“The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, was damning when he spoke before the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals while defending his ministry’s 2024 budget. He said: “One pernicious discovery we have made is that a lot of these banditry, terrorism and insecurity… are actually sponsored by illegal miners. These are not your artisanal miners. They are not people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners. Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets…”

Last Tuesday, an explosion rocked Old Bodija in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The panic and stampede that ensued were better imagined than witnessed; so also, the magnitude of destruction and loss suffered. Lives were lost; at the last count five as a direct consequence of the blast. Other deaths linked to the blast have since been recorded. Also at the last count, close to 100 persons were injured. A yet-to-be-specified number of houses and businesses were uprooted, flattened or violently shaken by the explosion. The destruction reportedly travelled as far as the Oyo State Governor’s Office kilometers away. At the end of the day, properties lost could be estimated in billions of Naira.

Who dunnit? Governor Seyi Makinde has said the explosion was the handiwork of illegal miners who stored explosives in a strictly residential area. Some independent assessors or observers disagree, saying the impact the explosion created was beyond the capacity of explosives but that it was an outright act of terrorism. Well, until the contrary is proved, I go with Gov. Makinde’s explanation.

This, then, brings up the question of illegal miners in Oyo State in general. In this column on Sunday, 18 April, 2021, I drew the attention of Gov. Makinde to the activities of illegal miners in the state, with the title “Is Makinde aware of this?” Published on page 22 of that day’s edition of the Sunday Tribune, it obviously caught the attention of the government as a result of which a Special Adviser to the governor called me afterwards to say their government was aware of the activities of the illegal miners and that something was being done.

I reproduce that piece here in part: “The write-up you are about to read was forwarded to me by a friend who now lives in the United States of America. We had been comrades at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife. Interestingly, the write-up is an investigative report by the Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper and their object of interest – Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State. It reads: Strabag Precious Stone International market in Ibadan is a silent gold mine for many billionaires across West Africa; yet, (the Nigerian) government is being short-changed as they (the billionaires across West Africa) fail to pay royalties while the market (itself) remains an eyesore. If you are visiting Strabag precious stone international market, Ojoo, Ibadan, Oyo State for the first time, you will not believe that billions of Naira is being exported out of the community monthly.

From the narrow entrance to the market, which is dominated by foreigners from other West African countries, everywhere looks unkempt and dirty with dilapidated structures. Owners of some of the buildings have vacated them but still receive monthly rents of between N1,500 and N2,000 from the tenants.

Located within the yard of the defunct Strabag construction company, the company which constructed the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in the 70s, the market occupies about 250 houses and has only 10 percent of Nigerians earning their daily income in the market while 90 percent foreigners operate in the market. Every Thursday, precious stones worth N500m are moved out of Ibadan to countries like Thailand, China, the United States of America, Hong Kong and other developed countries of the world by some powerful billionaires from West African countries.

Our correspondent who went round the market disguised as a customer revealed that stones like tourmaline, Beryl, morganite and granite are exported through NAHCO airport, Ikeja while buyers launder money through the land borders so that the government cannot determine the amount spent on transactions. Daily Trust Saturday gathered that officials of the Ministry of Mines and Steel both at the federal and state levels, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and Customs at airports are also culprits as they are allegedly being bribed to keep mute.

Our correspondent gathered that most of the precious stone merchants who are foreigners live in the most sophisticated estates in Ibadan, Lagos, Abuja and other big cities in Nigeria. Some of the merchants have been in the business in Ibadan for over 40 years because of the stability of precious stones deposited in the Oke-Ogun area of the state while their agents hunt for precious stones in the 36 states of the country, said a source who spoke to our correspondent in confidence. The gimmicks employed by the foreign businessmen include wooing village leaders with construction of roads leading to their villages and building of schools for their children.

