Now that my father and mother are dead and have gone to where the elderly go to rest their bones in death, I can confess my cigarette addiction. Not that either could put their hands on a Bible and vow that their firstborn was a nicotine-free teetotaler, but both card-carrying Christians thought my cigarette and alcohol use was a fleeting adolescence misstep when Satan took me up to the mountain and showed me the world, and said: “Is it not written that the earth is of the Lord and the fullness thereof; eat, smoke, drink and enjoy, son.” My father and mother were certain their ceaseless fire-for-fire prayers and biri-biri fasting round the clock were responsible for my repentance before ‘iji aye’, the world’s whirlwind, could sweep me off in my early teenage years. 

We had a cassava plantation in our Lagos State backyard back in the day when I was in secondary school. 

One sunny afternoon, the Devil knocked on my door and I opened it. He grabbed me by my left hand and led me to the green pasture downstairs. If you ever had a cassava plantation, you would know the canopy of tranquil neatness the tall-growing slender stalks provide underneath to nourish nature.

The evil that men do to the Devil lives in their hearts. Uhm! In his irresolvable confusion, Man contemplated the whip of chastisement eternally held by the Conscience and called it the devil. Yes, the devil. Remove the definite article ‘the’ from ‘the devil’, what do you have? Devil, yes. Put a dash between ‘D’ and evil. You’ll get D-evil aka The-evil. 

A global Nigerian musical star bears DBanj. The Seruabwon of Osun politics, the late Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, was popularly called D Gov.

So, what man calls the devil is d-evil that he does. The image of a black and ugly fire-spitting creature with a long tail and a spear is a figment of the imagination.

I’m not saying there are no powers in heaven and on earth. I’m not saying there’s no God. There’s God, the Maker of heaven and the earth, and I believe in Him. I’m only saying the devil, as concocted by man, is an explanation of the force that wrestles with the truth inside the conscience. But isn’t it written that ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set ye free?

As I was saying, the fall guy we all call the devil grabbed my hand and led me to the cassava pasture backyard. He brought out a stick of Consulate cigarette, lit and gave it to me, just like it gave Eve the apple. I took a military drag. In the cigarette smoking parlance of my time, military drag was the one-time l-o-n-g drag that burns a quarter of the cancer stick called cigarette, filling your lungs fully with smoke.

As I was enjoying the cigarette the devil gave to me and was feeling giddy, I saw my mother right from where I was seated under the canopy of cassava. She couldn’t see me unless she bent to look beneath the green mat of cassava leaves. But she had perceived the smell of burning tobacco and was gearing to know where it was coming from. 

I crawled further back into the plantation and sat, my unblinking gaze watching her advancing towards the cassava farm. I quickly buried the cigarette and the lighter. I couldn’t see her face which was screened off by the cassava leaves above. I could only see her lower limbs. As she got to the edge of the farm, she bent to see below the foliage and she saw her begotten son seated like Oba Efon – the Lord of the Flies.

Mo ku, mo gbe, mo dara is the lamentation of the condemned. “Kilo n se ni be yen?” she ‘innocently’ asked to know what I was doing in the underworld. “Mo n gba ategun ni; I’m resting,” I answered in a tired voice, trying to yawn.

Then I committed a forced error. I sidestepped her and went upstairs. By the time she got upstairs, the acrid smell of cigarette had overwhelmed the household on the sunny day. “Tunde!” she called out. I was in the bathroom, washing mouth and body. “Did you bring your cigarette upstairs to rest?” she inquired, adding the death sentence, “When your father comes back from work, you will explain when you started smoking to him.”

Like Joshua, I prayed for the sun to stand still because I knew if my father came back in the evening, he would beat me like the inedible snake called ejo aije. My prayer wasn’t answered. The sun didn’t stand still, it went back home to rest while my father arrived, ate and rested before giving my brain a factory reset. 

My mother made me fast for seven consecutive days, choosing more than a dozen psalms for me to read each hour of the day. I fasted and prayed but I didn’t stop smoking whenever cigarettes were available. I didn’t stop smoking because I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I wasn’t an everyday, impulsive smoker. I just smoked when my hands were idle and the devil was at his workshop.

When I got admitted into the University of Lagos in the 80s to read Chemistry, I discovered on campus that cigarettes were part of most students’ menus. I also began to smoke after each meal. Then I graduated to smoking before each meal, before sleeping, when I woke up, when going to the toilet, when stressed, when drinking, when happy; every time.

Because I never loved the esoteric nature of Chemistry, I changed my course and university the following year. I love writing and I wanted to be a journalist. To free myself from parental control, I chose the Imo State University, now Abia State University. This was where I earned the title, Eruku Jeje, which means Billowing Smoke. It was impossible to see me without a cigarette, day or night. When fellow smoking students were looking for matches or cigarettes, they knew the room to come in Hostel B.

Under my mattress, there must be matches and cigarettes. There was honour among smokers, nobody dared steal my cigarette but you’re free to use the matches of lighters anytime.

After I finished Youth Service in the Umuopu and Aji communities of Igbo-Eze North, Enugu State, I headed back home to Lagos, and continued smoking regularly; my bird had learnt how to fly without perching, escaping my parents’ stones.

I started life as a classroom teacher. Down the line, I changed jobs and became a journalist in Lagos with PUNCH newspapers. I always had perfumes, roll-ons, and air fresheners in my laptop bag, car, apartment, everywhere. Some of my friends knew I visited in their absence when they arrived at home and perceived my signature perfumes. If you smell my fingers, you won’t perceive cigarette smoke on them because I invented the use of straw as a cigarette holder. I would tie a straw to the butt of my cigarette and I’m good to smoke without leaving a telltale sign on my fingers.

If by a very rare oversight or error, there were no perfumes at hand in my car or bag, I would open my car bonnet, get to the carburettor, loosen one hose and get some fuel to wash my hands and rub some in my hair to smell like the car broke down and I was at the mechanic’s fixing it.

However, at a time in my bachelor life, I literally looked in the mirror and spoke to myself. “Tunde, you can’t continue this way. Is this the kind of life you want your children to inherit from you?” I asked myself. And I said to myself, “I never saw my father smoke. Why would I be the one to lead my children to smoking?”

I didn’t decide to quit smoking for health reasons. I didn’t care at the time about its health implications. I quit because I didn’t want to be the one my unborn children would see and take to smoking. Smoking is a dirty habit, I tell you.

Quitting smoking was the singular most arduous achievement in my life. It wasn’t going to the university or building a house or buying a car. It was smoking. Quitting was war. I would light a cigarette, puff on it and tears would well up in my eyes. I would throw it away only to repeat the same process hours or a day later. 

