Many Nigerians are stuck with zero experience of what it means to live in a decently run society. Laden with a long history of mostly inept, insensitive and less-than patriotic leaders, it seems abnormal to expect any bit of improvement in their daily existence from any government. Massive infrastructural decay due to criminal neglect and regular reports of primitive accumulations of illicit wealth by wayward and light-fingered public officers have since lost their capacities to shock Nigerian masses.
In fact, most people have since adjusted their lives to perennially absorb the vicious impacts of these debilitating vices. They only extract some bit of cold comfort from continually reassuring themselves that they are in such a hopeless and helpless situation where these excruciating fallouts of leadership failure will remain the resilient, inseparable companions they are condemned to perpetually coexist with – which will always be there to severely hurt their country and diminish their joy, peace and fulfillment.
Those who lack personal resources to obtain some form of alleviation for themselves and their families resign themselves to fate hoping that they would be able to sustain the capacity to continue enduring these searing rewards of successive rudderless leaderships – which will remain their perpetual sources of torments.
Even the Nigerians who reside in well-ordered societies, where leaders are accountable and basic amenities are meticulously provided and maintained, once they touch down on Nigerian soil automatically adjust their minds to endure the excruciating realities of life in Nigeria. They only derive some consolation from the fact that they would soon jet out again to where sanity and orderly existence are taken for granted.
And so, when it is election season and this set of disenchanted and disoriented Nigerians are ready to vote, they do not even bother to interrogate the character, antecedents, hollow promises and other antics of the candidates having concluded that they are all the same – members of the same cult of corruption and ineptitude; rather they would seek to extract some ephemeral emotional satiation from lending their support to a candidate who shares the same ethnic or religious identity with them. At least, they can always derive some comfort (or even animation) from the fact that their “brother” or “sister” had also joined the rampaging band of locusts, and that their votes had helped to achieve that “feat” for their own people!
Some others will eagerly accept contaminated crumbs from the tables of these same callous, thieving politicians who have cruelly impoverished them and mortgaged the future of their children and go all out to promote and mobilize voters and even fight for them to ensure they capture elective offices to continue their boundless looting of the public treasury.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria of today, the bad, shattering news is that there is hardly any green vegetation left anywhere again for the locusts to swoop on and devour! What we have all over the place are long stretches of excruciating aridity which only rewards with poverty and hardship all that are unlucky to have Nigeria as their home at this time, except the treasury looters and their accomplices.
A few months before the expiration of the Muhammadu Buhari regime, the London-based Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, told the world what most people already knew, namely, that Nigeria’s “debt service payments in the first four months of 2022 totalled N1.9trn, which was greater than its total revenue of N1.6trn, according to the 2023‑2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) draft presented by the Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister, Zainab Ahmed, on July 21st.”
In plain language, what we were told was that the amount being spent to service the huge debts accumulated by the Buhari regime, as a result of reckless borrowings, including the USD1.96 billion foreign loan for the construction of an undesirable rail line from Nigeria to Niger Republic, had far exceeded our country’s income, forcing Nigeria into the perilous state of compounding its debt burden by borrowing more money to service debts!
Also, the Excess Crude Account (ECA), Nigeria’s savings for the rainy day, which stood at $2.1 billion when Buhari became president, instead of increasing, had by June 2022 been brutally reduced to $35.7 million. By July of the same year, it plunged further down to $376,655. It would be a huge surprise to hear that as much as one cent remained by the time the Buhari regime exited power on May 29, 2023.
And so clearly at sea as to how to get Nigeria out of the sticky pit it was willfully dragged into on his watch, Buhari sought to derive revolting animation from playing the profligate big brother out there, dolling out USD$1 million to Afghanistan and approving N1.14 billion for the purchase of posh SUVs for Niger Republic to “strengthen their security operations” while the country he pretended to be ruling was scarily submerged in worsening insecurity. No wonder he threatened the other day to escape to Niger Republic if anyone disturbed him in his palatial country home in Daura, Katsina State.
For about eight months last year, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was on strike due to very poor working conditions, and hapless parents were forced to watch the unsightly and devastating spectacle of their children’s future being toyed with by insensitive politicians whose own children were mostly studying in quality schools and colleges in better managed countries of the world.
When will Nigerians realize that each time they are deluded by politicians into allowing primordial sentiments to dictate their choices during elections, that they are only empowering their sworn enemies to continue their perpetual impoverishment and continuous devaluation of their lives and those of even their unborn offspring? Shortly after the elections, the politicians they had naively adopted as their “native idols” will hurriedly converge with their “bitter opponents” of a few days ago to plan how to share the nation’s resources, thumbing their delicate noses at their so-called supporters who had foolishly cultivated lasting enmities with neighbours and friends with whom they had enjoyed many years of cordial, beneficial relationships while campaigning and even fighting to rig in their “brother” or “sister” whom they have never met and might never meet?
