In stagecraft, ventriloquism stands out as one of the most entertaining and yet peculiar types of comedic performances. A lifeless puppet or dummy is placed on the thigh of a ventriloquist who inserts his hand into the body of the puppet. The ventriloquist mumbles words and creates a false illusion that the lifeless dummy is the one talking while it is, in fact, the ventriloquist that is secretly moving the lips of the dummy.

In his book titled ‘The Art of Ventriloquism: How to Throw Your Voice’ George Callahan teaches how to misdirect. The dummy has no mind of its own. It is an inanimate object incapable of imagination, speech, or motion but is still able to entertain an audience.

Enter Sam Oritsetimeyin Omatseye, the chairman of the editorial board of The Nation Newspaper owned by Bola A. Tinubu. To the undiscerning, Omatseye is a columnist who uses flowery language to express his opinion on topical issues. But a closer look would reveal to the discerning mind that this so-called writer is nothing but a puppet of his ventriloquist, Bola Tinubu.

In Omatseye, Tinubu has emerged the perfect puppet master pulling the strings and diverting attention from himself. This 63-year-old who ought to be a role model to the younger generation of journalists has sadly left his body and soul to the control of Tinubu, his master.

The sad part is that no one is spared from his vitriol. In June 2011, he penned a libellous article titled, ‘Awo Family Without an Awo’, where he launched an attack against the revered family of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his wife, HID.

“This woman whom Awo once described as the jewel of inestimable value has lost value to his cause. If he came back to life, he would have committed the extraordinary act of divorce after death. Even his newspaper, The Tribune, has so stumbled and fallen that it swims in Awo’s vomit,” he infamously wrote.

The baleful article was crafted to diminish the legacy of Chief Awolowo just because many believed that Tinubu – the man who forfeited $460,000 to US authorities for alleged drug trafficking – was not worthy enough to tie Awolowo’s shoe laces yet alone compare to his matchless legacy.

During the last election, this same cantankerous writer described the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, as ‘Obituary’ because Obi dared to contest against his master.

His latest tirades are now directed towards former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Governor Nasir el-Rufai. Omatseye attacks Atiku weekly just because he seeks to run for office, which is his constitutional right.

Omatseye also pours invectives on el-Rufai and his children just because Tinubu suspects that he, the former Kaduna governor, still harbours a grudge since his controversial removal from his (Tinubu’s) ministerial list.

This unscrupulous writer is not bothered about the latest report by the United Nations that 82 million Nigerians will go hungry by 2030. He is unnerved by the fact that in Kaduna, Katsina, and Kano, bakeries are shutting down because food has been priced beyond the reach of the poor.

Omatseye is not bothered by the fact that over 20 million Nigerian children are out of school. He has no qualms about the exit of multinationals and the resulting job losses. He is unperturbed by the insecurity that claims hundreds of lives on a monthly basis, which has forced farmers to flee and contributed to the 40% spike in food inflation.

This agent of distraction sees no evil in the fact that a woman who was denied a fresh term in the Lagos State House of Assembly after hoarding COVID-19 palliatives meant for the poor has been smuggled back as one of the managers of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSTIF) which holds billions of naira on behalf of workers.

Omatseye’s only assignment, like the puppet he is, is to distract the public. His duty is to attack Tinubu’s opponents merely because they dare to exist. But Tinubu needs to put an end to the charade. Even the feeble minded are aware that Sam Omatseye is only a weapon, an attack dog at best who takes a cue from the whistle of his master.

Unfortunately for Omatseye, once the stage play is over and the curtain is drawn, the ventriloquist will throw the dummy into the attic where it gathers dust. Were Tinubu proud of Omatseye, he would have treated him the way a mentor treats his protégé. He would have appointed him information minister or presidential spokesman or he would have put him in charge of the National Orientation Agency or the News Agency of Nigeria but even Tinubu knows that a puppet can never be fit to become a ventriloquist’s apprentice hence Omatseye has remained stagnant as chairman of The Nation’s editorial board since 2006.

Paul Ibe is the Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar, Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023).

Each time the issue of cutting costs of governance is raised, most attention goes to the public officials’ salaries and allowances, including their retinue of aides and vehicles. Another popular area of focus is the Steve Orosanye Report which recommended pruning down the number of ministerial departments and agencies by scrapping or merging some of them.

 No doubt, these two instances are valid, especially given the prevailing dire economic situation in Nigeria. But there is yet another critical aspect that is mostly overlooked.

 That is the menace of abandoned projects. It is largely downplayed in national discourse yet it portends a great threat to the infrastructural and economic development of any nation.

 Among other several causes, lack of funding, poor budgeting, litigations and corruption account for project abandonment. Similarly, its numerous effects include creating avenues for economic wastage, providing hide-outs for insecurity or criminality as well as breeding grounds for dangerous animals and then propagating poor environmental aesthetics and hygiene. Abandoned health facility projects are a threat to the lives of the citizenry. Abandoned educational projects deprive the citizens of the opportunities to develop and enhance their living standards. Then, of course, the implications of abandoned roads, housing and electricity as well as industrial developmental projects are numerous.

 Put succinctly, abandoned projects constitute wasted opportunities for national development.

 Hence, a responsive government does not play politics or pay lip service to this issue of great concern. A people-oriented government is dispassionately concerned about employment and wealth creation opportunities including in some cases, lives, lost due to the absence of these basic amenities. It is not certainly about politics or about who initiated the projects. It is about the intentions and inherent benefits for the economy or end-users.

 This is the reason well-meaning Nigerians lauded the recent decision of the 10th Senate to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the reported case of 11,866 projects abandoned by the federal government since Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Not just, perhaps, since this republic, but since 1960!

 The question on every lip was: why would successive governments allow such a humongous waste of public resources to grow to this alarming level?

