The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, is planning to secure a fresh $2 billion oil-backed prepayment loan amid fuel scarcity in the country.

This is according to a report by Reuters on Tuesday, suggesting that NNPCL plans to achieve the deal in two months.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari said the new financing would allow investment in its business. 

“We have no problem covering our gasoline payments. This is just money for normal business and not a desperate act,” Kyari told Reuters.

Kyari said the company wanted the new loan against 30,000-35,000 barrels per day of crude production, though he declined to say how much money it sought.

“It will be a syndication with critical but regular partners who have been in business with our company to forward the cash,” Kyari said on Tuesday, adding that he expected to conclude the deal in the next two months.

This comes as a report emerged that NNPCL’s debts to petrol suppliers had doubled in the last four months to hit $6 billion.

However, the spokesperson of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye dismissed the claim.

Recall that on August 16, 2023, NNPCL secured a $3.3 billion emergency crude repayment loan — a transaction aimed at supporting the naira and stabilizing the foreign exchange (FX) market.

Arranged by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the $3.3 billion crude-for-cash loan was also targeted at supporting the federal government’s monetary and fiscal reforms.

Further analysis showed that the existing $3.3 billion and the new $2 billion would amount to a $5.3 crude-for-cash loan.

The development comes amid concerns by Dangote Refinery over its inability to get Nigerian crude from International Oil Companies.

This is also as Nigerians have continued to groan as fuel scarcity which started last week in Abuja, Nasarawa, Lagos has spread across Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and other states.

Professor of Political Economics, Patrick Utomi, has said the new policy on 150 days import duty-free window for rice, maize, wheat and other cereals by President Bola Tinubu is wrong.

Pat Utomi said the new policy announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, on Monday, was an invitation to famine.

On Tuesday, Utomi said the federal government was repeating mistakes made by previous governments that led many farmers to leave farming for oil-related jobs and construction as crude oil prices rose in the international market.

“Do we forget so quickly? How poor trade policy with the ascendance of oil income caused cash crop farmers to abandon the farms to the non-tradable goods sector as messengers and construction workers and when Oil price volatility resulted in construction firms not being paid on time triggering their retrenchment.

“They did not go back to farms and we became a mono-product economy. Now we want to make dependence on food imports permanent when we have not the money to pay for the imports. We are inviting a famine,” Utomi said.

Professor Utomi said had the federal government addressed insecurity and banditry, food inflation would have been brought down as farmers would have access to their farms.

He further accused the federal government of preferring luxury projects to factors that caused food inflation.

The Economist said the 150 days import duty-free window for rice, maize, wheat and other cereals would cause structural damage in the future.

“Months ago I pleaded that this food price inflation should be combated with forest rangers being deployed to fertile territories and farmers given input incentives managed by NGOs and not corrupt government officials so that they can focus on legumes that can be harvested in three months and the markets flooded with food.

“Instead, we focused on Presidential Jets, Lagos-Calabar Highway, SUVs for National Assembly and Presidential motorcades of 100 vehicles. The height of unwisdom. Now the chicken has come home to roost and we want to inflict long-term structural damage in panic incentives,” Utomi added.

Recall the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), called for measures by the federal government to protect farmers and local investors who may be affected by the import duty-free window.

On Monday, NACCIMA National President, Dele Oye, commended President Tinubu but called for monitoring of the policy’s implementation.

Oye said importers and foreign companies may turn Nigeria into a dumping ground for substandard cereals with the policy in the next 150 days.

The budget office of the federation says the government spent N5.78 trillion on debt servicing in the first nine months of 2023.

In its 2023 third quarter (Q3) budget implementation report released on Monday, the office said the figure is higher than the prorated projection of N4.91 trillion in the 2023 budget.

This represents an increase of N869.38 billion (17.68 percent).

The budget office said interest on ways and means during the period amounted to N1.69 trillion.

“The sum of N2,901.60 billion was used for domestic debt servicing, a difference of 430.27 billion (17.41 percent) from the prorated projection for the period, while N1,189.32 billion was spent on external debt servicing during the period under review,” the office said.