Then I lifted my eyes unto the hill. I didn’t go before any pastor or imam. Each day, I spoke to myself and to the hearing of anyone who cared to listen, “I’ll stop smoking.” Many of my friends laughed, saying, “You? Devil dey go retirement?”

To be continued.

Nation-building requires heroes. A nation without documented heroes or comprehensive documentation of the lives and times of their heroes and heroines, will not succeed in positively impacting as many young ones as are needed to berth a great country. So, essentially, a good number of the world’s most successful countries are endowed by the nourishment and talents of their diverse population which ultimately produces heroes.

Heroes have always played a crucial role in binding societies, offering courage, sacrifice, leadership, and moral integrity narratives. Whether real or mythical, these individuals provide nations with a sense of history, identity, unity, and shared values. Here comes Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde “Wole” Soyinka (CFR), a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first African to be so honored.

Every country has its fair share of a national hero or hero. The world needs more people with critical thinking skills coupled with an objective mindset capable of sequestering their internal bias when required by equally pertinent decisions that need to be made by decisive individuals with experience and practical wisdom in humble coexistence within their mindset. What most people mistake for a “hero” is usually just a victim of circumstance that devolves into an eminent personality with huge responsibilities.

Wole Soyinka (WS), is best known as a playwright, alongside his literary career, and has also worked as an actor and in theaters in Nigeria and Great Britain. His works also include poetry, novels, and essays. WS is by every intellectual and academic classification an iconic figure. His reputation blossomed after he won the Nobel Laureate in 1986 having distinguished himself as a literary genius.

WS has been a guiding force in shaping the cultural and intellectual landscape of the continent of Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Therefore, my fellow compatriots join me as we celebrate WS@90. It has become imperative that as a people we need to reflect on WS’s profound contributions and the everlasting impact of his work and advocacy – through the sacrifice and fearless commitment to social justice, unwavering defense of freedom of expression, and promotion of Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage, WS, stands as a beacon of excellence and inspiration.

Unarguably, a nationalist, eruditely broadminded, and dependable hard-working person apart from selfless adventures. Can I just mention only one remarkable example; apart from those that sadly died during the Nigerian civil war, WS, suffered more than most for the cause of Biafra. He was not only imprisoned in Kirikiri prison during the war but he was also put in solitary confinement and chained to the floor. In his words: “I don’t know any other way to live but to wake up every day armed with my convictions, not yielding them to the threat danger and to the force of people who might despise me.”

Kongi, as you’re fondly called, Africa’s most iconic literary maestro and one of the world’s most influential citizens, quintessential poet at 90. I join millions of our compatriots across the globe to celebrate an eminent scholar, dramatist, poet, and humanist who would have preferred a quiet celebration, his associates have decided otherwise. Africa’s first Nobel Laureate, a humanist, role model, thorn in the flesh of dictators, and a of hope to humanity. 

In conclusion, permit me to sign off with a call to action using the profound words of Jacob Nordby a storyteller, thinker, and adventure seeker whose many quests have led him to a deep fascination with life in all of its weird splendor. He has written the award-winning novel, The Divine Arsonist, and a non-fiction titled, Blessed Are the Weird – A Manifesto for Creatives. Jacob remarked as follows: “Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers mystics, painters, troubadours for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.”

Finally, WS, history will write your name in GOLD, as i crave the indulgence of my readers to adopt my sister’s birthday message to Kongi: “…My darling Uncle Wole, Happy 90th birthday! I am so happy that you made it to the Nonagerian level, and still have your wits around you. You are still as fit as a fiddle and your mind is so sharp, despite the hardships you have been through as a literary and Human Rights activist in Nigeria. 

“I am glad that you are alive to see the results of your good works- you are being celebrated in all the continents of the world! You deserve this and more, our wordsmith, Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, from Ake to Ibadan, and Ife on to the global stage!!! With lots of love and gratitude, Funso Adegbola. For Bola and Atinuke Ige’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WS@90, Nobel Laureate, Prof Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, who we fondly call Uncle Wole, Kongi, Prof, ‘Captain Blood’ and our WORDSMITH.

Richard Odusanya can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The year 2023 was fantastic for Seplat Energy, with the share price gaining 110% to reach N2,310.

The share price rally has continued in 2024. In the first month of the year, the share price gained 33.10%, closing at N3,074.60.

Nairametrics had earlier reported a growing sense of optimism regarding the sustainability of Seplat’s share price surge, projecting it could reach N3,500.

On June 27, 2024, the company’s shares experienced a remarkable surge, breaking through the N3,500 mark and reaching a new 52-week high of N3,790.90.

However, by July 11, 2024, the share price had retracted to N3,480, marking an 8.3% decline from its recent high.

Despite this drop, the company remains a formidable player on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, holding its position as the eighth most valuable stock with a market capitalization of NGN 2.05 trillion, representing about 3.64% of the total equity market.

From the foregoing, should investors buy, hold or sell this well-known oil and gas stock?

Financial Performance

Seplat Energy has shown strong financial performance, with an average annual growth rate of 12% over the past five years.

In 2023, the company achieved an impressive 72% year-over-year surge in sales, followed by a further 77% YoY growth in Q1 2024.

A significant portion (88%) of Seplat Energy’s revenue comes from crude oil sales, indicating a heavy reliance on the volatile oil market.

This dependency means that any significant drop in oil prices and the inherent volatility of the business could negatively impact Seplat’s revenue and profitability.

For instance, in 2023, the average realized oil price declined by 18% to $83.39/bbl from $101.67/bbl in 2022.

In Q1 2024, despite the 4.7% growth in average realized crude oil price to $86.17/bbl from $82.32/bbl in Q1 2023, crude oil revenue declined 49.4% to $150.8 million from $297.9 million in Q1 2023, attributed to the timing of lifting, exacerbated by the overlift reported in Q1 2023.

On the other hand, in 2023, gas sales account for only 12% of revenue, showing limited diversification.

Gas revenue fell by 12.4% to $29.0 million in Q1 2024, compared to $33.1 million in Q1 2023. The decline in gas revenue was attributed to lower gas volumes produced during the period, due principally to delays in new gas wells coming on stream; these are now expected to be operational in Q2 2024.

This is reassuring, especially with signs of potential change in this area. Commenting on the Q1 2024 unaudited financial results, Roger Brown, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Looking further forward, we were pleased to see more progressive actions taken by President Tinubu and the industry regulators.

In March, the President signed executive orders that will provide fiscal incentives in our gas and midstream businesses.

More recently, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) lifted the domestic gas price to $2.42/Mscf, supporting revenue generation and re-emphasizing the government’s commitment to developing Nigeria’s gas resources, a factor aligned with Pillar 2 in our strategy.”

