THE Students Loan scheme, planned to be floated in the next few weeks, is an ingenious creation of a problem that does not exist. I explained this as the Lead Discussant at the Federal University of Technology, FUTA, Branch of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Colloquium on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 in Akure. I had begun my submission by enquiring if a citizen has a fundamental right to be an illiterate. I did not think so, but argued that even if he does, the collective rights of society supersedes such an individual right.

I pointed out that it is in realisation of the indispensability of education to society, that Chapter Two of the Constitution directs that: “Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and to this end, Government shall as and when practicable provide free, compulsory and universal primary education; free secondary education; free university education; and free adult literacy programme.”

So, if education is so fundamental to human existence, and if societies need an educated citizenry to run, why should it not invest in education? Why should the citizen take a loan to be educated?

I took the audience through the trajectory of the loan and my observations. The Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023, was signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on June 12, 2023, exactly 14 days after he came into office. This gives the impression that the bill was signed in a hurry. On the other hand, it might have been signed on trust since it was introduced by former House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the new administration.

The June 12 date was also Democracy Day, marking the commemoration of the June 12, 1993 annulment of the presidential election by the military regime led by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. So, did President Tinubu, who played a role in the de-annulment struggle, see a correlation between democracy and the Students Loan Bill?

The title of the new law, ‘The Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act 2023’, gives the impression that it is meant to grant ‘Access to Higher Education’ in the country, which is not the case.

Nigerians access to tertiary education is limited primarily by available admission spaces. This led to the 1978 establishment of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to manage the admission process. So, the introduction of the loan scheme would not lead to increased admission slots.

Given the fact that, generally, tuition fees are not paid in public tertiary institutions, coupled with the reality that nearly all those who send their wards to tuition fee-paying private universities can afford to do so, it is curious why the Student Loan Scheme is being introduced. This is more so when Section 3 of the Act states that the loan is “only for payment of tuition fees”.

My conclusion was that the Tinubu administration intends to introduce tuition fees into public tertiary institutions through the backdoor. I also pointed out that the challenge students face in our tertiary institutions is primarily upkeep. More so with hyperinflation. But the Act forbids students from accessing the loan for anything other than payment of tuition fees that do not exist in public schools.

If the loan is for only tuition, how will indigent students feed and accommodate themselves in the campuses? How would they buy books and other materials for their studies? How would they carry out necessary research? So, I submitted that the interests of the students and the government do not coincide. Also, the Act disqualifies a loan applicant if “any of the parents had defaulted in respect of students loan or any loan granted the person”. This is like visiting the sins of the parents on the children.

Another aspect is that the new law grants beneficiaries a two-year post National Youth Service Corps moratorium before the repayment begins. Working beneficiaries who dodge repayment risk a N500, 000 fine or two-year jail or both fine and imprisonment.

I pointed out that given the reality of mass unemployment , many beneficiaries are likely to default as unemployed graduates will be unable to repay the loans. I pointed that in the United States, students loan has become like an albatross. The outstanding debts in 2021 stood at $1.7 trillion. Secondly, some youths are not getting married because of the burden of the students loan. The sociological implications of this include the promotion of depopulation, burden of single motherhood and increase in absentee fathers. Also, some American youths do not go to college because they want to avoid the loan trap. This partly informs why some developed countries are seeking professionals from the underdeveloped countries to run their system.

I concluded that the scheme may endanger the future of the students and, by extension, society. As alternative, I submitted that government should live up to its responsibility of funding education. This I pointed out it can do, amongst other ways, by restoring the scholarship and bursary awards to students which used to be provided by all tiers of government.

Professor Bayo Aborishade while also opposing the scheme, narrated his experience in the scheme in the country before it was abolished in the late 1970s.

“I took a students’ loan scheme in 1974.It was N400 per annum. I paid back to the last Kobo, but most students never paid back a Kobo. Many of them were children of rich Nigerians who had the means, but saw the scheme as free money. On the loans form, they filled fake guarantors, the state never checked, and the loans were never repaid.

“In my days, the loan was for upkeep. There was no tuition fee, nor is there tuition fee today. The intention of the government is quite obvious: that it is going to introduce tuition fees. But there are enough funds in Nigeria to fund education in a country where a single minister could within weeks of being in office, have access to billions of Naira. The politicians know how to take care of themselves. It is a class issue; if you don’t belong, you are finished.”

Dr Olawale Bello, concurred that government is trying to introduce tuition fees, adding that it has commenced the process by pushing the universities to increase sundry fees.

FUTA Vice Chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji, said government should not be judged by what people assume are its intentions. She is confident that the Act will be revisited in line with the intentions of government.

The FUTA SSSANU led by Comrade Felix Adunbi conferred ‘Labour Friendly Award’ on Ondo State Governor, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, who was represented by Head of Service, Bayo Philip. The union also conferred the Labour Activist Award on me.

On October 15, 1965, as political uncertainty and violence raged in Western Nigeria, Ladoke Akintola, the regional Premier, was due to deliver a primetime radio broadcast to his people at 19:00. Some minutes before the appointed hour, an armed, unmasked and bearded young man appeared in the studio and required Akinwande Oshin, head of the newsroom at the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (WNBC) to substitute the recorded broadcast of the Premier with a tape provided by the gunman. At the appointed hour, the entire region – including the Premier – listened as the voice from the gunman’s tape exhorted the Premier to spare the region further turmoil and go. 

His mission accomplished, the gunman promptly vanished into the night, leaving Mr. Oshin and his crew in the newsroom with some questions to answer. The incident would later result in criminal proceedings against a suspect, later identified as Wole Soyinka, at the time a lecturer at the University of Ibadan. In his defence, Mr. Soyinka set up an alibi, claiming that he was in Enugu in the then Eastern Region of Nigeria at the time of the incident. In his testimony, Soyinka’s Head of Department at the university, Professor Axworthy, said that they had both attended a departmental meeting in Ibadan less than two hours before the incident but the Wole Soyinka with whom he attended the meeting, according to the professor, was clean shaven.

