According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate stood at 33.95% in May 2024, the highest level recorded in 28 years. However, there is a glimmer of hope as the month-on-month inflation rate has decelerated since March 2024. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Yemi Cardoso, attributed this decline to the effectiveness of the Bank’s monetary policy measures; which includes an increase in the benchmark interest rate. The World Bank, however, has expressed skepticism about the hike in the baseline interest rate; if it will tame inflation. The private sector also raised concerns that it would lead to a hike in business costs in an already hostile environment.

One of the significant factors contributing to the deceleration of inflation is the drop in the exchange rate from nearly N2000 to about N1500. Also, the country is gradually feeling the impact of the reduction in diesel costs, thanks to the production and sales of diesel by the Dangote refinery. Diesel cost is a significant expense for businesses due to inadequate power supply by the government.   The decline in the purchasing power of individuals and the increase in the benchmark interest rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria (which is aimed at slowing demand, has reduced household consumption. Consequently, businesses are cautious about passing on costs to consumers, with some reducing their prices of goods and services to maintain sales.

When the new minimum wage is finalized and implemented, the CBN may need to raise the benchmark interest rate further to minimize the demand-pull inflation it could cause. It should be noted that the benchmark interest rate has its downsides, as it increases government domestic borrowing costs. Therefore, it should be a carefully considered process, especially in a country like Nigeria with very high debt servicing costs to revenue ratio

It is important to note that the impact of the new electricity charges is gradually coming to bear on the prices of goods and services. For example, many hotels have increased their bills, citing the new electricity tariff. Additionally, the recent depreciation in the naira in the last few days, signals that the battle against inflation may not yet be won. The government should ensure further decline is not experienced.

Nigeria’s inflationary woes cannot be solved through the central bank's monetary policies alone if Nigeria aims to achieve sustainable long-term results. The country needs to increase its revenue and improve its trade balance by aggressively diversifying the economy. Agriculture, solid minerals, and tourism are some sectors that have not been fully harnessed. Nigeria should boost its oil and gas production, get its refineries functioning, and deal with its insecurity woes as soon as possible. The role of the political will of those at the helm of affairs cannot be over-emphasised

An improved balance of trade will result in a stronger and more stable naira; thereby reducing inflationary pressures.  An increase in Agricultural activities will also result in a drop in food inflation. The prices of diesel and premium motor spirit will drop significantly, If the local refineries are operational, and crude oil is supplied to them domestically. This has a far-reaching effect on the price of goods and services.

While the headline inflation rate in May 2024 is concerning, the month-on-month decline since March 2024 provides some encouragement. In order to tame inflation in the long term, a comprehensive approach is required. This includes further monetary policy adjustments, economic diversification, ramping up oil production, and addressing insecurity. The political will of people at the helm of affairs is a critical success factor.

 Kenechukwu Aguolu   FCA, PMP, CBAP

Abuja, Nigeria

Last Sunday on my X (formerly Twitter) page, I opened a discourse on the animousity that public officials have developed to private citizens visiting their offices coming in with their phones. Today, I believe the topic deserves a broader treatment as I am very much concerned about the rate at which public officials now bar citizens visiting their offices from bringing in their mobile telephone devices. In a rapidly evolving digital age, mobile phones have become indispensable tools for communication, information access and even personal security. Yet, an alarming trend is emerging in some public offices: the barring of citizens from entering offices with their mobile phones.

This practice not only undermines transparency and accountability but also diminishes the very essence of public service. Public offices are, by definition, institutions meant to serve the populace. Their primary function is to facilitate the needs of the citizens they represent. By denying entry to individuals with mobile phones, these offices create an environment of opacity and mistrust. Mobile phones are not merely devices for personal use, they are also tools that enable citizens to document their interactions, ensuring that their rights are protected and that public servants are held accountable for their actions.

Barring of mobile phones can be perceived as a deliberate attempt to shield public officials from scrutiny. Eni ti ko ba se ohun itufu, ko gbodo maa kiye si ehinkule. The depth of wisdom promoted by this Yoruba saying is best rendered literally by saying that he who has not engaged in illicit practices need not be watching over his shoulders. Of what use is it when you shield your official activities from public glare while claiming to be representing the public? This practice can foster an environment where misconduct or negligence goes unchecked, as citizens are deprived of the means to gather evidence or report abuses in real time. Transparency is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and good governance, and any measure that diminishes it should be viewed with suspicion and contempt. Mobile phones are critical for the efficiency of day-to-day activities of most citizens and this is why many of us have become reliant on our phones. Citizens visiting public offices often rely on their phones for various purposes, such as accessing important documents, receiving updates, or even making payments.
By prohibiting mobile phones, public offices are not only inconveniencing citizens but also hindering the very processes they are meant to facilitate. Consider the elderly or those with disabilities who depend on mobile technology for assistance. Forcing them to leave their phones behind exacerbates their challenges, making the simple act of accessing public services an ordeal. This practice is not only inconsiderate but also discriminatory, as it disproportionately affects those who are most vulnerable. To protect citizens’ rights, mobile phones have become sine qua non and this cannot give way to any shoddy excuse as may be sought to be advanced by corrupt officials of government. It is the realization of this need for transparency and protection of human rights that made the draughtsman of the Administration of Criminal Justice (Amendment) Law, 2021 to amend the principal law to include the rights of suspects to be recorded on video while being interrogated and volunteering confessional statement.

Rights have become recognized as rights after being made subject of consistent abuses, which have led to loss of lives and property. Only God knows how many citizens have been wantonly murdered extra-judicially in police custody as a result of police highhandedness and blood-thirstiness. Such officials that enjoy violation of rights will never support citizens having access to their offices while accompanied by their mobile phones. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has made it a standard practice over the years that no mobile phones shall be allowed in their premises and members of the public are made to deposit their phones in a receptacle at the gate to the premises. Even public offices where civil transactions are supposed to be carried out have also adopted this practice of preventing private citizens coming for meetings from accessing the offices with their mobile phones in their possession.

