The oil sector in Nigeria has always been the topic of the day. Online. Offline. On the radio. Even in public transport. If you want to start a heated conversation anywhere in this country, just mention “fuel.” The reactions will start coming in. The price. The scarcity. The queues. The corruption. It’s personal for everyone because we have built a whole nation that depends on oil as if it’s the only thing keeping Nigeria alive. We cannot discuss infrastructure, healthcare, education, or even pay salaries in many states without relying on oil revenue.

Before the removal of fuel subsidy under the current administration (President Bola Ahmed Tinubu), Nigeria was already burdened by an unsustainable level of debt. Year after year, billions were spent to maintain the appearance of affordable fuel. This reality disproportionately benefited the wealthy and even some politicians while leaving the poor at a disadvantage. It was a system that forced the country to import what it could produce. In an attempt to correct this longstanding imbalance, the government introduced a new approach: the Naira-for-Crude policy.

The policy emerged as a response to Nigeria’s over-reliance on imported refined petroleum products, persistent FX pressures, and underutilized local refining capacity. It was approved by the Federal Executive Council to promote the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Naira, specifically for domestic consumption, to strengthen local production, reduce dollar demand, and support broader reforms following the removal of fuel subsidies.

It is one of those things that sounds very technical on paper, but when you break it down, it’s about making Nigeria act like a country that actually owns oil. The idea is this: sell our crude oil to local refineries in Naira. Refine it. Sell the products within Nigeria, still in Naira. Not dollars. Not IOUs. Actual Naira transactions. No more running around trying to source dollars just to trade our own resources at home.

In August 2024, the federal government inaugurated the Implementation Committee for the Naira-for-Crude policy. The policy officially commenced on October 1, 2024, when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) began supplying approximately 385,000 barrels per day of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery, with payments made in Naira.

Many stakeholders are involved in the Naira-for-Crude policy. The Implementation Committee oversees its rollout, with Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), leading the Technical Sub-Committee. The policy is built on four main principles: crude oil allocation to local refineries, transactions conducted in Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria setting a reference exchange rate, and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) overseeing the process through a One-Stop Shop for clearances and levies.

The Technical Sub-Committee ensures these principles are upheld while managing the regulatory process and aligning the policy with national objectives such as reducing reliance on foreign currency, achieving self-sufficiency, and maintaining market stability.

The Naira for Crude policy is meant to ease the burden on our economy while strengthening relevant sectors. For Nigeria, as a country, it reduces the pressure on the dollar, helps us save our foreign reserves, and makes room for a more stable financial system. For stakeholders such as refineries, marketers, and government bodies, it simplifies how business is done, makes transactions easy, and encourages more investment. And for the everyday Nigerian, the goal is to ensure fuel is more available, reduce how much we rely on imports, and secure our energy needs in a way that actually works for us.

The naira for crude policy fosters a conducive business environment, reduces monopoly power, and ensures competitive pump pricing. It provides citizens with a strong sense of inclusion and the freedom to choose.

Naira-for-Crude makes a lot of sense. We have been doing things the hard way for too long, buying back what we produce and spending dollars we don’t have. This new policy is Nigeria finally saying, “Let us fix this from inside.” As mentioned earlier, It’s not just policy. It’s common sense.

The policy is a blueprint for the future. By changing how we handle our resources, we are taking back control. It’s time for Nigeria to move from just managing to thriving. We are doing it big, no going back!

Atoyebi is the technical assistant on broadcast media to the executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service

Shehu Sani, a former senator, has asked President Bola Tinubu to avoid getting sucked into the nepotism vortex when making key appointments.

Tinubu has faced criticisms for allegedly favouring the south-west, his home region, in his appointments.

On April 8, Ali Ndume, the senator representing Borno south, said Tinubu’s appointments have not reflected the diversity mandated by section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

The federal government subsequently lashed out at critics, describing those pushing the narrative of sectionalism as “pokers of embers of hate and disunity” whose claims should not be taken seriously.

Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Thursday, Sani said African leaders often prioritise appointing individuals from their ethnic groups when they assume power.

“I will say that President Asiwaju should also be very careful,” the ex-senator said.

“He shouldn’t toe that line because it has been in African political geography that each time a person takes over position of office, he fills the major positions with people from his ethnic group and it is happening everywhere.

“So, people who find themselves in power should see it as an opportunity to serve not as those who have conquered and as such, they have to put their people everywhere.”

The former Kaduna lawmaker criticised opposition figures who were silent when past leaders made appointments without recourse to federal character.

“Two wrongs do not make a right. But let us know that when nepotism favoured a part of the country, you were silent, and now you raise it up because you have an issue with this government,” Sani said.

“I would appreciate the morality of the opposition if I can hear your voice when your own man from your tribe, from your ethnic group was perpetrating those evil and you stood against it.

“And when you keep quiet when it favoured you and now you speak out when it doesn’t favour you, it means you have other intentions.”

[TheCable]

There are two perspectives from which the apparent lopsidedness of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s appointments can be understood.There is the power politics perspective and there is the federalism compliant dimension. 

The emergent casus belli between the President and the custodians of the Northern Muslim electorate devolves on this lapse. It is amenable to being cited as the enactment of Yoruba/ Tinubu triumphalism on one end and the entitlement syndrome of the hegemonic North on the other.

