As Toyin Falola temporarily relocates to East and South Africa in the summer, giving lectures in Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, and Botswana, he moves into what one can describe as “the orbit of intellectual comparison.” He is not like the figures they are used to: Nurudeen Farah, Ngugi Wa Thing’o, and Wole Soyinka. He does not deal with the ambiguities of creative writing but the directness of intellectualism. He is a front-rank figure in African nationalist and political thought. As I prepare a public lecture on Toyin Falola, to be presented on May 13, 2-24, as part of an intellectual feast, I began to see how he resembles Wilmot Biden, Marcus Garvey, and W. B. Dubois. I eventually settled for an intellectual paradigm that linked him more to Ali Mazrui, who had tremendous respect for Falola while he was alive. At one time, Mazrui likened himself to John the Baptist while talking about Falola, whom he called Ndugu.

Intellectuals across different generations are known for the outstanding contributions they make to issues that concern the progress of their people in their ways. Through what they postulate and the ideologies that they project, they are drawn to a community of followers that identify the light in their engagements and decide to be associated with them because of their constellation of ideas that are useful for personal and even collective development. This occurs in every aspect of human endeavor. Shakespeare, for example, commanded a swath of literary disciples who wanted to be like him and postulate exactly like that great man. Interestingly, it was not only Shakespeare that attained that feat. In the field of philosophy, several individuals understand that Aristotle made intimidating accomplishments that are commonly used as the benchmark for quality intellection in the ages and centuries far after his own. Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Wole Soyinka, among others, have made such an indelible mark in the literary industry in recent years, and they have had a massive impact on a crowd of intelligent folks who intend to be like that and carry out similar lights in their endeavors. Toyin Falola is another bright scholar who has blazed the trail in historical writings, and his popularity is a product of his undying love for intellectual engagements involving human history, particularly African history, for a global overview. Falola is indeed a brilliant scholar who traverses many disciplines. In a world flattened by the thorns of partial criticism by Western scholars who are scarcely educated about African realities and history, Falola has erected himself as an irrepressible voice challenging newfangled rhetoric against Afrocentric ideas. 

All these scholars in the category mentioned above and those who are unintentionally omitted have one thing in common: they are consistent in their ideological projection and committed to their life-long philosophy. At the heart of every writing is a philosophical argument made by writers for the purpose of bringing to the attention of people certain issues that can potentially challenge their sociocultural or ontological realities or educating them on the most effective ways to prevent unwholesome damage and challenges that could come to them spasmodically. To that extent, writers are considered the light of their society and would be looked up to when expectations of a refined social environment are rife. In the African legal discourse, such writers would include the Senegalese Jurist Keba Mbaye, who, after a good analysis of the state of (under)development in Africa, posits in his Inaugural Lecture back in the 70s that development is a human right or an entitlement. His ideas germinated, and today, not only is the right to development binding in the African human rights system, but it is also clearly provided in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development. There is also currently a Draft treaty on the Right to Development for debate at the UN.  

Falola, however, stands out and is very different in this category of African scholars for some very important reasons. He shares compelling attributes with the scholars in this category by using his intellectual engagements as a force to remedy the wrongs that the world has done against Africans. Just as Ali Mazrui employed history to demystify the negative perception that people have against Africans, Falola has used that discipline and others as launchpads for his shining ideas that primarily dislodge the poor notions that are generated and spread about Africans from the West to the world. Mazrui was popular for discrediting the untested hypothesis about Africans, and he was seen for who he was: an uncompromising individual channeling his ideas regardless of the circumstances, protests, and criticism that people hurled against him. 

Toyin Falola explains to people how the deliberately (mis)constructed identity of Africans by the West has obstructed the people from actualizing their fullest potential. Although many people have always been critical of that position, it remains true to the extent that sufficient resources and evidence are provided to substantiate that position. All the works of man have always centered on the exploration of different aspects of African life so that they would assist in projecting the ideas that challenge the very negative remarks and overview that the world has about Africans through the reliance on Western history and historical narratives that are purely doctored to achieve a particular intention. Perhaps his resourceful intelligence is enhanced by the reality of his active participation in African cultural engagement; the understanding that he brings values to the table of discourse shows the reason why many people accept his positions in ways that challenge the superordinate projection of the universalists. Falola has researched African political history, and we cannot but marvel at how much evidence he has brought to the debate as to how the precolonial African societies were filled with organized political systems, effective economic templates, sound philosophical debates, and more, that helped to shape their corresponding families, settlements, and states. Contrary to the misconception that individuals peopled Africa without the quality intellection needed for the transformation of their societies, evidence abounds through Falola’s work that they really evolved intellectually just like other peoples of the world, and they erected vibrant and sound structures during the various phases of their growth. In one of his talks at UNISA, Falola problematized customary law to demonstrate that before the arrival of colonial masters, Africans were governed by their laws, customs, and traditions, which now characterized universalists to be customary vis a vis (Western law).  

