Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has appointed the Emir of Fufore, Muhammadu Ribadu, as the Amirul-Hajj and leader of the government delegation for the 2025 Hajj trip to Saudi Arabia.

A press statement to this effect said the appointment is based on Ribadu’s hard work, experience, and commitment to religious matters.

The statement, signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Fintiri, Mr Humwashi Wonosikou, named five other members of the delegation.

The members include Muhammad Buba Jidjiwa, Ahmed Shehu, Alhaji Ibrahim Abba, and Alhaji Abubakar Murtala

The secretary of the delegation is Alhaji Mohammed Dabo.

“Governor Fintiri charged the committee to be dedicated to their assignment, ensuring a hitch-free 2025 Hajj operation,” Mr Wonosikou stated.

[DailyPost]

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended several types of visas for citizens of Nigeria and 13 other countries, as part of measures to curb unauthorized pilgrimages ahead of the annual Hajj.

According to Saudi authorities, the suspension aims to prevent unregistered individuals from attempting the pilgrimage without official permits, which poses safety and logistical challenges.

While Umrah visa holders will still be allowed entry until April 13, the broader visa suspension is expected to remain in place until mid-June, when Hajj concludes.

Under Saudi Arabia’s quota system, each country is allocated a limited number of Hajj permits, typically distributed via a lottery. 

However, due to the high cost of official packages, many resort to unauthorized travel arrangements.

Such unregistered pilgrims often lack access to essential amenities such as air-conditioned tents, healthcare services, and emergency medical care—making the physically demanding journey even riskier.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry stated that the visa restrictions are intended to streamline travel procedures and enhance safety during the Hajj.

It also warned that individuals found residing illegally in the Kingdom could face a five-year entry ban.

During the 2024 Hajj season, at least 1,301 pilgrims died – most from heat-related causes. The majority of the deceased did not hold official Hajj permits.

Here’s the list of the 14 countries affected by Saudi Arabia’s temporary visa suspension ahead of the 2025 Hajj:

1. Nigeria

2. India

3. Pakistan

4. Bangladesh

5. Egypt

6. Indonesia

7. Iraq

8. Jordan

9. Algeria

10. Sudan

11. Ethiopia

12. Tunisia

13. Yemen

14. Morocco

[TheNation]

President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, said the country is undergoing a “popular, progressive revolution” and not operating under a democratic system.

He added that it is difficult to pinpoint a country that has developed practising democratic rule.

Traore made the disclosure during a flag-raising ceremony at the Koulouba Palace last week.

He said, “If we have to say it loud and clear here, we are not in a democracy, we are in a popular, progressive revolution. 

He criticised the notion that democracy is a prerequisite for development, saying it is “false” to believe any country has developed under a democratic system.

“It is impossible to name a country that has developed in democracy. Democracy is only the result,” Burkina24 quoted him.

He maintained that his government would continue to communicate, explain, and make people understand what revolution is.

Traore has been notable for his decisions after his emergence as the President of the West African country.

The 37-year-old President who assumed office in September 2022 through a coup de’tat that ousted interim President Paul-Henri Damiba recently rejected Saudi Arabia’s offer to build 200 mosques in his country.

He urged the Islamic country to rather invest in essential infrastructure projects that would directly benefit his people.

[Punch]

Mikel Arteta has no doubt that Arsenal can upset Real Madrid on the “biggest night” of his career in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The Gunners have never been crowned European champions and face the 15-time winners in a quarter-final at the Emirates on Tuesday with the return leg in Madrid next week.

The two sides have met only twice in European competition, in the last 16 of the 2005/06 Champions League where Arsenal came out on top.

“It is 100 percent the biggest night of my career,” Arteta, in charge at the Emirates since 2019, told reporters on Monday.

“That’s why I came into football, and that’s why I came into management and especially to this football club.”

The Spaniard, who also captained Arsenal, added: “It’s been 20 years since we had this type of game and for us, it’s a great opportunity to build our own story and this is what we’re here for.

“The excitement around the club, the people, and the magnitude of this match. This is the stage we want to be at, and where Arsenal has to be consistently. We are very proud to be there, and now be very ready tomorrow to deliver.