It appears Section 94, Chapter 3 of the Mining Act 2007 (as amended) which states that ‘No person shall purchase any mineral unless he holds a licence to purchase minerals issued under this Act’ does not apply to the foreigners as many of them dare Nigerians in the market. A Nigerian source in the market told Daily Trust Saturday: ‘Government is aware we are here. Government raided us in this market some time ago but the foreigners were released after the intervention of their big men. Many petitions have emanated from here but were swept under the carpet. With this business, the Nigerian government needs little money from the oil sector if they are serious. What we are experiencing here can only happen in Nigeria and no other country in the world. How will you take precious stones out of a country without paying royalty?’

Precious stones, which are determined by their colour and texture, are in large deposits in every state in Nigeria, especially in the Oke-ogun area of Oyo State where mining camps are numerous. Our correspondent further gathered that other states in Nigeria have alluvial precious stones while Oyo State is blessed with pecmitine (vein), which is exported from the state without the state getting anything in return.

Another source in the market told our correspondent that the foreigners control the market by determining how much they buy gemstones in Nigeria and how much it is sold in the country. Ibadan is the centre of gemstones in Nigeria, the centre of marketing and the centre of exploitation…

Government has no idea what is going on. There are industrial stones which they export and refine but the gem stones are the ones they cut and use in making jewelry. We have the best stones in the world. Talk about tourmaline, sapphire, emerald and other gemstones; we have the best. The international market prefers our stones to those of other countries.

The foreigners – Malians, Burkinabes, Guineans, Gambians, Senegalese – determine the market: How much they buy and how much they sell. If you talk, they tell you ‘This is Nigeria’! They are also members of ECOWAS and if you take them to any station, they always have their way. We want to know who is protecting the government’s interest here. How do they pay royalties and to who?

Petitions have emanated from here but the (authorities) didn’t act on them because people who are supposed to act are also benefiting from the illegality. We are not against international trading but due process must be followed. There was a time we brought up an issue here but before we knew it, some ambassadors called the Nigerian government officials saying that their men were doing their business here in Nigeria and we should not disturb them because we are all members of ECOWAS.

Meanwhile, you cannot try that in their country! There is no country in the world where such a thing can be done except in Nigeria! You live in a country, go to their mining camp, and exploit it without paying royalties to anyone? Never! It is either they buy it from the site and take it directly to the airport or they take it from here to the airport without notifying the government and our government does not care… Here, we sell (gems) per gram while, over there, they sell per character. When you sell one gram for $5, they sell a character for $500. Meanwhile, one gram contains five characters.

As at the time of going to press, the chief press secretary to the governor, Taiwo Adisa, neither picked calls nor responded to text messages for us to know the efforts of the government in addressing the abnormalities”.

That was almost three years ago! Was this article brought to Gov. Makinde’s attention? Did the Special Adviser bring it to his attention? What was it that was being done by the government as the Special Adviser told me, and how far did they go with it? Illegal mining is rampant all over Oyo state; it is not limited only to Ibadan. Illegal miners also reside all over the place in Oyo State and not only in the Bodija area of Ibadan. So, the disaster that struck Ibadan last Tuesday must be prevented from striking other parts of the state.

Malian illegal miners were some of the illegal miners mentioned in this piece that I wrote about three years ago. Malian illegal miners have also been fingered in the Ibadan explosion. Can we then say we did not know or that we were not forewarned?

It is not only in Oyo State that illegal mining strives; we are familiar with the fact that in many parts of the North, illegal mining is the in-thing. Crude oil theft and illegal refineries signpost the South-South. One of the major causes of insurgency and insecurity in the North is said to be the activities of illegal miners. That dangerous trend has spread to the South-west. In many South-west states today, we have the activities of illegal miners – Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, name it! And wherever we have illegal mining, insecurity and insurgency take roots.

