The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is planning to rebase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

There are expectations that the economy will be bigger while inflation will be lower.

This was the situation in 2014 when Nigeria became Africa’s largest economy, with its GDP surging by 89 percent to $510 billion and inflation averaging 8.05 percent compared to 8.50 percent in the previous year.

But the NBS at the rebasing sensitisation workshop it organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Lagos, last Thursday, emphasised that the exercise does not necessarily mean that the GDP will become more robust or shrink, rather it would give an accurate assessment of the economy.

“Rebasing is a very vital exercise that ensures our economic indicators are accurate, reflecting the updated structure of our economy,” Adeyemi Adeniran, the statistician general and CEO of the NBS, said.

“It’s done to absorb the new ministries that the new government just created, upgrade the CPI basket and change the methodology of CPI and GDP,” he added.

Why does rebasing the economy matter?

Most governments overhaul GDP calculations every three to five years to reflect changes in output and consumption. Prior to 2014, Nigeria had not done so since 1990.

According to the NBS, rebasing is a process of updating an old base year with a recent one to reflect changes in the prices of goods and services produced within the economy. The agency explained that constant price estimates are recalculated using the new base year’s prices.

It stated that the rebasing will cover new areas of the economy, including digital economy, modular refineries, pension fund administration, national health insurance scheme, mining, among others.

Beyond potentially increasing the size of the economy, tax-to-GDP and debt-to-GDP ratios are expected to decline, allowing for more fiscal balance. Similarly, per capita income, which is about $877, will rise.

Will Nigeria become the largest economy once again?

Nigeria became Africa’s biggest economy following the 2014’s rebasing, but analysts point that while the country’s GDP would rise in dollar terms, the results might not be as impressive as what was obtainable over 10 years ago.

Amaka Anku, Africa director at Eurasia Group, said the rebasing will likely increase the size of Nigeria’s economy in dollar terms despite its entry to a second recession in five years and a weakened naira.

“They will be adding new components to the GDP, so it would likely result in a larger economy but, definitely, not as big a bump as in 2010,” Anku said.

Similarly, CardinalStone analysts said that the proposed rebasing will drive improved capturing of economic activities and support planning initiatives. However, it is likely to shrink the size of the informal economy.

It further explained that the rebasing is also likely to result in a significant increase in the reported size of the economy.

How does it affect rising prices?

The NBS said the rebasing exercise may not directly lead to a reduction or upward trajectory of consumer prices, rather it aims to capture price changes over time

However, Ayo Andrew, head of price statistics at the NBS, revealed that four ‘special indexes’ will be added to the CPI computation as part of the rebasing exercise.

“Services index, both national and states; energy index, both national and states; farm produce index, both national and states; and goods index, both national and states, will be added,” Andrew said.

This update will, no doubt, result in more accurate inflation data, potentially altering Nigeria’s inflation outlook compared to previous measures. It is expected to provide better information on business strategies, moving forward.

Structural changes between old, new numbers

The NBS revealed that the base year adopted for the GDP was 2019 while 2024 was used for the CPI.

For the CPI, the year was proposed to capture the structural changes that have taken place over time. It is driven by the removal of subsidies on foreign exchange and petrol.

For the GDP, 2019 was chosen as a preferred base year because economic activities were relatively stable within the period, compared to subsequent years disrupted by the impact of COVID-19 and policy shifts.

The constituents of the inflation basket are expected to expand from 740 to 960.

The contributions of items on the divisional level to the headline index has been increased to 13 from 12, with the addition of insurance and financial services.

Likewise, there will be adjustments to weightings of the previous 12 division level weights.

However, analysts at CardinalStone, in a report last week, said that the re-weighting of the CPI basket may result in a reduction in the impact of food and non-alcoholic beverage price changes on the overall headline inflation reading.

It said that housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels are likely to have a lesser impact on future core inflation readings due to the re-weightings.

“The likes of transport and restaurants & accommodation services are likely to have a more pronounced impact on future inflation readings due to the re-weightings,” it said.

While the rebasing exercise will no doubt raise Nigeria’s economic profile, with over 129 million Nigerians living below the national poverty line, analysts hold the view that the effects would be felt more in statistics than in everyday life.

As the race for 2027 elections begins to shape up, strong rumours of defection are swirling around no fewer than five first term opposition governors, LEADERSHIP checks have revealed.

Investigations by LEADERSHIP showed that governors of Abia (Alex Otti) Enugu (Peter Mbah), Delta (Sheriff Oborevwori), Rivers (Siminalayi Fubara) and Akwa Ibom (Umoh Eno) have had to address concerns surrounding talks about their plans to dump their parties for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

While Mbah, Fubara, Eno, Oborevwori belong to the major opposition PDP, Otti belongs to the Labour Party. Interestingly, both parties have been locked in post-2023 election crises which seems to have defied interventions so far.

While some sources confided in LEADERSHIP that some of the governors are being subtly pressured to join the ruling APC, others noted that others, mindful of the instability in their party, are open to joining a platform that would enhance their chances of securing a second term.