Until Nigerians decide that only competent and patriotic managers should be allowed to take over the leadership of Nigeria at the national, state and council levels and steer the country away from its determined path of disaster, Nigeria, already miserably broke and prostrate, will fail beyond what anyone had thought was possible in a country ruled by human beings.
By the way, how do candidates even emerge in Nigeria? Are they chosen on merit? Does anyone among their party delegates bother about their capacity and character? At the national conventions of the two faces Nigeria’s terminal affliction, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the delegates that voted to choose their presidential candidates for the 2023 elections were reportedly bought soul and body with crispy wads of US dollars – an unwholesome indulgence that unleashed further hurt on the economy. This was apart from the hundreds of millions of naira earlier squandered to purchase nomination forms and sort out other logistics.
Now, after investing all these millions of dollars and billions of naira to secure their parties’ tickets alone and then more billions to prosecute the campaigns and buy votes from willfully impoverished Nigerians who are ready and eager to sell their future to assuage their hunger, what would be the first mission of such candidates once any of them captures power? But will Nigerians learn anything from this gloomy reality and apply themselves to wisdom in future elections for their own good?
If Nigerians continue to allow themselves to be deluded every now and again by ethically bankrupt politicians to discard character and competence and vote on the basis of ethnicity or religion or both, they will all be here to continue suffering the consequences of their tragic decisions.
A new government is in town now and the cost of living has gone to the skies as poor Nigerians are asked to make sacrifices while those in power swim in obscene opulence. Since many adult Nigerians were born, every new government has asked them to tighten their belts in order to enjoy a rosy tomorrow; but can anyone point to at least one single benefit that such punitive measures inflicted on the hapless people ever brought? What we usually see is that after sometime, things would get worse and more sacrifices would be demanded. This will continue until the particular regime quits power and the new one will come in with a reworded version of the same deceptive language: suffer today and enjoy tomorrow! A pie in the sky meant to tantalize and delude the unwary and tragically naïve people who have stubbornly refused to learn from their past mistakes!
Each time Nigerians go to the polls with the wrong reasons and vote or rig in mostly corrupt and incompetent candidates, all they have done is to help the perpetuation of the unimaginable suffering they are currently writhing under. Yet, despite this self-hurting preference, many of them still wallow in the grand illusion that a patriotic and competent administration will emerge to lighten their burdens and mitigate their sufferings. But is it not foolish to continue to plant mango trees every season and expect them to produce apples? How can a people persist in the fatal indulgence of stubbornly eating and drinking poison and yet expecting to live and flourish?
Indeed, the excruciating pains of corruption and incompetence in leaders at all levels have no tribal marks. They do not unleash their torments with any discrimination. They viciously attack everyone irrespective of his or her place of origin, voting preference or even the tribal marks of the new misruler they have helped to enthrone.
Nigerians from Katsina, Buhari’s home state, or even the entire North that persistently gave him the loudly trumpeted twelve-million votes, can attest to this. Their region received the lion share of the boundless insecurity and excruciating poverty that distinguished Buhari’s eight-year nightmare.
Organized labour in Nigeria has given the President Bola Tinubu administration a seven-day ultimatum to conclude the negotiations with its leadership or face industrial action over the removal of petrol subsidy.
The National Treasurer of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Hakeem Ambali, in an interview with newsmen today, July 26, said that workers would go full blast on a nationwide strike from August 2 if the government fails to conclude the negotiations with labour.
“Yes. We, members of the Central Working Committee issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government yesterday, to conclude all negotiations with labour or face industrial action.”
The federal government had in June, gone to court to procure an order barring the NLC from going on strike following the removal of the subsidy.
The government had since set up a committee to liaise with the organized labour; the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the NLC, but labour has accused the government of failing to engage it in a dialogue.
NLC leadership said it could no longer fold its arms and watch Nigerians, particularly workers, suffer the effects of subsidy removal which has brought dire hunger and poverty in the country.
The union warned: “failure of the government to meet the ultimatum will lead to a nationwide strike.”
The Presidency has reacted to report in some news media outlets that the Federal Government has increased tuition fees in federal universities in the country, insisting that all the federal universities remain tuition-free.
In a statement today, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake did not however, rule out a situation where some universities have in recent weeks announced increase in the amount payable by students on sundry charges.
