‘In all fairness to Tinubu, several of the promises were not meant to be fulfilled in the first year. They remain work-in-process.

Nigerians can only hope that the pledges will eventually be redeemed. Despite that caveat, it is clear that those scheduled for the first year have suffered the fate of politicians’ promises from time immemorial.

‘To crown it all, Nigeria, by the end of this year will decline from the largest economy in Africa to number four’.

“Tinubu wants to build a Nigeria that is confident and competitive on the global stage. Because of this, we can no longer afford certain ways of doing things. We must push past the false comfort of certain ingrained habits and practices, and endure inevitable but temporary discomfort because we are certain that ahead of us lies lasting reward.”

Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation. May 8, 2024.

Mohammed Idris, in an article titled: “Tinubu first anniversary: Propelling Nigeria towards renewal”, presented a truthful summary of the first anniversary of the administration which would have been difficult to beat if it was written by Tinubu’s worst political enemies. Published in all the major newspapers, as well as, online media, it was erudite, logical, good reading and self-damning for the Federal Government. In the entire 13 paragraphs of the article, only four figures were dropped – “we have seen investment commitments over $300bn, across various sectors” and “disbursement has since commenced of the nano-grants of N50,000 each for one million Nigerians, part of a larger N200bn MSME’s credit programme.”

Since readers were not told what these figures mean in terms of the promises made under the RENEWED HOPE agenda, readers have been left to figure out the implications themselves. Here is one interpretation of what the Minister said – in light of facts available to those diligent enough to search for economic and financial data.

Most often, “commitments” are nothing more than Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, which Nigerian leaders have announced as firm commitments. The recent embarrassment with the $600 million MAERSK proposed investment in Nigerian ports development, should serve as a warning that government pronouncements about secured Foreign Direct Investment are not always reliable.

Nigerians will believe there are $300 billion in investment commitments when the funds arrive here. And, nobody knows how long that would take. Certainly, it will not all come into the country in 2024 and even 2025. A lot of the pledges might never be redeemed. Eight years of Buhari administration and several trips abroad, followed by announcements of investments secured ended with very little to show for the effort.

Touting the N50,000 nano-grants which the FG has started to pay to one million, out of 133 million poor in Nigeria, could not have come at a worse time for the government. The World Bank in a recent report declared Buhari’s efforts in that regard as a waste – which failed to achieve its stated objectives of alleviating poverty stimulating consumption and increasing aggregate employment. Nothing suggests that Tinubu will succeed where Buhari failed. The same woolly-headed economics still underlies the initiative. In a world in which earning less than $2 per day is regarded as living in poverty, N50,000 amounts to $1.2 for one person; and $0.30 for a family of four. Self-deception has never been so elegantly proclaimed by a minister of government.

The rest of the article was a mere repetition of promises for the future – without a single achievement being mentioned. Nothing was said about the hastily improvised palliatives programme, the Portharcourt and Dangote refineries which were supposed to have started pumping out fuel, the gas-operated buses which would crash road transport fares and the housing units which would have doubled available housing. That is understandable. Like most politicians’ promises, they were never really intended to be fulfilled.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RENEWED HOPE AGENDA?

“Every country has the government it deserves.” Joseph de Maistre, 1753-1821.
VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 80.

And, the people should be ready to suffer the consequences of having the government – especially if it is elected. It is too late in the day to waste time on who won the 2023. Power belongs to the people; not even the Supreme Court. We have a government elected by us. The repercussions are now manifesting.

But, long before the elections, there was a document titled RENEWED HOPE in which candidate Bola Tinubu laid out hundreds of promises; telling us what he would do as President. It is one year this month. Below are a few reminders of what Fellow Nigerians were supposed to expect.

