“Hunger is not my portion”, a Nigerian would quickly interject if you as much as suggest to him that the current food crisis in many parts of Africa, including Nigeria, will, if unchecked, lead to mass hunger and economic dislocation.

Bishop Hassan Kukah has famously warned us to be careful with people who believe that good ‘portions’ fall from the sky and that even if the world around them was collapsing, they would somehow be shielded by Providence without lifting a finger.

A deus-ex-machina device is supposed to inoculate the ‘anointed’ against food inflation and other economic woes. But what’s the reality? According to the World Bank’s Food Security Update, 2024, certain African nations continue to experience exceptionally high food inflation:

“Domestic food price inflation remains high in many low- and middle-income countries. Inflation higher than 5 per cent is experienced in 59.1 per cent of low-income countries (no change since the last update on May 30, 2024), 63 per cent of lower-middle-income countries (no change), 36 per cent of upper-middle-income countries (5.0 percentage points higher), and 10.9 percent of high-income countries (3.6 percentage points lower),” says the World Bank.

To taste the glory of food sufficiency, the hard work of agricultural production has to be done. It is far better to be cash-poor, housing-poor, clothing-poor and dirt-poor than to be food-poor.  Woe to the land that cannot feed its people. It will be a wretched supplicant at the mercy of its inferiors! It will never be respected in the comity of nations.

Rising food costs increase the risks of hunger and malnutrition, especially for vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, and those residing in rural regions. There is also the added risk of societal unrest resulting from rallies, strikes, and even riots organised by local groups as we have seen ever so often.

“Ebi Npa Wa!”

The cry of “Ebi npa wa!”, with which Lagosians greeted President Tinubu during his first post-inauguration visit to Lagos could easily have been dismissed as orchestrated if not that the pandemic of rumbling stomachs was a national emergency which confronted government officials wherever they went. The president has since acknowledged that there was a serious shortage of grains and other essential food items in the country and has therefore approved the removal of taxes on various food imports as an emergency measure to prevent escalation of the present problem.

How Can Nigeria Navigate Its Way Out Of This Bind?

First, we don’t need to remind ourselves that the Buhari administration economically denuded the country before exiting. Only a comprehensive forensic audit can reveal the true extent of damage done by that administration. Having said that, Tinubu is not going to be assessed on the basis of his inheritance but on his legacy. It is what you do with what you inherited that matters.

And that, as always, is my focus — lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness. We are lucky to have some of the best brains in agricultural policy and production in the world. We cannot get out of this hunger trap without deploying our best intellectual assets to tackle the problem. And one voice we must heed, indeed cultivate, is that of the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, who, like many of us, is scandalised that Nigeria has regressed so low as to be frantically importing food into the country.

One of the transformative High 5 priorities of the AfDB is  “Feed Africa”. The programme is designed to strengthen food security for Africa through a transformation of African agriculture with the hope that by the end of the 10-year strategy, Africa’s farmers, the majority of whom are smallholders, will be feeding the continent and supplying vibrant agro-processing industries.

Nigeria In Bad Company

So, if wishes were horses, Nigeria wouldn’t be spending scarce foreign exchange to bring in food that it could otherwise be producing in such quantities as to have surplus for export. As it is, unfortunately, the continental statistics are frightening as detailed in the Food inflation figures from the World Bank’s Food security report. The 10 African countries with the highest food inflation are listed as follows: Malawi. 40.7; Nigeria. 40.7; Sierra Leone. 32.4; Egypt. 31.0; Ethiopia. 25.5; Ghana. 22.6; Angola. 18.5; Zambia. 16.2; Tunisia, 9.6; Côte d’Ivoire, 8.6

Nigeria is in bad company. A country sitting on many rivers should not be washing its face with spittle. Not when it has the human and material resources to solve the problem. In Africa, we don’t pack faecal matter with our hands when we have a hoe. Nigeria is blessed more than any African country with the required experts.

The Nigerian-born President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, was the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate. He was the fifth African to win the coveted honours that recognises individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. Such a man should be among those manning our corner before we make key policy decisions on agricultural production.

Glory Years

As Minister of Agriculture in the Jonathan administration, Dr. Adesina introduced many novel schemes which made access to agricultural inputs unbelievably stress-free. To reduce the quantity of wheat flour needed for making bread, he introduced the cassava bread which was a mix of a recommended percentage of cassava flour with wheat flour in the bread making process. As a sensitive consumer, this writer could hardly tell the difference at the time. The Buhari administration reversed all the gains and the nation began its backward spiral into corruption, brokerage by middlemen and reduced food production,

In the wake of the crisis and the announcement of the Nigerian government’s initiative to embark on massive food importation with a generous suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas through the country’s land and sea borders for 150 days, Dr Adesina warned that Nigeria’s reliance on food imports could undermine the country’s agricultural sector and food security.

Speaking on the theme ‘Food security and financial sustainability in Africa: The role of the Church’, Adesina said, Africa “must feed itself with pride,” warning that, “a nation that depends on others to feed itself, is independent only in name.”

Dr. Adesina is convinced that, “Nigeria should be producing more food to stabilise food prices, while creating jobs and reducing foreign exchange spending, that will further help stabilise the Naira… Nigeria cannot import its way out of food insecurity. Nigeria must not be turned into a food import-dependent nation,”

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), has declared that Nigeria tops the global list of countries with the highest number of people in acute food insecurity, with 31.8 million individuals affected. Africa also accounts for nearly a third of the more than 780 million people worldwide who are hungry.

This kind of bad news is being generated in a continent with 65 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, and the potential to feed 9.5 billion people by 2050! The frustration of the multiple award-winning technocrat is therefore understandable as he declares that, “Unless we transform agriculture, Africa cannot eliminate poverty.”

And then the clincher from Adesina: What Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world. If we get our acts together as we ought to, we should be feeding the world!

MR PRESIDENT’S TASK

If I were President Tinubu, I would organise a private retreat with AfDB’s Adesina, Afreximbank’s Benedict Oramah and other technocrats and experts in allied specialities to help chart an escape route for the ship of state away from this food importation iceberg.