Impact of Operational Costs on Profitability

Aside from price volatility and production volume dynamics impacting revenue, operational costs are another significant factor affecting profitability.

While reported currency figures show apparent growth due to favorable currency movements, constant currency adjustments reveal the true operational performance, providing a clearer picture of the company’s health and trends.

For instance, in Q1 2024, production operating expenses (opex) were $9.6 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe), up from $9.0 per boe in Q1 2023. Additionally, general and administrative expenses increased by 17.2%, amounting to $24.1 million compared to $20.5 million in the first three months of 2023.

As a result, gross profit fell by 78.5% to $42.7 million, down from $198.3 million recorded in Q1 2023 (a 29.9% decrease in Q1 2024 to N83.813 billion).

Operating profits also decreased by 21.0% to $81.9 million, compared to $103.7 million achieved in Q1 2023 (a 157% increase in Q1 2024 to N122.377 billion).

Despite the underlift gains, pre-tax profit declined by 19.49% to $69.288 million, down from $86.060 million in Q1 2023 (a 161.9% increase in Q1 2024 to N103.513 billion).

Looking Forward

Seplat believes that the business remains strong, with production firmly on track in 2024. In its FY 2023 results, the company outlined several growth opportunities for 2024.

• The first of these to start generating revenue for Seplat is Sibiri, which came on stream just a few weeks after the FDP approval was received from NUPRC.
• At Abiala (a marginal field within OML 40), the drilling programme is on track to start during Q2 2024.
• The resumption of operations on the Trans Niger Pipeline in April, approximately four months ahead of plan.
• Access to the pipeline will enable increased production from OML53 and provide the primary export route for condensate from AGPC, which remains on track for the first gas in Q3 2024.

Overall, it appears the company has set to mitigate and navigate through the production, revenue diversification and costs issues. 

What should investors do?

Getting back to the original question of what course of action investors should take requires consideration of some important factors.

For income-oriented investors, looking at Seplat’s dividend policy/trend accompanied by share gain, makes buying and holding this stock compelling.

Seplat pays quarterly dividends, and in 2023, the company paid out a total dividend of $15 per share. At varying exchange rates, this amounted to N126.45 per share or N74.412 billion, representing a 91.42% payout and an 189% year-over-year increase.

In the current year, in line with its quarterly dividend policy, the board approved a Q1 2024 dividend of US 3.0 cents per share.

In 2022, Seplat Energy’s stock significantly outperformed the market with a Year-to-Date (YtD) return of 69.23%, compared to the NGX All-Share Index return of 19.98%.

In 2023, the stock continued its strong performance with a YtD gain of 110%, surpassing the NGX All-Share Index YtD gain of 45.90%.

As of the current year, Seplat has achieved a YtD gain of 51%, outpacing the broader market YtD gain of 33%.  Currently, the stock offers a dividend yield of 4%, taking a total return to 54% year-to-date.

However, it is important to note that Seplat’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 59.52x is significantly higher than the industry’s average P/E ratio of 17.64.

This high P/E ratio indicates that the stock is trading at a premium compared to its peers, suggesting that the market has high expectations for Seplat’s future growth.

While this premium valuation could be justified by Seplat’s strong dividend policy and growth prospects, it also introduces a higher level of risk.

Its price to sales ratio of 1.42x affirms the market expectations for future revenue growth.

Investors need to consider whether they believe Seplat can meet these high expectations and continue to grow at a pace that justifies its current valuation.

High valuation implies that investors expect Seplat to deliver strong future growth in earnings and dividends. If Seplat fails to meet this heightened expectation; if its actual earnings growth or dividend payouts fall short of expectations, investors may react negatively, leading to a decline in the stock price.

Overall Bancorp Securities and Afrinvest, according to the NGX’s Broker stock recommendations for July 8th – 12th, 2024, both issued a “Hold” rating on SEPLAT.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice has delivered a landmark verdict finding the Federal Government of Nigeria guilty of human rights abuses in its response to the #EndSARS protest, particularly its disproportionate use of force at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020. The ruling, issued on July 10, 2024, mandates the Nigerian government to pay a total of N10 million in compensation to each victim named in the suit.

The case, brought before the ECOWAS Court by a coalition of human rights activists and organisations, alleged severe violations of fundamental human rights by Nigerian security forces. Amnesty International also submitted an Amicus Brief, which was declared admissible by the Court. After thoroughly examining evidence and testimonies, the Court concluded that the Nigerian government's actions breached several international human rights standards, including Articles 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 of the African Charter on  Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Key Findings:

1. The Court found credible evidence of disproportionate use of force and violations of the right to liberty and security, assembly, free speech, and dignity. It stated that the use of force was not necessary and contravened the Respondent State’s obligations under the African Charter.
2. The Court agreed that the applicants had suffered torture at the hands of the Nigerian government. The Court found that the situation at the Lekki tollgate, where live rounds were shot into the crowd of unarmed protesters, created a situation of fear, and the Nigerian government did not present evidence refuting those allegations.
3. The Court further held that the Respondent State failed to allow and afford the Applicants their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, therefore violating the Applicants’ rights under Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the African Charter.
4. The government’s actions were deemed inconsistent with Nigeria's obligations under the ECOWAS Revised Treaty and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
5. The Court held that the quasi-mechanism set up by the Respondent State to investigate the allegations of abuse at the Lekki toll gate lacked independence and was questionable. The State, therefore, failed in its duty of effective remedy under Article 1 of the African Charter.

Compensation and Orders:

1. The Court ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay N10 million each in compensation to the Applicants.
2. Additionally, the Nigerian government has been mandated to conduct investigations into the human rights abuses that occurred with a view to implementing the outcomes of said investigations. The Court has ordered the government to report to the Court in six months with an update on the compensation and progress of the inquiry. 

Reacting to the judgment, Bolaji Gabari (lead counsel for the Applicants)  stated, “This ruling is a significant victory for the #EndSARS movement, an acknowledgement that citizens’ rights were violated and abuses occurred at Lekki Toll Gate. We urge the Nigerian government to comply fully with the Court’s orders and take immediate steps to address the systemic issues identified in the judgment.”

In her reflections, Mojirayo Ogunlana, a counsel to the Applicants, said that the journey to this victory began on the 10th of December 2021. She recalled that the Nigerian Government, as Respondents in the case, failed to show up to put in a Defence until 2023, when, in its address, claimed, amongst others, that the EndSARS peaceful protest was unlawful and perpetuated by hoodlums.  She expressed joy at the closure occasioned for the Applicants and Nigerians who bore witness to the abuse and violation on the 20th of October. 