• SECURITY: peaceful communities, secure borders, safe forests (p 9); reposition Police, no more VIP assignments (p 10).
• ECONOMY: our cities and towns will witness a level of industrial activity unprecedented in our nation’s history (p 12); 10% GDP growth rate based on 2021 World Bank data; 2024 GDP — $586.7bn.; National Infrastructure Campaign, the government can hire millions of unemployed Nigerians to modernise infrastructure (p14), import substitution (p16), fight corruption and inefficiency, Exchange Rate Management: Our economic policies shall be guided by our desire for a stronger, more stable Naira founded upon a vibrant and productive real economy (p19), Inflation Targeting and Management: To impose the usual anti-inflation medicine of higher interest rates and tighter money-supply will only weaken the patient (p20); Foreign Debt Obligations: Our policy will be such that new foreign currency debt obligations will be linked to projects that generate cash flows from which the debt can be repaid (p21).
• INDUSTRIAL POLICY: Our government will make it a priority to encourage industries vital to national development. This means growing our industrial base to provide jobs to an expanding urban population (p22).
• AGRICULTURE: Only 35% of arable land in Nigeria is presently cultivated. Our target shall be to increase this number to 65% in four years; COMMODITY BOARDS: We shall introduce commodity boards to establish minimum prices for strategic crops (p26); we will develop a plan to open heretofore uncultivated land to both small and large scale farming and vertically integrated agri-business (p28).
• POWER: Eliminate Estimated Billing, we will end this unpopular and harmful practice and ensure that all electricity bills are meter-based (p30).
• OIL AND GAS: Ensure Stability of Petroleum Products Supply (p37).
• EDUCATION: ensure the abundance of qualified capable educators; prioritise the use of computers (p41); introduce new accreditation standards; establish curriculum committee; improve teacher training (p42); reform Technical and Vocational (p43) ; introduce students loan and Special education loan Fund (p44)
• HEALTH: invest greatly in health care; introduce universal health care (p45); healthcare will target poor and marginalised communities (p46); deliberate policy to retain skilled manpower, introduce incentives (p47); improve our public health response to health emergencies (p48).
• We will also explore how Nigeria can take greater advantage of relatively recent innovations such as blockchain technology. Blockchain, because of its security and accountability features, has the inherent potential to make daily interactions easier, faster and more convenient (p50).
• SPORT, ENTERTINMENT AND CULTURE: Build a modern Media City modelled on the Dubai Media City; introduce hospitality training programme (p55).
• The return of schools sports and grassroots sports will be made the cornerstone of our sports development policy; create Athletes’ Welfare Fund (p56).
• YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Tinubu administration shall aim to cut youth unemployment in half within four years (p57).
• WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: Commercial banks will be encouraged to support women-owned businesses nationwide through the use of concessionary loans and incentives (p60).
• OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN: Raise to the highest priority the growing problem of out-of-school children throughout the country….This will also reduce the number of disaffected youth who might fall prey to recruitment by terrorist and violent groups (p63).
• FEDERALISM AND DECENTRALISATION OF POWER: A Tinubu administration will rebalance the responsibilities and authorities of the different tiers of government (p68).
• RESOURCE ALLOCATION: Embark on a review of the federation revenue allocation to recalibrate the division of funds among the three tiers of government (p69)
• FOREIGN POLICY: Enhance Nigeria’s political leadership on the continent by establishing a G-5 among major African nations to develop common positions on issues of continental and global importance (p72). COMMENTS In all fairness to Tinubu, several of the promises were not meant to be fulfilled in the first year. They remain work-in-process. Nigerians can only hope that the pledges will eventually be redeemed. Despite that caveat, it is clear that those scheduled for the first year have suffered the fate of politicians’ promises from time immemorial. There is no need to appraise all the promises seriatim. Readers can easily observe that among others, Tinubu vowed to impose the age-long remedy of high interest rates and tighter money supply policies in the fight against inflation in the RENEWED HOPE document.

Surprisingly, he was not prescient enough to have created a committee or task force to start working on how to manage inflation after being declared the winner of the 2023 election. Obviously, now, he established no Think Tank to study the economic debacle he would inherit, to anticipate the problems likely to be associated with fuel subsidy removal and to devise the policies and programmes to minimise the negative impacts of “fuel subsidy is gone”. From the first day in office, his government has been playing catch-up to events which have taken control of Nigeria.

Today, the government is not in control of the major indices of measuring social and economic welfare. CRUDE OIL production and export, for reasons unclear to Nigerians, have stayed below 1.5 million barrels per day since January.

Right now in May, it has dropped below 1.3mbpd – leaving a daily negative variance of about 400,000 bpd and so many millions of dollars in revenue. Despite the promise that external loans would be tied to self-liquidating projects, none of the debts incurred since January fulfilled that condition. Like Buhari, Tinubu is now borrowing to cover current expenditure obligations.

Consequently, 91 per cent of dollar revenue in the first quarter, Q1, went into debt repayment. Forget capital expenditure. From the information available, Q2 dollar revenue will be less than Q1. That likely decline in dollar revenue is the cardinal reason the CBN’s efforts aimed at crashing exchange rates had become a fleeting mirage.

Exchange rates are trending up again. After going down close to N1000/US$ in late March and early April, it was up to N1505/US$ on May 11. The immediate future is not promising. The government’s response, as can be determined rests on two loan packages: a $2.5 billion loan package from the World Bank and a domestic dollar-denominated bond issue. In other words, more loans will be taken.

Regarding the promises on employment and housing, even the least informed Nigerian knows that more houses and working places have been demolished between May last year and today than in the last four years put together. More people are now jobless and homeless than at any time in our history.

Manufacturers have either closed down or scaled down operations since May 29 last year. More global manufacturers are getting ready to leave any time soon,

Food scarcity is more acute; palliatives by governments made a bad situation worse because corrupt government agents paid more than private individuals acting on their own. Some of the food palliatives promised by Tinubu are just arriving in the States – invariably less than promised.

Power supply remains the same; with only one major difference. All Nigerians will henceforth pay more for the same atrocious service. Hope dimmed.