While we cannot deny that Africa regorges a massive amount of wealth and natural resources, central to the intellectual argument of Ali Mazrui is the fact that Africa’s most influential resources are the resources are people themselves, for they have amazing brainpower, which they translate into concrete results to transform any place where they find themselves. Falola equally holds such a view in a more instructive manner. Falola has been a vibrant voice in the diaspora, helping Africans who are indifferent to the core African values to reconnect to their background and claim their identity in positive ways. By his boldness and confidence in expressing the African truth in ways that accommodate divergent thinking, he has been able to unlock the gridlock of age-long stereotypic sentiment that has placed Africa and Africans in a subaltern position, thus denying a whole continent of people the opportunity to express confidence in themselves and their heritages. Falola takes a sharp departure from Mazrui’s approach here. Falola dips his intellectual fingers into African history, which has received maximum denigration from anti-African advocates or Afro-pessimists, and brings replicable evidence that is required to unsettle otherwise straight-jacketed positions that have held about the continent for a very long time. That Africans at different locations and places have begun to feel alive about their past is not unconnected to the fact that individuals like Falola have taken a frontline position in rendering the destructive or hegemonic narratives against Africans invalid by producing a more credible version of the true history backed by replicable evidence. 

One of the most powerful instruments of this scholar is the advocacy for the embracement of African cultural history as their model of development. As I argue in my forthcoming book on Falola’s works, Falola maintains that Africa’s agency is inalienable and, as such, cannot be compromised. This means that, unlike Mazrui, Falola does not solely believe in depending on other people’s epistemic traditions for the safety of the African identity. In fact, rather than this, he has continued to voice his thoughts about African spirituality as a credible source of the people in challenging the crucibles of external power. His approach to liberation and emancipation is all-encompassing in that he continues to demonstrate how the reliance on African indigenous spirituality, such as Ubuntu (or the togetherness of Africans), would help bring several Africans to the awareness that their world has been invaded in ways that have detrimental effects, and consequences on other areas of their existence including socialization, political system, and also economic practices. Just like Mazrui, Falola does not reject Islam and is of the view that it can be practiced in Africa alongside other spirituality but not as a superior spirituality perspective to the pool of what Africans have available in their indigenous stores.

For this reason, he has beamed his searchlight of research and intellectual engagements in various areas where indigenous practices can be explored for common benefits and even exported without prejudice. Falola believes African spirituality contains a number of things, including a scientific approach that is waiting to scale through continental boundaries. Africans have maintained a strong scientific system for centuries and millennia thanks to their knowledge of science and approaches that they had in different dimensions. Their knowledge of sciences enabled them to build pyramids in Egypt, the Mandengue Empire, the Kingdom of Monomotapa, and the Bamoun people of West Cameroon to invent their specific writings. 

Falola’s engagement in this way has, therefore, mandated a discovery of methods that are deserving of immediate incorporation into global intellectualism so that the world would have several alternatives to getting problems confronting the human family solved without further acrimony. Therefore, from being an exclusive historian, Falola is believed to have mutated into an epistemologist who uses his vast educational experience to draw information from otherwise marginalized areas and refine mined ideas until they become useful to humanity in many ways. It is, therefore, no coincidence that he has organized many conferences on the continent. 

Of all the existing global academics, especially the ones that come from Africa, Falola stands out as one of those who have never compromised the global standard of knowledge production, and he does that in a frequency that would amaze anyone and everyone. For that reason, all the accolades directed towards him are not misdirected or ill-motivated. They are reflective of his unwavering determination and commitment to the resurgence of alternative knowledge in a world stoked by universalist fundamentals that crucify differences. Although preceding intellectuals have made efforts towards rescuing the dying epistemic heritages of Africa, which has suffered malignant damage courtesy of the absence of necessary materials that could serve as counterpoints, Falola has become an irrepressible voice in this domain today by giving his attention and seriousness to the resurgence of these knowledge items so that the world will be blossomed by the presence of alternatives. 

Great man, welcome to our part of the world!