Also reacting to the judgment, Nelson Olanipekun, Executive Director at Gavel, coordinating organisation for the coalition, said, “The landmark ruling by the ECOWAS Court in favour of EndSARS victims is a powerful affirmation of justice and a significant step towards healing and accountability for the Lekki Tollgate tragedy.”

Obianuju Catherine Udeh (DJ Switch), one of the applicants, said this of the ruling, “Not once did I waver in my shared experience of the traumatic events of the 20th of October, 2020 but to sit in court and listen to the esteemed judges, based on the facts give a ruling in our favour not only reaffirms what I know and experienced but makes this one of the best days of my life since the horrific event. This judgement becomes a glimmer of hope that we can indeed head in the right direction in service of the truth and justice.”

The ECOWAS Court’s decision underscores the importance of regional judicial mechanisms in holding governments accountable and protecting citizens' rights. It also highlights the critical role of civil society in advocating for justice and human dignity.

For further information, please contact Chioma Agwuegbo at 08038458900 or chioma at chiomachuka dot com. 

Background 

On 20 October 2020, peaceful and unarmed protesters were fired at by Nigerian Security agents at the Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos state, Nigeria. This brought to a violent end the #ENDSARS protests that, beginning on the 3rd of October in Delta State, had been held across the country, calling for justice against police brutality in Nigeria. In December 2021, three victims brought a case before the ECOWAS Court, Obianuju Catherine & 2 Others v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (ECW/CCJ/APP/72/2021), to justice for themselves and those impacted by the violations.

About ECOWAS Court of Justice

The ECOWAS Court of Justice is a principal legal institution of the Economic Community of West African States. It serves as the judicial organ that interprets and enforces the provisions of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, adjudicates disputes related to the interpretation and application of Community laws, and ensures the protection of human rights across the region.

Dear readers,

Our recent epistles, penned in celebration of the silver jubilee anniversary of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, have ignited a spectrum of reactions from you, our esteemed readers. Your distinct viewpoints are instrumental in fostering a comprehensive and vibrant dialogue.

I am deeply appreciative of those of you who, after reading and reflecting on our shared musings, have deemed them worthy of a response. Your thorough comments, often presenting alternative perspectives and endorsing or challenging our shared views, significantly enrich our ongoing discourse.

There is a (now retired) Professor of Pharmacy (a very senior senior, as we say in our world) whose command of the English Language and his love for its correct use make him a linguistic puritan who reads and responds to our epistles.

In this case, the senior Prof did not find the expression “Towards a More Perfect Democracy” easily digestible; his protest against this was the usage of the terms “more” and “perfect” in sequence.

My response to him that the expression was borrowed from the American expression “towards a more perfect union” was understood; luckily, he is also a published poet. However, it opened more shelves of reservations about America and the American system.

Please feel free to see why the epistle that followed part 2 of the “Towards a More Perfect Democracy” and titled “An Imaginary Speech by Joe Biden” was about the ongoing electoral campaign in the USA.

Contrary to what some readers assumed, the essay about the American elections was neither a diversion nor a detour from the essays around 25 years of democracy in Nigeria; rather, they are all part of the same theme and reflections on the concept of democracy.

As I have often pointed out, whilst I fully agree with the need to contextualise ideas and localise concepts, I still personally strive to ensure that the thoughts we share here are universal in outlook and durable in texture and time.

To that extent, real-life episodes like the Silver Jubilee of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria or the election campaign in the USA become mere but valuable real-life examples of the concepts and ideas we reflect on.

Some readers have challenged me to offer my definition of democracy, which focuses on the crucial elements that make democracy what it should be, including the law and the duties and limits of government.

In reality, I have done this elsewhere and many times: I have offered my functional, process-centred, accountability-driven, and transparency-indexed definition of democracy everywhere and in every conversation possible.

Since poetry can rarely persuade a hungry lover, or can bread impress a satiated one, on this occasion, allow me to move away from my functional definition and offer an alternative inspirational definition of democracy that can match ( I believe even clearly surpass) Lincoln’s November Gettysburg 1863 speech.

My choice for a description of democracy that can, on one side, inspire and excite and, on the other side, inform and admonish is taken from a speech given by an eminent Athenian politician at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (BC 431–404) as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead.

In that speech, the speaker, Pericles, amongst other things, described democracy as the defining feature of his Athens and declared that:

“In Athens, we are thus:

Our government works for the most rather than the few. Our laws ensure equal justice for all in their disputes, but we never ignore merit for excellence.

When a citizen stands out for merit, then such a citizen will be recognised and invited to serve the state instead of others, not as an act of entitlement or privilege but as recognition and reward for merit and capacity. 

We do not allow their social or financial background to impede recognition and position in government. 

The freedom we enjoy is extended to our daily lives. 

We do not suspect each other and do not discriminate or disdain those around us because their way of life differs from ours.  

We are free to live as we deem suitable, but we are ready to fight off any danger. 

An Athenian citizen pays attention to their public duties and interests when dealing with personal interests, but above all, they never get into public service to fix personal interests.  

In Athens, we are thus. 

We have been taught to respect judges and the law and never to forget to stand up for the oppressed and the discriminated against.  

We have also been taught to respect those unwritten natural laws clearly written in the spirit of what is right and decent.

We do not consider those who show no interest in the affairs of the state harmless but useless because we know that though few can manage politics, we all can judge it. 

We do not consider debates an obstacle to democracy. We believe that happiness is a fruit of freedom, but freedom is a fruit of value”. 

The fact that Pericles could conceive a society and system of government over 400 years before Christ that understood the value of equality and merit, the richness of diversity, the centrality of the law and the importance of value, and the need to protect minorities says a lot about the depth of that period and culture. However, it also says a lot to those who, over two thousand years after Christ, still do not understand the essence of democracy.

Those who should know but for partisan and private interests refuse to stand for what is right even when difficult would not have been considered worthy in the Athens of Pericles.

If we want our democracy to work, the role of the law and judges must be closely monitored and evaluated.

In working towards a better democracy, we must understand that anyone who tries to exploit or manipulate the law for personal or partisan interest is one who betrays the spirit of democracy. For our democracy to move towards perfection, we must ensure that we agree that judges who betray the law are traitors of the spirit of democracy, decency and everything decorous about the commonwealth.

There is an original sin that some systems have committed, and that sin makes corruption of the bench and the law possible if not necessary.

I refer to the weak, corrupt, confusing, and corrosive cord that links the bench to politics.

Please feel free to think of the nomination of the Supreme Court in the USA and even the election of district attorneys.

What shall we say of those judges who casually disregard precedence or even give conflicting judgements in their own cases? What shall we say of those judges who recklessly intervene with injunction orders and counter judgments in cases currently treated by other courts?

