The Kano State Government has announced a total ban on live political programmes across all media platforms as part of new measures to curb the spread of inflammatory contents and safeguard the state’s cultural and religious values.

Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs in the state, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya announced the ban during the quarterly meeting with media executives.

According to a statement signed by Director of Special Duties at the ministry, Sani Abba Yola, the ban “is not to suppress political opposition but rather to safeguard the sanctity of Kano’s cultural and religious values.”

In addition to the ban, the ministry has now made it mandatory for all guests appearing on media platforms to sign an undertaking to abstain from making defamatory, abusive, or culturally offensive remarks.

Media presenters were also warned against asking provocative questions or making gestures that could provoke such statements.

The Commissioner commended media houses for their cooperation so far, noting a significant reduction in unethical content since previous engagements.

He also highlighted the state’s ongoing sensitisation campaigns for political presenters, media commentators, and Imams, aimed at promoting responsible communication in public discourse.

During the meeting, media executives pledged continued collaboration with the government and shared recommendations for improving broadcast standards and ensuring respectful communication.

[Leadership]

No fewer than 803 firms have bid for various contracts in the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for the 2025 fiscal year. 

NRC unveiled the firms which submitted applications for various contracts at the bid opening held at its headquarters in Lagos.

The number of firms was higher compared to 524 that applied in 2024.

Speaking on the surge in the number of firms bidding for contracts, the Managing Director of the NRC, Dr Kayode Opeifa, stated that this was due to the confidence they have in the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The MD, who was represented by the Director, Medical Services, Mr Albert Asowata, said, the new NRC management has undertaken programmes to expand the scope of railway across the country.

Daily Trust reports that NRC was allocated N39,180,078,449 in the 2025 budget signed by President Tinubu.

In the budget, the government made allocation for the completion of Abuja-Kaduna Railway project, Lagos-Ibadan and its associated additional works, among others, according to the 2025 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly recently by President Tinubu.

Other projects in the budget included the rehabilitation of Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Line and Construction of 12 Nos Station Buildings and Track Laying works at Railway Ancillary Facilities Areas Agbor; Completion of Addendum 2A and Railway Ancillary Facilities Areas Agbor and Design, Manufacture, Supply and Installation of Rolling Stock, Supply of Spare Parts and Maintenance Equipment for the Ongoing Railway Modernization Project.

“Our scope has been expanded. There are many programs the MD has launched. One of such programmes is the railing with the states. All the State governments are now keying into railways.

“Just three days ago, the federal government said that the Kano-Maradi rail line will be completed in 2026.

“That shows that there is renewed vigour and hope to expand the rail industry, to move the country forward.”

Opeifa also assured all the bidders that the bid opening ceremony will be conducted in an unbiased, transparent and efficient manner by a well-trained team.

“The critical areas that we are looking at for this fiscal year are on wash-out in civil works, bridges and culverts.

“This is because most of the tracks are already washed out by heavy rains. We are trying to ensure that all the wash-outs are taken care of,” The NRC MD added.

The bidding process had independent observers like the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), Nigerian Network of NGOs, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply Management, amongst others, in attendance.

[DailyTrust]

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has reacted to the reports of his suspension by the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party, LP, calling on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun to quickly arrest Abure for alleged impersonation.

Otti, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, on Wednesday, described the news of his suspension as a joke taken too far and an affront on democracy.

According to the Abia Governor, the Supreme Court had ruled that Julius Abure is no longer the National Chairman of the LP, while the Nenadi-Usman-led Caretaker Committee had stripped Abure the authority to parade himself as the National Chairman of Labour Party.

“For the records, the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has rightly and unambiguously stated that Julius Abure is no longer the National Chairman of Labour Party,” he stated.

Otti urged Nigerians to disregard the news of his suspension by Abure.

“Just few hours after being summoned by a Committee Set up by the Senator Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee to come and respond to allegations of gross misconduct bordering on financial misappropriation,impersonation and anti party activities levelled against him, Abure decided to be smart by half by rushing to the press to announce the purported suspension of Governor Otti and other eminent members of the party.

