“Nigerians pay one of the highest implicit tax rates in the world — way higher than developed countries,” African Development Bank’s president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, cried out in January 2021 at a Federal Inland Revenue Service Tax Dialogue. “Think of it”, he said “they provide electricity for themselves via generators; they repair roads to their neighborhoods, if they can afford to; there are no social security systems; they provide security for their own safety; and they provide boreholes for drinking water with their own monies.” Yet, more taxes and levies are rolled out daily against us like Israeli armoured tanks in Gaza.”

I do not believe that the president of any country will deliberately wreck everything. Their problem may be arrogance or ignorance – or arrogance in ignorance. Or, they may be worshipping wrong gods or feeding their gods with what they must not eat.

You remember Sir Shina Peters’ song for M.K.O. Abiola on the billionaire’s implacable friends who refused to eat his food?

“You gave smooth pounded yam to your friend,

Your friend refused to eat.

You made soft, mushy amala for your friend,

Your friend refused to eat.

You called your friend,

Your friend refused to answer you.

You do not know what they say you did wrong.”

There are at least two sides to a story such as this. Why would I give my friends food and they refuse to eat? Why would I shout their names and they ignore me? Am I calling the right names? If my offerings are right, shouldn’t I then check if they are really my friends?

The ace musician sang that song years before June 12 happened to Abiola. The musician may not know, but that chant is straight from the lore studio of the priests of life.

The foundation story of the song I tell here:

One ancient Yoruba king called Oniregba Osodi, at the beginning of his reign, asked his priests if his era would be peaceful and prosperous. The king was told to take care of all birds in his kingdom because they were hungry and angry and would hurt his happiness.

“What should I do and where are the birds?” the king should ask that question but he did not ask. He was the smartest and the wisest human being around, so he thought.

Instead of asking for directions, the king announced that he knew the road and blurted out orders. He commanded every man and woman in his kingdom to bring out all their grains and feed their ducks and fowls. The people brought out their corn and guinea corn and fed their ducks and pigeons, chicks and chickens.

The king was happy and satisfied.

But, the real hungry, angry birds were looking and watching.

“This oba is king also in idiocy,” they concluded and resolved to teach the powerful how to be wise.

Then, they struck. Nothing Oniregba did amounted to anything. He moved from market to farm, all was in vain. His efforts were like Abiku’s bangles in Soyinka’s lines. He sent his servants on an errand, they did as Alaafin Aole’s spell ordered them: The messengers did not come back. They even did worse. They created their own message, like Afonja did, and delivered the same to an audience different from their lord’s. Wracked by hunger and want, shouts of “ebi npa wá” rent the town while disease and death and general pestilence reigned.

In the midst of the commotion, the sad king, in tears, challenged his priests on the failure of their prescription. “False prophets,” he called them.

They replied the king that he did not feed the birds as they counseled him to.

He said he did. They told him he didn’t.

The king gave a detailed account of his specific orders and how they were carried out.

The priests exchanged looks and laughed. They told the king: “Kabiyesi, you offered the wrong sacrifice to the wrong birds in the wrong place.”

And, so, in Iregba till tomorrow is the song:

We made smooth and soft pounded yam,

We gave the birds of Iregba,

The birds said no, they won’t eat.

We rolled out pots of succulent amala for the birds of Iregba,

The birds said it was not their food,

They refused to eat…

When we gave the right meals to the big birds,

They ate and chirped with joy…

I did not make this story up. If you are a Yoruba and you are like me with a knowledgeable ancestor, consult him. Even if the forebears are like mine, long dead, their undying spirit should whisper to you the truth in the tale. But if you have no father and no mother, and you have no idea where their bones rest, put a call through to Professor Wande Abimbola. He has the knowledge. Or you can go to Chief Yemi Elebuibon in Osogbo. The tale is his to retell. He has a fuller version recorded in one of his books.

Except he retraces his steps and changes the deity he serves, by the time Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu ends his tenure, he will be remembered for creating greater misery and more poor people than have ever lived in Nigeria. I don’t think that will be an enviable legacy. But he chose it. Every king writes the history of his era.

When a government neglects the road, opts for the bush and pumps efforts into wrong ideas, what it does is the same as starving the birds of life. Its efforts will, till eternity, roll up and down the hill like the boulder of condemned Sisyphus, the devious tyrant of Ephyra who violated “the sacred hospitality tradition” by killing visitors “to show off his power.”

Let us look at it. You moved the price of petrol from less than N200 to almost N1000 and upended every plan in every home. You pushed the naira tumbling down Mount Everest and clapped for yourself as a man of courage. Your Sango’s stone celts struck the market and shocked food prices beyond the reach of the hungry. People who need food, you continue to feed them hope in poisoned cans of tax, more tax and more levies.

Until now, I never knew that the introduction of taxes and levies could be celebrated as achievements by a government. Our government has that epaulette proudly emblazoned on its right and left shoulders. And we are so pinned down in helplessness.