What is worse, their mischief or ignorance of their position in democracy?

In a democracy, a bench totally independent of and unconnected to politics will better serve the law and justice.

Recent events in the world, thanks to access to more information, have exposed the failings of many Western countries that once stood as models of democracy. We have now discovered that no country can stand as a teacher to all. We have now discovered that we are all students who can learn from each other’s flaws and virtues on how to move to a more perfect democracy.

Join me on Twitter @anthonykila to share your thoughts, ask questions, and continue these engaging conversations.

• Prof Anthony Kila is an Institute Director at CIAPS. www.ciaps.org. He is also a regular contributor to The Frontier.

The supreme court judgement today, July 11, 2024, directing the Federal Government to pay allocations due to Local Government Areas directly to their account thereby abolishing the old practices of State-Local Government Joint Account,is timely and courageous.

What the judgement has done is more like interpreting section 162 of the Constitution, which provides for a joint State-Local Government Account. In which case, money is normally paid to state governors' accounts and then for them to disburse to the local governments for them to share. But what has been happening is that, as I noted in 2020,over three years ago, the state governors, have been behaving like ''bandits'', waylaing local governments funds along the way and thus impoverishing them leaving them with nothing to work, just a little for salary. And nothing to actually work for the people whom they represent.
I agree totally with the judgement of the supreme court to grant full financial autonomy so that money is released and paid directly to the 774 local government councils which constitute the third-tier of government,to develop their places because the LGAs are grassrooted and nearest to the people. Rather than allow overbearing state governors throw their weight around and muzzle the local governments and seize their purse,they will now allow LGs breath some air of freedom.

If you take a look at our situation, Nigeria is operating a very lopsided federation,more like a unitary system of government. Where the federal government is supposed to be a small government,it is controlling 67 items on the exclusive legislative list. That is why the federal government gets the lion share of the federation account , the lion share of the money that comes to the federation account to the tune of 52.68%. The states get 26.72% while the entire 774 local government councils in Nigeria get just 20.60% of the monthly allocation by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RLASMC.

The question is, what is the federal government doing with almost 53% of the national income? That is because it is a government that is behemoth.That is elephantine. A government that intrudes and intervenes in areas that should not concern it at all. What is the federal government's business with licensing cars and trucks for states? What is its business with the Marriage Act, dealing with how people marry and wed in Nigeria and how they live together as husband and wife and separate or divorce? What is the federal government's business with unity schools? A whole FG operating secondary schools? What is their business? Why is the FG not allowing states generate their own power, operate their own railway stations, if they have the capacity? Why should the federal government not allow states have their own police force? Even for the local governments to have their own police force as we have in the United States and other advanced countries of the world where even tertiary institutions have their own police?

The truth is that the federal government is overbloated and overpampered. That is why it is using too much money and make the centre become too attractive,eating deep into funds that ought to be meant for the states and local government areas. The states take not only that which belongs to the states, but also waylays at source that which is meant for the local government areas. No Nation grows that way.

So, I see this judgment as epochal,having far-reaching effect because money will now be made available directly to the local government areas who will no longer be subservient, like fawning slaves to state governors. In fact, the judgement even went further to say that no state government has the power henceforth to dissolve local government areas. This is because we have been seeing cases where inspite of the provisions of section 7 of the 1999 constitution that give autonomy to local government areas, states normally go ahead and dissolve local government areas ND appoint caretaker committees for them.This is whimsical and capricious.The Supreme Court has said this can no longer go on and that henceforth, no state government should ever be able to dissolve any local government area in Nigeria for any reason whatsoever and howsoever.

The judgement is salutary, timely and regenerative. It should be upheld by all governments and people in Nigeria for better democratic dividends.I see this as victory for our wobbling democracy, even if we are far removed from true fiscal federalism where the federating units control and utilize their God-given resources while paying royalty or tax to the central government. This case is one big plus for tested court room gladiator, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Attorney General of the Federation, who initiated the case at the apex court, invoking its original jurisdiction.Surely,to jaw-jaw is better than to war-war. God bless Nigeria.

There is just one major debate raging in America at the moment, and that is whether Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. should continue to run for President. The 46th President of the United States who has been in office in the past three and half years, is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party in the election coming up in November.

His face-off with Donald Trump, his opposite number in the Republican Party in a national debate on 27th June has raised so much dust. Most Americans believe that Biden’s performance was awful and has raised questions about his physical and mental fitness for the contest, with some suggesting he should yield the ticket to some more energetic Democrats. In this regard, Vice President Kamala Harris and California Governor, Gavin Newsom, have emerged the favourites even when they have both pledged loyalty to Biden.

Debates, especially in the US have been a constant feature of American democracy since 1960 when Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, engaged in a series of debates leading to the year’s polls. Not only did JFK mesmerize the electorate with his charm, he captured their imagination with his elucidation. And many say he won the election, ultimately, because of his performance in the debates.

Biden, 81 years and the oldest president in U.S. history, has been debating all his life, literally, and he knows how debates impact elections.

Today, campaigns involve public scrutiny that debates offer opportunity for, and Biden must have engaged in dozens and dozens with political opponents from 1973 to 2009 when he represented Delaware in the United States Senate. Even as a serving Senator, Biden ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008 before Obama chose him as his running mate, serving as the 47th Vice President for two terms of 8 years from 2009 to 2017 before landing the top job as the 46th and current president of the United States since 2021.

But on June 27 when he engaged former President Trump in a debate sponsored by CNN, Biden looked so ordinary and incoherent. Against Donald Trump who is 6 years younger and less experienced in political contests, he came across as a non-starter with a disastrous performance that many say may cost him re-election.

Trump was not fantastic either, with his half-lies and baseless claims, but he came across as confident and clear-headed against a sitting president that somehow appeared frightened and vacuous. Trump clobbered him and ran away with a publicly acclaimed victory. He was unsparing and bullish, even uncought in his language, but for the American citizens, especially the 51 million viewers who watched the debate, those were more pardonable than watching the President’s display marked by verbal blanks, a weak voice and sometimes getting lost midway into speeches.

And if the Democrats feel let down, the fear is palpable that a second debate, which will be sponsored by ABC on September 10, 2024, will be worse. That explains why the voices against the president have increased within the party and among his supporters generally. And despite appeals for more funding, donors have dramatically become hesitant at a time that the President’s challenger appears to be galloping ahead.

The recent Supreme Court decision on Trump’s immunity case was another sore point and the President, who criticised the judgment as a bad precedent, was obviously the loser. Smarting from that triumph, Trump has hit the streets with renewed vigor. He continues to cast the President as weak, incoherent and lacking focus. Worse still, as the person behind his ‘ judicial persecution’ of the past few months that he has somehow managed to soar above. As it is, even the multiple indictments in several US courts may have little or no fatal impact on his candidacy in the forthcoming election.

