Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate,  has criticised the federal government’s handling of the health sector and called for immediate reforms to improve access to quality medical care for all Nigerians.

Expressing his views as a guest speaker at the 6th Public Lecture of the Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, held in Awka, Anambra State on Wednesday, Obi pointed out that Nigeria’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking remains low, even after 25 years of democratic governance.

He emphasised that health, particularly life expectancy, is a critical measure of development.

“When you want to measure this Human Development Index, the most critical measure number one is Health – life expectancy.

“Life expectancy as we know today in Nigeria is among the lowest in the world. We are about 65 years, compared to India at about 70, Bangladesh at about 72, Egypt at about 71, and the Philippines at about 70,” Obi stated.

Obi outlined several issues plaguing Nigeria’s healthcare system, such as the country’s minimal functioning primary healthcare facilities, alarmingly high infant mortality rates, that the majority of drugs are imported, making them costly and frequently out of reach for many Nigerians, and the impediments to local drug manufacturing caused by government support gaps and regulatory obstacles.

The former Anambra State governor criticised the government’s approach to healthcare, stating, that the government does not understand what they are supposed to do to help our citizens.

Obi also highlighted the economic impact of poor healthcare.

“Many people with many illnesses can no longer be able to afford treatment. Nigerians now spend more than their income on food because everything has tripled.”

Obi further called for a complete overhaul of the system, emphasising the need for committed and compassionate governance.

He suggested several solutions including, investing in critical areas of healthcare, supporting local drug manufacturing, designing affordable insurance schemes and lifting people out of poverty to enable their participation in healthcare programs, among others.

“We must dismantle this criminality called Nigeria today and make it a country where people will know that they are elected to serve the people and they focus on doing the right thing,” Obi added.

Taking to his X page on Wednesday, Obi added, “Access to quality medicines remains vital for all human beings whether sick or well, who seek medical consultation, and it is proven that 90 per cent of all medical consultations end in one form of prescription or another. Therefore, the availability of quality medicines remains the key armoury for the fight for well-being, while pharmacists remain the armourer.

“The reason we lack quality medicines is due to the same socio-economic problem affecting production in the country, where regulatory agencies now function as revenue collectors rather than as enablers and access to financing is not available or at an excessive rate.

“There is hardly any health insurance regime in place to guarantee access to those who cannot afford immediate cash payments.

“Excruciating poverty and severe economic hardship have also kept functional healthcare and quality medicines out of the reach of the poor. The only medicine our people take now is prayer,” he wrote.

[Businessday]

There aren’t many subject-matters as extensively and persistently discussed as federalism. As a matter of fact, ‘in its original form, the federal idea was theopolitical, defining the relationship between God and man as one in which both were linked by covenant in a partnership designed to make them jointly responsible for the world’s welfare’. Properly understood and in the context of contemporary Nigeria, the restructuring we labour to define, is, in the first instance, the constitutional restoration of federalism, exclusive of geophysical alterations. The latter is not generalisable and can only be speculative at this stage. Who will determine the legitimate representation of proposed mergers and recreations? This problem hacks back to the  fundamental problematic of the Nigerian federation. As in the classic instance of the original thirteen states pooling together to foster the American federation, Nigeria was not formed by Nigerians coming together to form a federation. ‘Nigeria presents an almost classic case of the establishment of a state prior to the existence of a real nation’. According to Richard Sklar, the Federation of Nigeria is one of the few federal governments in history to have evolved from colonial unitary foundations. 

As a generic terminology, restructuring means the restructuring/redistribution of power relations between the two tiers of government namely the national and the coordinate subnational units and implies the abrogation of an autonomous third tier of government. These powers fall in three categories namely exclusive, concurrent and residual. The first category is exclusive to the federal government ie foreign affairs, military, currency etc. The concurrent category refers to those powers that can be concurrently undertaken by the national and the subnational governments, i.e. education, agriculture, communications, etc. Those that are not listed in either category constitute the residual powers and revert solely to the sub-national government. Since 1966, with the facility of military dictatorship, most of these powers have been centralised and are reflected as such in the 1979 and 1999 constitutions and landed us with the prevailing quasi unitary constitution.

Haven championed the cause of the constitutional restoration of federalism before he became the President of Nigeria, there is the renewed expectation that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be readily disposed towards giving effect to the realisation of this expectation. There is also the compelling backdrop of the anarchical security breakdown of Nigeria with which extant security architecture has woefully failed to grapple with. Doubts on his commitment to this restoration began to surface in the course of his Presidential campaign when in deference to the realpolitik of winning the status quo bound Northern Muslim constituency, he had to distance himself from the imperative of constitutional reforms.

The more categorical evidence of his latter stance was the recent instruction to his attorney general, Lateef Fagbemi, to seek the enforcement of local government autonomy as the third tier of government at the Supreme court. 