Nigerians are visibly facing hard times following reforms in critical sectors involving petroleum, power and foreign exchange issues. President Bola, Tinubu, the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu and to a large extent, Vice President Kashim Shettima have quickly learnt how to show empathy to the suffering masses. They say they fully appreciate the gravity of the impact of the reforms on the masses while consistently appealing to Nigerians to be steadfast in support of the policies because of the expectations of a better tomorrow.

Although, no one is really that such golden expectations, would ever materialize, the compassionate posture and open support of those leaders for several palliatives, have made many people to remain silent in pain. However, any other top office-holder that does not appreciate the fragility of the silence makes a basic mistake.

Adebayo Adelabu, our current Minister of Power, is one such official who in addition to repeating the appeals already made by his bosses, engages in hurting and contentious communication that offend the sensibilities of a frustrated people. Perhaps Adelabu needs to learn a few lessons from Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development who speaks with a confidence that conveys hope. Alake is also talking tough but he restricts his threats to saboteurs and unpatriotic elements who are exploiting the nation. The other day Alake revoked 924 licences. In fairness, the assignments of both ministers differ just as Alake is in addition, a communication professional but no officials should take citizens for granted. For example, it is unfair to suggest that it is because of an alleged low tariff system in Nigeria that many Nigerians adopt a carefree attitude towards the use of the public power supply system. 

Minister Adelabu’s viewpoint is not only incorrect but it is made in a clime where the most unreasonable and permanent situation is a public power system that has remained epileptic. It is not only ordinary citizens that greatly deprecate Nigeria’s power system, the elites similarly loathe the trend. Only last week, power supply was seized while Adelabu was fielding questions from senators at the investigative hearing on “the need to halt the increase in the price of electricity” organised by the Senate Committee on Power. It was an excellent opportunity for the minister to hear the experiences of wealthy Nigerians. Addressing Adelabu on the power interruption that occurred in his presence, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said “You see what just happened. This is what we all experience. We the Senators experience it too and I am sure even the President does experience it at the Villa, just that he cannot speak out like we are.”

Certainly, Minister Adelabu cannot controvert the general view put to him by Senator Abaribe. If so, why did he have to threaten that Nigeria would be in darkness if the new tariff system is not implemented? When have we not been in darkness? In fact, 90 percent of Nigerians are not likely to understand the threat on darkness because almost every part of Nigeria has remained in darkness for longer than makes sense. The remaining 10 percent are out of darkness not because they get public power supply but because they have resources to get alternative power supply. To threaten Nigerians that there would be darkness except exorbitant tariffs are paid is a misplaced communication strategy because we all know that the power problem of our nation is caused by corruption. If the minister does not know this basic fact, then, he is probably in the wrong ministry.

It is therefore not irrational to imagine that perhaps Nigerians both high and low know more about the problems of power than its current minister. If our people do not know other details especially technical issues, it is an open secret that our power officials have made Nigeria become notorious for asking consumers to pay for even the tools that they work with. A few days ago, some citizens in Ilorin, Kwara State made public the demands on them to pay for multi-million-naira Transformers and even transport fares to fix faulty power facilities. Meanwhile, the relevant regulator, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is aware of the law that forbids electricity distribution companies from asking customers to buy or repair electricity assets as a condition for the restoration of power supply, yet it does nothing about the Kwara story which is replicated nationwide. 

To make matters worse, the tariff structure that officials want Nigerians to swallow is a 419 arrangement which explains why everyone is apprehensive about it. Whereas there are a few people would still evade tariffs even if the system becomes efficient, there is no doubt that no one is today satisfied with the power narrative which even reputable institutions have problem with. The communication between the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company IBEDC and the University College Hospital UCH, Ibadan is a case in point. Last month, the hospital threatened to shut its doors at 4pm everyday because power had been seized from the nation’s foremost teaching hospital. IBEDC’s case is that the UCH had been owing N400 million spanning some 6 years, but Jesse Otegbayo, UCH’s chief medical director (CMD), accused the company of giving the hospital industrial bills. 

Neither the illegal trend of forcing consumers to pay for official working tools of workers of electricity companies as revealed in the Ilorin story nor the categorization of the UCH as an industrial site has been reacted to by those who specialize in blaming citizens for the problems in the power sector. 

Instead, what seems to matter to both the regulatory body and the minister is a hurried tariff system that is put in place ahead of an inept service. It is like getting passengers to pay for a flight whose aircraft is undergoing repairs in the aviation sector. What makes the situation more irritating is that the electricity companies are making no effort to invest in the sector to make it ready for tariffs. Nigeria needs a power minister that can ensure that tariffs come after infrastructure is ready to deliver service. Before then, the current communication of the deaf by our power officials and their minister would remain ineffectual.