The efficacy of mobile phones in holding public officers to accountability can be seen in the number of police officers whose criminal activities have been exposed by private citizens who document their extortionist or murderous activities on our roads. Police authorities have been proactive in dealing with such officials and thanks to the Inspector General of Police who has consistently maintained that no police officer has the right to inspect the contents of the phones of a private citizen. On the other hand, mobile phones have also assisted in exposing highhandedness of citizens against diligent and responsible public officials. The commendably professional restraint exercised by the police officer assaulted by Seun Kuti the other day would have gone unnoticed if not for mobile phones. A number of cases of private citizens’ assault on police officers have been exposed by the prying eyes of street ‘journalists’. The public would probably have turned the case around against such victim police officers due to the general animosity that people have against police officers. Cases of police officers being used and abused as domestic servants and handbag carriers have been assisted by mobile phones of citizens who courageously document them and by which the rights of such officers are being protected and their dignity elevated.
Again, the government daily denounces corruption in public offices while regrettably and correspondingly encouraging the barring of access to phones while visiting public officials. This is huge contradictions in objectives and approaches. In today’s world, personal safety is closely linked to the ability to communicate. Mobile phones are lifelines in emergencies, providing quick access to help when needed. Public offices, often crowded and sometimes bureaucratic, can be daunting places for many. The reassurance that comes from having a mobile phone at hand cannot be overstated. Moreover, the policy of barring mobile phones raises questions about the security within these public offices. If the presence of mobile phones is seen as a threat, it suggests a deeper issue with the security measures in place. Rather than penalizing citizens, public offices should focus on improving their internal security protocols to ensure a safe environment for all.
The campaign for the adoption of civil approach to policing has been of international recognition and our police or public offices need not be unduly militarized for them to be effective. From a legal perspective, the barring of mobile phones can infringe on citizens’ rights. The right to information and the right to report are fundamental in a democratic society. Any attempt to curtail these rights must be critically examined and challenged. Ethically, public servants have a duty to facilitate access to services and ensure that their conduct is beyond reproach. The saying, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion,” is an old proverb that places premium on high standards of behaviour that are naturally associated with public offices and are expected from those in authority. This is also extended to close associates of public officers as Caesar was said to have divorced Pompeia upon mere allegation of engaging in a wrongful act. Banning mobile phones runs counter to these principles, reflecting a troubling disregard for accountability and service. Holding public officers to higher etiquette of public performance is a norm in all civilized climes and he who has nothing to hide, has nothing to fear from public scrutiny.

The best of our efforts as public officials is the one done in the privacy of our offices without the fear of public assessment. A public officer should rather hold himself to public scrutiny without the prompting of the law. He who has so much to hide, has very little right to be in public space. The attitude of public servants barring members of the public from entering their offices with mobile phones is a disservice to democracy and an affront to the principles of transparency, efficiency, and personal safety.
It reflects a troubling trend towards opacity and control, undermining the trust that citizens place in their public institutions. Except we are deceiving ourselves, the essence largely is to foster corruption but nothing else. Mr. President needs to quickly intervene as the situation is fast degenerating. We may not even need the President to make an Executive Order on this as every head of a public office or parastatal ought to promote transparency in his place of assignment and among his subordinates. Nothing stops a Minister, Directors General of government parastatals etc. from making a directive that no member of the public should be prevented from having his phones on him while accessing public offices or public service under him. Local government chairmen, cabinet members at all levels and even bureaucrats at virtually all levels now relish in this unholy practice of veiling their offices from public exposure.
The claim of national security or national interest by some officers is just a phony excuse designed to prevent them from being held accountable and transparent. Public offices must embrace the digital age and recognize the essential role that mobile phones play in modern society. Instead of barring these devices, public servants should work towards creating environments that are open, secure, and accommodating to all. Only then can they truly fulfill their mandate of serving the public and upholding the values of a democratic and civilized society. our public offices must really work for the public and this is when the occupiers can answer the name ‘public officers’ within the provisions of the Constitution which has put in place a Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
There is no way a public officer can demonstrate his openness, transparency and accountability other than to make his activities behind the closed doors of his office a ready host of public appreciation and assessment at all times. The slender margin of trust and appreciation that private citizens have in public officers can then only become robust when an officer rightly discharges his duty. It is only a public servant without a sense of personal integrity that fears his dark privacy above his legitimate public concerns and for so long as the public, both local and foreign, nurses distrust in our orientation and system, for so long it will be difficult to attract the necessary confidence eminently required to attain greater development.

If public exposure of a government document will compromise national security, a public officer should not be careless in displaying same on his table while playing host to members of the public in the discharge of his duties. The government should do everything necessary to make our public officers more accountable, responsible and transparent. One of such things to be done is to prevent them from creating a veil against public assessment of the citizens they are meant to serve and protect. No officer should be afraid of a mobile phone if he is not engaged in illicit activities.

It is with deep regret and sorrow that we announce the passing of Mr. Uche Nwokedi, SAN, who peacefully departed from this world on the 28th of June, 2024, in London.

Mr. Uche Nwokedi, SAN was an alumnus of St. Gregory's College, Mayfield College, and the University of Lagos, where he successfully obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Law - LLB(HONS).

His professional journey commenced as a Legal Counsel at Ashland Oil (Nigeria) Company from October 1984 to October 1985. Subsequently, he joined the esteemed law firm of Chief Rotimi Williams’ Chambers as an Associate Counsel for a period extending from January 1986 to October 1991 serving for a period of 4 years and 10 months. In October 1991, Mr. Nwokedi SAN founded the legal practice of Uche Nwokedi & Co, Legal Practitioners, where he served as the Principal Counsel until his recent passing.

Mr. Uche Nwokedi, SAN, was widely recognized as a preeminent commercial lawyer, renowned for his expertise in commercial litigation and international commercial arbitration. His advocacy skills earned him the reputation of being a 'calm and extremely persuasive advocate' as acknowledged in the Legal 500, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s leading Energy and Natural Resources Lawyers (Legal 500). Additionally, he was the Editor-In-Chief and Publisher of Nigerian Oil and Gas Cases, a comprehensive compilation of oil and gas case laws in Nigeria.