Despite being touted as the food basket of Africa, Nigeria has spent over N7.8 trillion in the past six years on food import. Yet we are unable to assure our people of their daily bread.

Let’s call in the experts. Urgently.

It is difficult to marshal a credible and persuasive argument against local government areas (LGAs) getting all the federation allocations due to them. In fact, it can be argued that the LGAs should receive additional support and grants from the Federal Government and the state governments to enhance their financial viability, increase their capacity to discharge the critical responsibilities assigned to them, and reimburse them for acting as agents of the other two tiers of government. But it was never envisaged, and is simply indefensible and reprehensible, that LGAs would receive less than their statutory entitlements.

This is why the July 11^th ruling by the Supreme Court on direct federation allocations to the LGAs is right on the money. This is also why the state governors, who in most cases have not covered themselves in glory concerning LGAs’ allocations, have found it difficult to openly and coherently express their displeasure about the ruling. Good for them. But granting what has been excitedly termed financial autonomy to the LGAs is at best a good starting point. It is not enough. If the goal is to ensure good governance where it matters the most, the rest of us need to do much, much more.  

All Nigerians belong to, and live and work within, local government areas—be it villages, towns or municipalities. We are all citizens and residents of LGAs first before being same in states and the country. Being the first and closest level of government to all of us, the LGA is where we should feel the presence and the essence of government the most. Sadly, however, the local level is where governance deficit—alongside citizens’ disengagement—is the most pronounced in Nigeria. As I have argued on this page and in other platforms for more than 15 years, local governance is miserably broken in our country. And as desirable as it is, direct allocation to LGAs is not the cure-all that will bring local governance to good health in Nigeria. In actual fact, we should dispense with the thought of magic bullets.

Those who think financial autonomy will work the magic probably assume that our LGAs are underperforming simply because they are not getting all the money due to them or not getting the money directly. At best, this may be one of the reasons, but definitely not the sole reason. It has also been argued that once LGAs get their money directly and fully, they would be denied of any legitimate excuse for underperformance and that local accountability actors would spring up and be more active. Embedded in this view are two related assumptions: one, there is a link between full (as opposed to partial) receipt of federation allocations by the LGAs and optimal performance by the LGAs; and two, the reason why local accountability is constrained is because of partial disbursement of LGAs’ funds. The logic behind these assumptions is light.

Direct allocations to LGAs can actually produce the opposite of the desired effect. The money directly disbursed can be pilfered or thoughtlessly squandered or can be routed back to their political lords, the governors. Another possibility is that the well-resourced and unhindered LGA chairpersons can transform into mini-governors with their own well-oiled patronage networks and election war-chests, which can have grave implications not only for vote buying but also for social and political order. Talk about possible unintended consequences. These possibilities have led some to take the position that the Supreme Court ruling will change nothing, and may even make things worse. This is a cynical view. But cynicism is easy, and solves little.

The highest court in the land has ruled almost unanimously (6-1) to compel direct federation allocation to LGAs. The court also made consequential pronouncements on illegalities undertaken with impunity by states on local government matters. While it is important to acknowledge that even faithful implementation of the verdict will not automatically change things, the next order of work for those interested in changing the status quo is to identify, based on proper diagnosis, what else needs to happen to enthrone good governance at the local level in our country. In this piece, I will highlight three critical areas.

The first is that financial autonomy for LGAs must be accompanied with strengthening of the mechanisms for holding local officials to account. At the moment, accountability systems and structures are weakest at the local level. The checks and balances within government, provided through legislative and judicial oversights, through the presence of opposition parties, and through operational controls and procedures such as financial audits and restraining institutions, are hardly present at the local level. Local citizens are largely uninvolved or uninterested in local affairs. The press and civil society, which beam the searchlight on exercise of power and amplify citizens’ concerns, are more present and more active at the federal level.

The three forms of political accountability—horizontal, vertical and diagonal—are thus in short supply at the local level. Yet accountability is critical to good governance. Accountability doesn’t depend on the good nature of those in power. It has to be demanded—otherwise, it will not be supplied. Let’s be clear: the deficit in the demand and supply of accountability at our local level will not automatically be reversed simply because we are changing how money is disbursed. Following the Supreme Court ruling, there have been increased calls for citizens to hold their local officials to account. These calls are clearly well-intentioned. But the implicit assumption behind the calls is that local citizens were not holding their local officials to account because no one urged them to. It is a bit complicated, but the evidence suggests that incentive may be at issue.

The task then is to provide the incentives and the tools for citizens to exercise their agency as accountability actors, to fashion new accountability mechanisms for the local level and to strengthen existing ones. In furtherance of this, Agora Policy (which I lead) is co-hosting a solution-oriented dialogue on this issue with BudgIT, Yiaga Africa, Premium Times, Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, and The Cable. Themed “Enthroning Accountability in Local Governance in Nigeria” and kindly supported by MacArthur Foundation, the timely policy conversation will hold on August 5^th in Abuja.

The second thing that needs to happen is that we have to improve the quality and content of democracy at the local level. Politics and decision-making at that scale should approximate the Athenian form of democracy. Local citizens should be able co-govern and should be able to decide the priorities of government at that level. The saying ‘all politics is local’ should have special resonance at the local level. Also, local politics is expected to serve as a school of democracy. But avenues for participation and learning and for enriching democratic practice are hardly present or used. The only option left is electoral democracy, and our local elections are clearly a total sham. No matter the diversity of political persuasions in a state, the party in power always records 100% success rate in local elections (except in FCT).

The Supreme Court has rightly ruled that LGAs are constitutionally required to be administered by elected officials (not by caretaker committees that governors prefer), that it is illegal for governors to dissolve democratically-elected LGA administrations, and that federation allocations should not go to LGAs without democratically-elected officials. It is in the news that most of the affected states are now rushing to schedule local elections. This is all well and good. But the issue is not about conducting elections just to fulfil all righteousness.