Since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, over 20 sitting governors have dumped their political parties for another. The top states with the highest number of sitting governors jumping ship are Sokoto, Imo, Abia and Adamawa.

In Sokoto, three governors have dumped their parties for another, while two sitting governors in Imo, Abia, Zamfara and Adamawa have done the same.

While some first term governors were able to win a second term, others were not so lucky.

In Abia State, concerns about Governor Otti’s loyalty to his party arose when he resorted to the Zenith Labour Party as a special purpose vehicle for the local government election in the state last year.

However, talks about dumping his party heightened when after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Abia airport, the minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, declared that the Abia governor would return to the APC.

Also, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, had mounted pressure on Otti to join the APC.

LEADERSHIP Friday reports that no fewer than five Labour Party House of Representatives members have joined APC so far.

In Rivers State, Governor Fubara’s use of APP for the local government election, following his inability to wrest the PDP structure from the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, has sustained talks that he may dump the PDP ahead of the 2027 election.

The closeness of the Akwa Ibom State governor, Eno, to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, one of the national leaders of APC, has sustained suspicions that he might join the party at the centre.

In Enugu, there are insinuations that the disruptive politics within the PDP at the national level might make the governor, who isn’t disposed to be distracted by party intrigues, seek another platform.

PDP leaders in Delta, under the aegis of Concerned Leaders of PDP, blew the whistle about Oborevwori’s romance with APC leaders. The party leaders, namely Mr Theophilus Ekiyor; Mr. Ochuko Oghenekome, and Mr. Ezekiel Chukwudi, in an open letter accused the governor of secretly romancing President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila and the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in order to secure a second term as Delta governor.

Recall that Hon. Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu, a federal lawmaker and daughter of former Delta State governor, James Ibori, had dumped PDP for APC last year. Ibori is a Tinubu contemporary as governor in 1999 and a close ally.

But the governors have pushed back on the rumours, declaring, albeit through their aides, that they will not dump their parties for the ruling APC.

Also their parties have declared such claims as the handiwork of the ruling party, seeking to sow confusion within their parties and suspicion against the governors.

Mbah has no plan of leaving us – PDP

The spokesman of Enugu State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uchenna Obute Udi has described as falsehood allegations that many members of the party are planning to defect to APC.

He dismissed the allegations in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP Friday in Enugu.

He described Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, as the leader of the PDP in Enugu State and the Southeast and wondered why such allegations would be made against the PDP members including the governor.

The PDP spokesman stated that in less than two years in office, the governor has transformed the state through massive infrastructural development.

He noted that the governor has endeared himself to the people of the state irrespective of their party affiliations through his numerous projects.

On the recent visit of President Almed Bola Tinubu to the state, Udi stated that he came to Enugu State as president of the country and not for party politics.

He noted that the president knew Mbah before the latter became governor, and that the governor was a key actor in the private sector.

Udi added that the speech of the President during his visit clearly showed that he came to see what the governor had been doing irrespective of his party affiliation.

Otti not under pressure to dump LP

As at press time, efforts to get clarification on the report from either his adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma,  or the chief press secretary, Ukoha Njoku on their mobile phones failed.

However, a top member of the administration, who pleaded anonymity said he was not aware of such pressure even as he argued that by his performance in office, Otti had become a brand.

“Like a beautiful bride, it is possible that some opposition parties might be wooing him to join them. Such moves are not out of place in our clime,” he asserted.

But the story is different in the Labour Party where most of the members feel the governor sidelined them “in all ramifications after climbing on our back to victory”.

According to a reliable source in the party, securing the party’s ticket for 2027 might be an uphill task for Otti “so, the earlier he starts looking elsewhere perhaps the better for him.”

“I’m not aware whether he has indicated interest to participate in the ongoing membership revalidation in the party,” the source added.

Oborevwori’s defection rumours sponsored by opposition

The chief press secretary to the Delta Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, said there is no iota of truth in the claim by PDP leaders in the state that Oborevwori’s plans to defect to the ruling APC.

“It’s a lie being pushed by opposition elements” he told LEADERSHIP Friday.

Similarly the PDP in the state has dismissed rumours as mischievous and unfounded.

In a statement issued by the party’s chairman in the state, Chief Solomon Arenyenka, the PDP described the reports as the work of unemployed political hirelings and their unscrupulous sponsors, who are failed agents of destabilisation and betrayal.

The statement read in part:  “We assert unequivocally that the faceless group of individuals spreading these rumours and presenting themselves as concerned leaders of the PDP are impostors and not members of our esteemed party.

“We strongly condemn, in the strongest terms, the vile and malicious propaganda of these depraved perpetrators, particularly the key peddler—a notorious serial blackmailer and dishonest individual who will be remembered infamously for concocting lies as a means of survival.”

Why Gov Eno Won’t Defect To APC – PDP

PDP in Akwa Ibom has also dismissed the claim about Eno’s surreptitious moves to join APC, calling it a ruse.

The party hierarchy in the state led by Elder Aniekan Akpan had at various fora dismissed such report as mere speculations within the imaginations of the purveyors.”