But, why go on? Nobody in his right senses will dispute the obvious fact that close to 99 per cent of Nigerians are worse off today than last year. Tinubu has managed to achieve what most of us thought was impossible last year. He has performed worse than Buhari. To crown it all, Nigeria, by the end of this year will decline from the largest economy in Africa to number four.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – BINANCE AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY.

“We will reform government policy to encourage the prudent use of blockchain technology in finance and banking, identity management, revenue collection and the use of crypto assets.

As part of our reforms, we will establish an advisory committee to review the existing regulatory environment governing blockchain technology and virtual asset services and, where necessary, suggest changes to create a more efficient and business-friendly regulatory framework. We will also encourage the CBN to expand the use of our digital currency, the E-naira.” (p52).

Earlier before that, the RENEWED HOPE document had offered this reason for getting the Tinubu government deeply involved in blockchain technology – if elected.

“Blockchain technology, because of its security and accountability features, has the inherent potential to make daily transactions easier, faster and more convenient….” (p50).

I was alarmed in 2022 when my copy of RENEWED HOPE was delivered to me; and when those pages were reached for several reasons. To begin with, by 2022, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies had already been revealed as platforms used mainly by criminals – international drug cartels and king pins, corrupt public and private sector operatives, arms traffickers, financiers of terrorist organisations, human traffickers, tax evaders and money launderers.

Furthermore, while it made transactions easier and faster, it was untrue that it possessed security and accountability. By late 2022, several nations were already clamping down on cryptocurrency – which after an initial surge was declining. Countries like China, whose citizens were among the originators of blockchain technology were aware of its potential to destabilise economies. It was certainly not accountable to ant government or any constituted authority.

Young men and some women in Lagos were the first to latch on to cryptocurrency; and being in Lagos, I was very curious. The logical step was to locate those involved and obtain information about the new technology. I also went on the internet to learn more. My discovery was alarming enough to advise my tutors in Lagos to be very careful about this new technology; which to me is a two-edged sword. It can make or break you.

I also discovered that some individuals who knew about the drafting of the RENEWED HOPE campaign were already heavily invested in crypto. It was therefore not surprising that blockchain technology was so seriously promoted. Victory at the elections provided the winners the opportunity to bring in crypto platforms like BINANCE to help the FG institute crypto in Nigeria. It was akin to inviting an unruly elephant into your living room.

Nigeria’s current court case against BINANCE might not be about protecting national interest at all. Information reaching me from the crypto community indicates that a few friends of people in corridors of power had their multi-million dollar accounts looted by international hackers without trace, and there is no legal way of getting the money back.

Because cryptocurrency platforms are technological conspiracies, the looters of a Nigerian’s account might be based in Russia or North Korea. The stolen funds might be lodged in Peru – without the South American nation knowing about it. Thus, it is almost impossible for the owner to obtain redress for the theft. He can’t go to court in Peru; have the looter repatriated from North Korea, and he dares not report to the Nigerian authorities without explaining how he got the money.

Neither the Nigerian authorities nor BINANCE is telling us what happened. One thing, however, is certain, the government might have inadvertently allowed BINANCE, a global outlaw crypto platform to come into the country; and the entire country is suffering from the consequences of that poor error of judgment.

The Nigerian economy is bedevilled by scarcities – of dollars, naira, regular power and fuel supply, food, housing, jobs and sound economic policies. Tinubu’s Lagos Boys are still missing the point. Supply-side inflation can never be cured by increasing interest rates but by increasing the supply of commodities.

Hope has not been renewed; at best, it has been deferred.

Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the president of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010, would have turned 73 this May if he were still alive. But regrettably, he was taken by the icy hands of death and dropped from sight just when Nigeria most needed him. We cannot question God. As Epicurus once said, it is possible to guarantee security against all odds. But against death, all men, mortals alike, dwell in an unprotected place.

President Yar’Adua was a model democrat and leader, and he could have finished as one of the most successful presidents Nigeria has ever had. That was not to be, though.

From 2007 to 2010, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR led the country as president after he was proclaimed the victor of the Nigerian presidential election, and on May 29, 2007, he took office.

In the past, he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the governor of Katsina state from 1999 until 2007. Yar’Adua travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2009 to get treatment for pericarditis. On February 24, 2010, he left Nigeria again for the same reason. His return took a long time, and on May 5, he passed away.

A scion of the Yar’Adua political family, the Katsina-born Umaru Yar’Adua had a very unique personality. After studying education and chemistry for his bachelor’s degree at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria from 1972 to 1975, he returned in 1978 to complete his master’s degree in analytical chemistry. Yar’Adua inherited his father Musa Yar’Adua’s chieftaincy title of Matawalle, which means caretaker of the royal treasury, from the Katsina Emirate. The father served as a minister for  Lagos during the First Republic. His paternal grandmother, Binta, was a princess of the Katsina Emirate and the sister of Emir Muhammadu Dikko.