“Finally, we call on the Inspector General of Police to quickly arrest Mr. Abure for impersonation, while INEC should ensure full implementation of the Supreme Court judgement as a way of preserving the integrity of the Supreme Court and protecting our democracy”, Ferdinand Ekeoma said on behalf of Otti.

[DailyPost]

I sympathise with former governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State who has suddenly become the poster child for PDP’s self-inflicted afflictions. He is today going through great stress and strain for hearkening to the call of his people for a change of direction after 26 years of faithful marriage to PDP.

The April 23 divorce train was led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor and PDP’s 2023 vice presidential candidate Ifeanyi Okowa, his deputy, the elected national and state house of assembly members as well as elected local council officials.

The justification for the mass defection was well articulated by various stakeholders. First was the Delta State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who explained that the decision to jilt the PDP was born out of “the need to align with a political platform that would better serve the development goals of the state and the interests of Deltans.”

There was also the pioneer PDP Chairman in the state, Senator James Manager, who reminded critics that “when a ship is sinking, you don’t stay onboard out of sentiment,” adding, “we had extensive consultations, and today marks the climax of those discussions, what we have now is a collective and unanimous decision to chart a new course.”

And for OKowa , the one receiving various diatribes from PDP members who rather than put out the raging inferno in their own house engaged in a two-year game of intrigue over sharing of political offices, the defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was “a bold and strategic move to change their path for the common good of the people; it was not about the governor, but the fact that there is the need for us to connect to Abuja… that resource of which Delta State is a large contributor, there was a need to connect to it.”

And perhaps no one explained the defection better than Governor Sheriff Oborevwori himself. “Ten years was too long a time to be in opposition,” he bellowed to an excited crowd of defectors. He was right. Peoples of Niger Delta have always been mainstreamers since the run up to independence in 1960. We will come to that shortly.

Okowa shouted himself hoarse explaining it was not about him but about his people. But there has been no respite from his disconsolate PDP former family members who shouted in anger: “You too Brutus”? They have accused him of betraying the body that has given him everything to become relevant in Nigerian politics. As a former secretary to government, a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and a two-term governor of oil rich Delta, where leaders spend money like water, and finally as vice presidential candidate of PDP that had after its truncated 16 years in power hoped to reign for another 60 years, what else does Okowa want, they asked with uninhibited contempt.

At war with Okowa is a formidable group of his former PDP members who are unfortunately tarred with the same brush.  Former Senate President Saraki who in the guise of “some people” first accused his former APC party of disingenuously designing “A one-party state which will not augur well for a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multicultural, multi-religious… society like ours,” went on to tell Okowa that “it is unbecoming and shocking for the running mate to the standard bearer of a leading party to abandon ship to join the ruling party.”

Senator Abba Moro, the minority leader of the senate, has said picking Okowa who could not deliver his state in the 2023 election, despite having lobbied for the slot, was “a political miscalculation.”

But Okowa, drawing his conclusion from Atiku’s statement, insisted the VP slot was foisted on him, without first seeking his consent, by PDP oligarchy at the centre. But as it turned out, Atiku who said Okowa’s choice was based on PDP’s recommendation was also being economical with the truth. Evidence now in the public domain showed that, of the 17 PDP stalwarts that participated in the VP selection process, 14 voted for Wike. Atiku’s calculation for picking Okowa was probably informed by the expectation that the governor of an oil-rich Delta, who earned in one month what some states earn in a year, would be able to bankroll his (Atiku) campaign expenses the same way Ibori was said to have done for Yar’adua in 2007.

And this unfortunately was the reason Okowa’s travails started long before the current toxic divorce of Delta PDP from its suitor of 26 years. Indeed, long before the 2023 election, Pa Clark, the leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, (PANDEF) and Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), had in a letter dated February 2, 2023, accused Okowa of betrayal for reneging on southern governors’ resolutions that no politician from the South should accept to be running mate to a northerner.

