A Kuje Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory has adjourned to Friday, November 8, to begin hearing on the charges brought against a member of the House of Representatives, representing Aba North and South Federal Constituency of Abia State, Alexander Ikwechegh, after granting him bail in the sum of N500, 000.

Ikwechegh, who was arraigned on Wednesday, before His Worship, Abubakar Umar Sai’id, for allegedly assaulting a Bolt driver, Stephen Abuwatseya, at his residence in Abuja, pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.

 The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, arraigned Ikwechegh on three counts bordering on abuse of office, assault and threat to life.

 After taking his plea, the lawmaker’s counsel proceeded to make an oral application for bail, which was granted by the court.

 The magistrate said, “The court will grant the defendant a bail set at N500,000, with two sureties in like sum. The sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and provide utility bills as proof of residence.”

 The court proceeded to adjourn the hearing in the matter till November 8.

 A video of Ikwechegh allegedly assaulting the Bolt driver had gone viral on social media on Monday.

In the video, Ikwechegh can be seen repeatedly slapping the driver. Aside from the slaps, the lawmaker can be heard threatening the driver and assuring him of how he can make him disappear without a trace.

 Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, in a statement, on Wednesday, condemned Ikwechegh’s action and described it as “a glaring example of abuse of power” most common with politicians.

 The statement signed by RULAAC’s Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said the lawmaker’s action was a shame not only on him but also on every member of the House of Representatives.

 He stated, “The recent incident involving a federal lawmaker, Alex Ikwecheghi’s brutal treatment of Uber driver, Mr Stephen Abuwatseya, is a glaring example of the abuse of power that permeates Nigeria’s political landscape. Ikwechegh’s actions, including verbal and physical assault, as well as intimidation of the victim, reveal a profound lack of humility and respect for the rights of others that should be expected from someone in a public office.

 “This incident not only shames Ikwechegh but also reflects poorly on the House of Representatives, the police, and the broader political system. The indiscriminate use of power to silence and control vulnerable citizens showcases a troubling trend among officials who seem to operate above the law. The complacency of the police in this matter raises serious concerns about their integrity and commitment to justice, as they appear more willing to serve influential individuals than to uphold the rule of law.

 “While the House of Representatives’ decision to investigate this behaviour is a positive step, it remains to be seen whether meaningful accountability will follow. Historical precedents suggest a risk of sweeping the issue under the rug once public outrage subsides, which would do little to repair public trust in governance.”

 Nwanguma noted that the societal implications of the incident were dire as it “transcends the individual and speaks to a culture of impunity that must be addressed,” imploring that justice must not only be served for Abuwatseya but also the many unnamed victims of similar abuses.

“This case must serve as a catalyst for change, leading to reforms that prioritise respect for human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria”, he stated.

[Punch]

Many Yoruba people voted for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or the Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi, during the 2023 general election. This despite knowing that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, is their kinsman. It is on record that Tinubu lost Lagos State to Obi and Osun State to Atiku. It is also on record that people from other ethnic groups voted for Tinubu. In fact, a few of his supporters outside the Southwest were almost violent in their endorsement of the man who is now our president. Former Niger Delta militant leader, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo is one of such people. 

However, in a viral video last week, Asari-Dokubo claimed to have deployed his resources to campaign for Tinubu but feels ‘betrayed’ by the recent rechristening of the Ministry of Niger Delta. Rather than blame his (former) friend for that decision, it is the Yoruba people that should be held accountable. “I apologise to our fathers because they were not wrong in forming an alliance with the North, and as young men, we will now start that same alliance. From today, I will work and form an alliance with the North,” Asari-Dokubo said. “We will take this message across that only the Northerners can work with the Ijaw people. We can’t work with Yoruba people; they are a betrayer (sic) to us. We risked our lives by voting and doing everything, and this is what we get?”

Asari-Dokubo is not alone in pointing accusing fingers at Yoruba people on account of real or perceived transgressions by Tinubu. It is the latest game in town, although some are more subtle about it. There is a piece being circulated widely on WhatsApp titled ‘Is Tinubu settling scores?’ written by a Dr Ugoji Egbujo. “Tinubu has become an unabashed chauvinist. It’s a hard watch. It doesn’t bode well for national unity. Tinubu’s critical appointments have become the most lopsided in the history of this country,” the author wrote while reeling out the list of positions, especially in the security and economic sectors, now occupied by Yoruba people—despite Tinubu’s history in Afenifere, the socio-political group that used to be “the conscience of the Yoruba nation and Nigeria.”

While accusing the president, “an Afenifere apostle and NADECO evangelist” of “installing an ethnic hegemony” in the country, the author is at least fair minded enough not to place all the blame on Yoruba people. As Egbujo correctly surmised, most Yoruba people “are embarrassed by Tinubu’s antediluvian antics.” He went on to eulogise Yoruba people as not only most welcoming, empathetic, culturally and religiously tolerant but also “the loudest and sincerest champions of equity and meritocracy. So, this ethnic hegemony that Tinubu is weaving is patently not Yoruba. They didn’t send Tinubu on this errand.” The author then added: “President Tinubu knows that in a fractious multi-ethnic third world country, the concentration of the levers of the criminal justice system, economy and security in the hands of one ethnic group will feed the system with disenchantment and paranoia and corrode cohesion…”

There is a Yoruba adage that says if you want a deaf person to understand your message, relay it to his child. I counted the number of prominent people who forwarded the article to me last Saturday. They were 13. While they must be aware I am not working for this president, they were invariably telling me, “This is what your kinsman is doing.” I ignored them. Until the same post was forwarded to me by a respected scholar from the North on Sunday. I had my reason for responding to him: “The reality is that the president is appointing his loyalists (mostly from Lagos), including those whose grandfathers had their placenta buried in other Southwest states where nobody knows them. But I have also written about this issue.” The response was instant: “Your article escaped my attention. It has to be recirculated.”

Now, this eminent northern scholar supported Tinubu before and during the election. But he would not take responsibility for the choice he made at the polls. He is holding me accountable because I am Yoruba. For the record, let me cite three of the interventions I have made on this issue. Barely three weeks after his inauguration, on 20th June 2023 to be specific, I wrote ‘Tinubu and the Buhari Error’ where I rehashed a similar counsel his predecessor failed to heed. “Of the several columns I wrote on the lack of sensitivity in critical appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari, one stands out. I used a Yoruba word, ‘Amunibuni’, to situate my intervention,” I recalled in the piece, following the first set of appointments by Tinubu which I considered lopsided. I then excerpted from the March 2021 column: “That making strategic concessions is beyond Buhari administration is an embarrassment, even for many northerners. That is because they are also aware that the appointments being cornered by a tiny clique is not to promote any ‘Northern agenda’ (whatever that may mean) but rather in pursuit of the personal interest by those who nominate these individuals. This explains why they go for their in-laws, kinsmen, friends, and the like. Yet nepotism in critical appointments engenders collective insults in the manner of ‘Amunibuni’”.    