Several policies pursued by Yar’Adua set the course for his presidency toward resetting Nigeria. He was the first and only president of Nigeria to reject the election that gave him the position, where his predecessor had declared his own to be “a do-or-die affair.”

Yar’Adua set up a government of national unity as a means of fostering unity after winning the presidency. The Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) decided to join Yar’Adua’s cabinet towards the end of June 2007.

Yar’Adua formed a presidential electoral reform committee to examine the legal aspects, social and political institutions, and other relevant aspects to reset the country’s electoral system and prepare the way for free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria. The electoral reform committee also examined security concerns that impacted the nation’s election credibility and quality, as well as the mandate to offer suggestions for enhancing election credibility.

A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais, led the electoral reform committee. The committee’s proposals included amending the constitution to remove some of the functions of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and establishing an electoral commission and party registration agency. Additionally, it suggested that judicial challenges to elections be resolved quickly, before the swearing-in ceremony of the candidate for the seat in question.

The Yar’Adua administration published a seven-point agenda in August 2007 to use as the centerpiece for addressing developmental issues and advancing Nigeria’s economy to rank among the top twenty in the world by 2020. The seven-point agenda covered land reforms, transportation, wealth creation, infrastructure, power and energy, food security, security, and education.

Sadly, Yar’Adua fell gravely ill a little over a year after taking office and was soon bedridden. Because his principal, Yar’Adua, failed to transmit power to him before his last trip to Saudi Arabia, from which he returned unable to resume office and died soon later, the country struggled for long over how his deputy, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, would assume power as acting president. This led to the Doctrine of Necessity under the David Mark’s Senate presidency. Yar’Adua was just 59 years old.

The Nigerian people would have had complete control over who they chose to elect if Yar’Adua had lived long enough to see through his earnest electoral reforms. Nigeria was deprived of that chance by death.

Yar’Adua was a symbol of peace and unity; if anyone could be considered detribalized, it was him. He was an advocate of merit and a united, indissoluble, and indivisible Nigeria. He led by example. He was a tough, fair leader who brooked no nonsense. Regarding the backing he had from then-President Olusegun Obasanjo to become Nigeria’s president, the prevailing opinion is that Yar’Adua was one or two of the governors in office at the time with a perfect record, free of any allegations or suspicions of corruption. Yar’Adua had impeccable records.

As governor, he objected to the notion that the Katsina Government House would always be run on a generator any time that the PHCN failed to provide electricity. He wanted the government house to be equally without light when Katsina State experienced a blackout.

Yar’Adua had very integrative and inclusive economic policies and plans while serving as president. He had plans and ideas to establish and grow six regional economies in Nigeria based on the geopolitics of the country. He intended to concentrate on one state in each of the six geopolitical zones, turning it into an economic hub and a gateway to the zone. His true motivation for supporting Professor Chukwuma Soludo to go for the position of governor of Anambra State in 2010 was to turn the state into an economic hub and the gateway to the east, concurrently with the other five anchor states for the rest of the five zones.

Regretfully, Yar’Adua’s death also prevented him from building an equitable Nigeria based on their comparative economic advantage (Riccardo’s economics). The presidents that came before and after him lacked a sense of social fairness and equity, and they showed little concern for the requirements that each zone needed to integrate economically and competitively.

His pro-masses style of administration was peerless compared to any other Nigerian leader, demonstrating his exceptional humanness. Yar’Adua, inspired by the misery of Nigerians, cut the price of fuel as soon as he took office, whereas past and present Nigerian presidents were busy removing fuel subsidies and raising the price of fuel regardless of the prevailing crushing weight of poverty. Yar’Adua was the only head of state or president to reduce fuel prices since the fuel subsidy turned into a national nightmare.

With that mindset and plan, Yar’Adua’s presidency was emerging as possibly the best that the country could have had. Sadly, death stole Nigeria’s finest, leaving her with leaders and henchmen who had no morality and would only plunder and make fun of the people after they had captured the state.

Yar’Adua was a very experienced politician. He belonged to the leftist Peoples Redemption Party during the Second Republic (1979–1983), and his father served as the National Party of Nigeria’s National vice chairman for a brief period. Yar’Adua was one of the founding members of the Peoples Front of Nigeria during General Ibrahim Babangida’s transition programme to the Third Republic, along with members like President Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Baba Gana Kingibe, Sabo Bakin Zuwo, Wada Abubakar, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Abubakar Koko, and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a political organisation headed by the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, his elder brother.

Later on, the group gave rise to the Social Democratic Party. Yar’Adua participated in the Constituent Assembly of 1988. He was the state secretary of the Nigerian Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katsina and a member of the party’s National Caucus. In the 1991 election, he ran for governor but was defeated by Saidu Barda, an ally of Ibrahim Babangida and the National Republican Convention candidate.

