David Omereji

11. Etche LGA – John Otamiri

12. Gokana LGA – Kenneth Kpeden

13. Ikwerre LGA – Darlington Orji

14. Khana LGA – Marvin Yobana

15. Obia/Akpor LGA – Chijioke Ihunwo

16. Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA – Princewill Ejekwe

17. Ogu/Bolo LGA – Evans Bipi

18. Okrika LGA – Princess Ogan

19. Omuma LGA – Promise Reginald

20. Opobo/Nkoro LGA – Enyiada Cookey-Gam

21. Oyigbo LGA – – Gogo Philip

22. Port Harcourt LGA – Ichemati Ezebunwo

23. Tai LGA – Matthew Dike

[Punch]

In the competition of smartphone photography, there is no doubt that iphones have long been considered a benchmark for camera quality.

However, recent advancements in technologies has seen several contenders rise to challenge iPhone’s dominance.

Google pixel 7 pro

The google pixel 7 pro is a standout device, renowned for it exceptional photography capabilities. Google’s advanced AI-driven image processing results in superior low-light performance, excellent dynamic range, and highly detailed photos.

Additionally, the pixel 7 pro’s Night sight mode, portrait, and HDR+ are often praised for their quality.

A key feature that sets the pixel 7 pro apart from some iPhone models is its software processing, which optimizes images to look vibrant and detailed.

Overall, the Google pixel 7 Pro’s camera quality and innovative features make it a strong competitor to iPhones in the smartphone photography realm.

Phones with better cameras than some iPhones

Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra features a versatile camera setup with high-resolution 200 MP main sensor and powerful zoom capabilities. Its dual telephoto lenses with 3x and 10x optical zoom offer impressive details and long distances clarity. The S23 excels in high-resolution photography and 8K video recording, which can provide more detailed and sharper image compared to some iPhone models.

Many users appreciates the zoom capabilities and overall performance of the S23 Ultra’s camera, making it a compelling choice to those who prioritize photography and videography on their smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra is sure a worthy competitor to iPhone cameras.

Huawei P50 Pro

The Huawei P50 pro is known for its cutting-edge camera technology, featuring a 50 MP main sensor and a 64 MP telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom.

Huawei’s image processing technology delivers excellent vibrant color accuracy, dynamic range and low light performance. When comparing the camera quality of the Huawei P50 Pro with iPhones, the P50 Pro stands out for its innovative camera features and impressive low-light capabilities.

While the iPhone excels in smartphone photography, these alternatives offer unique strengths and advanced features that cater to diverse photography needs, making them excellent choices for capturing stunning images.

Vanguard News

Documents have shown how the $6,230,000 cash allegedly stolen from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on February 8, 2023, was shared.

President Bola Tinubu had set up a special investigative team, led by Jim Obaze, to probe the tenure of Godwin Emefiele, former CBN governor.

The team had claimed that $6.2 million was removed from the apex bank’s vault under the guise of paying election observers.

Emefiele is standing trial on a 20-count amended criminal charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The amended charges border on alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit a felony.

According to the amended charge marked CR/577/2023, Emefiele, on February 8, 2023, connived with Odoh Ocheme, who is now on the run, to obtain $6.2 million from the CBN, claiming that the SGF requested it “vide a letter dated 26th January 2023 with Ref No. SGF.43/L.01/201″.

In the court documents, investigators characterised the crime as an insider job primarily carried out by CBN staff members with the cooperation of two outsiders known as Adamu Abubakar and Imam Abubakar.

Investigators claimed that Odoh Eric Ocheme, Emefiele’s personal assistant, received $3,730,000 of the funds, with three other people splitting the remaining $2,500,000.

Ocheme was said to have justified his lion’s share by claiming he had to pay other interests he had within the apex bank.

Some of the beneficiaries were said to have invested their shares of the loot, estimated at N1.4 billion, in real estate, part of which has now been recovered.

Some of the details of the investigation are contained in an affidavit filed alongside an extradition charge pending against Adamu Abubakar, Imam Abubakar and Odoh Eric Ocheme before the Abuja federal high court.

Adamu Abubakar, Imam Abubakar and Ocheme are said to be at large and are believed to have fled the country, hence, the extradition proceedings.

In the affidavits, one of the investigators, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), said the team obtained copies of the withdrawal slip as well as the accompanying documents, CBN memos, dated 07/02/2023 and  31/01/2023 respectively.

