Mr Osita Okechukwu, a member of All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), to shelve their proposed strike and key into the Mass Housing Scheme of the Federal Government, and jointly structure long term finance and soft mortgage rates for affordable owner occupier houses for government and private workers nationwide.

Okechukwu also appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to as a matter of urgent national importance, utilise the monies he could have used for increase in salary to fund the new soft mortgage system; hence advancement of the long term finance of Mass Housing Scheme he launched recently with Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

“It is my considered view that arbitrary salary increase would definitely worsen the already spiked inflationary malaise in our dear country. Therefore, the provision of targeted one million owner occupier houses of long term finance and soft mortgage rates structured seamlessly is a Win-Win-Card for all Nigerians. It will be President Tinubu’s foremost legacy.” Okechukwu quipped.

He warned against a repeat of the mistakes of the Jerome Udoji Salary Commission of 1972, popularly called "Udoji award" which unwittingly railroaded Nigeria into dollarised economy.

Okechukwu argued that any arbitrary salary increase now, would spike unbearable inflation and eventually defeat the objectives of salary increase.

He noted that after careful scrutiny of the MOU between the Federal Government and Labour Unions, he couldn’t locate any mention of shelter among the fifteen items; shelter one of 1943 Abraham Maslow’s paper on hierarchy of deficiency needs which actualisation is Rent-Safety-Net for millions of our citizenry.

The former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) lamented that since some state governments and private firms have been unable to pay the N30,000 minimum wage engraved in law books; what is the guarantee that they have the capacity to pay the new salary increase?

Accordingly, he proposed that the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Ministry of Labour, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Employees Consultative Association and other relevant agencies should work out long term finance and new soft mortgage rates for affordable owner occupier houses which will draw funds from the savings accruals of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, plus contributions from banks as stipulated in the National Fund Act and foreign direct investment.

He highlighted the multifaceted Win-Win-Card gains in view of the long term finance and soft mortgage rates of affordable owner occupier houses; among which are attraction of foreign investors, Rent-Safety-Net, unprecedented mass employment, lifting of millions out of poverty, change of work ethics,climate change and curbing insecurity via the immediate transformation of the whole country into busy construction site.

“My take is that immediately the cumbersome nature of accessing mortgage finance is watered down and cheap mortgage rates in place; it will be a new dawn for family’s comfort as the over 20 million housing deficit will be drastically reduced to single digit.” Okechukwu submitted.

Okechukwu once more appealed to NLC and TUC to consider this soft mortgage rates of affordable owner occupier houses and shelve the impending strike for the collective interest of workers nationwide and for peace and unity of our dear country.

Implementing code of ethics and conduct in Civil Service is crucial to providing guidelines for both workers and elected officials, while its effectiveness lies in complementing such with training and leadership abilities of different categories of officers for effective service delivery.

The Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Engr. Tokunbo Odebunmi, stated this during a symposium organised by the Commission for its management staff with the theme, ‘’Strict Adherence to the Rules and Regulations in Treating Issues in Civil Service’’, at the Conference Hall, Obas’ Complex, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Engr. Odebunmi, in a statement signed by Mrs. Funmi Onafowope, Press Officer, Civil Service Commission, explained that drifting from the concept and principles of the public service by civil servants as compared with the past, just as the real foundations in Civil Service should begin from Grade Levels 12 and 13 officers, who would cascade the training, necessitated the choice of topic and participants for the symposium, stressing that it was imperative to ensure that the workforce is improved upon, in order to enhance workers’ performance.

‘’The Commission agreed on a symposium where interactive sessions would take place and lead to a better understanding of the subject matter compared to regular in-house training by it in the past where lectures were only delivered to participants’’, he said.

While highlighting some ethical violations that could occur in the Civil Service of Ogun State to include, nepotism, corruption, conflict of interests and misuse of official resources, the Chairman urged participants to make the best out of the event.

Also speaking, the Special Guest of Honour, who doubled as the moderator of the symposium, Princess Iyabo Odulate, noted the rules and regulations guiding the Civil Service were written to be studied, observed and implemented by the Civil Servants, advising participants to be diligent and upright in the course of discharging their duties.

In his remarks, the Head of Service, Mr. Kolawole Fagbohun (HoS), represented by the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. Jola Oyeneye, emphasised on the need for training the workers, disclosing that the HoS had secured several approvals that would facilitate capacity building for the workforce.

The interactive sessions had Permanent Secretaries from Bureau of State Pensions, Mr. Soji Adewuyi; Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General, Mr. Tunde Aregbesola and representative of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Olumuyiwa Ogunsanwo, who spoke on Public Service Rules (PSR), Financial Regulations, Procedures and Process in the Civil Service and Law, Discipline and Consequences in the Course of Discharging Duties, respectively.

