The lifespan of the capital vote component of the Federal Government’s 2024 budget is set for extension.

Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele gave this hint yesterday, saying this is necessary to ensure full implementation.

Bamidele said: “We have to sit and assess the full implementation of the 2024 budget.

“We will further extend the capital expenditure timeline while ensuring that the 2025 budget is fully implemented.”

The National Assembly, before the passage of this year’s budget, extended the implementation of the capital expenditure for the 2024 budget till June 30, this year.

The planned further extension might have been a result of the inability to fully implement the capital vote.

Last December 18, the National Assembly extended the implementation of the 2024 Budget by six months.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, speaking at the 2025 Budget presentation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said the 2024 Budget had achieved a 50 per cent performance rate in capital expenditure and 48 per cent in recurrent expenditure.

“Your Excellency, we have noted the 2024 Budget performance.

“Given this great achievement, we have deemed it necessary to extend the life span of the 2024 Budget to June 30th, 2025.

“The enabling law for this extension will soon be placed before you for your assent as a testament to our appreciation for the great performance of the budget, ensuring that we build upon your momentum,” Akpabio had said.

Bamidele, in a statement by his media adviser, Gboyega Akinsanmi, also spoke on the need to institutionalise a presidential address every June 12 in recognition of its historical significance.

The Senator said: “We are hoping to bring a bill soon to institutionalise the President’s address on June 12 because of its historical importance.

“There can’t be a better time to address the nation through the parliament than on June 12, especially since it is a joint sitting.”

President Tinubu is slated to address the Federal lawmakers at a joint sitting tomorrow.

Bamidele said the proposed legislation would also seek to designate the National Assembly  Complex as the venue for future presidential inauguration.

He added: “We are hoping, in that bill, to ensure that the swearing-in of the next President and Commander-in-Chief, who we believe is President Tinubu, will be held within the arcade of the National Assembly.”

June 12 was declared Democracy Day as a replacement for May 29 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The historic election won by Chief Moshood Abiola and annulled by Military President Ibrahim Babangida was held on June 12, 1993.

May 29, 1999, is the anniversary of the return to civil rule after 13 years of military.

Bamidele said a bill to make the presidential address at the National Assembly on June 12 mandatory will be proposed.

The Senator, who is the Vice Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, acknowledged that the constitution amendment has been slow.

However, he assured Nigerians that the process is ongoing, adding that it will bear fruit.

Bamidele said the committee is approaching the final stage of its work and planning to hold public hearings at zonal levels.

He said the public hearings would lead to a joint public hearing coordinated by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

He stressed: “We have done almost 70 per cent of the work before going public.

“Before the end of the third legislative year, we intend to complete the constitutional amendment process.”

[TheNation]

The battle for the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party has reportedly pitted the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, against the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.

The two political gladiators used to be good friends and played a key role in the victory of President Bola Tinubu in 2023, following their resolve to work against the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The duo, alongside Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Samuel Ortom — then governors of Abia, Enugu and Benue states respectively- formed the G-5 bloc and insisted on a southern presidential ticket; but Atiku, who comes from the North, claimed the PDP ticket at the national convention.

Things have since fallen apart, with the Oyo State Governor, backed by his Bauchi counterpart, Bala Mohammed, and the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, no longer enjoying a cordial political relationship with Wike.

On his part, Wike is enjoying the support of Governors Caleb Muftwang (Plateau) and Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa).

The rift between Makinde and Wike reached its peak when, at a meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the PDP governors rejected the planned reinstatement of Senator Samuel Anyanwu by the Bukola Saraki-led reconciliation Committee; a move seen by Wike as a betrayal by the Oyo State Governor.

Makinde is working in sync with the party’s national leadership, which has fixed June 30 for the PDP’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting and August 2025 for its convention.

On Monday, Wike rallied members of the defunct G-5, bar Makinde, to lay down his terms for peace to reign.

The PUNCH gathered that the Wike-backed group is pushing for a postponement of the convention, apparently to get a stronger hold of the party ahead of the 2027 election.

Despite this move, the plan by the PDP to hold its convention in August 2025 will not be affected by Wike’s move, party chieftains told The PUNCH on Tuesday.

This is just as they ruled out the postponement of the event on account of the press conference convened by Wike in Abuja.

On Monday, Wike and members of the G-5 – Ortom, Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi – converged on Abuja to deliberate on the state of affairs of the PDP, giving conditions for peace and progress of the party.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the Wike-led group made it clear that the decision of the PDP governors to back Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s National Secretary against Senator Samuel Anyanwu is a recipe for chaos and upheaval in the party.

The leading opposition party has been enmeshed in a series of crises primarily driven by a power struggle between former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike.

The dispute is anchored on the control of the party’s structure, with both leaders vying to assert their dominance ahead of the 2027 general election, where Atiku appears set to seek the party’s presidential ticket once again.

Wike, who has since pledged to lead the campaign for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu, is determined to ensure that the PDP is sufficiently weakened to render it incapable of causing any upset against the sitting President.

