SCRIPTURE says “Where no counsel is, the people fall: But in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” Nigeria is in such dire straits that its affairs can no longer be left solely to those in the corridors of power. Either they are short of ideas or the problem is just beyond them. I do not want to believe we have found ourselves, again, in the same bind that made one-time military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, to exclaim that Nigeria’s economy defies solution. So, all hands must be on deck. Solutions must be proffered right, left, and centre. Usually, those in government are deaf to the cries of “ordinary” people. What to do, then, is to keep crying, like biblical Blind Bartimaeus, never getting weary and never allowing naysayers shut us up; confident that, if we faint not, we shall one day reap.

If everyone else gives up, writers should not. Our duty is sacred – to inform; to educate; to entertain; and to hold the feet of those in power to the fire. We are watchdogs. We are the conscience of the nation. The country’s grundnorm – its Constitution – obligates us to hold the government accountable to the people. In a situation such as we find ourselves in Nigeria today, where the three arms of government – the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary – have miserably let the people down, I dare to say that writers remain not just the last but the only hope of the common man. Read Hamsik Dusan’s “Writers against rulers” and marvel at the heroic struggle of writers and intellectuals against official repression on the eve of the Czech uprising in the late 1960s. We can do no less here in our own country.

 It starts with everyone getting involved, bringing to mind Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu’s “Because I am involved”, which was his own perception of the Nigerian political vortex and what he considered as solutions. You may or may not agree. Critics must never give up, even when it appears they are sounding like a cracked record. They should also not just criticize but also proffer solutions – whether right or wrong. This is where I differ from my comrade, classmate and course mate at Great Ife, Wale Olajire Ajao, whose piece “The role of the public space in a democracy” is cerebral and engaging as usual but his position that critics need not make suggestions does not sit pretty with me.

Hear him: “Supporters of the government often say that those who criticize the government should come out with alternative views or suggestions for the government to consider. But the rules of the public space do not include making suggestions to the government. In other words, a critic who does not have suggestions for the government has not violated the rules of the public space just because he has not made suggestions to the government. In fact, his duty is not to make suggestions. His duty is to criticize. If someone has made destructive criticism, those media officers of the government or those who are supporting the government have to exercise their right to reply and disapprove of all the facts in the destructive criticism. No more, no less”.

I beg to differ for the simple reason that criticism becomes an end in itself and not a means to an end! Welcome, anarchy! There must be a purpose to every action. If the rules of the public space do not include making suggestions, we should quickly amend them to do so! I will publish Wale’s treatise at a later date and we shall be able to discuss it fully. Today, however, my attention goes to another cerebral and passionate commentator, Timothy (Tim) Akano, because of the urgency of the matter he addressed – the savagery of the country’s economic situation and the cauldron of repressed anger in the land. Tim and I, in company with others, had, time and time, laboured for long hours around the same table rubbing minds as we discussed the country’s problems and trying to fashion out solutions. Now, Tim appears to have shouted “Euruka!” with his “Getting Nigeria’s elephant to the dance floor” Permit me to edit it, and to also pass comments, as we get along.

Hear him: “ “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?” This is the title of Louis V. Gerstner memoir. The “miracle-manager with a magic wand” who midwifed IBM’s historic turnaround that begot IBM 2.0 in the 1990s. By 1993, before Louis’s appointment as the new CEO, IBM, the company that revolutionized the technology world, was on its way to extinction. It was projected to lose over $16 billion that year alone. IBM’s fate of dissolving into a confederation of autonomous corporations was signed and sealed but not yet delivered. This situation was similar to Nigeria’s fate on the eve of May 29th, 2023 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu collected the leadership baton.

“IBM, which was incorporated on June 16th, 1911, three years before Nigeria’s amalgamation in January 1914, was a victim of its lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and insensitivity to modernization, even in the face of the irreversible wind of change blowing over the PC market it had helped invent. The birth of IBM 2.0 was not an accident or luck; its extraordinary second coming was a byproduct of audacious, hairy visioning and strong political will. Louis paid the full price through the strength of his character for the prize he later won as one of the greatest turnaround CEOs and heroes of the 21st century. He carried out wholesale restructuring of IBM, rebuilt the leadership team, and gave the workforce a renewed sense of purpose. He led by example, ran a lean management, and made accountability, prudence, and innovation his priorities.

“Promptly, IBM’s dry bones heard the word of Louis; new breath entered into IBM, and the dry bones became whole. It roared back to life, became stronger, bigger, and better. Louis streamlined the company’s product portfolio and carefully defined the kind of parties IBM would attend, which were only those where IBM had both comparative and competitive advantages. On May 1st, 2006, IBM sold off the hen that laid the golden eggs, i.e., IBM’s PC hardware business units (equivalent to Nigeria’s NNPC), to Lenovo, a Chinese company, because the hen had since become barren in IBM’s cage…

“IBM and Nigeria share several things in common. Aside from being age mates, both are “ELEPHANTS” in their own right, two conspicuously consequential entities with untold potentials. IBM is to the global corporate world what Nigeria is to the Black race. However, while IBM 2.0 has turned the corner since the 1990s, Nigeria has remained static in the same corner for 40 years as a spectator in a sorry state, a fragile, fractured, fragmenting federation, always failing and fumbling at the edge of every fundamental turning point, perpetually on the brink with no voice, no vote, no veto, no victory!

“The best-run countries in the world operate like the GLOBAL500 corporations. They are target-driven, sharply focused on the BOTTOM LINE which, for corporations, means profit, and for nations, it means PEOPLE. Similarly, smart nations feature only in a few parties where they have natural endowments, skills, and resources to out-compete other nations.

“Norway is one of the smartest nations on earth. With only 7.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, she is accountable for over 2% of global oil consumption. Norway has sharpened her skills in oil business management. Conversely, Nigeria’s oil numbers don’t add up: with over 30 billion barrels, she is accountable for a mere 0.4% of global oil consumption, sitting in the 37th position despite having the 10th largest oil reserves globally. NNPC has made a profit only twice in 40 years, according to its GMD, whereas Norway’s savings of $1.62 trillion is the world’s largest sovereign wealth asset, built from her oil profit, holding on average 1.5% of all the world’s listed companies’ stocks. This translates to over $295,000 per Norwegian citizen. Nigeria has a comparative advantage in crude oil reserves but has zero competitive advantage in production and oil business management.