Many Americans who watched Biden, have gone to the extent of asking who really takes the big decisions at the White House. Not even the damage control efforts by former President Obama and VP Harris have helped stem the tide of criticism. Like Obama said, “bad debates do happen”, but he didn’t add that election defeats do also happen as a result. As pressure continues to mount on the President to drop out of the race, more polls now suggest Trump has continued to widen his lead and even Obama knows what that implies.

But Biden has also tried to respond with a weak assurance that he was running and would win. In the past two weeks alone, he has sent over a dozen letters to reassure his supporters and to appeal for funds to ramp up his campaign. Luckily for him, the two Democrats whose names have kept popping up have all rejected the idea of mounting a challenge against Biden and picking the Democratic ticket. VP Kamala Harris, for the umpteenth time, told Americans she was going to win with Biden, while Gavin Newsom, the California Governor who met with President Biden at the White House penultimate Thursday, said he would back Biden.

After three and half years in office, the US President has an above-average performance rating. He may decide to hold out till the end with the argument that the election would eventually boil down to his performance. That’s up to the Americans to decide. But if eventually he takes a bow as a result of the mounting pressure, it must be attributed to what has become his last debate. That will be a tragic end for a man who built a reputation over the years as a good debater both on the floor of the US Senate and in the series of election contests he has engaged in during his political career that has spanned over half a century.

First published in the Sunday Telegraph of July 7, 2024.

Terrorists, bandits, and killer herdsmen have since declared war on Nigeria. Coming to terms with this situation is necessary for a better response and more workable strategies. The form of war the country is currently experiencing is asymmetric warfare, which involves deep psychological issues. To begin with, conventional armies of nations are ill-prepared for non-positional, i.e., asymmetric warfare. The military confronting asymmetric wars does more improvising than drawing from foundational training. It is not their forte.

The enemies in asymmetric warfare may even consist of active military personnel of the nation. This is typically observed in its most extreme forms when terrorism is motivated by religious ideology, as is the case with Boko Haram terrorism.

Another significant problem is that even intelligent and patriotic people have sometimes justified terrorism, leading experts to say that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Therefore, it is tough to persuade those who view terrorists as fighting for freedom in the country to recommend and implement laws that call for the eradication of bandits and terrorists. Negotiations or soft strategies like Operation Safe Corridor—which the military has been pursuing since the Buhari administration—would be preferred by them.

Operation Safe Corridor appears to be a humane policy that gives terrorists who repent of their ways the opportunity to be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society. However, the reality is that we are dealing with soulless demons that have been completely despiritualised, which calls into question the desirability of such humane policies.

Two main issues should concern everyone: the first is the worrying issue of recidivism—that is, the act of a terrorist or offender who has been pardoned reoffending or going back to the same offence. The second is the fear that these terrorists will falsely claim repentance when they have not.

The latter is far more possible in the case of Boko Haram terrorists because the Nigerian military and ISIS are pressing the sect’s fighters on both sides. Most of them would accept the chance to emerge from the Sambisa forest and receive rehabilitation rather than face certain death.

The fundamental problem is that religion has a way of influencing people’s thoughts when they associate their acts of terrorism with divine forces and their promises. The religious terrorism brainwashing includes the promises of a triumphant entry into heaven and a promised departure from this miserable planet. Some are promised as many as 70 virgins if they die for such a ‘holy’ cause. One wonders how one man would manage 70 virgins, but then, this further confirms that Nigeria is not dealing with a rational situation here.

Youths who are jobless, disenfranchised, and largely illiterate make up a large and lucrative recruiting pool for terrorist groups, especially in the Northeast, where many more are joining terrorism to escape destitution. The protection of people’s lives and property as well as the wellbeing of the populace are the two basic duties of government that successive Nigerian governments have failed to fulfil.

Through the promotion of purposefully wrong policies, crisis entrepreneurs are making the war against terrorism last longer.

Let it be stated: until the Nigerian military seizes control of Sambisa and other Nigerian forests, terrorism will not stop. That’s the reason somewhere else stated that the first stage of the solution is to relocate the villages in and around the Sambisa forest so that the military of the country can focus on positional warfare. The Nigerian military’s piecemeal “hit and run” strategy is ineffective and can last for decades unless asymmetric warfare is converted to a somewhat symmetric one.

If Nigeria is to have any chance of defeating these soulless creatures, it must make long-term plans. The defeat of the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan military offers lessons for our country. After more than 20 years of fighting, Sri Lanka’s military forces decisively defeated the Tamil Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, in 2009, ending the Tigers’ battle against the country.

The prescription may seem like an outlier given that Sambisa forest crosses multiple northeastern states. However, we cannot expect to win the war against terrorism altogether unless the military of the country seizes control of Sambisa and other vital forests where the terrorists and outlaws live in communities, trains, plot, and launch their operations.

Every battle with terrorists and bandits can only result in a fleeting triumph for the Nigerian military, as the terrorists would beat a retreat only to resurface like a simmering fire that was extinguished and then revived by the wind.

Sambisa forest and other forests have to be intentionally taken back and physically occupied by the Nigerian military, step by step, even if it takes a decade or more. With the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka proceeded in such a manner. It will always be impossible to vanquish the terrorists as long as they are in control of some land. Therefore, the best course of action is to begin a slow but consistent pushback and retake all swats of land and forests the terrorists have taken and hoisted their flags, renamed, appointed administrators, and collected taxes.

The military ought to form a special combat brigade dedicated to combating terrorism. The special force should be put on live assurance, have unique pay, and be constituted by volunteerism. The majority of the special brigade should consist of retired military and police personnel who feel challenged and capable of serving their country again and are willing to risk their lives for it.

The special pay must be given out free of bureaucracy or politics. In this manner, the country will draw volunteers who will receive specialised training—which might even require two years—to get them ready for this unique operation.

The war against terrorism has become a business for crisis entrepreneurs, and they don’t want it to end. Additionally, there is outside meddling. You can find foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Maiduguri that have been operating for more than a decade. If not for foreign interest in terrorism in Nigeria, then what role do they play?

It is also well known that these villages are the reason the Nigerian military is hesitant to completely assault the forests. For this reason, the villages must be moved outside of the combat zone, allowing for the subsequent elimination of everything that moves.

Additionally, the military wants to rescue the kidnappees. Nigerians have to acknowledge that the country no longer has those. The abductees who are lucky to be rescued in the heat of the operation are lucky. The point is that total military operations should not be hindered because of the abductees the terrorists and bandits are using as human shields.