The internal rift has intensified calls for the removal of the party’s National Chairman, Samuel Anyanwu, who is widely suspected of aligning with Wike in holding down the party. Wike’s perceived influence within the party’s hierarchy has further fueled concerns among Atiku’s loyalists, who believe that Anyanwu’s continued leadership could compromise the PDP’s unity and electoral prospects.

Not surprisingly, the Wike-led group stated, “In the spirit of fairness, inclusion, federal character principles and respect for our party constitution, the party must make an unequivocal announcement, zoning its presidential candidate to the South in the 2027 general election.

“That to finally arrest the inexorable drift towards extinction in our party, the party must, without further delay, respect the judgment of the Supreme Court. We, therefore, unequivocally reaffirm Senator Sam Anyanwu as the duly elected and substantive National Secretary of our great Party.

“In line with the provisions of our party constitution, only the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, can issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, National Executive Committee, National Caucus and the National Working Committee and to this end, all notices not issued by him and actions founded on them, including correspondences to the Independent National Electoral Commission, are null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

George warns Wike

Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH on Tuesday, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Olabode George, warned Wike and his group to know that nobody, no matter their status, could hijack the party.

He stated that the NEC meeting scheduled for June 30 would go on as planned.

“As an elder, I am a custodian of the rules and regulations governing our party. I want to advise this young man (Wike) to know that the only authority that can make a comment on this issue (convention) is the NEC. I want to advise them (G-5) that if they have any issue that will be of support to the party, or even if they are against the direction of the party, it is morally expedient to talk about it within the family,” he said.

He added, “These guys (Wike-led group) should calm down. They will not dare the NEC. Let the decision come from NEC. I spent 10 years in the National Working Committee but I have never seen anything like this before. We will not discuss anything outside of NEC. Whatever the majority says, that is it!”

The party, he further stated, is a collective heritage, saying, “Nobody owns this party, no matter who the heck you are. We don’t have any emperors in our party. We will stick with the rules and regulations as stated. We will be meeting on June 30, and by the grace of God, all this back and forth and innuendos will be put to bed.”

Ex-secretary reacts

In a separate interview with The PUNCH, another BoT member and former National Secretary of the PDP, Sen Ibrahim Tsauri, said, “Wike and his group may be planning to stop or sabotage the planned national convention but what is new in their plans or plots? Their plots cannot be as unacceptable as their utterances and resolve to support President Bola Tinubu.

“Whoever is in the PDP and expects to hear anything supportive from Wike and his group as regards the NEC meeting or convention must be deceiving himself, but we should know that Wike truly contributed greatly to the growth of the PDP after it lost the election in 2015.”

The former National Secretary ruled out a rescheduling of the convention, stating that despite the setbacks recently experienced by the party, it still boasts 10 governors.

“As for the postponement of the proposed convention, Nigerians should realise that PDP still has 10 committed sitting governors. For anyone to think that the proposed convention would be shifted simply because of a threat from an individual or group; that person may not be fair to himself, the teeming PDP supporters and even Nigerians.

“Wike and his group may be working to stop the convention while the PDP does not bother much on what it expects to happen,” he stated.

He added that having openly admitted to supporting the re-election bid of President Tinubu, Wike has done his worst for PDP.

“Imagine someone who claims to still be in the PDP but intends to support the presidential candidate of the ruling party in 2027 — what could be worse than that?

“For us, it’s simple. They may continue to insist, citing constitutional rights, that they remain PDP members. But the truth is, the leadership of the PDP has been compromised. If the leadership were serious, the constitution already provides for disciplinary action, including expulsion. That should have been done by now,” he added.

Also speaking, former National Vice Chairman of the PDP (South-West), Eddy Olafeso, faulted Wike’s stand on the reinstatement of Ayanwu as the party’s National Secretary, saying, “I don’t know exactly where he is getting his interpretations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Supreme Court judgment from.”

On his part, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Capt Umar Bature (retd.), told The PUNCH that the insistence of the Wike-led group for Anyanwu to be duly recognised as the party’s National Secretary was in order.

He said, “That is the fact based on the Supreme Court judgement.”

S’West, Bauchi chapters

Meanwhile, the PDP South West Vice Chairman, Kamoru Ajisafe, faulted the communique issued by the Wike-led group in Abuja.

In an interview with one of our correspondents, Ajisafe said the NWC of the party, being the highest working organ of PDP, has decided on the issue of the National Secretary.

He added that the NEC meeting of the party would be held on June 30.

“What he (Wike) did was not normal. The process of removing any officer must involve the NWC, which the Supreme Court, at its discretion, has established.

“The NWC of any political party remains the highest working organ of the party, and we have so decided regarding the post of the National Secretary.

“What we have right now is the Acting National Secretary, who is the Deputy National Secretary, and we are having our National Executive Committee meeting on June 30. Anything short of that, there are procedures. I don’t know what Wike is trying to establish.”

In the same vein, the PDP Bauchi State chapter clarified that the decision on whether to postpone the national convention to October, as requested by the FCT Minister and some stakeholders, rests with the party’s national leadership.