Akpan, noted that “PDP is like a religion in Akwa Ibom,” stressing that, “PDP is Akwa Ibom and Akwa Ibom is PDP.”

In the vein, the PDP publicity secretary, Mr. Edwin Ebiese, urged the people of the state not to believe in rumour as propagated by some opposition forces in the media,

However, a PDP leader in the state, who pleaded anonymity, admitted that the rumour shouldn’t be dismissed wholly.

He said, “Tinubu is not like Buhari, who appeared apolitical throughout his presidential stint.

“Tinubu is an ardent, suave and alluring politician with massive Machevellian attributes of the end justifying the means. So he will not spare anything to capture Akwa Ibom.

“Surviving to emerge the winner of the 2023 presidential election against all odds, the President would want to dismantle all perceived obstacles by wooing some of the remaining opposition states, especially Akwa Ibom, that they had over the years longed for, into the APC.

“They had done it in Edo and Ondo states, so the complimentary dispositions by Governor Umo Eno, and the Senate President could be a pointer to the likely defection of the governor to crumble and further weaken the opposition structure in Nigeria ahead of the 2027 general elections”, the PDP stalwart in Uyo told LEADERSHIP Friday.

Fubara Has No Plan To Leave

PDP – Rivers Information Commissioner

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, has said Governor Siminalayi Fubara has no plans to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for any other political party.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP Friday in Port Harcourt, Johnson said: “Rumour is rumour and will remain in the realms of rumour. I am not aware of such a move.”

[Leadership]

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has explained why he reversed his stance on the controversial tax reforms bill, stating that his concerns regarding the bill have been addressed.

Governor Sule, who was one of the vocal northern political leaders initially opposed to the bill, made this disclosure during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today programme.

He highlighted that the opposition was not to the idea of tax reforms but to the bill’s contents in its original form. According to him, the key objective was to ensure that the bill was thoroughly discussed before any decision was made.

“We have achieved our goal, and that is the reason today I talk differently. I talk differently because the goal we wanted to achieve has been achieved.

“We wanted the bill to be further discussed and not passed in its original form. Now, there are opportunities for further review, and I commend the House of Representatives, particularly the speaker, for the way they have handled the issue,” Sule stated.

The governor also expressed satisfaction with the current handling of the bill by the lawmakers, especially the House of Representatives and its speaker, adding that the concerns raised by him and others had led to a more thorough scrutiny of the bill.

[DailyTrust]

Boavista have rejected Trabzonspor’s €2.5m bid for Super Eagles defender, Bruno Onyemaechi, DAILY POST reports.

According to Turkish news outlet, Fotomac, Trabzonspor’s offer is below Boavista’s valuation of the left-back.

Boavista will only consider offers in the region of €3m for Onyemaechi.

The 25-year-old has been one of the Portuguese side’s top performers this season.

DAILY POST recalls that Onyemaechi was recently voted Boavista’s December Player of the Month.

He arrived Boavista on loan from Feirense in the 2022/23 season.

The move was made permanent the following campaign.

[DailyPost]

• AG-F to begin direct disbursement
• Committee begins two-day meeting
• Edun to brief President

The Federal Government is taking a step forward today in the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee set up to enforce the verdict would begin a two-day meeting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Members of the panel will be discussing the modalities for the enforcement of the apex court verdict that mandates direct disbursements of funds to the 774 local government areas from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The committee, chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, has as members Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AG-F).

Others are: Central Bank of Nigeria (NGF) Governor Yemi Cardoso; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance; Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC); representative of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and representative of the local governments.

The AG-F has concluded plans for the disbursement of funds to democratically elected councils this week, a government source told The Nation.

A member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the panel’s focus is to finalise measures for achieving financial and administrative independence for the 774 councils, despite resistance by governors.

He said the committee is expected to evolve counter-actions against some governors seeking to undermine the autonomy by maintaining direct access to funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The source also disclosed that the panel would proceed with the assignment after receiving “guidelines and guidance” from the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice.

He acknowledged the need for specific clarifications on how best to handle resistance by some state governments ahead of the commencement of direct payments to local governments this week.

“We are waiting for the pronouncement of the Attorney-General first. We will take a position before Wednesday,” the source said.

The two-day meeting is expected to evaluate the Committee’s progress and finalise operational frameworks for direct payments.

According to the source, the meetings aim to address the moves by some governors to coerce elected local government leaders into truncating the objectives of the autonony.

“The meetings will address the actions of governors attempting to undermine the autonomy of democratically elected LGA chairmen, deputies, and councilors, ensuring they are not coerced into serving state interests,” he added.

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, some governors are maneuvering to maintain their hold on council funds by influencing Houses of Assembly to pass laws empowering state governments to have access and retain oversight on the FAAC allocations.

Shedding light on the challenges before the committee, he said: “There are a lot of discussions going on, but for now, honestly, we are waiting to see. While all the states have conducted local government elections, some governors are determined to maintain financial control over local government areas.”

In preparation for the Supreme Court judgment’s implementation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) confirmed its readiness to commence direct FAAC disbursements to councils.