“However, the fact remains and we have confirmed that these are discretionary charges by each university for hostel accommodation, registration, laboratory and other charges. They are not tuition fees.
“Authorities of these universities even made this fact clear enough in explaining the rationale behind these new fees.
“For avoidance of doubts, federal universities in Nigeria remain tuition-free.”
The statement said that President Tinubu is committed to his promise of ensuring that every Nigerian, regardless of the economic situation of their parents, have access to quality tertiary education.
It said that in addition to the Students’ Loans Scheme, under the Student Loans Bill signed into law by President Tinubu last month, which will go into implementation ahead of the next academic session in September, the Federal Government will also strengthen other mechanisms to support indigent students.
The statement said that parts of the government’s plans to make sure all diligent students complete their education on time, notwithstanding their parents’ financial situation, include work-study, merit-based scholarships and grants.
Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has warned against military intervention in the democratic government of the Republic of Niger
Tinubu, who is the President of Nigeria, in a statement he personally signed today, in reaction to what he called “some unpleasant developments around the country’s highest political leadership,” warned: “The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa.
“It should be quite clear to all players in the Republic of Niger that the leadership of the ECOWAS Region and all lovers of democracy around the world will not tolerate any situation that incapacitates the democratically-elected government of the country.
“I wish to say that we are closely monitoring the situation and developments in Niger and we will do everything within our powers to ensure democracy is firmly planted, nurtured, well rooted and thrives in our region.
“I am in close consultation with other leaders in our region, and we shall protect our hard-earned democracy in line with the universally acceptable principle of constitutionalism.
“As the Chairperson of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, I state without equivocation that Nigeria stands firmly with the elected government in Niger and equally conveys the absolute resolve of leaders in our sub-region that we shall not waiver or flinch on our stand to defend and preserve constitutional order.”
The National Industrial Court has dismissed a suit by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), challenging the federal government over the registration and recognision of the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions.
The court, in its ruling today, July 25, stressed that the government did not offend the laws by registering more than one union in the country.
ASUU had dragged the Minister of Labour and Employment, The Registrar, Trade Union, CONUA and NAMDA as first, second, third and fourth defendants respectively before the court.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Benedict Kanyip held that in line with the International Labour Organisation ( ILO) Act, there can be more than one trade union within an employment.
The judge said that contrary to claimant’s submission that Section 3 ( 2) of Trade Union Act made the first and second defendants incompetent to register CONUA and NAMDA to coexist and carry out same functions in the universities as ASUU, the Section does not encourage monopoly of trade unions, but that the section encourages existence of other trade unions.
The court said: “the reliefs prayed by the claimant failed, refused and I so hold. I make no order as to cost.”
From facts, the claimant had instituted the suit via an originating summons filed on June 26,2022.
The claimant counsel, Mr Femi Falana SAN, submitted two questions for determination.
Part of the question was whether by Section 4 (2) of the constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended and Section 3 (2) of TUA, the second defendant can register CONUA and NAMDA to carry out the same functions covering the same jurisdiction sphere as the claimant.
The counsel averred that the second and third defendants registered the third and fourth defendants in a bid to split ASUU.
The first and second defendants in reply submitted that the court should determine whether the issues raised by the claimant were not speculative and academic.
The third defendant on its part raised three issues that bordered on whether the claimant put before the court any proof, whether the claimant’s suit was not liable to be dismissed and whether the third and fourth defendants were not legally registered.
The fourth defendant submitted for the determination of the court whether there was any violation in the registration of the two unions.
The court in arriving at its decision held that the claimant in its submission stated that the first and second defendants approved the registration of CONUA to operate in the universities as a trade union on Oct.4,2022.
According to the court, the claimant gave evidence of this assertion from an online publication titled ” FG registers 2 new university unions in a bid to split ASUU”.
Although the fourth defendant objected to the admissibility of the publication in evidence, stating that the publication was a hearsay evidence, the court however dismissed the objection and allowed the admissibility as Exhibit 1.
The court also held that the fourth defendant was not registered as a trade union until Jan.11, collected the certificate of registration on Jan. 13 and formally completed all processes to be registered as a trade union on Jan.17, 2023.
The court therefore ruled that as at June 26,2022 when the claimant filed the suit, the fourth defendant was not in existence.
The court in the judgment equally said that the claimant did not have any evidence when it came to court to file the suit.
Adding that the name under which the claimant sued the fourth defendant was wrongly spelt as “Nigeria Association of Medical Doctors Academics” instead of ” National Association of Medical Doctors Academics”.
