“There are many qualified Nigerian coaches who could successfully lead the national team”

Segun Odegbami, a former Nigerian international football player and hero of the Super Eagles at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), has opined that the new coach of the Nigerian national team should be a home-based coach. Following the departure of Jose Peseiro, who led the team to the AFCON finals in Ivory Coast, Odegbami, 70, believes local coaches have the potential to better lead the Super Eagles.

The Super Eagles legend and former player, who played for Nigeria between 1976 and 1981, stressed that there are many qualified Nigerian coaches who could successfully lead the national team. He urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to focus on local talents in the selection of a new coach.

Odegbami, who was part of the Super Eagles team that won the AFCON in 1980, opposed the idea that only a foreign coach can bring success. He maintains that football is not a complicated discipline and there are enough qualified Nigerians who could successfully lead the national team.

It is time for a Nigerian coach to take over the leadership of the team

Who will be the next coach? Will it be a Nigerian or a coach from abroad? betting sites with free bets are thus very unconventionally accepting bets on who will be the next coach of the Nigerian national team. Lately, football fans started betting using a netbet promo code – however, they are not betting on football results but on possible coaches. They also use the Bet888 promo code: https://promocodius.co.uk/shops/888sport to submit their tips.

According to the Super Eagles legend, there is no need to suffer from the colonial mentality that prefers foreign coaches and believes it is time for a Nigerian coach to take over the leadership of the team. Odegbami feels the move could help to forge a strong relationship between the national team and the local coaches.

“Football is not a rocket science, but a simple game, we have lots of Nigerians who have all the qualifications to take us to any level“, he said, and added that: “For me, I won’t suffer from colonial mentality again and enough of foreign coaches, now, it’s time for a Nigerian Coach to handle our national team.”

Jose Peseiro, who led the Super Eagles at the recent AFCON 2024, earned mixed reactions. Although the team achieved second place, Odegbami says Peseiro’s work was mediocre and not worthy of all the honors and rewards he received for that placement.

Meanwhile, the situation surrounding the selection of a new Super Eagles coach remains uncertain. Technical Director Augustine Eguavoen could take over the team on an interim basis until a proper coach is appointed. Odegbami believes the new leader of the team should be a Nigerian coach who can lead the Super Eagles to victory and strengthen their position on the African scene.

[Leadership]

Days after the reopening of the Nigeria-Niger Republic land and air borders by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Nigerien authorities have not said anything, even as they maintained their entry points closed.

Nigeria announced the reopening of its borders with Niger Republic on March 13, 2024.

While security operatives like the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have eased movement along border communities, their counterparts across the borders have remained adamant.

This is as residents of border communities, especially on the Nigerian side, on Thursday expressed optimism that with the directive of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reopen the borders with Niger Republic, life would be easier for them and their neighbours, especially in terms of trading.

President Tinubu’s directive was in line with the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS’) Authority of Heads of State and Government at its Extraordinary Summit on February 24, 2024 in Abuja.

The Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI), Kemi Nandap, had in a follow-up to what Tinubu said, directed that restrictions on movement at Nigeria-Niger borders be lifted.

Nandap gave the directive through a statement signed by the acting Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Kenneth Kure on Thursday in Abuja.

She directed all comptrollers stationed at states and border commands along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border to comply promptly and lift all restrictions on human movement.

The border closure was part of sanctions to restore democratic order after the military intervention in Niger that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

The two countries heavily relied on each for economic and social activities, among others.

The Niger–Nigeria border is 1,608 kilometres, stretching from Sokoto through Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states.

After the reopening of the land borders, our correspondents in the affected states monitored the situation around the boundary areas. Their investigations revealed that on the Nigerian side the borders have been reopened in majority of the areas, but it is a different story on the Nigerien side.

Residents who spoke with our correspondents said if the two neighbouring countries reached a common ground, it would be mutually beneficial as it would revive economic activities in the border communities.

Long way to go in Katsina

In Katsina State, residents of the border town of Kongolam, which is less than 20 kilometres from Daura, said security forces on the Niger Republic side blocked their own part.

Lawan Secretary, who spoke to our correspondent said, “Shortly after we spoke with you about the border reopening on the Nigerian side, the Nigerien police brought three of their operational vehicles and blocked the pathway, using stones and sand.

“They told our people who were about to cross that they should go back as the border had not been reopened on their side,” he said.

Secretary, who said he was not happy with the development, added that whatever the situation was, there was the need for understanding between Nigeria and Niger.

“Just remember that it is not only about business transactions, we have marital ties with the people of Niger.

“Also, remember that our people have been importing and exporting certain commodities with extreme difficulty through illegal entry points, spending a lot of money to find their way.

“That alone has helped in raising the cost of commodities because whatever you spent along the way must be reflected in the selling price,” he said.

Corroborating the earlier response, Alhaji Lawal Planner Kongolam, said the road that leads to Niger Republic was blocked by the Nigerien police, cutting short the happiness of affected persons on both sides.

He said the items mostly traded across the borders in their axis included dates, soap and other confectionary products, as well as grains and cattle. He added that with the high rate of foreign exchange with regard to the CFA, cattle had become more expensive.

He, however, expressed confidence that if there would be mutual understanding between the Nigerian and the Nigerien authorities, there would be gradual return of trading activities; and hopefully, the exchange rate of the CFA would come down.

At Jibia town, also in Katsina State, residents were in a joyous mood, saying their lifeline would soon be restored.

Al-Mustapha Danye said many people were forced out of business as they had eaten up their capital, but with the latest development, there was hope for a new life.

“Our markets used to be frequented by traders from neighbouring communities from Niger Republic. On our part, we used to import farm produce, such as tiger nuts, dates and beans.