Beyond his legal illustriousness, Mr. Nwokedi, SAN, was a passionate enthusiast in the field of entertainment. Noteworthy among his endeavors was the acclaimed musical production, Kakadu the Musical, which garnered critical acclaim on its tours in Nigeria, Davos Switzerland, and South Africa. Through his youth development foundation, The Playhouse Initiative, Mr. Nwokedi SAN mentored young talents through music and drama, fostering meaningful communication and development. The Playhouse Initiative has presented various successful musicals in Nigeria, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, under license from the Really Useful Group, and other enthralling productions including recitals and choral concerts.

Mr. Nwokedi, SAN, was the creative force behind the renowned M-Net Africa Magic legal TV drama series, "E.V.E: Audi Alteram Partem", which garnered accolades and nominations. He contributed insightful opinions on socio-political matters to several national dailies in Nigeria. With a keen interest in sports and sports development, he held the prestigious title of a third-degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate and served as the President of the Karate Federation of Nigeria from 2001 to 2005.

Noteworthy among his literary works is "A Shred of Fear", Mr. Nwokedi's poignant memoir that encapsulates a child's experiences during the Biafran War. Written in evocative prose, the narrative strikes a delicate balance between heartwarming and tragic, depicting the challenges faced during the war and the subsequent struggles for reconciliation.

Mr. Uche Nwokedi leaves behind his loving wife and three children.
In this time of profound grief, we offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, and we pray for the solace and eternal peace of Uche Nwokedi, SAN and our departed colleagues. Amen.

Further details regarding the funeral arrangements will be communicated promptly upon receiving information from his family.

Signed:

Mr. Olumide Sofowora, SAN
Secretary

The controversy ignited when, on June 4, the PSC announced the successful recruitment of 10,000 applicants, a list that was later rejected by the police force on June 15.

The police, in a statement by its spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, claimed the recruitment process was fraught with corruption and irregularities, noting that the list included names of individuals who “did not even apply” for the positions.

The rejection of the recruitment list by the police led to a sharp response from the PSC’s union, which called for the removal of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, accusing him of misrepresenting facts related to the recruitment process.

In a defiant stance, the PSC maintained that the recruitment was conducted transparently and in accordance with the law.

PSC’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, affirmed on June 25 that the final list of successful candidates would remain unchanged, urging the police force to provide evidence to back their allegations of corruption.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Police Affairs, Bolaji Kazeem, in a chat with Punch, emphasized the minister’s commitment to resolving the issue discreetly and efficiently, stating, “Minister working underground to resolve the issue between the two organisations. He doesn’t want the matter to go out of hand.”

[NaijaNews]

A former Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi, has died after a brief illness.

Family sources said he had been clinically ill due to old aged related sickness for weeks before he died in his Abuja home in the early hours of Sunday.

“Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi passed on to glory a few minutes ago, early Sunday morning,” a family source said.

The late Admiral was Chief of Defence Staff between 1999 and 2003.

He was the first Naval officer to reach four star rank in the Nigerian military, including being the first chief of Defence Staff from Navy.

The late chief of Defence Staff hailed from Okura, Lafia in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.

[DailyTrust]

Bayern Munich legend, Lothar Matthaus has named former Manchester United midfielder, Marcel Sabitzer as the best player at Euro 2024 so far.

Sabitzer has played a key role for Austria at Euro 2024.

The Borussia Dortmund star helped his nation finished top of Group D ahead of France and the Netherlands.

He will hope to lead Austria to victory when they play Turkey in the last-16 on Tuesday.

“My player of the tournament so far is Marcel Sabitzer,” Matthaus wrote in his column for German outlet Sport.

“I saw him live in Berlin during Austria’s 3-2 win over Holland.

“His speed, his lightness, his finesse, the way he uses his teammates, the way he works in the back, the speed with which he plays forward – I have hardly seen him like this in Dortmund.

‘”Sabitzer stands out in this impressive Austrian team.”

[DailyPost]

Nigeria of the 1950s and early 1960s had very many interesting personalities. Western Region had its fair share of such. One of them was a man named Suara Sobo Akande (Sobo is pronounced as Sorbor). He was a prominent transporter who held the transportation industry of the time by its jugular. An Ibadan man of the Opo Yeosa clan who lived in an area now known as Ring Road, Suara Sobo was wealthy and had a fleet of lorries in his pool. As a trade logo, Suara Sobo’s lorries always had monkeys chained to their entrance which excited and attracted passengers to them. However, his lorries soon acquired a notorious typecast. 

Any passenger who boarded them was literally embarking on a journey that had no certain time or terminal point of disembarkation. They could be arrested for having no particulars by the police. The inappropriate conduct of the drivers and conductors which led to road accidents were equally legendary. The otherwise pleasurable ride, with a monkey on board to marvel at its close resemblance to man, could turn awry for the passenger. It thus became a peculiar refrain in the Western Region to say a man had entered Suara Sobo’s lorry, equivalent to today’s One Chancelingo among youths.

Odolaye Aremu, then Ibadan-based Ilorin-born Dadakuadamusician, in his Ayé Omo Ayé(Oh, this Wicked World!) Vol 2 album, did a dirge for the untimely passage of Suara Sobo, years after. At a loud celebration in his house in the 1970s, said Odolaye, Suara Sobo had hosted the crème de la crème of Ibadan where roast mutton and turkey flesh were feasted upon. People were shocked when, six days later, Suara Sobo’s sudden death was announced. Odolaye seemed to attribute his death to the wild celebration in his house and the machination of a jealous world. In his dirge for Suara in Volume 18 entitled Ikú l’òpin Ènìyàn (Death is the end of man) Sakara music genre lord, Yusuf Olatunji, sang that, with the death of his friend, Suara Sobo, when he remembered the audacity of death in killing the rich and the poor, he got discomforted. I will connect this presently.