I offered a disquisition on what the Yoruba term means and the message it embeds within the context of Nigeria’s political arrangement before I concluded with an admonition for Tinubu: “Even when he did nothing to improve the material condition of the average Fulani man, the damage President Buhari did to people of that ethnic stock in eight years was enormous. And as a Yoruba man, I wouldn’t want President Tinubu to do that to me…That is why presidential handlers need to be circumspect lest they attract insults to Yoruba people who have always advocated for a peaceful and secure Nigeria that works for all citizens and where there is equity and justice in the distribution of opportunities…In making critical appointments, I hope the president will be mindful of the ‘Amunibuni’ syndrome. His appointments must be inclusive and reflect all our diversities. I shall be watching!”

In another column last October (2023) titled, ‘Where is Abdulrasheed Maina?’ I wrote: “In case the president is not aware (a Villa disease, especially under his predecessor), most Yoruba people I know are becoming increasingly embarrassed by a number of his appointments. I have received many of those WhatsApp messages that list critical offices in the economic/financial sector and the ethnic affiliation of appointees. There is already a whispering campaign in Abuja of a budding ‘Republic of Oduduwa’, based on these appointments. I hope someone will bring the issue to the attention of the president.”

That was one year ago. Yet, in another piece I wrote in the early weeks of the administration, ‘Shall We Tell the President?’, I recalled welcoming a friend from Lagos to my office with a joke, ‘Eyinlokan’ (meaning it’s your turn). “Uncle Segun, you are in the old; the slogan now is ‘awalawanbe’”, (meaning, ‘we are now fully in charge’ or to put it in pidgin, ‘we full ground remain’). “My concern is that under the current dispensation ‘Awalawanbe’ can connote either service for the public good or hubris,” I wrote before sending another warning on this same vexatious issue. And in a recent column, ‘Tinubu: No Place to Hide’, I wrote about how the president and his handlers continue to display a behaviour the Yoruba would describe as “tani o mu mi” (impunity that carries a certain sense of hubris).

It is evident that nobody in the Villa paid attention to these interventions. But how does it make sense to allocate three junior ministers out of five to the Southeast while you allocate nine ministers to the Southwest, eight of them with senior portfolios? Let’s not even go to critical appointments in the security sector and revenue-generating agencies that have been ‘cornered’ by people from one ethnic group. Meanwhile, what the president ignores is that when a leader creates a poisonous atmosphere and suspicions around emotional issues like appointments, it is difficult to build a national consensus for crucial policies as we are already seeing with the pushback from the North over the Tax Reforms Bill.

Ordinarily, with hunger and starvation biting hard in the country, there are far more pressing issues that should engage our attention. For instance, on 8th July 2024, the federal government announced a 150-day duty-free import window for food items which include maize (the ‘agbado’ we were told was enough to satiate our hunger during the presidential campaign), husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas. Four months after, this has turned out to be another of those audio promises for which this administration is fast becoming notorious. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on food inflation are not only scary, but some locally grown items like beans have also experienced close to 300% inflation within one year!

However, while hunger has become the real staple for Nigerians, regardless of which language they speak, one should also not pretend that equity in appointments and distribution of opportunities is not important or that a leader can succeed without taking such into account. Beyond giving emotional satisfaction and sense of belonging, equity is good for social capital, national cohesion and development. While some may have ignored the fact that the economy has been handed over to the Lagos crowd on the pretext they have the expertise, the evidence of the last 18 months undercuts that concession. Maybe Nigerians would not have minded if these Lagosians (many of whom throw themselves around in Abuja with incredible arrogance) were performing. Unfortunately, most don’t even appear to know what they are doing. And the president himself seems detached from reality.

Meanwhile, for those sending me ‘coded messages’ because I am a Yoruba man, I also have a question for them: When former President Olusegun Obasanjo was being acclaimed as an “apostle of meritocracy and a detribalized Nigerian” for most of his critical appointments which went to people outside the Southwest, did they extend the credit to me as a Yoruba man? Why should anybody now guilt-trip me because Tinubu is appointing his Lagos loyalists in a manner that is embarrassingly sectional? The interesting thing is that the Abdullahi Gandujes, the Godswill Akpabios, the Benjamin Kalus and others (who are ‘eating’) will most likely defend this same president despite their ethnic affinity. But that is the cross Yoruba people will have to carry for as long as Tinubu is president. That is the way we roll in Nigeria.

There is a paragraph in my 2021 admonition to Buhari which I rehashed for Tinubu last October. It is still most relevant: “…Yoruba loses its flavour when you translate into English, but ‘Amunibuni’ is better explained in the complete idiom: ‘Amunibuni ewure ibiye. Ibiye f’oju otun, ewure re fo t’osi’. Crudely interpreted, it means if a goat is blind on the left eye and its owner is blind on the right eye, any discussion about the goat would always bring into focus the condition of the owner. As one scholar expanded on the idiom, the real message is in the ambiguity that could come from describing the goat as ‘ẹran olójú kan’ which could be interpreted either as a ‘one-eyed goat’ or ‘the goat of a one-eyed person’. Both definitions are correct, but the latter brings the owner into the conversation. Today, any discussion about killings by ‘herdsmen’ brings attention to the inequity in the distribution of opportunities in Abuja by President Buhari. The result is that when you encounter cows on the highway, you look at the poor herder just trying to eke out a living and you blame him for all the problems of Nigeria!”   

I wish there was someone who can whisper to President Tinubu that this reporter keeps raising this issue because he wants him to succeed—in the manner of the proverbial child of the deaf. No matter the attraction, surrounding himself only with Lagos loyalists at the expense of fairness to other Nigerians will not help his cause. I have said my own!

The Shopping Cart Theory

In an article published in 2017, Krystal D’Costa, an American anthropologist who works in digital media, posed the question, ‘Why Don’t People Return Their Shopping Carts?’ This question has continued to provoke attention as people ruminate on why, either at the airport or in shopping malls, returning trolleys to their original places, is not always an easy thing to do. One response to the question has been dubbed ‘The Shopping Cart Theory’. It is as inspiring as it is profound. Said to have been first posted online in 2020 (with no proper attribution), the message was amplified on Monday by @elonmusk on his X platform with a crisp post of his own: ‘Trust those who return the shopping cart’.