 One can only imagine the amount of money that will be saved and invested productively if only the government can deploy sufficient will to make a policy against initiating fresh projects in sectors where there are existing abandoned ones.

 For instance, a forward-thinking governor should identify and seek to complete abandoned projects in their domain that are of strategic socio-economic importance. It does not matter whether they were initiated by the federal government or previous state governments. This they can do either through partnership or requesting a refund upon completion. In an extreme case, they can approach the federal government with a request to convert such abandoned projects to state use, depending on their natures.

 Hence, the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, recently earned widespread approvals for demonstrating a high level of strategic thinking and prudence in governance. He offered to collaborate with the Nigerian Communications Commission to see to the completion of the Digital Bridge Institute which was abandoned for over a decade along the Ibagwa-Ugwuogo-Opi-Nsukka Road in the state.

 This project was proposed to become the South-East training centre for manpower and expertise in the communications industry.

 It was facilitated by Senator Gilbert Nnaji. Motivated by emerging superior opportunities, he sought to make it the Southeast campus of the first African University of Information and Communication Technology. A bill on his name to that effect was ongoing before the termination of the 8th Senate.

 Meanwhile, this visionary initiative received an impetus from the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The then Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, had announced that “we already have the Digital Bridge Institute, which is for short-term training programmes in six locations across the country and we will transform this institute into the ICT University of Nigeria. This unique university will, by God’s grace, take off effectively in September 2017 and will be run as a Public Private Partnership with the best business and entrepreneurship models.”

 He added, “I have engaged with several stakeholders at the international level – Facebook, Motorola and Ericson – and I am still talking to more stakeholders. We are encouraging them to come and adopt the respective university campuses as their own. I am happy to report that this project is receiving a global boost and endorsement. The committee set up has been working round the clock on the realisation of this objective, and has indeed submitted its final report. A vice chancellor and other senior officials will soon be appointed”. He was later to visit Enugu to ascertain the viability of the project.

 Nine years down the line, nothing has happened. Again, after eight years of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and one year of Peter Mbah respectively as governors of Enugu State, the project remained abandoned, despite being almost completed. Instructively, the project got to its present stage of completion when Sullivan Chime was concluding his second term in office.

 This informed the accolades that trailed Peter Mbah’s display of uncommon will and acumen. As a progressive-minded leader, he saw the overriding need to recover the wasted opportunities and create more, for the oncoming generations by extending a hand of fellowship for the ultimate realization of the dreams of the project.

 After he met with the executive vice chairman of the Commission, Aminu Maida, the governor announced that “our discussions focused on strategic initiatives to enhance collaboration for the advancement of Enugu State and the nation at large. We deliberated on several key projects, including the completion of the Digital Industrial Park in Enugu State, which is poised to become the South-East’s innovation hub. We also discussed ensuring that the Digital Bridge Institute is finalized and commissioned, subsequently exploring plans on transitioning it to a digital skills university or institute of technology”.

 It is also noteworthy that Mbah has since commenced works at the International Conference Centre which was initiated by the government of Chimaroke Nnamani and abandoned in 2007.

 This is a rare mix of leadership, pragmatism and patriotism at play. It is an open challenge for the other governors to look around their states for possible avenues for collaboration with the federal government, in the overall interests of the masses. Similarly, it is a statement to the effect that legislators should be true agents of meaningful development for their constituencies and states. In their core functions of representation, law-making and oversight, their focus should be on the things that offer life-enhancing opportunities for the people.

 In this regard, Senator Gilbert Nnaji stands out and deserves commendation for thinking home. He has since left public office but the products of his visionary leadership are still visible and impactful.

 Apart from the DBI project and quoting from a credible source, “as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications, Nnaji contributed immensely towards Communication Technology development and advancement in the country. Through his legislative interventions and in furtherance of his ideology that it is through qualitative technology  education that Nigeria can attain a knowledge-based economy, he sponsored a motion on the Integration of ICT in the Secondary School Curricula and also a bill for an Act to Establish the Information and Communication Technology University of Nigeria”.

 Records also reveal that “added to his numerous landmark investments in human capital development, Senator Gilbert Nnaji” ensured that all the tertiary institutions in Enugu State, both private and public, including the teaching hospitals, are equipped with various kinds of ICT facilities for qualitative teaching and learning. He used 58 post-primary schools to demonstrate the efficacy of ICT laboratories in technology  education.

 Commenting on this initiative by Peter Mbah to complete the DBI project, Senator Nnaji said “I am not only happy but my heart is full of joy. It is with a sense of fulfilment that I received the good news. Although I am not surprised that my brother and governor, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, is making this positive move. When you see a true leader, nobody will tell you. If you have an opportunity to listen to his dream and vision for our Enugu State, you will agree with me that he is indeed on a rescue mission. So, I am overjoyed and grateful to God that the dream behind the project is becoming a reality”.

 On why the previous state governments could not look in that direction, he added that “our people say that God’s time is the best. So, there is no need to go back to history. Peter Mbah has done the needful and the people of Enugu State and Nigeria will never forget him for this singular show of wisdom and foresight. That is how governance should be. Am sure that other legislators will now be encouraged to bring more developments home”.

 Indeed, the joy of post-public service life is to sit and see how your legacies are serving the interests of the people.

 So once again, as we celebrate Governor Peter Mbah for his display of visionary leadership and prudence in governance, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, with this and many other legacy accomplishments, deserves our commendation.

 But this is just to wish him a happy birthday as he turns 58.

Egbo writes from Abuja.

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the regulatory body governing the practice of engineering, has said that Nigeria recorded 22 building collapses between January and July 2024.