Indeed, Nigeria lost a rare gem of a leader to the cold hands of death in His Excellency Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Patriotic Nigerians wish you a happy (posthumous) birthday and ask God to send someone like you to Nigeria sooner than later so that the nation might experience true peace, unity, and growth.

Rest on, the great, patriotic, and visionary leader of all time.

Dr Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts. He can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter @Drlawsonmefor

Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power, says the federal government has suspended the transfer of regulatory authority to state governments.

Adelabu disclosed this while speaking at the 8th edition of the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) conference in Abuja on Friday.

In April, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) transferred oversight of the electricity market in Ondo, Ekiti and Enugu to the state’s electricity regulatory bureau (OSERB).

The minister, however, said the transfer would be suspended due to the need for state governments, and stakeholders in the power sector to properly understand what is required to operate an electricity market.

He said adequate understanding of the transfer of regulatory oversight of the electricity market to states is imperative for the survival and sustainability of the nation’s power sector.

“Therefore, we must tread carefully, we should not be in a hurry. The market is not a mature market, it is not mature enough. With everything centralised for a single regulator, we have a myriad of issues. Now we intend to create a regulatory framework across the 36 states, it is something that we must do in a highly systematic and strategic manner,” he said.

“We need just a couple of states as a pilot, which is why I actually halted granting of further regulatory autonomy to states.”

‘TRANSFER OF REGULATORY OVERSIGHT IN SELECTED STATES’

Adelabu also said the transfer of regulatory oversight will be piloted in selected states across the geopolitical zones in the country.

“When we have each of these zones represented in the pilot and we allow it to run for three to six months, or up to a year, all the possible issues would have been reflected so that we are going to have a learning curve, and all those issues will be addressed before granting further regulatory autonomy because I have a feeling that we don’t have a comprehensive understanding of what this autonomy means,” he said.

“The fact that we gave a state regulatory autonomy doesn’t mean that it’s just about distribution of electricity but it is regulation across the value chain. Generation within your territory, transmission within your territory, and distribution in your territory, including tariff setting.

“The moment you take over the regulatory activities of  Lagos state, when we talk about tariff, about subsidy, it will be on your neck as a state. I do not know the balance sheet you want to leverage to guarantee the necessary settlements on a monthly basis.

“So we all have to sit down and let everybody have a complete understanding of what this means. We will know if we are ready to have full autonomy or it will be a partial autonomy for the meantime before we achieve a mature electricity market.”

The minister further said most stakeholders underestimate the capacity required to have regulatory authorities in 36 states, and the FCT.

Adelabu also said each state needs to have a framework capable enough to protect assets and liabilities, address vandalism and consumer protection, and have enough capital for continuous investments and maintenance of infrastructures.

[TheCable]

I am writing this week’s column from Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where I have come to deliver a talk on media theory. But this column isn’t about the talk or about South Africa. It’s about the enduring problems of electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria, which I have brooded over for quite some time.

It’s ironic that I am writing about Nigeria’s new economic apartheid in electricity consumption from the previous land of apartheid where electricity is a human right, where even the poorest of the poor “have a public law right to receive electricity” even before the abolishment of apartheid, according to F. Dube and C.G. Moyo in their 2022 article titled “The Right to Electricity in South Africa.”  

I’m not sure there’s any modern country on earth where electricity is as precarious, as insufficient, as unreliable, and as socially stratified as it is in Nigeria. The hierarchization of electricity distribution into “bands” in which people classified as “band A” (read: the wealthy) get the most electricity and people classified as “Band E” (read: the most economically disinherited) get the least electricity is the most starkly state-sanctioned economic discrimination I have ever seen anywhere in the world. President Bola Tinubu should order that the bands be disbanded forthwith. This is embarrassing official idiocy.

The point isn’t even that so-called Band A electricity consumers don’t actually get the amount of electricity that their socio-economic status should guarantee them, according to the new state-sponsored economic apartheid that imposes discrimination on electricity consumers. The outrage is that the government would conceive of a program where a resource as indispensable to modern life as electricity is rationed on the basis of economic status.

Electricity is the cornerstone of development. It isn’t a privilege. It should be a human right. It should be accessible to everyone. It’s the driver of economic development, is indispensable to healthcare, is the backbone of education, supports modern agricultural practices, is fundamental to technological progress, powers social development, and enhances quality of life.

The government’s goal should be to generate and distribute “Band A” electricity for all consumers in Nigeria—like is done in other countries, including countries much less endowed than Nigeria.

As I pointed out in a previous column, the depth of Nigeria’s electricity problems didn’t become magnified in my consciousness until July 2009 when I visited my mother’s maternal relatives in the city of Parakou, the capital of Borgou State (or, as states are called there, “Department”) in Benin Republic. Throughout the one week I stayed in Parakou, Benin Republic’s third largest city with a little over a quarter of a million people, electricity didn’t blink for even a split second.

Except for the distinctive sights, sounds, and smells of the city, it felt like I was still in the United States. 