Bauchi State PDP Publicity Secretary Dayyabu Ciroma stated this in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.

“This should be the decision of the national leadership. As state officials, we don’t have the right to deny or grant any recommendations of national affairs,” Ciroma said.

He expressed confidence in the national officials’ ability to handle the matter, saying they “Are equal to the task and may respond to the recommendations soon.”

Regarding Anyanwu’s retention as National Secretary, Ciroma noted that states have no say in the matter, saying, “It is solely the affairs of the national officials, NWC, BoT and the South-East PDP stakeholders.”

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Gov Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Mukhtar Gidado, did not respond to calls and messages by our correspondent as at the time of filing this report.

‘Followers and friends’

On its part, the Oyo State chapter of the party has described the meeting convened on Monday by Wike as alien and strange to the structure of the PDP.

The party, through its Publicity Secretary, Micheal Ogunsina, told The PUNCH that the meeting would not be regarded or recognised in any official capacity within the PDP.

According to Ogunsina, what took place was simply Wike meeting with his “committee of followers and friends,” not a gathering of bona fide party stakeholders.

He said, “The meeting Wike called is for Nyesom Wike’s followers and friends, not concerned PDP stakeholders.

“The meeting is alien and strange to the structure of our party. Whatever it is they discussed has nothing to do with the PDP or what we do as a political party.

“It’s just Wike and his committee of followers and friends having a gist on different matters. The meeting holds no water, and we don’t count it as a serious meeting.”

On the absence of Makinde from the Abuja meeting, Ogunsina stated that the Oyo governor held a meeting with the chairman of the PDP reconciliation committee, Senator Bukola Saraki.

“Bukola Sàràkí was with Governor Makinde yesterday (Monday) while the Abuja meeting was ongoing,” Ogunsina added.

There is something they say about digging yourself into a hole. It usually takes more  time to claw your way back. That is, if you ever want to see light again. 

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, did not intentionally dig itself into a hole. Some people, given the responsibility to curate the day-to-day operations of the regulatory authority, dug the system into a hole. The Commission has been trying to fight its way back ever since, although it will take a longer time because of the absence of a board.

I was recently informed that the regulator will institute the Telecom Identity Risk Management Platform, TIRMP, by the last quarter of this year, to streamline the activities of churned numbers in the industry. That may not seem much but it’s one of the several actions the regulator is taking to fight its way out of the abyss. I am pretty sure that, at the end, people will be happy that such a step was ever taken. In the meantime, let’s do a little flashback to prove that, also in the last quarter of last year, the Commission executed some actions to demonstrate a seriousness that was more positive than pretentious. I will state just two. 

One: Early last year, the regulator revised its telecommunications statistics to reflect Nigeria’s updated population estimates of 216,781,381, as projected by the Nigerian Population Commission, NPC, in 2022. The adjustment replaced the previously used 2017 population estimates of 190m. 

There was only going to be one sure outcome. The teledensity dropped from 115.63 per cent to 102.30 per cent as the subscriber base also plummeted to 154.6m. It was a bold decision that jolted the industry into reality, an action that could hardly be contemplated previously when it was needed most. 

Two: And this is connected to the foregoing. At the conclusion of the NIN-SIM regulation exercise, a much criticised programme,  jointly executed by the NCC and the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, the number of lines on the mobile networks dropped to 154m, with one operator losing as much as 40m lines. The announcement was made in October. It caused a lot of discomfort and business reimagining. 

One would say that such an industry would have a lot of churned numbers. But it is much more than that. There are other reasons. At the dawn of the mobile industry, it was a thing of prestige for one subscriber to carry as many phones as the pouch can accommodate, those who wanted to enjoy the full expression of conspicuous consumption, although it was more of the limitations of the networks that were having a lot of headache in rolling out services after being jilted by a government that had promised so much. 

The story has changed. Growth has plateaued and the economy has not been any kinder. For over a decade now, there are so many people slipping into multi-dimensional poverty for whom telephony means very little. For these people, it is a matter of the stomach first, the art of the mastery of survival in challenging times, while for the rest of us who had luxuriated in class, the economy has levelled everybody. Without seeking economic lessons, a number of subscribers have resorted to using one phone. So, there are more reasons for churn numbers in the industry; which is why it is salutary that the regulator has taken a decision to sanitise their use. 

For more understanding of the churning process, the regulator explained that “when a phone number (MSISDN) has not carried out any Revenue Generating Event, RGE – outgoing or incoming calls or SMS, charged USSD sessions, data use, or any other activity on the line that generates income for the operator – for over 180 days, the MSISDN is deemed as inactive. If this inactivity continues for another 180 days, that is a total of 360 days, the line becomes eligible for churning, and recycling”.

Literally, the number has gone into a recycling bin where it can be retrieved by the operator and reassigned to a new subscriber, according to the QoS Regulation and Business Rules 2024.

But that’s just the beginning of a new journey as the dangers are embedded in the old number which could be harmful to the previous owner or be put to some unsavoury use by the new owner.