A senior OAGF official disclosed that structures are already in place to ensure a seamless transition.

The official said: “It won’t be a challenge to carry out the approval from the minister to start making the disbursements to the LGAs. The structure has been on the ground.”

He pointed out that a dedicated department within the OAGF would oversees the processes, assuring that the transition will proceed smoothly.

“A whole department is in charge of it. So, it’s not going to be a challenge. I can confirm that,” he stressed.

The source hinted that Finance minister might consult with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu upon his return to the country this week to finalise strategies for dealing with governors.

“The minister of Finance might have discussions with President Bola Tinubu and others on how to address the issue of governors. But we are paying local government areas directly.

“We don’t want to presume anything. Everyone knows the judgment has been made, and we are waiting for the government to start implementing.”

The enforcement of direct FAAC allocations to local governments marks a significant shift in local government administration. It is aimed at curbing undue interference by governors.

Historically, funds meant for grassroots development were disbursed through joint accounts controlled by governors, often leading to delays and diversions.

[TheNation]

Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said Monday, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.

Seoul has previously claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent more than 10,000 soldiers as “cannon fodder” to help Moscow fight Kyiv, in return for Russian technical assistance for Pyongyang’s heavily sanctioned weapons and satellite programmes.

Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing video of the injured combatants being interrogated and raising the possibility of a prisoner swap for captured Ukrainian troops.

“The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates suggesting that casualties among North Korean forces have surpassed 3,000,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a briefing from the spy agency.

This includes “approximately 300 deaths and 2,700 injuries,” Lee said, after a briefing from Seoul’s National Intelligence Service.

The soldiers, reportedly from North Korea’s elite Storm Corps, have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner, Lee said.

“Notably, memos found on deceased soldiers indicate that the North Korean authorities pressured them to commit suicide or self-detonate before capture,” he said.

He added that some of the soldiers had been granted “amnesty” or wanted to join North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, hoping to improve their lot by fighting.

One North Korean soldier who was about to be captured shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and attempted to detonate a grenade, Lee said, adding that he was shot and killed.

The NIS analysis also revealed that the North Korean soldiers have “a lack of understanding of modern warfare,” and are being used by Russia in a manner leading to “the high number of casualties,” the lawmaker said.

– Soldiers captured –

Lee — speaking for South Korea’s intelligence committee in parliament — said in the coming year US president-elect Donald Trump, who has previously tried to woo North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, “may push for dialogue… once again”.

He also said Kim may “weigh the possibility of a visit to Russia in the first half of this year” after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in late 2023.

In a post on social media platform X Sunday, Zelensky said: “Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia.”

There would “undoubtedly be more” North Korean soldiers captured by Kyiv, he added.

“For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available,” said Zelensky.

Ukraine, the United States and South Korea have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help bolster Russian forces.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged that North Koreans have been deployed to fight against Ukraine.

The two countries have boosted their military cooperation since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

On a visit to Seoul this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington believed Russia was expanding space cooperation with North Korea in exchange for its troop contribution in fighting Ukraine.

Washington’s top diplomat said the United States also believed Russia “may be close” to formally accepting North Korea’s status as a nuclear power.

The video posted by Zelensky of the interrogation of the two North Korean prisoners of war shows one lying in a bunk bed and the other sitting up with a bandage around his jaw.

One man can be heard speaking to a Ukrainian official through an interpreter, saying that he did not know he was going to fight in a war with Ukraine and that his commanders “told him it was just training”.

In translated comments, one of the men says he wants to return to North Korea.

The other says he will do what he is told but, if given the chance, wants to live in Ukraine.

AFP

n 22 August 2024, Olukayode Ariwoola, the penultimate Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) retired from the bench and transitioned into a published author. At a well-attended event in the Abuja, the former CJN beamed at the public presentation of his autobiography. Published under the title Judging with Justice*, the book was ghost written by Olanrewaju Akinsola (the author better known as Onigegewura).

 The story reveals the son of a doting and committed dad who appears to take family and his faith seriously. Judging with Justice is a deeply personal story of a judicial figure whose rise to the highest office in his country’s judicial grease pole was as improbable as his route was unusual. The author is quite open in his disclosures about his health, including open heart surgery in London in 2016.

Olukayode Ariwoola became a lawyer at 27 and a judge at 38. In the eleven years that separated his enrollment at the bar from his elevation to the Bench, Olukayode Ariwoola worked first as State Counsel in Oyo State from where he resigned into private legal practice. That stint of his professional career began in Ibadan, the state capital, under the tutelage of Ladosu Ladapo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who twice ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

After one year of practice under the Senior Advocate, Olukayode Ariwoola chose to set up his own legal practice in Oyo, not far from his beloved natal community of Iseyin. At the time, there were only five lawyers in the city. Making ends meet was difficult and his clients were mostly reluctant litigants, many of whom had to improvise in order to find the currency for transacting business with a lawyer. He stuck with it and in 1992, the year after Oyo State was split in two to produce Osun State, got propelled to the office of a judge of the High Court of Oyo State by what from his narration surely was a stroke of providential happenstance. In the cohort of six new judges, Olukayode Ariwoola was the youngest by all of nine years.