And here goes the message: “The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. To return the shopping cart is an easy, convenient task and one we all recognize as the correct, appropriate thing to do. To return the shopping cart is objectively right. There are no situations other than dire emergencies in which a person is not able to return their cart. Simultaneously, it is not illegal to abandon your shopping cart. Therefore, the shopping cart presents itself as the apex example of whether a person will do what is right without being forced to do it. No one will punish you for not returning the shopping cart, no one will fine you, or kill you for not returning the shopping cart. You gain nothing by returning the shopping cart. You must return the shopping cart out of the goodness of your own heart. You must return the shopping cart because it is the right thing to do. Because it is correct. The Shopping Cart Theory, therefore, is a great litmus test on whether a person is a good or bad member of society.”

There was a carnival-like celebration Wednesday as members of the political class, business leaders and ordinary folks from Akwa Ibom State turned out in large numbers in Victoria Island, Lagos, for the groundbreaking ceremony of Ibom Towers – a 19-storey residential complex developed by the Akwa Ibom State government. The complex comprises 32 residential apartments of various sizes and business offices. Amenities include swimming pool; gym; games room; car park and six elevators. It’s designed to offer a luxury lifestyle for the upper middle class, but for the government, it is an investment opportunity that should diversify its sources of income and expand its portfolio. Akwa Ibom currently earns a yearly IGR of about N43 billion with the expectation to to drive it up significantly from the proceeds of this investment when the project is completed in 2026. It is the single largest investment undertaken by another state government in Lagos since its creation in 1967. On completion, Ibom Towers will be one of the most modern apartment buildings in the commercial city. Said Gov. Umo Eno: ‘’Just as the purpose-driven visionaries who built the Nigeria House in New York City, we are gathered here to break the grounds for the construction of what promises to be an iconic building that signposts our determination to play in the bullish real estate market of one of the most vibrant cities in Africa’’.

The property is located on Bishop Abayode Cole Street and sits on over 2,000 sq. meters of land acquired by Akwa Ibom State government in the early 1990s. The apartments would be sold using pre-sale flexible payment plan, and the realized income ‘’would be channeled into other development projects’’, according to Enobong Uwah, Secretary to the State Government. Ibom Towers lies in close proximity to other landmark buildings like the KPMG Head Office building; the Civic Center; Mobil House; Dream Plaza and a short drive from Radisson Blu Hotel. ‘’The government is pursuing a programme of redemption, remediation and repositioning of landed property for better economic use and spread of prosperity. We are currently working on recovery and development of other landed properties of the state in choice locations in Uyo, Abuja and Lagos’’, said Mr. Imoabasi Jacob, chief executive of Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation (AKICORP), the government agency that drives its investments.

Other Akwa Ibom leaders like Obong Victor Attah (governor between 1999 and 2007); Secretary to the State Government, Enobong Uwah; Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Udeme Otong and the Chairman of the state’s Traditional Rulers Council, Dr. Solomon Daniel Etuk who spoke at the event stressed the importance of the project. Mr. Tony Ndah, a well-known quantity surveyor from Akwa Ibom State, who runs a big practice in Ikoyi, said an investment in Lagos property market is a sure guarantee for stable income over a long period of time. The Chief Executive of Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation, Mr. Imoabasi Jacob said the investment is part of a long-term strategy to prepare the state for a life without crude oil. Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State who was the special guest of honour commended Gov. Umo Eno for the investment and confirmed that Lagos offers very high rate of return for property investments. He spoke of his admiration for Akwa Ibom people for their industry, honesty and integrity and assured that his administration will do all it can to ensure the success of the project.

Back in Akwa Ibom, there has been a lively debate among the people on the desirability of the investment, with some arguing that the government should have built another hotel in the state, preferably in Eket, to position Akwa Ibom as a key tourism destination. But the Umo Eno administration seems too focused on real estate development to be persuaded by such an argument. The government is currently developing six different housing estates in the state, in addition to plans to convert a dilapidated government facility in Abuja to a hotel.

Among the dignitaries at the event were Mr. Udom Emmanuel, former governor of Akwa Ibom; Chief Don Etiebet, former Petroleum Minister; Obong Umana Umana, former Niger Delta Affairs Minister; Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, deputy governor; Senator Aloysius Etok; Senator Ita Enang; Aniekan Umanah, former House of Representative member; Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien and Senator Efiong Bob. The two serving senators, Ekong Sampson and Aniekan Bassey were also present. From the construction industry came Engr. Bassey Ekanem, Chief Executive of Base Engineering and Mr. Tony Ndah, chief executive of Cost Link Associates.

THE 16th BRICS summit was the first since the group transmuted from BRIC to BRIC+ following its expansion at the 15th Summit held in South Africa in August 2023. The Summit which was held from October 22 to 24,  2024, in the Tatarstan city of Kazan, Russia was themed: “Strengthening Multilateralism for Fair Global Development and Security”. The Summit formally welcomed into their fold five new members – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, UAE.  

During the Summit, leaders and representatives from over 20 countries came together in what must have been an embarrassment to the West which has sought to turn Russia into a pariah state following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Apart from the optics that the Russo-Ukraine war has not affected normal life in Russia, the Summit also passed a coded message that Russia still has powerful friends, especially in what is often called the Global South, despite the West’s attempts to isolate it over the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In line with its avowed objective of creating an alternative to the current Western dominated global and financial governance systems, the BRICS Kazan Declaration at the end of the Summit endorsed the reform of the United Nations Security Council and the full participation of the State of Palestine in the United Nations – contingent upon an agreement on the two-state solution.

The Declaration also agreed to explore the feasibility of creating an autonomous cross-border settlement and depository system, (away from the current Western-driven SWIFT system) as well as the possible utilisation of national currencies, payment tools, and platforms. There were also proposals for the invigoration of the group’s New Development Bank, NDB, which was established in 2014, with the aim of providing member countries with greater financial autonomy and resilience against external shocks.

For many Nigerians, the exciting news from the Summit was the announcement that Nigeria, along with 12 others –  were named partner countries to the BRICS+.  The other 12 were: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

But what does it really mean to be a partner country to BRICS+?  While it is not clear what it means to be designated as a “partner country”, especially as the group does not have criteria to be met to qualify countries for membership –  as some supranational entities like the European Union do –   we can surmise that they are countries that have either applied to become members or are being considered for membership.  In the last expansion at the 15th Summit, geopolitical and strategic considerations seemed to be a key determinant of which countries were invited. For instance, the admission of Ethiopia, one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the permanent seat of the African Union, was symbolic.