According to the regulator, the recycling of lines presents challenges, particularly when the previous owners of the reassigned numbers still have those numbers linked to services they used before the numbers were recycled. It presents issues of security and integrity of phone number ownership. 

This is the reason the TIRMP is being put in place, to serve as some kind of clearing house for those numbers, help maintain their integrity and prevent innocent phone users from being harmed. 

An NCC source gave further understanding. Any time a number is recycled, sensitive details of the previous user, like bank details, including balances, fintech details and even health, could still be in the number that can be manipulated by unscrupulous individuals. The Commission, according to the source, is therefore working with all the stakeholders, including the security agencies, the Central Bank, banks, fintechs and telecoms service  providers, to ensure that every churned number will go to the platform which will automatically notify all the stakeholders. Is that what they call flagging?

The NCC is only acting within its regulatory powers to ensure that industry phone users are protected. For instance, in  the UK, Ofcom, the communications regulator, is responsible for overseeing the recycling of mobile phone numbers.

In the UK, an MNO is allowed to deactivate an unused number, which is given a dormancy period of between 30 to 90 days, depending upon the carrier, before the number is reassigned. Although the operator is allowed to reset or erase data linked to the number, it is generally accepted that traces of its history can still be present, especially with online services that use SMS-based two-factor authentication. 

Numbers are a limited resource which are strictly managed by the regulator and assigned to the operator. As it is in Nigeria, so it is in the UK where Ofcom ensures the reassignment of numbers by operators after the dormancy period due to the limited pool of available numbers. 

But the Federation of Communications Services, FCS, of the UK has published procedures for mobile phone recycling that aims to discourage fraudulent activities and provide a clear defence against charges of handling of goods. A feature of such procedures is to ensure “that operators will place blocks on the records of devices for a wider variety of reasons.”

A clear point here, however, is to ensure that subscribers are preserved and that operators do the right thing by going through the platform which the regulator is putting in place. It portends a win-win for all stakeholders, including the subscribers.

“It will reduce fraud risks and improve our digital and financial services by enabling service providers to proactively detect and act, particularly to high-risk numbers, while updating customer KYC details where applicable,” the regulator said. 

It is a good step in the right direction to checkmate the little demons that usually coalesce into giant forces to trouble the wider ecosystem. Much like the journey of a thousand miles beginning with one step. The challenge is to take the step at all, and that’s what the NCC has done. 

 The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has introduced a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to fix inconsistencies in tax services across its over 300 offices nationwide.

The move aims to make tax processes clearer, more transparent, and easier for Nigerians.

In a statement, Mr. Collins Omokaro, Special Adviser on Communications and Advocacy to the FIRS Executive Chairman, said the updated SOP is a key part of the agency’s plan to improve taxpayer experience. He explained that, in the past, different FIRS offices used different methods, which often confused taxpayers.

“This is about people, experience, and impact. It’s a step toward a tax system that supports voluntary compliance and national development,” Omokaro said.

The new SOP provides a single guide for key processes like registration, payment, audit, and enforcement. This will ensure all FIRS offices follow the same steps, making the system fairer and more predictable.

Dr. Zacch Adedeji, FIRS Executive Chairman, described the SOP as more than just a set of rules.

“This SOP is not just a technical document; it is a declaration of who we are becoming as a service. It reflects our commitment to transparency and service to the Nigerian people,” he said.

The SOP also supports FIRS’s digital transformation, combining human and technological systems to deliver faster and more reliable services. It will also improve internal efficiency by providing clear guidance and better training for staff.

“With this rollout, every FIRS staff member has a clear mandate: study it, apply it, and embody it. That’s how we’ll earn the trust of Nigerians,” Omokaro added.

The reform is part of FIRS’s efforts to become a more service-driven organization, focused on clarity, consistency, and national growth. The agency hopes the new SOP will make tax services better for Nigerians and increase public trust in the system.

[Vanguard]

It’s 65 years of Nigeria’s independence and 32 years after the watershed and epochal June 12 presidential election. The landmark election was won by Bashorun MKO Abiola, who was also the Aare-Ona-Kakanfo of Yorubaland. Unfortunately, that election was annulled by the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida. Tomorrow, June 12, has been declared Democracy Day in Nigeria and will be observed as a public holiday. The winner of that election has been posthumously conferred with the highest title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For the benefit of Millennials and Genzs, who were not born at that time, the events leading to and after that election are worth recalling the same way I did on this page on June 12, 2024.

On August 27, 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida overthrew the Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari. Instead of answering Head of State, he decided to call himself Military President, which is an aberration. Soon after seizing power, he inaugurated a Dr Samuel Cookey-led 17-member Nigerian Political Bureau on January 13, 1986. According to Wikipedia, the bureau was set up to conduct a national debate on the political future of Nigeria and was charged, among other things, to “review Nigeria’s political history and identify the basic problems which have led to our failure in the past and suggest ways of resolving and coping with these problems”.