The President of COREN, Sadiq Abubakar, made this known at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

The news conference is themed, “The Incessant Spate of Building Collapse in Nigeria in Recent Times – A Call for Sustainable Collaboration by All Stakeholders.”

Mr Abubakar said that from January to 14 July, at least 22 cases of building collapse were reported in Nigeria with Lagos accounting for 27.27 per cent, Abuja and Anambra 18.18 per cent each.

He added that Ekiti and Plateau followed with 9.09 per cent each and Kano, Taraba and Niger states accounted for 4.55 per cent each.

“Records also showed that Lagos takes the lead in the incidences of building collapse.

“As a matter of fact, over 91 buildings have collapsed resulting in the death of over 354 persons in Lagos from 2012 to date.

“Similarly, in Abuja, about 30 buildings have collapsed from 1993 till date resulting in the death of more than 64 persons and injury of many.

“The most recent occurrences of building collapse close to DMGS Onitsha, Anambra State on 12 June and that of a school (Saint Academy) in Plateau on July 13 where 22 students died and 134 injured as well as the building collapse in Kubwa, Abuja.”

He said that the incidents were worrisome.

According to him, the incidents call for deep reflection and collaboration of all stakeholders in stemming the tide.

’’While we commiserate with all victims and families, we want to commend the efforts of all emergency and security services for their prompt response at the time.’’

According to Mr Abubakar, the leading causes of building collapse vary from one location to the other.

He said some buildings collapse as a result of aging, and based on investigations and research conducted over time, the use of substandard construction materials and structural failure were also responsible.

He said that other factors included illegal change of use of buildings, illegal addition of floors, quackery, and inadequate or lack of supervision and oversight.

He added that other factors included faulty foundations, a lack of soil/geotechnical investigation, and sharp and corrupt practices.

Mr Abubakar also commended the respective affected state governments for constituting a panel of inquiry to investigate the various cases, finding the immediate and remote causes, and preventing future occurrences.

’’This is not the time for apportioning blame or contest of superiority within the built environment but a time for all stakeholders to unite and proffer workable and lasting solutions, particularly in the prevention of building collapses.

’’All professionals within the built environment have a role to play in this.

’’In this regard, we have identified and categorised many stakeholders that we will be engaging shortly,’’ he said

The president said that the proliferation of illegal miners even within residential areas, as reported in some quarters, was a danger to the structural stability of buildings.

He added that the council had, therefore, urged affected states to take urgent steps to reverse the trend, adding that it was also time to enforce the compulsory insurance of some buildings under construction.

He said that COREN had taken some steps in monitoring and preventing building collapses by training and licensing Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) inspectors.

Mr Abubakar added that COREN had reconstituted its Council Committee on Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) and added an additional role of enforcement to its responsibility in line with the amended COREN Act.

He said that COREN had constituted an ERM&E Task Force at regional levels, including Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, FCT, Gombe, and Lagos, among other steps to tackle building collapse.

(NAN)

Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred its ruling on a request to restrain parliament from transmitting a highly contested anti-LGBTQ bill to President Nana Akufo-Addo for his final approval.

The ruling means debate around the bill, which has dominated Ghana’s political discourse since parliament passed it in February, will be sidelined from the campaign for December’s presidential election race.

Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, chairing the five-member Supreme Court panel, said the court will expedite the case. But the case has been adjourned indefinitely, with no date set for further rulings.

Ghana’s Attorney-General Godfred Dame welcomed the court’s decision, telling the media: “I think the court is fair in coming by that approach.”

Two lawsuits are challenging the passage of the so-called “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill”, which has faced widespread international criticism for curbing human rights.

Broadcaster Richard Dela Sky is contesting the constitutionality of the bill, arguing it violates several provisions of the 1992 Constitution.

Amanda Odoi, the other plaintiff, is seeking a restraining order to prevent the parliament speaker, the attorney-general, and the clerk of parliament from sending the bill to President Akufo-Addo for approval.

The bill, which stipulates jail terms of six months to three years for engaging in LGBTQ sex and sentences of three to five years for promoting or sponsoring LGBTQ activities, has drawn condemnation from rights activists but gained wide support in the conservative West African state.

It has significant support among MPs and is backed by a coalition of Christian, Muslim, and Ghanaian traditional leaders.

Ghana’s finance ministry has warned that the country, emerging from its worst economic crisis in decades and under a $3 billion loan programme from the International Monetary Fund, risks losing close to $3.8 billion in World Bank financing due to the bill.

[DailyTrust]

Former president, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Melvin Pinnick has revealed his preference for expatriate coaches.

Pinnick appointed Franco-German, Gernot Rohr to manage the Super Eagles for the majority of his reign in charge of the Super Eagles.

American tactician, Randy Waldrum also took charge of the country’s women’s national team, Super Falcons.

Pinnick, who is currently a FIFA council member, said his reason for being averse to indigenous coaches stemmed from lack of respect for them by the players.

“Yes, the Nigerian coaches have the requisite knowledge and the technical ability, but modern football is beyond that in managing players.

“Will the national team players respect the coach? The sad thing is that they don’t,” he said in an interview on Arise TV.

The NFF is still hunting for a foreign coach to tinker with the Super Eagles.

[DailyPost]

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday called for a political solution to the protracted crisis rocking Rivers State.

Governors on the platform of the major opposition party also renewed PDP’s bid for power shift in 2027, urging other leaders to work for its return to power at the centre.

The governors who met in Enugu, capital of Enugu State, under the aegis of the PDP Governors’ Forum, reiterated their support for Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who is locked in a lingering feud with his predecessor,  Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had proposed a political solution to the Rivers logjam. But the peace deal was not totally implemented as Fubara later pointed out that the proposals were not legal.

The battle of supremacy has shifted to the court where the three-member House of Assembly, led by Victor Oko-Jumbo,  and the 27 lawmakers, led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, are making claims and counter-claims. 