Instructively and ironically, this was a complete departure from the position he took as the Governor of Lagos over twenty years ago. The abiding rumour is that the fastest way to earn the status of a persona non grata at the Presidential villa these days is to find virtue with federalism. Given the associated pomp and pageantry and the near sovereign powers of the President in the extant Nigerian constitution it is difficult for any non sacrificial Nigerian President not to default on the side of preserving the attendant massive perks and perquisites during his incumbency. 

The bad news is that any proposal for restructuring without the active buy-in of the incumbent President is dead on arrival. The proponents of this constitutional reform are also not helping matters with their deficient advocacy. They give the impression that so-called restructuring is less about the redistribution of powers between the first and second tiers of government and more about inter regional boundary demarcation. In the context of the restoration of federalism, as earlier reiterated, what restructuring means is first and foremost, the restructuring of power relations between the first and second tier of government. If a constitutional amendment towards the devolution and decentralisation of powers were to take place today it can only be effected within the extant structure of the national and the thirty six subnational governments. 

As it is widely known, the constitutional procedure of creating regions or states is through referendum not external proclamation or military diktat. The 1963 prototype constitution, for instance, can only be restored in spirit, not in letters. We can not physically recreate the 1963 constitutional structure. Over the years, these powers have been redistributed  in a trend of increasing centralisation and are heavily skewed against the sub-national governments. A reversal of this trend is the goal of restructuring and geographical restructuring cannot be undertaken pari passu. It can only follow with the conduct of a referendum between/ among the states desirous of merger and recreation. 

The tendency ab initio of placing emphasis on geographical restructuring, therefore, amounts to putting the cart before the horse and plays into the hands of those reducing restructuring to a redrawing of the geophysical map of Nigeria. There is a constitutional provision through which this can be accomplished. Assuming the six states comprising the South West geopolitical zone are desirous of merger. The procedure is that a referendum, first, has to be conducted within the zone to ascertain their support for the merger. This must then be ratified by the 2/3rd concurrence of the rest of the country. You cannot slice and dice the country as it was the case under military dictatorship within which syndrome many of us are still mentally steeped. This mentality is understandable given that for the better part of the amalgamation of Nigeria, the country has been answerable to one dictatorship or another. Be it the dictatorship of colonial rule or that of the Nigerian military. 

“We agree with Jide Osuntokun that “whilst the factors of history and geography more than anything else determined the constitutional evolution of Nigeria, these factors did not determine the shape and form of the Federation that the British helped to create in Nigeria”. What then are the factors that determined the shape and form of the Nigerian federation? 

Federalism as Tragedy 

Much of the argument and debate on the “Restructuring of Nigeria” has followed from the confusion, arbitrariness and illogic attendant on the emergence of Nigeria as a country. Other than the concern with the bureaucratic administration of a large expanse of an African territory, a war booty, that accrued to the British from the Berlin conference, the British colonialists had no vision or template whatsoever for the sociopolitical development of Nigeria.  What had happened to Nigeria in the interim is what is largely understood in the Internet age as ‘cut and paste’. Following this irrationality, (the mistake of 1914) discussions on the constitutional development of Nigeria has had little to do with reason or rhythm. I have forgotten the Latin expression but the English translation is that you cannot build something on nothing. Thereby, the originating tragedy of Nigeria is that those who conceived Nigeria and brought Nigeria into being knew that it was an ill conceived child. 

Over the years, the tendency in the debate over the restoration of federalism is the adversarial communication between those in support and those opposed in a situation in which the ayes need the collaboration of the nays to realise the objective. This adversity is integral to the foundational amalgamation of Nigeria where Frederick Lugard adopted one half of the country as its protégé while his relationship with the other half was governed by malice and exploitation 

This was how Lugard described the Southern genetic in the Nigerian baby they had given birth to in a letter to his wife on 9 December, 1916: “These people here are seditious and rotten to the core… the people of Lagos are the lowest, the most seditious and disloyal, the most prompted by pure self-seeking money motives of any people I have met.” Lugard would further characterize Nigeria as a marriage between the “rich wife of substance and means” (the South) and the “poor husband” (the North) would lead to a happy life for both. Subsequently, this fundamental bias was the answer towards which the constitutional development of Nigeria was dedicated

Consistent with this ideology, ‘the final date of independence was fixed not only to accommodate the Northern Region in respect of its own date of self-government in 1959 but also to enable the leaders to agree to certain provisions in the Constitution whereby the Northern Region has been assured of a predominating voice in the Federal Government…Accordingly, the Northern Representatives in the Federal House of Representatives are in a numerical majority (174 out of 313 ). The constitution safeguards adequately this numerical superiority since a constitutional amendment to alter the regional boundaries or to create new states would require the virtual consent of the whole country and in particular the people most intimately affected. In other words, the constitution cannot be changed to the disadvantage of the North without its consent”. The late distinguished international legal scholar and first attorney general of Nigeria, Dr Taslim Olawale Elias made the point on the floor of the Nigerian house of representatives in 1962-“I think I would remind you that the only region, perhaps in practice not in theory, it may be difficult for the house to secure a two thirds majority to deal with is the Northern region”