After 13 years as a judge of the High Court, Olukayode Ariwooola got elevated to the Court of Appeal in November 2005. The major actors in his elevation to the appellate Bench included Aloma Mukhtar, who would later rise to become the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria; Bola Ige, a former Attorney-General of the Federation; and Bolarinwa Babalakin a former Justice of the Supreme Court. None of these three shared the same origins with Olukayode Ariwoola. Aloma Mukhtar came from Kano; Bola Ige and Bolarinwa Babalakin both came from Osun State.

After six years on the Court of Appeal, Olukayode Ariwoola ascended to the Supreme Court in November 2011, where he served for another 12 years before becoming the CJN. In all, his judicial career spanned nearly 32 years, including two years and two months served as CJN. All his judicial elevations (except his preferment to the office of CJN) occurred in the month of November.

Judicial autobiographies, especially in common law countries, are far from easy to confection. The balance between achieving a captivating narrative and preserving the mystique of the high judicial office is hard. The temptation to deodorize the tale can be tantalising. Judging with Justice wrestles valiantly with this dilemma and not always successfully.

The author offers about the Supreme Court that it is “more than a court of law. It is the tradition that the Supreme Court is regarded as a court of policy.” Having said this, the book offers no insight as to how the Supreme Court on which he sat for 13 years or the office of the CJN which he occupied for over two of those years, articulated or advanced this idea of the Supreme Court as a court of policy. If anything, the court did the opposite under him.

The best that can be said of the book and about its author is that they chose to be economical with any indication of a coherent judicial philosophy. Entirely in keeping with this, the author writes with what appears to be some pride that he never “had any cause to write a dissenting opinion be it at the Court of Appeal or at the Supreme Court.” He spent a combined18 years in both courts.

The author, nevertheless, drops hints of inspiration. He counsels, for instance, that “a judge must not frequent social events where litigants and lawyers congregate.” Those who read this may wonder whether he remembered it when he showed up in Port Harcourt in November 2022 to serenade politicians (many of whom had cases before his court) in their quest for electoral victory in elections that were then impending.

Many who were witness to Olukayode Ariwoola’s tenure as CJN will wonder when he came to what he claims in the book to be his long-held belief “that the judiciary is an independent and separate arm of government and should not be regarded as an appendage of the Executive or the Legislature”. The disposition of his entire term appears to have been the very opposite of these sentiments.

Judging with Justice is littered with a few more examples of warm and comforting shibboleths. Yet, it is what the book omits that is most telling.

The author thanks “God for the privilege to have been instrumental in the appointment of people into positions of responsibility”. As CJN, he sure had a lot of practice at this. He also claims that he always “ensure(d) that the persons to be nominated are credible, qualified, and people of proven integrity.” His record as CJN will show this claim to be worse than bogus.

At the end of his narration, the author tells with pride his achievements as CJN. Among these, he lists attainment at the beginning of 2024 for the first time in the 70-year history of the Supreme Court of full judicial establishment size of 22 (including the CJN). He also points to the appointment since 2023 of new judges to the various courts, including the Court of Appeal, the Federal High Court and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

In Judging with Justice, Olukayode Ariwoola is punctilious in listing all the people whom he processed for appointment in that frantic sequence of judicial elevations that occurred during the year preceding his retirement as CJN. He takes fulsome paternal pride in the fact that his son – also named Kayode Taslim – “is a jurist like Judge Taslim Olawale Elias he was named after”, but omits to disclose that it was him, the father, who appointed the son to the role of judge (with no need for the helping hand of a Holy Ghost). He did not stop there, he also appointed his own daughter-in-law as judge, as well as the daughters of the President of the Court of Appeal; of the Chief Judge of High Court of the FCT; the daughter of his predecessor in the office of CJN; the wife of the Minister of the FCT; and many more high-up insiders too numerous to mention.

Judging with Justice missed an opportunity to show how a judiciary of sons, daughters, wives and even a few mistresses, meets the standard of “credible, qualified, and people of proven integrity.” He may have been closer to the mark if he had chosen to title the book “A Convenient Memory.”

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Olukayode Ariwoola, Judging with Justice: The Autobiography of Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON, The Chief Justice of Nigeria [As Narrated to Olanrewaju Akinsola, (Onigegewura)], (Lagos, Asco Publishers, 2024)

The Lagos State Police Command has uncovered a new trend of kidnapping, dubbed ‘Constructive Kidnapping’, where unsuspecting ladies are lured by kidnappers posing as internet friends and lovers.

This sinister scheme has already ensnared 16 ladies from various parts of the state, who were fortunate to be rescued by the police command, the command revealed.

In another shocking case, a 15-year-old girl was rescued after allegedly conspiring with her boyfriend to demand ransom from her parents, pretending that she had been kidnapped.