To be sure that the impressively continuous electricity we enjoyed wasn’t a fluke, I asked my mother’s first cousin (that would be my “first cousin once removed” in Standard English and my “uncle” in Nigerian English) in whose house we stayed to tell me the last time they lost power in the city or in the neighborhood.

He started to jog his memory and even enlisted the help of his wife because he thought I needed to know the exact day for record purposes. I told him not to bother, but I later learned from him that although power outages occur, often for maintenance, they are infrequent, relatively brief, and often announced ahead of time in the broadcast media.

This is particularly interesting because Benin Republic buys most of its electricity from Nigeria, although my cousin said that wasn’t true of Parakou. Most importantly, though, there was no invidious social differentiation of electricity consumers into “bands.” If there was, my relative in Parakou would be in “Band E” because he retired from the Beninese civil service on a modest rank.

Almost every Nigerian I know who has traveled outside Nigeria shares the same experience as mine. A former colleague of mine at the Presidential Villa in Abuja who traveled to Iran for weeks returned and told us he didn’t witness power outage for even a fraction of a second throughout his stay in the country, which caused him to insist that if Iran was a “Third World” country, Nigeria must be a “10th World” country.

And that leads me to the question: why has it been impossible to power Nigeria? Why does every other country on earth seem to be doing better than Nigeria in electricity generation and distribution? I think it’s because we have never had anyone with a clue to manage Nigeria’s power sector. Let’s look at some of the ministers of power we’ve had since 1999.

In 1999, the late Chief Bola Ige, who became the minister of power, promised to “turn stone to bread.” He was deploying a biblical metaphor to imply that he would make the seemingly impossible possible. Well, he didn’t have a stone to start with, so there was no bread. His legacy was darkness.

On November 28, 2012, the then Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi, told South African investors that “evil spirits” were to blame for Nigeria’s interminable electricity troubles. “We must resolve to jointly exorcise the evil spirit behind this darkness and allow this nation take its pride of peace [sic] in the comity of nations [sic],” she said.

About two months later, her metaphysical explanation for Nigeria’s electricity difficulties got a professorial endorsement when, on January 23, 2013, Chinedu Nebo, a professor of engineering and former university vice chancellor, told the Nigerian senate that power outages were caused by “witches and demons” and that “If the President deploys me in the power sector, I believe that given my performance at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I drove out the witches and demons, God will also give me the power to drive out the demons in the power sector.”

He got the job. But neither he nor Kuchi were able to exorcise the “evil spirits,” “demons,” and “witches” that they believed sucked the megawatts out of Nigeria’s power plants. Their legacy was more darkness.

Then on July 11, 2014, Babatunde Fashola said Nigeria’s electricity problems were political, even electoral. “The only way you and I will have electricity in this country,” he said, “is to vote out the PDP.”

Again, at the 7th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium on March 25, 2015, Fashola blamed “amateurs” for Nigeria’s power generation problems.  He infamously said, “Power generation is not rocket science; it is just a generator.  So just remember and imagine that your ‘I-better-pass-my-neighbour’ in one million times—its capacity but in one place. So, if you can make that size of one kilowatt, you can make a power turbine of one thousand megawatts…

“So, with all the billions of dollars that have been spent, the story is that we still live in darkness. Our government lies about it, but it is not because power is impossible. But to tell you very confidently that we do not have power because power is difficult to generate; we have darkness because we have incompetent people managing our economy. As one of my friends fondly calls them, our economy is being managed by amateurs.”

He was appointed the minister in charge of power a few months after this overconfident political diagnosis of Nigeria’s unending electricity woes. Within a few months of being in power, disappointed Nigerians nicknamed him the “minister of darkness,” and Buhari didn’t reappoint him to the ministry for a second term.

He was replaced by a man who didn’t know what his job was supposed to entail, who didn’t know he was the minister of power, who was so colorless and so uninspiring that no one knew him when he held sway, much less remember him after his tenure expired.

So, from 1999, we went from treating our electricity problem as one that could be resolved through Ige’s poetic and theological flourishes to thinking that Nebo’s and Kuchi’s metaphysical delusions provided the keys to unlocking it, to imagining that Fashola’s two-bit, evidence-free, exaggeratedly partisan outbursts were any good, to the unpretentious shallowness of Fashola’s successor. 

Now we have an Adebayo Adelabu, a completely clueless, unfeeling buffoon who is clearly out of his depth, as the minister of power. Here is a minister of power who is so hopelessly ignorant about power that he thought keeping freezers connected to electricity continuously was a waste of power that was peculiar to Nigeria and has championed the idiotic social stratification of electricity consumers. 

Now he says if Nigerians are not prepared to pay an arm and a leg for electricity, they should come to terms with perpetual darkness. What kind of responsible government official says that? 

This is especially tragic because everyone knows that electricity is the driving force of technology and innovation, not to mention basic creative comforts. Any country that can’t fix its electricity can’t participate in the increasingly digital economy of the 21st century and will be stuck in permanent developmental infancy.