The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, was damning when he spoke before the House of Representatives committee on solid minerals while defending his ministry’s 2024 budget. He said: “One pernicious discovery we have made is that a lot of these banditry, terrorism and insecurity… are actually sponsored by illegal miners. These are not your artisanal miners. They are not people who pick gold on the ground. These are heavy and powerful individuals in our country. And they are Nigerians. They are not foreigners. Yes, you can see foreigners as symptoms but they are not the disease. Nigerians are the powers behind those foreigners that you see on the streets…”

The vile dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, said: “Any insurrection that lasts more than 24 hours, a government official has a hand in it” Tell me, for how many years have we suffered insurrection, insurgency, banditry and terrorism in this country, with government after government appearing helpless?

We have heard that powerful political leaders and traditional rulers are behind illegal mining activities not only in the South-west but all over the country, with attendant dire consequences for the security and well-being of the regions concerned and their long-suffering people. Why should leaders be more interested in feeding their greed than leverage on the abundant resources in their locality to give their people BETTER LIFE? If the South-west is not to become another Zamfara, the time to act is now!

“It was nice reading words on federalism from the governor. But his sermon that day were to the deaf. In his audience were scorners of truth, sniggerers of wise counsel – people who flapped their ears as he finished speaking. They are very comfortable that day and today with Nigeria’s structure of unfairness because they have seats in the royal court. The Yoruba among them think their capture of Abuja must not be upended by any talk of justice and restructuring. They think their old call for a structural reappraisal of Nigeria should be dead. I wish they listened to Christian revivalist, Vance Havner’s three-word counsel: comfort precedes collapse. The dry winds of harmattan will soon land from the north to whip loin-clothed backsliders back to their senses. There is no escaping the snares of Nigeria as it is. Without the country restructuring as the Oyo State governor advised, there will continue to be bad news north and south. Bandits will rule the day; kidnappers the night. The Federal Government will continue to license felons to wreck the states and their ecosystems. The states will remain broke, broken and prostrate and useless to their people. Local and foreign vultures will continue to tug at the entrails of the comatose behemoth. Criminalities of various hues will keep their foot on the pedal, driving the country towards certain death.”

Mr Youssouf Sawane, a Malian money-maker, leads miners from Mali in Oyo State. He was asked by the Nigerian Tribune how much his group was paying into the coffers of the Oyo State government. He answered that he owed the Oyo State government nothing; his business was with the Federal Government. Displaying a remarkable knowledge of Nigeria’s centrist federalism, the Malian said “natural resources deposited in states are owned by the Federal Government…We are paying to the Federal Government.” The Malian made that statement in November, 2020 – three years, two months ago. But, last week, when explosives allegedly from Malian groups’ mining misbehaviour devastated the length and breadth of Ibadan, it was the Oyo State government and its people that had to carry the can of the resultant humanitarian crisis. That was a classic case of paying for what one did not buy. It is normal with Nigeria.

Until the social media exploded with cries of a deadly blast in Bodija, I thought it was an impudent rainstorm that played pranks with my rafters. Google Map says my house is some 30 minutes drive (14.8km) to the epicenter of last week’s explosion at Bodija Estate, Ibadan, yet the bang rattled my roof and shook my doors. People died in Bodija where it happened; the estate lost a whole street. Adjoining streets got scarred with mortal injuries – the kind you see only in today’s Gaza. An elderly friend, former minister and ambassador to Germany lives on the street next to the incident scene. I remembered that fact and rushed a call to him that night. An otherwise strong man was heard struggling for words to describe what happened. His building was safe but the bang scrambled his furniture and cracked his things.

A spark in a duplex set off that explosion which shook the entire city. You’ve probably read stories of a butterfly flapping its wings in Asia and causing a hurricane in the Caribbean, South America. It is in a 1990 American film entitled Havana. You’ve also read of a golden butterfly whose death dramatically altered the way the world works. It is in Ray Bradbury’s science fiction short story, ‘A Sound of Thunder.’ Those two works and some others are attempts at explaining the nature of chaos – how small fires lead to conflagrations. Chaos theorists call it the butterfly effect and they have several examples. One was the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914 which historians say was the catalyst for the two world wars. Another was the 1945 swap of the serene city of Nagasaki for the arms factory city of Kokura. Kokura was the original target of America’s plutonium bombing but a cloud blocked the B-29 crew’s view of the target. Three times the pilot scanned Kokura, three times the pilot saw nothing. The cloud below stood between the bomb and its intended victim. Because the opened bays must deliver their load of death, the bombsight panned elsewhere to the backup target. Nearby Nagasaki got the horrific atomic bomb and lost some 100,000 lives.