The court however added a suit can be allowed if a juristic entity is misnamed.
The judge said that the first and second defendants argued that because the claimant could not produce evidence that the two unions were registered by them before filing the suit, the action rendered the suit as speculative, academic and should be dismissed.
The third defendant also submitted that the suit was vague, not precise and described the claimant’t claim as not substantiative.
The court said that there is no express conferment of exclusive jurisdictional scope of the claimant, that therefore the claimant cannot not claim it.
The court said that the claimant failed to show the encroachment of the jurisdictional scope which it cannot lay exclusive right to it by restricting the rights of others, as the second defendant did not lay bare such exclusive rights in its schedule.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has flagged off the auditing of the remittance of statutory and non-statutory deductions from the payroll of workers from year 2010 to 2022.
The FCT Permanent Secretary, Olusade Adesola, who conducted the flag off yesterday, July 25, in Abuja, said that it is to ensure that deductions from the payroll of workers are timely remitted to the third-party beneficiaries
He said that the auditing of the remittances of payroll deductions is in line with the FCTA’s objectives and commitment to ensure transparency, accountability and responsible financial management.
The remittance of statutory deductions to be audited, according to the Permanent Secretary, include taxes, pensions and insurance, while the non-statutory deductions fall under employee contributions to cooperative societies and various welfare programmes.
He said that the audit exercise is also being carried out to ensure that the Administration’s obligations to third-party beneficiaries are met with utmost integrity.
The Permanent Secretary said that remittances of payroll deductions play pivotal roles in maintaining the welfare of the FCTA workforce and complained that remittances for both statutory and non-statutory deductions from the payroll of workers since 2010 had faced some setbacks.
He listed some of the problems created as a result of such non-remittances to include the failure by FCTA retirees to claim their National Housing (NHF) funds from the Federal Mortgage Banks, due to non-posting of the deductions as a result of discrepancies in the schedules accompanying the payment of such deductions.
He said that as a result, the FCT Administration had to engage an Audit Consultant, M/S G.E. Osagie and Co. to audit the payroll of the FCTA from 2010 to 2022 in order to establish the unremitted statutory and non-statutory deductions due as liabilities to third party beneficiaries.
He said that the auditing exercise will determine the payments made to the various receivers of the statutory and non-statutory payments by staff and on behalf of each staff of the FCTA from 2010 to 2022 for NHF, FCT Health Insurance Scheme, Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Cooperative deductions.
The auditing exercise is to determine outstanding obligations for the FCTA to staff as well as ascertain individuals and officials responsible where deductions were not made and make recommendations as appropriate.
The Permanent Secretary said: “the auditing of these payroll remittances signifies our unwavering dedication to a robust and meticulous financial system as it allows us to validate that the amounts deducted from our employees’ salaries are promptly remitted to the rightful beneficiaries. It is crucial to maintain the trust of both our employees and the third-party organisations that depend on these funds.”
He charged the auditing consultant to carry out its assignment in compliance with the terms of engagement as well as the scope and responsibility as stipulated in the Contract Agreement.
He also urged them to come up with recommendations that will make subsequent FCTA remittances on these statutory and non-statutory deductions seamless to the third-party beneficiaries and avoid embarrassment caused to the FCT by non-remittance of such deductions.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Joint Unions Action Committee (JUAC), Korede Matilukoro, said that the auditing the remittances of deductions from the about 40,000 workers of the FCTA was necessary and expressed satisfaction that the FCT Administration has engaged a reputable firm to handle the task.
He said that FCTA workers, for a long time, have struggled with issues of remittances of their statutory and non-statutory deductions and have been unable to access loans from the Federal Mortgage Banks, despite being major contributors to the funds.
He therefore charged the auditing firm to justify the confidence reposed in them by the FCTA, even as he pledged the support and cooperation of FCTA workers to ensure the success of the auditing exercise.
Also, the Managing Consultant of the auditing firm, M/S G.E. Osagie and Co. Godwin Osagie, expressed gratitude to the FCTA for entrusting his firm with the very important responsibility.
He assured that the firm will uphold the highest standards of professionalism and transparency in carrying out the exercise.
The Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Mustapha, has commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on a range of its telecom consumer protection initiatives, including the recent Village Square Dialogue (VSD), which held at the weekend in Yola, Adamawa State.
Professor Abubakar Tahir, the Kakakin Adamawa, who represented Lamido Adamawa at the Consumer Conversation programme of the Commission with the theme: “Know Your Rights as Telecom Consumers” in Yola, said the event marked a privilege for individual telecom consumers and businesses in the state to ask questions and get face-to-face response from the regulator on telecom-related issues.