Grammy Award nominee, David Adeleke, famously known as Davido, provided Nigerians a veritable escape from themselves last Tuesday. The social media imploded with beautiful photographs of him and Chioma. It was a day to see wealth, plenty and joy in a Nigeria where poverty, lack and anger line our sky. Ash-tagged Chivido2024, the songster and his wife painted the sky red with fascinating ribbons of many colours. No one would know that the wedding was held in the same Nigeria ravaged by the water-borne disease of cholera. The nuptial, decorated with such a lavish show of wealth, was reminiscent of the July 29, 1981, wedding between then Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

For a moment in the same week, Nigeria provided both counterpoise and semblance to Kenya, its East African Safari destination brother. Whilst Kenyan youths were up in arms against their government for making life miserable for them, Nigerian government runners and youths were enveloped in a Davido wedding that erased class differentials and wiped away hunger optics. You would be pardoned if you thought our bellies were full. A-list guests like Olusegun Obasanjo, the hedonistic king of Ife, governors and the crème-de-la-crème of the Nigerian society were gathered at the wedding’s Victoria Island Harbour Point venue. But the class unity didn’t take too long to evaporate. Immediately its curtains were drawn, the crème-de-la-crème guests left into their wealth, Davido and his wife jetted abroad and the ordinary Nigerians celebrating the nuptials were left sharing Chivido2024 photographs on social media. They have since been contending with their bellyful wahalaof cholera, tomato, pepper scarcity and pestilential bad governance.

The wedding evoked some symbolisms in Ghanaian Efua T. Sutherland’s 1975 famous play, Marriage of Anansewa. It also put a final imprint on the transition of music and musicians from their perception by traditional Africa as beggars (alágbe). Today, musicians like Davido and Wizkid are mega-millionaires in dollars and mascots. So many Davidos, with greater grits and talent, never saw the light of the day. They were pushed into obscurity by societal stigmatisation. They were typecast as talented scroungers and never-do-wells. For my book, Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend(2020), I interviewed the son of Fatai Baiyewumi, the man who murdered Omowura in a bar-room fight in Abeokuta in 1980. He told me that when Omowura began singing in Abeokuta in the 1960s, his father, one of the famous (sànmònrí) of Abeokuta of the time, used to have Ayinla’s ragtag musical ensemble serenade him and his friends while they drank beer in the evenings. He claimed that Ayinla was so poor that the clothes he adorned on the front sleeve of his first musical album were a dash from his father. Late Uncle Charles Ariyibi of Ibadan also told me how, in the 1960s, Ilorin bard, Odolaye Aremu, serenaded his father, in company with his friends, in their Lagos compound. Excited, Ariyibi said, his father dashed the Dadakuada crooner clothes. In many of Odolaye’s songs, he sang of how wealthy fans gifted him clothes.

Ethnomusicology, the study of music of different cultures, revealed that this beggarly perception of musicians was prevalent in several African cultures. Nigeria’s was massive. Musicians in pre and immediate post-colony’s talents were enjoyed but not respected as persons. They were mostly recruited from the world of the rejects of society. Borrowing from aviation lingo, they were the flotsam, jetsam and lagan of society. The musicians themselves acted on this script very handsomely. They were weed smokers and community nuisances, Omo-ita. Yoruba also derogatively labelled them as drummers who sang and got compensated with rivulets of water removed from the top of cornmeal, (alù’lù gb’omi èko). A today musician who represents what they were then is Habeeb Okikiola, a.k.a. Portable. He was just like Omowura, a busboy who engaged in street brawls and other malfeasances. One of Omowura’s band boys was nicknamed Orífó’gò because singing into the night and the band itching to honour another musical engagement, the folk would break bottles on their heads, causing chaos so that the band could escape in the melee.

Haruna Ishola, a big father of the Apala music genre, on the 30th anniversary of his music in the 1970s, sang that, at the beginning of his musical career, most of his colleagues, dissuaded by musicians’ profiling as lazy and who didn’t know it could bring wealth, ran away from the microphone. “Nígbà tí a bèrè l’áyé ojósí, àwon tí ‘ò mò pé isé olà ni nínú wa, ńse ni wón ye’ra ; ìgbà yen ni wón ńp’onílù l’óle…” he sang. Odolaye, in his Ayé Omo Ayé album also pleaded that musicians should not be looked down upon, “e món f’ojú tí ò dáa wò wá mó o!” In later years, Omowura and colleagues tried to stave off their scavenger perception by advertising their turnaround wealth and fame. In one of his live musical engagements, Omowura wore his material accomplishment on his lapel and sang, “You are the same society that calls us musicians beggars wedded to poverty. Our musical craft has however brought us wealth” – “Èyin l’e ńso’pé alágbe kìí l’ówó l’ówó… isé òle l’òle ńje, k’á lù’lù, k’á ko’rin, l’Haádjì Àyìnlá fi l’ówó l’ówó.”

This is why Adedeji Adeleke, Davido’s father, should be the hero of the mascot his son has turned out to be today. A Nigerian businessman and billionaire, Adeleke gave a fillip to his son’s musical talent, regardless of the ancient unflattering typecast of musicians. Other big society barons have also followed suit. Legal czar, Femi Falana’s son, Folarin, known by the stage name Falz, and Florence, a.k.a. DJ Cuppy, daughter of boardroom billionaire Otedola, rank in this regard. In a world that belittles musical talents, one can imagine the initial shame and social pushback these musical talents’ parents must have faced in allowing them to walk the route hitherto trodden by never-do-wells. Today, but for Davido, the mention of Adeleke’s name would have attracted “Adeleke who?” Davido seems to have successfully swallowed whatever name and wealth he owned.

A romantic comedy written in 1975 by Sutherland, a Ghanaian lady playwright who was born in 1924, The Marriage Of Anansewa says a lot, even if nothing, about last week’s Davido marriage. The book is a rehash of the conventional Akan tribe of Ghana’s story-telling. With it, Sutherland successfully wove youthful romance, and humour into greed and cunning to tell the story of a poor and ambitious widower called Ananse who used his beautiful daughter Anansewa as a pawn. A student of Secretarial Studies, Ananse secures rich suitors – Chief-Who-ls-Chief, Chief of Sapaase, Chief of Akate (Togbe Klu IV) and Chief of the Mines – for his daughter, without any of them knowing the other. He then enters a “photograph engagement” between Anansewa and her suitors. Sutherland then showcases how marriage is deployed as a tool for financial exploitation and money-making in African societies.