Furthermore, capturing the forests will push the terrorists and outlaws into positional warfare, an area where the country’s military is well-versed and superior. Then, ‘victoria ascerta’—victory is certain.

Dr Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. You can connect with him via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.

Commuters on the “Trunk A Road” as it was labelled, traversing Kabba-Aiyetoro Gbedde-Mopa-Isanlu-Egbe communities in Kogi state must have observed frenetic construction activities at the Egbe section of the road abutting Kwara state. I’m told vehicular movement is infrequent these days because of the decrepit condition of the road, its attendant loneliness and its susceptibility to the murderers’ rascality of criminals.

Travellers to parts of Kwara, Oyo and Osun, from parts of the North notably Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) these days, prefer the Kabba-Omuo Ekiti road which is marginally less degenerate. Okun-Yoruba people domiciled in their traditional abodes desiring to conduct business in the contemporary Kwara state to which they once belonged, however, are left with no option but to ply the road under discussion. For them, it will be easier to catch glimpses of ongoing construction in the area I previously alluded to.

There is a signpost with the inscription Ido Egbe in the part of the expansive Egbe community where the said development is proceeding. A luminous perimeter fence covers the generous hectarage being developed at the said site. One particular structure rises sky high above the several others all capped with lemon-green aluminium roofing. The buildings vary in shape and size even as they are at various stages of completion. A long vehicle rests around the ongoing development one of many others feeding the project with its needs. You cannot but ask yourself whether the complex is a creation of the federal or state government, or a private investor desirous of doing business in the community. Or could it be a model residential estate?

The project under reference is a Military Foreward Operating Base (FOB) being developed by Sunday Karimi, the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial Zone. Over the years, parts of the district have come under premeditated attack by armed robbers, kidnappers and unfeeling herdsmen. At various times, cold-blooded robbers have attacked banks operating in several communities in the zone. In every instance, they left behind a trail of crimson blood, sorrow and tears. From Kabba to Aiyetoro-Gbedde to Isanlu, to Odo-Ere and Egbe in Kogi West, the pattern of the hoodlums has been pretty much the same. They launch surprise attacks on the police stations in each community. They thus neutralise the capacity of the law enforcement agents to engage them when they eventually swoop on their major targets, the banks.

First Bank, Mainstreet Bank, United Bank for Africa, (UBA) and Access Bank at various times have been robbed by the hoodlums during banking hours. The callousness of the non-essentials was so grave on every occasion that it spiralled down the subsistence economy of the locals. The banks shut down for long spells ostensibly to rethink their continuing operation or not in the district vis-a-vis the losses they incurred. They equally evaluated the costs of rebuilding decimated structures and facilities in each instance relative to whatever fiscal trickles they earned, juxtaposed with the costs of providing services to their predominantly low-income customers. We are talking about farmers, small-scale entrepreneurs, school teachers and local government employees mainly.

More recently, kidnapping for ransom a trend hitherto heard about from very distant ecologies, has become another dimension of criminal pastimes by faceless groups. Sleepy communities in Yagba East and Yagba West local government areas basking in their rustic innocence and quietude, have been rudely violated by harbingers of grief and lachrymose. In January this year, six people were kidnapped within a space of 48 hours, around Isanlu, the headquarters of Yagba East. Three of them lost their lives trying to escape from their abductors. Two women were picked up from Ejiba in Yagba West last May, by a gang of one dozen gun-toting brigands. Okunland, which previously epitomised the purest innocence, calmness, serenity and safety, has been grievously intruded upon. This is not forgetting the impudence and insult of having irreverent Fulani nomads marching their herds through our farmlands destroying the subsistence investments of the people.

As a fairly regular visitor to my home community for sundry events and programmes, I’ve often been very concerned about the inadequacy of the capacity of security operatives at the local levels. I speak here about insufficient personnel and armament wherewithal in our localities. Isanlu for instance is the headquarters of the Yagba federal constituency which aggregates Yagba East, Yagba West and Mopamuro local governments. It is host to the area command of the police and oversees the three local government areas in question. I will be amazed, however, if there are up to 150 officers and men, or half that number of serviceable armaments in the armoury of the area command. I had reason to request police cover for a family event we hosted about six years ago. The police apologetically replied and alluded to the inadequacy of manpower. I resorted to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) as a backup plan. I was told straight up that the entirety of my local government area was served by 15 civil defence personnel.

Critically, I was informed that most of the men had indeed been taken up by traditional rulers. The kings as it were desired that their royalty be heralded at every stop, courtesy of state uniform-wearing operatives functioning as human furniture, who sit on the front seats of their vehicles. The royalties resorted to civil defence staff in the absence of police personnel to serve as orderlies. Such are the confounding statistics and realities of the security architecture in our suburban communities. Let’s be reminded that hoodlums perfect their operational strategies before they take on a target, institution or community. This of course includes distilling the prevailing personnel and armament strengths of their targets. This explains why police stations in rural communities are almost always the first targets where security personnel are neutralised and the armouries accessed and looted to strengthen their capacities.

Against the backdrop of such embarrassing and condemnable state failure at the very centre to protect and secure its citizens, this very basic constitutionally non-negotiable responsibility has had to be taken up not by subregionals, but by private individuals. This is the new normal as we find in the example under interrogation. One has heard elsewhere of privileged Nigerians or organisations partnering with security and intelligence services in the provision of operational needs and infrastructure. The Military Forward Operating Base in Egbe, however, is 100% privately funded by Sunday Karimi. He has taken a broader view of the concerns of his people, to assuage their overwhelming security worries. It is a tall and ambitious project daring to conceive and build from foundation, a complex which can probably pass as a modern military barracks, but Karimi has confronted the challenge headlong.

The “Foreward Operating Base” project under review is without doubt a visionary concept. It has the “observatory,” the tall structure which dwarfs the rooftops in the upcoming premises, where soldiers on guard duties will get a good view of the area and sensitise ground troops in the event of a possible threat. There is a security post and a mini-administrative block. There are also two blocks of 12 rooms each all ensuite, which come to 24 rooms for the “rank and file,” the junior officers. Boreholes have been drilled and will pump water to overhead tanks which will service the facilities and premises, downstream. Two units of three-bedroom bungalows are provided for officers, while there is also a rendezvous spot, an “officer’s mess” as is tradition with the military. Hopefully, a skeletal “mammy market” for the junior officers will spawn when the facility in its wholeness is operationalised.