Other dignitaries at the event were former Head of Service, Elder Olusola Adeyemi; Commissioners in the Commission, Hons. Adebowale Ojuri, Nike Osoba, Gabriel Falola and Yusuf Adegbemiro; Permanent Secretary in the Commission, Mrs. Roseline Jacobs, among others.

President Bola Tinubu on Saturday urged the Nigerian Army to shun actions that could truncate Nigeria’s democracy.

The president made this plea at the Diamond Jubilee of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna on Saturday, according to his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale.

“I urge you to continue to play your constitutional role of safeguarding the territorial integrity of Nigeria, our fatherland,” said Mr Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu added that the army “must shun any acts that are inimical to the well-being of our nation and acts which can destroy the gains of democracy which we have enjoyed in the last 20 years.”

While celebrating fallen heroes who lost their lives protecting the country’s territorial integrity, Mr Tinubu said, “The war against the enemies of Nigeria is not over.”

He charged the Nigerian Army to “upscale the fight against insecurity, which has robbed us of peace and progress.”

The president’s plea to the Nigerian Army to shun actions that are capable of truncating democracy comes as the continent witnessed a series of coup d’états.

In the past three years, several African countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan, and most recently, Niger Republic and Gabon have been controlled by military juntas who cited corruption, insecurity and increased poverty as the bases for the takeover from democratic governments.

From 1966 to 1993, Nigeria experienced several coups, excused by military regimes on widespread corruption, electoral fraud and violence, poverty, and insecurity. The country returned to democracy in 1999.

It is widely said that Nigerian judges are overworked and grossly underpaid. Senior lawyers have described the conditions of service of judges in the country as “a disgrace”. So poor indeed is their remuneration that in October 2023, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) doorstepped the federal government asking that the salaries of judges in the country be increased by at least 300%. But some lawyers think this is even too low.

Judicial salaries, it is said, have depreciated to nothing since they were last reviewed in 2008. Since then, allegations of judicial corruption appear to have escalated almost in inverse proportion to the loss in value of judicial pay, leading to suggestions of correlation, if not causation, between the state of judicial remuneration on the one hand and judicial corruption on the other.

Gani Fawehinmi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who died in 2009, in fact linked this to judicial mortality, lamenting the fact that many Nigerian judges “die in office under circumstances that are related to the barbaric conditions in which they work.”

Every president since Goodluck Jonathan has promised to address this situation without, in fact, doing anything about it. In his first three months in office, the current incumbent, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has — like his recent predecessors — repeated the promise.

Unwilling to wait any longer for politicians whose promises are notoriously fickle, the judges appear to have decided to resort to self-help. On May 4, 2022, Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, a judge of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, issued a judgment declaring that “since 2008 is embarrassingly too low and unrealistic, given the current socio-economic and other realities existing in Nigeria and the current global comparative salaries and allowances paid to Judicial Officers of the same or similar cadre.”

She ordered the government to institute a new remuneration structure that would guarantee minimum salaries ranging from N84 million per annum for judges of customary courts of appeal, khadis of Sharia courts of appeal and of the various high courts in the country to at least N120 million per annum for the chief justice of Nigeria.

In reaching this judgment, the judge reasoned that “the downturn in the economy and devaluation of the Naira has completely eroded its purchasing power since 2008”. She claimed that in the 14-year period between the last review of judges’ salaries in 2008 and the judgment in 2022, the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar had depreciated in value from N117.74 to N415.83.

Among the many problems with it, the orders in this judgment were directed at institutions in the executive and legislative arms of the federal government, including the National Assembly; the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC); the Attorney-General of the Federation; and the National Judicial Council, (NJC). Preoccupied very much with the politics of elections since then, these agencies did not appear to have taken note of the judgment since it was handed down.

Stuck for options, it seems the higher-ups in the judicial hierarchy decided in the interim to sort themselves out by dealing with judicial appointments in a manner that entirely unravels their claims about judicial salaries. At face value, the widespread complaints about judicial salaries in Nigeria totally denude the office of a judge of much respect or appeal, or so most rational people would think. Surely, few parents would want to inflict on their much-loved children a job in which the remuneration and conditions are described in the form of expressions routinely used to describe judicial conditions of service in Nigeria.