In Ananse persuading Anansewa to pretend to have died, leading to each chief’s response to her death, Sutherland demonstrates how love conquers mischief, cunning and privations. The suitors’ messengers then came with funeral gifts and condolence messages that spoke to the depth and colour of their love for Anansewa. While the Chief of the Mines regretted that her death forecloses her from bringing up his children, the Chief of Sapa regretted that she could have taken the place of his ‘bitchy, ugly’ wife and Togbe Klu’s happiness would have been for her to deploy her secretarial skills in his business. However, Chief-Who-Is-Chief, who Ananse eventually gives Anansewa to in marriage, bearing heavy gifts for Anansewa through his messengers, regretted that though she was already his wife, he would foot all the finances of her funeral.

Sutherland’s 49-year-old play has a collage of themes that mesh with the Davido wedding. The first theme was that of love. Despite Davido’s highly-talked-about leashless libido, his choice of Chioma among many baby mamas seems to have reigned supreme like the pick of Chief-Who-is-Who among Anansewa’s suitors. Davido, you will recall, has the notorious renown of picking his confetti of baby mamas by the sidewalks like a squirrel picks groundnuts on a plantation. Similarly in Sutherland’s play, before being helped to settle for Chief-Who-is-Who, Anansewa, like Davido, also had multiple liaisons, though she hadn’t met them. The huge material showers the various suitors rained on Anansewa are akin to the benumbing millions of dollars Davido showered at the Lagos wedding.

The Davido wedding and Sutherland’s Marriage of Anansewa, apart from depicting life as drama, also had the theme of African traditional marriage as a tool for financial exploitation and money-making. This has led to, especially Igbo marriages, being a huge burden for every aspiring young man. Only God knows how much material demands Chioma’s Imo State family must have wrung off the well-heeled Adeleke family. While Anansewa’s wedding to Chief-Who-Is-Who was probably held in Ananse’s village, the Davido Igba Nkwu wedding rites violated the traditional wedding code in Igbo society. Such weddings are held in the village of the bride but Chioma’s was held in a ‘No Man’s Land’ of Lagos. The irritant Joe Igbokwe was to later claim it was for fear of ESN and IPOB which afflict Imo State like a pestilence. The unrivalled display of wealth by the Adelekes, at a time when hunger and anger have become stubborn guests that refuse to leave the Nigerian table, draws attention to the postcolonial vice of how we crown wealth as Emperor. It further reveals how materialism is a viper’s poison stinging the marriage institution in Africa.

Sutherland’s craft is an allegory, a symbolism that speaks to the mis-policy of non-alignment adopted by Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. It also mocks Nkrumah’s money-centric relations with other countries after independence. While Ananse represents Ghana, the deceptive suitor with the cunning of the notorious trickster Spider in various Ashante folklores, (Spider is represented on the cover of the book) the suitor chiefs symbolise the international community which is a sucker for what it wanted. Notwithstanding that the Davido wedding was a private person’s way of expressing personal joy, accomplishment and social strides, the Harbour Point lavish wedding, like Sutherland’s play, may as well represent the present cunning and Janus faces of leaders of Nigeria and Kenya.

William Ruto clambered to the top of global disdain last week. He had earlier been at the zenith of attention when he became the guest of the American president, Joe Biden in May. In a letter penned to him on May 21, famous literary giant, Ngugi wa Thiongo, labeled Ruto’s diplomatic shuttle to America as cringing for crumbs and lickspittling. Ngugi also asked Ruto if he knew that, while he was enjoying the White House’s hospitality, “Haitians were in the streets demonstrating, calling you a slave.” Literally calling Ruto a betrayer, Ngugi asked him if he knew that he had “chosen to sell your country cheap.”

Like Ruto, Bola Tinubu also came to the presidential palace on the cusp of appealing to the common people. At campaign hustings, Ruto described himself as a “hustler”. He promised to relieve his people of their economic pain. The true test came last week. The tax hike bill waiting for his signature was bound to make life more painful for the offspring of Mau Mau warriors. So they embarked on a protest which, from Nairobi, spread like bushfire in harmattan. The protesters then stormed the parliament and set it on fire. Auma, Barack Obama’s step-sister, and her daughter were tear-gassed in the process. In response, a visibly angry Ruto dispatched soldiers who then littered the streets with bodies of about 20 dead Kenyans. He also initially called the protesters “treasonous” criminals, but, seeing the slant into anarchy and a probable takeover of power from him by the youths, Ruto reversed himself.

Ruto and Tinubu, who are stupendously and fabulously wealthy, subscribe to the obtuse belief that to bail their countries out of economic doldrums, taxation holds the ace. Kenyans mock Ruto in the butt of jokes as “Zakayo,” a word taken out of the biblical tax collector, Zacchaeus’ name. They also believe that his aggressive tax evangelism is a mini-dictatorship. Some even drew parallels between him and Arap Moi, the country’s dictatorial one-party state ruler. While Ruto was campaigning for the Kenyan presidency, just like Tinubu, who promised to make “corn, agbado, casafa” (pun intended) available to the people, Ruto also promised policies that would drop money in Kenyans’ pockets. Not long after being in office, the man who called himself an “anti-establishment” president and a “hustler” removed crucial fuel and maize flour subsidies. He was a Tinubu in the mirror.

As both Ruto and Tinubu, at every drop of a hat, preach belt-tightening, they and their families live in majestic splendour. On his recent visit to Biden, Ruto commuted to and fro in a chartered luxury private jet, abandoning the “old,” presidential jet. It is as though he and Tinubu compare notes in mindless spendthrift-ing. In Nigeria, the chartered jet Tinubu flew to South Africa recently was said to belong to his business friend, Chagoury, the Sani Abacha crony, to who he recently awarded a ₦1.5 trillion highway contract. In Kenya, Ruto also claimed the jet he flew to the US was paid for by his unnamed friends. A few days ago, we were told that, damming the pang and poverty in the land and most likely shouting, “Let Sango, the god of thunder, strike the Bata drum and the jarring metals surrounding it!,” the Lagos Boy began bidding to buy two presidential jets so that he does not get killed in the air, a la Bayo Onanuga. One of the jets is a $600 million (almost a trillion Naira) Airbus A330 aircraft seized from an unnamed Arab prince and businessman. I told you a while ago that Lagos Boys are heartlessly bold and daring. With Ruto and Tinubu, Kenyans and Nigerians may have entered the proverbial Suara Sobo lorry.