“South Korea is another smart nation, focusing on dominating steel manufacturing (POSCO being the world’s 7th largest steelmaker), car manufacturing, shipbuilding (Hyundai is the global number one shipbuilder), and electronics. South Korea is the world’s second-largest producer of semiconductors, which represents her main export, and textile. Just five areas of focus.

“The question is: where does Nigeria have both competitive and comparative advantages vis-à-vis other nations? Or, put differently, which five problems are we solving or can we solve for the world better than any other nation?

“Nigerians knew things were bad on 29th May, 2023 when President Muhammadu Buhari handed over to Tinubu. Nigerians knew that the treasury was emptied by President Buhari’s administration, which was why the mind-boggling revelations that came out from the CBN audit report by Jim Obasi did not come as a surprise to many. (By the way, where is the report, and what is the government going to do with Obasi’s findings and recommendations?)… But things are getting worse. The hurt, hunger, and haemorrhaging are on an astronomical ascendancy… Leaders need to act cautiously whenever despondency descends on a nation because, when hope is lost, the people become as wild and dangerous as a pride of hungry lions…

“The seven demons wearing new ranks of a 4-star general today are: devaluation, stagflation, financialization, de-industrialization, dehumanization, insecurity, and corruption. Call it a perfect storm! A situation where food inflation is now in excess by 40%; currency devaluation is in excess by 100% in an import-dependent economy; unemployment is going through the roof; a 300% increase in electricity in “Band A” where manufacturers belong; a bank interest rate on loans of about 40%; surging insecurity with random kidnapping for ransom; financialization with banks being the only ones declaring profits at a time of massive factory closures, coupled with unbridled corruption, is nothing short of a perfect storm.”

What is to be done? Tim made 12 suggestions: 1. Food security 2. Power supply 24/7. 3. Re-industrialization. 4. Farewell to poverty 5. Re-inventing education 6. Ending medical tourism. 7. Reducing the cost of governance and dismantling corruption 8. Achieving peaceful co-existence and security 9. Re-working the Federal Executive Council 10. Focusing on Entertainment as a business because we hold comparative advantage there 11. Launching a Nigeria Rebirth project (moral. cultural and social rebirth) 12. Restructure the country’s superstructure because the current political structure is not working.

I doubt if anyone can de-list any of Tim’s panaceas to the country’s woes. Interestingly, however, I find about 80 percent of the persons he recommended to President Tinubu to help effect the much-needed turnaround disagreeable! I think that is where the problem starts: Building the team that will build the country.

The city of Aba in Abia State has been engulfed in tension following a series of reprisal actions by soldiers in response to the killing of five of their colleagues at Obikabia Junction, Ogbor Hill, on Thursday, May 30.

The deceased soldiers were ambushed by unknown gunmen who also set ablaze two military vans and their checkpoint.

In the days following the attack, soldiers conducted extensive raids across Aba, targeting motorists and residents in what appeared to be a quest for retribution.

These operations have significantly heightened fear among the populace, with many preferring to stay indoors to avoid potential arrest or assault.

The atmosphere of fear was exacerbated by the presence of military helicopters patrolling the skies over Aba, observed continuously three days post-incident.

Despite Governor Alex Otti’s reassurances to innocent citizens that they can continue their daily activities without fear, the palpable tension has led to a shutdown of nightlife and a slow return to normalcy in the city.

Businesses, particularly in the Ogbor Hill vicinity where the initial attack occurred, have been slow to reopen, with proprietors and patrons wary of further military action.

Reports from Sunday Vanguard indicate that even local churches in the Obikabia area have suspended activities due to fears of military intrusion.

The economic impact of the military’s forceful response is considerable. A restaurant owner, identified as Mama Uche, reported losses exceeding ₦200,000 as perishable goods spoiled after she was forced to flee her establishment.

Similarly, a trader from Cemetery Market missed a significant supply contract due to the abrupt market closure and reported military blockades on the Abia-Rivers boundary.

Recreational spots and hotels have also felt the brunt of the military’s heavy-handedness, with reports of soldiers storming hotel premises, conducting room searches, and detaining guests and staff.

Some detainees have been released after profiling, yet others remain in custody without clear charges.

A laundry operator in one of the new hotels along Ukaegbu Road said soldiers invaded their hotel at about 2am, ransacked rooms and arrested all lodgers and staff members.

He said: “Soldiers invaded our hotel around 2am, ransacked all the rooms and arrested all lodgers and members of staff.

“We were moved to a military camp in Aba where some people were screened and released.

“But some are still being detained. Since the invasion of the hotel by the soldiers, guests no longer visit for lodging and relaxation.

“At the moment, people are afraid, no business because there is fear everywhere.

“We pray that the situation will soon return to normal for business to start booming again.”

[NaijaNews]

Let me state upfront that I was not one of the people excited about Nigeria’s change to the old national anthem. When,  in 1978, the military, in a rather whimsical manner, replaced that national anthem with the one that we used till last month, they did not offer any plausible explanations. And there is none either for its reintroduction on May 29, except, perhaps, to shake the ground as another mark of President Tinubu’s 1st anniversary in office. 

In any case, none of the two is particularly inspiring and only a few people have bothered to attach any deep philosophical undertone to them.

National anthems speak to the soul. It inspires nations and her citizens. It is a country’s plainsong, a chorale for the leaders and the led. It is the spiritual awakener, the potent hymn for war and the calming melody for peace. For us here, it may not be anything more than a part of a national ritual, a song for occasions that announce the leaders while the people sing along the wordings that hold no meaning to them.

So, for the sake of it, one must ask where the old anthem trumps the new in those ennobling aspects that so endeared it back into our hearts. My guess is that it is in the first stanza that urges unity and tolerance in one country clogged by so many nationalities: 

though tribe and tongue may differ,

in brotherhood we stand…

The two lines are enough to bring it back, if indeed we stand together as brothers in spite of our tribal differences. Sadly, we don’t, thanks to a leadership that has over the years drawn lines of hate against the people based on their tribes and their tongues. Thanks to them, the cleavages between the various tribes have become so accentuated that among them, distrust and mutual suspicion have become standard practice. 

