President Bola Tinubu extends his congratulations to Alhaji Alliyu Babatunde Oduwole, an Ijebu prince, as he marks his 80th birthday.

Alhaji Oduwole, an active citizen and believer in Nigeria's potential for greatness, has embarked on many lofty advocacies to promote public accountability, peace, and dialogue.

In 2015, he created a plethora of fora to discuss 'Project Nigeria'; held citizen-engagement meetings, and submitted a memorandum on constitutional amendments to the National Assembly in 2022.

In 2018, he founded the United Muslim Community Care Foundation to feed indigent Nigerians of all religious persuasions. The foundation has been feeding many families during this Ramadan and providing them with some stipends.

As Alhaji Oduwole marks this milestone birthday, the President wishes him good health and renewed vigour in his service to humanity.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale 

Special Adviser to the President 

(Media & Publicity) 

April 7, 2024

Yesterday marked his golden priestly anniversary (50 years). I was among those who were under his guidance, both as a mass server and in the seminary. Unfortunately, after representing Mr. Peter Obi at three events, I arrived late as his representative at the event after the homily by another of our great teachers, Bishop Jonas Benson Okoye. However, I caught the reverberations of the sermon upon my arrival. OSTENDE said it was the first time he observed the emotional side of our Lord Bishop, thus prompting my request for the video. I just finished listening to it after today's 6 am mass. I appreciate the sentiments expressed by the bishop. The sermon's summary is that Monsignor Mgbemfulu is a priest in both fact and name.Prompted by the foregoing, may I repost my article on him in 2020, when he retired after 40 years in the seminary? I was humbled when Msgr said that this article inspired him to pen down his autobiography, which was one of the books presented at the anniversary. Read on!

Sylvester Mgbemfulu: a Priest and a Teacher - Valentine Obienyem

We cannot study our subject, Monsignor Sylvester Mgbemfulu in isolation, but must first look at the subtle interplay of culture, tradition and heritage all of which helped shape his outlook and even concept of reality. 

Among these influences, perhaps after his parents, there is his home-town. Born on the 30th of September, 1945 inUgbene, in today’s ANorth Local Government Area of Anambra State, he attended primary schools in Ugbene, Ugbenu and Nando. These towns of relatively same level of development, tucked away from civilization at that time, may have contributed to his shyness. After his primary education, he stayed in the village helping his parents in their vocations, especially farming and fishing. He still recognizes the species of fish by their silent cries, speed and other aquatic characters which only fishermen understand.  

While in the village, like other children, as testified by some of his age-mates such as Chief Simeon Dilinyeru, he was awed by the periodic visit of early priests to the area for spiritual ministration. At this point, he started yearning to become like them, particularly, as revealed by his immediate elder brother, Mr. Longinus Mgbemfulu, with the support of his father who saw it as a good omen that he was born on a day one of those priests first visited their community. Fortune smiled his way when, in 1962, another of his elder brothers, Hon. Mmee David Mgbemfulu took him to Aba to join him as a vendor of newspapers. The movement to Aba exposed him to another stream of influence as one experiences with the movement from primitivism to modernism.   

As a young boy, Mons as he is fondly called by his people, seemed ready-made for the priesthood. This was attested to by his people of Ugbene, including his brothers and age mates and brothers who contend that he was made for the priesthood and nothing else. Speaking to them, this writer figured out that Mons has always been calm, reserved, soft-spoken and inclined to sanctity. Simeon Dilinyeru reveals that they “grew up together and went to school at the same time. At that time some people were against his becoming a priest but we knew that he would eventually become one because of the holiness of life that was decipherable even at that young age. Rather than struggle for anything, he would let it go”. 

From Aba, Mons was enrolled at All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha in 1963. In 1968, he moved on to Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. Due to the Civil War, the Seminary was largely peripatetic, moving from one town to the other as dictated by the uncertainties of the war. Eventually, he was ordained on the 20th of April, 1974, by Francis Cardinal Arinze, then the Archbishop of Onitsha. We can, therefore, say of him just like all priests and ex-seminarians who imbibed the right training, that he was moulded by the best institution for that purpose – the Seminary. There, his body and mind, character and disposition in life were profoundly formed. He was undoubtedly presented with the usual opportunity to devour books hungrily, to imbibe sound discipline, to think clearly, to inspire holiness by living a holy life, to realize how sweet and noble it is to work for God and perhaps as sometimes the case, he got intoxicated by over-dose of religiosity.

Even as a young priest, the priestly vows of obedience, poverty and chastity made the greatest meaning for him and he resolved to succeed rather than fail with them. As a new priest, he received the gift of a motorcycle from his people, which he put to full use in the propagation of the gospel. Seeing the competition of virtues in him, Cardinal Arinze took special interest in him and sent him to St. Paul’s Seminary, Ukpor as the Rector, after a stint as the Assistant Parish Priest to Monsignor William Obelaguat St Mary’s Catholic Church, Inland Town, Onitsha. Following Mons’ progress and love for education with keen interest, the Cardinal sponsored him to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) to study Chemistry.

On graduation in 1981, while waiting to resume in the Seminary of the newly-created Awka Diocese under the pastoral care of Most Rev. Dr. Albert Obiefuna, Mons was posted as an Assistant Parish Priest to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Awka which then covered many towns. During this period, this writer served Mons at mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Dodo, Oji River. We then usually referred to him as the Short Priest. He was about five feet tall, but the authority and majesty of the priesthood make him seem taller. Mons has maintained his stature over the years without any extra ounce of flesh to burden him simply because he is exceedingly temperate in food, drink and other worldly indulgences.

The following year, 1982, his long sojourn in the Seminary began at St. John Bosco Seminary, Isuaniocha. Except for three years he was in the USA on sabbatical, he was in the Isuaniocha Seminary for thirty-eight years variously as the pioneer Rector, Academic Dean, Co-ordinator of Science Laboratories, Spiritual Director, from which he retired in 2020, after reaching the canonical years of seventy-five. Only priests that are manifestly free from every kind of corruption and superior to the consideration of money can stay in such an environment for almost forty years without some protest. On the 17thof December, 2020, during his send-off at Isuaniocha, Mons exposed his inspiration in his address: “One of the past Rectors of this seminary, Very Rev. Fr. Ikem Oliobi did inspire me with the newspaper cuttings he used to paste on the walls of his living and sitting rooms. One of such cuttings read: ‘Bloom where you are planted’. What a statement with lots of lessons”.  

With the fore-going, the search for Mons’ secret of remaining in the seminary during his pastoral work ended. The popular view about his long stay in the seminary was captured by a priest of the diocese, Rev. Fr. Dr. Cosmas Ebebe this way: “For his many years of teaching in the Seminary, some priests used to joke that he has been ‘forgotten’ there because his location remained the same when other priests were given new postings”.

But his stay in the seminary was eventful and could be seen from the reactions of many of the students that passed through him. Each epoch had its own identity of Monsignor Mgbemfulu. During the writer’s own time, 1987 to 1989, we called him “Omo”. The set of the late 1990s nick-named him “Sawan”. The Chemistry laboratory was his second home; and the students joked he did not buy fuel for his brown Corolla panel van but rather mixed some chemicals in the lab. with which he powered the car. As a teacher, he is Chemistry-intoxicated as he could be seen now and then fiddling with specimen, opening and closing the descanter or pouring one chemical into a test tube. His name provided chemistry with a synonym. 