“We also have other commodities that pass through Niger on transit from Cotonou. We believe that if normalcy returns, prices of these commodities would crash and life would be easier for us,” he said.

Haidar Lamama, a trader and resident of Magama in Jibia, said the border there had been opened by both Customs and Immigration officers on the Nigerian side.

He expressed optimism that prices of all commodities would fall and life would become easier for the people of the area and the country in general.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Katsina Area Command, T. Y Balarabe, said the border in Jibia was reopened following the president’s directive.

Niger border at Maigatari still closed

Our correspondent reports that the Maigatari border in Jigawa State was reopened on Thursday at exactly 6am, according to high-ranking security officials in charge of the area. However, the Niger Republic’s security operatives have kept theirs closed.

“They have refused to open theirs, but they are not asking anybody not to cross over into their land by foot.

“All items that are legally allowed will now be transported through the border following the right channels. But items that are banned remain banned. Things like beans, if you pay duty you would be allowed to bring it into Nigeria,” one of the officials who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak said.

On their part, residents of Maigatari and environs have expressed hope that once the borders on both sides are fully opened, the development would yield positive results.

Speaking on behalf of the community, the representative of the district head of Maigatari, Yakubu Aminu Wakili said, “We thank God that the border has been opened, and as directed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, all seized items have been returned to us.

“We now move freely but without cars. But from Niger Republic side, they are yet to open their border. It is still manned by security operatives.

“We cannot say anything on the reason they are yet to reopen the borders because we also just opened ours. But we are hopeful that they would reopen theirs.

“For business activities, we are still where we were since the border was closed. The changes are still minimal but we are optimistic that everything will come back to flourish like before.”

Nigeria/Niger borders in Kebbi still shut

Similarly, despite the presidential directive that the borders between Nigeria and Niger Republic be reopened, the international borders in Kebbi State are still shut on both sides as at Thursday, March 14, 2024, which was 24 hours after the directive by President Tinubu.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that the borders at Kamba, Kangiwa and Bachaka in the state were yet to be opened despite the directive.

A resident of Kamba, Musa Hussein, told our correspondent that the border was still shut and its environs isolated for months.

He said, “They are yet to open the borders. I was there this afternoon. What the Customs at the border told us was that they were yet to receive a memo to open the borders.”

Our sources at Customs and Immigration commands in Kebbi State said some top officers of the two services were summoned to Abuja for further briefing on the border issue.

Sokoto’s Illela border communities laud FG

Residents of Illela town in Sokoto State have expressed happiness over the reopening of the Nigeria-Niger borders, recounting that life was unbearable while the sanctions lasted.

Daily Trust Saturday reports that majority of the residents of border communities were into one form of cross-border trade or another before the closure.

A community leader, Alhaji Musa Sarkin Alaru, said the announcement of the reopening brought relief to many residents.

Recounting their ordeal after the closure, he said 70 per cent of their youths were rendered jobless and had left to other places for greener pastures.

“But I am sure they will all come back now that the border is reopened and continue with their trans-border trades,” he said.

The chairman of the Marketers Association in Sokoto State, Chika Sarkin Gishiri, also expressed optimism that the border reopening would lead to crash in prices of some imported commodities in the country, saying there were many goods meant for Nigeria, which could not come into the country because of the closure.

But one of the livestock traders in the state, Murtala Arkilla, wondered if the reopening could lead to crash in the prices of livestock.

Sokoto receives most of its livestock from the neighbouring Niger Republic.

A security agent at the border post, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said all the security agencies there had complied with the directive of the federal government.

“The border is now open for human and vehicular movement,” he said.

During the official reopening, the area comptroller in charge of Sokoto and Zamfara command, Kamal Muhammed, charged security agencies at the border station to collaborate with one another in the area of trade facilitation, information and intelligence sharing for safe, efficient and effective service delivery at the border.

He further commended Customs licenced agents and the Illela community for their patience and cooperation during the seven-month border closure.

Border reopening won’t change anything – Borno, Yobe traders

In Yobe State, Adamu Kanamma, a trader who crosses to Niger through Maino-Sorroa border in Yunusari Local Government Area, said reopening the border would not change anything.

“We maintained the good relationship we had with the people of Niger even after the border closure, but a lot of things happened within that period.

“To say that the price of food items coming into Nigeria from Niger will drop is not possible unless the value of CFA franc crashes to N1,500 or less because, as at yesterday (March 13, 2024), it was N2, 570 equivalent.

“We are now buying a bag of foreign rice at N73,000 from Niger, so how much can we sell it in the Nigerian market?” he asked.

Another transporter from Machina town, also in Yobe, said the number of people passing through the border had not increased yet.

“It is like Nigeriens have become used to the sanctions, they no longer come into Nigeria like before. It is our traders that are taking the goods to them. Also, we face a lot of strictness in dealing with authorities in Diffa, Maino-Sorroa and Maradi, all in Niger,” he said.

A fish trader, Labbo Mustapha, said Nigeriens were demanding taxes from Nigerians more than before.

“You will not sell fish in their country, and you must pay tax for passing through their country from the Lake Chad.

“One of the disturbing situations is that they don’t collect naira and will not give you CFA franc. But they will pay on whatever transaction you do with naira. They have succeeded in making their currency a scarce commodity,” he said.

 Laws governing imports, exports subsist – Customs

The national public relations officer of the NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, while explaining the modalities of the border reopening, said there were laws governing imports and exports, which are still in force.

He said, “All imports and exports are in tandem with the extant fiscal policies of the government. We have a fiscal policy that places restriction of certain items through some specific ports. They remain extant until we have counter directives.”