“A total of N1,225.73 trillion was released and cash-backed to MDAs for their 2023 capital projects and programmes during the period.

“Available fiscal data revealed that only N962.84 billion (78.56 percent) of the total amount released and cash-backed was utilized by MDAs as at 30 September, 2023.”

The budget office said the revenue and expenditure outturn of the government resulted in a fiscal deficit of N4.4 trillion between Q1 and Q3 last year.

According to the office, this is N4.29 trillion (49.32 percent) below the projected N8.7 trillion deficit for the reviewed period last year.

“It was however below the N5,991.12 billion deficit that was recorded in corresponding period of 2022,” the office said.

“The deficit was financed through domestic borrowing of N3,430.0 billion thereby reflecting a negative net financing of N979.49 billion in the period under review.”

The budget office said the nation’s economy grew by 2.54 percent in Q3 2023, a sign that the Nigerian economy has continued to recover from the second recession in six years.

The agency attributed the positive growth performance in the quarter under review to the effect of some measures put in place to curtail the negative impact of external shocks and crude oil theft.

Other measures include the recent rise in global economic activities, the associated rise in international crude oil demand and price, as well as various incentive packages executed by the government.

The budget office added that the positive trend is expected to continue in the last quarter of 2023 and beyond.

The house of representatives has asked the federal government to suspend implementation of the Samoa Agreement.

The house has also resolved to investigate the agreement signed by the federal government on June 28.

The green chamber passed the resolution following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Sani Madaki, the minority whip, and 87 other lawmakers.

The agreement recently sparked controversy following reports that some lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) provisions found their way into the pact.

WHAT IS SAMOA AGREEMENT?

According to the European Council, the Samoa Agreement is the overarching framework for European Union (EU) relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries.

The agreement serves as a new legal framework for EU relations with 79 countries, including African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries.

The agreement covers six priority areas, which are democracy and human rights; sustainable economic growth and development; climate change; human and social development; peace and security; and migration and mobility.

The agreement was officially signed on November 15, 2023, by the EU and its member states and Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) members in Samoa, a country in Oceania.

Nigeria did not sign the agreement initially, as the federal government said it was still studying the pact.

The new agreement replaces the Cotonou Agreement, which was signed in 2000.

The signing of the agreement has been dogged with claims that it seeks to compel developing nations to support LGBTQ agitations.

The claims have been established to be false.

Mohammed Idris, the minister of information and national orientation, clarified that the federal government ensured that the agreement did not contravene the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and other extant laws.

The government has also explained that the agreement is strictly for the economic development of the country — as against claims that it contains provisions for same-sex marriage.

THE DEBATE

Moving the motion, Madaki said the agreement violates the nation’s law on LGTBQ and same-sex marriage.

Supporting the motion, Ghali Tijani from Kano, said the house should reject the Samoa Agreement in its “entirety”.

Bello Kumo, majority whip, said the federal government should rescind the signing of the agreement and tender an apology to Nigerians.

Kingsley Chinda, minority leader who is a co-sponsor of the motion, said the movers of the motion were not approving or condemning the agreement.

He asked his colleagues not to be “judgmental”, adding that the motion was calling for an investigation.

The lawmaker said the federal government should have carried lawmakers along before signing the agreement.

“The problem is lack of information. We were not carried along,” he said.

Julius Ihonvbere, majority leader, told his colleagues that “there is no portion in the agreement that supports LGBTQ”.

As Ihonvbere spoke, his colleagues interrupted, shouting “no” in unison.

NIGERIA’S ANTI SAME-SEX LAW

Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) passed in 2014 prohibits LGBT rights and criminalises marriage between people of the same sex.

Nigeria’s legal position on same-sex marriage was what fuelled the uproar that followed its signing of the Samoa Agreement.

The Senate has urged President Bola Tinubu to urgently address the food insecurity across the nation.