Pa Clark alleged Okowa was using Delta State money to fund Atiku’s campaign. But since it was Pa Clark who also told us that Ibori funded Yar’adua’s election, why was it difficult for Pa Clark to understand that poor OKowa was merely following a tradition? And if, indeed, Okowa actually used part of the 13 percent derivation to build a university in his village the same way Ibori deployed the same facility to build a university in Oghara village, I don’t think Okowa owed Pa Clark any apology.

And finally, Pa Clark, in June 2023, alleged that Okowa as governor of Delta misappropriated the state’s derivation fund amounting to N1.760trillion.

But If I have to make a choice between Okowa and Pa Clark, I will settle for the former. First, until EFCC proves its case against Okowa, he remains innocent. Secondly, Pa Clark is not an impartial arbiter among his errant children some of whom in the guise of struggle for distributive justice engage in criminal activities against the state.

In any case, Pa Clark, while alive, knew the word corruption did not exist in the Niger Delta lexicon. It is not on record that he contradicted Augustus Aikhomu, Babangida’s deputy, when he declared that “diversion of resources meant for development was not corruption but “misapplication of funds.” We similarly don’t have any evidence that Pa Clark, as self-appointed “father of the President,” ever faulted President Jonathan’s assertion that “stealing government funds was not corruption.”

For Deltans, allegations against or even indictments of leaders who swear by their names for financial malfeasance only endear them to their leaders. If there were people complaining, they were not short-changed Deltans but must be meddlesome interlopers.

Obasanjo and Murtala Mohammed seized some ill-acquired properties of Diete Spiff, who became governor of Rivers at 25. He is today a leading traditional ruler in Bayelsa. Obasanjo chased Diepreye Alamieyeseigha around the world, haunted Odili until he was saved by the judiciary, and after failing to secure the conviction of Ibori by Nigerian courts, took the battle to London where he ensured his conviction for 10 years by the British judiciary.

Unfortunately, his impoverished Deltans were not amused. All those desperate efforts did not stop those whose battle Obasanjo was waging from worshipping Ibori, their hero.

In fact, Ibori was welcomed back to Nigeria after serving his jail term by a tumultuous crowd of his enthusiastic people. There were close to a dozen Bishops in the jam-packed Otefe-Ogara village church during the thanksgiving service for his safe return from prison.

And now let us return to Delta pre-independence resolve to remain ‘mainstreamers.’  Rather than persecution, Okowa deserves only accolades for resurrecting the dreams and aspirations of his people The truth is that Delta has since 1963 never been in opposition.

Having experienced persecution and marginalisation from their more aggressive and more diplomatic Igbo and Yoruba neighbours, they opted to become ‘mainstreamers,’ aligning themselves with the dominant ruling NPC party from the north.

While the Binis and Itshekiris, because of their cultural affinity with the Yoruba, found more accommodation with Awo’s AG, with the NCNC victory after the 1952 regional election and its takeover of Midwest after its creation, the Urhobos, the Ijaws, Isokos etc. found themselves “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” With the advice of minority rights agitators like Pa Clark, they chose to cast their lot with the ruling majority.

Critics must, therefore, understand that Delta’s marriage to PDP between 1999 and 2023 was not out of altruism. It was because PDP provided a fertile ground for their cultural demand and even their licentiousness. What Oborevwori and Okowa are today saying is that Deltans are not obliged to make further sacrifices.

• IFAD, AFD partner Nigeria

The Federal Government has signed a $158.15 financing deal for the Value Chain Programme in Northern Nigeria (VCN) as part of ongoing efforts to revolutionise the agriculture sector.

It was sealed yesterday at the State House in Abuja by representatives of the Federal Government, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the French Development Agency (AFD).

All the parties are co-funding the eight-year initiative, which was validated on March 21, last year following Vice President Kashim Shettima’s request during UNFSS stocktaking in Rome, Italy, on July 24, 2023.

Shettima had charged IFAD to scale-up its portfolio in Nigeria and mobilise more donor-partners to support the agri-food transformation and food security of the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA).

The enterprise is expected to sustainably reduce poverty, enhance nutrition and better resilience of rural and most vulnerable populations in the nine Norths states of Borno, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoko, Yobe and Zamfara.