Anyway, we must congratulate Davido and Chioma for the joy they exuded on their wedding day. I am however surprised that the older Adeleke family didn’t apprise the talented musician of the eternal essence in a famous Yoruba counsel that teaches circumspection. Yoruba tell merrymakers desirous of flinging cymbals in celebration of achievements to be circumspect like a farmer whose yam plantation yields bountiful. Such a farmer envelopes the heaps from prying eyes with his hands. No matter the glitz of modernity, the Earth, indeed the World, has an eye, apologies to Niyi Osundare. And those eyes are mostly wicked. Like every great achiever, Davido is no doubt surrounded by a grumpy world beefing his supersonic strides.

Odolaye, in the same Aye Omo Aye album, conceptualised the destructive inclination of the world even better. Borne out of the inexplicable tiff that suddenly brewed between him and poet, Oladapo Olatubosun, his record label owner, Odolaye lamented a destructive world he gave the cognomen “Ayé omo ayé, èèyàn abiìdí yàńyàń.”

Of a truth, having gone through marital valleys and spousal challenges, it was Davido’s time to fling the cymbals. However, was an African’s, with its peculiar contours. It wasn’t that of Diana and Charles’ which had over 750 million people around the world watch how Diana, a former nursery school teacher, wore a dress that was said to have 10,000 pearls on it and a 25-foot train. Nor was it that of John and Jackie Kennedy which took place in 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island, with over 800 guests of politicians and diplomats. Nor even that of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West held in 2014 in Florence, Italy, star-studded with guests like Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Steve McQueen, and Serena Williams in attendance. Most of those weddings ended badly anyway. Davido should have listened to Odolaye’s advice: “This world is wicked. Don’t underrate the wickedness of this world!” (Ayé yìí sòro o, ayé yìí sòro, k’é máse f’ènìyàn se’ré!).

Olajumoke at 80

Tomorrow, one of Providence’s priceless gifts to Ondo State and Nigeria, Bode Olajumoke, will be 80 years old. Born on Saturday, July 1, 1944, Olajumoke was the senator representing Ondo North from 2007 to 2011 and hails from Ose Local Government of the state. In 1999, he aspired to be Nigeria’s president. If Nigerians, especially the people of the Southwest, forget everything about Olajumoke, they will certainly remember the grey-bearded man who birthed the idea of Yoruba unity under the umbrella of the Imeri Unity Group.

Recognising how fractious the Yoruba had been since the demise of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Olajumoke began a yeoman fence-mending effort which reconciled feuding groups and individuals in Yorubaland. He also redrew the map of his Imeri hometown, a town hitherto mis-contiguously placed under Mid-West and Bendel state, which he fought to bring back to its Ondo kith and kin on September 19, 1991.

The credentials above are almost insignificant when placed side by side with Olajumoke’s philanthropy, unassuming nature and staunch religiosity. All these and far much more are contained in an autobiography he entitled, A Life of Grace: Courage, Vicissitudes and Legacies in the Journey of Bode Olajumokewhich will be unveiled in a birthday ceremony tomorrow at Yoruba Tennis Club, Onikan, Lagos.

It was like magic. In 2006, my wife enrolled for a post-graduate programme in the UK. After getting accommodation, she was informed by the landlady that as a student, she was entitled to exemption from council tax. All she needed was to notify the authorities on her status. My wife and I went to the council office and were attended to as soon as we arrived. We explained what we wanted and we were asked to submit a copy of her admission letter. Two days later, we got a mail approving the exemption. There was nothing like “oga is not on seat” or “we can’t locate your file”. I understand the process is now automated — you submit the application online and get a response within 48 hours.

Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, the head of the civil service of the Nigerian federation, has just declared that Nigeria has the “world’s best civil service”. Please raise your hand if this statement sums up your experience of our civil service. I can’t see any hands. Maybe I am not communicating. Let me reframe: if your experience of our civil service — local, state, federal — has been as smooth as the UK instance I just shared, kindly raise your hand. If you’ve ever gone to a government office to apply for building approval or renew a vehicle licence and you were treated with respect and never had to pay above the official fee, please let me see your hand. No hands up yet? Well, I give up at this stage.

Yemi-Esan, after being a civil servant for decades, had this to say about the dire situation towards the end of her career: “You know I am always proud of civil and public servants because Nigeria has the best civil service in the world and I can say that confidently anywhere.” To be fair to her, she was speaking during a sporting event organised for civil/public servants as part of activities marking the 2024 Civil Service Week, so I assume she was displaying sportsmanship — or, rather, sportswomanship. She has to be kind to her colleagues, sure. She cannot look them in the eye and say “most of you are lazy, greedy, incompetent, truants and criminals”. That would not be nice.

But what is life without ironies? The same Yemi-Esan had this to say about the “world’s best civil service” thereafter: “Recently, a circular went out to all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) stating that they should do a physical headcount (of staff). That means everybody on the nominal roll that is receiving salaries should appear physically, and the names of those who did not show up for the exercise should be forwarded. In the circular, I cautioned that permanent secretaries and CEOs that give wrong information will be held liable if anything is discovered outside of the information that was given.” Can you see? Even the most senior civil servants had to be forewarned!

Yemi-Esan said it was discovered after the exercise that many workers in the “world’s best civil service” who had been receiving salaries all along had actually relocated abroad. The system ensured they were still being paid for doing nothing. Let me quote her properly: “I actually called one of the heads of the agencies and queried why there is such a large number of people earning salaries and are not on their desks. I asked how the agency came about such a huge number of the purported workers.” She said the head an agency told her she ain’t seen nothing yet — that some of the ghost workers flew in from the UK for the verification exercise. Welcome to the world’s best civil service.

There is so much to unpack about the Nigerian tragedy from Yemi-Esan’s narration. I don’t know where to start from. But given that she has been head of service for over four years, I should start from her. How did she arrive at the conclusion that we have the world’s best civil service, not even one of the best, which means every other country is below us? Can she show us her workings? Can we see her marking scheme? What are the service standards by which she did her appraisal and reached her conclusion? This is very important so that we can be on the same page with her. Her standards must be so low and warped. That is something to worry about. I will return to this shortly.