This prayer followed a motion moved by Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) and co-sponsored by Ali Ndume ( APC, Borno South) at the Tuesday plenary.

The motion titled, “Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables In Nigeria,” noted that in the last few months, the price of goods and household consumables have been on an abysmal rise in the country, leading to a high rate of inflation, weakened buying power, and general worsening of living conditions of the vast majority of Nigerians.

Karimi further noted that the latest data by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that “food inflation in the country skyrocketed to 40.66 per cent on a year-on-year basis, a significant increase from the 24.82 per cent recorded in May 2023.

“The current market price of food items such as beans, maize, rice paddy, yam, tomatoes, and onions which initially rose by about 40% after the removal of petroleum Subsidy has now increased to over 100% to 300% without any attributable reason for the increase in prices.”

He added, “Although insecurity in food-producing regions, bad roads, increase in the cost of transportation attributable to the removal of fuel subsidy and depreciation of the value of naira, are possible factors that have contributed to the increase in price of food items, household commodities, and consumables; the percentage of increase in cost of transportation and some under factors listed above, is significantly less than the percentage increase in the current prices of goods all ever the country.”

Karimi lamented that “there is a general attitude of ‘Get Rich Quickly’ or ‘Get Rich By All Means’ leading many Nigerians to jettison “being their brother’s keeper” and exploiting one another to make abnormal profits: This attitude has been justified on the basis that many political Class Technocrats, and Corporate Elites and Corporate Elites have helped themselves with Public Funds without any repercussions in law, Nigerian traders have thus resorted to Price Gouging to maximize profits.”

Karimi further stated that there are reports that farming communities in the border regions with other vountries, “prefer to sell their food items abroad (to these neighboring countries), rather than domestically(to the hinterland), thereby increasing local food insecurity.

“All efforts made by the current Federal Executive to arrest the consistent increase in food inflation have not yielded the desired results, there is a need to be more pragmatic about addressing food insecurity, curbing herder farmer crises, kidnapping for ransom, and Terrorism, and ensure the development of a viable National Commodity Board to regulate the price of grains and ensure the elimination of artificial contributions to food and commodity inflation in Nigeria.”

In his contribution, Ndume lamented that this was the first time Nigeria was listed as one of the countries battling food insecurity.

He said, “In their many publications, they say Nigeria is likely to experience the highest session of food insecurity globally.

“Currently, there are four countries including Sudan and some others that are facing very serious insecurity. Nigeria is added to this list this year by the International Rescue Committee as one of the spots for food insecurity action against hunger. World Food Program also indicated that over 32 million people are expected to face a critical hunger crisis and emerging levels between June and August.

“I don’t know about some other colleagues, but there in the North, we have started seeing it visibly. This is the first time we are experiencing this level of hunger. It’s the first time Nigeria is being listed as one of the countries with food insecurity.”

In his comment, the Senate President, GodsWill Akpabio, noted that the food insecurity followed the insecurity that had ravaged the country.

The Senate, thereafter, urged the Federal Government to address the food crises across the country.

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Tuesday announced the creation of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development.

The President announced while inaugurating the Renewed Hope Livestock Reform Implementation Committee, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

But President Tinubu did not mention the name of the Minister for the new ministry as it is expected that he has to forward the name to the Senate for screening and confirmation if it’s a new nominee.

Present at the Inauguration were the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila amongst cabinet members.

Recall that President Tinubu on 15th September 2023, approved the establishment of the Presidential Committee dedicated to the reform of the livestock industry and the provision of long-term solutions to recurring clashes between herders and farmers in the country.

The setting up of the committee was a sequel to the submission of a report from the National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts in Nigeria.

The Foreign Minister of Mali, Abdoulaye Diop, has reaffirmed his nation’s decision to permanently withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Naija News reports that leaders from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have decided to depart from ECOWAS earlier this year, establishing their own confederation on Saturday.

A day after the leaders of ECOWAS gathered in Abuja, they selected the presidents of Senegal and Togo to facilitate discussions with the three countries in the Sahel region.