The old, now new, national anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was adopted as our national anthem at Independence on October 1, 1960 and in spite of its tokunbo origin, many would say that the lyrics written by Lillian Jean Williams, a British, tried to capture the nation’s expectations of the time. It was fit for purpose in the sixties when we struggled with nationhood. It was fit for purpose as we struggled to rebuild the nation from the ruins of the civil war of 1966-1970. 

Just when we thought the war had ended and the rebuilding had started, the anthem that spoke about brotherhood was rested in 1978 as if to allow the military that held sway at the time, to recall the good old battlefront tactics that saw only friends and enemies and not much to do with cohesion. Now, as the switch has elicited among Nigerians, all manner of comments and  expectations of old, the question to ask is: is that anthem still fit for purpose?

Nigerians are more divided now than they were in 1978 when it was shelved. Ethnic hatred, especially against citizens of the South-East, for instance, has become more or less, a state policy. The country is stuck in the mire of corruption and official nepotism where the leader favours his tribe over and above others in the allocation of the resources of the state.

I must confess my likeness for the German national anthem, ‘Deutschlandlied’, which has been in existence since 1922. The lyrics are as inspiring as the accompanying music adapted from the 1797 classical composition by Joseph Haydn. Even if you’re unable to translate the wordings to English to fully understand their meaning, somehow  your bristles still get to stand when the words combine with the sounds. A beautiful way to start the day and the perfect way to end it.

If the reinstated national anthem sounds good in the first stanza, it sounds even better in the second where it extols the people to hand to the future generations, a banner without stain. But, there are obvious stains on our banner of nationhood. Today, Nigeria’s banner flutters in the hazy wind with all manner of stains in all shades of colours: the red; the orange; the yellow; the green; the blue; the intra and the violet, all depicting different dimensions of absurdity, nepotism, injustice, inequality and official corruption. 

 We have over the years promoted hate and thought our children to cut corners to achieve greatness. We have created inequality among the citizens and allowed some people to climb the ladder on the backs of their fellow Nigerians. We have promoted a system that rewards ineptitude and evil and permitted the ruling class to brazenly lord it over the hapless common man.

If indeed the country is retracing its steps from the years of injustice, corruption and hatred against one another, it is possible to find inspiration in the reinstated anthem. But we must return to that path of rectitude by consciously withdrawing from the hideous path we had walked. A nation on a process of rebirth should not shy away from facing its history with courage and redress those unjust acts and obnoxious policies that divide the people and foster hatred.

If indeed it is desirous of cleaning the stains on its banner, it must go beyond the perfunctory act of reintroducing an old anthem. Only then would the anthem’s wordings make any meaning, and only then would God grant that one request for Nigeria’s greatness that the last stanza begs.

Sheddy Ozoene is the Vice President (East) of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. 

“This house must not fall”, I wrote in my column of January 1, 2014, published in Daily Trust to mark 100 years of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria. I have always believed that if we run an inclusive system which allows all parts to retain their cultural identity and achieve their potentials while also identifying with a larger unifying umbrella, then we have a chance to strengthen the house that Frederick Luggard built.

The least one would expect is that all parts of the country would subscribe to the same set of general values — e.g. responsible parenthood, compulsory primary/secondary education, girl child education, equality of citizenship and acceptance of the supremacy of the constitution. If we aspire to be one country in deed and truth, then we generally shouldn’t have any problem subscribing to those values.

North/South

But we hardly agree about anything. Most times, it is possible to correctly predict the ‘southern position’ on an issue and the ‘northern position’. This is in spite of the fact that there is no such thing as a Southern Nigerian political structure, nor is there one for the North. Both areas have fiercely independent minority groups who resent being lumped together with the majority as if they were mere appendages.

However, the political elite on both sides pretend to speak for the totality of the people in their geographical area. Thus, one man will stand up and say, “The North will not tolerate this”, or his counterpart in the South will make a similar boast. So, while the elite play their games, there is hardly a national consensus on anything.

In the raging debate over the best way to restructure the country, the ‘southern’ position (generally) is that Nigeria cannot make progress without dismantling the present system and designing a new mode of governance agreed upon by all the ethnic nationalities in the country while the general ‘northern’ position is to retain the status quo which, all agree, is skewed in favour of the North.

Normally, both sets of self-appointed leaders would have been expected to arrange a formal meeting where they can share and interrogate each other’s ideas and the rationale for such. But, in these climes, it appears that political points of view are cast in concrete. That is what makes many Naijamaniac patriots fear that Luggard’s house may not endure after all. Multicultural countries that have attained nationhood did not get to that point by decreeing unity. They negotiated it in a spirit of give-and-take. The cry for restructuring cannot be stopped by decreeing compliance with unitarism.

Leo Tolstoy captures the scenario beautifully: “I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible… except by getting off his back!”

Why The Fear?

Some people have asked: Are political leaders in the ‘North’ afraid of restructuring? An outspoken member of that privileged group, Senator Shehu Sani did not shy away from answering the question. He listed four reasons: (i) “The North see it (restructuring) as a South-West agenda. (ii) They fear that it’s only about control of oil resources. (iii) The fear of loss of political patronage, territory and economic privileges. (iv) Opportunism and lack of political will and courage by the past and present governments.”

It is going to be difficult to coexist, I think, if some states of the federation have not yet domesticated the Child Rights Act. So far, 34 of the 36 States of the Federation have fully domesticated the Child Rights Act, which deals with issues of child abuse, child labour, and forced marriage, among others. If children from a non-compliant state whose children are abandoned to roam the streets are ‘exported’ in thousands to a state which values the rights of children, would that be our fair idea of unity?

Recently, there was an outcry against the spectacle of weather-beaten and scantily clad street urchins literally germinating out of alleyways and streets and spilling into the Lagos-Badagry expressway in the Okokomaiko axis of Lagos. Many residents took to the social media to decry the unprecedented increase in the population of the children and appeal to the state government to clear the public space of the distressing sight.

Actually, the incidence of child beggars in Lagos can’t be described as entirely new. For many years, beggars, mainly from the northern states of the country and some from Niger, Chad and other countries in the Sahel region, have made Lagos their destination of choice in their quest for alms. The adults carry their children in tow and sometimes use them to blackmail or embarrass passersby.