We need to significantly improve the quality of local elections so that those who emerge as elected officials are the real representatives of the local people and are those whose loyalty lies with the people, not solely with the state governor. Good governance has a better chance at the local level when there is a credible chance that non-performing officials can be thrown out at the next election.

In between elections, we also need to create avenues for citizens to have inputs into decision-making through public hearings, townhall/community/ward meetings and participatory budgeting. It is assumed that the closer the government is to the people, the more responsive the government will be to their needs. Periodic elections alone, even when they are clean and credible, will not be enough to make government responsive or to prioritise the needs of the people. In the space between elections, there should be constant opportunities for engagement between the officials and the people. Structured and continuous avenues for citizens’ participation will be key. If there is a space for us to test out forms of participatory democracy, the local level offers the ideal scale.

The last point I want to highlight is that building/improving local capacity will be critical.  Generally, the capacity for getting things done is low in our public sector. But, as with accountability, the state capacity deficit is most magnified at the local level. This shouldn’t surprise us: those really talented and driven will rather work at the federal or state levels, not in LGAs. Simply changing how we disburse money will not address this obvious capacity gap. Improving the capacity of the elected officials and civil servants on planning, budgeting, programme design and execution will thus be critical if our goal is to improve service delivery and overall governance at the local level. But it is not only the officials that need capacity enhancement. The citizens and the community-based associations also need support to enhance their interest and increase their capacity to engage the system at the local level more effectively.

I will end this intervention by repeating what I wrote in a related piece on this page about a month ago (‘Refocussing the Debate on Local Governance in Nigeria’). We need a comprehensive reform of how we approach local governance in this country. The Supreme Court has done what is within its remit. Other arms of government, expectedly, will do their bits. But enthroning effective, accountable and responsive local governance is a task beyond government. We all have roles to play too. And we should do our parts, for our enlightened self-interest. If local governance improves in the country, we should all be better off. 

The two individuals that no longer surprise me at all are Citizens Joe Igbokwe and Bayo Onanuga, however in the present instance I wonder what sycophancy and court-jesting have done to their ability to discern the times and by jove incline their hearts to wisdom, apologies to the Holy Book.

Joe Igbokwe in the service of his master decided perhaps without deep research to do the greatest disservice to the present watch. In threatening the Igbo in Lagos and across the Country, Citizen Joe Igbokwe has forgotten that hunger and poverty are indiscriminate of Region, Religion and ethnicity. He has forgotten that unemployment and want are indiscriminate of Creed and Clan. And he has forgotten that playing the ethnic card ala threatening a Tribe in the face of pain, penury and poverty is but an invitation to anarchy. He has forgotten that he who is down needs fear no fall.

Citizen Bayo Onanuga is himself caught by a disease I would call Obi-neurosis, a fear I would call Obi-Phobia, and a complex that fixates him to everything and anything Peter Obi, and the Obidient Movement. I pity him.

The two citizens here mentioned and their fellow travelers in the path of infamy are obsessed with the spoils of power that they cannot see. They are blinded by filthy lucre that they cannot read the times, and their soul is sold to Mammon such that they cannot perceive the ominous tide that romances our space.

They are without an ounce of equivocation Pseudo-Progressives swimming against a deluge. Joe Igbokwe can threaten the Igbo for all he cares. Bayo Onanuga can accuse Peter Obi and the Obidient Movement for all he cares, one infallible fact is that the clock is ticking, that time is running out, and like Kenyans the Gen Zee generation are tired, and have elected to trounce the tranquilizing drug of gradualism choosing proactive action over siddon look.

The Looming Protest has nothing to do with Ethnicity, Region or Religion, deceive yourself for all you care, the Truth is before us. The Looming Protest has nothing to do with Peter Obi or the Obidient Movement, lie to yourselves for all you care, the Truth is lucid. Continue to make matters worse for Tinubu with your sycophancy, continue to gaslight the gullible, and continue to delude and denude the hapless. Truth is that Nigeria is at the precipice and that our Country is hanging dangerously at the tipping edge.

Rather than advise their Master to work the path of caution, discretion and propriety, they sing his praises and nudge him further down the path to Golgotha. They see no wrong in wanton profligacy and wanderlust. They see no wrong in a Presidency that pours out 100m US Dollars for a new Presidential Jet in the face of harrowing poverty. They see no wrong in the spate of job loss and inflation. They see no wrong in the scarcity of food, the hike in price of Fuel, and the suicidal hunger that confronts the Nigerian hoi polloi. All they do is hail their Master as though he is infallible. All they do is blame Buhari as if their Master didn't promise to continue with Buhari's policies that saw Nigeria going in out of inflation, today Nigeria is enmeshed in the worst inflation in our history. Seeing the glaring comeuppance of failure, seeing that the Young are gearing up to challenge for the soul of our nation, Joe Igbokwe, Bayo Onanuga and their cohorts in the cult of Court-jesting are busy shifting the blame, are busy gaslighting the ignorant, and are busy throwing darts at the innocent, but it won't work.

It was Frantz Fanon who said long time ago that every generation out of relative obscurity discovers it's mission, Fulfills or betrays it. If the Gen Zee across Africa have risen, to ethnicise this rising is like pouring water on the Crocodile, I pray Joe Igbokwe, Bayo Onanuga and Co knows this. If the Gen Zee is planning the Nigerian version of the Kenyan uprising, the right thing to do is to begin quickly to address their grievances and proceed with some immediate Reforms and not to threaten, insult, over-awe, harass and harangue them.

I must close this effort with the ageless lines of John F. Kennedy to wit, those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable. The Truth is that those threatening the Young people hatching and planning a peaceful protest for the soul of Nigeria come August 1st to August 10th, 2024 are the enemies of democracy, enemies of the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, and the enemies of Nigeria QED. And Nigeria shall most definitely outlive them.

I believe in Nigeria. I believe that the Eagle shall yet Soar. And I believe that this period of darkness shall yet pass.

I'm CHUKWUDUMEBI.

Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr.

Convener COUNTRYFIRST MOVT.