The President has been quite deliberate and systematic in wielding this power politics instrument. There have been repeated pronouncements of the arrival of a new sheriff in town and a pharaoh who does not know Joseph. Thereby, Tinubu and Nigeria have embarked on a journey of no return to the status quo ante. This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that a President of Southern origins, will deliberately engage the custodians of the Northern Muslim electorate in a zero sum game. The latter has a vested interest in preserving the myth of Northern hegemony against which the former has thrown the gauntlet.

If the Tinubu Presidency is having problems with this constituency today it is largely on account of not adequately yielding to this entitlement syndrome. In so doing, he must have factored the potential consequences (including especially the challenge of seeking reelection) into the equation.

The role of the Yoruba intelligentsia in this dogfight is uncertain but when push comes to shove there is a limit to which a fellow Yoruba can lead the charge against a Nigerian President of Yoruba origins for the sin of overcompensating his Yoruba kith and kin within the context of the turn by turn predicate of Nigerian politics. Moreso at a time when the division across ethno regional lines is at a record high and when no silver lining is discernible in the horizon.

Without the awful precedent set by Buhari, it is well nigh impossible that his successor will ply the same route. Buhari has set the benchmark for how a divisive political leader can find the winning formula from the standpoint of exclusive discriminatory leadership. You would have noticed that notwithstanding his disastrous outing as President, his residence increasingly teems with vengeful and bitter anti-Tinubu standard bearers.

There is now an established Muhammadu Buhari model in which the political leader is wildly popular and commands a cult followership on account of his personification of ethno national irredentism. In a discussion with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu several years ago, he said he was realistically constrained to ally himself with the former President, on account of the “cult followership”the latter commands amongst the Muslim North electorate. In the effluxion of time, this realpolitik vision has been vindicated and amply rewarded.

Upon his ascension to the high office,Tinubu wasted no time in putting the Buhari model practice. In a cynical rationalisation of his nepotism, the argument was made (for Buhari) that the seeming lopsidedness of his appointments is extenuated by the rationale that those appointees are spread over the three Northern zones, North West, North Central and North East. In pursuit of this phantom explanation, Buhari actually argued on one or two occasions that he was compelled to make the appointments (the chief of Army staff in particular) because no officer of Southern origin was competent and capable enough.

In a similar replay of the Buhari mischief, Tinubu has proposed that the Yoruba lopsidedness of his appointments is merely a reflection of the fact that his appointees from kogi and kwara are only Yoruba in name but are Northern Nigerians by citizenship

Typical of such Yoruba Northerners is the newly appointed Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr Bayo Ojulari. Ulterior motives notwithstanding, I should not forget to commend the President for finally summoning the courage to get rid of Malam Mele Kyari from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. How a man who embodied all that was wrong with the NCNC, merits being reappointed, in the first place, beats the imagination hollow.

Albert Einstein must have had Nigeria in mind when he concluded that it is only a mad man who keeps doing the same thing and expects a different outcome. It is in the evasion of the fundamental issue at stake (federalism) that the federal character principle was manufactured. The failure of this escapist construct was heralded by the artful dodger propensities of Nigerian leaders (circumventing the law while studiously breaching the spirit). In its manifest inadequacy in addressing the problem of the Nigerian dysfunctional pluralism, the federal character principle is akin to the employment of a table knife to cut a tree; of mistaking the forest for the tree; of misconstruing leprosy as eczema.

The doctrine of ‘Federal Character’ emerged from the 1979 Constitution, and it calls for the distribution of federal appointments to reflect equitably the different dimensions of the nation’s ethnic, regional and religious, heterogeneity, in order to ‘promote a sense of belonging and loyalty” among the diverse peoples of Nigeria. The doctrine did not stand up to scrutiny. In the assessment of the principle, Peter Ekeh denounces it (‘Federal Character)’ as the ‘solution that has deepened the problem it was devised to tackle’. Afigbo believes that the present structure of the Nigerian federation has not succeeded in meeting and solving the problems which necessitated the emergence of ‘ Federal Character’. He is of the view that the Nigerian North-South dichotomy remains a thorny issue, in spite of attempts to obliterate it by demarcating the nation into smaller states

The principle did not self-destruct, it was subverted by those who were contracted to ensure its application. And this is the problem with those who argue that the random variable of good leadership rather than the restoration of federalism (the relationship between the center of a political regime and its constituent parts, however those parts are conceived) holds the key to the solution of the problem of Nigeria. Let us apply this argument to the fourth Republic and ask of the extent to which leadership has complied with the implementation of the federal character principle.

I think that of the five Presidents who had governed Nigeria since 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo is the only one who can be fairly judged as passing the implementation of the federal character litmus test. The extrapolation here is that, in generic terms, the chances of getting a good Nigerian President is 20%. In other words, for every successful Nigerian President, you are going to get four failures.

In this scenario the realistic and scientific attitude (otherwise known as the worst case scenario) is to hope and not expect that Nigeria will get good leadership. If the problem is formulated in this manner, you will then put your expectation first on constitutional guardrails and secondarily on the hope for the elusive good leadership.

Potentially and notionally, you assume that the likelihood is that bad (not good people who need to be curtailed and constrained) will find their way to power. Such constraints are what you call checks and balances. In the case of Nigeria, the risk of national damage is directly proportional to centralisation. In other words, bad leadership will have limited capacity (especially at the centre) to wreak damage the less centralised the system.