Speaking during the signing of the financing agreement, Shettima described the initiative as a product of critical thinking about the economic reality of the north.

In a statement issued by his media aide Stanley Nkwocha, the vice president described the initiative as a fulfilment of the promise made by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to reduce poverty and restore dignity to farmers and ensure food security.

The statement reads: “It is a declaration of faith in the North – not as a region of deficits, but as a place of abundance. It also invites us to play our part in fulfilling the promise to reduce poverty, nourish our people, and restore dignity to farming families across Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, Yobe, and Zamfara.

“What has brought us together today is an investment of $158.15 million, co-financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Federal Government of Nigeria, and other stakeholders. This reflects President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to prioritising what matters most – people, productivity, and prosperity.”

According to Shettima, the VCN feed into the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) programme across the country.

He said: “It will serve as a steady pipeline of raw materials and ensuring our processors no longer grope for quality inputs.

“This synergy will shift us from exporting raw produce to exporting value-added goods- creating jobs, wealth, and industrial stability.

“The recent global trade disruptions and the resurgence of protectionism are loud warnings to Nigeria to begin to grow what its people eat and produce what they trade.

“The agricultural tariffs and retaliatory postures of global powers like the U.S. and China have rattled commodity chains. For a nation that has long relied on food imports, the message is clear: we must grow what we eat and produce what we trade.

“The VCN answers this call. By making wheat, maize, and animal feed viable for commercial cultivation, and by investing in irrigation, processing, and storage facilities in states like Kebbi and Jigawa, we are not just securing food—we are laying the groundwork for agricultural exports that can rival our oil.”

Former Senate President Ahmed Lawan who spoke for the National Assembly, commended IFAD, the federal government and other partners for the conception of the programme, describing it as a well-thought-out initiative that will transform the lives and livelihoods of many in the target states and beyond.

He pledged the commitment and support of the National Assembly in the implementation of the various interventions contained in the programme.

Agriculture and Food Security Minister Abubakar Kyari said the deal represents a significant milestone in the efforts to transform the agricultural landscape in Nigeria under the RHA.

Kyari noted that the participation of the nine states and the presence of other critical stakeholders underscore the commitment of the sub-nationals and the federal government in fostering inclusivity in agricultural development and economic empowerment.

Governors of Borno (Prof. Babagana Zulum), Jigawa (Umar Namadi) and Katsina (Dikko Radda), applauded the leadership provided by Tinubu and Shettima in the implementation of the VCN programme.

They pledged their commitment and support in the actualisation of the objectives of the various components of the programme and urged the executors to review the implementation design and timeline for states to maximize benefits.

IFAD Country Director Mrs. Dede Ekoue said the programme is a 158.15 million dollars project designed to transform agribusiness in nine northern states of Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara, over a period of 8 years, targeting about 3.1 million households.

Also present at the meeting were some members of the National Assembly; Minister of State for Regional Development, Uba Maigari Ahmadu; Regional Director of IFAD, Mr. Bernard Mwinyel Hien; the deputy governors of Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, Yobe and Bauchi States; heads of government agencies and representatives of development partners among others.

[TheNation]

Since the Nigerian presidency has devoted itself to responding to every criticism of the government and its administrative failings, it is unsurprising that media aide Bayo Onanuga faulted the recent claim by the outgoing President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, that Nigerians lived a better life in the 1960s going by the GDP per capita. Onanuga argued that Dr Adesina should know that GDP per capita is not the only criterion used to determine whether people live better lives now than in the past. Indeed, it is a poor tool for assessing living standards. Its primary usefulness is in giving us the metrics to compare economic output in a country or between countries. Then he adds that today, as we await the NBS’s recalibration of our GDP, we can comfortably say without contradiction that it is at least 50 times, if not 100 times, more than it was at Independence.

 What Onanuga has done here is to spill a lot of needless ink to arrive at the same spot where he started. If the GDP is not a reliable marker of economic growth and development, why still wait for a favourable NBS figure to contradict Adesina?