There are two very significant, and quite commendable, actions Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has taken so far with regards to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu University (COOU), Igbariam. The appointment of Prof Kate Omenugha as acting Vice Chancellor of the school is one. The appointment of Prof Chidi Odinkalu as the Pro-Chancellor of the University is another. He has thus put together two individuals who have the ‘unfortunate habit’ of handling any assignment they give to them in such a way that nothing is allowed to stand in their way, on the road to fulfilment and success.

I also see Soludo giving them all the needed support, going forward. The governor’s regular attendance, or official representation, at all of the university’s events, and especially the visible encouragement he gives to all the new environment-focused initiatives of the school, point to a subsisting goodwill. That goodwill should be maintained.

In sum, and for the record: Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Your Transformation cometh”! Yes, I see Omenugha working synergistically for the positive, phenomenal, transformation of that institution.

I was in the school last week for the 2024 annual conference of the Faculty of Social Sciences. As the Keynote Speaker, I had to give substance to the theme of the conference: “Leadership, Security and Social Stability in contemporary Nigerian Economy”. It was a gathering put together to x-ray the cocktail of security and other challenges that have come to characterize our chequered existence in the country today.

The conference was well attended. But if there was anyone who came to the conference expecting the usual lamentational excesses that has come to characterize retreats and conferences all over the country these days, that person must have left the event very disappointed. It was a solutions-finding gathering, with the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof Anthony Agu, paying meticulous attention to everything that mattered; in the endeavour to make the event more than a passing success story.

Curiously, the office of the Vice Chancellor was also fully involved. Everyone was ‘online’, as if the entire university community was just one large undifferentiated family.  An unsuspecting observer would most probably think that everything was being organized by the VC’s office, with every other faculty as members of the organizing committee. Yet, there was no overbearing presence of anyone, or the dominance of any office at all.

As I later found out from other sources, this was just me getting a whiff of the sense of community that has come to characterise everything going on in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, since Omenugha came on the scene. Someone even quipped to me, as I asked question after question: “Prof, you can see what a woman can do within such a short time”?

Harrison from the VC’s office was as involved as the Dean of the Social Sciences. The latter readily intervened whenever and wherever there were issues to be ironed out in any matter relating to the conference. And Prof Sonny Odogwu of the school’s Faculty of Law, who came into the picture because of the IPOB-imposed seat-at-home order, was as much involved. Because the order still subsists in many parts of Enugu and Anambra States, there are no flights to or from the two states on Mondays. But there are flights to and from Asaba, which is less than an hour’s drive to Onitsha, in Anambra State.

The conference was scheduled for a Tuesday, so I had to fly into Asaba on Monday, spend the night there and then leave for Igbariam in Anambra State the next day. That’s how it fell on Prof Sonny Odogwu of Igbariam’s Faculty of Law to play temporary host and chaperon to me in Asaba. And he did a very good job of it. It was with him that I ran into my old friend from the University of Lagos, Big Ben, who is now the Vice Chancellor of the University in Asaba.

It was, “Ah, is that not Okey sitting down here in our own Polo Club”; and from me came, “Wait, Big Ben? O’ boy, where have you been? It was a more than welcome reunion, but back to our concern here for today.

With Odogwu I rode into Anambra the next morning, and into the gates of a university sitting on a massive land layout. Driving out of the school later with Dr Emegha Ndubisi later in the day, the story of the university began to unfold before me, as I one question after another.

It turned out that the now-resplendent university was a colossal eyesore for quite some time, before the then governor Peter Obi began to give it very serious, and well thought out, attention. The school owes its current layout, the impressive physical infrastructure, as well as its overall academic outlook owed on which so much that will last can now be built today, to Peter Obi. 

The former governor began with the production of a master plan for the University. At that time, he had to remind some people who were not too keen on designing a master plan for the institution that even a weaver bird must have an idea of the type or nest, and size of nest, it wants to make, as well as its preferred purpose before it starts weaving. How much more a university, he queried.

Obi said to anyone who cared to listen at the time that there are masterplans all the big institutions, as well as big building, all over the world today. He said that the story was the same even for those who lived in ancient times; since master plans for both the physical infrastructure and the broad framework of ideas a people wish to birth and nurture in an institution must first be conceptualized and designed beforehand.

His approach to the rescue mission he carried out at Igbaraim was holistic, because Obi did not just focus on merely producing masterplan and carrying it about as a trophy to show off with.  He was engaged in  the serious business of constructing and tarring the access roads to the campus, from the Onitsha Enugu Expressway a the same time.

The condition of this access road had been a problem to the school from its inception. But that nightmare ended with Obi’s tenure as governor. And it was also Peter Obi who Fenced the entire university campus.

When some of those who were opposed to the school, whose perimeter runs into several kilometres when measured, raised issues Obi was reported to have said to them: “Even some of you here have mosquito nets to cover your lovely dogs from mosquito bites at night. No one would allow Tsetse flies near his goats.  Yet it seems right to you that we should leave the citadel from which we hope to produce a new generation that will compete in a 21st Century world with open. Biko, I will find the money and make sure that this our university is fenced. He did just that.

Obi also tarred the internal roads within the university and urged the school authorities to maintain an environment that would develop and enhance every student’s innate sense of beauty. This was in addition to building an impressive Law Faculty building for the university. The building is described as impressive in the sense that it houses lecture rooms, a library, staff offices, and moot courts. For the record, the complex is one of the best in the South-East Geopolitical Zone of the country.

It is also to the credit of peter Obi that the school boasts of a Mass Communication Complex, consisting of lecture rooms, radio and TV studios, and staff offices, today. We say nothing about the construction of the Faculty of Arts/Social Science Complex, which houses staff offices and lecture rooms.

It you add the construction of two hostel complexes, the attraction of two more such complexes from the Central Bank through Dr. Kingsley Muoghalu, the construction of the Faculty of Agriculture building, the construction of the Faculty of Management Sciences building and the construction of an Administrative building, the question that may start forming in your head as your tabulate all the foregoing would be this: “What would you have in this place today if you remove everything done for by Peter Obi, as governor of Anambra State”?