“At 8:00 pm (1900 GMT) tomorrow night, 11 players, 60,000 fans, I am really super-convinced that we are ready to win and to beat them. That’s the mindset that I want.”

The Champions League represents Arsenal’s best chance of a trophy this season, with the Gunners 11 points adrift of leaders Liverpool in the Premier League.

Arsenal were beaten at the same stage of the Champions League last season by Bayern Munich.

But Arteta, expected to start Bukayo Saka for the first time in more than three months on Tuesday, said it was time to write a new script.

“There is a massive gap there for so many years when nothing has happened in this football club in relation to European competitions,” he said.

“And we need to change that, and we need to change that quickly. It is just the first leg, but the intention of the team and what we want to achieve tomorrow is very clear. We’re going to go for it.”

Jurrien Timber and Ben White, who played an hour in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Everton on Saturday, are both set to be available, with Jakub Kiwior a possibility to line up alongside William Saliba in the absence of the injured Gabriel.

AFP

The largest banks in Africa excel in cross-border operations and lead the way in adopting and adapting to new technologies. Their strong financial foundations and extensive global networks ensure they remain key players in Africa’s Top 100 Banks 2024.

South Africa’s Standard Bank Group has consistently retained its position as Africa’s top bank, with the National Bank of Egypt holding firmly to second place for the fourth consecutive year. Standard Bank also leads in profitability, reporting a net profit of $2.7 billion—an 18% increase from the previous year.

Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank has made significant gains, rising three places to third position after boosting its Tier 1 capital by 12% to reach $6 billion.

In contrast, many of Africa’s other leading banks have seen declines in their core capital compared to the 2023 rankings. The sharp depreciation of Nigeria’s naira against the US dollar has had a notable impact, as banks report financials in local currency.

Nigeria’s top-ranked bank by Tier 1 capital is FBN Holdings (First Bank of Nigeria), currently in 15th place with $1.9 billion, down one position from last year. It’s followed closely by Access Bank in 16th and Zenith Bank in 17th, the latter having dropped from 12th place, where it had been the highest-ranked Nigerian bank.

The top banks in Africa include Standard Bank Group (South Africa, tier 1 capital of $12.5 billion), National Bank of Egypt (Egypt, tier 1 capital of $7.5 billion), Attijariwafa Bank (Morocco, tier 1 capital of $6 billion), Absa Bank (South Africa, tier 1 capital of $5 billion) and Banque Centrale Populaire (Morocco, tier 1 capital of $5 billion).

Others are Banque Misr (Egypt, tier 1 capital of $5 billion), FirstRand (South Africa, tier 1 capital of $5 billion), Nedbank (South Africa, tier 1 capital of $5 billion), Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (Algeria, tier 1 capital of $3 billion) and Bank of Africa – BMCE Group (Morocco, tier 1 capital of $3 billion).

[Vanguard]

 The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), on Monday, announced that it has uncovered at least 585 A/Level forged certificates in 2025 alone.

This startling revelation was made by the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, during a virtual meeting with staff of the Board held on 2nd April 2025 in preparation for the 2025 Mock-UTME and UTME.
Prof Oloyede condemned the worrisome prevalence of fake A/L certificates, stating that it was to curb the menace that the Nigeria Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (NIPED) was established.

NIPED is a platform for managing and collecting data related to post-secondary education in Nigeria.

According to the Jambulletin, the Registrar noted that more worrisome and heart-rending was the upload of 13 out of these forged JMB certificates by the Professional Registration
Centres (PRCs) which are being
investigated.
He stated that out of the 13 cases being investigated by the police, four culprits have been apprehended and are currently assisting the police and relevant authorities towards apprehending the ringleaders of these examination cartels.

He, however, added that the investigation  revealed that there were internal collaborators in the institutions aiding cases and abetting this gross misconduct.

The Registrar also disclosed that there were reports from some CBT Centres on extortion of candidates for services expected to be free, adding that this mind-boggling revelation were not too good for the system.

He, therefore, enjoined staff to be
committed to their duties and shunned those acts that could undermine the integrity of the Board.

[Daily Independent]

The presidency has refuted claims of a shake-up in the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

A tweet on Monday by Daniel Bwala, special adviser to the president on policy communication, said there is no truth to the rumours that Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, has been removed from office.