Because of the inevitability of bad leadership and the dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the less the concentration of power at one source and the more the dispersal of power, the more constrained is the wielder of power. According to Rotimi Suberu “federalism in Nigeria is subverted by de facto hypercentralization, as resource distribution devolves top-down from the center. Second, politics within Nigeria’s federal order focuses on access to and distribution of the centrally distributed wealth, rather than on its production”

It is a constant in the history of mankind that the development of any society is founded on the extent to which the two variables of hard work and reward are wedded in a direct proportional relationship. And since this is a rational concept, it follows that the ethic abides as the organising principle of rationally designed societies. Nigeria has chosen to be an exception to this rationality – with dire consequences.

Let me call it a day with a helicopter view of the concept, applicability and indispensability of federalism to Nigeria.

Professor Wole Soyinka, has been criticised for being tepid in his reaction to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state yet he made the important point that an unintended consequence is the impoverishment of federalism. My position is that any structure that makes it possible for the President to be this powerful cannot be right for Nigeria

“ Federalism, according to our definition, is a means of governing that grants partial autonomy to a polity’s geographically defined subunits. Combined, the elements of geography and autonomy distinguish federalism from other consociative strategies. The issue is the relationship between the center of a political regime and its constituent parts, however those parts are conceived. (Feeley, Malcolm M., and Edward L. Rubin).

The basic political dilemma of pluralism is to reconcile the common interests of the society as a whole with the particular interests of its subgroups. The spatial basis for social partitioning inherent in regionalism offers a very attractive solution to this problem, for territoriality provides clearly demarcated zones of jurisdiction. Central to the logic of the federalist solution, therefore, is the concept of regionalism. However, its intrinsic simplicity may create difficulties”. (H. LITHWICK )

“Federalism becomes useful when people’s political identities conflict but their political lives are intertwined as members of a single polity or as members of different polities that want to join together. Inevitably, it involves a compromise; a central government is established or maintained, but some or all regions of the polity are granted autonomy over specified governmental functions”

“Federalism has to do with the need of people and polities to unite for common purposes yet remain separate to preserve their respective integrities. Federalism itself is not optimal; it is a suboptimal compromise designed to resolve situations that threaten to descend into even less attractive possibilities” Nigerian pluralism is, for instance, uniquely bound to conflict and crisis and highly resistant to national integration. (Dan Elazar)

“Most of the problems confronting Nigeria were results of the structure. if a structure is not working we have a responsibility to make adjustments to that structure.”(Agboola Gambari)

Rather than animus and mutually assured destruction, If this moment can serve to indicate that in the present dispensation of pseudo-federalism, all of us are losers, the purpose of reinventing Nigeria would have been achieved.

It’s understandable if you have not paid attention. I can’t help noticing because minding other people’s business is a part of my job description. On Tuesday, the newspapers reported a spat between the children of two leading politicians, Mohammed Abubakar and Shamsudeen Bala Mohammed.

Mohammed and Shamsudeen are the children of Atiku and Bala. Atiku was Nigeria’s vice president, and Bala is the Bauchi State governor and chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum.

Both are ranking members of the main opposition, PDP, a party making as much effort to find its way as it is desperate to lose it. The tweetstorm between the children of these leaders has only piled on the party’s misery, and what lies ahead doesn’t look pretty, especially after the PDP governors’ meeting in Ibadan.

Back story

The fight between both sons is the political equivalent in the music industry of the bitter sibling rivalry between Peter and Jude Okoye, siblings now dragging themselves publicly over royalty from their once famous band, P-Square. If PDP had any royalty left, it squandered it on the insatiable appetite of its leaders, who have eaten the present and future of the party.

Atiku’s son is accusing Governor Mohammed of stabbing his father in the back when he ran for the presidency in 2023. The governor’s son responded that nobody plays as dirty as Atiku, whom he accused of undermining his father’s bid for a second term in Bauchi.

The tweet rage has sparked discussions about how far the children of politicians in power should go to fight publicly for or against their parents’ political interests and whether or not such brawls hinder or help their parents’ political fortunes.

In another life, it would have been considered poor breeding for teenagers or young adults to insert themselves in a fight between adults.

For example, despite the fight-to-the-finish between MKO Abiola and military president General Ibrahim Babangida, who cancelled the 1993 presidential election won by Abiola, their children stayed mainly out of the fray. The equivalence of social media has changed all that.

Born to rage

The pervasiveness of social media and its popularity, especially among teenagers and young adults, has increased the sense of agency among these groups and amplified their voices, however strident and deeply worrying they may get sometimes.

From the blogger and daughter of the famous Ibadan politician Kemi Olunloyo, who recently declared on her blog that she would have nothing to do with her family again after her father died, to Bashir, an unabashedly vile tweep and the son of former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, there is an emerging activism among the children of politicians. It’s a cross between rebellion and the search for identity or the process of becoming.

The more you look

Does it make sense? Is it always an indication of parental values or a measure of the family’s stand on political issues? Neither Atiku Abubakar nor Bala Mohammed has weighed in yet. Even though their children’s public fight feels like a scene from “Sons of the Caliphate”, nothing they said was false. Perhaps, it was how and the speed of the venom that raised eyebrows.

Before the 2023 elections, when Atiku’s protégé and prominent traditional titleholder in Bauchi, Bello Kirfi, fell out with Bala, the latter (with former Speaker Yakubu Dogara) openly worked against Bala’s reelection. During the presidential primaries in Port Harcourt, Bala ran against Atiku.