They also obtained “a letter dated 2/01/2023 purportedly written by Muhammadu Buhari to Boss Mustapha and a letter dated 20/01/2023 purportedly written by Boss Mustapha to Mr Godwin Emafiele, which the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja Branch relied on in making the payment”.

The DSP said investigations revealed that both letters were forged and did not emanate from the office of the then president and SGF. At the same time, Jibril Abubakar, whose identity card was used to cash the money in question, was not a staff of the SGF office.

HOW COLLABORATORS INVESTED ‘STOLEN FUND’ IN REAL ESTATE

“We watched the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) footages of the 08/02/2023 being the day the money in question was cashed, and the payee (Jibril Abubakar) could not be identified by the staff of either the CBN or that of the office of the secretary to the government of the federation, where he falsely represented himself to be working,” the document read

“A further study of the Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) footage revealed that a staff of the Abuja Branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, identified as Abdulmajeed Muhammad received the impostor (Jibril Abubakar) at the gate of the bank when he arrived on the fateful date: 08/02/2023.

“Abdulmajeed Muhammad was consequently arrested and in his statement made on 15/12/2023, he admitted helping the impostor into the Abuja Branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, but claimed that he did that innocently, the impostor having been referred to him by Bashirudeen Maishanu; a Senior Staff of the CBN.

“Abdulmajeed Muhammad further revealed that prior to 08/02/2023 when the impostor came to cash the money in question, he (Abdulmajeed Muhammad) had been invited by Bashirudeen Maishanu to explain the procedure of public officials making cash withdrawal from the CBN as those persons claimed to be officials from the office of the SGF and that the then president had approved certain fund for official assignment.

“We visited Kuje Correctional Centre, where we interviewed Godwin Emefiele, who purportedly approved the memos authorising the payment, as then CBN and he denied seeing, talk less of approving such memos.

There is hardly anyone who does not aspire to add value to their life. Everyone wants to make progress. Everyone wants a better life. That was the expectation of Nigerians, especially the suffering masses, when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office on May 29th last year.

And that also must have been the expectation or desire of Tinubu himself: to make life more abundant for Nigerians; to make a difference in the existentialism of the people. But good intentions do not always translate into actualities; which is why it is said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Man proposes, circumstances dispose. Talk, as they say, is cheap but to walk the talk is a lot more difficult.

I wish I could have the opportunity to ask the president how he feels one year after achieving his life ambition of ruling this country. Sometimes when I watched him on television, he looked dazed like a boxer caught unawares with a vicious uppercut. Nigeria is not easy to govern. I, however, still retain my confidence in the ability, capability, and capacity of Mr. President to survive the jostling he has so far got and begin to do the right things beginning with his second year in office.

In his first year, Tinubu has more than settled those who brought him to power. That, I dare to guess, is the reason why he has so many deadwood in his cabinet, which now made it look like his ability to headhunt talents had been exaggerated. I want to tell him that the last one year is enough settlement of his IOU to this group of people.

He has also over-settled the National Assembly, even up to the point of the obscene. Yes, he needed them to approve his appointees and to back him up with the needed legislation. He needed, if not a pliant legislature, but one that is accommodating and cooperative We have seen antagonistic legislature and bellicose executive and the country has been the loser for it; for, as they say, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. The humongous allocations that the National Assembly awarded themselves in the current budget should last them for the next four years and must not be allowed to rear its ugly head in the next budget.

The third arm of government, the judiciary, has also een settled by Tinubu with the 300 percent salary increase awarded the judges. It now remains for the president toshift his attention to the masses.

How can he add value to our lives? By reversing the negatives he met on ground, especially those he had inadvertently made worse by policies that are yet to have the desired positive effects in the specific areas of food security, security of life and property, affordable transportation and Medicare, reduction in the cost of governance, promotion of industrial harmony, ensuring that peace reigns on our campuses and education is made affordable for all, curbing inflation and arresting mass unemployment. These are all that the President promised in his Renewed Hope Agenda 2023.

Since he is yet to publicly renege, like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, did with his own promises, we must hold his feet to the fire on them. Promise is a debt if not fulfilled. Tinubu is indebted to us Nigerians. What can his excuse be? That we are not taking care of him enough? Nigerians are generous when it comes to taking care of their leaders. Conversely, it is the leaders who are miserly and stingy when it comes to their turn to take care of the people.