Yet, despite all the complaints, the senior-most judges in the Nigerian judiciary have “turned the judiciary into premium job racket for family members.” The latest advertisement for this trend is — not for the first time — the recruitment into the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). At the end of January 2024, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court Husseini Baba-Yusuf, who comes from Kogi State, having secured permission from the NJC, requested nomination of suitable candidates to fill 12 judicial vacancies in his court. The request specifically named the states from which it sought candidates. These are: Bauchi, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara

Kogi, Bauchi, and Oyo States, which were invited to send forward candidates, are already well represented on the bench of the FCT High Court. They just happen to be the states of origin of the chief judge of the FCT High Court; of the immediate past CJN, and of the incumbent CJN. The chief judge of the FCT runs the court system and will shepherd the nominations through the NJC, where the CJN holds sway. What better way to guarantee safe passage of the preferred nominees of the FCT chief judge than by sweetening it with a candidate allocated specifically to the CJN?

So, of the 12 slots on the list, it appears three are already spoken for, with one daughter or daughter-in-law of the CJN, his predecessor and the chief judge of the FCT apparently guaranteed seats on the list of appointees.

For senior judicial figures, the opportunity to plant a child on the bench as a parting gift has become something of a ritual, with judicial appointments timed to coincide with high-profile judicial retirements. For those who were unable to accomplish generational replacement for themselves on the bench before their retirement, arrangements are made to retrospectively cure the oversight.

Hence, for instance, the proposal to translate a daughter of the immediate past CJN, herself currently a relatively junior magistrate in the service of the FCT judiciary, to the high court bench.

This facility is also used to build bridges with political heavyweights. As he was about to retire at the end of his eight-year term as governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, immediate past governor of Kogi State, got the magnificent gift of a judicial nomination for his beloved wife, Amina, to become a judge of the High Court of Kogi State. Her only qualification for this nomination, apart from having notionally been a lawyer for up to 10 years, is that she is the wife of the state governor.

Madam Amina is not a magistrate, a court registrar, an academic or a legal practitioner. But that did not stop the Kogi State Judicial Service Commission, headed by Chief Judge Josiah Majebi, from turning her judicial nomination into a parting gift for her husband. After leading SANs from the state sued the NJC, accusing it of blithely disrespecting its own rules in the Kogi State nominations, the NJC was forced to suspend the process of High Court appointments in Kogi.

It is not only children and spouses of judicial and political higher-ups who get planted into judicial sinecures in this way. Mistresses and other partners whose only qualification is intimate genital relations with people connected with politics or judicial appointments routinely get nominated too. This is not merely a debasement of high judicial office and the vocation of the judiciary or a clear violation of the Judicial Code of Conduct; it also is a very clear rebuttal of the case for improvement in judicial salaries.

Therefore, one may ask: if the job is so poorly remunerated, as they would have us believe, why would a sane and highly placed parent choose to hose-in their child into a dead-end position guaranteed to blight their lives over the course of a tenure that could last over 35 years?

There can only be two possible reasons. One is that the parent wishes the child ill. This is most improbable. The other is that the office of the judge has become so corrupt that the gazetted remuneration really counts for nothing. In the words of an infamous proverb from Conakry, once the child gets into the position, they will follow in the footsteps of their parent or paramour and feed off the fertile offerings within the perimeter of the judicial leash. If that is so, we may ask, why bother?

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

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro has said the Nigerian team must put in their best to win the African Cup of Nation, AFCON, tournament.

This was as Peseiro noted that winning the AFCON would not be easy for the Super Eagles.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference, the Super Eagles tactician expressed his desire to beat Cote d’Ivoire and lift the 2023 AFCON.

Super Eagles and their Cote d’Ivoire counterpart will clash at 9pm at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan.

“It’s the final, good atmosphere, with a full stadium. Our players know that it is not easy to win the AFCON and they must put in their best to win.

“Playing a final is always important. This is my first AFCON. Some were saying it’s been special, and I can attest to that.

“The emotions in Africa are very special. All of this in my opinion is a great way to learn and I would love to win it with the Nigerian team,” Peseiro said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, increased the Customs duties exchange rate for the third time in 2024.

Import duties have been reviewed upward to N1,417.63 per US dollar from N1,413.62.

With the upward review, Nigerians will pay more to clear their goods at the port because import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.

This represents an increase of N4.015 and a percentage increase of 0.28 per cent, as the official exchange traded at N1,469.97 per US Dollar at the foreign market on Friday.

DAILY POST gathered that the current upward review of the exchange rate for calculating customs import duty is the third in one week and the third in 2024.

It is also the seventh time the apex bank has adjusted the exchange in eight months since President Tinubu’s administration commenced the floating naira policy, a reform to stabilise the forex market.

Recall that the Customs had on June 24, 2023, adjusted the exchange rate from N422.30/$ to N589/$, and on July 6, 2023, it was adjusted to N770.88/$, on November 14, 2023, it was adjusted to N783.174/$, in December it was adjusted to N951.941/$, on February 2 it was moved to N1, 356.883/$ and on February 3, it was raised to N1, 413.62/$ and now it has been raised to N1,417.635/$.