Yet, in spite of the drag that poor electricity exerts on creativity and innovation, Nigeria’s youth have been some of the world's most high-flying digital creators and drivers. Imagine what Nigeria would be if it had a leadership that cared and knew how to fix its electricity crisis.

From May 16 to 17, over 2,000 of Africa’s business leaders, investors, policy makers and political leaders as well as their counterparts from around the world met in Kigali, Rwanda under the auspices of the Africa CEO Forum 2024 to discuss the continent’s development, opportunities and challenges. The Africa CEO Forum is the largest international meeting of the African private sector, and is typically two days of conferences, debates, panel discussions and high-level meetings dedicated to highlighting the driving role of the private sector in the development of the continent. Rwanda is hosting it for the second time since its maiden edition, held in Geneva, 10 years ago. Last year, it was held in Abidjan and next year, it is going to somewhere in North Africa. Nigeria has never hosted it, and that’s surprising. You can think of the Forum as our own equivalent of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which holds in Davos, Switzerland, every January. The 2024 CEO Forum in Kigali was the biggest since its inception, according to the Chief Executive of the Forum, Amir Ben Yahmed. The theme this year was ‘’At the Table or On the Menu? A Critical Moment to Shape a New Future for Africa.” President Paul Kagame and a few African Heads of States and Governments were there. In attendance were many notable Nigerian businesses and NGOs. Kagame gave a brief opening statement.

The phrase, ‘’At the Table or On the Menu’’ was popularised by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference last November. Responding to the moderator’s question concerning tensions in the US-China relations, Blinken had said ‘’if you are not at the table at the international systems, you’re going to be on the menu’’. Blinken had also used the same phrase in 2022 to describe relations between the two superpowers. But he did not invent this coinage. As far back as 1993, this phrase was used in an article in an American Middle East Affairs journal, describing the situation in Lebanon at that time. At a time that our continent seems to be making little progress in the global stage, it was therefore apt that the Africa CEO Forum 2024 adopted this same phrase as its theme. It was also the central point of discussions among panel members on the opening day of the summit. The panelists were Group CEO of MTN, Ralph Mupita; Regional VP for Africa, IFC, Sergio Pimenta; Access Holdings Chairman, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Rwanda Minister of State in charge of Public Investments and Resource Mobilization, Jeanine Munyeshuli, and President of Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Sidi Ould Tah.

It was a very enriching and profound discussion on the experiences and future of our continent. Aig-Imoukhuede opened his contributions by acknowledging that the theme was quite poignant given that this year marks the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference. ‘’At the Berlin Conference, Africa was at the table, but that’s where they had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” he said, eliciting applause and laughter. “But Africa has come a long way since then. Today, there are many tables across the world in IMF/World Bank (finance), WHO (health), WTO (Trade), G20 (politics), etc, and it is important to note that Africans are CEOs of some international organisations in these areas,” he added. In as much as Africans are now at the table, he however wondered whether we are sitting on the right seats or low stools, eliciting another round of laughter and applause. The Access Holdings chairman elucidated further that Africans should create their own tables just like the Asians have done. ‘’Our big population, common markets and youths should give us a table for the future’’ he said. He noted that Africans have made considerable progress in finance, noting that foreign banks that have divested from the continent have been replaced by African banks.

He illustrated: ‘’If an African investor, for example, goes to the Eurobond market, he should be ready to be dictated to by the regulators and the operators in that market; and they necessarily don’t have your interest in mind. But if an African investor goes to an Afrobond market to raise capital, chances are that the market will be sympathetic to Africa’s needs and nuances, but the standards and regulations should not be lower than what you have in the Eurobonds markets.” He called for partnership between the public and private sectors in the continent and announced that Access Holdings and the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation are launching a Super NGO which will provide funding and talent for transformational government initiatives that deliver much needed value. The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation and Access Bank Group have pledged $300 million over the next 20 years. Access Bank has committed $200 million and the Aig-Inoukhuede Foundation committed $100 million.

The Africa-led Super NGO will be established in partnership with academics, experts and philanthropists across the globe who are committed to closing the gap between Africa and the rest of the world. The NGO will work with African governments to provide the funding, governance and talent He invited other businesses to join him in promoting the initiatives. The commitments, spread over 20 years, will fund African governments’ initiatives with proven potentials to transform national economic performance.

Said Aig-Imoukhuede: “African leaders cannot sit back and watch the 4th Industrial Revolution transform the rest of the world while leaving Africa falling further behind. We have to create our own ‘table’ by using technology to unlock the power of our youth, giving Africa a greater voice in the world. It’s today’s leaders who will determine whether or not we grab this opportunity.” The Africa CEO Forum and similar platforms provide ample opportunity for African businesses in general and Nigeria’s companies in particular to deploy the art of business diplomacy to their advantage and to the benefit of the continent. Just as Kigali event was kicking off, Roosevelt Ogbonna, Access Bank's CEO was speaking at Cannes International Film Festival on the importance of Nigeria's film industry and the roles of banks in funding the creativity industry.