It was the same for Egypt, which connects Africa to the Arab world. Saudi Arabia joining BRICS means that the world’s largest crude oil exporter now finds itself in the same economic bloc as the world’s biggest oil importer, China. Also, both Russia and Saudi Arabia are members of OPEC+, a group of major oil producers. Similarly, the invitation to Iran, home to around a quarter of the Middle East’s oil reserves and which shares the burden of Western sanction with Russia, seems, again, to be carefully thought through, not just in terms of oil politics but also for its influence in the Middle East. It is not yet clear the strategic thinking behind the invitation of the 13 countries as partners besides the idea that the group wants to increase in size to be an effective counter weight to other groupings like the G20, which in September 2023, admitted the African Union as its 21st member.

In international politics, being located in a number of powerful supranational organisations, if well leveraged, is indicative of power. But can Nigeria leverage on this to regain the initiative it has since lost to countries like South Africa and Egypt? 

Nigeria has had a number of promises that were aborted. A clear example was in late 2013, when Jim O’Neil, the same Goldman Sachs analyst who created the BRIC acronym, popularised another one: MINT. MINT was a neologism referring to the economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. What was instructive about the four countries listed in the MINT club was that they were all members of the Next Eleven (also known as the N-11). The N-11 were eleven countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey, South Korea, and Vietnam – identified by the same Jim O’Neill in a research paper on December 12, 2005, as having the high potential of becoming, along with BRICS, the world’s largest economies in the 21st century. MINT simply meant that Nigeria was given South Korea’s spot in MIKT. To add to the wave of Nigeria-optimism at that time, Filipino billionaire, Enrique Razon, was quoted as declaring during the closing activities at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2014, that Nigeria was the best place to invest in that year. 

Essentially from 2005 (the Obasanjo years) until Buhari took over in 2015, the international optimism that Nigeria would be a breakout economy persisted. But in just eight years of the Buhari government, the optimism about Nigeria evaporated and the country became infamous for being pronounced the poverty capital of the World. Under the Tinubu government, the situation has grown worse. So including Nigeria as a partner country, for whatever it is worth, is another opportunity for the country to redeem itself.

To be able to leverage on this new designation, Nigeria needs to know clearly what it wants from the grouping. The sense of entitlement it exudes by calling itself the ultimate investment destination in Africa and literally cajoling potential investors to jump in or miss the train, is crude hubris. The fact that the President of the country globe trots in the name of seeking foreign investment contradicts that arrogant postulation because capital, by its nature, smells opportunity for accumulation and reproduction from a long distance, and therefore does not need to be cajoled or persuaded to come to invest.

Similarly, your population is no indication of your power or even the size of your market, especially a population where the overwhelming majority of the citizens suffer from multidimensional poverty. In the same vein, grandstanding about our oil lose sight of the fact that virtually every other African country is now an oil producer. Nigerians are hugely talented, resourceful and resilient. The world knows that, and what is needed are right policies that will help to unlock the creative energies of our people.  It is wrong when our leaders go outside the shores of the country, with a begging bowl on one hand, and hubris of being the next investment destination on the other.

So what should be Nigeria’s strategy as it seeks to become a full member of both BRICS+ and G21? We can take a cue from India. For instance, while India and China are powerful members of BRICS+, India is at the same time a member of the Quad, a strategic partnership with the United States, Japan, and Australia, whose primary, though unstated purpose, is to prevent Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific.

India and China, each with 1.4 billion inhabitants, are engaged in fierce geopolitical rivalry in Asia—and, increasingly, globally, over which of the two is better positioned to serve as a natural leader of the Global South. They use the often overlapping organisations they are members of to promote their own agenda. But they command respect in whichever organisation they belong to primarily because of what they have been able to accomplish technologically.  

Those who created the T-Pain label for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must be grinning from ear-to-ear for the phenomenal success they have recorded! Not that they said anything new or that Nigerians were not familiar with the phenomenon they graphically painted but because the Tinubu government allowed it to get under its skin. When you respond to certain attacks, you give it traction. There are occasions when silence is golden!

Besides, grandma taught me that if you begin to remove the twigs and leaves on your head and clothes before you finally exit a bush, you have one more clean-up to do when eventually you hit the road. Failure is an orphan but success has many fathers. President Tinubu's administration is at the moment marooned at the dreary juncture of failure. Except the situation improves, and quickly too, nothing he says will interest anyone. Is there pain in the land? Of course, there is!

Have things been this bad before? Of course, not! Has anyone seen the light at the end of the tunnel that Tinubu and his men console and comfort us with? Not really! So, until he succeeds, no one will believe him. What he needs to do right now is put his head down and work his arse out to achieve the success he envisions. Otherwise...! He has to learn from the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who said he stoically took all insults and wore them like badges of honour. Apostle Paul on his own said he counted all adversity as gain. May Tinubu not fail!

There was a point in my life when I was at that juncture. I left secondary school with one of the four best results in my class; for lack of mentoring, I rejected a scholarship offer to study in the then Soviet Union by my school principal, the inimitable Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin, who later became governor of old Ondo State and NADECO leader. From my wide reading even as a secondary school student, I had become aware of the Black Rights Movement in the United States of America and of notable Black American activists and the school that produced many of them - Howard University (founded on 2 March, 1867); so, it was Howard or nothing! Dad was financially capable but wouldn't allow his only son leave (two had died in quick succession) but he wouldn't say so clearly. He kept posting me, as they say, using unfavourable financial climate as a smokescreen.

Up to a point I believed him because he had recently lost a hefty sum to robbery that everyone suspected was an insider's job. But as time wore out, I made my own plans. I joined up with a friend who owned a pools betting house and, for years, I "permed two from four", "permed three from five", "napped three, four or five" and even played "treble chance" hoping after hope to hit the jackpot and win enough money to send myself to Howard University, USA. I pored over pools forecast books - Willy Akinlude, Ehi Obiyan and many others! I had a notebook that contained up to a hundred "formulas" that were meant to produce "banker draws". As if by providence or bad luck, formulas that worked before I knew them failed once I knew the secret!

So did I waste years - and the pocket money Mama gave to sustain me. Everything I had went into pools staking such that I literally became destitute. At a point, I had only a pair of trousers and two shirts. My only sandals were torn all over and I had to drag them on the floor when I walked. When Yakubu Gowon wasted Nigeria's oil money on the extravaganza called Udoji award in 1974 and my mates reaped thrice the usual salary for auxiliary teachers, I spent day and night at Sammy Pools House opposite Oja Ojomo (Ojomo's market) in Owo. One day my uncle advised my Mom to bundle me into a vehicle and deposit me at Aro (mental hospital, Abeokuta), reckoning that I must have run mad. My mother wept and wept!