The mystery of how a clean-shaven man could grow a bushy beard in less than two hours was too much for the trial Magistrate, who felt obliged to acquit the suspect. Kayode Eso, the trial Magistrate, who would go on to a storied judicial career within and beyond Nigeria, immortalized this story in his book fittingly titled “The Mystery Gunman.”

The mystery gunman is a figure of considerable antiquity in the history of crime and impunity in Nigeria and of myths about both. A mere 11 and a half years after that incident in Ibadan, soldiers brutally attacked Wole Soyinka’s aunt, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, in the Kalakuta Republic base of her famous son and Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. A judicial commission of inquiry established to identify the perpetrators and recommend suitable measures of accountability concluded that the attack was the handiwork of the “unknown soldier”. With the act attributed to so ghostly a figure, suggestions of accountability became illusory.

In south-east Nigeria, where a metastasis of murderous violence is widely perceived to have held sway for the better part of the last five years, responsibility for this state of affairs is laid at the feet of the Unknown Gunman. Tired of having to repeat the name with the frequency with which murders, abductions, and violence occur in and around the region, many people have taken to abbreviating the nomenclature to “UGM”. With no memory of what transpired before, the UGM is mostly seen as a novelty in the contemporary ecosystem of violence in Nigeria generally and in the south-east more particularly. In reality, he is neither new nor indeed unknown.

Nearly 10 years ago, when he disappeared on his way to his community in Nanka, Orumba North Local Government Area (LGA) of Anambra State in May 2014, it was reported that former Anambra State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Chike Okoli, had been “abducted by unknown gunmen.” But one month later, the Anambra State directorate of the State Security Service (SSS) arrested a 10-man kidnap-for-ransom gang, whom they alleged was responsible for the kidnap and disappearance of Mr Okoli. It was led by one Kingsley Chukwuemeka Eze, a local politician from Enugu state.

The abduction and disappearance of Igwe Oliver Nnaji, traditional ruler of Ogwu Aniocha in Ogbaru LGA in November 2021, was similarly reported at first as the handiwork of the “UGM”. However, at the beginning of January 2023, a raid by a Special Forces assault team on the Ochan Forest in the community reportedly led to the killing of ten members of a crime gang led by one Victor Ibenegbu (alias “Network”), who claimed that “his group was behind the serial killings and arsons in the community”, including the abduction of the traditional ruler.

With the police decimated and devoid of confidence, the investigation of the violence does not receive the kind of assets or commitment it deserves. Most victims and witnesses are not unaware of the authors of the violence in their neighbourhoods. But they are equally mostly unwilling to go on record for fear of suffering reprisals. The use of “unknown gunmen” to describe the perpetrators is a misnomer. In most cases, they are known but the expression, UGM, describes a tyranny of despondency in the face of widely held perceptions of state incapacity or impunity for these atrocities.

Over nearly 20 months of leading the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission (TJPC) into the violence in the south-east of Nigeria, it has become evident to me that the UGM is one of the narrative myths and constraints in the crisis of violence and insecurity in the region. It is by no means the only one. You also have the reality of a population forced by the violence into a habit of fear of candour on the subject; an absence of public or bureaucratic infrastructure of both memory and records of victimisation; a narrative space at both national and state levels unwilling to look beyond separatism as the explanation for the violence; and a policy space attuned only to expeditionary and kinetic responses.

These myths have sustained the misbegotten idea of a unified field theory for the violence in south-east Nigeria. Anyone interested in addressing this situation must be prepared to look beyond the myths. For whoever is prepared to do so, the pursuit could prove both revealing and richly rewarding.

In Anambra state, for instance, the political economy of land is central to understanding the crisis of violence. It is both property and identity and the supply of land in the state is shrinking under the combined assault of fragilities from both nature and of intense land use. Revenues from land, are the focus of an intensity of competing interests. In this competition, cults and organized crime gangs are recruited. These cults and gangs bring with them guns, drugs, and even transactional idolatry. Over time, they also develop a seasonal and entrepreneurial orientation to violence, selling it to whoever is interested, from artisanal rustlers of solid minerals or hydro-carbons to private persons using it to settle scores; from community factions disputing over the stool of the Igwe or positions in the Town Union to politicians seeking offices in the state.

From the political economy of land, other shorter-term factors radiate out, including the mismanagement of transhumant pastoralism; (mis-)appropriation of a narrative vacuum created by official government policy concerning memory from Nigeria’s past; intra-state and inter-community boundary crises; transactional idolatry; the franchising of agitation by criminal cults and gangs; as well as the deployment of violence for artisanal extractive and mining activities and electoral politics.

For both politicians and security agencies, the focus on mobilizing kinetic responses preoccupies itself overly with the symptoms at the expense of addressing the real causes. The implicit idea that the country or the region can shoot its way out of the violence and its causes and consequences is in one word, delusional. Tactical options must always be on the table but, for durable solutions, the country and the region must dispense with the myths and govern their way out of the disease. That is the only way to make the symptoms finally disappear.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Sadly, most Nigerians will not read or appreciate this contribution because frankly, it is beyond them.

Worst still, many of them, particularly in the younger generation, find it difficult to read more than three lines even though it is to their own shame and detriment.

For those that have the gravitas, insight, foresight, profundity and intellectual virility to read and comprehend the counsel I have offered in this write-up, I urge you to bookmark it and wait and see what unfolds unless and until we quickly identify and recognise the problem and address the issues raised.

There are two reasons for the mass abductions and kidnappings that we are witnessing in our country today.

Firstly, to garner cash which is then sent abroad to buy more arms and fund terror and secondly to destabilise our country and to discredit and undermine the credibility of our president and the federal government.

I hope and pray that someone is listening because this is precisely what we witnessed when the Chibok girls and other children were abducted over the years and the motives are the same. Those who think it is only about the acquisition of money are naive and ignorant.

There is far more to it than that and there are numerous shady and sinister characters, international criminal cartels, foreign governments and intelligence agencies and local accomplices and facilitators that are involved in this great evil.

Nigeria has been targeted for destruction, division and disintegration by those who see us as a threat to their regional hegemony, strategic national interests and imperialist aspirations, but most of us still don’t get it and perhaps never will.