Expectedly, Karimi has either engaged with the military high command for the adequate manning of the facility or has prioritised this now that the Egbe project is nearing completion. This again is part of the systemic dysfunction consuming our nation and we the citizenry. Why should government departments have to be begged and lobbied to do their jobs? This again beggars the question of either unthinkable complacency or pure lack of capacity in statecraft.

On account of his present effort in helping to secure the lives and belongings of his people, Karimi deserves our collective applause. Like Leke Abejide, his colleague in the House of Representatives who has championed impactful causes for his people, Karimi in this instance, has chosen to deviate from the despicable practice by some of our representatives, who have gleefully weaponised poverty. These are the mindless politicians who waylay our hapless rural folks with sachets of salt and packets of pasta on poll day.

Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA).

THE Senate, on July 4, 2024, passed for a second reading a bill that seeks to remove police retirees from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS. Promoters of the bill, which seeks, among other things, to replace the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Limited, NPF Pensions, the pension fund administrator, PFA, charged with the exclusive administration of police pensions, with the Nigeria Police Pensions Board, aver that it will correct the inequality in the pension benefits paid to police retirees vis-à-vis their counterparts in other security agencies.

Let me state from the onset that it will not. Instead, the exit will make the lot of an average police retiree more precarious. I will explain shortly.

Leading the debate, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Binos Yaroe, who represents Adamawa-South in the Red Chamber, lamented the poor pension of retired police officers.

“The inclusion and continuous stay of the NPF in the PenCom has placed them on the wrong end of the post-service emolument life, even though the Nigeria Police is saddled with the responsibility of not only protecting the lives and property of the citizenry but detecting crimes,” Yaroe said.

On the face value, his argument is very seductive but it was all déjà vu because the issues he raised are as old as the CPS itself. Numerous public hearings have been organised by both chambers of the National Assembly on the issue of exemption. For instance, on February 22, 2022, the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions held a public hearing on two bills for the amendment of the Pension Reform Act 2014, with the first bill sponsored by Francis Ejiroghene Waive, seeking “to amend the Pension Reform Act 2014 to provide for the exemption of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme and for related matters.”

To be sure, nothing is wrong in calling for an enhanced retirement package for the police because when it comes to issues of welfare and salaries, they hold the wrong end of Nigeria’s emolument stick.

But the low police pension is neither the making of National Pension Commission, PenCom, nor NPF Pensions Limited. The pension is paltry because historically, police salaries remain embarrassingly measly. Therefore, the solution lies outside the exemption paradigm as canvassed.

Today, NPF Pensions is the most thriving police-affiliated institution because it is run by professionals from outside the police establishment, and not manacled by the asphyxiating police. Not only that, PenCom has carved for itself the niche of being the most efficient regulator in the country’s fiscal space.

When the Pension Reform Act 2004 was enacted, the idea was to have a new scheme that is not only contributory and fully funded but also privately managed, with funds and assets based on individual accounts under third party custody. The overarching goal was to ensure, unlike in the Defined Benefits Scheme, DBS, that everyone who has worked receives retirement benefits as and when due.

But the government, which modelled the country’s CPS after the Chilean scheme that exempted all its armed forces, retained the police while exempting the Army, the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, and the Department of State Security, DSS.

The subsequent agitation for exit led to the incorporation of NPF Pensions on October 21, 2013, as a mono-clientele PFA exclusively responsible for the pension assets of all police personnel in Nigeria. It started operations a year later, making it the 21st PFA in accordance with the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014).

The PFA became a roaring success instantly. Today, not only is it the most successful police investment entity, it has become the measuring rod in the pension industry with Assets under Management, AuM, crossing the N1 trillion threshold, making it the fourth biggest PFA.

Yet, the success has not deterred the exemption protagonists who seek to amend section 5 (1) of the Pension Reform Act of 2014, to include officers of the NPF as part of the categories of persons exempted from contributory pension.

But exiting the CPS will not serve the ultimate goal of enhancing the welfare and well-being of officers and men of the Nigeria Police because that route will lead, once again, to the Defined Benefits Scheme which was abandoned in 2004 because of its impracticability.

Exemption as being canvassed will also ultimately lead to the dismantling of the institutions, systems and processes that government has put in place towards the implementation of the pension reform scheme, in addition to upsetting government’s fiscal policy.

Data from PenCom reveals that as at January 31, 2024, Nigeria’s pension fund assets stands at N19.531 trillion, which represents more than ten per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP. When contrasted with Federal Government’s budgetary pension deficit, estimated at N2 trillion as at June 2004 under the Defined Benefits Scheme, it will be suicidal to hearken to the exemption calls.

Therefore, since the elephant in the room is the abysmally low pension of police retirees, which has to do with ridiculously low salaries, rather than legislating for exemption, the government should administratively address the issue of low wages through upward salary adjustment, maximizing the opportunity of the ongoing new minimum wage negotiation. As Aisha Dahir-Umar, PenCom director-general, once noted: “Pension is a function of salary, and as long as the salary of officers continues, then there is no need to exit.”

What needs to be done?

At a three-day investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Pensions in March 2020, measures were articulated by Dr. Sule Wuro Bokki, former Managing Director of NPF Pensions, which if taken, will holistically address the plight of police retirees and mitigate the constant clamour for exit.

The first is a presidential approval of special gratuity for police retirees at the rate of 300 per cent of their last annual gross pay so that the balances in their Retirement Savings Account, RSAs, will be channeled towards their monthly pension payments. This will be in accordance with Section 4 (4) of the Pension Reform Act which provides that an employer, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act, may agree on the payment of additional benefits to the employee upon retirement. The second is treatment of retired police officers from the rank of AIG and above as public officers who should retire with their full benefits, as it is the case with permanent secretaries.

Besides, the major challenge faced by pension managers is the backlog of accrued rights owed by the Federal Government. Pension is made up of the accrued rights, which is the service rendered by policemen to the Federal Government from the time they enrolled in the CPS in 2004 and only payable when the officer serves notice of retirement, and the contributions from both the employee and employer.

But because the accrued rights is so huge, the illiquid Federal Government opted to pay in instalments every year. But the snag is that unless that is received, the PFAs cannot pay the portion that is with them because the account has to be consolidated. Right now, the accrued rights have not been paid in over 15 months, which means that no policeman that retired since then has been paid pension. The government may find a way of paying the accrued rights of retired officers separately to mitigate the delay.

These issues should be addressed administratively by the government. The National Assembly is in a pole position to facilitate the process rather than legislating for the exit of the police from the CPS that will destroy not only the thriving NPF Pensions Limited but also dismantle the entire contributory pension infrastructure by taking Nigeria back to the impracticable Defined Benefits Scheme and the fiscal disaster it entails when the Federal Government, once again, is saddled with the sole responsibility for police pensions. That is unrealistic.