Maiwada added that there were subsisting regulations Customs were also adhering to as stipulated by ECOWAS.

According to Customs’ Export Prohibition List, maize, timber (rough and sawn), raw hides and skin, scrap metals, unprocessed rubber lumps, among others, would not be exported.

Among the items that would not be imported are live and dead birds, pork meat, beef, bird eggs, refined vegetable oil, spaghetti/noodles, fruit juice, some medicaments, such as Paracemol, sex enhancement drugs, bagged cement, mosquito coil, soap and detergent, among others.

[DailyTrust]

Sultan of Sokoto and Chairman National Traditional Rulers Council (NTRCN), His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has said that the the late Olubadan of Ibadan Land, Oba Mohood Lekan Balogun, will be missed for his great thought for better and united Nigeria.

According to the Sultan, Oba Lekan Balogun was a colleague and friend in the quality and professionals-populated traditional institutions in the country.

He also said that his reign on the throne was well spent for the good of his people as the Olubadan of Ibadan Land and Permanent Chairman Oyo State Traditional Rulers Council.

This was discussed in a statement signed by the media team of the Sultan of Sokoto on Friday.

“We will miss him for his great thought for better and united Nigeria as he was known for being a detralibalised Nigerian. By his demise, the country has lost an important traditional leader,” the Sultan said.

“Our condolences go to the Oyo State government, the Oyo State Traditional Rulers Council, the family of the deceased Olubadan and the entire people of the state.

“May Allah forgive and admit his soul in Al-Jannah Al-Firdaus, Amiin,” he prayed.

Oba Lekan Balogun, who is the 42nd Olubadan, died days after marking his second year coronation anniversary.

[DailyPost]

President Bola Tinubu yesterday alleged that smugglers and beneficiaries of the old petrol subsidy were beginning to fight back, but vowed that his administration would not abuse the trust Nigerians reposed in him.

Tinubu, during a meeting with the Forum of State Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the State House in Abuja, said that Nigeria would prevail against the agents of destabilization allegedly working to sabotage efforts at repositioning the economy.

The President, according to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said his administration was deploying resources to critical sectors and areas with significant impact on the welfare of Nigerians, describing the nation’s treasury as sacrosanct.

He assured Nigerians that his government was working round the clock to improve their living conditions, and asked leaders at the grassroots to encourage citizens to get their National Identification Number (NIN) for planning, structuring interventions and to achieve their full integration into various relief programmes.

“As we are fighting corruption, smugglers and old subsidy beneficiaries, they most certainly will fight back,” Tinubu was quoted as saying.

Continuing, he said: “All those who falsified records and became losers with the subsidy (on petroleum products) removal, they will fight back.

“But we will defend our people. The treasury belongs to the people, and that sacred trust must not be abused.

“I urge the state chairmen that regardless of party affiliation, let us help citizens by mobilizing them for NIN registration. Not just PVCs. Some are poor Nigerians who have not experienced formal education and have no understanding of what NIN is and how it will benefit their lives. We must teach them. We must care for them.

“Without NIN, we cannot embark on social security interventions for the vulnerable. We will be making faulty moves without accurate data and iron-clad, digital intervention structures.

“I have established a committee of governors, and it is headed by the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima. It is working on what must be done to further lift our people.

“We need to give hope, and we are giving it to the country and our citizens. We are working hard, day and night, even though some agents of destabilization are present in the polity. Nigerians, with our focused support, shall defeat them. 

“The programme of our government will be truly progressive; student loans, a national consumer credit system, and social welfare for the unemployed, as well as graduates. Every Nigerian will find a place of belonging in our country.

“In the eye of even the biggest hurricane, we will find that place of tranquility and prosperous harmony for the benefit of all. Nigerians will all partake on this national journey to prosperity.”

Speaking on the central role of agriculture in expanding and accelerating Nigeria’s economic growth, President Tinubu told the party chiefs led by the National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje that his government had already drawn up a blueprint for large-scale livestock farming, which will be activated soon.

His words: “We are bringing mechanized farming to the fore. Yesterday’s crisis will become today’s opportunity.

“Fertilizers are being supplied to farmers as we speak. Agriculture and economic diversification provide the answers to our problems. We will not continue to import food. We know how to turn lack into abundance, and the world will watch us do it again.”

Also speaking, Ganduje said the party was poised to establish a Progressive Institute of Policy and Development for the benefit of its members and the broader Nigerian public.

The Forum of APC State Chairmen congratulated the President on his victory at the polls, the election petitions court , and  the Supreme Court.

[ThjeNation]

In the spirit of Ramadan, I am republishing a revised version of an article I wrote in June 2017 in my defunct “Politics of Grammar” column about pig-based meats and foods that Muslims are forbidden from eating but which many of them who visit the West unwittingly eat on occasion because of their poly-appellativeness (my coinage for multiple names.)

The column was inspired by an encounter I had in 2015. A Muslim high court judge from Osun State nearly ate pepperoni pizza (pepperoni is a mixture of beef and pork) at a workshop for Nigerian judges that I facilitated here in the United States. I knew he was an observant Muslim because we’d prayed together, and he’d shared concerns about the ubiquity of pork in Western culinary choices.

During lunch break, I saw him with slices of pepperoni pizza amid several people. I beckoned to him to come immediately, but he was really hungry, so he said I should give him a few minutes to finish his food. 

I know enough Yoruba to know that pig is called “alede” and eat is “je.” I combined the words to make a sentence that I didn’t think made much sense. He jumped out of his seat instinctively and asked me in English if what he was about to eat contained pork. I answered in the affirmative.