“The story trending across media platforms to the effect that Mr President @officialABAT has either sacked the INEC chairman or has replaced the INEC chairman is not true and should be discountenanced,” Bwala wrote.

“Decisions and or official acts of Mr President are communicated through official channels and not the rumour mill.”

Similarly, O’tega Ogra, senior special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on digital and new media, noted that any official announcement regarding a change in the electoral body’s leadership would be made through proper government channels.

“The Nigerian public should disregard any fake news making the rounds about the replacement of the INEC chairman,” he wrote.

“Any such announcement will come from the SGF’s office or any other appropriate official source.”

The clarification comes amid heightened social media speculation on changes at the electoral commission.

[TheCable]

Speaking ex tempore can be quite challenging especially when the issue you are raising is quite germane, and you might not be able to speak to its nuances on the spur of the moment. Thus, when Professor Antonia Simbine, the Director General of the National Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER), visited my office as the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) most recently, the cumulation of our discussion veered, not surprisingly, towards policy architecture, local research outputs and Nigeria’s productivity profile.

When I, therefore, made the argument that there is a crucial disconnect between local research outputs and Nigeria’s policy space—that “our experts’ output (are) gradually (becoming) irrelevant and consigned to publications and for individual promotion and professional development and not as input into the public policy making process”—I was not attempting to generate a soundbite that would generate notoriety.

On the contrary, I was simply alluding to a national reality that requires more analysis to unravel its critical nuances. My statement to the press only provides a partial picture of what is really wrong with the policy-research nexus in Nigeria. This contribution is simply a modest attempt to build on my statement as a measure of recognition of the significance of the subject matter.

A significant dimension of my institutional reform concerns has always been the policy-research nexus that could be energised by the town-gown. The policy-research linkage refers to the relationship between policy makers and the academia that strengthen strategic policy intelligence and the need for critical problem-solving in governance.

My policy-engaged research advocacy derived from the belief that Nigeria’s development planning and management has a lot to benefit from a reinvented town and gown symbiotic relationship. This belief has a historical basis in the immediate post-independence period when Nigeria was struggling to put together a development structure that will serve as the basis for good and democratic governance.

This instigated a community of practice that brought academics and scholars into key conversations around the academic and administrative implications of policy designs. The consequence was the development of significant action research hub that stimulate policy intelligence for the government and its policy-making capacities.

This community of practice is what brought the likes of the late Profs. Ojetunji Aboyade and Akinlawon Mabogunje, and Dr Pius Okigbo, into critical policy conversation with Simeon Adebo, Allison Ayida, Ahmed Joda, and the public administration/public service structure into policy-research-industry complementary relationship that government regularly drew upon for its development thinking.

From what we now regard as the golden age of public administration in Nigeria to the present struggle to make sense of democratic governance, a lot has gone wrong both with the policy-making architecture, Nigeria’s higher education dynamics and the significance of research and development (R&D) as the fulcrum for enabling action research and ultimately the policy-research nexus.

There is one obvious culprit that undermine the framework that enables policymakers and researchers/academics collaborate to facilitate policy-research linkage that deploys the trans-disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of public policy research to ground development planning and good governance.

This culprit is the government’s anti-intellectual posture along the line which takes researchers, think tanks and research institutes as interlopers and non-significant actors in the policy process rather than as critical partners and stakeholders. This is a charge that should not be taken lightly. It is one that has been borne out by my entire professional trajectory as a public servant with a significant interest in studying the intellectual basis of public administration in Nigeria, and its interface with academia and other intellectual resources available to the government in terms of its policymaking function and service delivery requirements.

My intellectual and professional tutelage under Aboyade and Mabogunje, for example, also further accentuated how the public service could be rabidly reactionary against every attempt at facilitating collaboration with the academia and research dynamics.

This is despite the cogent evidence of the role of the town and gown in molding the successes of the Adebo-Udoji up to the era of the Gowon’s super-permanent secretaries in public administration—a situation that got to a height during the IBB era and still subsisted under the Abacha administration with the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), headed by the late Prof. Sam Aluko. Unfortunately, the commencement of Nigeria’s democratic experiment in 1999 has failed to undermine this anti-intellectual posture and ignite this policy-research collaboration.