To be fair, it is a matter of record that, besides the medical office built by Chief Willie Obiano, it was Obi who started the construction of all abandoned projects within the complex. It is also a matter of record that Obi made available the sum of five billion Naira to the school for its continued improvement, under well spelt out prudential guidelines.

And all of the foregoing does not include what he spent in providing the school with buses and security vehicles for greater institutional efficiency and improved internal security. We have also not said anything here about the academic facilities, other structures and lasting developmental imprints he left at the Uli campus of the University. And we shall not do that here.

Going back to our initial observations about the University’ Pro-chancellor and the acting Vice Chancellor, the university now has the right mix of primary drivers who have the capacity for lasting engagement according to the best global standards. The new VC has made some impressive strides, especially against the background of the rot she met on ground. What the lady has accomplished within a few short months presents a somewhat baffling reality to many observers.

Her lifelong exposure, and also in particular her tenure as a very effective hands-on for commissioner, would seem to have prepared her to do what she is doing at Igbariam today. But a little more of that some other time

From all accounts, Odinkalu’s first visit to the school, after his appointment as Pro-chancellor was an event all by itself. He was reported to have arrived in very simple clothing. The academic community thus unprepared for  a man had come to trek to every nook and cranny of the school, in order to find out for himself what everything looked like and what was to be done about it.

Chidi had to personally see everything for himself, including the ‘as is’ condition of every inch of land and every building within the premises. With that, he could easily relate to the physical space and human capital that would warehouse and service any new broad conceptual frameworks he would like to develop and inflict on the place with his new-found co-workers. I can assure you that all hands must be on deck, for as long as this new COOU duo are on this beat.

The joint labour unions have vowed to enforce the new N70,000 minimum wage in all states, warning that any state that fails to comply will be shut down.

The warning was issued by the Osun Chapter Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Christopher Arapasopo, in an interview in Osogbo.
Arapasopo revealed that the joint labour unions had agreed to accept the N70,000 minimum wage as a sacrifice to prevent a hike in fuel prices.

He explained that during the NEC meeting, all members unanimously agreed to enforce the minimum wage in all states and that any state that failed to pay would face severe consequences.

“The governors were present when this agreement was reached, and they were the ones who initially suggested N70,000 as the minimum wage. We, as labour, had suggested N250,000, but they brought it down to N62,000 before finally settling on N70,000, which we accepted,” Arapasopo said.

According to him, labour unions would not negotiate on this matter.

He said, “For any government or governor that fails to pay, we will shut that state down. It is a must for them to pay. It is a no-go area.”

Arapasopo noted that if the union had insisted on the N250,000 minimum wage, it would have led to an increment in fuel pump prices and inflation.

The Osun NLC chair assured that the N70,000 minimum wage was still a fair deal, as it would be the least salary paid to workers in the lowest cadre. He added that consequential adjustments and benefits attached to the levels would even increase the wage when implemented.

Arapasopo confirmed that the Osun chapter of the union would meet with the state government to discuss some allowances for workers, but reiterated that the minimum wage stands non-negotiable.

[PoliticsNigeria]

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag has named a 26-man squad to face Rangers in today’s pre-season friendly tie.

Ten Hag included the likes of Casemiro, Jadon Sancho and Andre Onana in his squad to face Rangers at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium.

This clash is Man United’s second of the pre-season campaign following Monday’s narrow 1-0 defeat to Rosenborg in Norway.

Man United’s squad against Rangers:

GOALKEEPERS:

Dermot Mee
Andre Onana
Radek Vitek

DEFENDERS:

Sonny Aljofree
Harry Amass
Rhys Bennett
Jonny Evans
Will Fish
Louis Jackson
Sam Murray
Habeeb Ogunneye
Maximillian Oyedele
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Leny Yoro

MIDFIELDERS:

Casemiro
Toby Collyer
Jack Fletcher
Hannibal
Samuel Mather
Mason Mount
James Scanlon

FORWARDS:

Amad
Ethan Ennis
Joe Hugill
Jadon Sancho
Ethan Wheatley

The Niger Delta Indigenous Contractors Association (NDICA) has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to hasten project execution in the region.

The contractors also threatened to drag International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the region to court for failing to remit their three per cent dues to the commission for more than five years.

They decried the situation saying the attitude of the IOCs had retarded implementation of projects to facilitate the Niger Delta development. 

The contractors in a statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the weekend said there was an urgent need for President Tinubu to exempt NDDC from the TSA.

Darlington applauded Tinubu for appointing technocrats and people of good character to serve on the board of the commission.

The contractors said: “It is through their leadership that Niger Delta has seen positive developments and progress within the region.

“While we reflect on the outcomes of the summit, it is evident that there is still much work to be done to address the challenges facing the Niger Delta region.

“In this regard, we call on Mr. President to consider exempting the NDDC from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system. Such an exemption would enable the NDDC to operate more efficiently and effectively, thereby enhancing its performance and impact on the region”.

Darlington urged the NDDC to prioritise payment of contractors, award of signature projects of high importance to the region, mobilisation of contractors for timely execution of vital projects.

He insisted that such priorities were essential for the sustainable development and prosperity of the Niger Delta region.

He expressed gratitude to the critical stakeholders, who graced the just-concluded NDDC Summit with their presence, especially former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate President, Godswll Akpabio and governors of the Niger Delta states among other key dignitaries.

Also a prominent member of NDICA, Kelvin Gigi,  urged the IOCs and the Ecological Funds to remit their contributions and monies due to the NDDC promptly. 

He said the funds were essential for the NDDC to carry out its mandate and implement crucial projects that would  benefit the people of the Niger Delta region.

He said: “As a concerned association, we will not hesitate to institute a legal action against the IOCs if at the end of August this year they refuse to remit their dues to the Commission. 

“It is very clear that contractors are being owed by the commission because of the inability of the oil majors to pay their dues to the commission”.

President Bola Tinubu congratulates Justice Stella Anukam on her re-election as Judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for another term of six years.

Justice Anukam was re-elected at the African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting Executive Council in Accra, Ghana, on Friday.