 In any case, the two truths that might be operating here might not be mutually contradictory. Statistics can show growth since 1960, while Nigerians qualitatively live far less than they did 60 years ago. On that score, Onanuga is right that numbers are not the only means of scaling a society’s achievements. Figures objectively calculate how an average person lives (or lived) but do not paint the full picture of the internal substance of such a life. If we want to get to the truth, we must also probe social experience. In this case, we can ask the people who lived in the 1960s what their lives were like and how their experience compares to the present.

 Now this is where it gets tricky. If you line up one thousand Nigerians who have lived through the various seasons of the nation’s history and ask them if the country was better in the 1960s, I can bet that there will be far more who would agree that the country used to be better. Why is that so? First, because human memory is prone to recall the past with nostalgia, and that makes for pessimism about the conditions of the present. The human brain is wired to scan the arc of personal history and promote the positive recollections of the past over those of the immediate present. It is sometimes called the declinism bias, and it is not peculiar to Nigerians. You find the echoes of the “good old days” in the “Make America Great Again” politics where a section of United States citizens thinks the old times were better than now when by every parameter, they are a richer and stronger country. 

But in the case of Nigeria, people know what they are saying when they look back wistfully at the past and declare that life used to be better. I have older friends in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Their recollection of how life used to be in Nigeria sometimes feels like the vision of the Nigeria I would love to see. If they are of the formally educated class, these folks would fondly recall the Nigeria where they received a sound education at all levels. Public schools were not as dilapidated; nobody ever recalls where students sat on the floor in their roofless classrooms. Public education was so good that the children of the elites attended the same schools as everyone else. You could be a poor village boy from rural Igbomina and attend Government College with the children of the powerful. Education was not as cheapened through private schools.

 Those who made it to the university among them would recall receiving an education in the true sense of the word. Nobody needed to go to school abroad; Nigerian universities offered world-class education. They would recall a university system where the hostels were not crammed with students; the facilities worked, and undergraduates lived like actual human beings, unlike the appalling situation that subsists on most campuses. That was, of course, the generation that also had a quarter chicken for lunch on Sundays. People would also recall that fresh university graduates had jobs waiting for them after school, and you could buy a car with your salary. Whether they are educated or not, everyone can recall a time when the country was safe and secure, and one could travel through its length and breadth without fearing abduction by Fulani herdsmen. While the past might not be as picture-perfect as generally painted, there is enough substance in people’s recollections to demonstrate how much we have declined. The Nigeria some of us dream of living in has already been lived out by our forebears, imagine!

 So yes, while the rebased GDP figures will expectedly look better, there is a lot of decline in the quality of our Nigerian life. Why do we even need to go as far as the 1960s to apprehend what has happened to our Nigerian lives? There are closer examples of a lack of progress. We are a country that once produced as much as 7,000MW of electricity in 2014. In 2025 and with multiple grid collapses, we struggle with 5,500MW. The Nigerian population has increased, and with it the demand for electricity, but the supply has only declined. Does anyone really need the GDP per capita to divine how a country that cannot sustain its modest gains would suffer socially and economically? An older relative once told me that the Energy Corporation of Nigeria—the company that supplied power in their youth—used to give an advance notification if there would be a power outage. Tell that to the generation of young Nigerians who have never lived in a world without the crazy hum of a generator bursting through their brains, and they would think you are lying.

Electricity is one aspect; the general state of public infrastructure is another. A generation has never witnessed a Nigeria where public utilities worked. Ask the young person living in Nigeria, where the GDP is supposedly 50 to 100 times better—a la Onanuga—if they know that we used to get water supply from a public water corporation, and they would perhaps be genuinely surprised. Look at places like our hospitals, especially the public ones, where people complement the paltry services they receive there with prayers and tell us how much better we have it. Even our leaders cannot entrust their lives to the public hospitals they fund. The slightest malady, and they are already on their way to France or the UK to receive proper healthcare.