The proxy war between Atiku’s man, Kirfi, and Bala almost cost the governor his reelection, an offence the governor will not forgive. He was saved by the skin of his teeth and the support of former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and the G5, after which Mohammed stripped Kirfi of his traditional title.

Rise of social media

Older adults who are used to nuanced, conservative methods of airing their grievances may be embarrassed, even offended, by the tweet brawl between Mohammed and Shamsudeen. Still, in the last two decades, we have seen that social media, the playground for teenagers and young adults, has also become a legitimate sphere of politics – and in the current Trumpoverse, it’s even a tool of diplomacy, thanks to US President Donald Trump.

But should blog posts, often typically lacking in depth and context, become the measure of what is truly important and enduring? Do they represent more than what they are – random outbursts of fleeting thoughts from entitled or angry tribes? Or do they teach us something we need to pay attention to?

Price of feuds

Some years ago, Bobby Goodlatte took a stand on Twitter against his father, Bob, a Republican, whom he accused of “political grandstanding” that led to the sacking of an FBI agent Bobby described as “a patriot.” For that reason, he sided with a Democrat running against his father and used social media to mobilise votes for him.

We don’t even need to go far. In 2017, Moremi, daughter of Babafemi Ojudu, the former Special Adviser (Political Matters) to President Muhammadu Buhari, attacked the government, her father’s employer. Although she later apologised to her father, her action raised questions about who she was speaking for. Yet everyone knows it’s a generation that wears its emotions on its sleeve.

Who pays?

Seyi, son of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who uses the handle @STinubu, last tweeted in May 2023. But his activities offline, which invariably become rich social media harvests, have generated no less interest than that of the more social-media active children of other politicians. Do these children’s actions, especially online, carry any significant political risk for their parents?

The answer is, sometimes. A 2020 media psychology study said, “When people believe they are not alone in their cause, it encourages them to take action. For the children of well-known or newsworthy parents in the contentious political arena, their actions also become newsworthy by virtue of proximity to their parents and the unceasing demand for news content that will attract audience attention.”

The potential impact of such feuds could range from damage to political image to loss of credibility arising from a perception of lack of parental authority and a house divided against itself.

High-profile family disputes or squabbles amongst the children of political heavyweights can amplify the controversy and undermine the politician’s agenda. An example is the spectacular case of Bukola and Gbemisola in the Saraki dynasty. In cases where such children are viewed as potential successors, it could haunt them and fracture support.

“Sins” of the children

Even when children are old enough to answer their own names, in largely conservative societies, the “sins” of the children may weigh heavily on how their parents are perceived.

The tweet by Bashir El-Rufai, for example, that the killings in Southern Kaduna would continue until the attacks on Fulani herdsmen ceased was considered inflammatory and insensitive. It was also deemed a reflection of his father’s politics as governor for eight years.

Seyi Tinubu’s offline comment that his father is the greatest president in Nigeria’s history raised a firestorm on social media. Whatever the cost of his comment, he is unlikely to be deterred, and his actions will continue to enrich social media content in the days ahead.  

As we move closer to 2027, the actions of the children of newsworthy politicians will be a valuable lens by which we try to view and understand the political space. We’ll wait to see how much this currency will shape the future.

We, as representatives of committed members of the former Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), who were part of those instrumental in the historic merger that gave birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC), hereby issue this statement to clarify our unalloyed loyalty to our great party and express firm solidarity with the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Recent misleading narratives suggesting a defection or disaffection among CPC stakeholders are mischievous and should be ignored. We remain integral to the APC and are fully aligned with its leadership and vision.

Our position is as follows:

1. We wish to state categorically that we have neither left the APC nor do we intend to leave. The CPC bloc remains one of the legacy foundations of the APC, and we are resolute in our commitment to the party and its progressive ideals.
2. As part of the legacy parties that formed the APC, we take pride in the sacrifices made to build a platform that promotes national unity, justice, and development. We will not allow some people to dismantle the party we helped to build through years of tireless work and dedication.
3. Attempts to create disunity within the party and the country do not reflect the will or position of the genuine CPC core members and it is unacceptable.
4. We align ourselves fully with the economic and governance reforms being undertaken by President Bola Tinubu. Though challenging, these policies are necessary steps to rebuild our economy and secure a better future for all Nigerians. We urge patience and collective support as the benefits unfold.
5. While we acknowledge that some party members may feel sidelined, we emphasize that such grievances are not exclusive to any one bloc. We advise those concerned to seek redress through constitutional channels within the party and not to resort to negative public agitation or hasty exits from the party.
6. At this critical point in Nigeria’s democratic journey, it is imperative for all APC members—especially those with deep roots in the party’s formation—to work together to preserve its legacy and help consolidate Nigeria’s democracy. We must avoid actions that erode our unity and the stability of the nation.
7. We call on the leadership of the APC to scale up engagement with members across all levels. Strengthening internal communication will reduce tension, foster inclusiveness, and enhance support for the party’s programs. Party unity must be nurtured continuously in order to sustain the gains and to secure the future.
8. We therefore reaffirm our loyalty to the APC and our support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. The CPC family remains a vital pillar of the APC and will continue to play a responsible role in its growth and in the progress of Nigeria.

Long Live President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Long Live the APC!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!