I wish President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been at the launching of the book “Value creation: Your pathway to enduring business and career success” written by Ademola Akinbola, a man of many parts - media entrepreneur, certified trainer, author, publisher and journalist, with strong footing in business/finance reporting. He was also a Bank PR manager. The launching took place in Lagos on May 14, 2024.

I advocated sometimes ago that we need a special assistant to the president whose duty is to monitor workshops, seminars, book lanchings and lectures because of the rich exchange of ideas at such fora which can even be more beneficial to the country than the limited knowledge parading itself within the corridors of power.

Now, why are nations poor? Nations are poor because they create little or no value for themselves and others. Conversely, why are nations rich? Nations are rich because they create value for themselves as well as for others. By value we mean goods, services, commodities and other needs of mankind. Nations that cannot meet their own needs will depend on those who can meet those needs. So, their resources will gravitate towards such countries. The nations that are able to meet those needs get richer while the nations that depend on others get poorer. Another name for it is capital flight.

If you want to know why Nigeria is poor while Japan is rich, just count the millions of vehicles on our roads. One statistics say about 80 percent of them are Japanese products. Try and imagine how many trillions of Naira or dollars must have flown and is still flowing from Nigeria to Japan. Take a statistics of the number of generating sets, mobile phones, electronics, medicine, etc. that this country imports on a yearly basis. This is not to talk of food imports, military hardware, education and medical tourism, among others. Where capital outflow far supercedes capital inflow, it is naive to ask why such countries are poor.

Now, the Lagos - Calabar expressway will be handled by foreigners. Capital flight. We shall be helping to develop another country while underdeveloping ours.The hundreds of bullet proof limousines that were distributed to legislators and others. Capital flight! We are like the proverbial fool that uses a cup to take water from his bucket and pour into the well of his neighbour. In which area or sector are we creating value?

We collect rent from foreigners on our crude oil and gas resources, which we cannot even extract or refine ourselves. Which is why the Marxists call us a rentier State. We then waste the rent so collected on importation binge. We produce virtually nothing but luxuriate in virtually every imported goods and services. Man became separated from and assumed superiority over other animals when he became a tool maker. Tell me, what tools can we make? How, then, shall we not be poor and remain so? Our problem is not minimum wage but minimum sense.

This is the major problem I expect President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address. When I ask that Labour and ASUU leaders should think out of the box, this is one area I think they should address if they are serious about tackling the grinding poverty of the poor. But I will not be surprised if that is not their priority. Last April at the NLC House in Abuja, I saw the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, step out of one jeep that looked like the ones the legislators are cruising in! The demarcation between bourgeois capitalism and Labour unionism is very thin, if not completely blurred already! But I digress!

The major task before President Tinubu is to quickly work to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on other nations and not further deepen it, as we are doing at the moment. Seeking Foreign Direct Investment or taking loans which we immediately award back to them in form of this or that contract will not help us. Reduce our dependence on others. Increase our productivity. Stop this country from continuing to be dumping ground for all manner of foreign goods and commodities. Add value to what we have. Reduce the trade deficit between us and our trading partners. Put Nigeria to work.

At Akinbola’s book launch, speaker after speaker - from the chairman of the occasion Bisi Olatilo, guest speaker, Dr. Rotimi Adelola, panelists Dr. Tunji Sobodu, Dr. Charles Otudor, Gbolahan Oba and the book reviewer, Lanre Alabi - all were agreed that unless we create value as a nation, we stand no chance of escaping the debt trap, to which have now been added the wheat trap and the rice trap - and still growing! As with nations, so also with individuals. Add value!

Making a difference between creating value and adding value, Sobodu said leaders are given to create value. If people are not improving under you , then, you are a destroyer. People don't just become value creators; if your motivation is self, then, you cannot create value. You create value when you meet other people's needs. Solutions, he said, must meet the needs of the people. This is true of nations as it is of individuals.

Said Akinbola himself: “Nobody pays for a good that is not delivered, a service that is not rendered, or an impact that is not made. Simply put, we are rewarded by doing something that adds value or creates an impact.
“We become successful in life by creating value for our stakeholders, who we can define as individuals and organisations that are directly or indirectly affected or influenced by what we say or do, and what we fail to say or do.
“You must commit to a life that delivers value, and not one that has nothing tangible to offer, except to be a burden and a liability to your stakeholders.
“A life that is not focused on value and impact will be ridiculed, scorned, and rejected. Nobody would like to be associated with you when you are listless, valueless, and empty”.

It could not have been better put!