Fr. Obinna Dike remembers his first day in the Chemistry lab., where he usually had his lectures and how Mons welcome the class with the song: “ Come and see American Wonder”. Was it meant to frighten them? Not at all; knowing Mons, it was a joke he used to welcome some of his students who were thinking about what Chemistry had to offer. 

Whatever impression students had of him, mostly informed by the exuberance of the youth, one thing is clear: Monsignor is a person that can reason and be reasoned with. He is possessed of great personal warmth and what can be called spiritual charm. 

The sentiments of his former students were summed up by the Chairman of Old Boys of the seminary and a lecturer at Oko Polytechnic, Mr. Celestine Ostende Oguegbu in a compact paragraph: “Permit me to remark that throughout his stay in this Seminary, he was an outstanding tutor and committed to promoting excellence in both our education and spiritual life. Monsignor is ever smiling, always tolerant and eager to help when students have things bothering their minds”. Earlier, in an eloquent exordium, he had described Monsignor as “great teacher of teachers”. Bursting with compliments, Mr. Tochukwu Oboboegbunam described him as a “rare synthesis of ability and integrity”.

Though he occupied all positions available in the seminary, one constant thing was that he remained the Chemistry teacher and the Chemistry lab. was his office and second home, thus echoing by his life-style, the statement credited to Democritus: “I would rather discover a single demonstration in Geometry than win the throne of Persia”. Sometimes, it was even rumoured among Seminarians that the secret of his looking young every day could be explained on the possibility of Mons having discovered through chemical mixtures an elixir to look younger which he kept to himself and periodically sipped in the chemistry lab. 

The end of the story is that Mons was married to Chemistry as to the priestly vocation; and for years was one of the resource persons for JAMB and WAEC on the subject. Unable to separate himself from Chemistry, let us sample some lines in his address during his send-off party, where, referring to his preceding statement, reduced it to some Chemical analysis: “… the statement takes me to one of the topics of study in practical Chemistry, ‘Theory of Indicators’. Under the topic, we observe that an indicator is selected such that its end-point will be close to the stoichiometric point of the acid-base titration it indicates and that choice of an indicator depends on the strength of acid and base to be titrated. Due to the fact that many acid-base indicators are plant pigments, plants of the same type have flowers of different colours in soils of different pH. So every indicator has a pH range at which it changes colour, i.e., at which it indicates and this is the basis for choice of indicator in volumetric analysis. When this natural law of behaviour of plants is applied in the deployment of personnel in the Church and government, the result will be a wonderful beautiful mosaic of outcome. Let every administrator take good note of this. Everyone has the potential to bloom where he/she is planted and if planted within the right pH range of his God-given talents”.  

From the fore-going, we imagine what long marriage to Chemistry has done to Mons! He sees life and living from the prisms of Chemistry. Fr Ebebe got it right when he said: “He was perhaps the best Chemistry teacher of his days”. He reminds us of Napoleon Bonaparte, who expressed part of his strategy in mathematical formula: “The strength of an army, like the amount of momentum in mechanics, is estimated by the mass times the velocity”. We are profoundly influenced by what we do well.

Mons was kept in the Seminary precisely because of his virtues and the seminary provided the right pH range for his development through time and he really bloomed through his work. Again, Fr. Cosmas Ebebe was apt: “Msgr. Sylvester Mgbemfulu is a consummate, humble, hardworking and service-oriented priest. He was called to the altar of the Lord as a priest but he ascended to altar of holiness by his submission to God and to authority in the Church. He keeps the laws of God and so does not find it impossible to keep human regulations”. Mons’ Parish Priest and a retired Army Officer, Rev. Fr. Ignatius Ukoh said of him: “Monsignor is an example of what priests should be: obedient and completely detached from material things. He stayed long in the seminary with apostolic patience, forming the young ones, teaching and being faithful to the Church”.

In 2015, some old priests, including Mons that had served the Church in various capacities were elevated to Monsignors. What are the attributes that qualifies one to become a Monsignor and what are the criteria? Purely an honorary title, it is often bestowed by the Pope on the recommendation of bishops, on priests who have distinguished themselves in the service of the Church. Monsignor Sylvester Mgbemfulu’s elevation shows that he really bloomed to fruition where he was dropped. 

Another criterion for naming one a Monsignor is the age factor. At a time we started witnessing very young priests being named Monsignors, Pope Francis in 2014 made it mandatory that for any priest to be so named, he must have reached the age of sixty-five. Yes, at sixty five, everybody can effectively and objectively measure one’s contributions on its own very terms. This is a welcome development. It is not about the magnitude of our achievements, but the fact that we did our best and put up utmost sacrifice where we found ourselves. The children of these days and those that attended Isuaniocha in late 2000 may not understand what the town was or looked like when Monsignor started his apostolate there. It was then devoid of all the trappings of modern development including electricity. As a student, when it rained, no vehicle plied the road to the town from Awka. One could just imagine how many times Mons slept outside the school because the rains prevented him from getting back to the station. For a priest like Mgbemfulu, his apostolic triumphs lay neither in the Naira he has made nor the mansions he has erected, but on how many times rains denied him access, how many priests he has formed for God and how many souls he has saved. Even in his home-town of Ugbene, his people said of him: “Mons was instrumental to so many people that embraced Christianity in Ugbene, our town”. His niece, Onyinye Mgbemfulu said: “Mons taught us so many things, namely, how to pray, respect for sound values and love for education”. Profoundly fond of him, his elder brother, Mr. Longinus Mgbemfulu said he was the best brother anyone could ever hope to have; not in terms of material things to gain from him, but his concern for one’s salvation. 

Beyond preaching Christ to his people, he also identifies with them in various other ways, especially in infrastructural development. He loves his town, attends meetings with them and contributes to the development of the area. He was the Special Assistant to Archbishop Albert Obiefuna on the construction of access road to the Ugbene and other neighbouring communities in the 1980s. He contributed perhaps more than any other person to the construction of the bridge over the Ezu River to access Ugbene from Amanuke. Simeon Dilinyeru reveals that he was granted the honorific title of Ike Ugbene because of his devotion to the progress of the town: “He joins the town’s meeting every December, and we rely on him to know the truth at times of doubt or deliberate falsehood. Once he says what he knows, everybody believes. There is nothing that goes on in the town that he is not rightly informed”.

On their expectations, still representing the voice of this people, Dilinyeru said they had long awaited his ascendancy to the Episcopacy, but are handicapped to do anything about that since it is the prerogative of Rome.

If popularity is determined by how widely one is known, Msgr. Mgbemfulu, from his little corner, is unarguably the most-known priests among other priests of Awka and Ekwulobia Dioceses. This is so because priests ordained in the 1990s till date in both dioceses passed through him.   