Experts warned that the continued hike in import duty portends a rise in the prices of imported goods and services in the country.

Bisiriyu Fanu, the former chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents at Seme Border, said the hike in Customs duty through high FX rates will affect all goods in the market because every commodity in the market has imported input in them.

Earlier, the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, lamented that increased import duty would further impoverish Nigerians.

South Africa coach, Hugo Broos has reacted to his team winning the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, third-place final against DR Congo on Saturday.

Broos watched as Bafana Bafana defeated Congo 6-5 via penalty shoot-out after the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

Speaking to reporters after clinching the third-place final in Abidjan, Broos heaped praises on his players, saying they showed great mentality.

He said, “I said after the Nigeria match that I was proud of this team, and I think today people can see why I say I am proud of this team.

“We were not fresh but when you see the mentality in that group, it is impressive.

“The boys did very well. They showed great mentality.”

Scotland has revealed its intentions to broaden the diversity of its international student body and increase the retention of foreign students post-graduation.  

This was discussed during the country’s inaugural international education strategy held recently as the Scottish government outlined plans to launch a new “Talent attraction and migration service” later this year.  

Nairametrics learns that this service aims to offer guidance and support for students considering remaining in Scotland after completing their studies to pursue employment in sectors experiencing growth. 

Additionally, the country plans to leverage its nine international offices to promote transnational education through Scottish educational institutions and bolster the efforts advocating for Scottish universities and their research on a global scale. 

The strategy also includes initiatives to foster stronger connections with Scotland’s diaspora and alumni networks.

Furthermore, a pilot project for a replacement scheme for Erasmus, potentially named the Scottish Education Exchange Programme, is scheduled for implementation.  

The Scottish National Party also proposed plans for a five-year post-study work visa for international students. 

Promoting international student recruitment  

Scotland’s strategy focuses on attracting students, staff, and researchers from outside the UK to diversify the international student body and maximize their contributions to Scotland.  

In the academic year of 2022-23, Scotland hosted 83,000 international students from 180 countries, constituting approximately one-quarter of the total student population. This cohort contributed £4.2 billion in economic benefits during that year. 

The strategy underscores Scotland’s identity as an “outward-looking, inclusive nation” that values its international education capabilities and export potential.

This strategy is contrast to UK government’s recent decision to prohibit taught postgraduates from bringing family members, which came into effect last month. 

What the stakeholders said

Launching the plan at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland’s higher education minister, Graeme Dey, said,  

• “The strategy sets out our collective aim to create the conditions for our universities and colleges to continue to flourish. 
• “In the coming months and years, we will continue to work with Scotland’s universities and colleges to help them diversify their international student, research and staff population by enhancing our reputation as a world-leading safe and inclusive country, with open-minded social policies. 
• “The administration hopes to maximize the social and economic benefits of international higher education and continue to promote Scotland’s world-leading research and knowledge exchange sector on the global stage”. 

In a similar vein, Professor Andrea Nolan, Universities Scotland’s international committee convener and Edinburgh Napier’s vice-chancellor, said, 

• ”The strategy gives us a platform, working together with government and other partners, to further develop these positive links to strengthen the sector’s contribution to the economy, society and culture. It also looks to deepen support for the full breadth of universities’ international role. 
• “We’re already known internationally for the quality of our higher and further education, but what may be less well understood is the role our universities and colleges play as major contributors to inwards investment and the attraction of talented people who want to live and work here. 
• “Working in partnership, we will build on all elements of our international work to grow our reach and impact.” 

[Nairametrics]

The semi-final match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on Wednesday, February 7, at the ongoing 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote D’ivoire, ended with a combination of joy and sadness for Nigerians.

DAILY POST reported that at the last count, five Nigerians reportedly dropped dead while watching the match; a development that has left many in utter bewilderment as to how men, who were healthy before the match, could suddenly cave in to death following the tension and anxiety generated by the football match.

Before the match, hopes and expectations were high among Nigerian fans, who wanted nothing but victory.

However, events took a somber turn when the anticipated victory did not come as quickly as expected. Five persons were reported to have died as a result of the tension that characterized the fiasco, before Nigeria eventually snatched victory away from the South Africans through penalty shoot-outs.

But then, it was already late, because the deed had been done; five men were already gone to the world beyond.

The first casualty came when the South African team was awarded a penalty kick against Nigeria towards the end of the game, while the other ones happened when the match got to the penalty shoot-outs. Those were the reported figures; there could be others whose deaths were not reported, probably in the hinterlands.