What has made Lagos residents uneasy is the sudden upsurge in the population of those children — and they are crying out as they did last year. The Punch newspaper investigated the outcry and reported that the child beggars, aged between six and 15, had become a menace in areas such as Okokomaiko, Agege, LASU-Iyana Iba, Alaba Rago, Oshodi, Berger, Seven-Up and Ikeja, among others.

They could be seen harassing passersby. They stain people’s clothes and sometimes pilfer. One female commuter who lived around the old Toll Gate area complained that, “There are usually about 50 beggars on the pedestrian bridge. These beggars are always in a queue, like a gathering of soldier ants,” she said. “It is difficult to judge who is filthier between them and their nursing mother counterparts begging for alms with their babies”.

Whatever, anybody says in trying to rationalise this scandalous state of affairs where mere children are transported to urban centres to seek alms instead of being in school, decent members of society will continue to insist that the innocence and future of children should not be destroyed through the tolerance of irresponsible parenthood. It is no longer fashionable to hide behind religion in justifying the mass production of children without any plans of rearing them to responsible adulthood.

Advancing Democracy

Democracy Day 2024 comes up this week. Without doubt, the issue of restructuring and its many features— such as the establishment of state police, fiscal reorganisation and unbundling of the centre— will take on added energy as Nigerians from all walks of life make their feelings known. Prominent politicians all over the country are also likely to seize the opportunity to outline their ideas.

Already, there is a bill at the national assembly seeking to ban open grazing of animals so as to prevent the destruction of farmlands which often leads to conflict. Kano State under former Governor Ganduje was one of the earliest builders of ranches during the Buhari era. Katsina state under Governor Masari also announced a similar plan. Other states should emulate them. As Masari himself said, “The issue of animals wandering endlessly without control, grazing without properly mapped grazing routes should be over.”

Opposition leader and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar x-rayed the cold shoulder given to the issue of restructuring by the northern elite: “Our current constitution does indeed concentrate too much power and resources at the centre… At some point our leaders and representatives will come together, discuss and work out a framework for restructuring our federation… The restructuring that I have been calling for involves changes to the allocation of powers, responsibilities and resources among the states or zones and between them and the federal government. It is clear to me that the resistance against restructuring is based on

three interrelated factors, namely dependency, fear and mistrust.”

With President Tinubu— reputed to be a champion of restructuring— in the saddle, it is hoped that concrete steps will be taken to reinvent the house that Luggard built and make it an enduring edifice. That will be the ultimate legacy. Happy Democracy Day 2024!

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has cautioned Nigerian citizens travelling through Switzerland regarding the possession of laser pointers at their airports, a statement issued on Friday by Gabriel Odu of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit of NIDCOM said.

This advisory follows the recent detention of Dr. Andrew Etsetowaghan at Geneva Airport for carrying a presentation pointer in his hand luggage after the pointers had been banned in Switzerland since June 1, 2019 of which he was not aware

Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO NiDCOM, noted that many immigrants might be unaware of this regulation and urged Nigerian travelers to exercise caution to avoid similar incidents.

Dr. Etsetowaghan, a public health expert and Project Director at the Centre for Clinical Care and Clinical Research Nigeria, was detained on May 25, 2024, after attending a United States Department meeting in Geneva.

Dr. Etsetowaghan , who was part of an official delegation ,recounted his ordeal saying  “Upon going through security at Geneva Airport, I was informed that my presentation pointer was not allowed in Switzerland.

“I was detained, had my belongings and documents seized, and was subjected to several hours of interrogation and solitary confinement in a cell.

“Despite my compliance, the treatment I received was inhumane, including limited access to bathroom facilities and being forced to sign documents in French under duress.”

He called for measures to prevent such incidents in the future and urged a review of the procedures and better awareness of the banned items to ensure travelers are well-informed.

Reacting to the incident, NiDCOM emphasized the importance of raising awareness about such prohibited items in Switzerland Airports and urged Swiss authorities to enhance their communication on such regulations, describing Etseowaghan’s ordeal as “avoidable”.

[Leadership]

African Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) welterweight contender Don Madge is optimistic of emerging victorious over Nieman Gracie, a former Bellator fighter with a strong grappling background, in the upcoming Professional Fighters League (PFL) fight scheduled for June 28, 2024 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States (U.S).

He also expressed excitement over the imminent launch of PFL Africa, which he described as a game-changer for African Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters.

In a Zoom interview with select reporters in Lagos, Nigeria, he said he expects a serious fight with Nieman who he described as a very experienced opponent, adding however that his focus is on how to counter the strategy of Nieman.

“I expect a tough fight. Nieman is a very experienced opponent, and I anticipate he’ll try to take the fight to the ground. My preparation has been focused on countering that strategy,” he said.

As he braces for the contest, he also expressed delight about the upcoming launch of PFL Africa. “This is an amazing opportunity for African fighters. Breaking into the global MMA scene has always been difficult, especially coming from Africa. PFL coming in and giving fighters a platform to showcase their skills is incredible. African MMA is finally getting the recognition it deserves and I’m thankful to PFL for being a leader in developing the sport on the continent.”

[TheNation]

Organised Labour on Saturday tackled the state governors, accusing them of acting in bad faith towards the new minimum wage negotiations ongoing in the country.

Recall that the governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum rejected the proposed N60,000 minimum wage for Nigerian workers.

In a statement issued on Friday by the Director of Media and Public Affairs for NGF, Halimah Ahmed, the governors said the proposed minimum wage was too high and not sustainable.

The governors said if the N60,000 minimum wage is adopted, many states would allocate their entire Federal Account Allocation Committee funds to salaries, leaving no resources for development projects.

However reacting on Saturday, the Organised Labour faulted the NGF’s position, saying every part of the new minimum wage agreement should be implemented and any of the state governors who can’t pay it should resign.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, Deputy National President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim, said, “There is no minimum wage. Every segment of it should be implemented. For the governors, we have said it very clearly. If you cannot pay minimum wage, please resign because you were voted for governance not for only infrastructure.”