‘The creation of the Midwest region in 1963, while giving satisfaction to ethnic-minority aspirations in the old Western region, intensified the overall imbalance in the structure of the Federation”. Were the Northern Christian minorities to have been carved out of the Northern region; the Eastern minorities extracted from the Eastern Region and the Yoruba minorities that preponderantly populate Kwara and Kogi restored to the Western region, the cause of parity would have been better served. In the event, the Northern and Eastern regions collaborated to weaken the Western region. “This imbalance played a large role in bringing about the collapse of the First Republic and the imposition of military rule in January 1966” 

Ideally, Nigeria shouldn’t have been a country to begin with but if it must, the irreducible minimum is a robust federalism. It is with particular regards to instances like Nigeria that Federalism is construed as ‘tragedy’. ‘Identifying Federalism as tragedy is intended to make the point that it is a response mechanism to political conflict not an optimal strategy. It is a suboptimal compromise in the effort to defuse real and potential situations of conflict and ensure that such situations degenerate into less attractive possibilities’¹ 

A former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, hosted the Presidential Candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, at his residence in Abuja on Thursday.

This meeting follows closely after El-Rufai’s visit to former President, Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, Katsina State, which has fueled speculations about his current political alignments and intentions. 

Despite being a prominent chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), El-Rufai’s recent interactions with figures from various opposition parties have caught the attention of political analysts and the public alike.

In March, El-Rufai also made headlines with his visit to the national chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja, indicating a possible reevaluation of his political affiliations.

This comes after a setback earlier in the year when El-Rufai, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was overlooked for a ministerial position in President Bola Tinubu’s government, reportedly due to a failed security clearance by the Senate.

Following his exclusion from the ministerial list, El-Rufai had briefly moved abroad and stepped away from the political spotlight.

His return to Nigeria and subsequent resumption of public appearances, including the recent visit to the SDP’s national secretariat, have reignited discussions about his future role in Nigerian politics.

Commenting on these developments, Shehu Sani, a former Senator from Kaduna Central, suggested that El-Rufai’s visits, along with those of other northern politicians to Buhari, might be part of a broader strategy aimed at repositioning for the 2027 elections, possibly hinting at challenges to President Tinubu’s administration.

[NaijaNews]

Total domestic and foreign portfolio transactions in Nigeria’s equity market amounted to N355.38 billion in May 2024.

This was revealed in the latest Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment report of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

Monthly, the NGX polls trading figures from market operators on their Domestic and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) flows.

The total volume of transactions at the nation’s bourse increased by 2.63 per cent from N346.23 billion (about $224.78 million) in April 2024 to N355.38 billion (about $230,73 million) in May 2024.

In comparison to May 2023, which recorded N322.92 billion, total domestic and foreign portfolio transactions increased by 10 per cent in May 2024.

In May 2024, Domestic Investors with a total transaction of N231.10 billion outpaced Foreign Investors’ transactions of N124.28 billion by 85.9 per cent.

However, total domestic transactions increased by 2.52 per cent from N225.40 billion in April to N231.10 billion in May 2024.

Total foreign transactions increased by 2.85 per cent from N120.83 billion (about $78.45 million) to N124.28 billion (about $80.69 million) between April 2024 and May 2024.

Also, Institutional Investors with a total volume of transactions of N117.57 billion outperformed Retail Investors with a total volume of transactions of N113.53 billion by 3.56 per cent.

The institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 5.66 per cent from N124.63 billion in April 2024 to N117.57 billion in May 2024.

[Leadereship]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and governors of the 36 states of the federation yesterday kept quiet on the issue of minimum wage after a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC).

Millions of Nigerians and members of the organised labour had expected that the federal government and the states would take a position on the matter, which has dragged since the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, the day Tinubu took over power, and the expiration of the N30,000 minimum wage agreed on in 2019.

The NEC meeting, statutorily chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, was attended by President Tinubu yesterday, a development that raised the hope of keen watchers of the development that there was the likelihood that the threshold of the new minimum wage expected will be put to rest.

It would be recalled that the 37-member Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage, led by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Bukar Aji, had submitted its report to President Tinubu weeks ago, after about five months of sittings.

During his Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2024, President Tinubu had said that a consensus had been reached, and that a proposal would be submitted to the National Assembly.

But the organised labour countered the president, saying they were not privy to any agreement.