1. 
   His Excellency, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura
2. His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari
3. Mallam Adamu Adamu
4. Senator Ibrahim Musa
5. Senator Mustafa Salihu
6. Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu
7. Hon. Almajiri Geidam
8. Arc. Waziri Bulama
9. Dr. Nasiru Ladan Argungu
10. Sen Ibrahim Musa
11. Hon. Ayuba Balami
12. Mr. Osita Okechukwu
13. Chief Okoi Obono-Obla
14. Alh. Yusuf Salihu
15. Captain Bala Jibrin
16. Hon. Uche Ufearoh
17. Alh. Ibrahim Bako Shettima
18. chief Jerry Johnson
19. Hon Eyam A Francis
20. Alh. Alkali Ajikolo
21. Hon. Lucy Ajayi
22. Hon. Abubakar Maikudi
23. Engr. Mutallib Badmus
24. Hon. Muhammed Etsu
25. Dr. Dominic Alancha

Signed on behalf of Members:

1. U.T Al-Makura: (Signed)

Mr. Osita Okechukwu: (Signed)

Peasant Empowerment Concern Initiative (PECi), an NGO has alerted Nigerians of the danger of impoverishment of our rural areas, by extension peasants by the 35 State Governors who are blocking local government financial autonomy for sheer personal gains.

PECi in a statement jointly signed by the national coordinator, Senator Ita Enang and publicity secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu submitted that going by the records of Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC); the milestone financial autonomy of local government councils initiated by President Bola Tinubu is in danger as only Delta State complied, while 35 States have refused to open accounts with CBN as directed.

They argued that local government financial autonomy is meant to develop our grassroots and empower peasants majority of whom reside in the rural areas.

The group noted that the peasant empowerment and development gains intendment of local government financial autonomy, being blocked by the State Governors will further impoverish our citizenry, fuel urban migration, kidnapping and spread rural diseases.

The NGO frowned at the intimidation and coercion strategy allegedly adopted by the Governors, who cynically prefer commercial banks domiciliary accounts lodgment easy to manipulate more than CBN accounts that is out of their control.

PECi challenged all progressives to join hands to give life to financial autonomy of local government councils; as the only toolkit to stop State Governors who for 25 years have converted it to slush funds, thereby sabotaging the development of rural areas.

It could be recalled that on July 14, 2024, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria, which was followed up by the directive that all local government councils shall open domiciliary account with CBN.

PECi reminisced on how the EFCC up to date unfortunately is still burdened with the trial of many State Governors who pilfered local government funds for personal gains.

The group said it would be untoward and regrettable that after Nigerians had jubilated with the liberation of local government funds, with this progressive policy, that Nigerians are still held hostage by State Governors who for 25 years frustrated the amendment of the 1999 Constitution in favour of local government autonomy.

PECi submitted that mismanagement of local government councils funds for personal gains over the years have stifled democracy and sabotaged peasants empowerment at the grassroots level, hence watered down Mr President’s milestone legacy.

The NGO therefore appealed to Mr President to as a matter of urgent national importance to freeze the accounts of State Governments that obstruct direct allocation of funds to local government councils, so as to accelerate the development of our rural areas and our deepen our democracy at grassroots level.

Finally, PECi further appealed to the National and State Assemblies to include in the ongoing constitutional amendment the unique Uwais Electoral Reform recommendation that chairman and commissioners of both INEC and SIEC should be publicly bided to divorce the loyalty of appointees from appointers and enhance free and fair elections.

Vice President Kashim Shettima visited Akwa Ibom on Monday to launch the second phase of the federal government’s National Human Capital Development programme (HCD); but the visit underscored a few subtexts that require further examination. In the first place, many people, including President Tinubu’s ardent supporters, do not know that the federal government has such a programme, and a lot more would not imagine why Akwa Ibom was chosen for its launch. The expression ‘Human Capital Development’ has been loosely used by many politicians during campaigns, but I’m not quite sure if its significance is well understood.

In the private sector, HCD refers simply to a range of functions that pertain to staff recruitment, training, promotion and career planning and development; but as a government programme, it has far broader scope and connotation, indicating the process of developing skills, knowledge and competencies that enhance an individual’s productivity and earning potential. It therefore involves investments in education; training and health that improve a person’s ability to contribute to economy and society. The National HCD programme which Shettima unveiled in Uyo is a federal government programme domiciled in the office of the Vice President to promote education, health, nutrition, labour, climate change adaption, clean energy and gender inclusivity. Over the years, Akwa Ibom State has made significant strides in these areas - Gov. Eno has even incorporated them into his ARISE Agenda – to warrant the VP’s public acknowledgement and endorsement.

The government has been implementing free and compulsory primary and secondary education for over 20 years now. The programme was later expanded to include payment of WAEC and NECO fees for all students registered in its public schools. Every year, the government spends between N600 million and N800 million every year to pay for these exam fees for graduating secondary students. Very few states in the federation have sustained such a policy in the last 26 years. The Eno administration has gone further by remodeling some of the 1,110 primary schools in the state into well-equipped world-class leaning centres. I hope that very soon all primary schools in the state would be of this standard.

How about health? The state has some of the best health facilities in the country. Primary health centres in every LGA are being overhauled and reequipped by the current administration, coming in the footsteps of the last administration which invested heavily in upgrading general hospitals across the state. The outcome of these investments in primary and secondary healthcare was announced by the VP himself. ‘’With an under-five mortality rate of 80, compared to the national average of 110, and with only 3.5% of primary school-age children out of school – far below the national average of 25.6% - your state is not merely compliant with our national vision. You are ahead of the national curve. And I assure you the federal government stands ready to partner hand-in-hand with you’’, the VP said at the launch of the HCD in Uyo.