The Fubara/Wike rift was on the agenda of the Enugu meeting, apart from other critical national issues, the crisis in the PDP and its proposed national Congress.

At the meeting hosted by Governor Peter Mbah were Governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi State),  Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Umo Eno  Akwa-Ibom), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Agbu Kefas (Taraba) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara States), Ahmed Fintiri (Adamawa),  and Douye Diri (Bayelsa).

Mohammed, Chairman of the forum, who read thd resolutions at the Government House, Enugu, said the governors have resolved to resolve the Rivers logjam without further rancour.

He said: “The forum notes the crisis in Rivers State PDP  and commits to supporting the governor of Rivers State and also resolved that the issue be solved through political solution and other measures.

“All the leaders and organs of the party will be committed so that we can go together and resolve this issue with minimal pressure and without rancour”.

The governors expressed support for what they described as the efficacy of the local government system and the import of bringing governance closer to the people as provided in the constitution.

They vowed to support the local government autonomy as enshrined in the constitution.

The resolutions reads:”In the spirit of the founding fathers of our great party, who adopted internal democracy as fundamental principle, which our party was built, the congresses leading to the election of our leaders at the various tiers must be all inclusive, transparent and must confine with the constitution of our party.

“We must ensure the successful conduct of congresses across the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory.

“In the off season elections in Edo and Ondo, we admonish  all the parties to ensure that the elections and campaigns are issue- based, violence free and in strict compliance with the Electoral Act.

“The forum urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  to provide a level playing field, transparent, fair elections as any act of bias will be totally rejected.

“The forum urges Mr President to show leadership as a true democrat by refraining or making any statement suggestive of political interference in the entire process.

“On the economy, the forum notes with dismay and great concern, the mismanagement of the economy by the APC led federal government.

“On minimum wage, the minimum wage negotiations are becoming unduly protracted. In view of the attendant hardship on the people, we have resolved that the labour demand on salary increase is justified and therefore commands the total support of the forum.

“While the forum fully support labour in their demand, agreement and consideration must be made in the ability to pay between the federal government, state government and third tier of government

“While negotiations are ongoing, we appeal for restrain in utterances and actions that could lead to the complete breakdown of the law and order and the collapse of the economy.

“The forum believes in the efficacy of the local government system which ensures that governance is brought to the people as provided in the constitution.  The forum will continue to support the autonomy of the local government as enshrined in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“The forum regrets that 16 years of growth and tremendous development of the country under the PDP led government, during which the country witnessed single digit inflation, the establishment of the existing anti-corruption institutions, and higher standard of living for every Nigerian, has been eroded during the lifespan of the lackluster APC led federal government.

“The forum identifies with the Nigerian populace in these troubling times and promises to bring back the old good days of low inflation rate, affordable food, fuel and transportation, steady FDI inflows, resulting in high naira value and create equality of human life as recorded.

“The forum commended the governors of the PDP controlled states for their innovative approaches to governance in many fields especially infrastructure, education, health, women and youth initiatives and timely delivery of developmental projects across the country.

“The forum notes the crisis in Rivers State of the party and commi8ts to supporting the governor of Rivers state and also resolved that the issue be solved through political solution and other measures. That all the leaders and organs of the party will be committed so that we can go together and resolve this issue with minimal pressure and without rancor.

“The forum called on all Nigerians to refrain from any anarchy as we march towards the return of the PDP to power in 2027”.

PDP will bounce back in 2027, say governors

The forum vowed to reclaim leadership positions occupied by other political parties in 2027.

Governor Mohammed said the Enugu meeting underscored the intention of the governors to showcase their perseverance.

He said: “Today, we are here to unify ourselves, discuss issues that affect the party and various matters within ourselves.

“Our agenda will go through governance across party administration, discuss inter-party affair, congress and other things we need to do in providing credible alternative to Nigerians.”

Mohammed said the assessment undertaken by the governors, the National Working Committee (NWC) and other party organs showed that Nigeria was drifting toward anarchy.

He said PDP would not allow the country to drift because it shared an aspiration for a better future.

Reiterating the party’s agenda for power shift, Mohammed said:“It is high time the party reclaimed its leadership position in all the states that are currently being occupied by other parties.”

[TheNation]

When information minister Mohammed Idris addressed the public on the Daily Trust’s recent controversial report, he took the worn path of adding moral panic to the existing one. Rather than address the matter at stake straightaway, he first went on self-justificatory explanations before whipping out the All Progressives Congress’s favourite allegations of ethnic bias and how everything else—except their poorly run government—can lead to potential social breakdown. While Daily Trust did not give a good account of themselves on that issue, we must keep in mind that they are a private media house that caters to an audience in a free market. They do not owe it to the current administration to be fair, just as the Bola Tinubu-owned media houses too were never nice to the past Peoples Democratic Party government.

For those whose memory of that controversy has receded, this is about the recent sensational report about the so-called Samoa Agreement the Federal Government signed. According to Daily Trust, the agreement contains clauses that compel underdeveloped and developing nations like Nigeria to support the advocacy by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community for legal recognition as a condition for getting financial and other support from western countries. Daily Trust’s report did not quite say how much we would be getting, but they hinted that some $150bn was involved. Merely implying a link between LGBT and money was enough for that story to be multiplied in the imagination of poor Nigerians. It got to a point that some people expressed their belief that Nigeria was getting $150bn for signing a LGBT agreement.

When you consider our society’s tendency to believe virtually anything, then you will understand why a Warri prophet is selling “miracle soap” and other magical items to his beguiled congregation. When a society’s moral ecosystem is already rigged with lies, there is no amount of absurdity people will not tolerate. Human gullibility is such a perpetually inelastic market that no matter how outrageous it gets, there are always people willing to buy falsehood.