Because of some small men and failure of intelligence, boisterous Ibadan lost its security last week. It is still in shock. Almost all survivors of the explosion spoke of that moment of flash and sudden death. A survivor said he thought “we were being bombed.” A former deputy governor who lost his home said “I thought I was dead.” The living victims’ accounts of how it happened keep sounding like it was another America bombing World War II Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima received the first atomic bomb, named ‘Little Boy’, on August 6, 1945. The second was ‘Fat Man’ which knocked out Nagasaki four days later on August 9. Explosives, whether low or high, know neither purity nor neutrality nor innocence. Cindered with Nagasaki in 1945 were, ironically, its anti-war Catholics who massed for God at a Mass. They all got incinerated with their Urakami Cathedral. Many unsoiled souls, including a U.K. returnee, died in the Ibadan explosion.

We’ve not heard that those who kept the explosives went with the disaster. All we know for now is that around 7.45pm on Tuesday, 16 January, 2024, Dejo Oyelese Close in Bodija, Ibadan had its own Nagasaki experience. Some foreign fellows warehoused suspected high-order explosives in a building there for illegal mining. No one took note that that was an accident waiting to happen. No one remembered Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. As should be expected, something went wrong with those explosives. In catastrophic proportions, they rained devastation and terror on the city. Is somebody asking how many more volcanoes of dynamites are stocked unseen in towns and cities where these miners operate?

We all ask what kind of people would keep military-grade explosives in residential apartments. We forget that some businesses share meaning with daredevilry. Mining is one. In the normal world, the shell of the snail is spared after eating its meat but miners eat the snail with its shell. Only devils do that, and in myths. Go to the precious stone mines in Oke Ogun (Oyo State), the gold mines of Ilesa (in Osun State), Maru and Maradun (in Zamfara). If you are looking for those who eat rams with their horns, they are the operators in those places of blood money. Even vultures do not eat sacrifices with the offering pans but miners do. It is at the mines that you encounter men who munch tortoise flesh and shell. No fellow-feelings, no empathy for man and the environment. They go for money and money only; it is the only matter that matters.

A Malian whose home country has not known peace for almost a decade now because of federalist issues is benefiting from our crooked ‘federal’ structure here. A decade ago, the Tuareg rebels of Mali demanded a federal system that would grant sovereign rights to individual states. But the then government said no. “Mali is a unitary state. The subject of a federal state is not on our schedule…reforms must be done within the framework of a unitary state.” The rejection of that demand birthed today’s Mali of chaos and terror. It is a mini Nigeria.

I call Sawane and his group federal agents. They are instruments of the Federal Government – the man claimed in that 2020 interview that his activity and those of his people were licensed by Abuja. He said so three years ago and there has been no rebuttal from the supposed licensor. Even after the sad event of last Tuesday, the government at the centre has still not said that the man lied.

Coincidentally, earlier on the day the barrel bombs of Abuja’s miners exploded in Ibadan, killing and destroying all on their way, Oyo State governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, was at the University of Ibadan begging friends of the Federal Government to get their knees off the neck of Nigeria and allow its rebirth as a true federation. Makinde declared at Chief Bisi Akande’s 85th birthday lecture at the University of Ibadan that there was “a strong link between the trio of fiscal federalism, restructuring and state policing, and running a government that places the people’s interest first.” He stressed that it had become imperative for the country to consider the path of constitutional reform to accommodate these ideas if the government would begin to benefit the people.