“If you build the entire infrastructure and the people are not living to use it, who will use it? When they were campaigning did they tell us that? They didn’t tell us that. They make use of the poor to get to the top and when they get there, they start thinking outside the box. All the money they spent in electioneering campaigns, if they applied that to build infrastructure, to develop the revenue generation that would have solved some socio-economic challenges in their domain,” Etim said.

Describing the NGF statement as a recipe for industrial unrest, he said, “In this same country, the governors said that N30,000 was too much for governors to pay but it is in the same country that a governor emerged with over N80bn. What an irony! We cannot jump processes. We will also look at it together. Labour will be meeting. We are giving Mr President the benefit of the doubt to work the talk. The end will justify the means.”

Also reacting in a statement signed by its Head of Public Affairs, Benson Upah, the Nigerian Labour Congress said, “We do believe the Governors have acted in bad faith. It is unheard of for such a statement to be issued to the world in the middle of an on-going negotiation. It is certainly in bad taste.

“As for the veracity of their claim, nothing can be further from the truth as FAAC allocations have since moved from N700bn to N1.2tn, making the governments extremely rich at the expense of the people.

“All that the governors need to do to be able to pay a reasonable national minimum wage (not even the N60,000) is cut on the high cost of governance, minimise corruption as well as prioritise the welfare of workers.”

[Punch]

The Nigerian Senate elevated its leadership profile in the country last week when it opted to pass the second reading of a bill which seeks to ban open grazing and establish ranches for herders in the country. The bill was passed by a clear majority of the senators when their President, Godswill Akpabio, put it to vote. All well-meaning citizens ought to commend the senate on the development which no doubt represents the first major pan-Nigeria attempt to address the interminable conflict between farmers and herders in the country. A few legislators who spoke against the bill were able to fulfil the democratic precept that although the majority must have its way, the minority must also have its say.

It makes ample sense to imagine that this is solution-time for the problem as the present administration positions itself to fill governance gaps which its predecessor neglected to accomplish from 2015 to 2023.The anti-open grazing policy ought to be at the front burner of issues requiring the attention of Tinubu’s government because of the capacity of the subject to massively disrupt national integration. Government needs to be sensitive to the ease with which the centrifugal factors of heterogeneous societies can dismember Nigeria. Never again should our politicians play politics with boiling issues such as ethnicity and religion. No one should support or oppose a destructive issue such as open grazing just to satisfy the emotions of their constituents.

Legislators have a primary responsibility to be on the same page with their constituents, but they must also be ready to give way where the contending perspectives may not be in the overall interest of society. Thus, political leaders should not stand rigidly behind primordial issues just to please their local segment of citizens. Instead, leaders must be flexible enough to embrace a broader perspective when it is appropriate. During the political campaigns leading to the Second Republic, Alhaji Shehu Shagari originally a senatorial aspirant decided to, in line with the choice of his constituents, publicly support population as a basis for revenue allocation; but when destiny pushed him to become a presidential candidate, he became an astute advocate for derivation because the entire nation had become his constituency. 

It is patently wrong for leaders to use freedom of movement in our constitution to support open grazing without remembering that the freedom granted by the constitution does not extend to the discretion to commit crime. Every freedom is expected to be enjoyed responsibly without disrupting the freedom of other people. Accordingly, herders or any other group can move freely nationwide but cannot in the process destroy other people’s businesses. More importantly, every citizen must realize that the same constitution validates any law which curtails freedom in the interest of the general public. Indeed, Section 45 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 specifically provides that a law can validly curtail any person’s freedom “for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.”

What this suggests is that there comes a time where certain groups may lose their freedom for the general good. For those of us in the media and communication sector, the law of defamation effectively stops us from defaming any person on the ground that we have freedom of speech. Unfortunately, no one in Nigeria is more discriminated against than media professionals because even when they publish the truth about leaders, they are arrested by law enforcement agencies and detained without trial. Yet, Section 22 of our constitution mandates the media to make government accountable to the people. In line with the current anti-open grazing posture, the senate should emulate Malawi, Ghana and others to enact laws stopping agencies of government from undue harassment of media professionals in Nigeria.

A major reason we expect our legislators to be more dynamic in deploying the instrumentality of law to correct several abuses is because much is expected from whom much is given. With all the allowances that our legislators allegedly commandeer, they must be forthcoming in using law to develop our democracy. An APC Senator, Titus Zam, Benue (North-West) who moved the discussions on the anti-open grazing bill accepted this much when he said:”the Senate cannot afford to look on while the country burns into ashes as a result of violent clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders.”Zam insists that to do otherwise would amount to abdication of statutory and leadership responsibilities by legislators who are prime stakeholders in the Nigeria project and elected representatives of the people. 

Certainly, the adverse effects of open grazing far outweigh its benefits. Cattle rearing does not only degrade the environment, it also depletes the soil and forests, just as it pollutes clean water. It provokes clashes with other groups, disrupts agriculture and displaces farmers thereby contributing largely to food insecurity. But the most serious effect as earlier stated is the daily killings of citizens which no one has been able to halt for an entire decade. The need to call attention to the situation is more understood when it is realized that for several centuries, cattle herders and other farmers had lived peacefully in the same communities. History even records circumstances where herders voluntarily compensated farmers whose crops were destroyed by their cattle making it obvious that regulation of the subject is overdue.

The way forward is to endeavour to comprehend how other countries have handled the subject which has overwhelmed Nigeria. Here, we must return to the sermon of best practices and global realities which our nation often conveniently ignores. We cannot continue to talk about old grazing routes the way our politicians who cherish election rigging hang-on to analogue electoral processes. The popular view is that cattle ranching can drastically reduce the negative effects of open grazing yet, no one seems ready to embrace it. In 2019, Nigeria launched a ten-year National Livestock Transformation Plan that can help to stop the indiscriminate movement of cattle and reduce the nation’s existential herder-farmer conflict. The plan like some other public policies died on arrival with many people arguing against government’s involvement in the subject which they categorized as essentially a private enterprise.