Also, she was gleefully telling us the unflattering story of the stinking rot in the civil service under her watch — without flinching. Imagine that in the “world’s best civil service”, people are living abroad and collecting salaries in Nigeria and the head of the civil service was not aware. The heads of agencies were even regaling her with more scintillating stories for effect. There is no hint that they were queried for negligence. If it was their personal companies, would they be paying workers who had relocated abroad? The truants had superiors they were reporting to and we need to know what they did about the truancy. We are yet to be told anyone has been held responsible for the fraud.

I would really like to know what Yemi-Esan has contributed to the making of the “world’s best civil service” as she prepares to bow out. She spoke about building a wellness centre to enhance productivity — and I don’t have anything against that. But has it really enhanced their productivity? That is where I would like to see the results of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). My biggest concern about the Nigerian civil service is productivity which I measure mainly in terms of efficiency. Can Yemi-Esan put her hand on her chest and say that the Nigerian civil service is more efficient today than it was when she took over as acting head in September 2019? That would be something.

To be clear, I am not blaming Yemi-Esan for all that is wrong with the civil service. That would be very unfair. Civil service in states and local governments is not any better. I am only questioning her judgment. When you have interacted with the civil service in advanced societies, you have to question our understanding of standards. We do not appear to know the kind of civil service we want. That is why Yemi-Esan thinks this is the best in the world. Civil service is the engine, or brainbox, of government. This is where policies are designed and implemented. This is where service delivery connects the state and the society. If we don’t get it right, we are going nowhere.

In serious countries, the civil service is probably the most respected institution. When we talk about “state capacity”, it is the civil service we are referring to — in the main. Recruitment and promotion standards are tough because of the high barriers. In countries like the UK, India and Japan, it is first-class brains that populate the civil service. Professionalism and high ethical standards are an article of faith. In Nigeria, recruitment into the civil service is more of welfare scheme where we dump those who cannot find their preferred choice of employment. Slots are sold to hustlers or allocated to politicians, so we usually end up with many civil servants who don’t give a hoot about their jobs.

Let me apply caution here. I am sounding like I do not have any regard for our civil service. Far from it. I have interacted with many decent civil servants who are passionate about their job. The problem is that they are so few they are insignificant. The civil service is dominated by buccaneers who will not lift a finger if they are not going to get pecuniary gains. They are the ones who enable politicians and political appointees to loot the system — and they do this mainly to help themselves, not that they love the politicians that much. Many political office holders will tell you that it is civil servants that show them how to cheat the system. How can Nigeria be great if they don’t change their ways?

Finally, when Yemi-Esan spoke about the truants collecting salaries for doing nothing, I was listening intently for two things: one, that all involved in the cover-up have been identified and punished; two, that she has introduced fool-proof measures to make sure this will not happen again. On the first one, she was completely silent. She gets on very well with the negligent MDAs heads, apparently. On the second one, it would appear the strategy is to be doing physical verification every four years and, thereafter, regaling the public with the tales of the truants. That is not good enough. If a problem has been identified, the logical next step should be to design a clear strategy to reduce or eliminate it.

Meanwhile, when we discuss the problems of Nigeria and lament that we are stuck in underdevelopment, the same cheating and negligent civil servants will open their mouths. To them, collecting salaries for doing nothing is not a crime. Aiding and abetting fraudulent payment of salaries is not a big deal. Fraud is not corruption. Stealing is not corruption. It is smartness. “After all, our Ogas are stealing billions,” they will say. Until we recognise our individual roles in the underdevelopment of Nigeria, we cannot begin to have a useful conversation on how to end this rot and move towards greatness. We will keep talking down on Nigeria as if we are blameless.

President Bola Tinubu spat fire on the development. “We must ensure those responsible are held accountable and restitution is made. The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch.” Music to my ears. Unfortunately, the story ends there. It is just the way we are wired in Nigeria. Our instinct is to show initial outrage and normal service resumes shortly after. Do we still remember the drama of Mr Kemebradikumo Pondei, then acting MD of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), “passing out” at a senate hearing in July 2020?

Remarkably, checkmating truancy in civil service is not as complicated as making banga soup. A simple electronic clock-in and clock-out system can help. Improving efficiency will be easier under a system that has a working M&E mechanism — implemented with deliverables clearly written on paper. Introducing timelines to process documents and time stamps on the documents as they move from desk to desk will help monitor efficiency to a large extent. But, most importantly, how and who do we recruit into service? The rot starts from there. The world’s best civil services recruit the best brains. In Nigeria, recruitment is a welfare scheme. You can’t build the best civil service that way.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

RIVERS TO CROSS

The war between Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers state and Chief Nyesom Wike, his godfather-turned-archenemy, has reached a stage that should worry us all. It is easy to treat it as a Rivers problem and look away or watch it like a Netflix series, but — as we saw with Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram insurgency — sociopolitical instability in any part of Nigeria is a threat to not just the national economy but also the overall security health of the country. I think violent godfather vs godfather face-offs started with the Dr Olusola Saraki vs Alhaji Adamu Attah bout-up in Kwara in 1983 but it is now commonplace. All good people must step in and stem the slide in Rivers. Ominous.

SUDDEN DEATHS

Mr Essien Etop Andrew, deputy comptroller in charge of revenue at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), slumped and died while fielding questions from the house of reps committee on public account on Tuesday. This is yet another death of a uniformed public officer that made the news — not just because of his position but it also happened in the public glare. While I pray that Andrew’s family be comforted, I know that the tendency is to blame sudden deaths on supernatural forces. Nigerians, irrespective of status, are slumping to their death so often. Doctors will say most sudden deaths are avoidable, just that we ignore the warning signals. We really need to watch and act. Sad.

RECKLESS RUTO

In an attempt to cut the country’s debt-to-revenue burden, President William Ruto of Kenya recently proposed tax rises. Ruto initially wanted to tax bread — perhaps the daftest thing any president has ever tried in human history. For crying out loud, who taxes bread? Is that not a case of “village people” having the upper hand over Ruto? Despite a climbdown — the legislators passed a modified bill — the initial version had generated so much bad blood amid economic hardship that it created a momentum that led to riots and 22 deaths. There is a science about resistance to reform and reading the room that leaders must understand. Hope President Bola Tinubu got the memo? Combustible.