Perhaps if Nigeria had been a proper federation, a track of legal and illegal miners would have been properly kept and an Oyo State-owned police would have uncovered the ‘bombs’ before they went off. And, perhaps those alien wasps of death would not have nestled undetected in the canopy of elite Bodija Estate. The United States where we copied our federalism does not suffer such maladies. American states have considerable control over their lives and resources. That is why they prosper and their country continues to brag and swag as the strongest of the superpowers.

Miners in Nigeria have zero respect for their states of operations. Abuja is where their bread is buttered and that is the shrine where they worship. Our constitution vests ownership of lands in governors, yet it forbids states and their governors from controlling mining on those lands. The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act forever lurks as Abuja’s waiting hammer against errant states. Its Part 1, Sections 1 and 2 are a study on how not to structure a federation: (1) “The entire property in and control of all mineral resources in, under or upon any land in Nigeria, its contiguous continental shelf and all rivers, streams and watercourses throughout Nigeria, any area covered by its territorial waters or constituency and the Exclusive Economic Zone is and shall be vested in the Government of the Federation for and on behalf of the people of Nigeria. (2) All lands in which minerals have been found in commercial quantities shall, from the commencement of this Act, be acquired by the Government of the Federation in accordance with the provisions of the Land Use Act.”

That law gives no role to states in the extraction – or even in the regulation of extraction, exploration and exploitation of all mineral resources in their territories. If a governor thinks he is clever and wants to dodge that bullet by investing in this sector, he will have to ‘dobale’ for the minister in Abuja for licences to operate in his own territory. And, if you are a state governor and you feel aggrieved by the unfairness of what you see and you want to go to court for redress, think twice. The law has been carefully structured to take care of such audacity. Cases on mines and minerals can only go to the Federal High Court. The court of ‘the enemy’ has exclusive jurisdiction on mine and mining matters.

Nigeria is the only federation on earth where everything is warehoused in the pocket of the central government. But it has not always been like this. If our ancestors read the Malian in Ibadan as he said he paid mining dues to only the Federal Government, they would shake their heads in surprise and sadness. Nigeria became a federation in 1954 through the Lyttelton constitution with all the regions retaining all rights and powers that have now been taken from the successor states. Even before 1954, the country was not as choky as it is today. Africa’s preeminent historian, Toyin Falola, dug into mining matters thirty-two years ago. I read his ‘An Ounce Is Enough: The Gold Industry and the Politics of Control in Colonial Western Nigeria’ (1992). I have read that piece like four times in the last two years. It teaches me that miners of all ages are the same in behaviour. It also teaches that Nigeria has not always been this structurally crooked with no respect for law and its enforcement. Falola takes us through the bumpy roads of colonial construction of legal frameworks for the mining industry. Illegal miners existed but they were not allowed to ply their trade as if the law did not exist to take care of their criminality. There were laws against the kind of illegality that birthed the Ibadan tragedy. There were licences for miners and dealers. Every inch of the road from the mines to the gold market was policed with the law. There was the Hawker’s Licence for those who wanted to trade in the products manufactured by goldsmiths. Significantly, unlike now that all licences are minted and sold by the big boss in Abuja, the colonial law vested the power to grant this licence in the Resident. The Resident was the equivalent of today’s state governor.

My old university teacher, Professor Adebayo Williams, described the Ibadan tragedy aptly as the apocalypse. It was an accident that should not have happened if Nigeria had been a country ruled by the law. But if you are a compulsive scorner of wise counsel, you will make seers of your advisers. If you are deaf to sacrifice, you will vindicate the diviner. The diviners here are Governor Makinde and all who believe in having a proper federation that would make invasions from Mali and elsewhere impossible.