Mons is also profoundly charitable within his limited means. He made a lot of sacrifices for the good of students but always within what he could afford; and that defines true charity. Again, let Fr. Ebebe who worked with him as Auxiliary let us into Mons’ considerate nature: “His selflessness is perhaps his most hidden virtue but counting in his Favour before God. When I did one year apostolic work at St. John Bosco Seminary, after graduating in Philosophy in 1984/1985, Fr Sylvester Mgbemfulu was on the staff as the Chemistry teacher. A senior Seminarian, Mr. Peter Okoye from Nanka had severe liver problem and was declared terminally ill. The course of his treatment entailed taking him to University Teaching Hospital Enugu once a week while he remained hospitalized at St Joseph’s Hospital, Adazi Nnukwu. The problem of taking the seminarian to Enugu in a private vehicle rather than use of public transport came up for discussion. Fr. Mgbemfulu donated his one and only panel van for the service. He gave what he had for the course of charity. When I got to Adazi Hospital, the hospital Chaplain and manager who had a relatively brand new Peugeot 504 was touched by the kind gesture of Fr. Mgbemfulu and in following his footsteps asked that I left the panel van at Adazi and conveyed the sick seminarian with his 504. That began my weekly journey of driving Fr. Mgbemfulu’s car to Adazi and driving the 504 to Enugu with the sick seminarian. It lasted for some months before the seminarian later died. His selflessness spoke loudly to other priests. Secretly, many of us admire him for his obedience, humility, and holiness of life. We cherish his whole-hearted cheerfulness and his detachment from material things. He is a loving saint for whom we are praying for his final perseverance. Sometimes, some of us say, ‘I wish I had the good disposition of Fr. Mgbemfulu’.”

Many people corroborate Fr. Ebebe’s position. I heard a former Acting Rector of the institution telling how Mgbemfulu challenged the spirituality of the priests that worked with him. He said that while in the Seminary, Mons’ magna silencia started at 4am daily, when he would always be seen in the Fathers’ chapel meditating and praying even before others woke up. Most Fathers who worked with him, like Fr. Barr. Clement Muozoba, remembers him very well as a priest who hates oppression, extravagance and display. “No one”, Fr. Muozoba says, “ever questioned his assiduous devotion to his many tasks”. Fr. Anthony Umeh also expressed the character of Mons with great exactness: “His quiet, staid character, his modest simplicity and indiscourageable honesty and just nature won him the hearts of many who have worked with him”. Indeed, he is the living embodiment of Aeschylus poetic line: “for not seeming just, but being so”.

Mons has a shy disposition and that could be noticed even at first meeting with him, but like St. Francis of Assisi, he loves nature and cherishes its company. Once not in the lab., he would be busy under the mango trees watching and appreciating nature. The guinea fowls that found sanctuary in the Seminary fly off when anybody is at sight except Monsignor Mgbemfulu. Even at the point of leaving the Seminary, he was thinking about what happens to them and made a final plea for the animals in the following words: “As I retire from the seminary, I shall miss the fraternal company of the priests on the staff, my classes, the chemistry laboratory which has become my second home, the mango trees especially those behind the lawn tennis courts and our harmattan season cherished and welcome but evasive guests: the guinea fowls who have been given sanctuary in the Seminary over the years and for whom I plead on their behalf that the tradition is not allowed to die”.

As a priest, though soft-spoken, every word that came out of his mouth is loaded with wisdom. As a student, this writer carried a note-book and biro at all times to catch ideas or wise sayings in their flight. I just came across one of my jottings thus: “Today being Sunday, the 25th of September, 1988, Fr. Mgbemfulu during his Sunday Homily said that ‘self-preservation is the greatest instinct in man’.” Such are bits of wisdom contained in his utterances and those of formators everywhere. Such words leave powerful impressions upon one’s emotions.

As he enjoys his deserved retirement at St. Felix’s Catholic Church, Nibo, I am sure the place will become a pilgrimage for the Old boys and others in society. Who would not like to visit such a person for diverse reasons: to thank him for remaining an exemplary priest, for his contribution to education in the State, for the training received under him, among others?

The first pilgrimage to the great priest was on the 4th of January, 2021 by the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi. During the visit, he thanked Mons for his contributions to education in Nigeria. In reply, Mons, pleasantly surprised, thanked Mr. Obi for championing education revolution in the State through the return of school to the church. 

As we cherish the example of Msgr. Mgbemfulu’s life, let us endeavour to learn from him and pattern our lives after his. This is the best legacy to learn from him.

Obienyem, Special Adviser to Mr. Peter Obi, wrote from Lagos.

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere, has decried the over 200 per cent electricity tariff increase, saying that it will thwart the current administration’s effort at boosting the economy as businesses will shrink.

Afenifere, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare AJayi on Saturday.

Afenifere spokesman then wondered how comment by President Bola Tinubu that there is no driver of the economy that is bigger than the private sector during meeting with some organization’s CEO, some days ago can come to past when the amount to be paid per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity jumped from N68 to N225 just within 24 hours of its announcement.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on April 4 announced that from the following day, electricity consumers on Band A would begin to pay N225 per kilowatt hour as against N68 they have been paying up till then.

Taking a swipe at this decision, Afenifere submitted that it is erroneous to say that only those who are direct enrollees in a particular Band utilize the power being supplied through that band.

“For instance, a Band A consumer is likely to have people in his/her household or place of work where the power is being consumed. Meaning that if 1.5 million is the figure the government has as enrollees on Band A, the number of people who depend on the power coming therefrom would be about five times that figure.

“Besides, by calling on players in the power sector to ensure that people get what they are paying for is like putting the cart before the horse”, Part of the statement read.

The statement further pointed out that virtually everywhere in the country there is the poor supply of electricity and low quality of the commodity sometimes.

Afenifere noted that if relevant government agencies are to be sincere with Nigerians, what they should do is to first ensure regular and efficient supply of electricity before acceding to increase in payment for services that are being poorly rendered.

According to the statement, “A rough calculation indicated that a person on Band A who was paying an average of N50,000 per month (on N68 per kWh) would now have to pay N170,000 for the same service. Note the increase!

“It is noteworthy that the Ministry and its agency, the NERC, are interested in the revenue that would be generated rather than first ensuring regular and efficient supply.

“This is in contradistinction to the claim that the government agencies care about the pains of Nigerians. It is clear that rather than exploring ways to reduce the cost of producing energy thus reducing the pains of Nigerians, the relevant government agencies are passing the price of their own inefficiency on the people.

“For instance, increase in the cost of gas was used as the reason for the hike in electricity tariff.

“Yet, it is clear that even the present cost of producing gas, and by implication electricity, can be made more efficient.

“In other words, both the price of gas as well as electricity would be far lower than what they are presently if the agencies concerned had gone into research and/or take advantage of available information on cost-efficient production of energies”.

[Businessday]

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, on Friday, gave necessary insight into his ministry’s activities and the plans of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to improve power supply in the country.

Adelabu also urged Nigerians to be patient with him, saying that the positive yields of the reforms in the power sector will be visible and more importantly sustainable.

Below are the major highlights of the press conference.

– Before the tariff changed, the government subsidized 67% of electricity costs, rising even higher for generation alone.

– The estimated subsidy cost for 2024, before tariff adjustment, was approximately 2.9 trillion Naira.

– After the adjustment, the estimated subsidy cost for 2024 reduced to around 1.4 trillion Naira. This is a huge drop of over 50% in subsidies alone.

– The tariff increase came with a reduction in Band A feeders, with only 481 remaining out of over 1,000.

– Nigeria has around 12 million electricity customers.

– Only 15% of the total customers who are categorized as Band A customers accounts will no longer receive subsidies.

– Only slightly over 5 million customers are currently metered, leaving a gap of over 6 million.

– Subsidzed pricing will continue temporarily, with a plan to move towards cost-reflective pricing in three years.

– The tariff change is aimed at testing the concept of full payment for 20-24 hours of daily supply.

– The pricing adjustment aims to address liquidity issues and make investments in the sector more feasible.

– There are significant infrastructure challenges in the power sector, including obsolete equipment and vandalism.