The Nigerian obtained her law degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (formerly known as University of Ife), Osun State, Nigeria, in 1984, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in August 1985.

She is also a chartered secretary, chartered arbitrator, and seasoned administrator.

Justice Anukam has served as former Director of Special Programmes at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Abuja, Nigeria, and as former Director of the International and Comparative Law Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

President Tinubu commends Justice Anukam for her contributions to the development of human rights jurisprudence on the continent and enjoins her to continue to bring her invaluable knowledge and insights to the African Court.

The President states that his administration will continue to support the candidature of competent and qualified Nigerians for international positions, noting the country’s strategic importance in the global community.

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights is a continental court established by African states to ensure the protection of human and peoples' rights in Africa.

It complements the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

The court is composed of eleven judges nominated by member states of the AU and elected by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

Nigeria is a state party to the Protocol establishing the Court, having ratified it in 2004.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Not having sex before marriage ought to be good. Restraining yourself from all that tantalizing stuff is tough alright, but that is what the Bible says and we all (believers) know that God is always right. Uncle, no touching; aunty, no sneaking. Keep the marriage bed undefiled. All solid contents must be kept in the bra, in the boxers. You can look, even imagine (though that is a sin too) what is in there but you can’t weed or cultivate the land. You can salivate but you must not sip or suck before you say ‘I do’ and have been handed the license. Then and thereafter, can you start drilling and depositing, planting, harvesting, as the licensed owner of the rig and land.
The waiting time can be mean on both the body and the spirit. Christian courtship is hard but the wedding night and the sweetness thereafter is usually very rewarding. I remember a young bride who ran to the pastor two weeks after the wedding, distraught, confused.
“I can’t cope, pastor.”
“Cope with what, sister”
‘My husband wants sex every day. Is it food? I’m tired. I’m sore. I’m walking funny. I’m even afraid to go home after work. He is a Christian, why does he want sex every day? It is carnal, isn’t it?’
The pastor laughed and called in a female counsellor (you can guess who) who explained to the frightened bride the coping skills. One, her brand new groom is a dude, a raging bull who has been kept in check until he got his license to do as he pleases. He’s making up for lost time. Two, sex is food for all healthy male, Christian or not. A dude is a dude. He wants his woman all day, if possible. There are strategies to avoid wear, tear and bruises. Whenever the couple waited, God happily endorses all activities and everybody is happy.
Unfortunately, it is not always so. It has been discovered, so, so sadly, that there are now terrible, embarrassing ungodly complications to this ‘no-sex-before-marriage’ part of Christian courtship. What is ordinarily supposed to be a beautiful worthwhile wait has been found to bring the kind of torture and nightmare that is confounding and debilitating. Too many Christians are evil, too many courting couples a disgrace to both God and the body of Christ. In fact, I’m restraining myself from calling them murderers because what they bring into a Christian union after saying ‘I do’ before God and man is nothing short of marital terrorism.
A man who professes to be born-again, tongue-speaking, demon-binding Christian abstains from sex during courtship only for the bride to discover on their wedding night that the groom’s weapon is only for peeing! Yeah, he has only two legs. His third leg is virtually non-existent and divorce is not supported by the Bible except on grounds of infidelity and even then you are not allowed to remarry until your spouse dies. Someone help me out here. What if the person you divorced lives to be 100?

Or this other scenario: the turban-wearing, no-earrings but beautiful sister insisted on keeping her body holy, the marriage bed undefiled. Three years after wedding and plenty of lies on why she was waiting on the Lord for the fruit of the womb, the real reasons for her childlessness came to light. Sister’s uterus was removed years ago after a tragic abortion in the university. She didn’t tell the man she professed to love. She didn’t confide in the pastor.
According to her, ‘I believe God will give me a new womb, a brand new beginning.’
Ah, faith is great. But what is wrong with letting the man you are going to marry into this great secret so he can decide whether he’s down with the arrangement or not? What is wrong in letting the guy know what he is getting himself into, what the total package is so he can join his faith to hers and they can have faith raised to power two (like faith2)?

The shocked husband recounted the horror of the heart-rending discovery this way: ‘She kept her on insisting on prayers instead of going to have ourselves checked in the hospital. She was moving from one prayer mountain to the other, doing vigil and fasting round the month. Yet we couldn’t conceive. On my own, I decided to go and run tests on my system. I got the all clear and that was when I became suspicious. I threatened to call the pastors, report her to the church marriage counselling unit, summon a family meeting, and finally I moved out. I told her I’d move back in only if she agreed to the tests. That was when she broke down and confessed. I was devastated.’

Now, how does a pastor deal with that, dissolve the marriage or remind the deceived husband that their marriage vows were ‘till death do them part’? Imagine you are a parent reading this, if the husband was your son, what would you do? How would you feel? This son of yours is 36, his wife is 32 and she has no womb! You are all members of a denomination where even breathing the word ‘divorce’ is almost a sin, will you happily accept your lot and wait for a new womb from your lying daughter-in-law or are you going to damn all consequences and tell your son to ‘throw the trash out and get a proper woman who will bear you children?’

Is the definition of unfaithfulness, infidelity, just about having sex with someone you are not married to? Is going into marriage knowing you are deceiving your partner in the worst possible way godly? How will the church stop their members from trying polygamy and extramarital affairs when the skeletons start dancing ‘shaku shaku’ outside the closet? How can the church stem the rate of failed marriages in the body of Christ when young men and women go into marriage for the wrong reason, wearing only barefaced lies as wedding garments?
Should the church just accept that this new trend of hiding very important details during courtship, as part of end-time turbulence or should pastors just remember that they are end-time shepherds who must do their jobs with wisdom?
Dear godly reader, imagine that it’s your daughter who ended up with the man whose third leg is incompetent, malformed or misshapen? That on the wedding night, your daughter who had kept her virginity till age 25 was the one who discovered that her husband’s manhood is the same size as her pinky, her smallest finger! The thing can pee but it can’t be put to work. It’s just there, like a toddler’s pecker. You spent millions of naira on the wedding ceremony, had high hopes for this marriage and here you are with a son-in-law who could not consummate the marriage. It’s not his fault that he was created with a weapon that can’t plunge or fire but it is what it is. Your daughter may have to resort to self-help at some point. Pastor, this is one member of our congregation that is most likely to look for sex outside marriage.