“We must commend the NCC for the great work it has been doing in the area of consumer education and enlightenment. Aside from being the regulator of the sector, the NCC leadership has taken the issue of consumer information very central; and we thank you for bringing this laudable initiative to the good people of Adamawa.”
The royal father advised the Commission to also consider exploring other areas that can lead to further reduction in the cost of telecom services and to ensure that services are available in most parts of the country.
“The Commission should kindly look inwards and ensure that all communities in the country continue to enjoy cheaper, better, qualitative and more accessible telecommunications services,” he said.
NCC’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Alkasim Umar, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the regulator has always been at the forefront of ensuring maximum protection for telecom consumers while providing the enabling environment for the licensed service providers to be able to provide good quality of service to the consumers.
“The NCC remains committed to its mandate of protecting, informing and educating consumers of telecoms services across all the 36 states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This essence of the Village Square Dialogue, as one of our outreach events, is to provide a face-to-face interaction among the NCC, the service providers and the consumers.”
Speaking on some of the consumer-centric initiatives of the Commission, Umar said that the Commission recently introduced the harmonized shortcodes which provide uniform codes for telecom consumers to access any consumer service type across all networks, either for airtime loading, checking airtime balance, call centres, data plan balance, and so on.
He also reminded the consumers of the availability of the NCC Toll-Free Number, 622, which consumers can use to make complaints to the Commission on any telecom service-related issues they may be having with their service providers; the 112 Emergency Number to seek succour during emergencies, as well as the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code to block unsolicited messages.
“Information and education are key to the empowerment of telecom consumers. The protection of the rights and interests of telecom consumers is one of the mandates of the Commission, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003. When telecom consumers are duly informed and educated, they are protected against the unfair practices by the service providers.”
Umar said everything in the current digital world revolves around telecommunications services and that educating consumers plays an important role in informing them, clarifying issues, and empowering them through information and enlightenment.
“So, it is a great decision which will sensitize the people about their rights, their privileges and the expectations they have about the telecom businesses in the country.”
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has directed heads of security agencies to deploy proactive crime and terrorism prevention strategies in response to alleged security threats reported by the intelligence community. A statement by Spokesperson to the Governor, Olawale Rasheed, quoted Governor Adeleke as saying: “I assure the people of Osun State that service chiefs have acted and the security of lives and properties is guaranteed. “Our people should not panic as both formal and informal apparatuses have been activated.” He advised the residents to be security conscious, assuring that the government has taken security precautions to secure the state. “Our people should go about their normal businesses without fear. They should be conscious of their environment and report any suspicious movement to security operatives.”
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has assured that construction of a low-cost manufacturing hub for equipment components and spare parts used in the oil and gas industry will start in Ondo State soonest. Located at Ilaje, Ilaje Local Government Area of the State, the facility is one of the six being built in different parts of the country under NCDMB’s Nigerian Oil and Gas Park Scheme (NOGAPS) in furtherance of its corporate mandate to develop in-country capacity in the oil and gas industry. NOGAPS, at Odukpani, Cross River State, and at Emeyal 1, Bayelsa State, are at 99 per cent completion, according to a statement today July 25, by the corporate department of the NCDMB. The statement quoted the NCDMB’s Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Akintunde Adelana as informing top government functionaries, including Ondo State Acting Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, industrialists and investors as well as representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), that the agency is conceived to provide “a springboard to galvanise different sectors of the Nigerian economy.”