– DisCos failing to provide 20 hours of supply to Band A consumers will face sanctions.

– DisCos has an incentive to migrate other bands to Band A to charge higher tariffs.

– Energy consumption management is crucial despite the poorly received ‘freezer’ example.

– Ongoing efforts include regulatory decentralization, renewable energy investments, and infrastructure improvements.

[NaijaNews]

In the 19th century and even before, Bobriskys were lynched like common criminals. Their sin was their considered unusual sexuality. Until then, homosexual activities were classified as  “unnatural crime against nature” while sodomy got punished with, sometimes death. In comparison, Okuneye Idris Olanrewaju, famously known as Bobrisky, has suffered one of the mildest fates. Between 1877 and 1950, over 4000 of such lynching occurred. As recently as April 2017, Kenne McFadden, a black transgender woman who didn’t have experience of swimming, got drowned when she was pushed into the San Antonio River in Texas on account of her “nauseating” sexuality. That much was said in 2020 by Emily Lenning, Sara Brightman and Carrie Buist in their “The Trifecta of Violence: A Socio‑Historical Comparison of Lynching and Violence Against Transgender Women.” Writing for Critical Criminology, they said five months after the McFadden case, specifically in September, 2017, Ally Lee Steinfeld, a white 17-year-old transgender teen, also got brutally murdered. Her cruel fate was brought about by three teenagers. She was stabbed in the genitals, her eyes gouged out, her body set alight and her remains dumped “in a chicken coop near a mobile home park in Missouri.”

Two months later, in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Sherrell Faulkner, a 45-year-old Black transgender woman, got cruelly beaten and then dumped behind a dumpster. 

Days after, the injuries she suffered led to her death in the hospital. Till today, Faulkner’s murderers have not been identified. The three cases, according to Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) 2018, represented a tiny strand of at least 29 murders of transgenders that the United States recorded in 2017, ranked as the deadliest year for the Bobriskys in recent history. HRCF also reported that between 2013 and 2019, it tracked 157 cases of fatal anti-transgender incidents.

Perhaps this was what weird but hugely talented Nigerian singer, rapper and songwriter, Habeeb Okikiola, a.k.a. Portable, was referencing in Brotherhood, a short musical he did attacking Bobrisky recently? In the song, Portable condemned Bobrisky for morphing from “brotherhood to sisterhood.” While body-shaming the embattled cross-dresser as “a disgrace to brotherhood” and having ameoeba-shaped buttocks that looked like a clay pot worth only a pound – e wo idi e bi koko ponun kan – Portable asked that Bobrisky be stoned to death – “e le l’oko pa!”

Like Portable, from ancient times, the world has never hidden its hostility against people who profess sexual orientation different from its. Like, it says, can only be compared to likes – ohun t’o ba jo’hun l’a fi nwe’hun. The world even gave its anger towards homosexuality religious validation. Following this route, Italian priest, philosopher and theologian, Thomas Aquinas, condemned homosexuality as “unnatural.” The biblical book of Leviticus 18: 22; 20:13 is often cited: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination,” as well as Romans 1: 26 where biblical Paul hoisted up lesbianism for condemnation: “For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.”  

The Bobriskys come in various names and appellations. They are either bisexual, in which case, they are attracted to persons of both sexes; Butch, male and female who dress in stereotyped male ways; “In the closet,” because they do not disclose their gender identity; Femme, due to their acting and dressing in feminine ways; gays, for their attraction to persons of same sex and as LGBTQ, a sweeping categorization of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders and Questionings. Bobrisky is Nigeria’s own daughter of the historical Greek woman, Sappho, an Archaic Greek poet, who hailed from Eresos on the Island of Lesbos. Sappho was the first known woman “accused by some of being irregular in her ways and a woman-lover.” She is venerated by lesbians as the foremother, the near mythical prototype of people with queer sexual cravings. Lesbianism, the community of same sex women, was forged from Lesbos, the name of the island Sappho lived on. Bobrisky patterns her life towards Sappho and has become a controversial self-confessed transgender, LGBTQ personality and campaigner.

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2015, 47), the umbrella term used to describe the Bobriskys of this world, called transgender, refers to “… people whose gender identity and expression does not conform to the norms and expectations traditionally associated with their sex at birth. Transgender people include individuals who have received gender reassignment surgery, individuals who have received gender-related medical interventions other than surgery (e.g. hormone therapy) and individuals who identify as having no gender, multiple genders or alternative genders. Transgender individuals may self-identify as transgender, female, male, transwoman or transman, transsexual, hijra, kathoey, waria or one of many other transgender identities, and they may express their genders in a variety of masculine, feminine and/or androgynous ways.”

Homosexuality, cross-dressing or lesbianism is as old as humanity. The holy writs seem to abet the cruelty and violence that humanity has inflicted on these creations of God. While some antiquities tolerated their sexual fates, others visited their wraths on the offspring of Sappho. Well-known lesbian Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, Christine Downing, in her Lesbian Mythology, suggests that lesbianism is a grueling life of isolation, confusion and terror. This was her conclusion while re-casting Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso’s myth. Naso, simply known as Ovid, had told a story which has almost become a global lesbian epistemology. Heroine of the story, Iphis, born female, desired to be male. Her mother had hidden her gender from her father, a poor Cretan peasant who badly wanted a male child. Iphis’ mother was in despair in her pregnancy until the goddess, Isis advised her to deceive her husband about the child’s gender.  At age 13, Iphis fell in love with the most beautiful girl on the island called lanthe. Raised as a male, there was confusion, making her mother cry to the god, Isis. As Iphis and Ianthe walk home one day, Iphis’ features suddenly change to a man’s and “the boy Iphis gained his own Ianthe.” Downing apparently retold this story to reduce the tension of horrific encounters of the children of Sappho.

Bobrisky leapt into the news again recently. He/she had been named winner in the ‘Best Dressed’ Female Category of popular Yoruba actress, during the premiere of Eniola Ajao’s Beast of Two Worlds, Ajakaju movie premiere. Scalding criticisms erupted on social media. Bobrisky’s choice sparked uncomplimentary reactions. Not even Eniola’s immediate apologies on her social media handles and reversal of what she declared was a stunt gone sour were enough appeasements. A few days later, the EFCC arrested Bobrisky, charging her to court for mutilation of Nigeria’s currency totaling N490,000. He/she was immediately convicted, ranking it as one of the Concorde supersonic airliner -speed convictions ever given by the Nigerian judiciary. We hope the Nigerian judiciary and the EFCC will give the Kano State government-filed criminal charges against the immediate past governor and APC chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, same expeditious trial. Kano had resorted to trying Ganduje over alleged $413,000, N1.38bn bribery during his governorship and had assembled 15 witnesses to testify against Ganduje.

In a country where mutilation of the national currency is an off-the-cuff weekend pastime of the elite and the political class in Nigeria, it was obvious that a deeply religious, conservative, African-centric animosity against unusual sexuality was fighting back. When stunned about how odd events fit into one another to form a mesmerizing wonder, Yoruba will say Ó jọ gáté, kò jọ gàté, ó fi ẹsẹ̀ méjèèjì tiro. It is similar to the case of a limping masquerade (atiro) who enters the “Igbale”, where masquerades remove their mask regalia –ago. If an agbada-clad, limping person now walks out of the Igbale immediately, it shouldn’t be difficult to situate who the atiro was. No one needed to be told that the masquerader, like the nightingale – the beautiful Awoko bird – had shed its quills. Such is the wonderment and clinical precision of Bobrisky’s lynching. A highly religious Nigeria was obviously taking vengeance for Bobrisky’s sexuality audacity.