The history of tax is one of intrigue. In ancient times, it was levy to fight wars. In medieval times, it was what Terence Dwyer (2014) calls “a fee derived entirely from surpluses” – the same thing Adam Smith prescribed as the “ability to pay”. In modern times, tax has become “a burden on production.” Why should people pay tax to an absent government? Tax theorists say tax is payment for government services. In ‘The Birth and Death of Taxes’ (1977) economic historians, Edward Ames and Richard Rapp, trace the history of tax as a feature of government’s economic life. They tell us that there is “a public good called protection, the suppliers of which are called governments.” They say a government “has a monopoly over the supply of protection to its subjects and taxes are the price paid to the monopolist.” They take it further, identifying two kinds of protection: one is defence, the other justice. They say when a threat is from foreigners, there is a demand for defence. When the threat is internal, one group of the same population unleashing threats against another, the good on demand is justice. Both goods should normally be exclusively government products. But, you and I know this may not always be so. A government that provides neither defence nor justice but still demands and collects tax is simply extortionate. In that case, what should the subjects do?

A newspaper on Sunday said the president had halted the proposed collection of cyber security levies from the poor and the rich. If it is true, I salute and thank the president. But, should that demand ever have been contemplated at all? What law backed the collection order in the first place? Who should collect and manage taxes under a just, normal law, the Federal Inland Revenue Service or an office created strictly to advise on security?

While we sheepishly surrender and pour libation to Abuja’s god of extortion, we are being offered as cheap ingredients for money ritual. CBN’s demand for cybersecurity tax from everyone, including sellers of pepper and locust beans, was said to be rooted in the Cybersecurity Act 2015 and its 2024 amendment. But that is not correct. The law mentions neither you nor me, nor the sweaty yam seller next street.

Let us check what the law contains. Section 44 (1) of the Cybersecurity Act 2015 says: “There is established a Fund, which shall be known as the National Cyber Security Fund (in this Act referred to as “The Fund”).” Subsection (2) adds that “There shall be paid and credited into the Fund established under subsection (1) of this section and domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria: (a) A levy of 0.005 of all electronic transactions by the businesses specified in the Second Schedule to this Act.” And what is in that Second Schedule? The Second Schedule is plain; it habours neither the jìbìtì nor the rìkísí which we read in the CBN circular. The Schedule says: “Businesses which section 44 (2)(a) refers to are: (a) GSM Service providers and all telecommunication companies; (b) Internet Service Providers; (c) Banks and other Financial Institutions; (d) Insurance Companies; (e) Nigerian Stock Exchange.” The 2024 Act amended the 2015 Act without touching the Second Schedule. Indeed, the Amendment Act reinforces that schedule by prescribing punishments for non-payment of the levy by the businesses so listed (see Subsection 8 of the Amendment Act). So, where did Tinubu’s Central Bank of Nigeria get its long turenchi demanding that you and I start paying cyber security levies to an office that already has its share of the budget?

Apparently some people needed more money for the next night party, they did the maths and felt what the listed companies would pay them wouldn’t be enough for their frolics. They then converted all of us to ‘businesses’ without bothering to tinker with the law as they did in February. They simply asked the CBN to help them rewrite the law with a wordy circular. They did so knowing that we are a conquered people who won’t bother to check what the law truly says.

Even the businesses listed in that cyber security law will argue that they are being unfairly taxed. You would know and agree with them if you apply the theory of tax as payment for public goods. What does the government sell to them that warrant incessant taxation? How many of those businesses get ‘defence’ or ‘justice’ from the government as we know it?

“Nigerians pay one of the highest implicit tax rates in the world — way higher than developed countries,” African Development Bank’s president, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, cried out in January 2021 at a Federal Inland Revenue Service Tax Dialogue. “Think of it”, he said “they provide electricity for themselves via generators; they repair roads to their neighborhoods, if they can afford to; there are no social security systems; they provide security for their own safety; and they provide boreholes for drinking water with their own monies.” Yet, more taxes and levies are rolled out daily against us like Israeli armoured tanks in Gaza.

We should be afraid. There was a time in France when the people were compelled to purchase salt by the government which also forced them to pay extortionate tax on it. Kings and principalities historically taxed the most important ‘goods’ of life. Salt has always been that important – even the word ‘salary’ is related to salt; you may check the history of its Latin root ‘salarium’. And, so it was heavily taxed. The French called the salt tax la gabelle. Historians Theodore Sands and Chester Higby in 1949 published an article on ‘France and the Salt Tax’. In it, they recall that the history of the gabelle under the Ancien Regime is “largely a story of increasing taxation and flourishing abuses.” They say there was even a king of France who monopolized the sale of salt and made the people pay salt tax without selling salt to them. They add that it was a period when the government was “satisfied to receive the money supplied by the system and forgot the people who paid it.” The repercussion was an insurrection that pillaged the rich and, later, ignited the French Revolution.

Today’s Nigerians are like the birds of ancient Iregba. They are hungry and angry. In his ‘Salt, Politics and the French Revolution’, Toby Jaffe warns that “everyday commodities, including food, have the power to uproot, shatter and recreate societies…The revolutionary events around the salt tax of 18th-century France teach us that something as deceptively simple as salt can be a spark plug for civil unrest and revolution.” Now that Nigeria taxes everything including hunger, may God give us the fortitude to bear what may be coming.