However, amid attempts at reconciliation by the organization, Diop expressed opposition to the idea of requiring visas for citizens of the three nations to travel within ECOWAS.

It is worth noting that the decision of the three nations to leave ECOWAS was partly motivated by their belief that France was interfering with ECOWAS’ operations and not offering sufficient assistance in the fight against jihadist groups.

Diop, however, mentioned Mali’s willingness to continue working with ECOWAS during a late Monday interview on the state-run ORTM.

“Our heads of state were very clear in Niamey when they said the withdrawal of the three countries from ECOWAS is irrevocable and was done without delay, and from now on we must stop looking in the rear-view mirror”, Diop said on Monday.

He added that Mali remains “open to working with our neighbours and other organisations with which we share this space.

“We will have to maintain discussions with others in order to move forward, but I believe that the path we have embarked upon is not reversible.”

Diop stressed that the creation of a confederation was only one stage of the process, adding that “the vision is to work towards a federation of the three states”.

ECOWAS has indicated that the three nations are required to adhere to a one-year deadline for their departure, yet the juntas assert that their exit is imminent and will occur without any postponements.

This move has sparked worries about the impact on the region’s ability to freely trade and travel.

“If visas are re-introduced, we will be proven right in the sense that some ECOWAS officials have not abandoned the old methods of frightening and blackmailing people”, said Diop.

“In an integration process, there are gains and losses for everyone, but we must work to minimise the impact on our populations”, he added.

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have called on President Bola Tinubu to launch a high-level investigation into allegations that International Oil Companies (IOCs) are attempting to undermine and destabilize the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals.

In a letter dated July 1, 2024, addressed to the President via his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, the unions demanded that the findings of such an investigation be made public to ensure transparency and maintain public trust.

Signed by NUPENG General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale and PENGASSAN General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, the letter stated, “The leadership and members of our unions deeply appreciate your commitment to restoring economic growth and prosperity in our nation. We are fully mobilized and committed to supporting all your initiatives toward these goals.

“However, we are deeply concerned and shocked by allegations from the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company about a deliberate plot by some IOCs to frustrate their business efforts and continued existence.

“These alleged sabotaging actions include denying the refinery crude oil supply and artificially inflating crude oil market prices, forcing Dangote Refinery to source crude oil from other countries, including the United States, resulting in high operating costs and logistics.

“The Dangote Refinery is a critical national asset and a beacon of hope for our energy security, economic growth, and employment opportunities. The economic benefits of a local refinery with such capacity cannot be overstated.

“For decades, NUPENG and PENGASSAN have campaigned for Nigeria to require companies benefiting from Joint Venture (JVC) arrangements to establish refineries or petrochemical companies in Nigeria. Unfortunately, successive governments have lacked the political and patriotic courage to adopt this pragmatic policy.

“The survival of companies that have invested heavily in refining crude oil in Nigeria, thus saving the nation from wasteful product imports that profit other countries and cost us foreign exchange, should be of great national interest due to the enormous economic benefits involved.”

The unions outlined their demands as follows:

1. Immediate Investigation: The Federal Government should establish an independent panel to investigate the claims of sabotage by some IOCs. This investigation should be comprehensive and transparent, ensuring that all parties involved are held accountable.

2. Public Disclosure: The findings of this investigation must be made public to ensure transparency and maintain public trust. Nigerians deserve to know the truth about the actions of these IOCs and their impact on national interests.

3. Legal Action: Should the allegations be substantiated, the government should take decisive legal action against the entities involved, including sanctions, penalties, and other measures to deter future economic sabotage.

4. Support for Dangote Refinery: The government should provide all necessary support to ensure the uninterrupted commencement and operation of the Dangote Refinery, including security and stability around its operations.

“Your Excellency, we trust in your courage and unwavering commitment to the Nigerian project and believe that the Presidency will take decisive action to safeguard the Dangote Refinery and ensure its successful operation for the nation’s benefit. Protecting our national assets is our collective responsibility. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the letter concluded.