Some scholars have said that, until about half a century ago, lesbianism or gay relationship was a nonexistent phenomenon in Africa. According to them, per adventure it even ever did exist, it was an aberration imported from the West. Anthropological researches have however proved that the existence of same-sex sexual practices predates the now in Africa into before, during, and after colonialism. The practice was however disparaged. Dobrota Pucherova said this much in her “What Is African Woman? Transgressive Sexuality in 21st-Century African Anglophone Lesbian Fiction as a Redefinition of African Feminism.” Africans saw lesbianism as an example of a woman’s corruption, moral depravity and even madness. Pucherova uses the Kenyan Rebeka Njau’s novel, Ripples in the Pool (1975) and Ghanaian Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy (1977) as affirmation of this thesis. In Njau’s novel, the protagonist, Selina, gets infatuated with her husband’s younger sister. She was cast as exhibiting “predatory sexual desire” toward the two siblings. The book consigns Selina’s behaviour into the trash basket of egomania and a damaged personality. It also suggests that Selina makes use of witchcraft to control her victims. No wonder she ends up murdering the young girl and her male lover. Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy sees same-sex as less predatory. In it, a German housewife becomes obsessed with Sissie, the Ghanaian protagonist. Marija’s obsession is painted as a measure of moral degeneration reminiscent of post-Holocaust German society. All these and other African literature openly thematized lesbian desire, showing however that black women are victimised through patriarchal control of their sexuality. An example is Monica Arac de Nyeko’s short story, Jambula Tree, which is the first East African text to do so.

Last week was Easter, a sacred day in the annals of world Christianity. Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service’s (FIRS) communication agency would not allow the day to go by without marketing its tax portfolio. So it put out the brilliant, catchy and arresting phrase “Jesus paid your debts, not your taxes.” This brilliance and mental ingenuity should earn any student of PR a Distinction. Not Nigeria’s churchpreneurs. They saw it as reckless audacity operating on the same dangerous Fahrenheit as Bobrisky’s. I haven’t heard the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) lament the danger in the current obnoxious hike in electricity tariff. That won’t make Bola Tinubu know that CAN is a combination of Christian principalities. On FIRS, CAN reached for its ancient pouch immediately. It brought out those archaic, boring refrains of “offensive” “derogatory” and “religious harmony.” I have been struggling to find a difference between CAN’s obvious intolerance and a similar one that happened in Kaduna in November, 2002. Twenty one year old Isioma Daniel, who worked for the Thisday, had written on a Miss World contest Nigeria was to host. She off-handedly and harmlessly suggested that Prophet Mohammed might have approved of the contest and probably wished to marry one of the beauty queens. Hell was let loose. The newspaper’s Kaduna office was burned down. Hundreds of people were reportedly killed. The ensuing riots lasted for several days, prompting the organisers of the Miss World contest to relocate it to London to protect further lives from being lost.

One thread links our Bobrisky demonization, CAN’s hypocritical anger and Islam’s pesky religiosity. It is called intolerance. I referred to the witch-hunting of same sex people as “our” because, if today, Bobrisky offers his/her hand to me for a handshake, I will shudder. I am almost too sure I will refuse it. My refusal will not be strictly me in action. Rather, it will be centuries of culture, religion and our collective aversion to change which have bored deep roots in me. These three hate change. Their mantra is, as it was in the beginning, so shall it be. Static as a statue.

Take for instance our cultural and religious perception of child-bearing and polygamy. For centuries now, Africa venerated procreation almost to a point of deity. Whoever brings forth a child owns this world – “Olomo l’o l’aye” – our mothers proudly sang. In Africa, barren women were stigmatised because women were seen as procreation vehicles called motherhood. In the bible, Peninnah scorned Hannah’s barrenness. Our mothers, who, due to no fault of theirs, couldn’t bring forth children, were witches. In earlier centuries, some cultures abetted barren women being stoned to death by scorners. Today, the world has re-interrogated the whole corpus of child-bearing. Couples willingly decide they don’t want to be encumbered by it. Is it really true that Olomo l’o l’aye? Great men and women have traversed this world without bearing children. Their corpses were not fed to the swine. Nor are we told that child-bearing is a passport to the hereafter. We have had parents who gave birth to children but died miserably, due to their abandonment by their children.

Today, there is a huge traffic back to where we were before the advent of colonialism. Soon after Britain and its Middle East allies came with their Bible, Quran and guns, we abandoned our centuries-old medicine, dressing and culture. Now, Africans are going back to those same abandoned roots, apologies to Lucky Dube. One of such is polygamy. Last week, Bassirou Diomaye Faye was inaugurated as the fifth Senegalese President, flaunting his two wives – Marie Khone and Absa. I could see the west squeeze its face like excreta beaten by rain. The hypocritical west flushes monogamy and homosexuality down the throat of the world while abhorring our ancient practice of polygamy. Reproached in high places as Faye just did, monogamy and its icing of hypocrisy are getting perforated. The truth is that the stringent rules of monogamy have destroyed more homes than they built.

We must interrogate every teaching and dogma of religion, culture and society and hold on to those that will assist us live quality lives. That is what existentialist philosophy teaches. Today, churchgoers are asking questions about the stupendous wealth of the Daddy G.Os and the poverty of the congregants. We must not be slaves to them, nor be their mannequins. While upholding values that will strengthen humanity, we must also show respect for otherness and recognize individual human rights. What is Jesus’ business with FIRS’ quest to bring more people into its tax net? Parodying Isioma, if Jesus were here today, He would recommend a national honour for the fellow whose brilliant idea birthed that FIRS line. Why drag Jesus and Mohammed into this needless pettiness? What should infuriate a sensible human being about Mohammed enjoying Miss World? Why should we be captives of dogmas? Why should we allow the bigotry of CAN and zealotry of Islamic fundamentalists drive our thinking? Religious charlatans and their naïve accomplices merely make their enemies the enemies of God. If CAN has been slumbering and needed to talk by all means, couldn’t it dig a hole like that old Yoruba fable of Alade’s friend, who couldn’t stomach the confided secret of Alade growing a horn on his head, who then dug a hole, inside which he shouted, “Alade has horn on his head!” –  Alade hu’wo? From that same hole grew a tree and whenever anyone bought a flute beside it, the rhythm sprouting off the flute was: “Alade hu’wo.”

Earlier, it was society’s view that people like Bobrisky were suffering from psychological disorders. Or that homosexuality was an abnormal condition. Science has since discovered that many atimes, the Bobriskys may be prisoners of their biology and psychology. Research has shown that you do not choose to be gay, bisexual, or straight. And that homosexuality is a natural and normal sexual orientation, expressions of human sexuality. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its radius in 1973, and with it the stigma of mental illness that had long been associated with the children of Sappho. Why do we demonise those who, like accidents of birth, have no say in the kind of sexuality they are imposed upon by nature?