He went straight to the bathroom and vomited, even though he hadn’t eaten anything. I felt sorry for him. He refused to eat or drink anything thereafter. 

Another inspiration for this column derives from the tales of distress and guilt I’ve heard from many Muslim visitors to the West who consumed pig meat or who were awfully close to doing so out of ignorance of the deceptive appellative trappings of many pork-based gastronomic products.

For instance, at least five Muslims have told me that they either ate or almost ate a pig-based meat product called “salami” because they were deceived by the lexical similarities between “salami” and “salam” (Arabic for “peace”) and were misled into thinking they were eating halal meat. 

What could be more halal, they thought, than a meat that shares lexical and phonological similarities with “salam,” the short form of the Muslim, Arabic-derived greeting, As-salamu alaykum, and the root word of Islam itself?

In fact, many African Muslims bear the name Salami as the short form of Abdulsalam or “Abdus Salam (which stands for servant of the Peaceful, “salam” being one of the 99 names of Allah.) (Africans typically add a terminal vowel to every word or name. Thus, “Salam” becomes “Salami.”)

So how did pig meat come to share lexical similarities with the name of Allah and/or the short form of the most common greeting among Muslims, especially given that pork is prohibited in Islam? 

A northern Nigerian Muslim who ate salami in London in ignorance told me he was sure that the choice of the name was a deliberate “Zionist plot to make Muslims eat pork.” That’s not true. First, Jews, like Muslims, are forbidden from eating pork. Second, the phonemic similarity between “salami” to “salaam” is actually accidental.

Salami is salted Italian pork sausage (more about this later.) “Salami” is derived from the Latin name for salt, which is “sal.” The Italian suffix “ame” is used to form collective nouns. For example, foglia, which means “leaf,” ‎becomes ‎fogliame when used as a collective noun. So salame actually literally means “salts,” but specifically salted meats. (“Salami” is the plural form of salame). The association of salami with salted pork came later.

Interestingly, this pork-based meat is called “salam” in Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish!

Well, there are few animals in the English language that trump “pig” in abundance of alternative names for it. 

This includes names that indicate gender (such as “boar” for male pig and “sow” and “gilt” for female pig) and names that indicate age (such as “piglet,” “farrow,” or “shoat/shote” for young pigs).

A pig is also called a “hog,” a “swine,” a “grunter,” a “squealer,” a “sus scrofa,” a “porker,” and a “cobb roller.” 

Most people know “pork” as the culinary noun for meat from pig, but there are way more pig-based foods and meats than “pork” that several people, especially Muslims who are prohibited from eating pork, are not familiar with. I list 14 more below as a public service.

1. “Bacon”: This is usually served during breakfast at homes and in hotels—along with eggs and sausage. It’s thin, sliced, salted, fried and brownish pork. It’s one of the most traditional culinary treats in the West. It’s so central to the gastronomy of the West that it appears in idioms such as “bring home the bacon,” which means to be the breadwinner, to be responsible for one’s family’s material wellbeing.

Most people know that bacon is derived from pig, but I have met many Muslim visitors to America, especially from Nigeria, who don’t know this. It’s also less commonly called “flitch.”

2. “Banger”: This is chiefly British English. Banger is pork cut into tiny pieces, seasoned, and stuffed in casings. The usual name for this elsewhere is “sausage” (see 3 below). It appears in collocations such as “banger and beans,” “bangers and mash,” etc.

3. “Bratwurst (or just brat)”: Just like “banger” is chiefly British, “bratwurst” is mostly German. It’s a popular German pork sausage, although it’s often mixed with beef. In America bratwursts are called “brats.” (Sausage is any type of minced meat, mostly pork, that is seasoned and stuffed in casings).

4. “Chitlings” or “chitlins” or “chitterlings”: It is the intestines of a pig, which American blacks ate as food during slavery because it was one of the few sources of protein available to them. 

Several decades after slavery, chitlins (also spelled chitlings and chitterlings) are still an African-American delicacy. If you are a Muslim who wants to experience African-American culinary delights, often called “soul food,” be sure to avoid “chitlings.” It’s just a cute word for the intestines of pigs.

5. “Chops” or “pork chops”: I know “chop” means “eat” in West African Pidgin English. But in Standard English it can mean a small cut of meat. It usually, though, is a small cut of meat from cooked pig. That’s why the usual phrase is pork chops, but it is also frequently rendered as “chops,” and that’s where people unfamiliar with the culinary vocabularies of the West might be misled into thinking they are eating a small cut of beef or mutton, etc.

6. “Frank” or “Frankfurter”: This is a type of smooth, minced, smoked pork often served in a bread roll. It is sometimes made of beef or a mixture of beef and pork. It’s generally called “hot dog,” especially in American English, and it’s so named because some people suspected, without any proof, that in Germany, where it was invented in the city of Frankfurt, dog meat was surreptitiously inserted into the meat since Germans ate dogs up until the 20th century. 

Other names for franks or Frankfurters are “dog,” “weenie,” “wiener,” “wienie,” and “wienerwurst.” Although hot dogs or Franks started in Germany, they have become a staple of American street cuisine.

Thankfully, there are now turkey hot dogs, beef hot dogs, and chicken hot dogs, but the most popular ones are the pork-based ones. It’s always good to ask before you buy.

7. “Gammon”: This is pork taken from the thighs of a pig. It’s derived from the Latin word “gamba,” which means leg. It’s also called jambon or, more commonly, ham.

8. “Kielbasa”: This is the Polish word for pork-based sausage, which has achieved widespread acceptance in American English, especially in northeastern United States. It’s also called “Polish sausage” because it’s originally from Poland.