Justice Kehinde Ogundare of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of $16.5 million and ₦127 million, which were illicitly diverted from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to the federal government.

This order was granted following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer, Sulaiman I. Sulaiman. The EFCC stated that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities.

Previously, on May 23, 2024, Justice Ogundare had issued an interim forfeiture order for the funds. This decision was made upon an Exparte motion under the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act and the Nigerian Constitution. The court directed the EFCC to publicize the interim order, which was done on June 6, 2024.

During the final forfeiture hearing, EFCC counsel Suleiman confirmed compliance with the court’s directive to publicize the interim order. The EFCC’s submission included the interim court order and the publication in The Punch newspaper.

Justice Ogundare, after reviewing the submissions, granted the final forfeiture as requested by the EFCC.

The EFCC’s investigation revealed that the funds were initially requested by NIMASA in 2013 for security projects. However, a significant portion of the funds was fraudulently diverted by individuals using various companies. These funds were converted to dollars and used for personal purposes without rendering any service to NIMASA.

The investigation led to the recovery of $16,500 in cash and the agreement by Uche Obilor, one of the key figures involved, to return ₦118 million through drafts made to the EFCC.

Despite the court’s directive for interested parties to come forward, no one contested the forfeiture. Consequently, the court proceeded with the final forfeiture, deeming it in the interest of justice.

The EFCC emphasized that the funds are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and affirmed the court’s authority to order their forfeiture.

This year, 2024 is clearly the year of democratic elections, the. year that democracy is put to the test in virtually every continent of the world – at least 97 elections worldwide and so far, we have witnessed and reported some of the significant ones - India, the world’s most populous country which ran an election for 44 days, with over one million voters, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Russia, Iran, European Parliament, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, France, Britain, and here in Africa, we have Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, Rwanda, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mauritius, Mauritania, Namibia; in the Americas - Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Belize, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Uruguay, United States. We also have - Finland, South Korea, Thailand, Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland, Belgium, Georgia, Hungary, Finland, Italy, Iceland, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, and so on and so forth. 

Nigeria held its own general elections in 2023, producing President Bola Tinubu as winner. For reasons owing to consanguinity or proximity, or shared historical affinity, or simply comparison, Nigerians have found themselves having to compare their own experience of democratic rule – 25 years of unbroken democratic rule since 1999 and the general elections in Nigeria in 2023. Most of the comparisons to put the matter in context, are with Senegal, South Africa, and now Britain, where a new Prime Minister, Labour party leader, Sir Keir Starmer has assumed office and power, and the Conservatives have packed out of Downing Street.  The reference to Britain is understandable: Britain used to be Nigeria’s colonial master, Everything Nigerian is linked to Britain, our common law heritage, history, culture, including the artefacts that the British stole from our people. 

For more than two centuries, Nigeria and Britain have been linked almost umbilically. There is hardly any family or community in Nigeria that does not have any relative, immediate or distant, in the United Kingdom. In the just concluded election in the UK, there was even a Yoruba Political Party, with a Dr. Olusola Oni running for MP from Peckham on July 4. A total of 30 persons of Nigerian descent who may identify as British-Nigerian made a bid to be in the British parliament. In the end about six of them won election into parliament including Chi Onwurah (Labour MP for Newcastle Central and West), Kemi Badenoch (re- elected as Conservative MP from Saffron Walden and the past  immediate Business Secretary), Kate Osamor (Labour MP from Edmonton and Winchmore Hill since  2019, now re-elected); Florence Eshalomi (Labour MP since 2019, now representing Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, Taiwo Owatemi (Labour MP from Coventry West), and Bayo Alaba (MP, Southend East and Rochford). These Nigerians in Diaspora are not alone, there are many others serving as Councillors, or Mayors, not just in Britain, but across Europe and as far as Canada, the United States and Australia. Those who are not in politics, are doing well in sports or business and other professions, all linked to their motherland by blood and ancestry, and legitimately, we are proud of them. What is proven is that “Nigeria no dey carry last” and the ones who project us brilliantly like Bukayo Saka and Kemi Badenoch deserve to be celebrated, for showing that although Nigerians these days talk about the “Japa syndrome”, the Nigerian DNA has excellence in its imprints. 