Many thanks to my elder sister who pressured me to change location from Owo, first to Ede (to reside with her and her husband) and later to Osogbo after my in-law had helped me secure a teaching job at Osogbo Grammar school as an auxiliary teacher. From there, I proceeded to llesa Grammar School for my Higher School Certificate. It was while there that I wrote the first JAMB and got admitted to the then University of Ife in 1978. When I went home to relay the good news with my letter of admission and ID card as incontrovertible evidence, my uncle was the first to eat the humble pie. He called me and said: "Ojo, I did not know you knew what you were doing!"

To God be the glory! I am also grateful to my elder sister and her husband. Listen to wise counsel! If I hadn't listened, my story would have been different today - possibly for the worse. Few people believe in you when you are yet to arrive at the port of success. Trying to convince anyone with mere words is like pouring water on a rock. Try as they may, there are very few people Tinubu and his spokespersons will convince today that he is not as they have labeled him because, truth be told, there is pain in the land like never before. Only those who spend government or company money may not know this for a fact.

A wise counsel which Tinubu needs is that himself, his family members, close aides and top government functionaries must feel the pain of the people - not just in words but also in action for, as they say, action speaks louder than words. Those of them in government cannot live large while preaching to hapless citizenry to "f'okan ba'le". They will not!

It irks me these days when people who know the truth pretend otherwise just to score cheap political points. All they seem interested in is calling a dog a bad name to hang it - the dog may not be totally blameless, though! I also feel offended when the people who are the grandmasters of the turmoil we go through have the temerity to come to the open to justify their ruinous rule and even try to shift blame! Such audacity!

Did you hear the World Bank say all the gains of 18 years spanning three presidents (Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan) were wiped off by Muhammadu Buhari's eight-year ruinous rule? That was where the rains began to beat us heavily. The eight years of Buhari were years of the locusts. You expect such a person, if he will not be brought to book, to at least leave us alone; not that he, together with his second-in-command, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, will start to run their mouths in public. That is tantamount to rubbing salt on our injury!

But if anyone thinks this country can survive where there is no consequence for bad behaviour, such a person lives in a fool’s paradise.
Must we always leap before we look?
I hope the concern expressed by top military chiefs at a recent security summit will be treated as patriotism and not as high treason or insubordination. This is how a news medium reported it:
"Service chiefs have expressed concern over security challenges linked to the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway at a recent dialogue. A new dimension was added to the controversy trailing the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway... when service chiefs raised concern that Nigeria might be open to new security challenges when the road is completed and (becomes) operational".

What were the concerns raised? One: "That there is no consideration for security architecture to protect this 700-kilometre stretch of road. But what we see is that when this project goes live, there will be attendant security challenges that would not have been catered for throughout the whole project. I think that as a nation we need to address this. When projects that have significant bearing on national security are being conceptualized, it is important to bring security agencies on board from the beginning... This road (coastal highway)... will also provide access to miscreants and other people that we do not intend to have access into our country" Two: That "both in its conceptualization and ongoing implementation, the military were not involved"! They did not say, 'don't have the road'; they only said, 'make it safe' - which makes sense!

Excluding military experts must have been an oversight. So, quickly involve them. As they say, better late than never! Let the "security experts bring in their own input so that we will have that road and it wil be secure for business". I agree! Why spend so much money on a road only to end up creating additional security problems for ourselves? Our plate is more than full already!

In Nigeria, where power often speaks louder than the law, the phrase “Do you know who I am?” has become an all-too-familiar refrain. And this time, it has caught the public eye in an unsettling way. Hon. Alex Ikwechegh, a member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives representing Aba North and Aba South, is now at the center of controversy, facing allegations that underscore the potential pitfalls of unchecked political privilege.

The incident occurred on October 27, 2024, at Ikwechegh’s residence in the upscale Maitama district of Abuja. According to Stephen Abuwatseya, a Bolt driver who had arrived to deliver a package, what should have been a straightforward transaction rapidly escalated into a violent encounter. Abuwatseya claims that Ikwechegh not only physically assaulted him but also threatened him with disturbing words: he could “make the driver disappear” without any repercussions. This alleged abuse of power has stirred significant public outcry, with Nigerians turning to social media to demand accountability.

As the news of this incident spread across social platforms, it raised larger questions about the conduct of elected officials and the dangerous potential for abuse when power is unchecked. The phrase “Do you know who I am?” often serves as a weapon wielded by those who believe themselves untouchable, a way to remind others of their influence and control. But when such rhetoric allegedly escalates to threats of violence, it becomes not just a matter of arrogance, but a possible breach of both law and public trust.

The public reaction has been swift and intense. Nigerians are demanding that the House of Representatives take these allegations seriously and set an example. Social media posts highlight a rising frustration among citizens who feel they are increasingly at the mercy of those meant to represent them. Many are calling for immediate investigation and stern action to show that no one is above the law, regardless of their political position.

Hon. Ikwechegh has stated that he intends to provide a comprehensive response to these accusations, promising to clarify his actions and defend himself. He is expected to make his statement on Tuesday, a moment many see as critical in either mending or further damaging his reputation. The outcome of his response and any subsequent actions taken by the House of Representatives will be pivotal in either quelling public outrage or adding fuel to the fire.

Acknowledging the gravity of the situation, the House of Representatives has emphasized its commitment to upholding ethical standards. They have released a statement expressing their concern and are reportedly monitoring the case closely to ensure that the allegations are treated with due diligence. This is a critical step, as their response will not only impact Ikwechegh’s political career but also set a precedent for how similar cases are handled moving forward.

For a public deeply frustrated by the seeming immunity of its leaders, this incident has become a rallying point. Many Nigerians are calling for reforms that would hold lawmakers to higher standards, ensuring they carry out their duties with integrity. While elected officials should naturally benefit from the respect that comes with their office, this respect must not translate into carte blanche to disregard the rule of law or the rights of citizens.

Without resort to taking side, the allegations against Hon. Ikwechegh underscore the importance of transparency and accountability in government. Citizens want assurances that power will not shield leaders from consequences.

It is against the backdrop of the foregoing that Ikwechegh’s upcoming statement will be a decisive moment, potentially shaping the public’s view of his character and commitment to ethical standards.

In fact, the incident emphasizes the need for rigorous standards of conduct for lawmakers, reminding them that their duty is to serve, not intimidate, the public.

As we wait to hear Ikwechegh’s side of the story, the broader implications for Nigerian governance hang in the balance. Will this incident serve as a wake-up call, reminding elected officials that they are accountable to the people? Or will it reinforce the perception that in Nigeria, power too often means impunity?