If the truth must be told, the lack of political will to sustain the plan is an error of judgment. Government cannot pretend that its interest was really dissuaded by the private enterprise criticism. Politicians who always support open grazing should not restrict their support to mere talks, they should help to organize herders to embrace the system and lobby governments and private donors to see to the realization of ranching.  But then, how can our government that subsidizes pilgrimages and occasionally aids private airlines as well as failed banks not do same for ranching? It can however not be a burden for the federal government alone. States with many herders should be more forthcoming on the subject. 

It is obvious that the real problem is not land but funds and structures that can sustain the business. Government needs to intervene even if it is in the form of loans. To prevent further conflicts between ranchers and wolves and create a conducive environment for peace, the United States government spent huge sums in 2023, to help ranchers in locations such as Colorado to “put up fences, remove carcasses from landscapes and hire range riders to watch herds more closely.”Every government ought to secure its nation from all types of challenges especially those of intractable nature. This is why we praise the positive take-off stance of the anti-open grazing bill in Nigeria and the progress so far recorded which shows it is a popular bill.

The senate should keep up the momentum and ensure that the debate does not become that of “they versus us” where one group opposes whatever the other appears to support. The few law-makers who spoke against the bill must not see themselves as losers because the real significance of their contribution lies in their desire to canvass the other dimension of the subject. But more importantly, it is time for our legislators to articulate a robust solution for a problem that has refused to go. If they fail to seize the golden opportunity to make history, they will end up in boring sessions everyday observing a minute silence for the dead; and thereby engaging in legislation by condolence.  

By the time you are reading this on Saturday morning, Nigeria would have played the match that would mark Finidi George’s real baptism into the world of Nigerian football.

The long-awaited confrontation between Bafana Bafana of South Africa and the Super Eagles of Nigeria after AFCON 2023 would have been settled on the Uyo Township Stadium ground last night. I hope that the Super Eagles won because no explanation would be acceptable for not winning. That is the lot of coaches – the moment they are hired, their records of success and of failure start to count. Finidi George’s cannot be an exception. No excuses for failure are acceptable.

This morning, the outcome of the match would be front-page, setting the foundation for the relationship between Finidi George and the Nigerian sports media. I am still baffled that in this 21st Century, drawing from history, developments in the world, and the place of the African on earth, there could still be many Nigerian sportswriters that think that indigenous coaches lack the capacity to manage the country’s senior national team despite the abysmal showings of the third-rated, unknown, overrated and overpaid foreign coaches that come and fail to deliver or add any substance to the country’s football.

So, Finidi carries a new banner with responsibility to justify the confidence many of us have reposed in qualified, knowledgeable and experienced Nigerian coaches drawn from amongst ex-internationals (as is the practice everywhere else in the world outside Africa) to take charge of Nigeria’s senior national football team.

This first match is a litmus test and provides an early indication of how rough or smooth Finidi’s romance with the Super Eagles will be for the next few years.

I sincerely hope that as you are reading this, the Super Eagles have managed to secure a win in Uyo and eased the difficult passage to the 2026 World Cup.

I do not envy Finidi at all. He is sitting on a time bomb even if I firmly believe that he deserves his new position and should be given the chance to garner the needed experience, by winning and losing matches whilst becoming a better coach, and kick-start an era when Nigerians will accept to sink or swim with their indigenous coaches.

For some unfathomable reason, for the first time, on the eve of yesterday’s crucially important football match that will determine Nigeria’s as well as Finidi’s fate, my crystal ball is blank. I saw nothing! I could not foretell how the pendulum of fate would swing.

So, I get into the mode of prayer. I pray that the Eagles win, somehow, anyhow.

I pray that Finidi finds a way, somehow, to defeat the South Africans with a ‘new’ team that should provide an indication of the new Super Eagles under him.

I listened to Finidi in several interviews. He talked glowingly about his time under Jose Paseiro, and gives the man plenty of credit. I hope he is only being diplomatic. My humble advice is that he leaves Paseiro completely alone. He should not make Paseiro’s era and ‘success’ at AFCON the barometer, or model, or foundation for his own team. The truth is that,  Paseiro, even during his best moments at AFCON 2023, was never convincing.

The Super Eagles were not brilliant. They were lucky. Their performance left 6 Nigerians dead, from anxiety and tension generated by the hypertension-laden style of the team.

Nigeria was fortunate, riding on the back of, with plenty of luck. She survived and got away with it till the final match.

Finidi should approach this assignment with a slate full of his own ideas born of his knowledge, vast experience and deep understanding of Nigerian football and Nigerian footballers. Their effective deployment will make defeating African teams more routine.

The return of Ndidi – a stronger Eagles!

The good news is that Nigeria’s midfield ‘giant’ is back in the ‘new’ team. I believe that his absence was badly felt and could have made a big difference to the Eagles’ final game at AFCON 2023, Wilfred Ndidi, is back.

In Finidi’s ‘new’ team, I believe that Ndidi will close up some of the weakness and porosity in Nigeria’s defence, by providing an additional layer of cover for towering Semiu, a very vulnerable player in the centre of Nigeria’s defense line. Semiu is only very effective in aerial battles. On the ball he often looks lost, not knowing what to do with it.

In the absence of team leader, William Troost Ekong, Ndidi must rise to the occasion to strengthen the Nigerian defence, link the defence and attack, and also launch fresh attacks.

Eagles attack…. without Osimhen

Nigeria parades a formidable frontline led by ‘born-again’ Ademola Lookman.

This strength on paper must translate into action on the field of play. In the absence of Osimhen, Finidi may have been presented with the opportunity to adopt a new strategy for scoring goals outside of the long balls hauled upfront to a lone Victor Osimhen scrummaging for a goal.

The front line of Nigeria is made up of players who do best when they have the freedom to express themselves on the ball, dribbling past opponents with speed and panache, and creating goal-scoring chances all the time.

Hauling all balls to Victor Osimhen up front did not work well during AFCON and must be changed to allow for front runners run at the South African defence all night, and create ceaseless wahala for them

So, I hope the Eagles won last night.

I also wish the team and Finidi George the best of luck going forward.

Bereavement in the Green Eagles

The past week was littered with sad news.

Two of our colleagues in the Green Eagles of the mid-1970s passed on, days apart.

‘Hard man’ and supreme left-back for Vasco Dagama, Rangers International and the Green Eagles, Harrison Mecha died.