The Federal Government vs Daily Trust debacle, at least while the sensation lasted, was perhaps the most amusing drama I have seen in our public space this year. Yes, it was most laughable to find out that there are actually Nigerians out there who believe that they—and their leaders—have moral values that can withstand a $150bn inducement. For the newspaper to have even drawn the associative line between the money and the agreement, they must know the peculiar disease of numerical a-literacy that afflicts their countrypeople and choose to exploit it.

Ours is a country where we mention “millions” and “billions” without corresponding association of value. There was a time in this country when corruption was measured in millions.  In the 1990s, the $12bn Gulf oil windfall seemed like the peak of financial corruption. Today, no self-respecting administrator goes that low. Even corruption to the tune of billions of dollars no longer scandalises.

The desensitisation also impacts how we understand and relate to figures. Ask a Nigerian what the population of their country twice in a day, and you might hear them say “200 million” in the morning and “250 million” in the evening. They will easily add zeroes to arrive at whatever they feel it should be without being struck by the absurdity. It is the same way we report casualty figures and hype the numbers. One death is not enough disaster in our part of the world; we must exaggerate just so the incident can register.

To the numerical a-literate, figures are just a bunch of zeroes written one after the other. Since they cannot conceptualise the inherent value, those numbers mean nothing. Because the figures have been de-anchored from reality, we can easily lie with figures.

Here is a quick example: In December 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced it would spend N117bn (about one third of its budget) on technologies that prevent hacking and other electoral issues. When the election took place three months later, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Pantami claimed they managed to prevent 12.9m cyberattacks on the INEC server. That was an election in which 26 million people (likely inflated too) were recorded to have voted. How does it make sense that for every two votes cast, there was a cyberattack? That figure had to have been a statistical contraption by people who not only needed to justify their inflated budget, but also lay a firm ground for another future electoral corruption. Come 2027 election, you will see how much they will budget for anti-hacking technologies.

Whether willful mischief or just illiteracy on the part of the media, Daily Trust took advantage of our mathematically-challenged climate. The first proof that the story was bunkum was the amount they insinuated was involved. How much is the budget of Nigeria—or even the entire West Africa—that anyone would give us that much to decriminalise sexuality? According to the BBC, the said money (€150bn, not dollars) was not even dedicated to Nigeria but provided to Africa through a scheme known as Global Gateway to boost “smart, clean and secure links in the digital, transport, energy and climate-relevant sectors.”

But if truly we were being given the money for LGBT reasons, who says we would have resisted it? We have sold our souls for far less sums and not even for noble reasons. Nigerian—nay, African—leaders have acceded to far more terrible deals that will enslave people across generations for mere millions.

There must be a huge cognitive dissonance between reality and Nigerians’ processing of it for anyone to assume they can put up any resistance if truly western countries want us to change LGBT laws in exchange for money. Think of the World Bank loan of $2.25bn recently approved for Nigeria. Despite how much of our blood repaying that loan will draw, finance minister Wale Edun still described it as “the closest you can get to free money.” You think if the situation ever arises for that one to exchange Nigeria’s LGBT laws for actual free-no-strings-whatsoever-attached money, he will resist? And if that day comes, what can any of those raving and ranting against “LGBT and western agenda” do? Nothing.

Here is a counter-intuitive truth about western power and LGBT in Africa: they simply do not care enough to compel it. If that day ever comes that western powers decide that they need African leaders to decriminalise homosexuality, it will happen. A country like Uganda made one of the world’s most repressive LGBT laws to loudly signal its virtues of defying western nations. Yet, the same country lives off western charity. If their sponsors truly want them to reverse their anti-LGBT laws, do they not have the leverage? Think about it, if a Nigerian president sends a bill to decriminalise sexuality to the National Assembly, is it the Senate led by a morally lapsed fellow like Godswill Akpabio that will stand against it in the name of fighting for African values?

The best you will get from him and his fellow ideologically uninclined lawmakers in their hollowed chambers will be a tepid debate rapidly mouthed by people whose only conviction is money. They will pass the bill, and with even far more efficiency than they did with the national anthem. It will become a law, and there will be nothing any one of us can do about it. Even the religious leaders currently whipping up moral panic over nothing will sing a new song.

In Africa today, there is a lot of decay, disease, and decay because our leaders betrayed us for a mess of pottage. To think those who could do that will somehow develop the will to resist any more money—especially in billions—is just hilarious.

THE Lagos State government, yesterday, has given a three months extension for owners and developers of existing buildings without Planning Approvals in the state. 

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, who disclosed this in Alausa, Ikeja, said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had approved the extension of the programme by another three months, starting from August 1 to October 2024, to allow more people to benefit from the programme.

Recall that in April, the Lagos State government had announced the provision of an amnesty period of 90 days, from May 2 to July 30, 2024 to enable owners and developers of existing developments obtain Planning Permits without  payment of statutory penal fees, which erecting buildings without approvals would have attracted.

Olumide said: “The Sanwo-Olu administration instituted the amnesty programme to cushion the effect of the current economic hardship on the built environment sector and equally enhance compliance to Physical Planning regulations to guarantee a livable, organised, orderly and sustainable built environment.”

[Vanguard]

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Didi Esther Walson-Jack, as head of the civil service (HoS) of the federation.

Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesperson, said in a statement on Wednesday that Walson-Jack’s appointment will take effect on August 14.

Ngelale said Folasade Yemi-Esan, the outgoing HoS, is set to retire from the civil service on August 13.

“Mrs Walson-Jack was appointed as Federal Permanent Secretary in 2017 and has served in several ministries,” the statement reads.

“The new appointee will take over from the incumbent Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, CFR, who is due to retire on August 13, 2024.