In a society that values equality and justice, no individual should ever feel entitled to operate above the law. Yet in Nigeria, the culture of impunity among certain political elites has long threatened the principle that every citizen is bound by the same set of rules. “Do you know who I am?” is a common refrain that, more often than not, reveals a deeper disregard for public accountability and a desire to evade consequences based on status. Such attitudes undermine the nation’s legal framework, setting dangerous precedents and fueling mistrust between the public and those in power.

Political leaders, by virtue of their roles, represent the people’s interests and ideals. As such, they are held to a higher standard of conduct both domestically and on the global stage. Their actions are mirrors for the nation’s character and values, shaping how Nigeria is perceived around the world. Leaders who treat laws as optional and act disrespectfully in public project an image of a country where rules are merely suggestions, damaging the faith that citizens place in their government and institutions.

If Nigeria is to progress toward a future of true democratic accountability, every leader must lead by example. By honoring the laws they enact and serving with integrity, political figures can rebuild the public’s faith in governance. Ultimately, it is in the nation’s best interest for everyone, from the highest-ranking official to the ordinary citizen, to acknowledge that their position or influence grants no exemption from the law. Given the foregoing, when next anyone ask you, “Do you know who I am?”,  tell him, “Yes, You Are A Nigerian”.

The meddlesome World Bank says that “By August 2024, the Ethiopian birr, the Nigerian naira, and Sundanese pound were among the worst (performing currencies) in the (African) region,” and added that “The naira continued losing value, with a year-to-date depreciation of about 43 per cent as of end-August.”

The acknowledgement by banker Chika Mbonu that the naira got weaker than the currency of many African countries has a counterpoise in the World Bank’s converse report that the Kenyan shilling got stronger by more than 21 per cent during the same period.

Bloomberg ranks the naira among the world’s 10 weakest currencies, three of which –Zambian kwacha, Angolan kwanza, and Nigeria’s naira– are from Africa. Their weakness is attributed to unstable commodity prices, inflationary pressures, and lack of dollar liquidity, a point of view that enables Euro-American metropolitan economies to prey on Third World economies.

But the weak naira needn’t be a disadvantage if President Bola Tinubu’s economic managers can flip things around, and take advantage of economies of large-scale production by getting the real sector, especially, to produce, for export, goods for which Nigeria has a comparative advantage. Investment banker, Dr. Nnaemeka Obiaraeri, says Nigeria has no currency problem but lacks productivity.

After the Naira gains strength from the accumulated foreign reserve therefrom, it should be further devalued– to maintain the weak regime that should earn even more convertible currency to finance the importation, and acquisition of more infrastructural and industrial production capacity that will eventually strengthen the naira.

But strengthening the naira will not be the only intent of this strategy, but is to reverse the current import-oriented trend of the Nigerian economy and tap the ready market for Nigeria’s manufactures in richer economies.

Nigeria’s fiscal, monetary, and macroeconomic policymakers should consider this unorthodox opportunity to strengthen Nigeria’s economy which is suffering from inappropriate economic policies that are imposed by Breton Woods institutions on an unwary political class.

Even non-economists know that consumers from other countries prefer to buy cheaper goods from economies whose currencies are relatively weaker than their own. America and China, countries with the world’s two biggest economies, are masters of this highly profitable game.

One obvious “low-hanging-fruit” place to start to take advantage of the tanking Naira is to encourage the export of petroleum products from the refineries of Dangote, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, and others, to countries with stronger currencies than the naira.

Though subsidy has been removed, the depreciation of the naira still makes smuggling of Nigeria’s petrol and other petroleum products relatively profitable in West and Central African countries. Nigeria should take advantage of this ready market and redeem the N132 trillion revenue that the World Bank claims Nigeria lost to the subsidy.

Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, who was with Governor Yemi Cardoso of Central Bank of Nigeria, at the Group of 20 Economies meeting hosted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC., gave a rather simplistic submission that all Nigeria needs to do to strengthen its currency is to increase petroleum production.

That is true, but it’s not good enough, for an economy with the capacity to add value to primary commodities. It only feeds the concerns of foreign investors whose interest is how to easily remit their earnings back home. That is why Muhamad Sani Abdullahi, CBN’s Deputy Governor for Economic Policies, cockily disclosed that “Nigeria now has $40.2 billion external reserve.”

Abdullahi boasts that ramping up the foreign reserves is “a significant move, up from a year ago when (Nigeria had) less than $34 billion… to cover at least 14.3 months of import for goods and services, and 15 months for goods only,” neglects the productive capacity of Nigeria’s economy.

Abdullahi should have addressed Arise News TV Rotus Odirri’s inquiry about

plans by the government, if any, to return Nigeria Incorporated to work again. The real sector is key to strengthening the currency of any country.

Invisible Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), should expand the production of Liquified Petroleum Gas, used for cooking, instead of halting the export. His counterpart in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, plans to raise daily petroleum production by one million for export.

Nigeria’s Federal and state governments can jointly nudge the private sector to invest in the country’s agriculture and agro-allied sector to cultivate more agricultural produce and as well as turn the commodities into industrial manufactures for export.

If, for instance, Southern Nigerians can turn agricultural crops into industrial raw materials for the pharmaceutical and textile industries, and Northern Nigerians can revive the hides & skins trade, for export, Nigeria can turn the pitiable foreign exchange table around.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has already given an undertaken that if he is re-elected in the November 2024 off-season gubernatorial election, he will promote agriculture and food security. He may just be able to motivate his constituents to supply cheaper food crops to Americans who are currently concerned about the high cost of foodstuffs.

To attract foreign students and their convertible currency to the Nigerian economy, as they used to do in the 1960s and 1970s, the Federal and state governments should invest in the quantum improvement of tertiary educational institutions.

An ancillary to that is to also improve the medical infrastructure to reverse the medical tourism that Nigerians make to other countries and attract patients from countries that hitherto provide medical treatment for Nigeria’s money-miss-road elite.

The revelation by Sule Abdulaziz, Chief Executive Officer of Transmission Company that “(Nigeria supplies) Togo, we supply Benin (Republic) and Niger (Republic)… they get power from Nigeria on a 24-hour basis and they are paying,” is enough motivation for Nigeria to expand the capacity of its electricity sector to be able to further expand supply to the western and central African markets.

The Federal, state, and local governments can agree to divert funds from Excess Crude Account, or from savings made from the removal of petrol subsidy, to invest in electricity, probably the most foundational infrastructure for the success of Nigeria’s industrialisation strategy.

(By the way, the argument by Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, that increased funding from charging premium tariffs for Band A market of the electricity sector will lead to facility upgrades and expansion doesn’t seem to be adding up).