A few weeks ago, Nigerians were startled by a legislation that had largely escaped public awareness. This legislation, which has since undergone substantial amendment carries profound implications for the financial health of every Nigerian, sparking widespread controversy.

The law raises several concerns regarding our legislators’ rigour, effort, and dedication to enacting laws. The legislation, which is known as the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment] 2024 Act. Section 44 (2] (a] of the Act, mandated a levy of 0.5% of all electronic transactions value by businesses specified in the second schedule of the Act, which includes GSM service providers and telecommunication companies, Internet Service Providers, Banks and other financial institutions, Insurance companies and Nigeria Stock Exchange.

To implement this law, the CBN, on the 6th of May 2024, sent a circular to all banks and financial institutions in Nigeria to charge a cybersecurity levy starting from the 20th of May 2024 on electronic transactions by customers, barring a few exemptions. Industry watchers have claimed that the government aimed to earn about N2 trillion per annum, judging by the over N600 trillion values of all such transactions in 2023. This caused an uproar in the country, and most civil society organizations, private sector businesses, labour organizations, and concerned Nigerians used all the media available to them to voice their condemnation of this imprudent law.

The banks and other mandated institutions are to collect the levy and remit it monthly to a designated fund (National Cybersecurity Fund) at the CBN for transmission to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The fund’s stated primary purpose is to provide financial resources for fighting cybersecurity crimes in Nigeria.

There are many things wrong with this levy beyond the fact that Nigerians are discontented with government and non-governmental levies and fees plaguing the living light out of them. Some have argued about the interpretation of the law by CBN that the transactions to be charged should be on the businesses mentioned in the Act, not their customers or Nigerians. Others have questioned why this law, created, and signed into law in 2015 by the Jonathan administration, was amended now to include the cybersecurity levy and why the haste to implement it now, especially given the harsh economic conditions occasioned by good-intentioned policies that have had a devastating impact on Nigeria.

The argument on timing is germane given the level of inflation and the devastating degradation of the value of the Naira and, by extension, the purchasing power of Nigerians. Some still argue about the increasing focus of government to use tax as a significant economic policy for revenue generation, especially in an increasingly volatile economic climate where productivity is low, and businesses are shutting down because of increasing cost of doing business, ranging from the cost of labour, energy, and raw materials. My take on this anchor on the morality behind the levy given Nigeria’s social contract with the state, procedural antecedents in institutional revenue collection for government, the burden on Nigerians on financial transaction-related charges, and the imperfections of our legislative processes. 

The pertinent question is why should Nigerians who pay personal and business taxes pay for security in whatever guise or nomenclature? Whether cybersecurity, physical security, or any form of security, it is the Nigerian government’s exclusive and primary responsibility, which is why we pay  tax to the government. Under the social contract between Nigerians and the state, we accept and give out our rights, especially the right to security of our lives, to the state and expect the state to protect us by whatever means necessary. The state provides the security infrastructure, architecture, and personnel to provide security for all. The government singling out an aspect of security and levying citizens to pay for it is tantamount to double taxation when we already pay income tax and allow the government income from our natural resources to provide this service. Unbundling security and taxing some is a prelude to other security tax forms. Should we expect a Banditry levy, terrorist levy, or armed robbery levy soon?

The second question is, when did the office of the National Security Adviser become a revenue-generating and collecting centre? The Nigerian state has explicit provisions for regulatory agencies or public enterprises that provide public goods and services. The office of the NSA is not such and does not have such a mandate. It is an anomaly procedurally to saddle this office with the mundane task of revenue issues, and as a government unit coordinating security, it should receive its funding from the federal government budget. Enacting and implementing laws that go against established procedures affects the structures and systems of the state and sometimes goes against the mandate on which institutions are created. 

The third issue is why the national assembly members were screaming at the top of their voices against this law when the same body amended it. Does it mean that they did not understand the law they passed? Or is it that the law was amended and passed without the knowledge of many members passing through the due processes? Is the interpretation of the law by CBN not in tandem with the intentions of the lawmakers? Is there a problem with framing the law caused by language failure? Did the framers mean online or electronic transfer levy? It would be easier for the public to understand the levy if it had come outright as a transaction levy because many people cannot link their electronic transactions and cyber security levy. Where is the ‘cybersecurity’ in transferring legitimate money? The law does not resonate with many Nigerians of average means and education, and they cannot link their everyday transactions to cybersecurity.

Granted, the legislation enacted by the National Assembly is not perfect. It sometimes has some flaws. They are subject to review, revision, or repeal. Because of this, the law is a living thing that changes with the seasons and the passage of time. Remember, errors are not uncommon when enacting laws. Had Magaji Tambuwal, the then-Clerk of the Nigerian Assembly, been successful in getting President Bola Tinubu to sign a version of the “Real Estate Regulatory Council of Nigeria 2023”—which is regarded as phoney—into law, he would have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. This demonstrates that sometimes, legislation approved and accented to by the president may not always accurately reflect the framers’ intentions. Numerous things occur in between.