For the ‘Constructive kidnapping, the kidnappers’ modus oparandi according to the Commissioner of Police Lagos State Police Command, CP Olawale Ishola, who briefed journalists weekend, on the command’s breakthrough between September 2024 and January 2025, was as cunning as it was ruthless.

The kidnappers as gathered, begin by tagging their potential victims as friends on social media platforms, establishing a false sense of acquaintance. Once the victim’s guard is lowered, the kidnappers invite them to Lagos, often under the guise of a romantic rendezvous.

These kidnappers according to the command would send substantial amounts of money, up to N500,000, to their victims, as well as cover their flight expenses to Lagos.

Upon arrival, the unsuspecting victims are taken to five-star hotels, where their phones are seized, and money transferred out. The kidnappers then contact the victim’s relatives, demanding ransom and threatening to them if their demands are not met.

According to the CP, ” It is Constructive kidnapping because you have a scenario where a lady is lured from her safe space to Lagos by a group of boys or a single individual. They make it enticing by sending a business-class flight ticket, N500,000, and booking a luxurious five-star hotel. The victim feels like they’ve ‘arrived,’ unaware that it’s all a ruse.

” I’ve rescued at least 16 ladies from this trap. As soon as they arrive, the kidnappers mess the ladies up, seize their phones, transfer their money, and contact their relatives to demand more ransom, threatening to kill the victim if their demands aren’t met. It’s termed ‘constructive’ because the victims unwittingly walk into the trap set for them. However, we’re always one step ahead.”

He, therefore, warned members of the public, especially ladies to be cautious when interacting with strangers online, advising members of the public to say something when they see something.

Similarly, the command boss also explained how a 14-year-old girl with an undisclosed identity who was reported to have been kidnapped, was traced to her boyfriend’s abode, with a baby.

According to CP Ishola, ” On January 8, 2025, a complainant reported that her daughter Anuoluwapo Victoria, 15 years left home to an unknown destination, that on January 9, 2025, she received a phone call and an account was sent for her to pay ransom for the released of her daughter.

“They have been sending money to the account until we were able to apprehend her and her boyfriend on Friday night. She was with a baby”.

[Vanguard]

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Jimmy Carter was the only leader outside Africa who visited Sani Abacha, the late military dictator, solely to plead for his release from prison.

Obasanjo stated this in a tribute to Carter, the late American president, who passed on December 29, 2024, aged 100.

The tribute, titled “Jimmy Carter: The Departure of a Titan”, was read during a memorial service held on Sunday at the Chapel of Christ the Glorious King, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Obasanjo was arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison by the Abacha junta in 1995 over alleged involvement in a failed military coup.

Obasanjo narrated how Carter visited Nigeria and got Abacha to release him (Obasanjo) from prison, and he was placed on house arrest.

He said that although many others intervened to seek his release, Carter was the only one who had visited Nigeria solely for that purpose.

“President Carter was one of my foreign friends who stuck their necks out to save my life and to seek my release from prison. On President Carter’s visit to Nigeria, he got Abacha to agree to take me from detention to house arrest on my farm. But that did not last for too long,” Obasanjo said.

“Many other friends and leaders intervened, but President Carter was the only non-African leader, according to my information, that paid a visit to Abacha solely to plead for my release.

“I would remain ever grateful to all who worked for my release from Abacha’s gulag. Abacha ensured that I would not be released. Within a week of his death, though, I was released by his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who also facilitated my going around Africa and the rest of the world to thank all those who worked for my release.”

Obasanjo further said he was surprised when Carter told him that Ted Turner, CNN founder, had offered to take care of him and his family upon his release.

“I was touched and moved to tears. I immediately went to Ted, who expressed to me the same sentiment that President Carter expressed,” Obasanjo said.

The elder statesman said he and Carter shared some similarities, including their military backgrounds and being born into farming families that instilled discipline in them.

“He beat me though in one respect; there was a road to his settlement, and there was no road to my village. We walked to every place or, at best, we were carried on bicycles,” he said.

Obasanjo said he would miss Carter, “a great and true friend but I know we shall meet again in paradise”.

Speaking during an interactive session with young African leaders at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library OOPL during the weekend, Obasanjo said his refusal to keep quiet on national and international issues landed him in detention during Abacha’s tenure.

[TheCable]

This piece is one of the technical notes that I used in some seminal conversations before now, one of many others that I consider should be shared, in spite of its seminal tone, for the benefit of public managers-learners who are spread all over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and beyond, and for public education, In penning this contribution, I am interested in a sort of agenda setting that has the capacity to generate discourse around public cum civil service institutional reformulation and its framework of relevance especially in a postcolonial context like Nigeria. All across the world, public administration serves the purpose of outlining and concretizing the administrative agenda that allows the state intervene positively in the lives of the citizenry. This therefore places a huge responsibility on the public service—and the public administration scholarship and communities of service and practice—to get up to speed in outlining a pathway that will transform the professional endeavor into a sturdy representative of state activities and responsibilities to the people. Like every other endeavor, public administration must necessarily respond to the multiplicity of events, circumstances and occurrences that have come to define the world in the twenty-first century.  