A few days later, stylish player, tall, handsome and elegant mid-field player for Rangers International and the Green Eagles, Stanley Okoronkwo, embarked on the inevitable journey of no-return.

Both news were numbing, sad reminders again of the briefness of life, and our mortality.

Meanwhile, writing tributes has become more painful and difficult for me with the deaths of an increasing number of players of my generation and even younger.

I am drawn again to dust up my intention many years ago to sue the federal government and demand a welfare policy for retired athletes as well as some ‘reparation’ for retired athletes who pay with a life of poor health, poverty and early death for the ‘sacrifices’ they made in ignorance whilst representing Nigeria in their youth. We played without fully grasping the health and social implications and consequences, until at the evening of life, we are confronted with the devastating reality.

The statistics are frightening.

Almost two thirds of the football players that represented Nigeria and won the Gold medal at the Second All-Africa Games in 1973, are dead. Most of them before turning 60!

Almost half of the team that won the Africa Cup of Nations for Nigeria in 1980 are also dead, most before turning 60.

With the recent deaths of Mecha and Stanley, I am reminded that more than half of the players that won the Africa Cup Winners Cup with Rangers International FC in 1977 have passed on. And that those still alive are mostly suffering the pain of debilitating arthritis, and other ailments directly related to health conditions that derived from their playing football without proper guidance and information by experts in the field, to enable them be prepared for the consequences in the evening of their lives. Something must be done.

Death is turn-by-turn, and inevitable.

Yet, we mourn the exit of Harrison Mecha and Stanley Okoronkwo from the earthly theatre. I wish them peace on their journey back home to Our Creator.

•‘I didn’t know I will come out of detention in Kebbi alive’

•Says Tinubu not exhibiting the values of democracy

•‘Beko and I warned Saro-Wiwa not to return to PH’

Of momentous events that have shaped the Nigeria we know today, the June 12 presidential election, of 1993 stands out for good and not for worse or bad. The significance it embodies accounts for why the event still resonates 31 years later.

Reflecting on the import of the poll, which was won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, Prof Odion Akhaine, who was detained for fighting for the revalidation of the election, laments that the ethos of June 12 is not being displayed by the current crop of leaders in Nigeria. He also shares his June 12 story, which explains the price some patriots paid to birth democracy in the country.

Within the context of the significance June 12 has assumed in Nigeria’s history, do you think June 12 has been substantially immortalised?

I think the best way to imortalise June 12 is to actually practice what June 12 represents. It was a day Nigerians voted in a free and fair election. If you look at Nigerian elections from 1999 to date, we have never had free and fair elections. All elections have actually been disputed. If you recall, in 2007, the elections were brazenly rigged, making the Commonwealth observers say that Nigerians went below standards.

And they observed that there were unique ways of rigging that had never happened before. It means that in terms of what June 12 represents, we have observed it in breach. And every attempt to nudge us towards free and fair elections is often subverted by state actors, especially politicians in the country. That is a tragedy.

But it has another symbolic significance, which is the fact that it reminds us that military rule is not an alternative to democracy. And if we had survived military rule, it reminds us that we have to practice our democracy according to the rules. As Nigerians observe the ritual every year now that June 12 is now the Democracy Day, it throws up all the contradictions of the process since 1999. And we have to resolve these contradictions.

Last polls

In the last elections, Nigerians voted and expected that results would be transmitted from the polling units, which was what the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV, represented, but that was not to be. We need to work on those recipes by making votes count and not alienating voters. These are the things I think we need to do if we must value June 12 for what it represents.

We have observed June 12 in breach because elections are not free and fair. Even when you organise talk shows, it is significant. If you ask me, the way to mark it is to shame political actors for their non-performance. None of the current actors apart from the President was around when we engaged the military.

All the so-called beneficiaries of June 12 today were nowhere to be found when we fought the military. They were not there, but they are the elements who have perpetuated themselves in power, subverting the proper way of leadership recruitment and nudging our democracy into a kind of dictatorship of a clique. We should remember the veterans, who fought for this democracy and underscore those things they agitated for.

And if you ask me, we haven’t achieved many of those things. What we have is electroless, which means going to the polls at the end of every four years to elect news actors who have already subverted the will of Nigerians. When we were fighting the military, we were talking about restructuring the military and that hasn’t been done.

What the current state actors are doing because they are so ignorant of statecraft, they are even deepening the contradictions of the Nigerian state. For example, the so-called local government autonomy they are talking about, it is true the governors at the level of the state have subverted local governments in terms of financial autonomy. But the way to do it is not to revive local as state structure, because people don’t understand the difference between local government as a tier of government and tier of the state.

A tier of government is different from a tier of the state. What they are doing now is to reinforce local government as a tier of the states. Nigeria is a federation and it is a covenant among people. It meant that people came together to say they wanted to build a state to advance their mutual interests. Local government is an administrative unit within that context. So, it is the state government that ought to create local government. 774 local governments were created by the military. Now, they are trying to refer to them as a tier of the Nigerian state and not the government. That is what the autonomy bill seeks to achieve, therefore, deepening the contradictions of the Nigerian state and further units arising from the states.

The first thing to do is to ensure that the local government should remain within the jurisdiction of the state government. The idea of allocating resources to local government from the state account is an anomaly. The revenue at the centre must be shared between the federating states and the centre. It is left for the federating states, within their local parliament to allocate resources to the local governments, outside the resources that local governments can generate within the schedule of the 1999 Constitution. They have to be aware. But the current Attorney General of the Federation is looking for an activity hype, to be seen to be doing something.

Unfortunately, the state governments do not understand the issue. They look at it from the point of view that they want to block their access to local government joint accounts. That is not the issue. You don’t resolve a contradiction with another contradiction. For me, these are some of the issues the June 12 struggle represents. We must not forget that the Nigerian state must be restructured from the current skewed federation. The National Assembly has tried to do a few things, but they have also misplaced priorities. We all saw how they reverted to a colonial anthem they could hardly sing. It is a shame for the nation.

There were issues thrown up by the National Conference, which they have refused to review. For instance, one way of deepening our democracy, if we want good people in government, is by legalising independent candidacy. I think the Ninth Assembly passed that bill but it hasn’t been assented to. Tinubu should assent to the bill on June 12. Nigerians with integrity should stand for elections whether they have a party or not.