The fourth issue is the incongruence of the cybersecurity levy while the Taiwo Oyedele committee is working on the harmonization of multiple taxes, reducing unprogressive taxes and  the multiplicity of legislation that imposes taxes on business. Besides, the cybersecurity levy affects citizens’ living wages. We cannot stagnate household income and continuously increase all cost elements of a living wage (housing, transport, utilities, food) through more charges like cybersecurity levy and not increase poverty in the extreme or diminish consumption income in the main.

The last issue is that the burden of bank-related levies and taxes that individuals pay in Nigeria is too much on them. It will be good for researchers to do a comparative study with other developing countries like Nigeria to determine whether we are in this alone. Bank-related levies include transfer fees, card maintenance fees, card issuance charges, stamp duties, VAT on SMS, and SMS charges for the receiver and sender. This cybersecurity levy will be one too many. Imagine the implication on the cost of doing business, especially post-subsidy removal, post-increase in electricity tariff, the collapse of the Naira, hyperinflation and many charges and levies on businesses.

Existing business levies and taxes include Company Income Tax, Stamp Duties, Petroleum Profit Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Value Added Tax, Personal Income Tax, Withholding Tax, Tertiary Education Tax, one per cent of payroll contribution to NSITF, 10 per cent of Payroll Contribution to PenCom; one per cent of Payroll ITF Levy and National Information Development Levy. Others are Radio and TV Licenses; Police Special Trust Fund Tax levy; Niger Delta Development Commission levy; National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure levy; Land Use Charge; Parking Fee; Consumption Tax; Road Tax; Standard Organization of Nigeria fees; Nigeria Content Development levy; NAFDAC levy; Nigeria Health Insurance Authority contribution; Signage Fees. Touts and street urchins are leveraging the multiplicity of taxes and levies to attack businesses. Businesses are getting it rough and do not need another levy straw that will break their backs.

Cybersecurity levy is peculiar to Nigeria and is not applicable in many developing and developed countries of the world. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted well in suspending the cybersecurity levy; many Nigerians are happy about that. There are many reasons to repeal this law or quickly review it with broad-based consultations.

The multi billion dollars Lagos-Calabar Highway contract is the biggest and most ambitious of such contracts in Nigeria’s history and it was always going to attract great attention and commentaries. The current public fixation with it was guaranteed given the opaqueness and many questions which surround its award and rushed commencement of execution. The questions are legion, and the fact that satisfactory answers have not been proffered is profoundly disturbing.

Why, for example, did the Federal Government abandon the original route through the first ten or so kilometres of the road at its start in Victoria Island, Lagos, and embarked on a very controversial new route resulting in the destruction of otherwise secure properties at avoidable huge costs and destruction of livelihoods? Why was there no competitive bidding for such a strategic, generational project? When was the environment impact assessment (EIA) done, if at all? What is the exact total cost of the project? Why is it a priority of Tinubu’s government, all factors considered, including the fact that it is a grand duplication of the unfinished East-West Road and, as between Victoria Island and Epe, a duplication of the equally coastal Lekki-Epe highway?

There are just too many questions and for which Dave Umahi the Minister for Works did not provide any answer, and when he tried to do so sadly did not make much sense. The discerning public and the main opposition politicians expectedly took the Federal Government to task. And it was bad enough that Mr. Umahi was not making much sense, such as in his claim of the existence of an EIA, a necessarily very public process but which no one knew when it was purportedly done. What was well beyond the pale was his response to Peter Obi. Instead of sticking to politics, since he seems incapable of speaking or comporting himself professionally, he deviated into dog-whistling and ethnic-baiting Ndigbo, accusing Peter Obi of inciting them into hatred of Tinubu’s government.

Peter Obi in our view essentially only accused the Federal Government of gross misplacement of priorities with the coastal road project, and what that had to do with Ndigbo that Mr. Umahi had to drag them into his response to Mr. Obi beggars belief. It was most dishonest, cowardly and dangerous of Mr. Umahi to divert into ethnic baiting his own Igbo nationality in the course of rebutting Mr. Obi. The other major opposition figure, Atiku Abubakar, has since gone ahead to publish a much more trenchant criticism of the project, pointedly accusing President Tinubu of corruption on the matter. Not only has Mr. Umahi kept mute in the face of Atiku’s questioning of the integrity of the persons involved in the project, including himself the concerned Minister, even if indirectly, he did not see why Atiku’s Fulani ethnicity must be dragged into the verbal altercation. Again, weeks before the issues came to a head with the impending commencement of the project Afenifere (or at least a group identifying as such) had published a detailed criticism and also accused President Tinubu of corrupt motives in pushing ahead the project with indecent haste. And Mr. Umahi did not see in it an instigation of Yoruba people against the Tinubu Presidency, nor did he suggest such motives against notable Lagos indigenes and leaders of some affected coastal communities on the Lekki-Epe corridor who have complained against the project or its impact.