9. “Liverwurst”: Sometimes people in the West grind the liver of pigs and stuff them in casings. Germans call it leberwurst, which has been Anglicized to liverwurst. It’s also called “liver pudding” or “liver sausage.” Wurst, as you’ve probably guessed, is German for sausage.

10. “Rasher”: This is another name for bacon. Note that because of increasing pressure from Muslims and Jews, there's now bacon or rasher made entirely from beef, turkey, chicken, or goat. If in doubt, ask.

11. “Ribs (or baby back ribs)”: This is meat from the ribs of a pig. But the term can seem like a generic reference to the ribs of any animal. It is also called back ribs or loin ribs.

12. “Pancetta”: It is Italian pork, derived from the belly of the pig. It is dried, salted, and chemically processed.

13. “Prosciutto”: As you’ve probably guessed, it’s also an Italian word. It is ham (see number 7 above) that has been dried and salted.

14. “Sowbelly”: It is salted pork cut from the belly. Other obvious names are “pork bellies” and “pork slab.”

An actress, Yetunde Bakare, says she has never been asked by any man about what she brings to the table in a relationship.

In an interview with Saturday Beats, she said, “I personally think that is not a general question. Nobody has ever asked me that. I feel men often ask such questions when they don’t see the woman they are with as someone who has potential.

“He might have studied her and realised that she does not have foresight, or that she lacks vision and purpose.

“He might also see her as someone who is more interested in a luxury lifestyle that she cannot afford on her own. I feel it is just an excuse for the man to let such a woman go.”

“It is really frustrating, and something needs to be done urgently. Things are getting out of hand. A lot of people now spend more than they earn, and it’s driving them into depression.

“The government needs to introduce relief policies to reduce the pressure,” Bakare added.

[Punch]

An Igbo proverb says that a dog does not become a leopard because it is addressed as one by its owner, or even the entire community. That is why you have the popular warning, which is often addressed to anyone perceived to be overrating himself: “Oke aha n’egbu nwa nkita” (a big name, or preposterous self-inflation, leads a low-grade domestic dog to its doom). Now imagine a place where dogs are called all manner of names, except their rightful name: ‘dog’.

Tell me, can you make sense of a world wherein everything you know is arbitrarily renamed? Will you even be able to easily retain your sanity and communicate meaningfully if everyone accepted the new names and carried on as if all was well? especially when there is no connection whatsoever between the names and what the entities really are.

Just picture this: An elephant is walking by and you hear everyone shouting “Oh, see that massive and lovely cockroach”! Then a lion is called ‘mosquito’ and a cow is called ‘toothbrush’. For good measure, it turns out also that what you had always known as, and called, a house is now called ‘groundnut’! Well, there you have it: A land affiliated to bedlam; wherein the criterion for sanity is pronounced irrationality.

Is that, perhaps, what our dear country has turned into today? A place where there is no real connection between government expenditure and the welfare of the citizens in whose names the expenses are ostensibly being incurred? A nation in which many of those parading the title of ‘leader’ at state and local government levels are everything a leader should not be? A land where loyalty means “I support you because you pay me and retain me to do whatever you want”. A nation beholden to tomfoolery perhaps, because its current crop of leaders imagine that truth is circumscribed by what they say and do in enclosed government chambers?

It is so pervading, so surreal, so benumbing, and also so profoundly revealing about how far we have travelled on the wrong road. We need a rectification of names!

The mayhem is such that whoever wants to really do anything meaningful here must first start at what we might just call the ethereal level. First specify, to yourself first of all, the true meaning and purpose of many things. This includes titles, institutions of state and even ordinary names. Can you restore their real names, in terms of getting public consciousness to actually internalize new usages? That means getting the people to use the appropriate designation of each entity when they address it?

Now, don’t start any arguments about Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ‘pictorial’ conception of language. Yes, it is true, as he said, that it is by the association of sounds and the objects touched or pointed at when the sounds are made that every child learns the meaning and names assigned to things in his environment as he grows. But does this apply to full grown adults who are not learning a new language?

Still on Wittgenstein, before returning to our core subject matter for today, it was actually St. Augustine, and not Wittgenstein, who first put forth what is described today in philosophical, philological and linguistic circles as the pictorial conception of language. That was in his book Confessions, wherein he engaged in a detailed personal mental walk-through of his life; beginning with the earliest memories he could recollect of his childhood.

Concerning the matter at hand, let us start by observing that to rectify anything is to restore or correct something about that thing. For instance, if there is a spelling, or entry, error against your name in a document, and the error is taken care of, we say that it has been rectified. So, what do we do when almost everything, and everyone, around us is wrongly designated? Budgets are excuses for fleecing the nation in the name of the people. Constituency projects are new names for subterfuge and organized but, back to the rectification of names!

It was worries like the foregoing that n propelled the Chinese thinker, Confucius, to propose the doctrine, or principle, or “Rectification of names” to his people. He taught his disciples that all would be well in any society if everyone played the roles assigned to him by name flawlessly. If father played the role of father, mother played the role of mother, leader played the role of leader, etc., then there would be no place from which corruption, impropriety and societal decay would come in. The catch, however, is that these roles may actually already be badly defined. In such a situation, it would mean reaffirming and reinforcing nothing but the entrenchment of what is wrong.

The question of “who” defines “father” for instance, and all the other concepts, is the catch and the trap set by Confucius. Once a social concept, or any concept at all, is wrongly defined, all is lost. And lost for good!