They do not want a strong, united, prosperous and regionally dominant Nigeria but would rather turn us into a pathetic and pitiful shadow of our former selves, a cowardly and quivering caricature of what we once were and a weak, divided, incredulous and headless pawn and set us up for self-destructive economic and military annihilation.

They know that a strong Nigeria, like a strong South Africa, would stand up to them in the arena of world politics and international affairs and ensure that our collective interests as Nigerians and Africans would be protected and they do not want this.

As a matter of fact, for us to achieve that enviable status is not just their greatest fear but their worst nightmare.

They ask themselves in their corporate boardrooms, presidential palaces, cabinet meetings and legislative chambers, who can stand up to a strong Nigeria?

They wonder where else they would get their free mineral resources and be in a position to manipulate and dictate to servile leaders if not Nigeria.

And if Nigeria were to fail, fall and go the way they want us to, who would stand and speak for Africa and the black man in the comity of nations?

If the truth be told without a strong, flourishing and virile Nigeria, Africa is nothing and the black man is nowhere and this is precisely why the powers that be, when it comes to world politics and the international community, do not want us to succeed.

As far as they are concerned we are too weak, corrupt, ignorant, primitive, backward, servile, self-hating and dumb to achieve anything meaningful and we are more than happy to spend the next 100 years as a nation and a people that seek nothing but validation, leadership and guidance from them.

Yet how wrong they are. They have no idea who and what we are and deep down they fear us and recognise the fact that an unbound and unfettered Nigeria with strong, bold, articulate, confident and fearless leaders who do not seek their approval or validation and who have no interest in remaining as their slaves would be their worse nightmare. Such leaders would be dangerous to their evil cause and their attempt to sow the seeds of civil war, hardship and economic paralysis in our country.

It is time for us to get off our knees, to throw away the begging bowl, to stop constantly seeking validation from those who do not wish us well, to stop blindly implementing their disastrous economic models which seek to impoverish and destroy our people, to uproot and reject their well-planted seeds of division and to stop tolerating their subversive activities.

Ask yourself, who funds the terrorists and bandits and where do they get their weapons from?

They did it in Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and so many other countries over the years and decades and now they are doing it here.

Ask yourself who was behind the attack on a mosque in which worshippers were killed just yesterday in Kaduna and what was the purpose of this abominable and condemnable act of terror if not to destabilise us and create panic and chaos in our nation?

All this must stop and we must desist from refusing to acknowledge that we now have and indeed have always had a major problem which needs to be acknowledged and be solved.

None of these things happen by chance and what we are witnessing is a deep-seated and long-term conspiracy to literally end our nation as we know it and throw us into a state of fear, poverty, anomie, anarchy, fratricidal butchery and carnage.

Worst of all is the fact that our so-called “best friends” and “allies” in the West and the international community are the ones behind it.

We need help and if we can get it from the Russians, the Chinese and even the Iranians in order to restore our peace, self-respect, freedom, dignity and prosperity, we should do so.

Asking the West for help either in intelligence gathering, advice or covert military operations when it comes to the fight against the terrorists and insurgents in Nigeria is like asking the big bad wolf to save Little Red Riding Hood.

It cannot work because ultimately they are the hidden hand behind our numerous travails and they are the enemy.

May God open our eyes and deliver our nation and may we cultivate the fortitude and courage to come together as a people, eschew our differences, resist the evil and save our nation.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is neither a lender nor a custodian of funds, says Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, the director general.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Dahir-Umar said it has become necessary to clarify “totally misleading” reports that the commission gave a N10 trillion loan to the federal government.

She further dismissed claims that PenCom was owing federal government retirees as well as insinuations that Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have not been meeting their obligations to holders of retirement savings accounts (RSAs).

“Investments by the PFAs in the securities of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) are not loans as erroneously portrayed, but investments in securities, through bonds and treasury bills, as approved by the relevant government agencies, in this case the Debt Management Office (DMO) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They are traded on authorized capital markets. That is, the Nigerian Exchange Limited and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange,” she said.

“Moreover, pension fund assets are not managed by PenCom. I have said it repeatedly that when we say pension assets have grown to N19.6 trillion, that does not mean PenCom has N19.6 trillion locked somewhere in its office or bank accounts. Pension fund assets are managed by the licensed PFAs and held in custody by the licensed Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs).

“The PFAs are responsible for investing pension fund assets in allowable asset classes, including FGN (Federal Government of Nigeria) debts instruments. The objectives are safety and fair returns. All these are in line with the provisions of the enabling law, the Pension Reform Act 2014, and the rules issued by the Commission.

“It is obvious from the above that what is referred to ‘loan to FGN’ is just investment in FGN securities by the PFAs, as is done by other institutional investors such as banks, insurance companies, asset managers, etc.”

It is an international best practice to invest in investible instruments issued or backed by the sovereign authority, she said, and that the FGN securities meet the objectives of safety and fair returns.

“The FGN has consistently met its repayment obligations, both the principal amount and accrued interests, for all investments in bonds and T-bills to all investors including pension funds. The information is always in the open and accessible on our website, www.pencom.gov.ng,” she said.

On the outstanding benefits to federal government retirees and deceased employees, Dahir-Umar said it is because of “the inadequate and delayed funding for the payment of Accrued Pension Rights for those who were in service before the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) was introduced when PenCom was established in 2004.”

She added: “Payment of the accrued rights is subject to release of funds by the Federal Government. So, it is beyond the powers of the Commission. However, we have been engaging the Federal Ministry of Finance for more funds to be released to settle these liabilities, but it is not a secret that the government itself has budgetary constraints.”

All those enrolled under the CPS have been receiving their benefits through their PFAs and there is no unsolved complaint before the commission, she maintained.

[TheCable]

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened its pre-emptive surveillance of banks to unearth infractions and ensure compliance with extant rules and guidelines.

The banks have been under intense criticism in recent periods for alleged complicity in economic crimes. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) estimated that some 70 per cent of financial crimes in the country could be traced to the banking sector.