In 2023, I visited the University College Hospital, Ibadan and what I saw there is a story best not told. Yes, the GDP must have multiplied about a hundred times since UCH was first founded in 1952, but nothing in that hospital currently reflects it. You can say the same for every aspect of our Nigerian lives. We have added many more zeroes to our national statistics, but our lives remain internally empty. Whereas countries like China and the UAE that lifted a huge percentage of their population out of poverty do not rely on media aides like Onanuga to sàlàyé progress on social media with spurious figures. Unlike our own situation, their results speak for themselves.

The African Export-Import Bank, through its development impact investment arm, the Fund for Export-Development in Africa, has unveiled a $1bn Africa Film Fund to revolutionise the continent’s film and creative industry.

The announcement was made on Wednesday via an official statement posted on the bank’s Instagram page.

The fund, launched under the Creative Africa Nexus Programme, aims to support the production and global distribution of African films and television content, addressing key infrastructure and financing challenges that have stifled growth in the sector.

“African Export-Import Bank, through its development impact investment arm, the Fund for Export-Development in Africa, has committed to spearhead the launch of the Africa Film Fund (‘the Fund’) as part of its Creative Africa Nexus Programme. This transformative undertaking of up to $1bn is designed to revolutionise Global Africa’s film and creative industry,” the statement partly read.

According to the bank, the Africa Film Fund will be managed through FEDA as a private equity vehicle, offering long-term capital to enable the creation of high-quality content and empower African storytellers to compete globally.

President of Afreximbank, Benedict Oramah, stated, “Film is a cornerstone of the CANEX programme, and the establishment of the Africa Film Fund is timely as it will help accelerate the growth of Africa’s creative sector, which has witnessed rapid growth but continues to face significant challenges including funding, scaling and accessing global markets.”

He added, “Through investments in the film sector, alongside initiatives such as the CANEX Shorts Awards, Afreximbank is committed to celebrating and amplifying a diverse range of African voices and experiences, thereby catalysing the creative industry and unleashing its potential to drive economic growth across Africa.”

Also, the Chief Executive Officer of FEDA, Marlene Ngoyi, noted that the initiative goes beyond financing films.

“The Africa Film Fund is not merely about financing films – it is about building a thriving ecosystem that empowers Global Africa’s creative talent, fosters cultural exchange, and catalyses economic transformation.”

The Managing Partner of FC Media Group, Boris Kodjoe, said, “It has been a long-term dream of mine to be able to tell stories on a global scale. I am grateful and excited to partner with our friends at Afreximbank and FEDA in order to support quality content development and creation in Africa and beyond.”

The PUNCH reported that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has disclosed that Afrexim Bank has already raised $19bn for the take-off of the Africa Energy Bank in Abuja.

[Punch]

Former governor of Delta State and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 elections, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has been in the news in recent times following his defection from the political party that made him a commissioner, secretary to state government, senator and governor, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

His defection didn’t surprise many. In a clime where politicians stand for nothing because they lack firm moral compass, falling for anything is a natural consequence. It is even more so where political parties are ideologically bankrupt.

But in an effort to ingratiate himself with President Bola Tinubu, Okowa has been making many awkward, if not spurious anti-democracy claims. For instance, on April 29, he patronisingly said Tinubu must complete a phantom “eight-year tenure.”

He said: “I do believe that, yes, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was elected president in 2023, and for the stability of Nigeria, it is best for us to have him complete his eight-year tenure. Then the presidency can move back to the North.”

It is preposterous for Okowa to talk about Tinubu completing a non-existent eight-year tenure” when he knows full well that we only have a four-year electoral mandate in Nigeria, the reason why elections are held every four years. Even when the Constitution guarantees two terms, that does not translate to an automatic eight-year tenure.

Granted, it is no longer news that Nigerians have a penchant for bastardising even the most pristine of concepts and, therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we are doing what we know how best: making a mess of democracy even when we are not reinventing its wheels.

But our collective tomfoolery does not detract from idea the idea of democracy which originated from the Greek words “demos”, meaning people, and “kratos” meaning power. So, democracy, simply put, means “power of the people.” It is a governance model that depends solely on the will of the people and in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state are decided by the people directly or indirectly.