At about the same time, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) rejected the N62,000 minimum wage earlier proposed by the federal government, explaining that some states would have to borrow to pay salaries if the amount was implemented.

At present, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are insisting on N250,000 as minimum wage.

On Tuesday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) stepped down the memo about the planned new minimum wage for workers in the country.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said this was necessary to allow the president to further consult with other stakeholders on the issue as it involves local governments, states, the federal government and the organised private sector.

The latest development

After the NEC meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday, there was no mention of minimum wage as governors who briefed the press did not entertain questions.

Instead, President Tinubu approved a ‘one-off’ allocation to states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of N10 billion for the procurement of buses and CNG “uplift programme”.

This was part of a new intervention tagged “National Construction and Household Support Programme”.

In a statement, presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said the programme includes the “Delivery of N50,000 uplift grants each to 100,000 families per state for three months, and provision for labour unions and civil society organisations.

According to him, there would be “Deployment of N155 billion for the purchase and sale of assorted foodstuff to be distributed across the nation”.

The statement said the programme was expected to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy by creating opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, as well as provide urgent economic relief for Nigerians.

It said road infrastructure projects, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is underway, and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Abuja, would be prioritised.

President Tinubu also approved full counterpart financing for Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway; to traverse Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno states, as well as for the Ibadan-Abuja segment of the Lagos-Kano Standard-Gauge Railway; which will traverse Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Abuja, Kaduna, and Kano.

“The Sokoto-Badagry road project is specially prioritised for its importance as some of the states it will traverse are strategic to the agricultural sustainability of the nation,” the statement said.

Addressing the governors during the NEC meeting, President Tinubu urged them to work together to meet the needs of citizens, stating that he was willing to provide the needed support to ensure that Nigerians were relieved of hardship.

“Our states must work together to deliver on the critical reforms required of us to meet the needs of our people. Time is humanity’s most precious asset. You can never have enough of it. It is getting late.

“We are prepared to provide solar powered irrigation facilities to support our farmers across seasons, but we must now produce. We must produce the food our people eat, and it will require coordination and intentionality between members of the National Economic Council (NEC).

“There is nothing we are doing that is more important than producing high-quality food for our people to consume, buy, and sell. We create jobs in the production of it. And that is before we generate wealth by exporting the excess. It is not beyond us to achieve this for Nigerians.

“How much support do you need from me and in what form? I am prepared to provide it. But we must achieve the result. We must deliver on our targets at all levels. Please report back following your consultations and submit to my office within seven days,” President Tinubu said.

On the other hand, after their meeting which started on Wednesday night and went into the early hours of Thursday, the governors said they agreed to “continue engaging with key stakeholders to reach a mutually agreeable solution.”

This was revealed in a communiqué signed by NGF’s acting Director, Media, Ahmed Salihu.

They also assured Nigerians and the organised labour that better minimum wage will result from ongoing negotiations.

Daily Trust recalled that during a similar NEC meeting in August 2023, the federal government approved N5 billion grant to be given to each of the 36 states of the federation for the procurement of grains as well as five trucks of rice to each state as palliatives to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

The NEC also approved the distribution of 40,000 bags of maize to be distributed to states.

But months after the announcement, there was public outcry in many states, with some residents saying they did not receive the palliatives, while others said what they got barely took care of the family for a day.

Speaking on Trust TV’s Daily Politics Programme last night, a public commentator, Hon. Ikenna Azomchine, faulted the approach of the federal government in mitigating the sufferings of Nigerians.

He said palliatives would never solve the problems of Nigerians, saying the Tinubu administration must come up with deliberate policy to address hunger and insecurity.

[DailyTrust]

Humanitarian crisis in Niger State has worsened, with thousands of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, struggling to survive.

DAILY POST reports that the IDPs, in various camps in three local governments of Shiroro, Munya, and Rafi, are living in deplorable conditions.

Mostly women and children, they were forced to flee their homes due to violent attacks from bandits and Boko Haram extremists in the Northern region.

Apart from poor housing within the IDPs camps, a gross violation of their rights and poor sanitation, they are also facing inadequate access to basic necessities like food, water, as well as healthcare.

It was further observed that owing to insufficient food, malnutrition is rampant, with many children suffering from stunting and poor hygiene.

The spread of diseases such as cholera and diarrhea has also been blamed on inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities.

During a visit to the camps in Rafi Local Government Area, as well as Gwada and Kuta in Shiroro Local Government Area, the IDPs, who are majorly farmers, decried neglect and ill treatment meted on them by the state government, with no source of livelihood to enable them cater for their families.

“We don’t know when the government is going to put an end to these security challenges that have dislodged us from our homes and farmlands.

“That is why we are asking the government to relocate us by getting us another place where we can start our lives all over.