Financial industry sources yesterday said the apex bank has rejigged its surveillance mechanism to appropriately focus on banks’ financial statements and audit reports.

They told The Nation that each report will pass through multiple-level examinations.

One of the sources said the delay in the submission of the audited reports and accounts of many of the banks for last year might not be unconnected with the rigorous screening of the banks’ financial statements.

Banks that had approved their audited results and submitted the same for onward examination and approval by the CBN since the end of January 2024 are still awaiting final approval of the apex bank.

Banks cannot make public their audited reports and accounts without prior and final approval of the CBN.

The delay in the release of the banks’ results has put them in default of the corporate governance rules at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), where most banks are listed.

When asked about the delay in submission of their banks’ results, spokesmen for two major banks, who craved anonymity, said they were waiting for the apex bank’s approvals.

Post-listing rules at the NGX provide two compliance options for the submission of results. Most quoted companies including all banks, major manufacturers, oil and gas companies, breweries and cement companies use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year.

Under the first option, companies are required to submit interim or unaudited quarterly reports not later than 30 calendar days after the end of the relevant period. Such companies then have extended 90 days, after the end of the relevant period, to submit their full-year audited reports and accounts.

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However, where a company chooses to audit its quarterly accounts, it shall be required to file such accounts not later than 60 calendar days after the relevant quarter. For the first set of companies, the deadline for the submission of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2023, is March 30, 2024. Many banks such as Jaiz Bank, Fidelity Bank and FBN Holdings adopted this option and submitted the interim results for the fourth quarter that ended December 31, 2023.

The deadline for the second set of companies, where several major banks belong, was February 29, 2024. While the rules allow the NGX to grant specific waivers to relevant companies or a general waiver of the deadline under some specific circumstances, a review yesterday indicated that the NGX has not issued any general waiver or specific, publicly announced waiver to the banks.

General waiver is usually given in the event of general disruption to industrial activities such as strikes, national crises, many public holidays and other circumstances that in the judgement of the Exchange may significantly impact the timeline given to companies to prepare and submit the quarterly report.

A review yesterday indicated that the banks had completed their internal approval process and transmitted their results to the apex bank some 40 days ago.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar has declared today, March 11, 2024, as the first day of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

He said the declaration was based on the sighting of the moon in almost every part of the country earlier on Sunday, which is the 29th day of the Month of Shaban and thereby signifies today as the First day of Ramadan 1445.

“We got the information from Muslim leaders across the country and we accept the sighting of the moon accordingly,” he said.
Sultan Abubakar, therefore, called on the entire Muslim faithful in the country to start the fast today in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

He also urged Muslims to use this month of Ramadan to pray against the spread of insecurity in the country and for the nation’s leaders to discharge their duties with the fear of God.
He further advised all Muslims in the country and beyond to observe the fast with the ultimate fear of God, while urging the wealthy to support the less privileged with food during the holy month of Ramadan.

The presidency on Sunday night, foreclosed the possibility of a cabal taking control of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, like it had been seen in the past.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who gave this assurance during an interview on TVC News Sunday Politics, also blamed the escalating insecurity in some parts of the north on the activities of those he described as “sub-regional forces”, who are working against the stability of the country.

Ngelale was reacting to various issues that have raised topics in the media in recent times, including the state of the economy, the effects of the negative activities of past government officials, the security and the multifaceted efforts of the Tinubu administration to straighten things out.

Reacting to the possibility of some very influential officials in the current administration, wielding the sort of influence that might allow them to mismanage and abuse public office, the effect of which might linger after the administration, Ngelale said President Tinubu is not that sort of leader, explaining that he (Tinubu) has not left room for such influence by any official to hijack his government.

“The good fortune we have is that we elected, not just a professional accountant, a professional auditor, but we elected a man who fully understands the governance mechanisms, not just at the federal level, but at sub-national level. I think this is a man who anyone working in the office of the President would tell you, there is not one individual in the Presidency that has a monopoly over what the President sees, hears and reads. Nobody has that kind of power in the office of this President and that’s intentional.

“He is someone who everyone has access to, everyone who needs to have access to him, has access to him. He has direct communications on a frequent basis with the heads of intelligence agencies, anti-graft agencies, and the like. So there is not going to be the potential there for anyone to form a cabal around this President because he’s aware of the dynamics of what has happened in the past and he is determined to ensure that that is not replicated under his watch.

“I will also add the fact that in the person of the current CBN Governor Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, this is a man who is reputed around the world as being a prudent manager of men and resources. This is someone who has a reputation, even within the government, of being tight fisted and that is by the intention of President Bola Tinubu to have someone like that in place.

“I would also add that when you look at organizational structures that lead to Governor Emefiele, … put him in the position that he currently is in, the President has taken a comprehensive review of that structure and he has said, even by legislation, that we are going to ensure that not only guardrails are put in place, but that legislative changes be enacted in such a way that this can never happen again.

“He’s determined to do it, Nigerians will watch him do it and that will mean that moving forward, the kind of elite conspiracy we saw between CBN officials, high ranking government officials and high ranking members of the private sector, they’re not going to be able to conspire amongst themselves to find loopholes within the system because we have a President who’s an auditor and accountant, who will close those loopholes, just the way he did in Lagos State many years ago”, he said.

Speaking to the issue of the security situation in the country, especially in the north, Ngelale alleged that there are some sub-regional and geopolitical forces working against the stability of the country, he however noted that the government will continue working on finding solutions through collaborations.

The Presidential spokesman, who further gave insight into plans to ensure peace and stability in all parts of the country, said those currently conspiring to rob the nation of security, through sub-regional conspiracies would be made to face the wrath of the law.

“First of all, the President has been very clear that this is an administration of no excuses. If you look at other parts of the countries that were in flames before he took office, such as the Southeast and parts of the Southwest for example, you will know the level of work that has gone into securing our nation.

“Where we still have some challenges is in the north central in the northwest and to a lesser extent in the Northeast. There’s still a lot of work to be done along the Kaduna axis. Remember the time when you could not travel by road on the Abuja-Kaduna highway? Now, you’re able to do that.