The League of Anambra Professionals is a community development oriented organization and we do not concern ourself with partisan political considerations. But this do not close our eyes from, and drawing attention to, egregious misdeeds of political actors and organisations which are inimical to community and national development. It is against this backdrop that we find it noteworthy that it seems to be a policy of the APC to not only deny Ndigbo their due but also cynically enable dog-whistling and setting their neighbours against them. They bore with equanimity the greatest brunt of President Buhari’s unspeakably retrogressive nepotism. As if this was not enough, the last general elections in Lagos State witnessed a systematic violent harassment of Ndigbo on a scale unseen since the Civil War, with vast numbers of them and those perceived as being of the ethnicity denied their right to vote.

In all this, not only did the APC and its leaders not disclaim the evils perpetrated in their name and for which they were supposedly the beneficiaries, they went on to reward with plum appointments some of the biggest culprits like Mr. Bayo Onanuga. It would thus appear that anti-Igbo rhetoric is a badge of honour and a step to promotion in APC, so much so that some of the Igbo lickspittles in the party like Mr. Umahi outdo themselves in their gratuitous denigration of their kith and kin. It is a sad commentary, in the foregoing vein, that Mr. Umahi has made a career out of nurturing of divisions amongst Ndigbo as well as between them and other ethnic nationalities.

As Governor of Ebonyi State Mr. Umahi made a habit of brainwashing the ordinary people of the state that their fellow Ndigbo from the other South-East states were responsible for their under development.  It would be recalled that it was the same Umahi who resisted the location of a new police zonal headquarters in Anambra State, advancing as his reason the drivel that Anambra State indigenes have too much money and that Ebonyi State indigenes were not comfortable that their state was grouped under the same police zonal command. Reasonable people would wonder what the wealth of Anambra State indigenes had to do with the location of a police zonal office. And when asked about Igbo agenda especially regarding quest for a restructuring of the Nigerian polity, Umahi disclaimed it and claimed knowledge of only the ‘Ebonyi agenda’. His latest dart only serves to expose Ndigbo to further calumny and hatred and must not go unchallenged.

Dave Umahi was in the main wrongly ignored by the Igbo leadership as he stoked divisions and intra-Igbo hatred from his perch as the Emperor of Ebonyi, in the course of which he propagated such inanities like the former President Buhari being the greatest Nigerian leader. Now that Tinubu has given him a national stage which is proving too big and sophisticated for him, and clearly disconcerted if not disorientated by legitimate questions over the controversial mammoth project under his watch, Mr. Umahi thinks that his best evasive tactic is indulgence in ethnic baiting of Ndigbo. If Ohaneze Ndigbo has any relevance then they not only must have a word with Mr. Umahi but insist that he tenders a public apology not only to Ndigbo but to all Nigerians for deceiving and trying to distract them from insistence on their rights as citizens to question how their money is being utilized especially on such an unprecedentedly grand scale.

Chijioke Okoli, SAN; Orji Nnewi

President, League of Anambra Professionals

Two examples of what Nigeria gains when the executive begins to recognize legislative resolutions were demonstrated during the third quarter activities of the 10th Senate.

Sequel to its probe of the state of affairs of the Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST, the senate discovered that “the sum of N10 billion released by the Ministry of Finance for the proposed NIPOST restructuring and recapitalisation” was “injudiciously utilised”. There was also a revelation that two subsidiary firms namely the NIPOST Properties and Development Company and NIPOST Transport and Logistics Services Limited were used to perpetrate the fraud. Acting on the recommendations, the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, revoked the certificates of incorporation of those companies, thus dissolving them.

Again, the senate, through a motion, had lamented that despite being “a nation blessed with abundant natural ore resources”, Nigeria “currently expends about $3.3bn annually on importation of steel” simply because the country is “plagued by moribund Ajaokuta and Delta Steel that have become conduit pipes for diversion of public funds at the expense of Nigerian tax payers”. Consequently, it launched an investigation into “the affairs of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited and the National Iron Ore Mining Company”. Also, guided by the discovery that the fortunes of the steel company declined to a state of inoperativeness the moment the foreign firm called Tyamzhpromexport (TPE) left it in 1994, the senate, among other far-reaching recommendations, called for the federal government’s deliberate actions by way of “adopting a strategic implementation Plan on Steel Development in Nigeria, bearing in mind the importance of steel to Nigeria’s quests for industrialization and economic self-reliance”.

It did not take long before the federal government announced that it had engaged the same Tyamzhpromexport, TPE, to resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited.

Who says that Nigeria will not witness a quantum leap in socio-economic developments in the face of a purposeful collaboration that is driven by mutual respect among the arms of a government, particularly the legislature and the executive?

But irrespective of the disposition of the executive towards legislative outputs, an objective review shows that the 10th Senate is indeed unwavering in its commitment to discharging the statutory roles of legislation, representation and oversight.

The Red Chamber commenced the 3rd quarter with the continuation of its intervention on insecurity.

Lamenting yet again that “despite the public outcry and previous Resolutions of the National Assembly as regards the criminal activities (particularly) of those terrorists parading as herdsmen, there seems to be no visible action on the part of the government”, the senate resolved to address the challenge of insecurity robustly and comprehensively.