Do I agree with Bobrisky’s open flaunt of his/her sexuality? No. I think one’s sexual orientation should be a private affair. I also advocate that children of Sappho deserve pity from society and should be clinically lured out of their natural affliction. I also think that, if dug deeper, Bobrisky’s untapped major infraction against the law may just be that she has turned her cross-dressing into a commodity. EFCC should openly admit that it is acting the script of a vindictive, homosexual-hostile Nigerian society in lynching Bobrisky. Singling him/her to face the wrath of the law is akin to the lynching treatment given homosexuals in the early centuries. Currency mutilation is a fad which very few Nigerians are not guilty of as charged, from Bola Tinubu, to the lowest Nigerian. An orgy of celebration on the social media has since followed Bobrisky’s lynching by the law. It reminds me of a hunter who proudly hoists the decapitated head of a buffalo as a symbol of his masculinity.

Do you want to live and work in the United States of Nigeria as opposed to the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Would you rather be a citizen of USN rather than FRN?

I ask that question because there is a renewed clamour for the renaming of the giant of Africa from its present identification as the Federal Republic of Nigeria to a new one, the United States of Nigeria. The current wave was triggered by Africa’s Optimist-In-Chief and President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, in his brilliant lecture delivered at his investiture as winner of the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize 2024.

I used to be bothered by appearing to be a blind copycat, especially if there was another way of presenting something that was not totally new. Follow the beaten path or create a new one? Most times, I opt to be as original as I can be without necessarily trying to reinvent the wheel. So, when the issue of renaming Nigeria re-emerged in the marketplace of public discourse, I was quite interested in steering the discourse towards more enduring territories than a mere copying and domestication of another country’s name.

What’s In A Name?
Some people have asked, what’s in a name? They argue that there’s no intrinsic value to a name and that any name is as good as any other. Of course, Shakespeare disagrees. In his play, Romeo and Juliet, he asks, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
By extension, following that argument, no matter the name you give to Nigeria, the country will still be what it is.

For our collective sakes, we should all be eager to prevent the discussion from degenerating into the usual pedestrian level of naming for naming’s sake. The change of name suggested by Dr. Adesina is but one of the items in a long list of ingredients required to make the Nigerian developmental soup of our dreams.

Adesina argues that Nigeria must dream. Like many analysts of the African condition before him, he links the destinies of Nigeria and the African continent together in a symbiotic relationship. He argues that we must start by unleashing our full potential while managing our challenges. We must make poverty history in Nigeria and, indeed, in Africa.

He argues that, “What is not acceptable or sustainable is an Africa that imports 70-80% of its medicines and produces just 1% of its vaccines. The health security of Africa’s 1.4 billion people cannot be subjugated to global supply chains or the generosity of others.”
Disclosing that over the last seven years, AfDB had invested over $8.5 billion in agriculture, which had impacted 250 million people, Adesina declares that the transformation of rural economies must be structural, systemic, strategic and comprehensive.

Not surprisingly, he advocates education and housing for all. He points out that, “Nigeria accounts for 15% of the total population of out-of-school children, according to UNICEF, with over 10.2 million at the primary school level, and 8.1 million at the Junior Secondary School. This is not a gold medal Nigeria should be proud of… I firmly believe that their future lies in a rapidly developing Nigeria, and Africa, that is able to generate quality jobs with competitive wages and a decent quality of life for millions of youths. That is why the African Development Bank Group and partners have provided $614 million to Nigeria for the i-DICE program to support the development of digital and creative enterprises, which are expected to create 6.3 million jobs and add an estimated $6.4 billion to the Nigerian economy.

Specifically on housing, Dr. Adesina notes that, “In Nigeria, 49% of the population live in slums, according to data by UN-Habitat. That is a staggering 102 million people! That is 152% of the population of the United Kingdom, 392% of the population of Australia, 268% of the population of Canada, 150% of the population of France, and 1,020% of the population of the United Arab Emirates. Right here in Lagos, a UN-Habitat assessment shows 70% of the population live in informal settlements or slums.”
Adesina decried what he called “the opprobrious policies that seek to upgrade slums”. In his view, “There is nothing like a 5-Star Slum: a slum is a slum. Urgent actions are needed to support mortgage financing and refinancing and use of innovative financing structures to raise long-term capital for closing the housing deficits.

Constitutional Lie
As a columnist who has closely followed and analysed the Nigerian condition for several decades, I have no doubt that the most crucial of the five variables for re-engineering a new Nigeria is the decentralisation or unbundling of the grotesque unitary structure imposed by the military at the onset of their misadventure into governance in 1966. Before that time, Nigeria was governed on the basis of a constitution peacefully negotiated by representatives of the people. Today, the current Nigerian constitution is the holiest lie in the country’s legal superstructure because everyone knows that the clause, “We, the people…” actually means, “We the military…”

Dr. Adesina points out that democracy is more than the right to cast a vote. It is the right of citizens to hold governments accountable for improvements in their welfare. He laments the situation where most Nigerians have been forced to constitute themselves into private local governments on account of the fact that they provide electricity for themselves via generators; repair roads in their neighbourhoods; provide boreholes for drinking water; and, we may as well add, provide their own security.
The sensible way out is to revert to an idea which informed the negotiations of the founding fathers of Nigeria at independence — and which served us well until the military rudely intervened — decentralise governance to constituent parts in order to provide greater autonomy.
Adesina’s belief in a new Nigeria is predicated on his conviction that, if things were done differently, the giant of Africa would be able to sing a new political and developmental song in the nearest future: “There is a compelling need for the restructuring of Nigeria. Restructuring should not be driven by political expediency, but by economic and financial viability. Economic and financial viability are the necessary and sufficient conditions for political viability.”

Restructuring
It is in the spirit of restructuring, of building the Nigerian pyramid from the bottom up, that Adesina’s call for the renaming of the country as the United States of Nigeria should be understood. What we have at the moment is a Unitary State of Nigeria disguised as a federal republic. A lie told in any language or vernacular, will always remain a lie!

Providentially, the National Assembly is in the process of amending the 1999 constitution in the midst of calls by several sub-national groups for an adoption of the report of the Constitutional Conference of 2014 or even a reversion to the original 1963 Republican Constitution. No matter the perspective of politicians on the matter, all agree that the current system is fraudulent and cannot lead Nigeria to its deserved place among the comity of nations.

If, in addition to restructuring or reversion to the originally negotiated constitution of Nigeria, our political engineers reach a consensus on renaming the country as the United States of Nigeria, you won’t find me among those bleating ‘Nay!’

Banyana Banyana head coach, Desiree Ellis believes there is still plenty to play for in their 2024 Olympic Games qualifier against the Super Falcons of Nigeria.
The reigning African champions lost 1-0 to Nigeria in the first leg at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Friday night.

Asisat Oshoala converted from the spot two minutes before the break after Chiwendu Ihezuo was fouled inside the box by Noko Matlou.
Ellis’ side were outplayed by the Super Falcons in the keenly contested encounter.
The gaffer is however optimistic her team will turn things around in the second leg.

“Look, we said it was going to be a tight game but we are hopeful of overturning this result in the second leg,” Ellis was quoted by Safa.net.

“We are still in the game. We created a couple of chances, a penalty decided the match but the game is not over. I thought in the second half we raised our game a lot and created good chances and could have equalized.

“Maybe we could also have gotten a penalty at the end when Jermaine was fouled but I’m very proud of the team and we will take it back to Pretoria.”

[Leadership]

DECADES back, in those giddy days of military rule, David Mark, one of the top military brass, was reported as saying that telephones are not for the poor. Mark was the Minister of Communications whose duty was to make telephones available, accessible and affordable for all. He failed and to mask his failure, he blurted out the embarrassingly outrageous statement that telephones were not for the poor. Truly, in that era, the telephone was a status symbol. You found telephones with and in the homes of the rich. The magical box was stationary and usually sat majestically in a conspicuous place in the sitting room, unlike the handset of today called the mobile phone because it is truly mobile.