“President Tinubu, while thanking the outgoing Head of Service for her stewardship, tasks the incoming Head of Service to discharge her duties with innovative flair, integrity, and stringent adherence to the extant rules and regulations of the Civil Service of the Federation.”

WHO IS DIDI ESTHER WALSON-JACK?

Walson-Jack holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Lagos. She was called to the bar in 1987.

Before joining the federal civil service, she was the solicitor-general of Bayelsa and also served as the permanent secretary of the state ministry of justice.

She was first appointed as a permanent secretary in 2017 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. She was deployed to the office of the head of the civil service of the federation.

She had served as permanent secretary at the ministries of Niger Delta affairs, power, water resources and sanitation, and education.

In 2023, she was conferred with the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).

In her early days, she attended the Federal Government Girls’ College in Benin City, Edo state, and the Federal Government College in Ilorin, Kwara state.

She is married to Nimi Walson-Jack, a former general secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

[TheCable]

The controversy began in April 2004 following the creation of 37 Local Government Areas (LGAs) by then Lagos State Governor, now President Bola Tinubu. Riled by what he considered to be an impudent act, then President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that funds for the LGAs in the state be withheld until Lagos reverted to the 20 LGA structure. As I highlighted in my book, ‘Power, Politics and Death: A front-row account of Nigeria under the late President Yar’Adua’, Tinubu filed a lawsuit against the federal government, urging the Supreme Court to determine the propriety and legality of Obasanjo’s action. And in a somewhat controversial judgment, the apex court declared the 37 LGAs created by Tinubu “inchoate and inoperable” since the National Assembly had not listed them in the Constitution. But the same court also ruled that the federal government had no right to withhold the funds.

With both the federal government and Lagos state claiming victory in what had become a personality clash between Obasanjo and Tinubu, prominent Yoruba citizens intervened through a committee of elders led by a former Attorney General of the Federation, the late Prince Bola Ajibola. That effort culminated in the 37 Lagos LGAs being rechristened Local Council Development Authority (LCDAs) by Tinubu. This brought a temporary truce and Obasanjo ordered the release of a first tranche of N10 billion from the entitlements of the 20 LGAs then estimated at about N21 billion. When Tinubu insisted on conducting elections  for the 37 LCDAs, Obasanjo viewed it as an affront. So, for the rest of his tenure, funds for Lagos LGAs were not paid. This was the situation at the time the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua assumed office on May 29, 2007.  Following consultations, he ordered the release of the accumulated council funds to Lagos State under Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.

I therefore find it ironic that Tinubu would drag governors before the supreme court over local government funds, even though I support the idea behind it. With the apex court judgment, four key issues have been settled. One, section 162 of the 1999 Constitution is now completely redundant. Two, all funds standing to the credit of the 774 LGAs in the federation account shall henceforth be paid directly to them. Three, governors can no longer dissolve democratically elected councils, and/or replace them with caretaker committees. Four, no funds will be released to councils run by caretaker committees. But several issues beg for answers with perhaps the most significant being: What happens to the funding of LCDAs created in some states by their governors? Incidentally, Tinubu was the first governor to take that route before others followed, which is why many governors seem surprised by his move.

As I said, I support the principle behind the judgement given how governors play with local government funds. Besides, since President Muhammadu Buhari failed to achieve the same objective with ‘Executive Order 10’, I understand why Tinubu chose the apex court route. My main concern is that I do not think the judgement will change anything concerning the administration of local government in Nigeria. And that is why I believe we require a reform that is more practical. In his piece, ‘Let the Third Tier Breath’, published yesterday, Special Adviser to the president on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga raised pertinent issues. But I do not share his optimism that the apex court judgment will make much difference to the people at the grassroots.

Perhaps the only person who has spoken to the heart of the issue is Shehu Sani, a civil rights activist and former Senator from Kaduna State. In his characteristic way of reducing serious issues to humour, this was his summation of what will follow the judgement: “’Your Excellency Sir, I received the alert (from the federation account). What should I do with it?’ Despite the Supreme Court ruling, many LG chairmen will still behave like this when their account is credited directly,” he wrote. Before drawing my conclusion, I crave the indulgence of readers to reproduce my 27 August 2020 column, ‘Democracy and the Grassroots’.

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The 1999 Constitution (as amended), provides that each of the 774 local governments in the country is vested with powers to establish and maintain cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm; license bicycles, vehicles, canoes, wheel barrows and carts; regulate slaughter houses, markets, motor parks and public conveniences as well as construct and maintain roads, streets lightings, drains, parks, gardens, open spaces etc. They are also to register births, deaths and marriages and name roads, streets, and houses, while providing and maintaining public conveniences and refuse disposal among other functions. Perhaps most significantly, local governments are expected to provide and maintain primary, adult and vocational education and health services. 

These, no doubt, are heavy responsibilities for which 20.60 percent of our total national earnings is allocated from the federation account. That is one fifth of the entire resources accruing to the nation. Available data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) indicates that no less than about N25 trillion has been shared by the 774 local governments in the past 21 years. Even if we use the prevailing exchange rate, that still exceeds $60 billion! For instance, last year (2019), all the local governments shared N1.649 trillion; In 2018, they shared N1.667 trillion; in 2017, they shared N1.502 trillion; in 2016, they shared 1.011 trillion; in 2015, they shared N1.205 trillion; in 2014, they shared N1.557 trillion; in 2013, they shared N1.708 trillion; in 2012, they shared N1.535 trillion; in 2011, they shared N1.255 trillion; in 2010, they shared N1.328 trillion; in 2009, they shared N976.817 trillion and in 2008, they shared N1.206 trillion.