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, incoming Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, should join hands with Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and Edun, and begin to think about how to urgently create conducive conditions to revive the comatose real sector of the Nigerian economy.

If all this works, all CBN Governor Cardoso needs to do is to keep looking for creative ways to devalue the naira further, which will be getting stronger, to make Nigeria’s farm produce and industrial manufactures affordable for consumers in foreign countries with stronger currencies.

But also, Finance Minister Edun and the National Salaries and Wages Commission must regularly review salaries and wages to reflect the cost of living that would rise after every devaluation of the Naira. After all, there is a law that mandates regular salary adjustments.

If well executed, this strategy should feed Edun’s ambition to optimize foreign remittances to Nigeria, conveniently pay for Nigeria’s imports, and provide jobs for Nigeria’s army of unemployed youths.

X@lekansote1, lekansote.com

Last week’s cabinet reshuffle by President Bola Tinubu has generated a lot of mixed reactions. While many saw it as a masterstroke, others are either indifferent or knock the move as being underwhelming. I have had the privilege of discussing the shuffle on about 20 media platforms 13 of which were on the day after the announcement. All the major broadcast media, print, and television stations wanted to know my position on the president’s decision, so I graciously obliged.

This piece chronicles my thoughts on the president’s decision to overhaul his cabinet. The takeoff point is the announcement of the decision which was on the evening of Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser, Information and Strategy for the President announced on his X-handle that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the immediate implementation of eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency pursuant to his commitment to deliver on his promises to Nigerians. The eight actions include The renaming of the Ministry of Nigeria Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development to oversee the activities of all the Regional Development Commissions.

Others are the immediate winding up of the Ministry of Sports Development and the transfer of its functions to the National Sports Commission to develop a vibrant sports economy; The merger of the Federal Ministry of Tourism and the Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture to become Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy; The re-assignment of ten ministers to new ministerial portfolios; The discharge of five Ministers; The nomination of seven new ministers for onward transmission to Senate for confirmation; The appointment of Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission; and the appointment of Sunday Dare as Special Adviser to the President on Public Communication and Orientation working from the Ministry of Information and National Orientation.

He thereafter went on to name sacked ministers, the newly appointed ones, and the redeployed ones. It needs to be understood that we have an executive president who has the constitutional backing to appoint, suspend, dismiss, and reshuffle his aides among whom are ministers, heads of agencies and parastatals, special advisers, and special assistants. They are all lieutenants of the president just the same way as commissioners, heads of agencies, advisers, and assistants to the governor of a state are. It is utterly within the prerogative of the president or Governor to carry out a shake-up.

Tinubu bided goodbye to a total of six ministers namely: Uju-Ken Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs; Lola Ade-John, Minister of Tourism; Prof. Tahir Mamman SAN, Minister of Education; Abdullahi Gwarzo, Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development and Dr. Jamila Bio-Ibrahim, Minister of Youth Development. The sixth minister was Dr. Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs who had earlier been suspended on abuse of office allegation since January this year. For me, there are no surprises here.

The only disappointment is that many more should have been on the list as more than half of the president’s ministers were appointed based on political patronage and not on merit. Many of them have either no clue about what they were appointed to do or have no capacity to deliver. Truth be told, however; the political system wasn’t fair to some of them especially those who were appointed into newly created ministries last year. These are the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Ministry of Steel Development, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Youths, and Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy. This is because when they were appointed in August 2023, they had no funding, sufficient office space, and personnel to work with until early this year when the 2024 Budget was signed into law.

Questions have been asked on why the former governors who are in Tinubu’s cabinet were kept at their duty posts. They were not sacked nor reshuffled despite the glaring underperformance of some of them. They have become sacred cows and untouchables due to calculations and permutations about the president’s re-election bid in 2027. Sincerely speaking with the exemption of the Minister of Works and Minister of FCT, other former governors in the president’s cabinet are either overwhelmed or incompetent. Apart from the former governors, citizens have issued queries to the president about why he kept the Ministers of Power, Environment, Finance, Special Duties, and Water Resources despite their obvious non-performance or hurtful policies. Obviously, those who have strong political godfathers or are deemed to be political assets were left off the hook.

Seven new ministers were welcomed on board the president’s cabinet and it is heartwarming that President Tinubu harkened to the advocacy that ministerial nominations should be accompanied by the portfolio in which the nominee will serve. This should be standard practice at all levels of governance. This will enable the Senate or State Houses of Assembly as the case may be, to carry out proper screening of the nominees. The appointment of Bianca Odumegu-Ojukwu the widow of Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, the late Biafra leader, as Minister of State Foreign Affairs has been lauded by the All Progressives Grand Alliance where she is a chieftain. The president may have done this to curry favour from the opposition political parties and give his cabinet a semblance of a “Government of National Unity”. Remember, Nyesome Wike is from the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party. Likewise, Adebayo Adelabu, the incumbent Minister of Power was appointed when he was a member of the Accord Party in Oyo State before he defected back to the All Progressives Congress after he assumed office.

People are asking what objective criteria were used to demote Senator John Enoh from the Ministry of Sports to Minister of State (Industry) in the Ministry of Trade and Investment and Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite from Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment to Minister of State Finance. If you do not know, the Minister and Minister of State are not of equal status. In fact, the learned silk and current Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamu has said it is unconstitutional and should be scrapped. He said this in his valedictory speech on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, as Minister of State for Labour in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.  Another observation is the appointment of the Minister of State for Water Resources and Sanitation and the Minister of State for Steel Development. Do these ministries deserve to have two ministers at the helm of affairs? Meanwhile, the Ministry of Solid Minerals from which the Ministry of Steel was carved out still has only Dele Alake as the Minister. I think it is inappropriate to appoint a medical doctor, Morufu Alausa as Minister of Education. He should have been left in the Ministry of Health where he was Minister of State.

If President Tinubu found it expedient to scrap the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Tourism, why did he not merge the Ministry of Police Affairs with the Ministry of Interior or Defence? Better still why didn’t he ask the Police Service Commission to take over the function of the Ministry? I am unhappy that the president did not bridge the gender gap in this shuffle. He sacked four female ministers and appointed two. He failed to live up to his campaign promise to give Nigerian women 35 per cent in appointive positions. He also did not improve on youth inclusion and excluded persons with disabilities.

I however commend the president for restructuring his cabinet ahead of the submission of the 2025 budget to the National Assembly. If this had been done after the laying of the budget for the lawmakers’ consideration, it would have caused a lot of dislocations. On the whole, what’s most important to Nigerians on this cabinet reshuffle is the reduction of the rising cost of governance which the president has again patently ignored by increasing the number of ministers and ministries. Ultimately, Nigerians expect that there will be priority for the welfare and security of citizens as mandated by section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered.