Public administration has come a long way since its first documented formation, with the rudimentary but fundamental beginning in the ancient pharaonic Egypt through to the high political intrigues and engineering feats of the Roman society to the exigencies of the industrial revolution of the nineteen century. In the twenty-first century, and all across the world, public administration is even more challenged by current circumstances shaping not only national administrative imagination but also international and global relations. In the first place, public administration is today immersed in what has been called a VUCA environment. This implies that public administration and its processes, procedures and institutional operations must be factored into an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The VUCA world implies the myriad degrees of shocks, threats, cynicism, turbulence and challenges that governments all across the world must have to respond to in order to design and formulate policies that will resonate with the yearnings of an increasingly politically sophisticated citizenry. The VUCA environment is aggravated by what has come to be called a polycrisis, a fundamentally complex situation as a result of many crises, conflicts and complex issues reinforcing and complicating one another in sequences that aggravate any existing circumstances that humans and states find themselves. In such a situation of a polycrisis, the overall consequences and impacts of the complex crisis is greater than the sum of all the variables making it up. For example, poverty in the world today is now a function of climate change, economic recession, natural disasters, bad governance and political instability.  

Within a VUCA environment, policies and their trajectories and dynamics cannot be considered as simplistic and linear endeavors. This is compounded by the fact that the status and role of the public manager, as the administrative and policy craftsman, has kept changing: (a) the ‘I am directed’ rule-oriented bureaucrat (public manager 1.0), (b) business-oriented and performance-focused manager (2.0), and (c) networking and relations-focused collaborator (3.0). This transition reflects the transformation of thinking about public administration and the public service from Max Weber to Woodrow Wilson and from the new public management (NPM) to the idea of new governance. The VUCA environment within which the twenty-first century public manager is expected to effectively and efficiently function is further complicated when it is considered from the perspectives of a postcolonial context like Nigeria. Africa is often considered as the most difficult administrative context in the world. And that is essentially because the organic maturation of public administration had been disrupted not only by colonial rule but also postcolonial consequences of a logic of extraction. This therefore implies that public administration and the public manager in Africa must not only anticipate and preempt current and recurrent challenges that ails governance on the continent, but must also be conversant with emerging trends and paradigms shifts that are determining the trajectory and possible directions that public administration is taking in the evolving fourth revolution and knowledge society mediated by digital and destructive technologies, from the blockchain and robotics to enterprise resource planning and big data.

Trend analysis therefore becomes a necessary and inevitable tool for prospecting for patterns, scenarios and variances in order to determine future prospects and achieve strategic decision-making. Trend analysis rely essentially on empirical and historical data and evidences to determine, monitor and forecast short- or long-term institutional changes that could constitute downtrends or uptrends for any particular endeavor. In public administration, it involves gathering historical and current data on emerging trends that could get the public managers to make decisive and evidence-based strategic decisions that would get the public service to perform more effectively and efficiently for better service delivery. This serves the purpose of empowering the public managers and public administration scholars and experts to gather valuable insights on how far public administration practices have come, the emerging developments that are shaping the practices, and the future prospects in the profession. It also enables public managers to generate crucial understanding of performance metrics that could keep pushing the boundaries of the operational functionality of the public service for optimal performance and productivity.

The most recent source of polycrisis all over the world was the COVID-19 pandemic that decimated millions of lives across the globe and facilitated in its wake what is now called the “new normal” in terms of human social relations, societal dynamics and structural cum institutional realignments. Humans have been forced to reassess normal patterns of doing things at some professional levels. We now work from home, adapted to a blended educational schedule, attend conferences and symposia virtually, and so on. In economic, social, political and even spiritual terms, there are now dramatic transformations that were instigated by the precarious developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new normal is enabled by digital and other new technologies and the new information dispensation to disrupt the usual dynamics of social, cultural and professional lives. The pandemic triggered a deluge of challenging situations for public administration and the public service to deal with. This can be likened in a sense to the administrative challenges that the Nigerian Civil War posed to Nigeria’s public service and those we now call the “super permanent secretaries.”

The COVID-19 pandemic struck most governments and their public administration dynamics at this critical service delivery point. And the tragedy of the pandemic is that it caught the entire world at varying administrative stages and phases of the normal. This is even worse for the third world countries, and Africa especially. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, the Nigerian public service system had been afflicted by a bureau-pathological protocol defined by a collusion between what we all know as the “Nigerian factor” and some damaging systemic debilities. The tragedy of the pandemic and of Nigeria’s unpreparedness for it has presented the public service system with a unique opportunity to reflect on and rethink its governance and administrative policies. And so, with the sudden transformation of the way we look at work and the workplace dynamics, the public service had to forcefully embrace what used to be the staple of administrative conferences and forecasting.