Despite such huge financial resources, local governments are not playing their roles because governors have conspired to render them completely prostrate. The national president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel once argued that “the concept of bringing governance closer to the people through a third-tier participatory form of government has not materialized in Nigeria.” After tracing the history of reforms of local government from the Dasuki Committee of 1976 to the Etsu Nupe report of 2003 and several Supreme Court rulings, Khaleel gave a damning verdict: “there is no state in Nigeria where one form of illegality or the other is not committed with the funds of local governments. Through over deduction of primary school teachers’ salaries; spurious state/local government joint projects, sponsoring of elections, taking over the statutory functions of local governments and handing them over to cronies and consultants; non-payments of pensioners and non-utilization of training fund despite the mandatory deduction of stipulated percentages for these purposes, we can go on and on. Most of these shameful activities are known to all of us.”  

To be sure, local government administration in Nigeria has always presented a challenge, but it has never been as bad as it is now under the current dispensation. Even though democracy is a never-ending process of inquiry that requires the validation of voters, what we have witnessed over the years in the name of local government elections has been no more than a charade. For the benefit of readers, let me highlight results of the last local government polls in all the 36 states of the federation (in alphabetical order). 

In December 2016, the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission conducted LG polls, where almost a million people were recorded as having voted. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state won all 17 chairmanship and 292 councillorship seats. “There was no election anywhere in the state,” the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secretary, Sunday Onukwubiri, told reporters. A year earlier during the 2015 general election, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had secured 264,713 votes (representing 59.4 percent of total votes cast) to defeat Dr Alex Otti, the then APGA candidate who secured 180,882 votes (representing 40.6 percent of total votes cast). Yet, APGA could not win any seat at the LG polls. That has been the pattern in all the states where the Independent National Election (INEC) results are at variance with the figures churned out by the state electoral commission that conducts LG polls. 

Last December (2019) in Adamawa, candidates of the ruling PDP in the state won all the 21 chairmanship and 226 councillorship seats. Akwa Ibom is billed to conduct the local government election on 31st October this year, but the APC has already seen the handwriting on the wall by threatening a boycott. In the last one conducted in December 2017, PDP won all the 31 chairmanship and 329 councillorship seats. “Details of scores will be made available by the field operations/logistics department of the commission,” according to the chairman, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who only gave round figures without providing any breakdown of the results! 

In Anambra State where council polls have not been held in the past six years, businessman, Chief Arthur Eze, has issued a stern warning to Governor Willie Obiano: “I want him (Obiano) to know that since he has refused to hold local government elections, he must be ready to vomit all the allocations and revenues of the councils at the end of his tenure. He will not go free. I have taken up the matter formally in writing with President Muhammadu Buhari concerning all Southeast governors who have refused to organise council elections but chose to unilaterally usurp the functions and finances of that level of government. They will all be called to account. None will get away with it.” 

It will be interesting to see how Eze executes his threat but in the last council polls held in January 2014 under Governor Peter Obi, the ruling APGA in Anambra State was ‘magnanimous’ enough to cede some councillorship seats after taking all the 21 chairmanship positions. In Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed had promised to conduct council polls in June this year before COVID-19 put a spanner in the works. But in the last one conducted 13 years ago, it was 100 percent victory in both the chairmanship and councillorship positions for the then ruling PDP in the state! 

On the eve of the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election last year (2019), the PDP government at the time conducted council polls, winning all eight chairmanship positions and 105 councillorship seats. A few weeks later, it was the APC candidate who won the gubernatorial election conducted by INEC with a comfortable margin. It took the intervention of the Supreme Court for the PDP to win back the state on technical grounds that had nothing to do with how the people voted. In Benue State, COVID-19 did not prevent council polls from holding in May this year with the ruling PDP winning all the 23 chairmanship and 276 councillorship seats. But in deference to the pandemic, Borno State has postponed its own LG polls. In June this year, the ruling PDP won all the 18 chairmanship and 196 councillorship positions in Cross River State. 

The January 2018 council polls in Delta State produced an interesting outcome. After winning all the 25 chairmanship seats, the ruling PDP in the state conceded a single councillorship position in Ward 2, Aniocha North local government area, the home base of the then minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to APC, winning the remaining 424 councillorship positions. Ebonyi will hold its council polls this Saturday. In the last one conducted in April 2017, PDP won all the 13 chairmanship and 171 councillorship seats. In Edo State in March 2018, the then ruling APC won all the 18 chairmanship and 192 councillorship seats. In Ekiti State, the last local government poll held in December 2017 and predictably, the then ruling PDP won all the 16 chairmanship and 177 Councillorship seats. In Enugu State where the poll held in March this year, the ruling PDP won all the 17 chairmanship and 260 councillorship positions. In Gombe State, the then ruling PDP won all the 114 councillorship and 11 chairmanship positions in the February 2017 LG polls. In Imo State, in August 2018, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship positions and 636 of the 645 councillorship positions. In June 2019, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship and 286 councillorship positions in Jigawa State. 

In May 2018, what perhaps remains the only semblance of a competitive election was conducted by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM). At the end, the ruling APC won in 12 local government areas, the PDP won in five local government areas, with results from three local government stalemated. In February 2018, the ruling APC swept all the 44 chairmanship and 484 councillorship seats in Kano State. In August 2014, the PDP cleared all the 34 chairmanship and 361 councillorship seats in Katsina State. In October last year, the ruling APC in Kebbi State won all 21 chairmanship and 223 councillorship positions. The last local government polls in Kogi state were held in 2013 and the then ruling PDP cleared all the 21 chairmanship and 225 councillorship positions. In Kwara State, the November 2017 LG polls also produced the then ruling APC as winners of all the chairmanship but conceded nine councillorship positions to the PDP. 