It was nice reading words on federalism from the governor. But his sermon that day were to the deaf. In his audience were scorners of truth, sniggerers of wise counsel – people who flapped their ears as he finished speaking. They are very comfortable that day and today with Nigeria’s structure of unfairness because they have seats in the royal court. The Yoruba among them think their capture of Abuja must not be upended by any talk of justice and restructuring. They think their old call for a structural reappraisal of Nigeria should be dead. I wish they listened to Christian revivalist, Vance Havner’s three-word counsel: comfort precedes collapse. The dry winds of harmattan will soon land from the north to whip loin-clothed backsliders back to their senses. There is no escaping the snares of Nigeria as it is. Without the country restructuring as the Oyo State governor advised, there will continue to be bad news north and south. Bandits will rule the day; kidnappers the night. The Federal Government will continue to license felons to wreck the states and their ecosystems. The states will remain broke, broken and prostrate and useless to their people. Local and foreign vultures will continue to tug at the entrails of the comatose behemoth. Criminalities of various hues will keep their foot on the pedal, driving the country towards certain death.

May the souls of those who died in the Ibadan explosion rest in peace. May their families and those who lost property there be comforted; may the wounded be healed.

Nigeria lately has been lucky, though, for the wrong reasons. Money has metaphorically been falling from the sky when the nation is in severe economic distress and needs every dollar to meet her obligations. First, it was the series of Abacha loots. From the United States alone, approximately $332.4 million were recovered. Between March 2021 and May 2022, €6,324,627 was recovered from foreign countries, according to the former Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami. This is among recoveries from other countries. The latest is from unknown persons and unidentified sources in Jersey, a Channel Island. The funds worth $8.9m are believed to be proceeds of corruption disguised as government-sanctioned contracts in 2014 for arms purchases but diverted to shell companies. The silent heist in Nigeria is not executed with masks and guns but with pens and deceit. The nation is robbed of her promise with the bleeding dry of public funds. In the dance of corruption, Nigeria’s public funds are the unwilling partner, waltzing away from the grasp of those who need it the most. The key actors are those we entrust with our commonwealth. 

Though these alleged looted funds, though  were never declared missing  before being recovered now,  raise a lot of fundamental questions and concerns about our public finance management and accounting systems. To the best of my knowledge, our government has never declared any fund missing, our auditors never raised any red flags about some money that cannot be traced, and nobody has been prosecuted on account of public funds traced to foreign countries. Since there is no justification for this kind of unaccounted fund that escaped our public finance gatekeepers and National Assembly oversight, the proper inferences  to draw are ; there is a failure of our public finance management system, official fraud, or we are simply a criminal enterprise posing as a responsible Sovereign.

This issue is not peculiar to Nigeria though . The United States, the bastion of democracy and policeman of transparency, once invited Ernst and Young to audit the Pentagon as its Department of Defence is called. The auditor, mid-way into the exercise, concluded that the financial records of the Pentagon were riddled with irregularities to the extent that a reliable audit was simply impossible. However, the US case is a different context; some funds were untraceable, leading to significant changes.

The Nigerian case is hard to understand. Almost all recovered looted funds can be traced to government officials under the guise of legitimate transactions but end up in private accounts abroad.  Yet nobody is punished, not even the civil servants who are the enablers and the contractors who serve as conduits are called to account . 

Each time news of discovery or recovery of looted fund breaks , we are happy. However, the  painful realisation that each recovered loot speaks to the gaps in our governance accounting and audit reporting system is yet to dawn on us. The brazenness with which  government actors loot  public funds, inspired by the conviction  that there will be no consequences, erases any hope of a pause in official corruption.

Lack of effective internal control, non-tracking of financial transactions, absence of proper and regular audit trails, and weak oversight have combined to rub us of any sense of financial discipline and responsibility. This explains why no alarm or red flag is ever raised about the misuse of public funds. The criminal prosecution of  the immediate past Accountant General of the country, whose office administered the state treasury, for alleged fraud depicts the depth into which we sank in official corruption. 

Failure of governance often goes hand in hand with corruption and lack of accountability. Nigeria’s weak institutions and governance structures generally lead to a lack of stability and hinder the government’s ability to address corruption and public theft issues effectively. This theft of public funds and failure of governance have had severe consequences for Nigeria’s social and economic development. It has resulted in enduring poverty, inadequate public services, a weakened economy, and a loss of public trust in government.