He thereafter released an elongated transition to a civil rule timetable.  Initially, the transition was supposed to end in October 1990, but IBB, as Babangida was fondly called, shifted it to 1993. He banned old politicians and called for a new breed. He established the Centre for Democratic Studies and made Prof. Omo Omoruyi the pioneer chairman. The centre was to train politicians in a democratic ethos. He set up the National Electoral Commission, headed by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu. IBB established a two-party system for Nigeria. He formed the National Republican Convention and the Social Democratic Party. The NRC elected Chief Tom Ikimi as its national chairman, while the SDP elected Chief Tony Anineh as its national chairman. Both chairmen are from Edo State. Babangida did not just establish the political parties; he built party secretariats for them across the country and provided grants to run the parties.

Elections for local governments, state Houses of Assembly and governorship positions were held at different times between 1991 and 1992. The transition was to end with the presidential election on June 12, 1993. However, events leading up to that day were ominous. A group called the Association for Better Nigeria, led by Abimbola Davies with Chief Arthur Nzeribe as a promoter, went to court to stop the election from holding.  On June 10, 1993, a Federal Capital Territory High Court Judge, Justice Bassey Ikpeme, ordered NEC not to conduct the June 12, 1993 election based on the prayers of Nzeribe. However, the election was held as there was already a decree which resulted in the ouster of any court ruling stopping the poll.

There were some things which are novel in the June 12, 1993 poll.  NEC used what it termed Option A4 voting technique (open ballot system, where members in a party primary queued behind the aspirants or their pictures). This was the method adopted by NEC for the presidential primaries of the two political parties. The election itself was, however, conducted with ballot papers in what was termed the modified open ballot system.

In a transcribed speech of IBB annulling the election, which was published by Daily Post on June 12, 2017, it stated inter alia, “Apart from the tremendous negative use of money during the party primaries and presidential election, there were moral issues which were also overlooked by the Defence and National Security Council. There were cases of documented and confirmed conflict of interest between the government and both presidential candidates, which would compromise their positions and responsibilities were they to become president….It is true that the presidential election was generally seen to be free, fair and peaceful. However, there was a huge array of electoral malpractices virtually in all the states of the federation before the actual voting began. There were authenticated reports of electoral malpractices against party agents, officials of NEC and also some members of the electorate. If all of these were clear violations of the electoral law, there were proofs of manipulations through offer and acceptance of money and other forms of inducement against officials of NEC and members of the electorate.”

I was an undergraduate student at the University of Lagos when the June 12, 1993 election was held and subsequently annulled. I participated in the civil protests to make the military junta rescind that decision. In fact, I wrote to air my view on   OGBC FM Mailbag 2084, which was a popular programme on the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation. The programme was then anchored by Busayo Olaifa, Babakura Abajato (he later became the Commissioner for Information in Borno State), Toun Sogbesan and the like. It used to be held at 6pm on Friday. Little wonder the programme was rested after the June 12 debacle.

The agitation to disannul the June 12 election led to the killing and maiming of many protesters. Indeed, most, if not all tertiary institutions in the six South-West states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo were shut down indefinitely. Workers under the Nigeria Labour Congress also embarked on an indefinite strike. Some newspapers, including The PUNCH and broadcast stations, were proscribed.

Some journalists were arrested and clamped into detention without trial, while others had to go into exile. The National Democratic Coalition, popularly called NADECO, was formed, and the incumbent President Bola Tinubu was a prominent member. Pro-democracy activists floated Radio Kudirat. The struggle eventually consumed the winner of the election, Chief MKO Abiola, who died in detention after he was arrested for declaring himself president at Epetedo in Lagos. His wife, Kudirat Abiola, was assassinated. Another person martyred by the June 12 struggle was Pa. Alfred Rewane.

This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the June 12, 1993 election. How have we fared in our democratic journey? Unfortunately, our electoral process seems not to be throwing up credible leaders due to the manipulative tendencies of the political class. Money and violence are the twin evils beleaguering our elections now. To contest elections in Nigeria, you must have a war chest (money in millions and billions). If you don’t have it, you either sell off your property to raise the gargantuan amount needed or look for a godfather to bankroll your political aspiration. Many of the godfathers are shylocks who will squeeze you dry. (If in doubt, ask former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chris Ngige).

Because of the huge financial outlay needed to contest elections, contestants, therefore, don’t want to take chances and do not want to see politics as a sport. They go for broke. They want to win at all costs. Failure is not an option. Thus, they induce voters and unleash violence on the supporters of their opponents. Indeed, assassinating political opponents is a game for them. That was what happened in Enugu State ahead of the February 25, 2023 national elections when unknown gunmen killed the Labour Party senatorial candidate for Enugu East District, Oyibo Chukwu, alongside five supporters who were inside his vehicle. The killing took place three days before the senatorial election.

June 12, 1993, was symbolic because it was deemed the freest and fairest poll, though not without flaws. I beseech the Nigerian political elite to allow for credible elections which will see not only moneybags but people of ideas and integrity being voted into political offices. The politics of a winner-takes-all, zero-sum game is dangerous and counterproductive. It’s why elections have become a mere routine without delivering the dividends of democracy or good governance.