What this means is that out of every 1,000 under-five children in Akwa Ibom State, 80 die before they reach five years of age. This is a far better performance than the national average of 110. But we should do far better. No child in Akwa Ibom should die. When Obong Victor Attah was governor, his wife Mrs Allisson Attah recognized childhood malnutrition as a big problem in the state. To address this, she implemented a scheme that taught our rural women how to augment infant feeding with protein. In charge of that programme was the late Prof (Mrs) Etuk, a biochemist and daughter of late Dr. Clement Isong.

I interviewed the late Prof (Mrs) Etuk several years ago, and was moved by the ingenuity of Allison Attah in eradicating incidents of childhood malnutrition in the state. Another First Lady later came up with another brilliant idea that further enhanced HCD in the state. Mrs Unoma Ekaette Akpabio introduced a programme that supports women with multiple-births. Any Akwa Ibom woman who gave birth to twins; triplets or more received visits and financial support from the government. I hope this programme is still alive in the Ministry of Women Affairs. My wife was so impressed by this programme that she thought all the other states should emulate Akwa Ibom.

Enter Gov. Umo Eno. Right from inception, this ordained pastor has made it clear that his administration would be heavily tilted towards human capital development and at the core is uplifting the less privileged and the poor. He has established Ibom Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (Ibom-LED) to train and offer financial support to young businessmen and women in different fields. He’s also supporting thousands of artisans and farmers across the state with cash and equipment worth about N5 billion in a massive empowerment programme. This is meant to stimulate rural economy; create jobs and augment standards of living.

But unfortunately, some elite members of the society are displeased with this because they think that it’s a waste of resources. What’s wrong with the government providing assistance to farmers; micro and small businesses operating at the LGAs? These are the people who produce the food we eat and create jobs for themselves and others. yet, the government is only spending N5 billion of the N950 billion budgeted for the state this year – that’s just 0.5% of the total budget. As I said to some friends, it is better for the government to invest N5 billion on farmers and small businesses across the state than spend that much to purchase high-end SUVs and houses as gifts to some ‘’political stakeholders’’ in Abuja.

Vice President Shettima has commended the governor ‘’for not only adopting the HCD framework but also localizing its operation and placing people in the centre of public policies’’. The VP said Akwa Ibom is the first state ‘’in the nation to localize the HCD vision in its truest form…by adopting the strategies in local government areas’’. I congratulate the state for this achievement.

Governance is more about responsibility than just holding an office. It is more about making impact and not merely making a show of power with all its paraphernalia. In an era where political rhetoric often eclipses concrete achievement, Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo’s recent town hall meetings with Anambra’s Diaspora communities in Lagos and Abuja capture the true essence of governance. The well-attended meetings were beyond political grandstanding and represented something far more significant: the embodiment of accountability, transparency, and integrity in governance.

The packed venues in both cities testified to the governor’s drawing power and positive perception among Ndi Anambra living outside their home state. Indeed, what unfolded during the interactive sessions was not the typical political theatre of vague promises and evasive answers, but rather a logical presentation of a three-year scorecard backed by verifiable data and tangible results.

Professor Soludo, leveraging his academic background, approached these town halls with the precision of a scholar presenting research findings. His detailed exposition of achievements across infrastructure, education, healthcare, security, economic transformation, tourism, and more painted a picture of an administration guided by strategic vision rather than political expediency.

Particularly noteworthy was the genuine interactive engagement that characterised these meetings. Far from the scripted questions and rehearsed responses that often dominate such forums, attendees engaged in robust, spontaneous, sometimes challenging dialogues with their governor. This willingness to face direct questioning from citizens demonstrates a level of confidence that comes only from having substantial accomplishments to defend.

The endorsement from former Governor and Senator Chris Ngige at the Abuja town hall carried special weight. When Senator Ngige declared that he “came, saw and confirmed” that all the stories about Governor Soludo’s monumental strides are not mere publicity stunts, it represented another poignant cross-verification of Governor Soludo’s claims. Coming from a political figure with his own significant legacy in the state, this validation transcended partisan lines and spoke to observable realities on the ground, affirming the well-known fact there is no opposition in Anambra that can stop Governor Soludo’s re-election.

Throughout the Lagos and Abuja engagements, Governor Soludo consistently emphasized his unifying vision captured in the mantra: “One State, One People, One Agenda.” This philosophy directly challenges the divisive politics of regional favouritism that has plagued many Nigerian states. By declaring that he does not see Anambra as north, south, or central districts but as a unified entity with shared destiny, Governor Soludo is promoting a new political identity based on common interests rather than geographic divides.

The governor’s assertion that “Anambra is Rising” was not another fancy slogan but was substantiated through comprehensive data on economic indicators, infrastructure development, and social metrics. This evidence-based approach to governance reporting stands in stark contrast to the emotional appeals and sentimental narratives that typically dominate political discourse in our polity.

What makes these Diaspora town halls particularly significant is their recognition of the crucial role that Anambra citizens living outside the state play in its development. By actively seeking their input and support, Governor Soludo acknowledges that governance extends beyond Awka to encompass all who have a stake in the state’s progress, no matter where they live and do business in the world.