X: @jideojong

The Nigeria Football Federation, on Tuesday, confirmed the dates and venues for the country’s senior men’s national team final two Group D matches for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification series against Rwanda and Benin, The PUNCH reports.

According to NFF, the Confederation of African Football has scheduled November 14 and 18 as the days for the two games.

The Super Eagles will travel to Abidjan for their Matchday 5 fixture against the Benin Republic, scheduled for Thursday, November 14, at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny.

This match will start at 8 pm Nigerian time (7 PM Ivorian time) and will be officiated by Senegalese officials, with Issa Sy named as the centre referee. He will be joined by Djibril Camara and Nouha Bangoura as assistant referees, while El Hadji Amadou Sy will serve as the fourth official. Ivorian Rene Williams Sere will be the commissioner while Angolan Inacio Manuel Candido will be the referee assessor.

The three-time Africa Champions will play their final game of the qualifier at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Monday, November 18.

The game, set to kick off at 5 PM Nigerian time, will be officiated by Moroccan referee Samir Guezzaz, who will be supported by assistants Zakaria Brinsi and Abdessamad Abertoune.

Kech Chaf Mustapha will serve as the fourth official, while Ghana’s Prosper Harrison Addo will take the role of match commissioner, and Somalia’s Ali Mohamed Ahmed will act as the referee assessor.

The Eagles currently top their Group D with 10 points from four games, four points ahead of second-placed Benin Republic, while Rwanda has five points. Bottom-placed Libya has only one point and is out of the running for qualification.

A win or draw against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan will secure the Super Eagles a ticket to the finals in Morocco, scheduled for December 2025/January 2026 with a game to spare.

The Eagles boycotted their last qualifier against Libya after suffering poor treatment where they had their flight diverted to another city and also held hostage at the Al-Abraq airport on the outskirts of Benghazi for almost 20 hours without food, water and internet facilities.

[Punch]

One of the dominant themes in public discourse that has continued to attract both academic and media scrutiny in Nigeria is the leadership question. A lot has been written and many words expressed to describe the leadership situation in our country. It is the view of many that our major problem is “leadership”. Indeed, the legendary literary giant, Chinua Achebe once famously remarked in his book, The Trouble with Nigeria that “the trouble with Nigeria is simply a failure of leadership…”

It is to be noted though, that this “problem” of not having “good leaders” has been a generational accusation. In the colonial Nigeria, patriotic nationals of Nigeria, mostly young people but highly intelligent and courageous, worked tirelessly to confront the colonial leadership and the oppressive symbolism that it represented.

By the time their collective aspiration materialized and the lever of power fell in their hands, it was not long before they, themselves became victims of accusation of incompetence and corruption. The younger elements of their time were so impatiently pissed off with them, that, they staged a bloody coup to forcefully remove them from power.  And of course, they too became a “worse version” of what they complained agains.

The lesson to be noted in this, is that our search for good leaders and the proclivity for each generation to accuse the ruling class of their time of being incompetent, corrupt and visionless is as old as this country.

From all of these, it is sometimes difficult to really understand the nature of our leadership challenge, as it is clear that the dynamics of power struggle and oppositional politics can sometimes eclipse genuine leadership success.

Similarly, since leadership assessment in our clime is subjective and determined by sociopolitical or ethno-religious affiliations, the search for the ideal leadership has been made harder, if not illusory. Indeed, the leadership concept itself and its suppositions is as problematic as its ideation.

Who is a Leader?

One frightening thing about the conceptualization of leadership among Nigerians, especially from the standpoint of media narratives, is that the leadership of the country is often constructed as the people holding public offices. Our focus has always been to highlight the activities of public office holders as the ultimate and final generational leadership.

A nation’s leadership starts from the household to the larger society. Every father is a leader, every mother is a leader and every child is a leader. From being a class captain to becoming the president of a nation, the core values and skills of leadership are the same: responsibility, problem-solving, vision, fairness, firmness, prudence, transparency, temperance, resourcefulness, patience, responsiveness, creativity, accountability, fear of God among others.

These are the enduring values that a leader must possess. One doesn’t need to hold political office to have these values and skills, nor should they get to public office before possessing them.

A Clamour for Leadership Education

Therefore, I hold the view that leadership must be part of the basic everyday skills that every citizen should possess. Leadership training must be as important as basic education for literacy and numeracy. As a nation, we should have embedded curriculum that teaches leadership skills and principles, both as practical skills and indoctrinated values. For me, I believe  if you want to change a people, teach them what you want them to change to.

There are those who become leaders by default or by circumstances of privileged pedigree and not because of personal merits.  Yet, the best of leaders are those who have been trained, tested and exposed to the nitty-gritty of leadership in addition to their innate ability.
 Furthermore, the average person does not have the wherewithal to evaluate leadership competence because there is no widespread knowledge about leadership as a skill.

Leadership is such a serious thing that being certified should be one of the requirements to hold certain strategic positions in the society. Evidence abounds that technical skill on jobs are not enough for people to lead competently; there is the need for real and special training in the art and science of leadership for people to succeed today.

I therefore subscribe to the argument that people should, of necessity, go through intentional leadership training before they can lead at some certain levels in the society. We all need to be well exposed to the call of leadership and how to manage a mass audience of people with differing characteristics, needs and tendencies.

As a result, we currently run a compulsory subject called Ekiti Values Education (EVE) with a considerable module that focuses on leadership development. The subject aims to teach young Ekiti children comprehensive aspects of leadership, responsibility of a leader and practical leadership exposure. It aims to raise their self-awareness about their individual roles as a member of the future leadership and to prepare them to face the challenge of nation building.

Even as we grapple with the challenges of this generation, we owe the future generation, in addition to providing pedagogical framework, the responsibility of personal example. This is because it is in the nature of young people to emulate their leaders.

So, where we have found ourselves as leaders, be it as traditional rulers, community leaders, religion leaders, business leaders, union leaders, professional leaders, academic leaders, judicial, legislative or executive leaders, we have a duty to be the paragon of example for the next generation.

Conclusion

I want to thank the authorities of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria for providing this platform through which topical issues of relevance to national development are discussed. I am more than confident in our Guest Speaker to do justice to the topic at hand.
Let me conclude this remark with a quotation from the Maxwell Leadership Bible on our Lord Jesus Christ leadership model:
“The best leadership simply expresses who we are. Jesus led from who He was: God incarnate, the perfect expression of the Father. As He pursued His divine mission, He influenced others. Similarly, as we pursue who God called us to be, our leadership will be most natural and effective”.

* His Excellency  Biodun Oyebanji is the Governor Ekiti State