Democracy has evolved over the centuries with different models emerging across the world. But that notwithstanding, genuine democracies strive to uphold the core principles of rule by the people, equality and freedom, accountability and transparency, rule of law, periodic fair and free elections where eligible citizens can choose their representatives without let or hindrance.

Election is the oxygen of every democracy because it is a referendum writ large. That is when those in elective political offices and their political parties go back to the electorate with their score cards for them to make the consequential decision of either revalidating the mandate or repudiating same. In which case, a second term becomes a vote of confidence whereas rejection at the polls is a no confidence vote.

But in the last 26 years, Nigerians have watched helplessly as these values are wantonly abused and all democratic guardrails systematically dismantled by those charged with the responsibility of safeguarding them.

The very idea of a democracy is that the people have the ultimate say. In doing that, the basic freedoms of speech, assembly, press, as well as the right to vote must remain sacrosanct. The reverse is the case here and the dismantling of these democracy guardrails is intentional.

To be sure, this anomaly didn’t start with the Tinubu presidency. Olusegun Obasanjo messed up the Fourth Republic democracy particularly with his ill-fated third-term gambit, and ever since, it has been a slippery slope. But Tinubu has worsened the situation in the last two years.

That is why Okowa’s “eight-year tenure” proposition which suggests that the conduct of elections every four years should be of no moment, henceforth, is scary. Why should Tinubu complete “his” eight years when he was elected for a four-year tenure?

Make no mistake, Okowa and his co-travellers on this pseudo-democratic boulevard are not pleading with the electorate to renew Tinubu’s mandate come 2027 because to do so, he must convince the people with his performance in the first four years. Mid-way into his first term, he has failed and there is nothing to show that the remaining two years will be any different.

So, we have moved from Obasanjo’s do-or-die elections. Nigerians are now being blackmailed that unless Tinubu serves out his phantom “eight-year tenure” willy-nilly, national security will no longer be guaranteed. This is a dangerous proposition because the principle of holding periodic elections is an essential element of democracy globally recognised. Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, states that “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections…”

Besides, if Tinubu must serve his “eight-year tenure,” why must we hold elections in 2027? We may well have a single tenure of eight years because every election digs a very deep hole into the national coffers.

For instance, the National Assembly approved a budget of N355 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the conduct of the 2023 general election, out of which the sum of N313.4 billion was released as at September 2023 according to INEC’s report of February 24, 2024.

Based on the key activities in the approved Election Project Plan for the 2023 general election, INEC initially proposed a budget of N305 billion – N159.7 billion for electoral operations; N117. 3 billion for electoral technology; N20.4 billion for electoral administrative costs; and N7.4 billion set aside for unforeseen electoral expenses – for the conduct of the elections.

But after the National Assembly appropriated the sum of N303.1 billion, INEC, claiming that the approved amount will no longer be enough due to “the inflation rate and consumer price index as well as the widening differentials in the foreign exchange rate” requested for a N52 billion supplementary appropriation in early 2023.

The electoral umpire said the breakdown of the appropriated amount on the basis of the Average Cost per Registered Voter, ACRV, for the 93,469,008 registered voters in Nigeria was N3,801 (US$6.72) per voter, which it claimed was well within the internationally acceptable Average ACRV of $4 to $8 deemed adequate for the conduct of elections in transitional democracies.

Never mind that at the end, the 2023 general election recorded only 24.9 million (about 26.72 per cent) voter turnout, the lowest since the country’s return to democracy in 1999. So, since the budget was based on ACRV for 93.5 million registered voters and only 24.9 million turned out, what happened to the budget? Shouldn’t the commission return some unspent funds back to state coffers or better still carry over the budget to the next election cycle?

No, that won’t be typical.

Needless to say that the approved budget is aside support from development partners, which even when it does not come in cash, is nevertheless used in defraying costs for services that INEC would have otherwise paid for.