However, the temptation to review the British election, and compare it has been strong and compelling. Whereas it can be said that the British democracy is one of the oldest in the world dating back to the Magna Carta, in 1215, the creation of the British Parliament in 1707, the Reform Act of 1832, the Representation of the People Act of 1918, and the UK General Election of 1950 pointing to a long history and tradition, with tested institutions, democracy in Nigeria has been relatively new, but the key argument about the government of the people for the people and by the people is that democracy is a symbol, a standard and a system of politics which does not require a reinvention of the wheel. Democracy in modern times is certainly not about the Age of Methuselah, but the values that each country presents as its own standards. This therefore explains some of the observations that Nigerians have made, by way of public education, and self-derision perhaps, about the 2024 UK elections.  The July 4 general elections in the UK has been two years in the making with people predicting that the way the Conservatives were carrying on, they were bound to lose the next general elections to Labour, even if no one could predict the exact date until some gamblers around the Rishi Sunak circle and the Conservative party were found to have placed bets on July 4, and as it turned out former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced July 4. The furore over the gambling over the date spoke to the moral content of British politics. In the course of the campaigns, the debate was about issues that are of interest to the British people: immigration, taxation, housing, public spending, NHS, Brexit and the EU. The character of the front-runners was clear. Starmer is pro-business, pro-reforms, pro-EU. He promised to drive economic growth, invest in green energy, overhaul the NHS, create safer streets, and deliver opportunity through a new skills agenda. The Tories had been in power for 14 years, with five Prime Ministers – David Cameron (2010 – 2016), Theresa May (2016 – 2019), Boris Johnson (2019 – 2022), Rishi Sunak (2022- 2024) with the most disastrous of them being Liz Truss who was PM for a historically short period of 49 days. The Tories presided over austerity, Brexit, the pandemic and high inflation. The people got tired of them and this was reflected in the various Polls – YouGov and Ipsos ahead of July 4, indicating that the British people wanted change. They were tired of the chaos that the Conservatives had introduced into public life.  The party itself was divided down the middle with many key members defecting either to Labour or to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. It was certain that the Conservatives were on their way out, and that was exactly what happened, the party’s worst result in its 190-year history was announced on July 5. It wasn’t exactly a wipe out, but the scale of the landslide that the Labour party recorded was their best performance since Tony Blair entered Downing Street in 1997, and the Tory’s worst performance in recent history.

The character of the election race and the outcome is remarkably different from what we have seen in Nigeria and what obtains in the United States which goes to the polls on November 5. The UK election was for six weeks. There was no time to waste. In the United States, the race can take up to two years of campaign. In Nigeria, so much time is taken up by the time table of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), voter registration, voters register, delineation of wards and polling unit. In the UK, nobody heard of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission and there was no debate over polling units or wards. The British did not have to borrow and sell property to raise funds for political campaigns. Political advertising on radio and TV is restricted, and the spending limits on advertisement are strictly controlled. The American election is a bit more elaborate and expensive, but not the British.  Even at the height of the campaign in the UK, with Rishi Sunak being pushed by his allies to launch personal attacks on Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage, still there were no absurd diversions into personality attacks, insults and culture wars. If Rishi Sunak had been a candidate in a Nigerian election, he would have been told stories about how he came to England and how he is able to make it in life because he is married to a rich man’s daughter! There were no professional spokespersons fighting proxy wars in the media and claiming to know everything about almost everything. The British do not do God. There were no clerics offering predictions about who the eventual winner would be. The candidates were not going about proclaiming “God bless Britain”. There was no attempt to bribe God. 