However, first on the roll call was a former member of the House of Representatives, who represented Ika Federal Constituency of Delta State, Dr Cairo Ojougboh. He was said to have journeyed to the world beyond when a penalty was awarded against Nigeria.

According to the report, as soon as the South African team scored against Nigeria, Ojougboh screamed, then collapsed, and died immediately.

Again, a deputy bursar at the Kwara State University (KWASU), Alhaji Ayuba Abdullahi, also suffered a similar fate watching the tension-soaked encounter. According to sources, he died while watching the match at a viewing centre in Sango area of Ilorin metropolis.

“Abdullahi watched the game till the end of the extra time, before he felt uncomfortable and was rushed to a private hospital in the area, where he, unfortunately, gave up the ghost.

“The deputy bursar watched the match from the beginning till the end of the extra time. When it was time for the penalty kick, he complained that he was feeling frenzy, and needed to go back home to rest. He never knew that his blood pressure level had gone up.

“So, on getting home, he collapsed, and he was rushed to a private hospital in Sango, from where he was referred to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. But, before he could be attended to at the teaching hospital, he died,” a source volunteered.

Also, a serving member of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), simply identified as Samuel, was equally reported to have slumped and died while watching the match.

According to witnesses, the Kaduna-born corps member died before the last shootout that launched Nigeria into the final stage of the competition.

“We lost one Nigerian a few minutes ago during our victory celebration over South Africa today at our sport viewing centre here in Numan, Adamawa State.

“The Corps member who is serving in Numan, from Kaduna State has slumped before the kick-off of the winning goal. He died before they could reach the hospital in Numan; may his soul rest in peace,” the witness said.

The NYSC Coordinator in Adamawa State, Jingi Dennis, said the corps member was confirmed dead at the General Hospital in Numan.

“According to his colleagues who went with him to watch the match, the late corps member told the people around him that he did not like watching penalty shootouts. He then bowed his head, and suddenly collapsed.

“He was confirmed dead at the General Hospital in Numan by the doctor,” the coordinator said.

There was also a man said to be working as a sales representative with a multi-national manufacturing company in Nigeria, who equally slumped and died as he was watching the semi-final football encounter in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The man, aged 43, and identified as Mikail Osundiji, was said to have died out of shock after the central referee nullified Nigeria‘s second goal by striker Victor Osimhen against the South Africans.

Checks revealed that the late Osun-born Osundiji, who was a father of two, did not show any sign of sickness before he showed up at the football viewing centre located at the Federal Housing Estate (FHE) in Olomoore axis of Abeokuta metropolis to watch the match.

His elder sister, Mrs. Adetunji Nofisat, who spoke to journalists, explained that Osundiji suddenly breathed out heavily after the cancellation of Nigeria’s second goal, lowered his head, and fell to the ground at the football viewing centre.

“That was when other people at the football viewing centre rushed to him and took him to one of the private hospitals in Olomoore before the doctor on duty pronounced him dead,” she stated.

There was also a report about the death of an Anambra-born billionaire, Chief Osondu Nwoye, resident in Ivory Coast, who allegedly died while watching the same semifinal match between Nigeria and South Africa.

A major motor spare parts dealer and CEO of Group Auto Promotion Cote d‘Ivoire, Nwoye, who lives in Ivory Coast, according to report, was shouting on top of his voice when the Nigerian star striker, Victor Osihmen, scored the second goal, which was later cancelled by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

It was alleged that the shock of seeing the goal cancelled, and the subsequent penalty that was awarded against Nigeria, was too much for him to bear.

He subsequently collapsed in the stadium, and was immediately rushed to the hospital, but all efforts to revive him failed, as the doctor pronounced him dead.

So, even as most Nigerians were jubilating over the eventual victory of the Super Eagles over their counterparts in South Africa, it was such a mournful moment for family and friends of the deceased.

While some have described what happened as one of the mysteries of life, which can end any time, others would want to look at it from the health status of the victims before the ugly incident.

The Medical Director, Hosanna Hospital, Festac, Lagos, Dr. Chikodi Onyemkpa, is among those who would want to view their deaths from the medical angle, rather than one of life’s mysteries.

He expressed doubt if that was the first time such had happened.

“Frankly, there is nothing strange about it. However, individuals that know they have health challenges like high blood pressure are encouraged not to get into extreme situations like watching football matches which they have interest in,” he advised.

Onyemkpa also expressed fear that the economic situation in Nigeria that was gradually going in the direction of violent confrontation was not helping matters.

According to him, if it continued, many people would still die not because they got into the street, but because the news of what happened in the street was coming to them.