Another peculiar thing about Nigeria’s official corruption ring is that no tangible effort has been made to address the gaps in the public accounting value chain and our procurement regime and execution monitoring frameworks that serve as enablers. It sends the signal that it is an embedded culture that is generally acceptable. This is a big dent in our reputation and a significant negative in requesting assistance from multilateral agencies and the global community.

It ought to concern our government that it is the vigilance of other nations financial systems that has helped in the recovery of vast sums of looted funds from Nigeria. There is an urgent need to bring our financial systems surveillance in line with international best practices. 

Like  elsewhere, the theft of public funds in Nigeria  is a betrayal of the dreams of our people, a crime that shackles progress and strangles the hopes of a nation. Theft of public funds in Nigeria isn’t just an economic crime; it is a theft of education, healthcare, and infrastructure, leaving the people to pay the price for the greed of a few. When public funds vanish into the shadows of corruption, the light of opportunity dims for every Nigerian. We must stand united against the theft that darkens our collective future.

Nigerian citizens who are supposed to be victims of looted funds are either indifferent or complicit by default. Citizens’ activism and demand for accountability on institutions and government officials and a more open government is almost non-existent. Tolerance for corrupt government officials is relatively high for various reasons.

Theft of public funds and failure of governance are serious issues that can have significant consequences for a society. Addressing the theft of public funds and failure of governance requires a holistic approach that involves legal, institutional, and societal changes. It is an ongoing process requiring sustained efforts from domestic and international stakeholders.

We must overhaul our financial management systems and procedures to track and monitor public funds at every stage. We must deepen the adoption of technology for financial transactions and reporting. Government must embrace digital technologies and e-governance initiatives to minimise the manual handling of funds management, reduce corruption opportunities, and enhance transparency and efficiency in public service delivery. This is more important not only to checkmate the continuous looting of public funds but also to stop the re-stealing of the recovered stolen funds from abroad. 

We must strengthen our anti-corruption institutions, such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). These institutions must ensure that existing anti-corruption laws are rigorously enforced. This includes prosecuting individuals involved in corrupt practices regardless of their status or influence. 

The government must demonstrate a strong political will at the highest levels of government to stop the theft of public funds at all levels of government. Leaders must set an example of integrity and accountability, creating a culture of transparency throughout the government. They must strengthen internal and external auditing processes to ensure a thorough examination of government expenditures. Independent audit bodies can be crucial in identifying irregularities and holding officials accountable. 

The government must establish effective mechanisms to recover stolen assets domestically and continuously through international cooperation. This includes cooperation and collaboration with the international community, international institutions, and other countries to trace and repatriate funds from abroad, share best practices, receive technical assistance, and coordinate efforts against transnational corruption.

We must adopt a multi-dimensional and multi-stakeholder engagement approach to make any meaningful improvement in tackling public funds theft. Civil society organisations, the media, and the public must actively monitor government activities and expose corrupt practices. This can help create a checks-and-balances system. Citizen activism, advocacy, and public awareness campaigns can help shed light on corrupt practices and push for necessary reforms.

The return of looted funds is not just a financial recovery but a wake-up call to take necessary steps towards rebuilding Nigeria’s integrity, public sector financial control mechanism, audit reforms and securing a brighter future for all Nigerians. As looted funds find their way back to Nigeria, it is a testament to the global commitment against corruption. We must ensure these resources are invested in projects that benefit the people and strengthen the nation. Repatriating looted funds is more than a legal process; it is a moral imperative. Nigerians are watching and will hold the government accountable for using these funds.  

Super Eagles coach, José Santos Peseiro, has insisted that despite looking good for a spot in the Round of 16 following their victory against hosts Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday, his boys will not take their feet off the pedal when they battle Guinea Bissau this evening in their final group A match.

“We defeated Cote d’Ivoire, but that is already in the past. We know that in football, what counts is the moment. We must temper our confidence, and put in more work as required. We must not rest.

“We want to take the first place and for that, we must do battle. We must do what is necessary to accomplish our mission tomorrow (today),” Peseiro said at the pre-match conference at the Palais de la Culture in the Treichville area of Abidjan yesterday.