In what seemed a replica of its first quarter’s one-off approach to the road infrastructure collapse, this senate revisited and reviewed the reports of the 8th and 9th senates on internal security followed by a strategic meeting with the presidency for extensive deliberations on the recommendations “with a view to finding solution to the spate of insecurity plaguing the nation”.

To make the efforts broad-based, it hosted an expanded stakeholders’ engagement that involved the security chiefs, the national security adviser, heads of security and intelligence community as well as the ministers of finance, defence and police affairs including the respective ministers of state.

On another hand, the Senate invited for security briefings, the minister of the federal capital territory, the commissioner of police and other heads of security agencies on how to ensure the safety of the FCT residents.

Furthermore, the senate variously urged “the federal government to recruit more police personnel to bolster security force’s capacity to combat kidnappings and other criminal activities effectively, to provide adequate mobility resources for the police to enhance their ability to respond swiftly to security threats and conduct patrols effectively” and then for “the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to urgently ensure the functionality of dedicated emergency numbers for ambulance, and fire service emergencies to enhance swift response to security and public safety incidents”.

These followed the consideration of motions bordering on the “loss of lives, including those of security personnel and wanton destruction” in Okokolo, Abuge and Ochotonya communities in Agatu LGA, and also “the brutal killings of eleven residents of Mbanyange community of Logo LGA, all of Benue State, “several cases of kidnapping all over the country where huge ransoms have been paid and most victims still get killed” such as the FCT, “killing of two traditional rulers in Ekiti State and the abduction of primary school pupils”, bomb explosion at Bodija, Ibadan in Oyo State where not less than five lives were lost and several residential houses, schools, hotels, religious/worship centres were destroyed” in addition to “the killings of several residents of Mangu, Bokkos and Barkin Ladi communities in Plateau State”. Others included the “need to urgently enhance security measures in FCT” and then “the persistent killings in Katsina South senatorial district” as well as the “continued killings by suspected terrorists parading as herdsmen and increasing insecurity in Kwande, Ukum, Logo and Katsina-Ala local government areas of Benue-North-East senatorial district”.

Then on the reported “stealing, abduction and trafficking in children in Gwagwalada, Kwali and Kuje area councils of the FCT” where 40 children were confirmed missing with three recovered so far, the senate asked the security agencies to “put modalities in place for the recovery of the missing children and to ensure that justice is not only seen to be done but must be done speedily to serve as deterrent and as well assuage the feelings of the victims”. It further called on “the Federal Capital Territory Social Development Department to ensure proper registration of motherless babies homes in the FCT”.

On the killing of Nigerian Army personnel in Okuama community, Delta State, the senate called for “a fair and transparent process” in dealing with those responsible, and also for the federal government to hasten the recruitment and training of more police personnel to take up policing responsibilities while the Nigerian Army play their primary role in the affairs of the country”

Meanwhile, the senate called on “the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force to Adhere to the Federal Character Principle in the Recruitment of Constables into the Nigeria Police Force” by recruiting “a minimum of 10 candidates from each of the 774 local government councils in Nigeria” rather than going about it on state basis which will “lead to disproportional and lopsided” exercise.

On the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria, the senate has activated an internal mechanism to work with the Ministry of Education and related agencies as well as governments at all levels and stakeholders including non-governmental organizations to “implement targeted intervention programmes that will address all the factors militating against free access to quality and basic education particularly, multidimensional poverty and insecurity”.

Again, while the senate investigated “the various issues that are hindering the benefits of the host communities and the entire Delta-North senatorial district of Delta State from receiving the full advantages of electricity supply from the Okpai Independent Power Plant”, it called for urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as provision of relief materials to enable the families and businesses affected by the “devastating fire outbreak in Misau Central Market” in Bauchi State to rebuild their lives.

However, on a sad note, the senate, mourning the passing away of some former lawmakers, called for their immortalization by naming senate committee rooms respectively after the late senators Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Abubakar Sodangi Danso and the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun while the Navy School in Ikot Ntuen, Ekparakwa in Akwa-Ibom State be renamed to the Senator Bob Ittak Ekarika Naval School.

Also, on the unfortunate death of Chief Herbert Wigwe in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of his wife, son and friend in the United States of America, the Senate called on “the United States of America through its embassy and its relevant agencies in conjunction with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Aviation, to meet with its USA counterpart to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the immediate and remote cause(s) of this unfortunate tragedy and publicly disclose their findings”.

Then of course, petitions were received from Nigerians who were variously victims of injustice in the hands of individuals and organizations. During the period, the report on a “Petition from Igwe Chukwuemeka Cyprain against the University of Abuja for alleged wrongful accusation, detention and rustication” was considered.

The senate recommended that the University should reinstate the petitioner “as a bona-fide student of the University, restore his access to the University student’s portal and recommend him for mobilization into the 2023 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in fulfilment with the assurance given to the committee by the University, having received a written apology letter from Mr. Igwe”.

Towards repositioning the economy, the senate extended the implementation years of the 2023 Appropriation and also the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Acts from 31st March 2024 to 30th June 2024 and from 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 respectively. Also, it passed the 2024 statutory budget of the Federal Capital Territory Administration in addition to the 2024 budgets of the Federal Inland Service and the Customs Service.