Also, in those days, it was a symbol of status if you had a neighbour or family member with a phone at home or in the office, where you could go to receive or make a call. I remember those were the days when NITEL was king and everyone had to flock to their offices in select areas to wait in long queues and for long hours to make calls. In those days, too, calls to some destinations could only be made at specific periods of the day, some at midnight, because of network problems. It was easier in those days for a camel to pass through the eyes of a needle than for a poor person to make calls within the country, not to talk of international calls! You are not an ordinary person if you have someone abroad who can call you or that you can call.

Those days are far behind us now! Gradually, we began to have hand-held telephone sets. Or, better still, mobile phones that could be carried about in one’s car or bag. I remember my 090 Mobitel luggage of a phone when I was the editor of PUNCH newspapers. Only three of us had it in the entire organization – the Chairman, the Managing Director and my humble self. It was expensive making calls those days. I remember that I once was in charge of processing bills emanating from those Mobitel phones. After this came the revolution of GSM, which demystified hand-held or mobile phones and every Tom, Dick, and Harry could own phones. This radical change took place within a generation and David Mark himself witnessed it. He witnessed the poor owning phones.

On many, if not all fronts, life can be made more abundant for all and sundry; only that the leaders are not minded to do so. And they mask their failure or indifference in terms that give the impression that it is a tall order achieving such milestones. The fact, however, that Millennium Development Goals are set with datelines shows that these goals are achievable. Other nations achieve them; why not us? Water for all; housing for all; education for all; eradication of this or that; putting an end to open defecation, etc are some of the MDGs that have been set and that have been achieved in varying degrees elsewhere. Why not also here? There is hardly any goal set that is not achievable. Failure to achieve them is, often, evidence of failure of leadership. There is nowhere this is more evident in this country than in the area of power generation.

Apart from security of life and property and making food available to the people, power supply ought to rank next in the order of priorities. Even those two are helped by the availability of power. God made no mistake when He made light His first creation. “And God said, let there be light, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Before then there had been darkness, gross darkness. And just like Jesus Christ said, man works in the day (when there is light or power supply); night comes (darkness/power outage) when no man can work. Only God knows how much Nigeria has committed to power generation since its inception as an independent country in 1960. Since the beginning of the current Fourth Republic in 1999, the quantum of funds purportedly committed to power generation has been counted in billions of dollars. Yet, the more resources we commit, the less power we generate. The more we look, the less we see. Power generation, which is commonplace elsewhere, has become rocket science here.

And that failure has affected everything down the line. The quality of life is affected. The economy takes a beating. Cost of power generation is one of the major reasons why businesses are relocating from Nigeria. With that comes loss of revenue and loss of jobs, accentuating poverty and its attendant corollary. Little development and progress can be made in the face of epileptic power supply. Huge sums of money is wasted on the procurement and maintenance of generating sets and fuel to power them. The inconveniences involved apart, its effects on the environment are massive. High cost of doing business here affects cost of products and services, making businesses that operate here less competitive when compared to others in climes where power supply is more stable.

Government control failed to deliver the desirable results in the power sector. Civilians failed. Military, too, failed. Parliamentary system of government failed. Presidential system, too, has failed. Where, then, do we turn? Unbundling, as they called it, of the behemoth called NEPA also failed. Privatization and commercialization – everything we have tried has failed to yield the desired results. We get less all the time. Yet, customers have continued to pay more money for services not rendered. They pay to get light but get darkness in return. Yet, they are required again and again to pay more to get more of the same darkness. Another tariff review, always going upward and never coming down, defying Isaac Newton’s Law of Gravity, is in the offing again. How long?

The quantum of the new tariff increase is staggering; and there is no assurance of service improvement. Why pay through the nose for services you are almost certain will not be rendered? The statement that only Band A or the upper echelon customers will be affected does not offer enough assurance because, from experience, we know that the tariff increment will percolate to the other bands sooner or later.

Many of the federal housing estates built by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to bridge the country’s housing deficit are unoccupied and rotting away across states, investigations by Daily Trust on Sunday have revealed.

This is just as many civil servants are lamenting that the cost of the houses are unaffordable.

Successive governments in the country had pledged to provide affordable housing for low-income earners.

The contracts for the construction of different categories of housing units were awarded in 2016 to 542 contractors for a sum of N27.488 million per unit.

Of the 6,022 housing units billed for construction in 46 sites across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 2,864 are said to have been completed; while others are at various stages of completion.

While performing the groundbreaking ceremony of the civil servants housing estate in Apo Extension, Abuja, under the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) programme, Buhari had promised to build 5,000 houses yearly in each state for public workers for three years.

These included one, two and three-bedroom bungalows in states in the North- East, North-West and North-Central; blocks of 16 and 24 flats (condominiums) of one, two and three-bedrooms and bungalows in the South-South, South- East and South-West and the FCT.

Earlier this year, the ministry said it had audited the NHP, reviewed the allocation process and retained the prices fixed by the immediate past administration.

The fixed prices are N7.22 million for a one bedroom unit in a condominium block; N9.268 million for a one bedroom unit in a semi-detached bungalow; N9.148 million for a two bedroom unit in a condominium block; N12.398 million for a two bedroom semi-detached bungalow (type A); N10.833 million for a two bedroom semi-detached bungalow (type B); N13.246 million for a three bedroom unit in a condominium block and N16.491 million for a three bedroom unit in a semi-detached bungalow.

However, findings by our correspondents showed that many of the houses that were completed are still unoccupied as civil servants and low income earners, expected to benefit from the project, decried that the costs were beyond their reach.

Kwara

Many of the structures of the NHP’s estate, which was commissioned in 2022 by the then Minister of Iinformation and Culture, Lai Mohammed, are unoccupied. The estate consists of 48 units of two-bedroomd, 20 units of three-bedrooms; four units of one-bedroom and four units of three-bedrooms.

A resident, who simply identified himself as Mr Bunyamin, said: “They are just rotting away in the midst of lack of accommodation for many Nigerians due to the high price. A two-bedrooms flat is being sold for N12.5 million, N25 million for four-bedrooms, N16.5 million for three-bedrooms and N9.5 million for one-bedroom.”

Similarly, another resident in the estate, Mr Asare Max, said the cost of the houses was too exorbitant for low-income workers.

He said since the buildings were completed in 2017, they were painted more than five times before the commissioning, adding that some of the structures had started showing signs of damage.

Niger

In Niger State, our correspondent discovered that only few of the 80 units of the houses in the NHP’s estate were occupied. The estate, located at the Three-Arms Zone, Eastern Bypass, consists of four units of one-bedroom flat, 52 units of two-bedrooms, 20 units of three-bedrooms and four units of four bedrooms.

Some civil servants, who spoke to our correspondent, said they were interested in applying for the houses, but the portal was yet to be opened for prospective applicants.

Plateau

In Jos, the Plateau State capital, the NHP’s projects are unoccupied and deteriorating.

The state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Musa Ashoms, confirmed that the project was completed, but abandoned.

Ashoms said: “Yes, there is a federal government housing project located in Laminga village of Jos East Local Government of Plateau State. The project has since been completed and allocated, but unoccupied. Or, the project has been completed but not allocated. So, it is a completed project, but unoccupied.