“Now the problem is when you have these far-flung communities, we do have these hit-and-run incidences of not just violence and killings, but obviously kidnappings and hostage-taking.

“But I will say this, across the north, we understand that some of the sub-regional forces, sub-regional, geopolitical forces that are currently at play are actively conspiring against the stability of the Nigerian nation.

“We understand that and we are not sleeping on that. We are responding to it, and we’re doing it in a way that is concerted with our neighbors and it is worth noting that the United States government has also pledged its assistance to ensure that there is a full return of all of the school children who are kidnapped recently in Kaduna.

“But the point is, we are going to continue to intensify our collaboration, not just within the region, but internationally to make sure that some of the regional actors that are conspiring against our nation are brought to justice ultimately silenced in the future of our country”, he said.

Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of 36 cars ‘allegedly stolen’ from Canada and brought to Nigeria.

The judge made the final forfeiture order after granting an application filed and argued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s counsel A. B. Abdul-Rasheed.

The EFCC said the vehicles were recovered from various auto shops in Lagos, such as Lekki-Ajah; Ojodu-Berger; Ikeja; Festac Town; Magodo and Ikota-Lekki.

It said they were recovered following intelligence by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that over 350 cars stolen from Canada were shipped into Nigeria and were on display for sale at different auto shops.

The respondents in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/2051/2023 were Wilmon Autos Nigeria Limited; Ikeoyi Enterprises; Ichie Autos; Bounce Autos; Assured Motors Emeko Auto; CNC Auto; Green Hill Auto; First Core Auto; Samuel Motors; Unique Motors; Nice and Rich Auto; Overall Properties; GIDI Auto and Chris Jane Auto Nigeria Limited.

Some of the forfeited stolen vehicles are a 2017 Model Toyota Rav 4; 2019 Toyota Tacoma 2019; 2019 Lexus RX 350; Lexus RX350; 2019 Model 5 FORD FI50; 2018 Model Honda CRV; 2020 Toyota Tacoma; a Land Rover and a 2020 Lexus RX 350.

Others include a 2016 Toyota 4Runner; a Range Rover; Lexus 460; Ford F150 2018 Model; 2019 Lexus RX 350; 2020 Lexus RX 350; 2021 Lexus RX 350 Sport; Honda Civic Touring; Honda Pilot Suv; 2020 Range Rover Suv; Toyota 4Runner SUV; Toyota Highlander, and 2018 Toyota Tacoma, amon others.

The court had on November 29, 2023, made an order for the interim forfeiture of the cars, after listening to the EFCC lawyer, who moved the application the same.

While granting the order, the court ordered the EFCC to advertise the orders in a national newspaper for any interested persons or parties to appear before the court to show cause why the cars should not be finally forfeited.

The EFCC counsel informed the court that the forfeiture order had been advertised but no one had come forward to lay claim to the seized vehicles.

Justice Dipeolu after listening to the EFCC lawyer and perusing through the processes, acceded to the request of the anti-graft agency and ordered final forfeiture of the 36 cars.

An EFCC investigator, Olufemi Olukini, in an affidavit filed in support of the suit said “Sometime in April 2022, during an official meeting held at 7A Okoti-Eboh Street, Ikoyi Lagos between officials of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and EFCC officials, RCMP officials passed credible intelligence to the Commission which alleged that over 350 vehicles which were comprehensively listed out on an excel sheet with their respective vehicle identification Number were stolen from Canada and shipped to Nigeria.

“These vehicles have been sold and/or are being sold on an online website www.jiji.com by some online vendors/agents while others are displayed for sale at various car stands across the country.

“Investigation carried out revealed that a substantial number of the motor vehicles described aforesaid were stolen from Canada and shipped to Nigeria between the years 2019-2021.

The Presidency has said that President Bola Tinubu will on Thursday unveil the Student Loan Scheme.‎

President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale made the disclosure while speaking on TVC’s “Counting the Cost of Presidents Tinubu’s Reforms” broadcast on Sunday.

Speaking on the programme, Ngelale said the President would introduce the historic National Student Loan Programme on Thursday of this week.

He said: “This is a major form of obligation reduction for Nigerians and families and young people at a time when Nigerians are feeling the pinch. We believe this is the way to go.”

Tinubu signed the Access to Higher Education Act, 2023 into law on June 12, 2023.

The purpose of the measure is to make interest-free loans available to students for educational reasons.

The programme, which the federal government had originally planned to launch in September or October of 2023, had been delayed.

The desire to govern is no doubt attractive given the vast number of individuals who are always eager to be involved with leadership as witnessed during the last presidential election. While dust over the poll has settled, following the verdict of the Supreme Court, which affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory, the pomp that ushered in his administration on May 29, 2023, seemed to have given way for reality. Rather than the smooth start many had expected given the President’s profile and the claim by his camp that he was prepared for the job, it has so far been politics of blame game over who should be held responsible for the state of the nation, particularly the economic crisis Nigerians are presently facing. Tinubu had during the campaigns promised economic reforms to tackle poverty; provision of meaningful education and jobs for the youth as well as new opportunities in the FINTECH sector, creative and entertainment industries and digital skills, among others. In his policy document, tagged “Renewed Hope: Action Plan for a Better Nigeria,” the President, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he will engage the private sector to drive economic development across the country. His words: “My belief that the private sector is the fulcrum of economic progress is evident and documented. However, fundamental flaws with the basic design of our national economy imperil the private sector from playing the role it ought to and adding the value it is capable of. In this instance, the government must act as a catalyst.

“We shall do this on all fronts. We will address the conflict between monetary and fiscal policies. Budgeting will be based on the projected spending levels needed to push real annual growth rate above seven per cent, while reducing the unemployment rate, so that we can double the economy in ten years.” On agriculture, he said his administration will place emphasis on the use of technology to improve the agricultural sector for better production and contribution to the nation’s economy. He added the will build on achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration by providing the critical infrastructure necessary to achieve the commodity transformation in the agriculture value chain. Tinubu reiterated his readiness to lead Africa’s most populous nation in his acceptance speech after he was declared winner of the presidential election. Then as President-elect reflected on the weight of responsibility on his shoulder and declared that he understood the magnitude of task ahead At an event to receive the baton of service and transition documents from then President Buhari, Tinubu assured that he will not disappoint Nigerians, who have entrusted him with power.