He said that the oil and gas industrial parks, developed by the Board in conjunction with Shell Petroleum Development Company, ExxonMobil and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (with particular reference to NOGAPS, Emeyal 1 and NOGAPS, Odukpani) consist of manufacturing shop floors and factories, warehouses, training centres, mini estates, fire stations, truck parking and holding spaces, hostels and administrative blocks. They are intended to eliminate importation of equipment components and spares required in oil industry operations. Speaking on Day 1 of the ongoing “Develop Ondo 2.0 Investment Summit,” in Akure, the state capital, Adelana said that in line with the core mandate of the Board, which revolves around “domesticating and domiciling value-adding activities in the oil and gas industry,” regulations on utilisation of home-grown resources, that is, local manpower, technical services of indigenous firms, goods manufactured locally as well as raw materials available in the country, have been rigorously enforced. With specific reference to Ondo State, he emphasised that NCDMB wants “to align with the State Government, support the State to ensure that her dreams and aspirations come to reality.” He said Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centres have been built in parts of the State to facilitate digital education and thus equip the youth with appropriate skills for gainful employment and self-development. On the Board’s role in facilitating access to energy, Adelana, who represented the Board’s Executive Secretary, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, said an effective way of doing it is by building capacities, which NCDMB has done consistently since its creation in 2010 through trainings for manpower development, equity participation in companies like Waltersmith Modular Refineries, blending plants and cylinder manufacturing companies, as well as strategic interventions in funding to indigenous companies through the Nigeria Content Development Fund, and sundry initiatives. Earlier, the Acting Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, expressed appreciation to the Local Organising Committee of the Summit, the international partners, being the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union (EU), “for their invaluable contribution and support,” industrialists and investors as well as sponsors, namely, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Toyota, JETOUR and Green Energy. He assured industrialists and prospective investors that Ondo is resource-rich and investment-friendly, noting that the Develop Ondo 2.0 Investment Summit “aims to attract US$2 billion investment” to the State. Recalling successes attained since the earlier edition tagged Develop Ondo 1.0 Investment Summit, he said, “2.0 symbolises our drive for continuous improvement and innovation.” He said that the State is on the cusp of a remarkable industrial revolution. He drew attention to investment opportunities in the ongoing “development of an inland gas corridor,” Port Ondo Project, and the Ondo Industrial City, which is envisaged to have a free trade zone status. The NDDC, which is Platinum Sponsor of the Summit, assured the Government of Ondo State of its continued support in its development efforts. The Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, also noted that the Niger Delta would need to plan ahead for a life without revenues from oil as international oil companies are steadily divesting from Nigeria. According to him, “NDDC is looking beyond oil,” noting that if present-day leaders failed to plan and utilise resources judiciously, future generations would demand explanation. Emphasising the depth of his conviction on the need for collaboration with stakeholders, he said, “I will ensure my Commission is always on the same page with our Governments on development matters.” He assured that Budget 2024 of the Commission would be prepared with participation of all state governments within the areas covered by its mandate to ensure that only projects that matter to the people are captured. Other speakers at the three-day Summit with the theme “Developing Possibilities” include Engr. Razaq Obe, Ondo State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources/Chairman, Organising Committee; Ruben Alba Aguilera, Acting Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the EU to Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Ms. Fati Attahiru, Deputy Resident Representative – Operations, A.I./UNDP Nigeria. The Summit will end on Wednesday, 26 July.
Suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has finally been taken to Federal High Court in Lagos today, July 25. This was even as the court granted him N20 Million bail, shifting the trial proper to November 14, 2023. He was charged with possession of a gun and ammunition without a licence by the Department of State Services (DSS) after being detained for over a month now. The secret police had picked him up at his Lagos residence and flew him to Abuja. Meanwhile, Justice Nicholas Oweibo of a Federal High in Lagos has admitted Emefiele to bail in the sum of N20million and adjourned his trial to November 14. Emefiele is standing trial on a two-counts charge bordering on possession of a single barrel shot gun, as well as possession of123 rounds of live ammunition without licences At the court today, July 25, Emefiele pleaded not guilty to the charge. After his plea, defence counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN) who led four other senior advocates, informed the court of a bail application filed on behalf of the defendant. Dedence counsel told the court that same had been served on the prosecution, adding that there is a stamp of the office of the Attorney General as proof. But the prosecutor, Mrs. N.B Jones, objected to the bail application on the grounds that she had not been served with a copy of the application. She informed the court that her office had been on the look out for a possible bail application of the defendant but had seen none. She added that since she has just been aware of the application in court, she then requires time to respond by way of affidavit, since facts have been deposed. She said that since there is no sitting Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) at the moment, the defence could not have effectively served same. But defence counsel told the court that the prosecutor had no excuse not to proceed today in response of the bail application as same had been duly served on prosecution’s office. He argued that the office of the AGF is a creation of statute, and so cannot exist in a vacuum. In a short ruling the court agreed with the submission of defence counsel, and urged him to move the defendant’s bail application. Moving the application, defence counsel urged the court to admit the defendant to bail as he is not a flight risk being, a reputable former Governor of CBN. He told the court that the defendant had been kept in custody for long and had lost so much weight and so, requires medical attention. Defence also informed the court that the defendant will be available to stand trial , adding that assuming the prosexutor had produced a witness, the defence would have been ready to proceed. He therefore, urged the court to grant the defendant bail. In response, the prosecutor informed the court that she wss opposed to the bail application of the defendant as he was a flight risk She told the court that the defendant had refused to submit his international passport which indicates such flight risk Besides, she also told the court that being a very influencial citizen of Nigeria, the defendant could also interfere with the case and evidences intended to be led by prosecution. She urged the court to refuse bail In his rulling, Justice Oweibo agreed with the submission of the defence counsel on the grounds that the offence for which the defendant is charged is bailable. The court held that bail can only be denied where any of the circumstances set out in section 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, is established. The court held that the prosecution has not furnished such circumstances before the court. The court consequently, granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum. The court held that the surety must depose to an affidavit of means. and have a landed property . He urged that the defendant be remanded in custody of the correctional service pending perfection of bail. In the charge, the prosecutor, told the court that the defendant who resides at No 8 Colorado street in Maitama Abuja, committed the offence on June 15, at No. 3b Iru close, Ikoyi Lagos. He was alleged to have in his possession a single barrel shot (Jojeff Magnum 8371) without licence. The defendant was also alleged to have in his possession, 123 rounds of live ammunition cartridges, without licence. The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 4 and 8 of the Firearms Act, Cap F28, Law of the Federation, 2004. Source: NAN.