President Bola Tinubu has flown with one wing of the naira-for-petroleum transaction bird by asking the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited to sell petroleum to local refineries, including Dangote Refinery, in naira. This may lead to the renaming of Nigeria’s currency as the petro-naira.

Of course, the deal is not properly implemented. Some saboteurs within the NNPCL and its ecosystem, who are working in the interest of foreign paymasters, have made sure that it will not be properly implemented so that the President will be forced to abandon it.

Even with the sabotage, Nigerians cannot deny the advantages of the policy as they have recently witnessed regular announcements of steady reductions in the price of petrol by Dangote Refinery, which is compelling NNPCL to reduce the price of its (albeit) imported petrol.

The other wing of the naira-for-petroleum deal, which is the real McCoy, is the sale of petroleum to foreign buyers who will be expected to first buy naira from the Central Bank of Nigeria, through approved protocols, and then use the acquired naira to buy petroleum from NNPCL.

By this novel payment protocol, which North American and West European economic interests will fight with weapons, including insurrection, Nigeria will still receive the convertible currencies, and the naira will also return to the Nigerian financial system.

So, Nigeria will still have the convertible currency in its foreign reserves, which can always be used to pay Nigeria’s foreign obligations and pay for goods imported by citizens and corporate organisations. You could say that Nigeria will be able to eat its cake and have it.

Soon after he was sworn in for his second term as President, Donald Trump openly threatened 100 per cent import tariffs if BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and five other associate countries—replace the US dollar with any other currency as the reserve currency.

His words: “We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar, or they will face 100 per cent tariffs.”

A video of an unidentified Kenyan that is making the rounds on the internet explains that the current international economic and financial architecture is made to serve the interests of the probably 50 or so nations that set it up. That is not surprising.

For sure, former colonial countries that were not part of the deliberations of the metropolitan powers should not expect the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to serve their interests.

But the best way to go is for Nigeria to find a way to join BRICS as a full member, and not as an associate so that the acronym will change to BRINCS, as some had speculated in the past before some of Nigeria’s previous presidents chickened out.

What are the advantages of this move? The metropolitan economies, including Uncle Sam, will think very deeply before taking any steps against the economy of BRINCS. For their support for Ukraine in the war against Russia, Germany and Italy were compelled to pay for Russian gas with the Russian ruble.

The economies of the BRINCS nations should be on the north side of 40 per cent of the global economy, and their population, more than 55 per cent of the world’s population, cannot be disregarded by the International Monopoly Capital that is perennially looking for investment markets.

It will be a good win for Nigeria if the President can find the courage to implement this policy. But by far, its most important advantage is that as demand for the naira increases, the naira will gain strength. As every Economics 101 university student knows, the law of demand and supply promises to raise the price of a commodity when there is an increased demand for it.

Another advantage, albeit in the long term, can be achieved if the Minister for Industries, Trade and Investments joins “hardknocks” corporate players from the bricks-and-mortar sector of the economy with the intellectual PhDs economic advisers to devise a template to revitalise the comatose manufacturing factories of Nigeria.

The expected increase in local production of consumer goods will eliminate, or significantly reduce, the need for Nigerians to import such consumer goods and the need to procure foreign currencies to pay for the imports.

This reduction on foreign convertible needs will significantly reduce the pressure on the naira and make it even stronger. In any case, the current financial and payment structures of the world are not written in concrete. They were devised to serve the interests of the Western metropolitan economies.

If this structural pressure is removed, the prices of consumer goods will crash and the high cost of living will drastically fall, to the advantage of poor Nigerian citizens who are still struggling daily with the negative impacts of the removal of subsidy from petrol, electricity and the naira.

Also, if the manufacturing firms and the agricultural farms can be more productive, they will be able to pay higher tax revenues to the government and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on foreign loans and the sale of petroleum to finance its annual budgets.

The President, who has belled the cat by ordering the sale of petroleum by NNPCL to local refineries in naira, should go the whole hog and sell the commodity to foreign buyers for naira. He must seize the moment in the interest of Nigeria’s economy.

After all, American President Trump is already disrupting old landmarks of given economic assumptions and payment protocols of the world. Every country should be able to play the game of disruption. Who dares, wins, according to an old saw.

If the international monopoly capital responds with venom, as is to be expected, Nigeria should respond with bolder steps. You would have observed that when President Trump imposed a 145 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, China retaliated with a 125 per cent tariff on American goods.

Soon after, both nations, knowing that they need each other, were compelled to tone down their rhetoric and issue a joint statement declaring a 90-day suspension of the tariff war, to further explore a more sanguine approach to resolving their trade differences.

The suspension of hitherto uncharitable words against each other shows a degree of mutual respect and recognition of the strength of each other’s economy. Everyone knows that the two economies are intertwined, even if they do not openly acknowledge it.