Similarly, it passed the Bill for an Act to Establish a National Centre for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria, the National Assembly Library Trust Fund Act amendment to change the name to National Assembly Library Resource Centre, provide for additional sources of fund and to provide for the application of the funds to set up the National Assembly Museum among others, the Student Loans (Access To Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-enactment) to establish the National Educational Loan Fund as a body corporate to receive, manage and invest funds to provide loans to Nigerians for Higher Education, Vocational training and skills acquisition, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Trust Fund to provide a sustainable source of funds for the NYSC skill acquisition, training and empowerment of corps members, training and retraining of the personnel of the NYSC, development of camps and NYSC formations and facilities, Harmonized Retirement Age for Staff of National Assembly Service as well as the Federal University of Education Numan, Adamawa State and the South-East Development Commission establishment bills.

It bears repeating that if only the executive could institutionalize respect for legislative outputs, the 10th senate is consistent in its resolve to work for the people.

As such and in its sustained display of empathy with the Nigerian masses over the prevailing economic hardship, the senate passed yet another resolution against the planned withdrawal of electricity subsidy and subsequent increase in electricity tariffs. Also unwilling to see a repeat of the petroleum subsidy unpleasant experience as well as in furtherance of its multi-faceted interventions in the power sector, the senate is investigating the claim of the minister of power that the government owed the generating companies (GenCos) and the gas companies N1.3trillion and $1.3 billion respectively as part of the justification for the intended action.

Yet the electricity tariffs have since been increased amid public outcry which again underscores the executive’s domination of the legislature resulting in the disregard for legislative resolutions.

This major threat to democratic governance, it is hoped, would be addressed among other issues for which the senate in this quarter inaugurated a 44-member Constitution Review Committee in response to the relentless yearnings of well-meaning Nigerians. Also in this regard, there were five separate bills in addition to the ones from the previous quarters on the alteration of the 1999 Constitution that have been referred to this committee that has since commenced its special assignment.

In solidarity again with Nigerians, the senate held a special session on the state of the economy culminating in a joint committee that later met with the executive branch, through the national economic management team, towards rescuing the country principally from inflation and food shortage. There were of course far-reaching recommendations with inherent capacities to turn around the economic woes of Nigeria if only there would be sufficient political will and the zeal to implement them. Though the national assembly leadership had followed it up with an interface with President Bola Tinubu, the senate on its part commenced the probe of the various incidents that forced the federal government into the humongous deficits for which the country is today bleeding.

It constituted an ad-hoc committee “with the mandate to investigate the N30tn Ways and Means obligation and the various Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, interventions made under the Ways and Means expenditure which include the Anchor Borrower Programme, budget supports to states, support to the power and manufacturing sectors, airlines, etc., with a view to uncovering what the monies were used for, the conditions of the disbursements and possible recoveries to shore up the fortunes of the CBN”.

While the Anchor Borrower Programme was for farmers, the Ways and Means was an advance to the federal government for sundry purposes such as listed above.

The president of the senate, Godswill Akpabio was very clear on what the goals and objectives were. Inaugurating the committee, he stated that “the constitution of this committee is a testament to the Senate’s unwavering commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance. It reflects our dedication to addressing the concerns of the Nigerian people and upholding the principles of democracy.

Lest it be misconstrued, he added: “to the members of this esteemed committee, I implore you to approach your responsibilities with the utmost sense of patriotism, professionalism and integrity. Your investigation demands impartiality and fairness, always keeping the public interest and the welfare of our nation at the forefront. We must leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of the truth. Therefore, conduct thorough inquiries and dig out information that will assist the Senate in making laws for the betterment of our country. Let us set aside personal and partisan interests, focusing solely on the task at hand. By working harmoniously, we can ensure that the Ways and Means in Nigeria are managed prudently, efficiently, and in accordance with the law”.

Still on the food insecurity, the senate referred the executive to countries “where food-stamp, which is a government-issued coupon that is given to low-income and non-income persons and is redeemable for food………as a measure to cushion the resultant hardships and sufferings on the poor/less priviledged as well as low income earners”.

As such, it recommended the introduction of “the Nigerian version of the food stamps programme as an interventionist measure to cushion the effects of food insecurity/shortage in the country”. Equally, it expressed concern about the sudden increase in the costs of building materials, particularly cement whose raw materials are sourced locally.

On the Need for Increased Awareness and Improvement of Kidney Treatment Facilities in Nigeria, the senate has commenced the “lobby for an expansion of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide comprehensive coverage for chronic kidney disease patients and ensure that financial constraints do not hinder access to essential treatments and called for the implementation of “infection prevention training and supervision protocols to safeguard Chronic Kidney Disease patients, including those with HIV and Hepatitis, who rely on dialysis treatment in Nigerian facilities” and also for the Executive “to increase the number of functional dialysis centres in tertiary health facilities, ensure access to dialysis treatment, even in remote areas, and address the shortage of dialysis nurses and specialized technicians”.