“Because, as it is, bandits and Boko Haram members have taken over many of our communities. Our people are presently scattered across various LGs in the state and even many other neighbouring states,” some of the victims told our correspondent.

They observed with dismay the housing situation which they described as appalling, with overcrowding, no privacy or personal space, insufficient food, no beddings, leading to discomfort and health issues.

Speaking on the difficult conditions being experienced by the IDPs at the Kuta camp, the Shiroro LG, IDP Desk Officer and Coordinator, Yusuf Bala Kuta, in an interview during a visit to the camp, listed lack of adequate food provision as the major problem facing the victims.

According to him, currently, 50 malnourished children were receiving medical treatment due to inadequate food for breastfeeding mothers in the camp, just as many children have no access to education.

The Deck Officer stated that the camp has on record over 5,000 IDPs, out of which a total of 1,119 are women, 2,511 children, 87 men, including 38 women and their husbands from Zamfara State.

“This IDPs camp was established in 2019 and we have victims from 42 communities from three LGs.

“We have eight blocks of classrooms at the Central Primary School, Kuta, for the IDPs. The centre caters for over 5,000 IDPs, out of which almost 4,000 sleep in the camp.

“About 80 persons are cramped in a room, while others sleep outside the camp. The situation is not easy for the victims as they have no sources of livelihood,” he lamented.

He added that, “the IDPs are suffering because their communities have been burnt down by bandits or Boko Haram sect.

“Some of them are sick and currently in the hospital and we don’t have adequate drugs.

“That is why we are calling on the state government and other relevant authorities to come to our aid.

“However, we thank the Nigerian Red Cross for the recent support.”

An IDP at the Kuta camp, Ahmed Al-Mustapha from Bassa community noted that since the military vacated their communities, the criminals have continued to unleash attacks on a daily basis.

“Currently, the Boko Haram members, who are attacking and slaughtering our people, are demanding that we should vacate our lands totally,” he lamented.

Also, a widow, Hasiya Shuaibu disclosed that during the last attack that claimed the life of her husband, there was no military presence in their community, except local vigilantes who could not face the criminals.

“We are left to our fate to defend ourselves and that’s why we are calling for the government’s commitment to end insecurity,” the widow said.

According to the mother of one of the malnourished children, Halima Musa, “we need help from the government; there is not enough food to feed our children and it’s affecting their health.

“Government should come to our aid. As I am talking to you, our children are out of school because we don’t have money to send them to school.”

When contacted on the condition of the IDPs in the state, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Alh Baba Suleiman Yumu said over 42,000 IDPs were housed across the three most affected LGs of Shiroro, Munya and Rafi, even as about 75 communities were affected.

“The State Government has been doing its best in providing succor for the affected victims within available resources and will continue to do more,” he stated.

Similarly, the Public Relations Officer, PRO, Niger State Emergency Management Agency, NSEMA, Hussani Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of the Director General, Alh Abdullahi Baba Arah expressed the commitment of the Governor Mohammed Umar Bago’s administration in according priority to the welfare and wellbeing of those in need, particularly during emergencies.

Ibrahim revealed that recently relief food items were distributed to the IDPs, adding that the agency was working round the clock to attend to their needs.

[DailyPost]

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede has ordered the arrest of two officers of the commission allegedly involved in the manhandling of a female staff of Regional Hotel, Ojo, Lagos State.

Olukoyede also directed a detailed investigation of the incident.

According to a statement by the Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the chairman assured that anyone found guilty will be disciplined.

“The EFCC’s boss has also ordered detailed investigations of the operation carried out at the hotel and assured that appropriate disciplinary measures would be taken against any of the officers found culpable.

“Olukoyede assures the public that the EFCC would continue to ply its job professionally and with profound respect for the rule of law.”

[TheNation]

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday gave all the state governors seven days to provide concrete feedback on their plans to rev up food production in their respective states.

Tinubu gave the directive at the 142nd National Economic Council meeting attended by state governors and some deputies at the State House, Abuja.

He also announced a National Construction and Household Support Programme which will see 100,000 families in each state getting N50,000 grant for three months, N155bn to be disbursed for assorted foods, N540bn for household grants even as 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory will get N10bn allocations each for CNG buses.

The N50,000 planned for 3.7 million families across the 36 states and the FCT, the N10bn allocation each for CNG buses in the 36 states and the FCT, as well as the N155bn spending on assorted foods, are estimated to cost over N1tn.

While emphasising the urgency of boosting food production in the country, the President urged state governors to work together to meet the needs of citizens, stating his willingness to provide the needed support to ensure that Nigerians are relieved of hardship.

“We must deliver on our targets at all levels. Please report back following your consultations and submit it to my office within seven days.

“How much support do you need from me and in what form? I am prepared to provide it. But we must achieve the result.