Let no one lose sight of the fact that China Inc. and America’s Wall Street are opposite sides of the same coin, economic Siamese twins that have been in business even before the days of the anti-imperialist and anti-Christian Boxer Revolution in China between 1899 and 1901.

If these economic policy suggestions are diligently followed, Nigeria should have a steady inflow of convertible currencies, strengthen the naira, drive higher revenue into the government’s exchequer, reduce debts and make more consumer items available to Nigerians—in the medium to long-term.

Though Uncle Tom economic experts of Nigeria will argue vehemently for the given economic theories that serve the interest of the West only, President Tinubu and his economic team should look beyond them and do everything necessary to right the unilaterally given economic wrongs done by the West.

As it struggles with the consequences of its poor handling of the rash of military coups in the West African region, the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) appears to have run out of ideas and creativity in search of an effective solution.

By their decision to use military force to restore constitutional order in Niger following the army takeover of government in that country on 26 July 2023, and the sweeping sanctions imposed on coup plotters in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger, including travel and flight bans, ECOWAS leaders should have known that they were on slippery grounds.

In its 50 years of existence, the regional bloc is better known for acquitting itself credibly in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, especially ending the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and effectively restoring constitutional order in member States after military coups.

While Article 45 of the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance 2001 permits the Mediation and Security Council to apply measures including sanctions in the event of an unconstitutional change of government, the Authority of Heads of State and Government had always maintained a principled stance in deploying a combination of tools/strategies - diplomacy and tough decisions, where necessary, in tackling conflicts.

Article 45.1 states: “In the event that democracy is abruptly brought to an end by any means or where there is massive violation of Human Rights in a member State, ECOWAS may impose sanctions on the State concerned.” 

45.2. explains: “The sanctions which shall be decided by the Authority may take the following forms, in increasing order of severity:

• Refusal to support the candidates presented by the member State concerned for elective posts in international organisations

• Refusal to organise ECOWAS meetings in the Member State concerned

• Suspension of the member State concerned from all ECOWAS decision-making bodies. During the period of the suspension, the member State concerned shall be obliged to pay its dues for the period.

45.3. During the period of suspension, ECOWAS shall continue to monitor, encourage and support the efforts being made by the suspended member State to return to normalcy and constitutional order.

45.4. On the recommendation of the Mediation and Security Council, a decision may be taken at the appropriate time to proceed as stipulated in Article 45 of the Protocol Relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace-Keeping and Security 1999.

On Restoration of Political Authority, this Article stipulates: “In situations where the authority of government is absent or has been seriously eroded, ECOWAS shall support processes towards the restoration of political authority. Such support may include the preparation, organisation, monitoring and management of the electoral process, with the cooperation of relevant regional and international organisations. The restoration of political authority shall be undertaken at the same time as the development of respect for human rights, enhancement of the rule of law and the judiciary.”

It should be noted that ECOWAS’ military interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone, through its Ceasefire Monitoring Group, ECOMOG, in the 1990s, were under different circumstances and at the behest of the beleaguered governments. Also, in 2016/2017, the deployment of Nigerian air assets and the preparation by Senegalese troops to march on the Gambia only followed the uncompromising position of then-President Yahya Jammeh, who rejected ECOWAS’ mediation, claiming victory in the December 2016 election, which he lost. In the end, Jammeh was exiled to Equatorial Guinea without any military confrontations.

Also, under the 1999 and 2001 Protocols, there are provisions for the deployment of good office missions, including military chiefs, Council of the Wise/Elders or appointment of a Chief Mediator. But ECOWAS leaders did not exhaust these non-kinetic alternatives before going for an aborted military option in Niger. Also, the imposition of travel and flight bans effectively foreclosed the possibility of interactions or negotiations with the coup leaders.

Similarly, Nigeria’s cut of electricity supply to Niger did not derive from any ECOWAS instruments.

Article 52 of the 1999 Protocol states that: “In accordance with Chapters VII and VIII of the United Nations Charter, ECOWAS shall inform the United Nations of any military intervention undertaken in pursuit of the objectives of this Mechanism,” but this was not the case on Niger.

The embarrassment from an unprecedented and unpopular decision for kinetic option in Niger, which fell through, has forced ECOWAS leaders into an uncomfortable situation, and their bending over backwards to placate the junta leaders - a strategy fraught with potential uncertainties and unsavoury consequences.

Most critically, the implementation of some decisions taken by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers at its extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana 22-23 May 2025, on the contingency arrangements for the departure of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger (known as the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, could damage the integrity, unity and cohesion of the regional bloc irreparably, and hasten its further disintegration.

Article 91 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty 1993 is unambiguous on the withdrawal of any member state from ECOWAS. Article 91.1 states clearly: “Any member State wishing to withdraw from the Community shall give to the Executive Secretary (President of the Commission) one year's notice in writing… At the expiration of this period, if such notice is not withdrawn, such a State shall cease to be a member of the Community.

91.2. During the period of one year… such a member State shall continue to comply with the provisions of this Treaty and shall remain bound to discharge its obligations under this Treaty.”