Take, for instance, the concepts of Yin and Yang, the active and passive principles in nature. A father is Yang to his son. The latter is Yin to his father, but yang to his wife and children. He must always obey his father and all elders and rulers. This places on the son the obligation of having to listen to, and obey, an entire chain of Yangs, even if he has ideas of his own. So, you must listen to your ignorant father, uninformed elders and misguided leaders, instead of venturing forth any fresh thoughts borne of contemporary experience.

Coming back to our issues here, and bearing in mind the extent of national decay at the moment, we must admit that our crop of leaders today are mostly victims, and willing collaborators in a generation of leaders and followers brought up on impunity, consumption and arbitrary use of state power for personal gains.

As was said on this page on 28th October 2016, under the Title ‘Symptoms of a Deep-Rooted Crisis”, that we are in a deep bind that took time to mature. The article said thus then: “The many powerful people whose interests differ from the national interest are partly responsible for the trajectory of most past regimes and presidents. So let us first calmly admit that our crises have had long gestation. To fail to do so is to ignore history, particularly the essential elements of our own history, and replace it with hysteria. The Nigerian nation has been run as a criminal enterprise for too long”.

It went further to say: “We have been building a mansion on quicksand and with pillars of straw. The soil, quicksand as it is, is further infested with two species of ants, called presumption and nepotism. These ants, which feed exclusively on straw, have been nibbling away for decades. They have left us with a hollow and painted frame that conceals a lie. This lie has been on parade for decades. It is described as an architectural masterpiece by casual observers. An architectural masterpiece that is not designed to withstand the wind? Now that the whirlwind has come, and the elements are in their element, radical modifications (in design and material) have become necessary”.

Against the background of what we are seeing everywhere today, especially the pretence that most people in leadership positions are concerned about the national interest, we must wake up to the fact that something stinks around here. The stench is getting worse by the hour. People are not bearing their real names and they are also not available to have their names rectified.  

What was said here in October 2016 stands, namely: “It is not right that a nation should be undergirded by untruth. It is also not right that a nation should be under a political economy of decay and corruption, warehoused and propagated by a business and political elite that lives in denial. When old lies are told afresh by those who know they are lying, a time comes when even the liars themselves won’t be sure whether they are lying anymore. Now that we have brought up children who have seen shielded criminality as leadership, we have a nation wherein hiding under the instruments of state to violate natural justice, equity and good conscience makes you not guilty of any crime. Look at Nigeria today. The dominant motifs are (1) skewed values, (2) a flawed national psyche and (3) an aberrant leadership recruitment process. These motifs have given us several national ‘leadership pseudopodia’, or “false feet”.

Do we have, today, any intimations of Plato’s “philosopher king? A leader with correct knowledge of man’s duality and a broad knowledge of life? and who could also address everyday issues with an overarching vision that many do not possess? Not anymore. We are all now being nurtured in the available knowledge of wheeling and dealing. It is all about temporary gains, seasonal loyalty and debauched offerings.

The Platonic conception of human development as ‘the nurturing of character and the human person through the education of life’ is no more in vogue. Our founding fathers were not deal makers who were out to fill their pockets. They were ideas inventors and investors of repute. They were leadership entrepreneurs, with deeper than average knowledge, insight and vision. That is why they could fashion and nurture broad-based development projects. They designed holistic templates, with their eyes set on consolidation; in addition to mentoring others.

It is trite to say that the root of all leading civilisations, organizations and individuals in the last 400 years always rested on some philosophy of leadership, human capital management, or service delivery. So, what is our current leadership trajectory based on?  Sustainable human, national, economic and political development, must be multi-dimensional; with spiritual, aesthetic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. National character and national development do not derive from a desperate alliance of mechanics, bicycle repairers, cobblers, one-eyed bricklayers, amoral young people pressing computer keyboards and allied tradesmen. If it were so, Japan would not be in its present quagmire of worry over the growing number of computer whiz kids committing suicide every other week.

As things stand today, we need a re-evaluation of all our values as a nation. Where are we headed exactly, and for what purpose? With our basic political, cultural, philosophical and spiritual, values in limbo, is it any surprise that we do not have enough people in the public space who can be seen as responsible managers of our lives and resources, as human beings? What are the core foundations of our nationhood – of our national political culture? What are we drilling into the average young Nigerian today; both young and old?  As debauchery is on the ascendant everywhere today, it behooves us to consider a rectification of names for everyone.

QUOTE

“…all would be well in any society if everyone played the roles assigned to him by name flawlessly. If father played the role of father, mother played the role of mother, leader played the role of leader, etc., then there would be no place from which corruption, impropriety and societal decay would come in.

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), has explained why Ireti Kingibe is not in good terms with him. 

Kingibe, the senator representing FCT, and the minister have not had a good work relationship since they both came to the office.

In September 2023, Kingibe said Wike does not have the executive powers to make threats of demolition of “illegal” buildings” in the territory.

In January, the lawmaker claimed that Wike had refused to respond to her letters and messages in the wake of the rising insecurity in Abuja.

Speaking at a media parley on Thursday, Wike said Kingibe’s anger stems from his constant companionship with Philip Aduda, her predecessor in the senate.

The minister said he could not be forced to befriend Kingibe.

“Somebody wants to be your friend. I said I don’t want to be your friend. Is it by force? The problem is that she wanted to be chairman senate committee on FCT but the senate (Godswill) president said: I’m not giving you,” Wike said.

The minister said he has always invited the chairpersons of the FCT committee in the senate and house of representatives to witness the flag-off projects in the nation’s capital.

“There’s nothing we have done that I have not invited the two chairmen of the FCT,” he said.

“Nobody can intimidate me. I was a minister before, I became a governor of one of the most important states in Nigeria and now I am a minister of FCT,” he said.