But Ariyike’s story is the most pathetic. She is the respected daughter of a respected pastor. She was even a youth pastor herself. So, of course, keeping her body as the temple of God was a given. Her husband is a petroleum engineer based in one of the South South states. The couple re- located there right after the wedding. Six months later, Ariyike called her parents that she was com- ing to visit in Lagos. Everyone had missed her, her parents were eager to hear the expected news that she was pregnant. She wasn’t but she looked different, subdued, withdrawn. One week became two weeks and Ariyike still refused to go back to her husband. After a long sermon, she told her parents she was not returning to her matrimonial home, ever. Was he beating her? That was the only question on everybody’s lips. It seemed the only reason a young bride would run back home, right? It wasn’t Ariyike’s reason. Her husband is so oversized, his manhood off-kilter, heavy duty, scary weapon that scared the poor girl shitless the first time he confronted her with it.
“I tried to cope but he’s just too big. He leaves me bleeding sore and crying the few times we tried. It’s scary, I can’t go back. It will kill me. You don’t understand what I’m talking about because you have not seen it. Please don’t make me go back otherwise, I’ll run away.”
What does a pastor do when confronted with a case like this? What do parents do when their daughters-in-law or sons-in-law are discovered to have covered up facts that are this important? True, it can’t be easy to fully disclose to anybody including your mother that you have deformities down there. Imagine all the beautiful girls with crazy cleavages out there with private pains deep inside them, the men with abnormalities they can’t talk about below their belts. I read that one out of 165 male births may reproduce a baby with micro-penis. There is penile torsion and scrotal transposition too. I read that many men “suffer” from penile torsion in various degrees – corkscrew – like third legs that are sometimes competing with a horse’s weapon built to scare. The scrotal transposition is where the scrotal sac is situated above the shaft making the equipment look like elephant ears. The women’s troubles are broadly termed Mullein duct abnormalities and they reach all the way in with all kinds of implications. I’m not a doctor, just a Christian and a mother worried about protecting these young ones from unfaithful spouses-to-be, hiding important details, from the ‘absent’ uterus to python or pinky-sized penises. Should we test all ‘spirits’ and see which is true or just fly blind in that direction? I’m just asking.

The residents of the Alag­bole-Ajuwon and Akute axis in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State are pained and angry. So also are their counterparts along the Agbara-Lu­sada-Atan corridor in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area. They are all aggrieved over the reckless aban­donment of their roads. The imme­diate past administration of Senator Ibikunle Abiodun did. He did it with impunity and a lack of empathy for the suffering of the common people.

It is not unusual for a government to leave behind an uncompleted proj­ect in the face of dwindling resources. Just like life itself, the unexpected can happen. But there is a reasonable level such projects will reach without caus­ing more hardship than envisaged for the community concerned. Willy-nil­ly, former governor Amosun awarded the contract for the construction of these roads and ordered the demo­lition of houses along the corridor only for the contractor to disappear into thin air midway into the project. Since then, life has remained miser­able for the hapless residents as ev­ery onset of the rainy season always comes with a nightmare.

Recently, borne out of frustration, some social media freaks took on the matter with a pinch of salt, directing their rightful indignation at the in­cumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun. However, he took the scathing criti­cism of his administration in good faith and immediately swung into ac­tion. This week, he took time out of his busy schedule to visit the sites for the an on-the-spot assessment of the projects. There and then, he promised that relief would soon come their way and the untold hardship would be a thing of the past. It’s a horrific site to behold, indeed. Only the individuals with stone hearts can leave the scene with dry cheeks. It’s better imagined than experienced.

There is nothing impunity cannot do. And it’s the bane of governance in this country. In most cases, leaders capitalise on people’s lack of indigna­tion capacity to do things haphazard­ly and get away with them.

As Governor Abiodun is one per­son who does not believe in the blame game, he has promised to take on the challenge of the infrastructure deficit he inherited from his predecessors for the ultimate realisation of his trans­formation agenda for the good of all and sundry.

On Monday, precisely July 8, 2024, he gave a matching order to the con­tractor handling the construction of the Denro-Ishashi-Akute road to ensure the completion of the project within two weeks.

The Governor also disclosed that work would soon begin on the Alag­bole-Ajuwon and Akute-Ajuwon roads in the Ifo Local Government Area of the state. He noted that the construction of the Denro-Ishashi- Akute Road started almost three years ago, directing the contractor to mobilise to the site immediately and ensure the completion of the project in two weeks.

He further reiterated his promise to ensure equitable provision of in­frastructures across the state, adding that this is being followed religiously. He said his administration had kept faith with his promise to ensure that road construction is evenly spread across the 20 local governments in the state.

Hear him: “My pledge is that I have come here today to see things for myself. There are two roads that are considerably important to our people.

“First of all, the Denro-Ishashi- Akute road, I have given the contrac­tor a matching order that the road must be completed in the next two weeks, asphalt and the bridge.

“I want to assure you all that it is your time now. It is your right. You voted for us. I am a promise-keeping governor. I will not make empty prom­ises.

“Now, within the next two weeks, a maximum of three weeks, active con­struction will start on Alagbole-Aju­won and Akute-Ajuwon roads.

“Today, here, we’ve reconstructed Olusegun Osoba-Toyin Street, Denro- Ishashi-Akute is under construction. We have so many other roads we’ve constructed here. But because there is so many deficits in the infrastructural development in this area, at times, it appears as if we are not reconstruct­ing them as fast as they want us to.

Assuring the community of his administration’s commitment to en­sure equitable infrastructure devel­opment, Abiodun explained that the deficit he met on the assumption of office had made him wonder what the previous administrations were doing.

He said although the past admin­istration had good intentions for the people of the state, he decried the reckless manner in which the project had been abandoned after structures had been demolished and single carriageways turned into dual carriageways.