The Buhari administration went a step further by declaring June 12 Nigeria’s Democracy Day. Do you think that is substantial enough and puts an end to the immortalisation of June 12?

I think the argument we should be making is that June 12 must represent substance. If you declare a day as Democracy Day, that is significant enough except people will now say that Abiola should be recognised posthumously as President.

I am not against it if they want to resurrect it. What is more significant is that June 12 has been recognised as Democracy Day. In the country, it is historical unless the lawmakers develop a brainwave and decide to revert it. People who could revert to an old anthem can do anything.

June 12 has its own life now. In America there is something called the Spirit of 1776, which guides Americans on the path of patriotism. Do you think Nigerians can rightly say there is this spirit of June 12 in how democracy is practiced in the country?

All we have analysed so far shows there’s a vacuum and we are yet to value June 12. If you look at it from the point of view of other sections of the country, you will see Buhari’s action as being driven by national reconciliation. A section of the country was denied the presidency and we needed to right the wrong. In righting the wrong, I have not seen that nationalist vibe to it. For instance, the North, even though some were part of the struggle, did not see it as a national issue the way people in the South-West see it. For them, it is a reconciliatory gesture, but it has yet to assume that position like the Spirit of 1776 in America.

Most of the current practitioners hardly know anything about June 12. I have not seen any of them who were deeply involved in the struggle. However, we have the current Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, who worked with Shehu Sani, who was the Vice President of Campaign for Democracy, Kaduna Zone, at the time. President Tinubu was there before he went into exile. All those making noise now were not there. That is why they don’t value democracy. It is also the reason they only line their pockets while the Nigerian workers can barely feed themselves.

You have a country that produces oil, but citizens cannot access petrol. Now, they are talking about compressed natural gas, CNG. If they do that, who says there won’t be scarcity of gas like petrol? The current state actors do not have a bearing. To make June 12 have a national spirit is to ensure that whoever comes to power must know the direction of the country.

President Tinubu and a few others in this administration were also involved in the June 12 struggles. But there is this feeling out there that these people who were supposed to be the beacons are not living up to the June 12 creed now that they are in government…

When we talk about June 12, we have a way of describing many people as being part of the struggle. Who are those in government who were part of the struggle? Maybe Bayo Onanuga, who was an Editor at The News. Dele Alake just happened to be in Concord at the time, and Concord belonged to Chief MKO Abiola. That doesn’t make them June 12 activists. All Nigerian journalists at the time were at the barricade. Some journalists like Nosa Igiebor were clear about June 12 and what it represents.

Unfortunately, the President who was there is not exhibiting the values of democracy as far as I am concerned. He needs a think-tank. His policies so far haven’t shown that he has a think-tank or a team that is thinking. It will be a disaster for all of us in that struggle to see a president, who was part of that struggle, derail and engender dictatorship in the country.

The civil society played a major role in the June 12 struggle. When you look at the role of today’s civil society given the perceived maladministration in the country, what comes to your mind?

The point to make is that in terms of the conceptualization of civil society, we often miss the point. When you talk about civil society, there is a difference between social movements and Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs. What we have today are NGOs with a remit that is often dictated by the funders. Social movement could be a coalition of groups like market women associations, professional associations and others, who come together to pursue basic causes about the transformation of society. That was what we had when we were fighting the military.

People didn’t know the Campaign for Democracy, CD, didn’t receive any funding from outside during that period. People funded the organisation through their personal pockets. Beko Ransome-Kuti gave us his house to use as an office. We all know what happened to Beko.

He was detained severally and he eventually died. You need a life and death matter to wake people up from slumber to come together to fight bad governance in the country. The NGOs that are also funded by donor agencies and democracy promoters have their agenda. When Nigeria began the democratization process in 1999, these funding agencies directed their funding to government through the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

The funds were not given to the civil society to the extent that the civil society was directed to apply for funding through the ministry. Hardly can you point to any NGO in Nigeria today that has an independent source of funding. We need to rebuild the civil society as fighting organs and not NGOs that are doing creative accounting to their funders.

You were detained severally for the sake of June 12 and had a close shave severally. Can you share your June 12 story?

June 12 reminds me of the crisis of governance in this country. And like veterans, when you look back, you just thank God that you are still alive to even talk about it. I wasn’t sure I was going to come out of detention alive, particularly when I heard that Ken Saro-Wiwa had been hanged by Abacha. I was in Birnin Kebbi Prison at the time.

Beko Ransome-Kuti and I met Ken Saro-Wiwa on the evening he was returning to Port Harcourt. And we were telling him not to go back and that he would be picked up. He was a stubborn man. He went back and they picked him up. That was the last time Saro-Wiwa saw freedom until the day he was hanged. I knew that Ken Saro-Wiwa wasn’t in Port Harcourt the day the killings he was accused of instigating took place. When I learnt he was killed, I lost hope because I was accused of seeking foreign assistance to form an army.

I felt that if that was my accusation, mine was finished. What I did was that I started learning Hausa so that in the event that I decided to jump the prison wall, I would be able to speak with the people. The pain is that I haven’t seen all the values we fought for and represent. In fact, the current elite treat people with integrity as lepers. They are frightened when they see us.

During those periods that you were detained, did you ever think of quitting the struggle?

The reason I am alive was because I was completely innocent. I was committed to the struggle. At the time, I wasn’t afraid of anything. When you get to that point, you don’t consider death as something you could be scared of. I was driven from Lagos with three armed men to Kebbi. I was first taken to Anka and Arugungu. For six months nobody knew where I was until the late Chief Anthony Enahoro filed a suit in Lagos, asking them to release or charge me to court.

It was within those six months that I managed to smuggle a letter out of the prison, which got to Femi Falana Chambers. That was how the world knew I was in Kebbi. The journey itself was a journey of death. If you believe in a cause, you don’t have a reason to regret it. It is more painful today when you don’t see that kind of commitment anymore.

We were young men at the time who were fresh from school. When you look back today, you don’t find that kind of spirit anymore. Our role now is to inspire hope in Nigeria, and hope is possible. History moves irrespective of our will. The direction this current President is headed, which is impoverishing Nigerians, will lead to a change, but I may not know the colour of that change.