Also, the enthusiastic reception from attendees suggests that many Anambra indigenes see in Governor Soludo’s administration a departure from business-as-usual politics. Several participants expressed surprise at the level of detail provided about ongoing projects and their implementation timelines, information that empowers citizens to hold their government accountable. And by voluntarily submitting his administration’s record to the scrutiny of some of the state’s most accomplished sons and daughters, Governor Soludo demonstrates confidence in his stewardship and respect for citizens’ intelligence.

The true test of Governor Soludo’s governance model, however, will be when these engaging dialogues translate into a Second Term election of him to continue acceleration of transformation across Anambra State. For now, Governor Soludo’s unique Diaspora town hall engagements confirm that accountability must go beyond being a governance principle and assumes a practical approach that can rebuild trust between citizens and their elected leaders. As Anambra State continues its upward trajectory, the governor’s commitment to keeping stakeholders informed and engaged will be as important as the projects themselves.

Japanese authorities said Tuesday they had issued a cease-and-desist order to US tech titan Google over an alleged violation of national antitrust laws.

It is the first time the country has issued such an order to a global technology giant, Japanese media reported, and follows similar moves in Europe and the United States.

“We have concluded that Google LLC’s conduct threatens to impede fair competition,” Saiko Nakajima of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) told reporters on Tuesday.

The problem is “related to the implementation of search functions for Android smartphones, in violation of the antitrust law”, she said.

The JFTC accuses Google of imposing binding conditions on Android smartphone manufacturers in Japan since at least July 2020.

Specifically, it says Google made sure its online app store Google Play would be installed as part of a package with its web-browser search app Chrome.

Google Play is so widely used that without it, “Android devices are basically unsellable”, a government source told AFP in December.

No financial penalties were announced Tuesday, but Nakajima said the order would increase the options available to smartphone makers.

“This will encourage competition and benefit” society, she said.

Google Japan said it was “disappointed” by the JFTC’s findings.

“(Our) agreements with Japanese partners help to promote competition and have undeniably boosted their ability to invest in product innovations which deliver more choice for consumers,” it said in a statement.

“We will review the order thoroughly to determine our next steps.”

The US government asked a judge in November to order the dismantling of Google by selling its widely used Chrome browser, in a major antitrust crackdown on the company.

And the European Commission said in 2023 that Google should sell parts of its business and could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its global revenue if it fails to comply.

In Japan, the JFTC conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon’s Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo last year, accusing it of abusing its industry dominance to drive down prices.

Amazon Japan used its coveted “buy box” — a prominent spot on its website — against sellers, pressuring them into lowering prices to give it a competitive edge over rival e-commerce sites, the JFTC said.

[AFP]

The superstitious belief that instant wealth can be conjured by herbalists or ‘native doctors’ has sent an inordinate number of innocent people to their untimely death in Nigeria. But how desperate or gullible must someone be not to understand that if these ‘native doctors’ could create money by performing rituals, they themselves would not be so poor? That precisely is the question being posed by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, who has been waging a war against crooked ‘native doctors’ in Anambra State. It is a battle other stakeholders must join if we are to rid our country of these charlatans who are wreaking serious havoc on young people’s lives.

Soludo concedes that there are traditional healers who use herbs to cure ailments, but his battle is against those who sell charms and rituals as ‘immunities’ against criminal enterprises like armed robbery, kidnapping, cyber fraud etc. He is therefore not fighting genuine traditional medicine practitioners but rather those who prey on the greed or ignorance of our young people. “Go to Indonesia, 23 Ndi Anambra are on death row there for drug related offenses. These native doctors will deceive you that they will prepare a charm that when you carry drugs and enter the airport, the white man’s scanner will go blind. These young people believe them and today, many of our people are languishing in jail across the world,” Soludo said last week, while explaining the motivation for his campaign. “If you see anyone who is professing to have the powers to make people rich, tell us, we will bring him to Awka. If he makes one person a millionaire, we will bring Anambra people and line them up. I will equally present myself because I need money too.”

What Soludo is dealing with is a serious moral crisis that is not peculiar to Anambra State. These ‘native doctors’ are everywhere and many are complicit in the crime of kidnapping that is now rampant across the country. In February, the recently installed Asagba of Asaba, Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN, banned the activities of ‘Eze-Nwanyi’ (female native doctors/goddesses) within his domain, following reports linking one of them to the murder of a kidnap victim whose body was discovered on the Niger Bridge. “The murder of the Anambra lawmaker points to Asaba, where money was cleared, and where the shrine harbouring the kingpin was located,” said the traditional ruler. “These native doctors seem to be aiding not only internet fraudsters (Yahoo Yahoo boys) but also kidnappers and other criminals. Therefore, we are banning them effective immediately.”

While dark powers exist, the notion that anybody could carry drugs and evade detection at airports or conjure money after killing and harvesting the head/internal organs of another human being or that they could be ‘fortified’ against arrest after committing heinous crimes is beyond ludicrous. Unfortunately, these beliefs are now very prevalent among many of our young people who look for easy answers to life’s questions, especially in the desperate times we live in. That has also created a huge industry for these so-called native doctors who are setting up their shops everywhere and luring young people into lives of crime. In the process, many also lose their lives. For instance, following a stranger-than-fiction tragedy involving a teenager in a community in Esan Southeast local government area of Edo State last week, the Police have arrested a ‘native doctor’ and an accomplish. What was their alleged crime?