There are several consequences deducible from this posture. The first is that the many research institutes, think tanks and tertiary institutions have no visible influence on Nigeria’s policy articulation in ways that qualitatively transform the policy intelligence of government.

A recent study carried out on Nigeria’s sixty-six research institutes paints a very dismal picture of systemic, operational and structural challenges that undermine the contributions that these institutes could make to policymaking. The same can be said for the over two hundred and fifty public and private universities in Nigeria.

This state of affair leads to the second implication of the government’s anti-intellectualism: the failure to ground the framework and protocols of their policymaking practices on economic and statistical rationalities. This implies that successive Nigeria governments plan economic and developmental processes without the benefits of statistical analyses and scenario intelligence that the action and empirical researches of the research institutes, think tanks and tertiary institutions could have provided. This was the crux of Prof. Wolfgang Stolper’s stricture regarding his development experience in Nigeria between 1962 and 1968.

In his book, Planning without Facts: Lessons in Resource Allocation from Nigeria’s Development (1966), Stolper decries the situation where the government articulated development plans within framework of a weak data and statistical culture that could make the development process an evidence-based practice.

Development therefore becomes an arbitrary process of depending on a series of short-run decisions and planning that limits the extent of scientific prediction. This paucity of statistical and data parameters is one of the most singular reasons why the trajectory of Nigeria’s development planning, from the first NDP (1962 to 1968) to the 1992-1994 rolling plan, has impacted good governance for Nigerians. 
To be continued tomorrow.

Prof. Olaopa is chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission.

The House of Representatives has issued a reminder to Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (retd.), emphasizing that he lacks the constitutional authority to make laws or draft a budget for the oil-rich state.

Naija News reports that the House’s stance follows Ibas’s announcement of plans to prepare a new budget after the declaration of a state of emergency in the state in March.

In an interview with Punch on Sunday, the Deputy Spokesman for the House, Philip Agbese, clarified that the Sole Administrator does not have the mandate to perform legislative functions under the current circumstances.

“The Sole Administrator does not have the authority to carry out the National Assembly’s function of making laws under the current circumstances.

“The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, is consulting with the leadership of the House to establish a committee to oversee the administrator’s activities and ensure that the interests of Rivers State are represented,” Agbese said.

Agbese further explained that the House of Representatives had already communicated their position on the administrator’s appointment and mandate to President Bola Tinubu.

He warned that if the Sole Administrator oversteps his constitutional boundaries, the House would take necessary actions, including the possibility of a vote of no confidence, to ensure adherence to the rule of law.

The political situation in Rivers State, stemming from a crisis between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers State House of Assembly, prompted President Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in March. This move resulted in the suspension of the governor and the state legislature for an initial period of six months.

In place of Governor Fubara, Tinubu appointed Vice Admiral Ibas as Sole Administrator. Last week, Ibas revealed his intention to formulate a new budget to manage the state’s affairs for the next six months.

While hosting a delegation of the Rivers State National Assembly caucus, Ibas reiterated his commitment to the people of the state and outlined his plan for the new budget.

He said, “Since the Supreme Court verdict on the state’s budget, we have acted swiftly and decided to put together a new budget that reflects our commitment to healthcare, education, social services, and continued infrastructural development.”

Ibas emphasized that the new budget would focus on creating job opportunities and investing in key sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, and technology.

“We understand the urgency of this initiative, and we are committed to ensuring that they are implemented without delay,” he added.

The Sole Administrator stressed that the budget would be transparent, inclusive, and expedited to improve the lives of the citizens. He also assured that the process would not lose any more time in making the necessary investments in the state’s future.

[NaijaNews]

The appointment of a new leadership team at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has sparked fresh hope. However, history teaches us that leadership changes in Nigeria’s public institutions is often not a guarantee for remarkable positive changes . Each transition is seen as a potential turning point, yet the cycle of inefficiency, corruption  and mismanagement persists. This time, however, there is a distinguishing factor—NNPC Ltd. is now led by a technocratic board predominantly composed of industry professionals. This shift signals the possibility of meaningful change, but only if these experts can resist personal and corporate interests and genuinely serve national priorities. Will this be a turning point or another wasted opportunity? The answer will profoundly affect Nigeria’s economic stability and long-term economic health .