His words: “I am a simple man who is the beneficiary of the support and goodwill of the people of Nigeria. The people have put their trust in us. You have done your part Mr. President (Buhari). Now, that great duty descends on me. I understand the meaning of the honour given to me today and of the task that awaits. “I must run this race and must do it well. On security, the economy, agriculture, jobs, education, health and power and in all other sectors we must make headway. The people deserve no less. In this, I shall disappoint neither them nor you, Mr. President.” It was also the same message of hope at his inauguration as the 16th president of Nigeria on May 29, 2023. He outlined his plans to strengthen the Nigerian economy with a promise of a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target and significant reduction in unemployment.

Patience running out Eight months down the line, Nigerians are still waiting for things to be turned around for good. The President had ended the fuel subsidy regime on his first day in office, while later floating the Naira, but both policies are yet to achieve desired goals given the hardship in the land. Although many will not claim ignorance of the state of the economy at Buhari’s exit, patience seems to be running out. With inflation rate at 29.9 per cent, most Nigerians are finding it increasing hard to meet their basic needs and it has been protests over rising cost of living across the country.

Besides the hardship over high cost of living, Nigerians are also grappling with security challenges and the situation has assumed an alarming dimension. Tinubu is eight months in office but emboldened criminal elements have upscale their attacks on citizens. According to the 2023 Nigeria Security Report by Beacon Consulting, no fewer than 5,060 Nigerians were killed, with 2,263 others abducted between May and December 2023, when the report was released. The states that are worst hit in the renewed killings are Plateau and Benue. The five states of the South-East are not left out as several lives have been lost due to the Mondays’ stay-at-home directive ordered by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The killings are despite Tinubu promise in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, to “defend the nation from terror and all forms of criminality that threaten the peace and stability of our country The blame game Whereas some analysts and officials of the Tinubu administration are of the view that it is too early to assess the government and have persistently appealed for time to work out measures to alleviate the sufferings of the citizenry, the opposition political parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), keep reminding the President of his promise to build on Buhari’s legacy. Interestingly, some aides of the President, who promised to build on the legacy of his predecessor, are the ones blaming the immediate past administration for the current economic crunch even when the government they succeeded was ran by their party – APC. The President, on his part, has not publicly put the blame on Buhari.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, for instance, recently said that the N22.7 trillion printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means overdraft for the Federal Government of Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, under Buhari, landed Nigeria into hyperinflation bedeviling it now. Edun, who disclosed this during an interface with the Senate Committee on Finance, said during the period, the printing of naira in trillions was carried out without matching it with productivity. He said the consequence of the eight years of printing money without productivity is high inflation confronting the country now. His words: “We talked about inflation, and you have helped to solve that. Where has it come from? It came from eight years of just printing money not matched by productivity. It’s not like when you earn dollars, and you free the naira alongside it, although there’s even a better way than that. But that’s still not as bad. “It’s not as if the money is matched by productivity increase in output. It is not. And what happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything.

That’s the reality so that money supply must be brought back.” The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, had earlier spoken in like manner, when he revealed that Buhari’s administration not only looted the country but left it bankrupt before handing over power to Tinubu. The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who spoke at the Chief of Defence Intelligence Annual Conference, in November last year, was emphatic that Buhari left no money in the treasury for Tinubu to run the country. His words: “Yes, we’re facing budgetary constraints. It is okay for me to tell you.

Fine, it is important for you to know that we inherited a difficult situation, literally a bankrupt country, no money, to a point where we can say that all the money we’re getting now, we’re paying back what was taken. It is serious!” A former National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole (now senator representing Edo North Senatorial District), is also of the view that Nigerians are currently suffering from what he described as “reckless policies” of former President Buhari. Oshiomhole, who spoke in an interview with a television station, said the current hardship being witnessed under the current administration were the long-term consequences of policies of Buhari’s administration. His words: “My first loyalty is to Nigeria. At some point, before the last president left office, I lamented loudly what I saw as reckless, policies that were designed to dehumanise the population that was already in pain. I felt that it was not what the then president promised.

“I dissociated myself from those policies and I’m happy that I was not the only one. There were governors who approached the court to denounce some of those policies. It is the long-term consequences of those policies that we are still grappling with now.” The former governor of Edo State, who insisted that President Tinubu should not be held responsible for whatever decisions embarked upon by the previous government, noted: “Yes, it is our party platform. Like Tinubu also said, he was not a minister or adviser. He never took a contract in that government and he cannot be held responsible for what the government did right or wrong.” President’s supporters join the fray Some supporters of the Tinubu administration like the former Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sunusi II and pan Yoruba socio cultural group, Afenifere, have also blamed Buhari for the economic crisis. Afenifere not only said that the “economic downturn” being faced by Nigerians was caused by the mismanagement of the administration of former President Buhari, but faulted those criticising Tinubu, saying they are still pained by his electoral victory. “Those sleeping and snoring during the eight years of Buhari suddenly woke up. They forgot that these remedial actions should have been taken many years back. The major sins of President Tinubu reside in his daring to contest and win the presidential election,”

Afenifere said in a statement by its National Organising Secretary, Kole Omololu and Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi. The statement further read: “President Buhari could not rein in on his critical officials like the then governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who was printing money rather than facing the reality of taking the difficult decisions, which were postponed till the evil day. “A probe panel was reported to have accused the CBN of printing N22.7 trillion through Ways and Means. We remember that we were borrowing to pay salaries and pensions during the years of the Buhari administration. It was, therefore, obvious that we were simply postponing the evil day. These inactions and false lives continued till May 29, 2023, when the new helmsman, Tinubu, was sworn in as President.”