He went biblical to explain how bad news could contribute to what had happened when he said: “For those that read their Bible, they should remember that it was bad news that killed Prophet Eli. It was bad news that caused Prophet Eli’s daughter-in-law to have premature delivery. So, what has happened is not new.”

However, viewing the development from the medical prism, Dr Onyemkpa said the medical connection to what had happened was that there was extreme excitement which the heart couldn’t just handle.

He likened what happened during the match which led to the unfortunate incident to running a 100 metres race, saying, “Have you ever done a 100-metre-race and discovered that you were struggling to breathe; you were panting excessively? There is a threshold that your heart will be able to handle.”

“If the emergency management chemicals in your body get produced at a level that is beyond the coping capacity of your heart to handle, then there will be a sudden event that will be disastrous; that’s the thing,” he told DAILY POST.

He stressed that the heart couldn’t just cope with the stress of the excitement that characterized the match.

“When there is an emergency, your body gets into what is called a fight flight mode; that is either you fight or you run. For your body to get into that mode, a chemical substance called adrenaline is injected into your blood immediately, telling your body either to run for life or to fight for your life.

“So, that sudden event of prepping your body for that is also associated with the heart picking up. That’s why when there is a gunshot by your window, suddenly your heart will start racing, meanwhile you are sitting down in your house.

“Your heart will be racing as if you have done a 100-metre-race; that is what happens. So, when there is sudden news, your heart picks up, either to run away from danger or fight to extricate yourself from danger.

“That protocol is managed by a chemical substance called adrenalin. And what adrenalin will also do is that your heart will start racing and your eyes become sharp, and you just want to automatically, without thinking, respond that way. So, if the heart is not able to take that load of responsibility, then there is a problem,” he said.

He also made an analogy with starting a car engine to explain how the heart works and what happens in certain situations of one’s health condition.

He said: “You start a car, you rev the engine and all that before you start to run. Some cars are said to be very good because you just start the engine and you touch your leg on the accelerator and it will move from zero rpm to about 6000 revolutions per a minute. Those are fantastic engines.

“But, you put your foot on some engines, and they cannot do more than 2000 revolutions per minute. The other one might be up to 6000 per minute. So, the one that can handle a bigger pressure, you say it is a better engine. And the one that cannot handle as much as 6000, you say it is not that sharp an engine. So, what it is now is that you have injected adrenalin and you are expecting an engine that can only do 2000rpm to do 6000 and it packs up; that is all.”

To prevent future occurrence of the sad incident, he advised that “people should know their health status before engaging in any activity that is tension-filled and emotion-laden, like watching football, especially one that is as important as the Nation’s Cup, involving the nation’s football team.

“So, if you know your health, you will know the level of pressure you can handle. This is not the first time that people have been advised not to watch explosive matches if they know they cannot handle the pressure.

“Wait for the match to be over and you can watch the replay.

“And even when you are watching the replay of the penalties of the match between Nigeria and South Africa, it still looks as if you are watching the event alive, but then, the tension is less because you already know what the result is.”

For the Consultant Cardiologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Dr Ramon Moronkola, the spate of deaths while watching football matches could be attributed to either heart attack or stroke.

“For people that develop heart failure, for example, or those that have had what is called Ischemic Heart Disease, which is a kind of blockage in their heart, any form of excitement can lead to heart attack,” Moronkola said.

He also noted that grief or excitement could cause such deaths, particularly if there was an underlying medical case that was diagnosed or even undiagnosed.

The medical doctor told DAILY POST that, “People can die suddenly as a result of grief or excitement. For those who die as a result of excitement, usually, there is an underlying cardiovascular issue, either known or unknown to the individual.

“Some people are also prone to developing what is called arrhythmias when there is an emotional surge. Arrhythmias means that the heart is beating abnormally and goes into an abnormal rhythm, and that can also lead to sudden death.”

The President of the Nigerian Cardiac Society, Prof Augustine Odili, had this to say: “The possibility is that they might have had what people call heart attack, which is known to be caused by the expression of emotions.

“Again, it is also important to talk about how each of them died, and at what point. Two of them, I learnt, died when the Nigerian player scored a goal and the goal was disqualified and then South Africa scored and the penalty shootout,” he told our correspondent.

He also agreed with Dr Onyemkpa on the need for people to know their health status before engaging in any activity that would cause so much excitement or emotion as a way of preventing such sad developments in the future.

He noted that apart from everyone undergoing regular health checks, there should be provisions for immediate resuscitation.

“There is nothing that can be beyond regular checks. Even if you have no symptoms and don’t feel any pain, it is good to check. It is when there is no war that you prepare for war.

“So, even if you have no symptoms, and you are not sick, it is good to have regular checks, so that you can detect any underlying issue. That is the only way forward.