Since then, more funds have been appropriated for INEC by the National Assembly. N40 billion was approved for its 2024 operations. But the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, expressing concern that it was too paltry for shouldering the financial burden of organising 21 bye-elections has proposed a budget of N126 billion for its 2025 operations. In essence, Nigeria continues to pour more money into elections that have increasingly become opaque and fraudulent leading to unprecedented voter apathy.

The 2023 INEC budget was a 62 per cent increase over the N189.2 billion spent for the 2019 elections, which in itself is higher than the N108.8 billion spent in conducting the 2015 elections. So, the more the country spends on elections, the worse the outcomes as was grievously manifest on February 25, 2023, when, despite the colossal sums handed to Yakubu, and despite his very loud assurances, he rewarded Nigerians with the worst elections ever; an uncanny manifestation of a country whose institutions have no commitment to excellence and a people too comfortable with mediocrity.

Only God knows how much INEC will budget for the 2027 elections. It will definitely surpass the half a trillion naira threshold. All that for elections where we have been told beforehand that there are no vacancies, that an incumbent who should be sweating to revalidate his mandate must be allowed to complete his “eight-year tenure” as of right. So, why spend our scarce resources going for elections where “Their Excellences” are already assured of victory no matter what the electorate say? Surely, such monies could be put to better use. Let us have one term of eight years or even 20 years, and save all of us the needless stress and fortune.

Downstream sector operators have adjusted the prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, and other petroleum products due to the continued fall in crude oil prices.

The downward adjustments, Vanguard gathered, was also driven by competition as local producers battle imported products.

According to Petroleum Price NG, Nipco and Rainoil adjusted their pump prices to N841 per litre from over N842 per litre. Similarly, Rainoil Delta in Warri adjusted its petrol price to N860 per litre from N865 per litre, while Mainland in Calabar adjusted its petrol price to N874 per litre from N875 per litre.

Nipco adjusted the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel, to N955 per litre from N980 per litre, while Dangote adjusted the price to N940 per litre from N946 per litre.

Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Retail Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to ban the importation of foreign goods that are also produced locally, referencing petroleum products.

In a statement, PETROAN’s National President, Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, commended President Tinubu for the bold step but advised the government to ensure that the policy does not lead to shortages or price increases, particularly in the petroleum sector.

[Vanguard]

Seplat Energy Plc says it will start exporting gas to enhance foreign exchange (FX) earnings and deliver greater value to stakeholders.

Dotun Isiaka, managing director of Seplat Producing Nigeria Unlimited (SEPNU), spoke during a panel session organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) at the ongoing offshore technology conference (OTC) 2025 in Houston, Texas, the United States (US).

In his remarks, Isiaka said the new plan follows Seplat’s recent acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), which holds substantial gas reserves suitable for both export and domestic markets.

“We are focused on both domestic supply and export,” Isiaka said.

He emphasised Seplat’s dedication to ensuring energy access for Nigerians, saying “we believe gas should be the primary driver of the nation’s economy”.

The managing director, who stressed the importance of indigenous leadership within the industry, said Seplat is at the forefront, playing a leadership role.

“But this requires collaboration across the entire value chain,” he said.

Providing updates on Seplat’s gas reserves and production, Isiaka said the company currently has a combined processing capacity of around “550 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) between the Oben and Sapele gas plants”.

However, he said the oil firm is “pushing about 200 million cubic feet short of that capacity, so we need to bring in more gas from nearby suppliers”.

Regarding the ANOH Gas Plant, the SEPNU boss said its processing capacity of 300 mmscfd is nearly complete.

“While our initial plan was to channel ANOH’s output to the domestic market, in the near term we may need to explore alternative off-take options, including export,” he said.

Speaking on the MPNU assets, Isiaka said they contain over 14 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, with infrastructure to support processing and distribution.

“These reserves are near existing infrastructure, including three compression hubs with a combined capacity of 1.7 billion cubic feet per day,” he said.

“The key requirement is upstream investment to extract and transport the gas to these facilities, followed by pipeline delivery to shore.”

The managing director reiterated that Seplat has sufficient gas to meet both domestic and export demands, adding that the company possesses enough resources to serve both markets effectively.

[TheCable]