Peseiro will lead Nigeria to come face-to-face with the only team to have beaten his Super Eagles in a competitive match since he took the reins of the three-time African champions 20 months ago.

With four points from their first two matches, including a morale-pumping victory over the host nation and one of the favourites, the Eagles are walking with springs in their steps at their Pullman Hotel Abidjan and at their training sessions at the École National de la Police. But Peseiro cautions that the work is not yet done and there is utmost need for level heads.

“We have to forget that we defeated the host nation. There is a lot more work to be done. We want to be here for the long haul,” he told thenff.com after the press conference.

Peseiro won his first two competitive games with the Super Eagles – a 2-1 defeat of Sierra Leone in Abuja and a record-breaking international win of 10—0 against Sao Tome and Principe in Agadir, Morocco in June 2022.

However, the Wild Dogs stepped on Nigeria soil and pipped the Eagles 1-0 in an AFCON 2023 qualifier.

Nigeria repaid the compliment a few days later in Bissau, but the Portuguese trainer says the Portuguese-speaking nation still owes him a clap back.

“We are not thinking about revenge but we are here to top the group and they are in our sights. We must do what has to be done. Guinea Bissau have no point and will play with freedom, and that is when a team becomes dangerous.”

Both teams clash at the Stade Félix Houphoüet-Boigny in central Abidjan from 5pm CIV time today, which is 6pm Nigeria time.

Monday’s crucial game, which will be Nigeria’s 100th match at the Africa Cup of Nations since a group phase encounter against Egypt in nearby Ghana in 1963, will see the Super Eagles finish top of group A with a win, as long as Equatorial Guinea, also on four points, do not humiliate host nation Cote d’Ivoire at an encounter holding simultaneously at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe.

[Leadership]

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has put in place effective mechanisms to track and trace narcotic products right from production, the manufacturing plant, to the end user.

A statement from the agency, Sunday said its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the disclosure while commissioning the narcotic drugs serialisation pilot project in Lagos.

Prof Adeyeye said the move was geared towards tackling the menace of drug and substance abuse in Nigeria, particularly amongst the teeming youth population.

She said that narcotics were chosen amongst other classes of drugs to mitigate drug abuse, adding that this will be replicated for all other NAFDAC-regulated drug products.

She said that one of the greatest challenges in the healthcare sector is the occurrence of substandard and falsified medicines.

She said that in Nigeria, the problem is further compounded by the chaotic drug distribution practices of unscrupulous elements who do not place a premium on human lives.

She added that these were the sharp practices that the Traceability Project (Track and Trace) sought to stop.

Through the scanning device on an Android phone, the NAFDAC boss said consumers can now verify the authenticity of the drug product they consume and be assured of the quality of medicines.

She added that the track and trace technology is a veritable tool to be deployed in the event of medication recalls.

Prof Adeyeye said that manufacturers must first commission the products they are registered to distribute into the NAFDAC Traceability System, and when it gets to the distributors or the wholesalers, they will also scan the products using a 2D Data Matrix barcode scanner to capture the event related to the movement of the product.

The Managing Director of the technical partner, GS1 Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Odunlami said that the journey started over ten years ago when the company started preaching the importance of traceability.

[DailyTrust]

Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro says revenge is not on his mind ahead of his side’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group A clash with Guinea-Bissau.

The Djurtus defeated the Super Eagles 1-0 in Abuja during the qualifiers.

Both teams will clash again at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan, on Monday (today).

Peseiro said he is focused on helping the Super Eagles beat Baciro Cande’s men.

“We are not thinking about revenge but we are here to top the group and they are in our sights.

“We must do what has to be done. Guinea Bissau have no point and will play with freedom, and that is when a team becomes dangerous,” Peseiro said during pre-match press conference.

Nigeria occupy second position in the group with four points from two games.

A point will be enough for the Super Eagles to book a place in the Round of 16.

[DailyPost]