Furthermore, on the “Discrimination against the Medical Graduates from Ukraine by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria”, the senate urged the Council to allow all the graduates in 2023 from Ukraine and other countries affected by war to sit for MDCN regulatory examinations coming up in July 2024, provided that they have their certificates. It also called for the decentralization of the examination across the geo-political zones for convenience and easy access, similar to the Nigerian Law School. Again, it urged the Nigerian universities to admit those who were yet to complete their studies but had to flee the countries due to the war, to enable them to finish up.

During the period, new bills were introduced in addition the earlier mentioned ones on the constitution review. Whereas there were three and four proposed amendments respectively to the Electoral Act and the Federal Medical Centres Act, there was one each in respect of the Federal Airports Authority, Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Orthopaedic Hospitals Management Board, Foreign Exchange Control and Monitoring, National Environmental Standards and Regulation Agency, Corrupt Practices and Other Offences, Oaths, Firearms, National Agency for Sciences and Engineering Infrastructure Acts. Others were the National Hajj Commission, Labour, Nigerian Defence Academy, National Inland Waterways Authority, Child Rights, Banks and other Financial Institutions, Pension Reform, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, National Population Commission and Proceeds of Crime, Violence Against Persons (Prohibition)Acts.

Similarly, there were establishment bills for the National Environmental Health and Sanitation Agency, Gender and Equitable Opportunities,

Nationwide Toll, Cottage Industries, Petroleum Tankers Safety, Police Pension Board, National Insurance Reform, Inflation Reduction Programme (Special Provisions), National Energy, Social Assistance, Nigerian Economic Diversification, Nigerian National Subsidy Fund, National Road Transport Council, Nigeria Agricultural Preservation Council, Agricultural Processing Zones, Media Practitioners Registration Council of Nigeria as well as the Integrated Rural Development Agency.

Still on the establishment legislation, those for educational institutions and specialized bodies of knowledge included the Federal University of Technology, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, Federal College of Agriculture, Ocheja, Kogi State, Federal University, Okigwe, Imo State, Federal College of Horticulture Okigwe, Federal College of Education (Technical) Saminaka, Kaduna State, Federal College of Medical Science and Laboratory Technology, Federal College of Health Technology Ikwuano, Abia State, Federal College of Agriculture of and Animal Husbandry, Federal University of Education, Technical, Hong, Adamawa State, Federal University of Science and Technology Lau, Federal Institute for Technology and Innovation and the Federal College of Education Gwoza. The rest were the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, Institute of Information and Communication Technology Umuahia, Abia State, Chartered Institute of Agri-business Management of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Digital Forensics of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Economics, National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment and the National Institute for Border Studies Imeko Ogun State.

Again, the bills that were slated for public hearings ahead of eventual passages were the amendments to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act “to strengthen the Bank”, the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) “to make the Corporation more effective, ensure its independence and autonomy and to bring it in line with current realities”, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Act (repeal and re-enactment) for improved operational efficiency and effectiveness, the Extradition Act to expand the scope of application, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Act, to strengthen the operations of the Agency, empower the Agency to establish laboratories, update the list of dangerous drugs, review the penalty provisions, enhance the power of the agency to prosecute drug related offences and issue subsidiary legislations ”; the Terrorism (Preventive and Prohibition) Act to enable Nigeria implement targeted financial sanctions relating to terrorism and terrorism financing without delay and then the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) to include the NFIU and the NDLEA in the surveillance and prevention of money laundering in Nigeria.

Others were the North-West Development Commission, Agricultural Research Council Act, Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Legal Matters Act as well as bills to establish the National Assembly Budget and Research Office, David Umahi University of Health Sciences, Federal University of Technology Ilaro, Ogun State and the Federal University Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State.

Then to facilitate governance, the senate screened and confirmed presidential nominees in addition to the law-making functions. It approved the nominations of Dr Kelechi Ohiri as Director-General of the National Health Insurance Authority, Ms Hafsat Abubakar Bakari as Director, of Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, Paul Adamu Galumje, JSC (rtd.) as the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Hon. Kayode Oladele as member of the Federal Character Commission and Dr. Oluwole Adama as Executive Director of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Infrastructure Fund.

Other confirmations included Gbenga Alade as the Managing Director with Adeshola Lamidi, Lucky Adaghe and Dr. Aminu Mukhtar Dan’amu as executive directors of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, Jalal Arabi as the Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria with Aliu Abdul-Razak, Commissioner (Policy, Personnel & Finance), Prince Anofiu Elegushi, Commissioner (Operations and Prof. Abubakar A. Yagawal, Commissioner (Planning & Research), Mr Robert Agbede, Mr Ado Yakubu Wanka, Prof. Murtala Sabo Sogagi, Ruby C. Onwudiwe, Ph.D, and Mrs. Muslimat Olanike Aliyu as members of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria in addition to the12-member Monetary Policy Committee and the

19 Commissioners for the National Population Commission.

Also, it approved the removal of Babatunde Irukera as the Chief Executive/Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

From the foregoing as well as the previous quarters’ performance review, the 10th senate is indeed committed to expressing the true minds and wishes of the people, though more is still expected. And once again, the executive arm should do more in recognizing legislative resolutions as essential ingredients for good governance.