“When I assumed office on the 29th of May, 2019, the deficit that we met on assumption of office was such that we began to wonder what the previous administration was doing.

“In some instances, they appear to have good intentions, they go to the roads, they demolished houses, roads that should not be more than a single carriageway, they turned them to dual carriageway By so doing, they removed all the asphalt that was there serving the people and abandoned these roads.

“We inherited quite a lot of these roads. Some of those roads are federal roads, and you know our people can­not differentiate between federal and state. They will geo-locate their pains where and when they are feeling it,” Governor Abiodun lamented.

In keeping with his promise to give every section of the State a true sense of belonging, he listed other roads that had been penciled down for construction including Hercu­les-Giwa (Oke Aro Rd), some section of Akute- Ijoko road, and the road leading to Yakoyo. He stated that his administration had to draw up the priority list taking into consideration vehicular traffic and the economic impact of some of the roads it had embarked upon to date, adding that his administration would continue to put the people first.

He went on: “Let me give you an example of the road that goes from Agbara-Atan-Lusada road. When I assumed office, trailers carrying containers were falling off on that road. That is the road that leads to the biggest industrial estate not just in Nigeria but one of the biggest in Africa.

“It is a road that counts for hun­dreds of thousands of employees and employers. So, it is important for us in Ogun State. I had to prioritize it, and it is a federal road.

“So, we have to draw up a priority list and the priority list amongst oth­ers factored in the vehicular traffic, the economic impact.

“Ijebu-Ode-Epe road is a road that evacuates people from the Lekki cor­ridor to the Eastern flank of Nigeria. That road was non-existent. I had to prioritize that road. Sagamu-Abeoku­ta Road, the road leading to the state capital, was not good. People were dying. I had to prioritize that road, another federal road, and so many other roads.

“Today we can brag and say not only have we constructed 600 kilo­meters of highways or roads, both in­ter-state, intra-state, inner-city roads, but, I beat my chest that there is no local government in Ogun State today that does not have at least one or two roads that we have reconstructed in the last five years and that is in line with been equitable and fair,” he said.

The Governor’s inspection tour did not leave out the 20-kilometre Agbara-Lusada-Atan in Ado Odo/ Ota Local Government Area which has been in a deplorable condition. On Wednesday, precisely July 10, 2024 while speaking to newsmen on his ac­tion plan for the project, he promised that the ongoing construction work on the road would be completed in September. He also stressed the im­portance not only to the economic well-being of the State but the nation as a whole.

Recalling the meeting he had with industrialists in the area before his assumption of office, he promised to put the road in a better shape soon. According to him, the road was in a terrible condition, leading to trailers and other articulated vehicles falling on their sides. However, concerned with the plight of the residents, he said his administration decided not to wait for the Federal Government be­fore commencing its reconstruction.

Governor Abiodun expressed op­timism that the road would revive businesses and the socio-economic de­velopment of the area on completion. He said he was on the road to see the level of work done so far and assured that it would be dualised from the La­gos-Badagry road end to the Agbara Industrial Estate gate, while a single lane would be constructed to Atan to aid movement.

Unveiling the glad tiding, he said: “I am here today to have an on-the-spot assessment of how the contractor is doing. I have given them certain time­lines, and I want to ensure that they are working in tandem to ensure they meet those timelines.

“I have said to them that they must ensure that from the Lagos-Badagry end, the dual carriageway is complet­ed to the entrance of the industrial es­tate, the OPIC entrance so that trucks and trailers that coming from the port can enjoy the dual carriageway easily going in and out effortlessly so we can increase productivity and enhance their operations.

“We will now focus on one lane be­yond the OPIC entrance all the way to Atan first. Let’s finish that so our peo­ple can enjoy the driving pleasure all the way from Lagos-Badagry to Atan on one side.

“One side is 4.75 wide. It will take at least four vehicles. Let’s finish that because this road has cost us so much.

“You can imagine a few months ago, you award a contract. Before the ink dries up on that contract, the cost of asphalt has increased three times in one day. So I said, let’s finish this because we are committed to it. We are a promise-keeping administra­tion. We only make promises that we can keep.”

Similarly, the hardship being en­countered by motorists plying the Lagos-Abeokuta Express Way will soon be a thing of the past, as Gov­ernor Abiodun and his Lagos State counterpart, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu have received the approval of the Federal Government to commence reconstruction of the ever-busy road. Recounting the bureaucratic bottled neck experienced in their failed at­tempts under the previous adminis­tration of ex-president Muhamma­du Buhari to take over the road, he disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had graciously approved the transfer of the road to the state. De­spite the transfer, he explains, the state still faces stiff opposition from some federal officials, forcing his government to formally award the contract in May, with or without the necessary transfer papers.

He narrated his awful experience arising from undue obstinacy of the federal officials: “The Lagos-Sango- Abeokuta road is a federal govern­ment road and has been in a very bad shape for long. Because of the suffer­ing our people pass through on the road, I and my counterpart in Lagos jointly wrote a letter, using a single letterhead to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), seeking for the trans­fer of that road for us to reconstruct.

“After waiting for a month with­out a reply, we wrote a reminder. That road was not handed over to us until the present federal government came on board. The contract for the road has since been awarded since May this year.”

Governor Abiodun, therefore, described the sponsored attacks on his administration on social media by some faceless individuals as un­warranted, saying he would not be distracted by propaganda but remain focused on serving the people who en­trusted their mandates to him.

“My attention was drawn to vari­ous sponsored media attacks on my person and my administration. These media attacks are focusing on roads by attempting to disparage me and ac­cuse me of either neglect or not being responsive or being uncaring.

“The only reason I am here as Gov­ernor is to serve the good people of Ogun State and that I am irrevocably committed to it,” he stated.

While seeking the cooperation and understanding of residents, the governor threatened legal action against those critics misrepresent­ing his administration. He promised not to be deterred by the antics of his detractors.

…Ogbonnikan writes from Abeokuta, Ogun State capital