As Nigeria’s national oil company, NNPC Ltd. wields significant influence, managing the country’s vast oil and gas resources. Its efficiency, or lack thereof, has far-reaching implications for government funding, economic stability, foreign exchange reserves, currency valuation, job creation, and investor confidence. A well-managed NNPC Ltd. could serve as the backbone of economic revival, while inefficiency could lead to a domino effect of economic crises. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) reports that the country lost over $46 billion to oil theft and operational inefficiencies between 2009 and 2020, underscoring the potential impact of a well-managed NNPC Ltd.

An ineffective NNPC Ltd. is not just a national disservice —it is an economic crisis in itself. The company’s mismanagement directly impacts the economy and national development projects. 

Globally, state-owned oil companies have been instrumental in their nations’ economic development. Saudi Aramco is the most profitable company in the world, surpassing tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, with a net income of $161.1 billion in 2022. Petrobras in Brazil has driven economic expansion through strategic investments and governance reforms, generating $35.7 billion in net profits in the same year. Equinor in Norway used oil revenues to establish a sovereign wealth fund valued at over $1.4 trillion, ensuring long-term economic stability. While these national oil companies fuel economic prosperity in their respective countries, NNPC Ltd. has struggled with inefficiency, corruption, and chronic underperformance. NNPC Ltd. has the potential to match these achievements, but only if it undergoes serious structural and operational reforms.

A technocratic board raises expectations of professionalism and efficiency but also presents risks.  Many board members have vested interests in private oil and gas companies, creating a high risk of conflict of interest and policy decisions that serve personal gains over national development. Transparency International has consistently ranked Nigeria’s oil sector among the opaquest in the world, with corruption and vested interests undermining effective governance. To dispel these concerns, the new leadership must demonstrate an unwavering commitment to transparency, accountability, and ethical governance. Key questions must be addressed: Will their private interests precede national interests? Can they implement policies that might negatively impact their business associates? How will transparency and accountability be maintained in the decision-making process? The ability of this leadership team to separate personal gain from national duty will be a defining factor in its success or failure.

Nigeria’s oil production costs, from 2023 data, are among the highest in the world. Saudi Arabia and Iraq produce oil at $10 per barrel, Russia and Norway at $20-$21 per barrel, while Nigeria produces at  between $40 and $48 per barrel. Security costs ,burdensome  logistics and infrastructure, inflated contracts and fraudulent procurement, and other corrupt practices contribute to these high production costs. The Cable, a Nigerian online publication quoting the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, says that the country loses around 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to theft and sabotage. By improving operational efficiency, adopting cutting edge technology and eliminating corruption, the new leadership could reduce the cost of production to $25-$30 per barrel—leading to a potential 75% increase in oil revenue.

Nigeria has consistently failed to meet its OPEC production quotas due to large-scale oil theft, pipeline vandalism, community conflicts, and inefficiencies in NNPC Ltd.’s operations and management. Strengthening security measures in oil-producing regions, establishing clear community engagement frameworks, and improving operational efficiency through technology and management reforms are critical to addressing these issues. In 2024,the country struggled to produce a daily average of 1.4 million barrels per day , according to data from NUPRC, which is the industry regulator, due to these challenges. A key priority for the new leadership must be to secure and ramp up oil production. Addressing the complicity of some NNPC Ltd. and Nigeria Navy personnel in oil theft will be crucial.

NNPC Ltd. is notorious for delays in making Final Investment Decisions (FID) due to bureaucratic red tape, layers of embedded interests and political interference, and over-reliance on joint venture models where NNPC Ltd. expects international oil companies to finance projects. A prime example is the stalled Brass LNG and Olokola LNG projects. One stakeholder attributed it to the nature of the joint venture model operated by NNPC. He likened it to a woman going to the market with her friend and banking on her friend to pay for both purchases. Here, the NNPC, which is the landlord, plans to be funded by the tenant, the field operator. The challenge is their refusal to comply with section 65  of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that has suggested that they migrate from unincorporated joint venture (uJV) to incorporated joint venture ( IJVCL) that will require joint upfront financing of projects at the beginning without the need of structure for ‘carry’ or cash calls”. The new leadership of NNPC must address this inefficiency and recklessness so that Nigeria and Nigerians can benefit from oil and gas resources. The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, once described Nigeria’s investment delays as “crippling to sectoral growth.” 