ECOWAS rules do not provide for “group withdrawal,” and following the precedent with Mauritania's withdrawal in 2000, there was no need for the ECOWAS Council of Ministers to reinvent the wheel, the way it did in Accra.

The junta leaders announced their countries’ withdrawal from ECOWAS “with immediate effect” in January 2024.

However, under the 1993 treaty, that withdrawal only became effective by January 2025, and acting on humanitarian grounds, ECOWAS granted its staff from the AES countries until September 2025 to leave with an additional three months’ pay until December 2025.

Yet, the Council at its Accra meeting decided to: 

a. ”adopt a two-phase disengagement process for the affected staff. The first phase will involve staff in Senior Professional positions… and all G-Staff from the three countries that are working at ECOWAS institutions to be relocated and will take effect at the end of September, based on termination letters already sent to the staff concerned. The (ECOWAS), Commission is given until the end of December 2025 to recruit staff to fill the resulting vacant positions. The second phase will involve P4 Staff and below and will be carried out on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specific circumstances of the staff concerned, including age and the priority needs of the institutions.”

“On regional market and economic integration, the Council underscored that Free Movement and Economic matters are at the core of regional integration and deserve particular attention in discussing separation modalities with the exiting countries.

In a needless move to accommodate the AES countries, “(The) Council noted the existence of various legal frameworks which are the foundation of regional economic integration and directly affect Community citizens… stressed the need to ensure a collective approach to negotiations as a regional bloc based on existing regional instruments such as the Protocol on free movement of persons, the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the Common External Tariff.”

Additionally, while it “reiterates the clarity, in the relevant provisions of the ECOWAS staff Regulations, that only nationals of ECOWAS member States are eligible for employment as staff members,” the Council still called for a “Review of the Staff Regulations to reflect current circumstances.”

The Council further authorised the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), ”to continue with its commitments under ongoing projects in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Still, the Council decided that EBID disengage with staff from the three Countries.”

To many analysts, these concessions are not only too many, but unwarranted and may come back to haunt ECOWAS and its aspirations for regional integration. The junta leaders have been unrepentant in denouncing ECOWAS and all that it stands for while portraying themselves as populist power grabbers determined to perpetuate themselves in the saddle.

ECOWAS should assert itself as a rule-based organisation. However, its dilemma is that for the past 10 to 12 years, the bloc has ignored or tolerated “constitutional and electoral coups, and human rights violations” by some of its leaders in blatant breach of its own rules. There are also some fifth columnists within, working against ECOWAS.

The Constitutional Convergence Principles under Article 1 of the 2001 Protocol stress among others:

- Separation of powers by the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.

- Empowerment and strengthening of parliaments and guarantee of parliamentary immunity.

-  Independence of the Judiciary.

- Every accession to power must be made through free, fair and transparent elections.

-  Zero tolerance for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means, and,

- Popular participation in decision-making, strict adherence to democratic principles and decentralisation of power at all levels of governance.

Yet, in their inordinate quest to obtain or retain power at all costs, some ECOWAS leaders have trampled on the regional principles, while the Authority of Heads of State has rendered dormant or ineffectual the ECOWAS Commission and its management, which are supposed to coordinate the programmes and activities of the regional institutions.

As ECOWAS celebrates the 50th anniversary of its formation through the 28th May 1975 Treaty of Lagos, its drastic problems require drastic solutions.

For a start, the ECOWAS Commission should undertake an urgent and transparent recruitment exercise to fill any vacant positions from the teeming army of qualified professionals among the 400 million community citizens and release staff from countries whose leaders despise the regional bloc.

Since the proud junta leaders believe that their landlocked poor countries are self-sufficient, ECOWAS should not reward their arrogance.

To regain its past glory, navigate emerging threats and bequeath an enduring legacy to the next generations, ECOWAS leaders at national and regional levels must change tact and lead by example with vision and dynamism, beginning with effective management of the lingering threats in member States such as Togo, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire. 

Paul Ejime is a Media/Communications Specialist and Global Affairs Analyst

The publisher of Ovation International, Dele Momodu, has claimed that his soul has left the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Momodu stated this during an interview on the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State’s programme, on Tuesday.

The PDP chieftain bemoaned the division within the PDP, which, according to him, poses a serious challenge to the ruling party.

“My soul has left the PDP; it’s only my body that remains.

“If the PDP were united, it could defeat the APC in 2027.

“But too many forces within and outside are fighting against this.”

His comments come amid a deluge of defections from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Momodu added that, “the ruling party’s strategy is to weaken the opposition.”

[DailyPost]

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike on Tuesday renamed the Abuja International Conference Centre (AICC) after President Bola Tinubu.

While speaking at the commissioning of the edifice by the Tinubu in Abuja, Wike said the ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre’ is a world-class structure requiring constant maintenance.

He noted with the permission of the President that anybody that would use the newly renovated ICC must be made to pay irrespective of his or her status

Details shortly…

[TheNation]