NO COMMENT

Are you following the row between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the recruitment of 10,000 constables? The war over who has the statutory power to recruit between PSC and NPF started under President Muhammadu Buhari and even ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the commission. But that has not solved the problem. Comedy and tragedy had a get-together recently when the police rejected the final list, alleging the disappearance of the names of some successful candidates, claiming — now, you won’t believe this — that the exercise was fraught with “corruption”. Pot and kettle easily come to mind. Wonderful.

Antelopes do not fly. That’s why I often wondered why Rangers International Football Club of Enugu are nicknamed ‘the Flying Antelopes’.

I know the genesis of the name ‘Rangers’. It is a deadly and destructive cannon used by Biafran soldiers during the bloody Nigerian Civil War.

They were only halted in their march to the top only by the heroics of Amusa Adisa, the goalkeeper of WNDC FC, the team that later became IICC Shooting Stars International FC.

Adisa had dramatically caught a last-minute penalty kick taken by Godwin Achebe, Captain of the Green Eagles (before and immediately after the War) and of Rangers FC, that would have possibly helped the team to go on and win a match they were dominating up till that point in the dramatic match. That’s how Rangers lost their first major final match by 2-1 to a team that would become their greatest rival in Nigerian football through the decades since then.

That same year, 1971, in a competition that was referred to as an ‘emergency league’, Rangers FC emerged the league champions for the first time. 

But it was in 1974 that their 3-year dominance of Nigerian football truly began. From that year, they went on to win the FA Cup 3 times and the league cup twice, back-to-back.
These achievements were unprecedented in Nigeria’s football history and have not been matched fifty years after.

Remarkably, it was not only the victories that made Rangers International FC famous and a great team. It was inthe manner of their performances on the field of play. They played with uncommon passion and determination.  They had very skillful, very strong and very fast players in all departments on the field, with a goalkeeper who,at about 6 ft 5 inches tall, was a real giant between the posts. Emmanuel Okala went on to become the most celebrated goalkeeper with his award of Africa’s Best Player in 1978 by the African Sports Journalists Union.

Rangers International FC always and everywhere played as if possessed, contesting for every ball on the field as if their lives depended on it, physically intimidating and dominating teams with their physicality, power and speed, leaving a physical or mental ‘scar’ on every opposing team. 

These achievements were unprecedented in Nigeria’s football history and have not been matched fifty years after.

Remarkably, it was not only the victories that made Rangers International FC famous and a great team. It was in the manner of their performances on the field of play. They played with uncommon passion and determination.  They had very skillful, very strong and very fast players in all departments on the field, with a goalkeeper who,at about 6 ft 5 inches tall, was a real giant between the posts. Emmanuel Okala went on to become the most celebrated goalkeeper with his award of Africa’s Best Player in 1978 by the African Sports Journalists Union.

Rangers International FC always and everywhere played as if possessed, contesting for every ball on the field as if their lives depended on it, physically intimidating and dominating teams with their physicality, power and speed, leaving a physical or mental ‘scar’ on every opposing team.  

In 1977, Rangers FC added the appellation ‘International’ to its name when it won the Africa Cup-winners Cup, only the second Nigerian club side to win the same continental trophy. One year earlier, in 1976, IICC Shooting Stars International FC had blazed the international success trail. 

That achievement meant a great deal in  Nigerian football and to the global followers of the great club based inEnugu. To mark the 40th anniversary of winning the continental trophy, in 2017, the clubs patrons and supporters organised and held the biggest celebration in the history of the team in Houston, Texas, USA. 

Why USA?

Most of the surviving players of the 1970s and 1980s had moved to the USA for studies or in pursuit of a better life. It was, therefore, a great opportunity to re-unite and celebrate them in an audience of members of the Igbo community in the USA with a surprise-guest to embellish the historic event. 

… a Ranger that never played for Rangers International! 

When I received a phone call from the Patron of the Rangers FC Supporters Club in the USA, Chief Benson Ejindu,  inviting me to the celebration, it was a confirmation of my deepest love. I had always loved members of the Rangers International football players in the national team. They infected every one of us from different clubs with their positive attitude and fighting spirit. They inspired and drove us to new heights in the national teams of the 1970s. A few of the players became my best friends beyond the football field, a relationship we have sustained till this day. 

Despite this mutual admiration and respect between us, I was a tormentor-in-chief of Rangers International FC during the years of their rivalry with my team, Shooting Stars FC.  There were 6 players from Rangers FC and 5 from Shooting Stars in the 1980 AFCON-winning Green Eagles. We should have been ‘enemies’, but were not. The friendship between us sustained beyond our times as members of the national team. 

The epic semi-final matches of the Africa Cup-Winners Cup in 1977, pitched Rangers International with their fiercest domestic rivals, Shooting Stars FC. Those two matches are still considered amongst the greatest and most memorable football matches in Nigeria’s football history. Although Rangers eventually won via penalty kicks after the second match that was played on neutral ground in Kaduna, the story of what actually transpired could only be recalled and told by one deeply involved in the unprecedented football drama. 

That’s why I was invited. To grace the event with my presence and to recall the period for the benefit of the audience of over 400 Nigerians packed into a hall in downtown Houston in 2017. 

It was apparent from my unscripted story that my love for Rangers International FC is deep. It was a team I would have loved to play for in those days of our rivalry, but for the fact that I was Yoruba, and Rangers were a team that wore the banner of a team with a mission after the Civil war between ‘brothers’. 

That’s why, I refer to myself a Ranger that never played for Rangers International FC.

That’s why, last week, I celebrated Rangers International’s return to the top of Nigerian football in their achievement as professional Football League winners.  

I am hoping that this will spur other teams in the category of Movements of the people, to make a comeback and be in the fore front of football development as business in the country. 

That’s why the return of Rangers International FC as champions of the Nigerian Professional Football league is huge! I add my humble voice to the celebrations