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The Presidency has reacted to report in some news media outlets that the Federal Government has increased tuition fees in federal universities in the country, insisting that all the federal universities remain tuition-free.
Bad Leadership Does Not Spare Anyone From Pains, By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Many Nigerians are stuck with zero experience of what it means to live in a decently run society. Laden with a long history of mostly inept, insensitive and less-than patriotic leaders, it seems abnormal to expect any bit of improvement in their daily existence from any government. Massive infrastructural decay due to criminal neglect and regular reports of primitive accumulations of illicit wealth by wayward and light-fingered public officers have since lost their capacities to shock Nigerian masses.
In fact, most people have since adjusted their lives to perennially absorb the vicious impacts of these debilitating vices. They only extract some bit of cold comfort from continually reassuring themselves that they are in such a hopeless and helpless situation where these excruciating fallouts of leadership failure will remain the resilient, inseparable companions they are condemned to perpetually coexist with – which will always be there to severely hurt their country and diminish their joy, peace and fulfillment.
Those who lack personal resources to obtain some form of alleviation for themselves and their families resign themselves to fate hoping that they would be able to sustain the capacity to continue enduring these searing rewards of successive rudderless leaderships – which will remain their perpetual sources of torments.
Even the Nigerians who reside in well-ordered societies, where leaders are accountable and basic amenities are meticulously provided and maintained, once they touch down on Nigerian soil automatically adjust their minds to endure the excruciating realities of life in Nigeria. They only derive some consolation from the fact that they would soon jet out again to where sanity and orderly existence are taken for granted.
And so, when it is election season and this set of disenchanted and disoriented Nigerians are ready to vote, they do not even bother to interrogate the character, antecedents, hollow promises and other antics of the candidates having concluded that they are all the same – members of the same cult of corruption and ineptitude; rather they would seek to extract some ephemeral emotional satiation from lending their support to a candidate who shares the same ethnic or religious identity with them. At least, they can always derive some comfort (or even animation) from the fact that their “brother” or “sister” had also joined the rampaging band of locusts, and that their votes had helped to achieve that “feat” for their own people!
Some others will eagerly accept contaminated crumbs from the tables of these same callous, thieving politicians who have cruelly impoverished them and mortgaged the future of their children and go all out to promote and mobilize voters and even fight for them to ensure they capture elective offices to continue their boundless looting of the public treasury.
Unfortunately, in Nigeria of today, the bad, shattering news is that there is hardly any green vegetation left anywhere again for the locusts to swoop on and devour! What we have all over the place are long stretches of excruciating aridity which only rewards with poverty and hardship all that are unlucky to have Nigeria as their home at this time, except the treasury looters and their accomplices.
A few months before the expiration of the Muhammadu Buhari regime, the London-based Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, told the world what most people already knew, namely, that Nigeria’s “debt service payments in the first four months of 2022 totalled N1.9trn, which was greater than its total revenue of N1.6trn, according to the 2023‑2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) draft presented by the Finance, Budget and National Planning Minister, Zainab Ahmed, on July 21st.”
In plain language, what we were told was that the amount being spent to service the huge debts accumulated by the Buhari regime, as a result of reckless borrowings, including the USD1.96 billion foreign loan for the construction of an undesirable rail line from Nigeria to Niger Republic, had far exceeded our country’s income, forcing Nigeria into the perilous state of compounding its debt burden by borrowing more money to service debts!
Also, the Excess Crude Account (ECA), Nigeria’s savings for the rainy day, which stood at $2.1 billion when Buhari became president, instead of increasing, had by June 2022 been brutally reduced to $35.7 million. By July of the same year, it plunged further down to $376,655. It would be a huge surprise to hear that as much as one cent remained by the time the Buhari regime exited power on May 29, 2023.