Business diplomacy, according to specialists in that area, is the capacity to build and maintain strong relationships with several domestic and international stakeholders to shape and influence the environment and eventually create a favourable business environment and exploit new opportunities. It is an important business tool in today’s globalised markets, and its goal is to create and manage efficient networks of information that allow the company to influence the policy environments in their favour and predict future issues. This is why key African businesses and their partners have been the major sponsors of the CEO Forum, with the 2024 edition backed mainly by the MTN Group; IFC; Access Holdings; The Coronation Group and the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND),  has announced May 24 as official date for the opening of portal for student loan applications.

The Managing Director of NELFUND,  Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this on Thursday  in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the Fund’s Media and Public Relations Lead, Nasir Ayitogo.

Sawyerr said the opening of the portal marked a significant milestone in the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to foster accessible and inclusive education for all Nigerian students.

According to him, through the portal, students could now access loans to pursue their academic aspirations without financial constraints.

He added that the portal provides a user-friendly interface for students to submit their loan applications conveniently.

“We encourage all eligible students to take advantage of this opportunity to invest in their future and contribute to the growth and development of our nation,” he said.

Sawyerr urged students to access the portal on www.nelf.gov.ng to begin application.

[Newsguru]

Popular singer, Oritsefemi, has narrated how his estranged wife Nabila Fash, dealt with him during their marital crisis.

According to the singer, Fash invited about 20 of her female friends to their home to overpower and physically assault him.

In a recent interview, the ‘Double Wahala’ hitmaker stated that he has been unlucky with marriages, claiming that his first wife also dumped him after sponsoring her to Dubai.

“My wife [Nabila Fash] asked her friends to come and beat me up in my house. I said, ‘Look at me o; a whole me, lion na he women dey pursue.’ They were about 20. They dealt with me. I’m not lying,” he said.

Recall that Oritsefemi’s marriage to Nabila Fash hit the rocks in 2022, with Fash accusing the singer of incessant cheating.

In October 2022, Fash officially filed for divorce from Oritsefemi over infidelity and domestic violence.

[Newsguru]

Kwara State Police Command has arrested five health workers over alleged mysterious disappearance of umbilical cord and placenta of a newly born baby in Oke-Ero local government area.

It was gathered that the incident happened at the cottage hospital in Iloffa last Sunday.

The suspects, Daily Trust learnt, who are currently being detained in Ilorin after interrogation on Thursday include one Dr Ajibola, nurses Rukayat Adeloye, Aishat Awolusi, Peace Alabi and Toyin Adewunmi, a ward attendant.

Sources said it took efforts from elders of Odo-Owa community to prevent the restive youths from torching the hospital over the incident.

Speaking on the issue on Friday, the traumatised mother of the baby who teaches English language in Orofa High School,Odo-Owa, Mrs C.B Williams, said she raised the alarm after the doctor and nurses who delivered the baby failed to produce the placenta and umbilical cord.

“Some of their staff started telling me they’re sorry that there was a mistake. The attendant said she had thrown the placenta inside a pit but they could not find it suggesting a dog might have eaten it.

“That was When I flared up with some members of my church who were also present that it’s not possible that they just have to present the placenta”.

Mrs Williams’ father, Mr Rufus Sanya, said he suspected foul play.

“How could an umbilical cord and a placenta of a new baby be missing when we all know the implication?

“I urge the police to do a thorough investigation and unravel the mystery behind this disappearance.That is only when justice would be said to have been served and we would be at peace with ourselves,”he said.

Contacted on Friday, spokeswoman of police command, Ejire-Adeyemi Toun, confirmed the incident, adding that operatives have commenced a discreet investigation into the matter.

[DailyTrust]

A tank farm in Apapa, Lagos State, reportedly owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, has caught fire, according to the Lagos Fire Service.

Margaret Adeseye, Director/CEO of Lagos State Fire Service, explained that the fire stemmed from a spillage of petroleum products within the tank farm’s perimeter.

She emphasised collaborative efforts with multiple emergency responders in the oil and gas industry to mitigate the situation.

Despite the challenges, she reassured that emergency operations are effectively managed to prevent further escalation.

In addition, Amodu Shakiru, spokesperson of the fire service, said the emergency call came in at 11:27 a.m.

He stated that the Iganmu and Ajegunle fire stations promptly responded to the call to prevent the fire from spreading further.

Read also: Incessant tanker fire accidents highlight Nigeria’s poor safety measures

However, Olufemi Soneye, the Corporate Communications Officer at NNPCL, clarified that the fire outbreak did not occur at the NNPC depot.

According to Soneye, the fire outbreak happened at a pipeline belonging to HOGL Energy Limited (formerly known as Honeywell Oil and Gas Limited).

[Businessday]