On insecurity, the group stated that Buhari’s government was also at fault, saying it lost the daughter of it leader (Pa Reuben Fasoranti) under his watch. Sanusi, a former governor of the CBN, on his part, said it was an injustice to blame President Tinubu’s administration for the current economic hardship the country is facing as according to him, Nigeria is battling a failing economy due to mismanaged economic policies of the past eight years. Insisting that he would not join those criticising Tinubu over the current economic challenges in the country, the former Emir of Kano said: “I have been, over the years, talking about the pending crisis ahead of the current economic hardship. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this difficult situation.

“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning if the right decision is not put in place because Nigeria is not exceptional, such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela. The previous administration turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures. “If I am to be fair and just to President Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship. For eight years, we were living a fake lifestyle with huge debt from foreign and domestic debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent. “In the last eight years, the Central Bank continued to print more money, and the naira continued to depreciate. There is too much naira in circulation because the CBN is printing the currency without restraint.

“The economy was poorly managed, and they are not willing to take advice; in the last eight years, apart from sycophancy, nothing has been done; those sycophants are those buying the dollar at the rate of N400 and selling it at the rate of N600 to N700. “A boy who has no record of service has a private jet and owns houses in Dubai and England just because he is buying dollars at a low rate and selling them. “I can’t join other Nigerians criticising Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policies of the Tinubu administration in the future.” He added that Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy should be applauded because there was no other alternative than the removal of the fuel subsidy. He said Nigeria cannot afford to pay for the subsidy any longer and advised the masses be patient.

“I can only plead with the people to endure the hardship, and those who have the means to help the downtrodden should do so. I am also pleading with commoners to live according to their earnings. We must not peg our lives above our earnings in this difficult situation where people are looking for what to eat.” A former lawmaker, Senator Sani Shehu (Kaduna Central), who also claimed that Buhari destroyed the economy, blamed him for the current economic hardship in the country. “We must be very factual and realistic with ourselves; the problem we find ourselves today, originated, was engineered, fabricated and sustained by the Buhari administration. The Buhari administration, institutionally and fundamentally destroyed the Nigerian economy,” he said. Absorbing Tinubu of any blame for the current situation, he said the President has so far implement the policies he promised during the campaigns. “When Tinubu took over, he knows there is not going to be subsidy, and to be realistic, he was very frank during his campaign. He said he was going to remove subsidy and whatever protest that will come out of it he will not back down and the people went ahead and voted for him. So, he has not deceived Nigerians.

“Now he is in power, we are paying the price for the mistake of the past, for the failure of the past and for what we have refused to do in the past, so this is the reality,” he said. In defence of Buhari But Bashir Ahmad, who appears to be a lone voice from Buhari’s camp, berated the decision of some officials of the Tinubu’s administration to continuously blame his principal’s government for the current economic hardship in the country. Ahmad, who served as a Special Assistant to Buhari on Digital Communications, in a statement via his X handle, said: “I often wonder why, as a government, we concentrate more on amplifying the faults of the previous administration rather than acknowledging its numerous achievements. The PDP seems to have a more skillful approach to politics than we do in the APC. “Tt’s rare to find instances where President Yar’adua’s (PDP) government criticized President Obasanjo’s (PDP) or where President Jonathan’s (PDP) government faulted President Yar’adua’s (PDP). “There are numerous accomplishments from the previous administration that we could build upon while discreetly addressing its failures. This approach would bring up unity within the ruling party. President Tinubu requires the full support of his party, not just for the upcoming 2027 elections but also for supporting his policies. “We know no matter how good they may look, the opposition will always find a way to rubbish or undermine them just to distract our party from governance.

“Since May 2023, we seem to have provided more ammunition to our opponents rather than strategies to put them on the defensive, which would allow the government to focus more on continuing to deliver its best for the country. “If we had not been creating room for PDP, how could a member of the party even come here and remind us about their administration? The party spent 16 years during the oil boom without anything tangible to show for it.” A chieftain of the APC, Salihu Lukman, who reacted to Senator Oshiomhole’s claim that Buhari’s “reckless policies” plunged Nigeria into crisis, in a statement titled “APC and Question of Liability: Open Letter to APC Leaders,” said it would be uncharitable to make excuses for Tinubu. Lukman insisted that all those in the leadership of APC, including the incumbent president should be blamed for Buhari’s policies. His words: “Sadly, instead of ruling with humility and reviewing policies when there is public outcry, they are grandstanding and giving excuses.

They engage in the familiar blame games, attributing the consequences of government policies to the administration of former President Buhari. This is very uncharitable and dishonest, with due respect to our leaders. “Certainly, the government of Buhari did not measure up to the expectations of party members and Nigerians in general. But we must take responsibility. The truth is that the success or failure of Buhari’s government represents the collective success or failure of APC as a party. “All of us in the leadership of the APC, including Tinubu, were complicit in one way or the other to all the circumstances that contributed to the failure of Buhari. Unfortunately, as things are, we are also strengthening the hands of Tinubu to continue the path of failure. Just like we deluded Buhari into believing that every decision he took was right, our leaders are today misleading Tinubu to believe that all his decisions are right. “Our leaders, including Comrade Oshiomhole, want us to believe that the past administration created the problem. If that is the case, why were they unable as party leaders to regulate the conduct of former President Buhari and prevent him from failing? Now that President Tinubu is in charge, what is being done to address this challenge and ensure that he does not suffer the fate of his predecessor?” Opposition says no defence for poor performance The blame game, notwithstanding, many insist that there cannot be any justification for poor performance. The belief is that Tinubu, being a major stakeholder in the APC and the Buhari administration, was aware of the situation on ground before he made promise of better life for the citizenry. This conviction, perhaps, informed why the Labour Party (LP), in its reaction to the protests over the economic hardship, urged President Tinubu to seek help over the increasing cost of living and hardship in the country before they become unmanageable. The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said Tinubu and his team should admit that they have ran out of ideas and ask for help as no amount of propaganda can change the fact that more Nigerians are falling below the poverty line. The party lamented that essential commodities have witnessed exponential increases in prices since January, noting that there is an air of despondency across the nation and the immediate fallout of the situation is increasing crime, particularly among the youth, while incidences of suicide are on the upswing. LP’s statement read in part”: “It is either that the government is bereft of ideas on how to check this unfolding catastrophe or that it chose to continue to act as if it is still campaigning for office. “You can’t run governance based on whim. The economic turmoil we are suffering today is a result of this poor sense of judgement. Sadly, amidst all of these, the APC administration has increased its spending on the lavish lifestyles of its elected officials, and corruption among government officials has never been worse.”