“You’re saying the minister does not carry me along. I don’t have the back. People don’t know how to go about things. It is not by intimidation.”

“The problem is this she ran an election against my friend Philip Aduda. And then she sees  Philip Aduda everywhere with me. She said I am taking Philip everywhere instead of her who is the senator.

“Will I abandon my friend because he failed election? People are so petty. It doesn’t make sense.”

Wike asked Kingibe to “do the right thing” through appropriate communication.

[TheCable]

I had meant to write an article to explain recent economic decisions that are surely on their way to creating a new economy and helping the citizens with relief from the harsh economic climate. Nigerians are passing through what is called a cost-of-living crisis, akin to what citizens of European countries and the USA had seen about two years ago, even into last year. Inflation is the major culprit here, as it gallops in bounds in the face of stalled productivity. And so, all hands are on deck to wrestle it down.

I am compelled to now push out this article because of another one that has gone viral titled ‘Edun and Cardoso – A Case of Ikoyi-bred Economists Trying to Operate a Fadeyi Economy’, by one Ope Banwo, who admits to not being an economist, but to being a certified Fadeyi brought-up. I am neither an Ikoyi nor Fadeyi brought up, but I am an economist.

The upshot of Banwo’s viral article was to say that raising interest rates by 4% as the Monetary Policy Committee did on February 27, 2024, did not slow down inflation and is therefore counterproductive. The quick fact here is that no official or certified index has come out to confirm or deny this, and so Ope Banwo was rather too hasty to dismiss the CBN’s policy accuracy, for now. Also, such policies are not meant to produce immediate reaction but to act in concert with other policies.

Banwo wrote further that in Fadeyi (a suburb of Lagos where he lived) if someone tried to increase prices and exploit customers back in the day, the residents would either burn down his/her shop or threaten his/her family. I reckon that he proposes unorthodox strong-arm tactics by the government to curb ruinous inflation, perhaps because the Nigerian economy is still evolving, and some textbook solutions may not work here. I need to quickly state that those running the economy are aware of the need to go the extra mile, but certainly not to be arm-twisting people or embarking on criminal acts just to curb inflation. When, for example, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission started chasing currency hawkers off the road, the same Nigerians questioned why that was necessary, after all the hawkers who stood by roadsides were ‘serving a market’.

Believers in pure market economics have also wagered that the CBN should allow every form of market to flourish – legal or illegal. Also, when the Ministry of Agriculture complained about hoarding, many Nigerians shunned them for trying to interfere in what they deemed a normal business practice – buying commodities to keep until prices skyrocket. Now, Banwo is suggesting that mafia tactics be deployed by the government. And I was surprised by the number of people who shared the article, liked it, forwarded it, and hailed it. Even Professor Kingsley Moghalu referred to the article in his recent speech, showing how far it went. And that is how Nigerians create economic theories of their own.

So, first to explain all that is going on. Surely, we know that not all of our inflation in Nigeria is explained by excess money in circulation, and when the CBN speaks about excess money being mopped, they are more interested in the huge monies that our banks may be sitting on. When the CBN increases the base rate as they have, yes, one of the incentives is that people will deposit their monies in banks for higher interest earnings. Another is to disincentivise folks from borrowing from the banks. The central bank is solely concerned with its use of monetary policy instruments to curb inflation. And so, by increasing rates from 18.75% to 22.75%, the intention is to make Nigeria into a depository of funds. Banks – local and foreign – with excess money will keep the same in Nigerian bonds and other instruments.

There is an asymmetric window around that rate of 22.75%, which is +1-7. What this means is that when a bank is illiquid and intends to borrow from the CBN, the applicable rate will be 22.75+1=23.75%. But if a bank wishes to merely deposit money with the CBN, they will only get 22.75%-7%=15.75%. This relatively low rate is meant to discourage banks from parking their liquidity for quick interest earnings from the CBN rather than to lend to the real sector and bear the risk that some loans may go back. The excess money supply may therefore not necessarily be such monies as may belong to individuals, but to banks, and other institutions.

The many memos that have emanated from the CBN are still very much on point. The CBN under Cardoso is following the crucial path to economic recovery from a strictly monetary point of view. Some of the achievements of these crucial steps of late include getting Nigerian banks to sell over $2 billion to their customers from what they had hitherto sat upon as Net Open Position. A corporate treasurer with whom I was on an X-space discussion confirmed that the amount of liquidity that the Nigerian foreign exchange market had seen in the last three weeks had never been seen in three years! The CBN has also sold close to $300 million – including $27.46 million to Bureaux de Change at N1,300 for the first time in 3 years! Before this intervention, the CBN had not engaged in the FX market at all for more than five months. But now, the bank is showing capacity, having systemised some of its operations, especially around foreign exchange management.

With the new rule that business and personal travel allowances be loaded on cards and not disbursed in cash, the central bank is ensuring that there will be less fraud. And given the experiences with the last regime which became so slack, there is a very low probability that the usual games will be played when allocating foreign exchange to legitimate importers. Under Cardoso, I am certain that roundtripping will tend to $0.00! It is however not yet uhuru, but Banwo is wrong to write that there has been no achievement – the black-market rate hovers around N1500 today, and not the N2000 that some evil naysayers who were behind the speculative attack on the naira had ‘predicted’.

Of course, alongside the other law enforcement agents, something is being done to clean up the so-called black market. And now we hear that Binance, that cryptocurrency repository where many young Nigerians like to play, has upped and left Nigeria. Nigeria will be the 20th or so country to fine the company and give it the boot.