“Try regular health checks so that you can know what your background condition is and manage it appropriately. If you have high blood pressure that is not controlled and you have an emotional surge, your blood pressure will go through the roof compared to someone whose blood pressure is well controlled,” he advised.

In his contribution a Consultant Psychologist, LASUTH, Dr Leonard Okonkwo also aligned with the earlier speakers that the people who died watching the football match between Nigeria and South Africa, probably, had one disease or the other around their heart.

To prevent future occurrences, he also called for regular medical checks so that people could know their medical status.

He told DAILY POST that, “Many times, people have these conditions without knowing. Watching a match that is full of tension and emotion, it is very normal for the blood pressure to go far beyond what the heart can handle, and when that happens, the heart packs up, leading to sudden death.

“What has happened is not unusual because football is a sport that is full of emotions, particularly when Nigeria is involved at that stage.

“For the match to have got into the penalty kick, it built a lot of anxieties even for people who don’t have hypertension.”

“So, people should just know their health status to avoid this kind of situation in future and that can only be done through regular medical check-ups,” he stressed.

[DailyPost]

I had planned to write on leadership lessons from the late General Murtala Muhammed who was assassinated 48 years ago. Tuesday this week is the anniversary of that sad memory. I had wanted to remind our leaders in Nigeria who are beginning to blame their predecessors for their poor leadership after eight months in office that the great leader, Hurricane Murtala spent only six months in office and was able to achieve three significant things we can’t easily forget.

The three remarkable things include incredible creation of a brand new capital for the federation. He set up a powerful panel comprising all the experts and stakeholders to recommend a site. He accepted the panel’s report and proclaimed a new capital for the Federation where our present leaders are blaming opposition for leaking a document, which contained a whopping N1.8 billion worth of recommendation for a panel to discuss appropriate wage review details for public servants.

Yes, Murtala who also led the whole of Africa to proclaim to the powerful West that indeed “…Africa has come of age…” at an extra-ordinary session of the then OAU on Sunday, January 11, 1976 had in a broadcast to the nation on February 3, 1976 proclaimed Abuja as the Nigeria’s new capital. He legalised it and also proposed Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Lagos as regional capitals of some sort, he designated “Special Areas”, for strategic reasons.

I had wanted to deconstruct the leadership style of Murtala and recommend some lessons from his proactive strategy without which we might not have had one of Nigeria’s major achievements in history – building a new capital. We will return to this important beat and other details in honour of the iconic Murtala someday.

I hope we can take away something significant here for our leaders: that Murtala was in power for only six months and the panel he set up to recommend a new capital reportedly travelled to several capitals around the world including Camberra in Australia, Washington DC, United States, and they didn’t spend hundreds of millions, according to the late Dr. Akinola Aguda I interviewed for Abuja Newsday in 1989.

Now to the brass tacks today, leadership lessons from football (management). Some of our leaders are likely to be in Abidjan to watch the epic AFCON final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast today. This isn’t new. Most world leaders do that whenever their countries get to finals. The female leader of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic wore the team shirt and cheered her team at the 2018 World Cup final between Croatia and France in Moscow, Russia.

At the 2023 World Cup final in Doha, Emmanuel Macron was right there when France lost to Argentina. Macron was seen consoling Kylian Mbappe who was depressed by the loss to Argentina. And so as our leaders watch today’s final, let us also entertain them with some facts about sport and indeed football leadership, which will be useful to them.

First, our leaders should see the quality of stadia the sports leadership in another West African country has provided for the very successful competition that ends today. But much more than mere provisions of facilities for the beautiful game that normally unites our people behind our national team, there are more significant lessons that our leaders can borrow from football management model.

Why the lessons?
It seems to us from the fumbling and faltering we experience daily, that our leaders are just leading us by intuition; as their weak spirit leads them. Most of our leaders seem unprepared for leadership challenges as we are beginning to perceive again. They need some reflections and lessons on what leadership is all about: security and welfare of the people, which they can’t provide at the moment.

As I noted here in 2016, 2017 and 2022, I would like us to discuss again some points about business models that can affect governance and nation building in global context. Most of our political leaders may not know that they actually need to go to good business/management and leadership schools to manage their politics and development well. General knowledge is good, but with the way the world is witnessing some convergence between politics and business, it is important that leadership lessons and models that modern leaders need should include some modules in business and management schools.

It is sad that most of our leaders in Nigeria do not understand that we regard them as mere wasters. They gamble with the destiny of a great nation for four to eight years. They do not record significant achievements for eight years that most of them spend in office. They just take oath of office, enjoy themselves very well and just take a large portion of the state resources and go away in a culture of impunity where even anti-corruption managers too are corruptible and no institution to prosecute them.