“There is nothing we are doing that is more important than producing high-quality food for our people to consume, buy, and sell. We create jobs in the production of it. And that is before we generate wealth by exporting the excess. It is not beyond us to achieve this for Nigerians,” he said.

The President’s comments followed multiple economic challenges rocking the country. High inflation driven by the removal of fuel subsidies and exchange rate depreciation reached 27 per cent year-on-year in October 2023.

This price surge, coupled with high food insecurity has exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis, leaving Nigerians struggling to afford necessities.

Despite adopting significant policy reforms like fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification, the challenges of poverty, stalled per-capita growth, and a weak business environment persist and are compounded by external pressures such as global food price surges and geopolitical uncertainties.

At Thursday’s NEC meeting, Tinubu announced new plans to boost agricultural productivity, strengthen the economy by creating opportunities in the real sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and construction, and provide urgent economic relief for Nigerians.

This includes the immediate rollout of the National Construction and Household Support Programme to cover all geo-political zones in the country.

“Under the programme, the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, which will traverse Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, is prioritised,” according to a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale.

The statement is titled, ‘President Tinubu urges governors to meet target on food security; approves immediate rollout of national construction and household support programme.’

The programme also prioritises other road infrastructure projects, such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is underway and the Trans-Saharan Highway, which links Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa and Abuja.

Tinubu also approved full counterpart financing for Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Railway; to traverse Rivers, Abia, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno, as well as for the Ibadan-Abuja segment of the Lagos-Kano Standard-Gauge Railway; which will traverse Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Niger, Abuja, Kaduna, and Kano.

Ngelale noted that the programme would especially prioritise the Sokoto-Badagry road project “For its importance as some of the states it will traverse are strategic to the agricultural sustainability of the nation.”

Explaining the rationale for the project, the Presidency said, “Within the Sokoto-Badagry Highway corridor, there are 216 agricultural communities, 58 large and medium dams spread across six states, seven Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, 156 local government areas, 39 commercial cities and towns, and over 1 million hectares of arable land.”

Other items under the National Construction and Household Support Programme include: “One-off allocation to states and the Federal Capital Territory of N10bn for the procurement of buses and CNG uplift programme.

“Delivery of N50,000 uplift grant each to 100,000 families per state for three months—provision for labour unions and civil society organisations. 

“Deployment of N155bn for the purchase and sale of assorted foodstuff to be distributed across the nation.”

Tinubu is attending the National Economic Council meeting, often chaired by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, for the first time.

NEC was expected to deliberate on the new minimum wage given the president’s decision to step down the proposal of the National Minimum Wage Committee at Tuesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting to allow for more consultations with necessary stakeholders, including the state governors, all of whom are members of the NEC.

The president had said he would only submit a new national minimum wage to the national assembly for passage into law after such talks.

However, council members who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting were silent on the minimum wage matter.

Announcing the resolutions reached, the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari, who joined the governors of Imo, Kano and Kogi to brief correspondents, revealed that the federal government has approved a $1bn agriculture mechanisation programme that will set up 1000 agro-sector service providers across the country with tractors.

He explained, “We’ll have a minimum of 2000 tractors a year for the next five years and all other aggregation of agricultural commodities is going to be utilized at least nothing less than 600,000 youths to man these 1000 service centres.”

Kyari noted that the elaborate plan is an arrangement with John Deere and Tata to provide 2000 tractors before the end of the year. They will be rolled out as soon as is feasible, he said, adding that the project was approved by the Federal Executive Council last Tuesday.

According to Kyari, the Greener Imperative Project, which he said was still in the works, is a €950m project that will soon be unveiled.

Kyari revealed that the FG was anticipating another deal with Belarus Tractors to supply 2000 tractors per year for the next five years, with 9000 implements and spare parts, among others.

The agriculture minister also said Saudi Arabia had expressed interest in providing 200,000 metric tons of red meat every year and 1 million tonnes of soya from Nigeria.

“We have already last week had a meeting with our entrepreneurs and we have come out with a roadmap where we can supply and satisfy that demand.

“We are looking at partnership with foreign governments, not necessarily trying to ask them to come and invest, but asking them what can we produce so that we can sell to you so that we can earn foreign exchange,” he added.

In his remarks, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State said that the NEC directed the sub-committee on crude oil theft right provide comprehensive recommendations to end the menace during the next meeting.

Uzodinma said that even though the sub-committee was expected to submit its report during Thursday’s meeting, “it was inconclusive.”

Meanwhile, Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State announced the constitution of the board of the Niger Delta Power Holding, which he said had operated for a long time without a supervising board.

He revealed that it is made up of governors of Borno, Katsina, Imo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Akwa Ibom states representing the different geo-political zones.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, spoke of the activation of the Presidential Food Systems coordinating unit chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima

[Punch]

JULIAN Assange, an innocent man walked out of an American-staged court this Monday, June 24, a free man after spending1901 harrowing days in British captivity. He spent those hellish days in the British Belmarsh maximum security prison in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day. Not even a dog deserves such inhuman treatment.