In Nigeria, election time is boon season for clerics who distort the process with all kinds of dreams and visions, and shamanists who perform rituals and place sacrificial offerings at crossroads. Age was not an issue in the UK either. Sunak is 44. Starmer is 61. Age is a big issue in the forthcoming US elections but in the UK, the youngest candidate and elected Labour MP from Northwest Cambridgeshire is a certain Sam Carling, a 22-year-old Science graduate of Cambridge University – the first MP in British history to be born in the 21^st Century. He defeated Shailesh Vara with 39 votes. Vara had been in the Commons since 2005. Carling is now “Baby of the House” but the very confident Carling says his age is not an issue- he had been a Councillor before now and he knows his example will inspire other young people, but he wants to get on with the job. He has ideas he wants to pursue in parliament. I laugh in original vernacular. In Nigeria, he would not even have been allowed to buy a nomination form. He would have been advised to go and play with his mates.  

On election day, voting started at 7 am and ended the same day at 10 pm. By the following morning, all the votes had been counted and the result was in the public domain with Labour winning 412 seats, Conservatives – 121 (much better than the 61 that had been predicted; Lib Dems –72, Reform UK – 5 (a big gain for the Nigel Farage-led party), Scottish National Party -9, Plaid Cymru – 4; Green – 4: more or less a strong showing by the smaller parties. By Friday, July 5, Rishi Sunak tendered his resignation. Starmer was invited to Buckingham Palace and asked to form the new government and by evening a Cabinet had been announced.  Such a smooth, seamless transition is not possible in Nigeria. On election day in the UK, there was no such thing as the late arrival of voting materials. There were no BVAS machines or stories about technical glitches. No thugs on the streets. 49 million voters, 650 constituencies, turn-out of 60% and yet no policemen or soldiers at polling stations. No stories that touched the heart about voters’ cards: to vote in the UK, you only need a photo ID showing that you are of age. Nobody has gone to court to challenge the results. Even the persons who lost their seats in parliament like former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps, Gillian Keegan and Penny Mordaunt - 175 Tory MPs- have accepted their loss in good faith. There has been no post-election throwing of tantrums in the UK because the institutions function, and the people understand what it means to live in an organized society. Nobody has had to wait for months before a cabinet would be announced. The very day that Keir Starmer assumed office work started; what we have seen is a clockwork relay race, indicating the efficiency of the British model. For the first time in British history, a woman – Rachel Reeves is Chancellor of the Exchequer. There are other high profile women in the cabinet as well: Angela Rayner is the new Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and communities. Yvette Cooper is Home Secretary. Lisa Nandy – Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Pat McFadden is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In all, a total of 11 women Ministers. It is the most gender-balanced cabinet in UK history, relatively youthful and experienced but largely White. There has been no quarrel over the appointments. Nobody has protested that his or her constituency has not been represented. There have been no thanksgiving services in churches or notices to that effect nor has anyone placed congratulatory adverts in the media.  We have not heard that the King or his sons had a hand in the appointment of Ministers. 

After every election season in Nigeria, we tend to spend months agonizing over the outcome of the elections, with politicians and their lawyers seeking to win the election at the courts of law. Nobody trusts the process; every politician becomes an emergency lawyer. Our democracy is significantly court-determined. But what we have seen in Senegal, South Africa, India. Iran, Britain, and even just over the weekend, in France, is that it is possible for democracy to work. Some commentators have suggested that in seeking a solution to the contradictions in the Nigerian system, there should be electoral reform every cycle, but it would appear that the problem is not the complexity of the democratic process itself but the underdeveloped nature of Nigeria’s political machinery and the character of the people themselves. Democracy is seen as a form of coronation in Nigeria which grants access to public resources and other privileges. This is why when our leaders get to power, they seem to be more interested in exotic vehicles, choice accommodation, yachts, brand new aircraft, chieftaincy titles and fat security votes. 

Last Friday, Sir Keir Starmer, the 58^th Prime Minister of the UK, promised the people of the United Kingdom that he will lead a “government of service” on a mission of national renewal. Times will tell as they say, but whatever happens the British desired change, they have voted for it and now, they have it. In Nigeria, one year after the general elections, Nigerians are still wondering what happened to their country.