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections , on his part, said President Tinubu’s poor response to Nigeria’s economic challenges is setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper domestic economic crisis. Adding that Tinubu and his economic management team must swallow their pride, admit their missteps and failures, and follow those who know the terrain, Atiku insisted that the President must act fast before the economy sinks deeper into the abyss. He maintained that the President has shown incapacity to deal with the adverse and disastrous impact of the new subsidy regime on the people and businesses and the new foreign exchange policy, which provides for a free-floating exchange rate. The former vice president lampooned Tinubu and his political appointees for blaming his predecessor in office for bequeathing a “dead” economy. According to him, that it is a familiar game popularised by former President Muhammadu Buhari while in office. “It has become fashionable for every APC-led government to blame others, especially the opposition and external factors for Nigeria’s economic woes.

Now, Tinubu is elevating the blame game to the next level as he accuses his own party of lackluster performance. “The evidence, however, is overwhelming. Tinubu’s underperformance is largely attributable to leadership failures in the management of the economy. The failure of leadership by the APC-led government is staring every Nigerian in the face as the country’s economic, social, political, and security challenges persist and assume frightening dimensions. An unprepared leadership such as Bola Tinubu’s fails to anticipate impending crisis and is always slow to react,” Atiku said. APC undeterred by criticisms While the opposition’s stand is not unexpected given the fact that its job is to continuously put the government on its toes, the leadership of the ruling party and supporters of the President remain unwavering in their belief that the he has what it takes to take Nigeria out of the woods. The APC in its reaction to the protests, for instance, blamed them on opposition parties. The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said it was a desperate move by to portray the APC-led administration as underperforming. The statement read in part: “This mercenary opposition tactic is a clear and present threat to public peace and national security. While we recognise the right of citizens to engage in peaceful protest, we urge our good people to be vigilant and not lend themselves to the treacherous attempt by the opposition to promote social strife by its incendiary rhetoric and manipulative plots. “The President Tinubuled administration is solidly committed to doing everything in its power to mitigate the transient pains of critically important reforms that are crucial to economic recovery and sustainable prosperity for all Nigerians.

“It behooves us as good citizens of our beloved country to stand fast with our government in this noble stride. In due time, these policy reforms will yield an enduring beneficial transformation of the material conditions of life in the country.” Morka, who faulted criticism of Tinubu by Atiku and the presidential candidate of LP, Peter Obi, however charged the duo to share suggestions with the President on how to effectively run the economy and governance. “Opposition politics is not necessarily about condemning. These individuals, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, touted some of the economic policies this government is running with to be at the core of their economic agenda. So, what has happened? It is not enough to just condemn, these leaders should be able to, assuming they have the silver bullets this government is not deploying, they should point it out.’ “It is not enough for Atiku to bandy words. I expect a man who thinks deeply as he claims about governance, economy and other aspects of our national life to offer ideas, concrete suggestions,” he said. Stakeholders cautions against bulkpassing Some stakeholders, who described the endless blame game between the present administration and its predecessor a dangerous signal, called on President Tinubu to intensify action on what he is doing to address the situation on the ground. A chieftain of apex Igbo body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Chekwas Okorie, told New Telegraph in an interview that the President should rise to challenge as situation if not addressed as soon as possible could degenerate.

His words: “I am deeply worried and we are almost at that point where things can get out of hand. So, I expect the government to rise to this challenge because if there is a mass revolt, all our security personnel, the soldiers and policemen, will not be enough to stop even one state not to talk of an entire country of over 200 million people. “I am appealing to the President to immediately rise to the challenge, so that we will not get to a point where we will experience insurrection because it could be terrible. The country is already sitting on a keg of gunpowder. There are flash points everywhere. While many groups and sections are clamouring for exit from Nigeria, many of us are still optimistic that a united Nigeria is far better than people going their different ways but our number is reducing by the day. “We are beginning to be seen as the ones who are not seeing the light, while those who are arguing and making case for secession are the ones being seen as those who are seeing the light. It means that the government has a lot to do. Some policies must change. Look at the power situation in the country now for instance. Is it not a shame that a country like ours cannot distribute up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity? “And when you look at the kind of money pumped into the power sector, you will be shocked. And the minister of power is there joining in giving unnecessary excuses. If he cannot track those who are sabotaging the ministry and take action, he should be asked to leave. Power is so crucial for the economy and a lot of critical sectors cannot function without power.

“There should be action and not just talks about holding meetings with security chiefs, making so much noise about it or telling us that the President has given marching orders for so and so. They are not what we need now rather there should be verifiable evidence of action. “I don’t want to sound as if I am not appreciative of the sacrifice being made but I can tell you that I am not impressed. Sometimes, I feel sorry for the President. It seems he has been overwhelmed by some of the things happening and those who are around him are not doing enough to help him out.” The Permanent Representative of the Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI) to ECOSOC/United Nations, Mr. Olufemi Aduwo, who also spoke with New Telegraph on the issue, said: “It is common practice in this clime to blame somebody else for any failures. When President Barack Obama of the United States assumed power in 2009, two years after America entered a severe financial crisis that began in 2007, despite the precarious situation of the economy, Obama did not waste his time blaming his predecessor in office.

“He rather focused his attention and energy on how to rescue the situation because that was why he was elected. In no time, the American economy was retooled and it was reported that some, if not all the collapsed banks and companies, came back to life. Jobs were created and household income improved due to his policies. The problem with Nigerian politicians is that elected leaders find it difficult to differentiate between governance and politics or electioneering. “Buhari too told the whole world that he inherited a sick economy from President Goodluck Jonathan. So, I call on President Tinubu and his orchestral band that it is time to change the lyrics and dump the blame game song, come out clean with people on the situation of the economy and what is being done to tackle the current challenges.”