The transformation of the workplace, as part of the key reform for preparing public administration to manage the fourth industrial revolution especially in Africa, demands the deployment of human resource management to achieve performance and productivity. The transformation of the workplace and work ethics gives the public service the capacity to recruit a global workforce and create incentives that increase employee loyalty and commitment, and collaborations that generate productivity. This gives room for the achievement of a better work-life balance deriving from freer time and flexibility to work. It also crucially facilitates the acquisition of “twenty-first century literacies”: (a) interpersonal skills: facilitation, empathy, political skills; (b) synthesising skills: sorting evidence, analysis, making judgements, offering critique and being creative; (c) organising skills: group work, collaboration and peer review; and (d) communication skills: better use of new media and multi-media resources. The smart public manager must also factor into the mix the unique cultural and sociological demands that the emergence of the Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Gen Beta are bringing or will bring into the constitution of the workplace as a technology-enables space with its own peculiar generational dynamics. No conscious public manager will ignore the demands of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in making the workplace more broad-based and strategic.   

Apart from the immediate need for flexible and remote work protocols that transformed the workplace and its dynamics, the imperative of open government suddenly got a new lease on life. Since the emergence of the new public management and the managerial revolution that drove it, the objective has been to achieve a government that is FAST—flatter, agile, streamlined and technology-enabled. And one way to do this is not only to install a performance management system, but to also facilitate an open government framework that allows for the co-creation of values through citizen engagement. For instance, a flat government demands that the distance between government and the citizens be decreased through the deployment of digital technologies and the social media and mobile technologies that increase the participation of citizens in administrative and decision-making processes. Open government therefore increase transparency and accountability in government decision making, remove red tape and hierarchies, and enable cross-sectoral collaborations.

The open government initiative also makes possible an open data platform that governments across the world are deploying to further facilitate citizens engagement and interactions with the policies of government. Through emerging communication and information technologies, governments make available data and information that the citizens can use. Tracking and mapping systems also help the citizens to interrogate government’s expenditures and decision dynamics. Open government and the open data initiatives are made possible by the right to information legislation that makes it imperative for the government, through its MDAs, to share critical information about its processes and procedures with its citizens. the open government partnership plays a crucial role in grounding the significance of the public-private partnership. This is achieved through a networked dynamic that open government and its deployment of communication and digital technologies make possible. The government can now draw the private sector into a governance space for tackling challenging administrative and governance issues that the government or the private sector could never tackle on its own.

The idea of open government and its potentials for making public administration more effective inevitably raises the specter of cybersecurity with regard to the value of big data, data sovereignty and how this could be compromised. For example, data sovereignty gives a government the control over sensitive information and data that its public administrative institutions and processes require to function effectively. It also prevents these data and information from unauthorized access or information mining and misuse that could compromise the significance and values of these data and information. Hence, governments need to manage the circumferences of its data sovereignty by monitoring and anticipating data breach and vulnerability. Public managers will therefore be tasked with the imperative of thinking more strategically about the critical relationship between open government, open access to big data, administrative efficiency and the threat of data breach through cyber-attacks. This inevitably demands the significant role of cybersecurity professionals who can anticipate and deal with cyber-threats as they emerge.

The reforms that will shape public administration of the future will be determined significantly by the capacity of public services across the world to leverage digital, communication and information technologies to both create strategies and be strategic. Creating a strategy, on the one hand, is a process of translating a plan into a set of results. On the other hand, however, being strategic is a competence that involves critical thinking. The two point at the urgent need for the public service to generate strategic thinking required for the change management that will move the institution forward into more optimal functionality and productivity. Both must be channeled institutionally to the most central process of strategic decision making. Creating strategies and being strategic in administrative decision-making demands the deployment of new thinking and developments in decision science.

Decision science has become a critical field that has integrated cognate developments from artificial intelligence, organisational psychology, systems thinking, machine learning, probabilistic modeling, scenario analysis, big data analytics, and many more to become a key area that the public service must buy into to push forward its policy intelligence that strengthen decision-making. Modern policy making that has taken cognizance of decision science will most likely possess nine fundamental features: (i) forward-looking; (ii) outward-looking; (iii) innovative, flexible and creative; (iv) evidence-based; (v) evaluation; (vi) review; (vii) joined-up; (viii) inclusive; and (ix) learned lessons.

Artificial intelligence plays a critical role in decision science and strategic decision-making for the public administration of the future. AI possesses a huge significance for the objective of making the public service an efficient institution for democratic service delivery that optimize democratic governance. AI not only makes possible the digitization of crucial data and information, it simplifies routine and tedious tasks, and fast tracks data analysis. It is also inevitable in facilitating the open government and open data aspiration that transform public administration. However, in deploying AI in public administration, the public manager must factor the multiple ethical and legal concerns, especially in terms of human rights issues that links AI to labour issues and industrial relations.

The last fundamental trend that public administration must factor into its reform is the emergence of a flexible, updated and up-to-date curriculum that benefits from the contemporary discourses on public administration, current administrative practices, and also feeds administrative education and training. The curriculum will feature syllabus on artificial intelligence and its critical significance, the role of new technologies in public service efficiency, human resource management and the new workplace, the imperatives of open government, etc. The curriculum, for example will explore the relationship between the public service and commercial/market tools, analysis, techniques and models for gathering commercial data that will enhance the effectiveness of the public service in terms of project management, asset and facility management, outsourcing, contract awards, and so on.