To prove the efficacy of a charm ritual they had performed on a 14-year-old boy who sought powers that would make him “invulnerable to bottles”, they struck his head with a bottle. Regrettably, the body of the teenager is now in the morgue. For a 14-year-old boy to be looking for a charm that would make his head ‘bottle-proof’, I expect there is a catch somewhere about illicit gain. Otherwise, what would be the point? Six months ago in the same state, there was a similar incident involving a 19-year-old self-acclaimed native doctor. “One Alex Ezekiel, now deceased, went to the ‘native doctor’ to have (bullet-proof) charms prepared for him. After preparing the charms, the native doctor tried to test the efficacy by shooting the deceased with a gun,” according to a statement by the state police command spokesman, SP Moses Yamu. “Unfortunately, the deceased sustained fatal injuries and was rushed to Ifejola Hospital, Igarra, where he was certified dead by a medical Doctor.”

I am almost certain that the young man was looking for ‘insurance’ against bullets with his eyes on a life of crime, possibly armed robbery or kidnapping. So commonplace is the lure of instant wealth that there is a growing belief that some people can create billionaires from charms or ‘fortify’ criminals against detection. Rooted in ignorance and superstition, this is also an African challenge which then explains why albino and people suffering with a hunched back are perpetually endangered on the continent. In 2017, for instance, bald men in Mozambique were warned by the police that they could be targets of ritual attacks, after five such men were murdered within a week. “The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold,” Afonso Dias, a police commander in Mozambique’s central Zambezia province, explained at the time. 

This belief has also led to the creation of ‘professionals’ in the field of ‘head hunting’—people who go in search of body parts, particularly the head and sexual organs, for money-making rituals. Since the only way to get such human parts is by committing murder, it is no surprise that ritual killings are now rampant in cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin and Kano. Hardly a week passes without the story of someone being a victim of ritual murder. Indeed, incidence of ritual killings is said to account for many missing people in Nigeria today.

Meanwhile, nobody has been able to prove that the charms by these crafty ‘witch doctors’, can catapult people from penury into instant wealth. At least for now, there is no single person who can be pointed to as having become rich because of human sacrifices, except characters in Nollywood movies. The son of one of the native doctors who is in detention, according to Soludo, is a waiter in a hotel in Nnewi. “If it was that simple, why didn’t he make his son a millionaire?” asked Soludo whose intervention on this matter deserves the support of critical stakeholders because it has brought out the sociological dimensions to serious crimes in Nigeria. “One of them (native doctor who is active on social media) has used things like these to deceive our young people that you can become rich without doing any work, as far as you have done Oke Ite (money rituals)”, he explained. “That is why you see young people who wake up in the morning and retire to a beer parlour drinking, hoping to get rich later in life.”

In his lecture at the 2019 convocation of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), respected Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Godwin Sogolo, FNAL, spoke to the factors that render a social system dysfunctional, using Nigeria as an illustration. While moral disruptions due to ineffective education or damage caused by failure in governance tend to be more gradual and less perceptible, according to Sogolo, “the effects of disruptions caused by severe material needs and cultural invasions are more dramatic and impactful on human character.” Because, as he argued, such “derails the mind of the individual and causes havoc to the collective psyche. The result, in most cases, is the failure to comprehend the purpose of life, leading to moral apathy and unwholesome acts of violence, aggression and criminality, especially among the youths.”

As I have argued in the past on this page, the tragedy of Nigeria is beyond the failure of government; it is that our society is also failing. Although money rituals have been with us for a long time, the current prevalence can be situated within the context of Sogolo’s thesis. If you listen to the lyrics of most of the artistes who now rule the airwaves and are idolized in social media, dishonest living to make money is what most of them now glorify, in addition to peddling obscenities. And many of their young followers are being conditioned to believe that in life, only the end justifies the means.

Last September, the Kogi State Police Command paraded four suspects in connection with killing a 19-year-old female level student at the Federal University Lokoja. All the interactions that led to the tragic drama started on social media where the prime suspect first befriended his victim before they met physically. In his chilling confessional statement, the 20-year-old boy who lured the deceased girl to the bush before killing her for the purpose of ritual money, also said he met the native doctor—to whom he took her eyes, lungs, liver, tongue and other body parts—on TikTok before they then exchanged messages on WhatsApp.

Although the boy hails from Chikun local government of Kaduna State, he admitted coming to Lokoja to ‘hustle’, and then met the girl who fell for his tricks. “I already had it in mind that I want to use her for ritual. I bought codeine and Sprite and mixed it up and gave it to her. When she drank it, I told her, let us go to my house and she agreed. When she felt weak, I took her to an uncompleted building close to my place and strangled her to death…” he told the police. “The native doctor who resides in Ibadan sent a driver and brought calabash and a knife. It is the knife I used to remove parts of her body…” which the driver took back to Ibadan. These body parts were then processed into making a soap that was sent to the boy. Interested readers can consult Mr Google for the gory details and names of culprits in all the cases I have cited.

What should worry us is the growing sociological problem that we must address. In practically all facets of our national life, many of our young people now look for short cuts to success. Such is the moral decay that students (at all levels of our education) want to pass examination not by reading their books but through ‘microchips’, ‘sorting’ and other malpractices for which there are now fancy euphemisms. And for stupendous wealth, they want to make ‘Cheddar’ so they could ‘hammer’ through fraudulent means. Therefore, until we put a lie to this erroneous belief that money can grow out of the body parts of human beings or that there are charms against accountability, the increasing tribe of ‘native doctors’ will continue to deceive young men and women into believing that the surest way to ‘making it’ in life is not by work but rather through ‘money rituals’.