Despite spending trillions of Naira on refinery maintenance, Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries remain non-functional.

Between 2000 and 2020, according to House of Representatives  investigation committee reports, NNPC spent over $25 billion on refinery repairs without tangible results.  By today’s estimate, that money can be used to build 2 new refineries with a capacity of 225,000 bpd. NNNPC has the most inefficient refinery operations and expensive turnaround maintenance costs. The new leadership of NNPC has both a moral obligation and a national duty to make appropriate decisions on what to do with the refineries. Some national oil companies have sold off their refineries to focus on crude oil production and renewables , while others operate their refineries efficiently and generate profits. The key questions are: Should NNPC Ltd sell the refineries to private investors? Or should it reform its operational structures for greater efficiency and adopt a new refinery management model?

For decades, corruption and mismanagement have plagued NNPC Ltd. Political actors have used the company as a cash cow, opaque procurement processes, and delayed and unreliable financial disclosures. It is estimated that one-third of NNPC’s revenue is used to service political commitments that have nothing to do with the national economy. NNPC has attempted publishing its financial report in the past three years since PIB. Stakeholders say it is more of a ceremonial ritual than any serious attempt to be transparent. Unlike its peers, NNPCL does not accompany its audited financial statements with comprehensive operational reports. Being more transparent and professional in NNPC’s management should be a topmost priority of the new leadership. To restore credibility, NNPC Ltd. must publish independently audited financial reports with full operational details, implement transparent procurement policies, establish zero-tolerance measures against corruption, and resist political interference in financial decisions.

Nigeria has 203 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, yet these remain largely untapped due to a lack of critical infrastructure and poor pricing policies that deter investment. How did other nations do it to earn optimally from gas resources? Qatar became the world’s largest LNG exporter, generating over $100 billion annually from gas sales. Trinidad & Tobago built a robust petrochemical industry using gas resources . Norway used gas revenues to develop a $1.4b sovereign wealth fund. These success stories demonstrate the transformative potential of natural gas when it is strategically managed and leveraged for comprehensive national development. Nigeria can draw valuable insights from these experiences to unlock the full potential of gas resources.  Investing in gas infrastructure development, reforming pricing policies to attract investors, and developing a clear gas commercialization strategy are essential steps toward unlocking Nigeria’s gas potential. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) points out, “Natural gas can be a bridge to sustainable energy security if managed efficiently.”

To ensure long-term sustainability, NNPC Ltd. must optimize asset utilization, especially in crude oil exploration and  refinery operations, prioritize profit-driven decision-making over political interference, and streamline bureaucratic processes to boost efficiency. The company has attempted an Initial Public Offering (IPO) three times between 2018 and 2023, failing each time due to a lack of political will and transparency issues . Listing NNPC Ltd. on a foreign stock exchange such as New York or London could attract investors and strengthen corporate governance, following the examples of Saudi Aramco, Petronas, and Petrobras. Fast-tracking the promised Initial Public Offering (IPO) on major stock exchanges is essential.

NNPC stands at a critical crossroads. With exemplary leadership and reforms, Nigeria’s economy can be transformed, global investment can be attracted, and the potential of its vast oil and gas resources can be maximized. However, if these necessary reforms are not implemented, history will repeat itself, and Nigeria will continue to suffer from inefficiencies and corruption. “Nigeria’s oil sector has the potential to be the backbone of our economy,” admitted  Mele Kyari, immediate past   Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., “but only if we make the hard decisions now.” The responsibility now lies with the new leadership: Will they seize this opportunity or squander it like their predecessors? Will this new leadership deliver, or will history repeat itself? That NNPC needs a serious course correction is no brainer. The coming on board of a new leadership is the right time to do a reset. The choices made today will define Nigeria’s economic trajectory for decades.