Elections into the 57 LGAs/LCDAs of Lagos State were conducted in July 2017 with the ruling APC winning all the chairmanship positions. The party also won 369 councillorship seats while the PDP won four seats, and Accord Party, the remaining three. In May 2018, the ruling APC won all the 26 chairmanship and 147 councillorship positions in Nasarawa State. In December last year, APC cleared 24 of the 25 local governments in Niger State with PDP winning one. In October 2016, the ruling APC won the chairmanship positions in all the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs in Ogun State. The party also won 346 out of the chairmanship and 349 councillorship seats. In January 2018, the ruling APC cleared all the 389 councillorship positons in Osun State. In the May 2018 poll in Oyo State, the then ruling APC won all the chairmanship seats in the 33 LGAs and the 35 LCDAs.  

In October 2018 in Plateau State, council polls held in 13 of the 17 LGAs. APC was declared winner in 11 (no figures were announced) with the remaining two stalemated, leading to a violent protest. In June 2018 in Rivers State, the ruling PDP won all the 23 chairmanship and 302 councillorship positions. In Sokoto, the then ruling APC (now PDP) won all the 22 chairmanship and 234 councillorship seats at the March 2016 local government elections. In June this year, after the Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission (TSIEC) chairman, Dr Phillip Duwe declared PDP candidates the winners for both chairmanship and councillorship positions in all 16 local government councils, he urged the defeated candidates and parties to understand that ‘leadership comes only from God.’ But after the February 2017 LG poll in Yobe, the state electoral commission chairman did not beat about the bush: “Having received and compiled the election results, all the 17 candidates of the APC in the chairmanship category are declared winners.” And in the council polls conducted in April last year by the then outgoing Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, his APC cleared all the 14 chairmanship and 147 councillorship seats. 

The entire essence of voting is for citizens to decide how they are governed. But in a situation in which Nigerians have been conditioned to believe that exercising their franchise in local government elections is simply a waste of time, then something is wrong with our system. Therefore, to reform the institutions and practices that have placed structural roadblocks in the path of our democracy at the grassroots level, we must disempower the few who lord themselves over the many. Aside wasting enormous resources on these meaningless elections, the governors do not even pretend that they consider them serious. In Gombe some years ago, the state government engaged a contractor to supply ballot boxes for council polls. The contractor went to China for the procurement, but the election was conducted, and winners declared before the ballot boxes were eventually delivered. In Bauchi, a former deputy speaker of the state assembly (and a prominent member of the ruling party then serving as an aide to the governor) was once appointed chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission!

In their book, ‘How Democracies Die’, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that while there is a general tendency to believe that a democracy is imperilled only by military adventurers, it is now the elected leaders who most often subvert the very process that brought them to power. These are men who have no qualms “rewriting the rules of politics to permanently disadvantage their rivals”, the authors wrote before adding, “The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s enemies use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.” 

ENDNOTE:

As I stated in my October 2017 ‘Platform Nigeria’ presentation, the promise of good governance embedded in the theory of decentralization is being delivered in the breach in Nigeria today because accountability diminishes as you move from the centre to the other units: states and local governments. But to saddle the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the additional burden of conducting council polls, as suggested by Onanuga and other stakeholders, is not the right approach, all factors considered. In a country where every election ends in litigation, the problem of INEC would be compounded if it adds council polls to its assignments. Besides, the challenge of local government administration in Nigeria goes beyond money and the process of electing chairmen and councillors. The question we should ask ourselves is whether we need three tiers of federating units. In most federal countries, including the United States from where we photocopied the presidential system of government, there only two. What we have today is a Nigerian invention that has not worked.

To alter the trajectory of our country and bring government closer to the people, there must be institutional reforms, beginning with the charade we now call local government elections. But it cannot end there. In his column, ‘Refocusing the Debate on Local Governance in Nigeria’ a month ago, Waziri Adio, the Executive Director of Agora Policy, a think tank focused on development and governance, argued that “Nigeria is overdue for another and a more thoughtful reform of governance at the local level.” Central to the quest for improving local governance in Nigeria, according to Waziri, “should be how to creatively and sustainably deepen democracy, citizens’ participation and social accountability at the local level,” All these, he added, “should be the overriding focus of not just the ongoing debate but also of the next generation of local government reforms in the country.”

I wholeheartedly concur!

Eniola Bello @ 60

In the first decade of THISDAY Newspaper, our Chairman, Prince Nduka Obaigbena (who clocked 65 last Sunday) established a unique selection and recruitment tradition regarding editors of the three titles: Saturday, Sunday and Daily. Even though there was a clear line of succession, he still allowed each title editor to nominate their successor. So, on two occasions, the Managing Director of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr Eniola Bello, known mostly as EniB, nominated me to succeed him, first as Sunday editor and later as editor of the main title. While the second occasion in August 2005 was fairly straightforward, the earlier one in 2003 was not. Having been labelled ‘ambitious deputy’ by mischief-makers, EniB could have played office politics to frustrate me. But he was comfortable enough that we worked harmoniously. And he has remained a brother and friend.

As a member of the foundation staff in 1995, EniB has, over the years, played a significant role in the evolution of THISDAY as a formidable institution in Nigerian journalism. Strong in prose (he read English as his first degree), EniB writes the way he speaks (never takes prisoners) and was the first to earn the distinction of editing all THISDAY titles before I and later, Ijeoma Nwogwugwu joined the club. 

Come Sunday, EniB will be 60 and while a few of us were planning to host him to one of those ‘surprise celebrations’, it turns out he has his own plan. Having gotten wind of the plot (as often happens with competent reporters), he called me a few days ago to say we should save ourselves any trouble. By this weekend, he would already be out of the country with his family for a quiet holiday. That’s the quintessential EniB!

As he joins the sexagenarian club on Sunday, I wish him long life and good health.

Happy birthday, Baba Wura!