And as soon as our dealers we call leaders leave office, the memories we have of them begin to fade away from even the week they leave office. That is why it is important to advise those who wish to seek public office next time that modern leaders need some empowerment called “dynamic capabilities” through proper education in business and political management. What is the nexus between business management education and success in politics? Here is the thing: good political leaders in modern governance system should begin to see people as customers to satisfy every day.

Leaders at all levels need to read the constitution contextually. For instance, the 1999 constitution, sections 130 (2) and 176 (2) actually provide that the president and governors are, and should be regarded as “chief executives” of the federation and states respectively. The services they should deliver, therefore, ought to be treated as if they were goods and services to be delivered to the customers called the people. As I was saying, so they should seek to treat service delivery as a brand whose equity should always be improved upon so that return on investment (ROI) to the owners will be tangible and robust.

The way most of our leaders see government money is something to be spent anyhow without accounting for it to the owners – the people. In this regard, there is an urgent need for curriculum reform in our local business and management schools to reflect realities of these times. Leaders of tertiary institutions and their regulators should note.

In this milieu, we still maintain Faculties of Business Administration and Public Administration instead of Business/Management School and Governance/Government School. These schools and faculties should be reformed and rebranded as leadership training institutions where would-be leaders should be trained on critical governance issues such as “Project Management”, Managing Finances/Management Accounting, Emotional Intelligence, Culture and Value Studies, Organisational and National Culture, etc.

In modern governance system, medical doctors who have got degrees in the science of medicine need to acquire science of management before setting up their businesses/health centres. There should, therefore, be many of them in management and business schools for science of management (of their clinics and hospitals). In modern times, management and leadership are taken very seriously beyond reading motivational speakers’ books that fill our bookstores and shops.

According to experts such as Margaret Weathley, to discover order in this chaotic world, we need to go back to school to discover case studies on “leadership and the new science”. The point here is that business owners all over the world headhunt chief executive officers who can manage their firms to make profits to shareholders. And these well paid CEOs work hard to make profit and if they don’t, they are fired. That is the way our leaders should think to make impact on the lives of the people that employ them.

My friends and colleagues at work know that I have been following Real Madrid so fanatically for about two decades now. I have just some interest in Barcelona because of the artistry of some of their icons such as Lionel Messi. But I follow Real Madrid in and out of seasons as a business model that is unique. Which is why I have often used the two Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona as examples of how to invest and manage talent, which I have also quoted sources to say can be overrated using again, Messi and Ronaldo as a case study. The two icons made their name and impact at the Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Recall that in the first year anniversary of the Buhari administration, I had on May 28, 2016, written on this page an article titled, “Buhari: Anniversary

Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward #11 Rodrygo celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the Spanish league football match between Real Madrid CF and Granada FC at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on December 1, 2023. (Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP)

Lessons from Real Madrid & Barcelona”.
I had then observed that in the last few years (about eight years) these two clubs have been producing the World Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or). Not only that, one of them, Real Madrid was then the richest (Manchester United had just then taken over), according to Forbes. Manchester United (England) was the third on the rich list in 2015. Bayern Munich (Germany) was fourth while Arsenal (England) was the fifth. Let’s stop at the sixth, Manchester City. I had then discussed the enterprise spirit in the investors in Real Madrid and Barcelona within the context of strategic human resource management (SHRM) model that leaders could borrow from. I still maintain today that the two players of the two selected teams, Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo remain the discussion points every week after soccer competition. They remain the most frequently discussed in the world in soccer excellence, even in contextualising talent and training.

It is said that Messi now playing in the United States, is a raw talent while Ronaldo now making wave in Saudi Arabia is a reconstructed phenomenon through robust training. Now a former Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola is turning Manchester City to another Barcelona in England. Only good world-class coaches are employed to maintain the brand equity of the top clubs that always produce excellent results.

This again is to draw the attention of our leaders at all levels to the point earlier made that you cannot rise above the quality of your team members or workforce. This is the model that a businessman called Perez Florentino, current President of Real Madrid has taught the world of business and leadership. The Spanish investor does not brook mediocrity in HR framework. He believes that only the best players can win big for Real Madrid that has won European Champions League back to back, (three times) first in the modern era of the tournament. Real Madrid has the highest number of CL trophies in Europe. He believes that you cannot recruit mediocre footballers to win La Liga and Champions League.

Therefore, if you want to be a high-flying organisation, economy or ruling party or government, you have got to aim for the best brains that can deliver services to the people in the manner Real Madrid have been doing and Manchester City are beginning to do. And this is the contextual issue here: The quality of your team should not be compromised on the altar of ethnicity and religion. Like Real Madrid, get the best anywhere to achieve results.