The sin of Assange is that he is the Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks which exposed the war crimes, especially by the United States, in Iraq; human rights abuses, corruption and serial lies by the powerful. This was before Donald Trump, who told 21 lies for everyday he was American President, made falsehood a state policy.

The dehumanisation of Assange and holding him hostage, negated the fundamental teachings of the West on journalism. One is that facts are sacred. But for them, facts are harmful and should be teleguided by nuclear missiles of lies. Another is that: ‘It is the business of government to keep its secrets secret, and the business of the press to expose those secrets’. But for Western powers like Britain and the US, the public should know only what the government wants it to know. To them, a press that keeps the people informed is an enemy of the state. In fact, as is the case of Assange, a journalist who exposes what government wants covered up is no different from a spy, and should be so treated.

The West used to claim it stood by the truth; didn’t the Holy Scriptures state that: “ Thou shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”? But we now know that as far as the powerful are concerned, ‘Thou shall know the truth, and the truth shall send you to prison.’

A hostage of Western hypocrisy, the attempt to destroy Assange physically and mentally is a testimony to the lies  of Western press freedom, justice and commitment to human rights.

In the gathering of Western cocks led by the United States and Britain, Assange was essentially, a cockroach pleading his innocence. Only a miracle could save him as he had been held hostage by British Prime Ministers David Cameroon, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Britain acted at the behest of US Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

In their mindless attempts to break Assange, the Western powers violated Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

They also raped several articles of the Declaration, including the fundamental right to the dignity of human person; freedom of thought, conscience, movement, fair hearing, personal liberty and family life.

Also, Britain, the jailor, violated its own laws, including its Human Rights Act 1998 which guarantees the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.

Similarly, the US violated the First Amendment of its Constitution which states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Although Assange spent five years in British prison, in all, he spent 14 years in that country mostly fighting against extradition to Sweden for what, in my view, were bizarre cases of suspected rape and alleged sexual molestation.

He had visited Sweden in 2010 during which two Swedish women, Ms. Annan Ardin, 31, in whose home he lived, and Miss W, a staff of Wikileaks, discovered he was simultaneously sleeping with them. The latter complained that on an occasion, he had unprotected sex with her and, Miss Ardin recalled that the condom broke while they were having sex. The ladies demanded that Assange took a test for sexually transmitted infections. But he allegedly declined on the basis that he hadn’t the time.

So, on August 20, 2010, the ladies went to the police to compel him. But the police said it could not do so unless there was a criminal aspect. The case was then reported as alleged rape and sexual assault. The latter complaint arose from Miss Ardin also claiming that Assange had one morning, exposed himself to her, and went on to rub his body against her. To Swedish authorities, such an act amounted to Assange having “deliberately molested” her. The complainants agreed they had consensual sex with Assange, but they had not consented to unprotected sex. Assange was interviewed by the police.

Twenty seven days after the complaint and on the legal advice that he was free to travel, he left for London. Same day, he was arrested in his absence. A European Arrest Warrant was issued and extradition proceedings initiated.

However, Assange, who the US was trying to arrest for exposing its classified secrets, said it was “actually an attempt to get me into a jurisdiction which will then make it easier to extradite me to the US.” He asked Sweden for guarantees that he would not be extradited to the US, but the latter declined. So for seven years, he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

While Britain held Assange, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that Britain and Sweden were holding Assange in arbitrary detention. Sweden, in 2019, dropped the charges against him, but Britain continued holding him until June 24, 2024 when under arrangement with the US, he was granted bail, taken before an American judge and sentenced to time already served in British prison.

The release of Assange and return to his Australian home is a victory for press freedom and fundamental human rights. It shows that no matter how long dark clouds seize the sky, sooner or later, the sun will shine.

In expressing solidarity with him and the millions across the world who campaigned for his release, I specially salute his wife, Stella, a Swedish-Spanish lawyer and human rights defender. Apart from standing firmly by his side, she showed remarkable commitment, taking care of their children, Gabriel and Max, while he was in prison.

The couple had met while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy. So, this will be the first time the family will be meeting from the prying eyes of prison guards.

Assange has been prised out of the hands of the powerful. But the hounds are still out there waiting to snap journalists who dare publish the truth and make governments uncomfortable.

It took the conviction of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, for me to conclude that the most significant thing that would happen to the United States of America is for Donald Trump to return to the White House.

When Hunter Biden was found guilty of lying about drug use while buying a gun, his father issued a statement saying he was disappointed at the outcome of the trial but that he still had confidence in the jury system. What kind of nonsense statement is that?

When Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records, he did what every sensible and responsible man would do. He attacked the prosecutors, judge, jury, and the city where the trial took place. He said if he had the power, he would have moved the trial to a city where he could get a fair trial and not New York City littered with sinners, Trump haters, and socialists.

I am already preparing for Trump’s second coming.

I have checked how many people a train from Chicago to Los Angeles can transport in one trip. It turns out that it will take 1000 people at once. I checked the Boston to Los Angeles route, too. I’m figuring out how long it will take Donald Trump to deport 14 million illegal immigrants in America back to Latin America.

Because I am compassionate, I thought about collateral damages. I calculated how many people real Americans would harass, attack, and kill in the process.

I used the figures of how many people died during the partition of India in 1947. I know it won’t be anything like that. But I didn’t want to use a conservative estimate on possible deaths and displacements. In India, over one million people died, and 10 – 20 million people were displaced.

Even though I do not expect a number like that, I am sure the United States can live with casualties of that magnitude. After all, during the US Civil War, over 620,000 died out of a population of about 32 million. With a population of 333 million today, the US can afford to lose 6 million people, which is today’s equivalent of the Civil War casualty. We can have another 30 million displaced without any problem.

The most important thing is that the collateral damages would be worth it. I saw empty houses that would open up in Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other cities all over America. Home prices will drop, and our fellow MAGA, who now works at Wal-Mart, will have houses to buy. There would be ten million job openings. Companies will offer a minimum wage of $50 an hour to toilet cleaners, and school teachers will make six figures in Alabama.

For those worried about where replacement workers will come from, with abortion banned across America, saving 626,000 babies each year, real blue-blood American children would be born all over the country. I see the end of people from despicable countries coming to America to give birth so that their children would become US citizens.

For those nincompoops who still oppose the return of Donald Trump, let me remind you of one divine part that you have not considered.

Like Jesus Christ, Donald Trump left his father’s paradise in New York, where he shepherded his father’s business to greatness to come down to our level and serve us mere humans. You know how Jesus fed 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish; in 1975, Trump’s father gave him a loan of $60.7 million (about $600 million in today’s dollars). He turned that meager amount into the billions of dollars we now see at Trump universities, airlines, vodka, steaks, magazines, casinos, resorts, and hotels from New York to New Jersey, Florida, Scotland, and Moscow.

Like Jesus, Trump decided to put his life on the line to defeat the deep state and all its tributaries, including the original military-industrial complex, the woke gang, and the sneaky BLM. America must not miss this opportunity to reconcile with their founding fathers and the original saliva of their mouths, the living text of their constitution, and the patented pleasant smell of their farts.

As one of those wretched of this earth poisoning the blue blood of America, I have looked at this matter of Donald J. Trump critically. From all that I learned from the shithole country where I was born, I can say without any equivocation that Donald Trump is the man that America needs at this time.

Please don’t come for my head yet. I will explain in a moment.

You see, some people live in America, but they do not see America. They can correctly spell America but not see the letter k in it. The so-called decline of America has been nothing but the inability of its citizens to embrace the true American essence, which Trump epitomizes.

American essence is not just a perpetual performance of an experiment on the sustainability of the “government of the people for the people and by the people.” It is, more importantly, a constant renewal of the bold and brave DNA that inspired the founders of the United States to cross seven seas and seven rivers to arrive at God’s own country built on the shining mountain.

Who else embodies this divine invocation other than Donald Trump? Who else exhumes that childlike naivety that drives great explorers of yore? Who else spews the bombastic confidence of the dragon slayers who chart new paths along dreaded frontiers full of vicious natives? Who else massages his own ego in the worship of a thirsty Id? How else do you make a great leader? Where else in Western civilization can you find a leader willing to turn some of his people into expendable for the good of all?

To renew the American hope, you need to enslave some Americans to do the kind of work that enslaved Africans did for 400 years. There is just no other way. Don’t listen to what liberals and socialists say.

Our forefathers were right. When it is time for a dog to die, placing heaps of feces on its path will not stop it from proceeding at maximum speed to where a car will knock it down.

I am ready to welcome Donald J. Trump back to the White House on January 20, 2025. I will be a CNN analyst that day, helping Americans understand what Trump’s 2nd term in office will look like. I will tell them the kind of things liberals and socialists told Germans in the 1930s. These were things Germans did not listen to and later regretted.

After several false starts, America is finally getting it right. Things that killed other great empires before America are not finally going to kill her. Thanks to Trump. Only Trump is going to stop what was written from being fulfilled.

Please correct me if I am right.

Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Post-Colonial African History, Afrodiasporan Literature, and African Folktales at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is also the host of the Dr. Damages Show. His books include “This American Life Sef” and “Children of a Retired God,” among others. His upcoming book is called “Why I’m Disappointed in Jesus.”