“The housing project is a three-bedrooms flat, designed to be occupied by federal civil servants in the state. Now, these completed houses are fast deteriorating since they are not occupied.

“I hereby call on the federal government to, not only ensure these completed houses are allocated, but also occupied immediately, because houses not occupied deteriorate faster than the ones occupied”, he said.

 Kogi

In Kogi State, some of the houses at the federal housing estate along the Lokoja-Okene road at Crusher-Felele-Lokoja area of the state capital are unoccupied; while hoodlums have destroyed the facilities therein. The estate consists of one and three-bedrooms semi-detached bungalows.

One of the few occupants of Phase 1 of the estate, Kareem Aremu, said: “Many of the houses are empty because they have not been allocated to anyone. So, burglars continue to invade the estate and cart away fittings in some of the houses,” he said.

Some of the civil servants spoken to said the amount being charged per unit of the bungalows was far beyond the capacity of an average salary earner in the state. They said one-bedroom semi-detached bungalow costs N9.2 million.

“No civil servant or an average businessman can afford to pay such a huge amount to own a house in the estate. That is why most of the houses are still empty without owners,” a civil servant said.

He said the ministry recently issued a circular to prospective buyers to bid for the unoccupied houses.

Nasarawa

Many workers in Nasarawa State said they could not afford the cost of the federal housing estate located at Akurba in Lafia Local Government Area. The estate comprises 62 units of three-bedrooms detached bungalows (N10.1 million each) and 82 units of two-bedrooms detached bungalows (N9.2 million each).

A civil servant in the state appealed to both the federal and the state governments to “make the cost of the houses affordable to low-income earners”.

Benue

Just like in other states, the federal housing estate in Benue, located at Mobile Barracks-Adeke-Welfare road in Makurdi, was completed but largely unoccupied owing to “the huge costs”.

The Federal Controller of Works in Benue could not be reached as of the time of filing this report.

Kebbi

The NHP in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State capital, was commissioned by the former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, but five years after, the houses are yet to be allocated.

When our correspondent visited the housing units located along the By-pass in Birnin Kebbi, few of the housing units’ apartments were found occupied by beggars; and some others by miscreants. The roofs of some of the houses had been blown away by windstorm.

Workers told our correspondent that they had been waiting for the Federal Housing Authority to allocate the houses.

“They always tell us they have not been given approval to allocate the houses to the public. Now, you can see the state of the housing units; it’s worsening by the day,” he said.

When our correspondent visited the office of the controller of housing at Aliero Quarters in Birnin Kebbi, he was said to have traveled out of town.

But a senior staff member in the state office of the Ministry of Housing said the delay in allocating the houses “is a national issue.” He, however, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration had given approval for the allocation of the houses to members of the public.

“We started giving forms to people who are interested in the houses two months ago. We have taken all the applications to our headquarters in Abuja for approval so that we can begin to allocate the houses to lucky applicants,” the official who did not wish to be named said.

Jigawa

The federal government housing estate in Jigaw State, located opposite Jigawa Hotels Limited in Dutse, is unoccupied.

The estate, which is about 4km away from the Jigawa Government House, is being looked after by the officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to prevent hoodlums from vandalising its facilities.

The Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Badarudden Tijjani, told our correspondent that the corps had an understanding with the FHA to be protecting the estate.

Civil servants asked the federal government to allocate the houses to people in order ensure maintenance of the facility.

Roofs blown off in Yobe, Bauchi

When our correspondent visited the mass housing units on Damaturu-Maiduguri road in the Yobe State capital, some of the houses had their roofs blown off.

The houses are unoccupied, but security personnel have been deployed there to prevent vandalism.

When contacted, the Yobe State Federal Controller of Housing, Attah Peter, said the estate had not been commissioned due to a windstorm that destroyed some houses.

He hinted of a plan for the Yobe State government to take over the estate.

Also, in Bauchi, some of the roofs of the completed houses at the federal estate, along the Bauchi-Kano road, have been blown off by windstorm.

Our correspondent reported that he noticed that Phase one of the housing project, which commenced in 2016, has been completed for over two years, but not yet commissioned.

Some residents of the state alleged that the sale of application forms for the houses had been moved to Abuja.

One of them, who is a teacher, Kamal Ibrahim, wondered why the federal government would allow such a huge investment to rot away.

The Chief Resident Quantity Surveyor of the Federal Ministry of Housing in Bauchi, Taiwo Samuel, told our correspondent that the process of acquiring the houses was ongoing.

He said a letter released by the ministry had asked anyone interested to go and obtain an expression of interest form which, he noted, many people did.

Houses sold to private individuals in Kano

In Kano, many houses in Phase one of the NHP located at Jaba, off Panisau Road, Fagge Local Government Area, which former President Buhari commissioned on April 7, 2022, are also unoccupied. The estate has 77 units of three-bedroom bungalows and 33 units of two-bedroom bungalows.

Some of the unoccupied buildings have shown some signs of dilapidation with roofs either blown off or damaged.

Muhammad Lawal, who serves as a “caretaker” of some of the buildings, said they were being sold to private individuals rather than civil servants.

He said a three-bedroom bungalow costs N16 million, adding that those who bought the property converted them into offices. One of the buildings is housing Docusoft Technologies Limited.

Houses completed, allocated in Borno

In Borno State, our correspondent visited the federal mass housing estate, located behind the Board of Internal Revenue Service, opposite Ramat Polytechnic,  Maiduguri, and found it completed and the houses therein allocated.

Houses allocated to Super Eagles players, others in Edo

In Edo State, houses at the federal estate, located at Idumwen-Ehigie, along the Benin-Auchi road, were allocated in April 2023 to beneficiaries, including members of the Super Eagles’ 1994 Nations Cup winners who are from the state.

Project uncompleted in Ekiti

The 70-housing units estate of the NHP in Ekiti State is still under construction.

The project is sited at Agric Olope, Off Ajilosun, Moferere, Ado Ekiti.

FG promises to subsidise costs

When contacted, Mark Chieshe, Special Assistant on Media/Communications to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the government was working to subsidise the costs, under the National Social Housing Fund.

He admitted that most of the houses were yet to be completed.

He, however, said the minister was working to resolve all obstacles causing the delay.

“The minister is committed to completing all housing projects and ensuring that Nigerians, for whom the houses were built, benefit from them. He is working hard to make sure that whatever issues that have led to projects not being finished are resolved, and the houses completed for Nigerians to benefit from them,” Chieshe said.

He said the ministry recently published an expression of interest that was sent out to the public for houses that were built under the NHP.

“Even though inflation has increased the cost of building materials, the minister still insisted that the houses be sold on the prices they were advertised years ago. The expression of interest was overwhelming and oversubscribed”, he said.

On the high cost of the houses, he said: “The houses that are built have different types of offtake plans. One is that people who have the money can pay outright for the houses. The second is the mortgage (option) which allows you to buy the house and spread the payment over 30 years, if you are to take the National Housing Mortgage Fund at a single digit interest rate.

“To qualify for mortgage, civil servants are not allowed to use more than one-third of their salaries to allow them take care of other living expenses.

“The challenge we are facing is that salaries of civil servants are low. That is why under the Renewed Hope of the present administration, there are plans to create and establish a National Social Housing Fund.

“We will source funding so that houses can be built and delivered for Nigerians. The reality is that most civil servants can’t afford N9 million mortgage. We are working on the Fund to see how these houses can be subsidised,” he added.

[DailyTrust]