Further actions that will calm the markets and bring control back to the CBN include delisting 4,173 BDCs from the list of almost 6,000, for several infractions, including non-submission of returns. Now we are talking! By the time the new capital requirements for BDCs are enforced, we may not have more than 100 BDCs that will then be able to transact even more businesses (aside from credit creation) like a bank. I am in the advocacy that properly structured BDCs be allowed to do local and international money transfer businesses as is done abroad. I understand that in Kenya, the BDCs are plugged into their CBK (Central Bank of Kenya’s) reserve management system, thus allowing the bank to capture data on the informal market and invisible trade.

One of the criticisms of the strategy adopted by CBN is that the formal economy is so small in Nigeria and that a policy dealing with interest rates could only be relevant in the formal sector which accesses bank credits. Well, the countervailing point to that is that the strategies around BDCs are meant to help the informal sector, by bringing more players on stream. And the banks don’t do a lot of lending these days anyway. I think we should also encourage the CBN to mandate banks to increase deposit rates (to close the margin between lending and deposit rates) so that their depositing and investing customers will have something to gain as well. Increasing deposit rates also helps to mop up excess liquidity in the hands of the few Nigerians that have cash – monies that would have otherwise chased the dollar for a store of value. All these strategies work together.

Enough of CBN policy reforms which are coming out almost in torrents for now. What about the fiscal side? Wale Edun, the minister for finance, was mentioned as well. It is worth noting that Nigeria’s national oil company, NNPC Ltd, has been instructed to submit its invoices and receipts to the central bank for audit purposes. Also, the international oil companies have been told to leave a float of 50% of their sales for some time so that Nigeria may enjoy some stability in reserve management. To this extent, Nigeria’s foreign reserves have risen by almost $2 billion in the last couple of months. Mr Edun, last December, laid new rules around the treasury single account which will ensure that 100% of what is due to the federation is captured from government-owned enterprises in a systemised fashion using technology.

The Federal Inland Revenue is poised to almost triple its revenue collections for this year from last year’s numbers, and we are already performing very positively in the oil and gas sector, which gave our GDP growth a bump in January. Production nudges 1.6 million barrels a day. Non-oil sector is also performing above expectations. Even the National Bureau for Statistics is working on a rebasing of both the GDP figures and inflation – the former from 2014 when it was last done to 2024, and the latter from 2009 when it was last done, to 2023. Our GDP will certainly be larger in naira terms as new industries and an increased population plus a new stock of infrastructure are a plus.

At the same time, inflation is likely to recede because the 2009 index was heavily skewed towards food, but a 2023 index will consider new choices and habits of Nigerians. For example, Nigerians now buy more internet data than we ever did in 2003, our youth population has increased further and that comes with more psychedelic choices rather than food. Many sectors need to be better captured in our GDP, such as the role of e-commerce and our FINTECHs. Also worth estimating is the explosion of skits, pranks, and comedies. These activities employ hundreds of thousands of our youths and even generate foreign currency.

As I have been emphasising for some time now, it is not only hikes in interest rates that will tamp down inflation towards the single-digit region that we desire. The new understanding of inflation, new surveillance and awareness around the subject, and even the resistance to exploitation by citizens, will also help. We are in this together. The case of the Niger state government comes to mind. The governor spoke up because his people were complaining of hunger, in the state with the largest landmass in Nigeria. So, the man perked up and swore to produce food in record quantity in 2024. He also instructed that the purposes of bulk purchasers be checked. Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwoolu went to Niger state to sign a memorandum of understanding, ensuring that Lagos state gets food directly under the supervision of both governments. That is cheaper food than if left to middlemen to play games with. That points to a reduction in inflation. In the same Lagos state, neighbourhood food/farmers markets have been established where cheaper food is accessible to Lagosians. That is proactive governance, which has its place in managing inflation. I have warned some people who believe that it is over for Nigeria because of present challenges, that they should also understand that some people are thinking and working assiduously to ensure that Nigeria emerges glorious from present hiccups.

To Mr Banwo, I will say he should allow CBN to do its work, which is a very complex one. Maybe by the time Messrs Cardoso and Edun succeed, the Ikoyi gang would have emerged over their less-fortunate Fadeyi counterparts. From antecedents, capacity, ambience, sheer value, and what-have-you, I will personally vote for Ikoyi to trump Fadeyi. But we can be more positive in our criticism. I think that if CBN can achieve positive interest rates soon (where the rate that investors can obtain on government bonds and treasuries exceed inflation, chiefly because inflation starts to recede faster than whatever increases is desired on policy – and by extension lending – rates), we will be home and dry, and would not have to push rates to the 50% region like Ghana, or 70% like Turkey, much less three digits like Argentina. We have seen the way Egypt is being asked to devalue and increase interest rates at once because of her quest for loans from the IMF. African countries are being passed through shock therapy. I think because of the vocal advocacy of people like Mr Banwo, we will escape the worst. But he and other concerned Nigerians should also engage with middlemen and retailers who try to exploit the misfortune of fellow citizens by arbitrarily increasing the prices of everything.

I will close by expressing my profound desire to see a memo going to the banks to increase deposit/investment rates for people who want to park some money in the banks, and also for savings rates. We shouldn’t let go of that opportunity. I will also look forward to a quick resolution of salaries and wages issues in the civil service. Even the private sector should be visibly encouraged to adjust wages so that our people can survive, and public sector entities should adjust their contracting fees etc so that companies that work for them should earn more. The reforms call for a total rejig of the economy and create opportunities for more jobs and contracts as well as innovative ideas. It is certainly not the end of the world for Nigeria. It’s the very beginning.

May the Ikoyi team win, via Lagos Island and Bourdillon. I say no to the Igbobi/Onipanu/Fadeyi tactics. They won’t work in this milieu