And so clearly at sea as to how to get Nigeria out of the sticky pit it was willfully dragged into on his watch, Buhari sought to derive revolting animation from playing the profligate big brother out there, dolling out USD$1 million to Afghanistan and approving N1.14 billion for the purchase of posh SUVs for Niger Republic to “strengthen their security operations” while the country he pretended to be ruling was scarily submerged in worsening insecurity. No wonder he threatened the other day to escape to Niger Republic if anyone disturbed him in his palatial country home in Daura, Katsina State.
For about eight months last year, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was on strike due to very poor working conditions, and hapless parents were forced to watch the unsightly and devastating spectacle of their children’s future being toyed with by insensitive politicians whose own children were mostly studying in quality schools and colleges in better managed countries of the world.
When will Nigerians realize that each time they are deluded by politicians into allowing primordial sentiments to dictate their choices during elections, that they are only empowering their sworn enemies to continue their perpetual impoverishment and continuous devaluation of their lives and those of even their unborn offspring? Shortly after the elections, the politicians they had naively adopted as their “native idols” will hurriedly converge with their “bitter opponents” of a few days ago to plan how to share the nation’s resources, thumbing their delicate noses at their so-called supporters who had foolishly cultivated lasting enmities with neighbours and friends with whom they had enjoyed many years of cordial, beneficial relationships while campaigning and even fighting to rig in their “brother” or “sister” whom they have never met and might never meet?
Until Nigerians decide that only competent and patriotic managers should be allowed to take over the leadership of Nigeria at the national, state and council levels and steer the country away from its determined path of disaster, Nigeria, already miserably broke and prostrate, will fail beyond what anyone had thought was possible in a country ruled by human beings.
By the way, how do candidates even emerge in Nigeria? Are they chosen on merit? Does anyone among their party delegates bother about their capacity and character? At the national conventions of the two faces Nigeria’s terminal affliction, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the delegates that voted to choose their presidential candidates for the 2023 elections were reportedly bought soul and body with crispy wads of US dollars – an unwholesome indulgence that unleashed further hurt on the economy. This was apart from the hundreds of millions of naira earlier squandered to purchase nomination forms and sort out other logistics.
Now, after investing all these millions of dollars and billions of naira to secure their parties’ tickets alone and then more billions to prosecute the campaigns and buy votes from willfully impoverished Nigerians who are ready and eager to sell their future to assuage their hunger, what would be the first mission of such candidates once any of them captures power? But will Nigerians learn anything from this gloomy reality and apply themselves to wisdom in future elections for their own good?
If Nigerians continue to allow themselves to be deluded every now and again by ethically bankrupt politicians to discard character and competence and vote on the basis of ethnicity or religion or both, they will all be here to continue suffering the consequences of their tragic decisions.
A new government is in town now and the cost of living has gone to the skies as poor Nigerians are asked to make sacrifices while those in power swim in obscene opulence. Since many adult Nigerians were born, every new government has asked them to tighten their belts in order to enjoy a rosy tomorrow; but can anyone point to at least one single benefit that such punitive measures inflicted on the hapless people ever brought? What we usually see is that after sometime, things would get worse and more sacrifices would be demanded. This will continue until the particular regime quits power and the new one will come in with a reworded version of the same deceptive language: suffer today and enjoy tomorrow! A pie in the sky meant to tantalize and delude the unwary and tragically naïve people who have stubbornly refused to learn from their past mistakes!
Each time Nigerians go to the polls with the wrong reasons and vote or rig in mostly corrupt and incompetent candidates, all they have done is to help the perpetuation of the unimaginable suffering they are currently writhing under. Yet, despite this self-hurting preference, many of them still wallow in the grand illusion that a patriotic and competent administration will emerge to lighten their burdens and mitigate their sufferings. But is it not foolish to continue to plant mango trees every season and expect them to produce apples? How can a people persist in the fatal indulgence of stubbornly eating and drinking poison and yet expecting to live and flourish?
Indeed, the excruciating pains of corruption and incompetence in leaders at all levels have no tribal marks. They do not unleash their torments with any discrimination. They viciously attack everyone irrespective of his or her place of origin, voting preference or even the tribal marks of the new misruler they have helped to enthrone.
Nigerians from Katsina, Buhari’s home state, or even the entire North that persistently gave him the loudly trumpeted twelve-million votes, can attest to this. Their region received the lion share of the boundless insecurity and excruciating poverty that distinguished Buhari’s eight-year nightmare.
*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, a journalist and writer.