If the truth must be told, it is regulators and not the relevant minister that should monitor and manage the electricity companies for better performance. They should be compelled to do that forthwith while the minister holds-on strongly to policy. In other words, all efforts should be made to constitute an independent regulatory body for our power sector. The National Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC as currently constituted has not shown that it has the courage or expertise to call their agencies to order. Perhaps the problem may not be far from the situation in the last 8 years when friends and relations with little or no cognate experience in a business were mandated to regulate the same business. If so, government should pick competent hands into the NERC instead of seeing it as opportunity to give jobs to political supporters.

When Adelabu was appointed minister late last year he pledged to make a mark. There is doubt if he really understood the exact scope required to make a mark in a ministry that has become known as a giant killer. The legendary Bola Ige had to be rescued from the ministry in 2000 after spending just a year as its minister. Babatunde Fashola performed wonders as Governor of Lagos State but got humbled in the power ministry.

The only two ministers sacked by former President Muhammadu Buhari included Saleh Mamman who was Minister of Power. Since democratic rule was restored to Nigeria in 1999, no minister has exceeded the dismal 4MW of power coverage in Nigeria. If we cannot emulate Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia which have 100 percent coverage, Adelabu should find out how Botswana, Kenya and Senegal are fast moving towards the same feat. It can certainly not be through aggressive communication.

If I was a fly on the wall of the presidential quarters, I would whisper to President Tinubu that the streets are abuzz with the clamour for state police and that the current unitary policing system has outlived its sell-by date. 

Without doubt, one of the greatest legacies the president can gift Nigeria is a new policing architecture that guarantees the protection of lives and property for both the mighty and the lowly alike. If he fails to do that, the security situation will continue to deteriorate and, no matter whatever else his government achieves, it will just be written off as inconsequential. 

The House of Representatives has already set the ball rolling through a bill titled, “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to Provide for Establishment of State Police and for Related Matters (HB. 617)”. The proposed legislation was sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu alongside 14 co-sponsors.

The proponents argue that the establishment of state police forces is not merely a desirable reform but an imperative measure to address the burgeoning security challenges that threaten the nation’s collective safety. The bill envisages a transformative shift in Nigeria’s policing architecture, advocating for the decentralisation of policing powers by transferring the “Police” item from the “Exclusive Legislative List” to the “Concurrent Legislative List.” 

This strategic amendment seeks to empower states to establish and manage their police forces, thereby introducing a dual policing system intended to enhance responsiveness and accountability at the state level.

Already, some shrill voices of opposition have emanated from serving senior police officers  who frown at the idea of anyone balkanising their empire— even if that empire as presently constituted is but a pack of cards. A backward glance at history will educate nay sayers about the imperative of dismantling the current unitary system in preference for a more inclusive one. 

Separation Of Powers

An important feature of federation is devolution of powers and in any federal state, the primary responsibility for law enforcement should necessarily lie with the federating units. The police as the first line of defence for the citizens should be very close to the people as much as possible, but in Nigeria the police authority is far removed from the people and this tends to limit the effectiveness of the Nigeria Police Force.

With 371,000 officers, the Nigeria Police Force is overwhelmed, and many parts of the country lack any permanent police presence. Insurgents of different hues have seized control of some far flung territories, imposing brutal, bloody rule over the locals. In response, the military is now deployed in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, a major distraction from its role of territorial defence. Sadly, the creation of additional combat divisions by the Nigerian Army to join the existing four has been primarily in response to internal security rather than immediate threats of external aggression. 

In the 1960s, Nigeria operated a three-tier policing system comprising federal, regional, and local police. Community policing was the order of the day. The various tiers of government allocated adequate resources to ensure that police work at their various levels was effective. I knew the policeman whose beat covered our street. He knew every resident. The easiest way a visitor could locate an address or a family was simply by asking a policeman on the beat. 

Now we have policemen who don’t know the names of the street on which their ‘toll gates’— euphemistically called check points— are located. That is why they behave like an army of occupation. Their instructions come from Abuja. The mentality is that of a force deployed to occupy the states.

While it is true that there were allegations of brutality, nepotism and double standards levelled against the local police in the First Republic, the subsequent centralisation of the force under the military government did not fare any better. Politicians abused their access to the police at that time as they do today.  

The Us Example

The USA, whose presidential system of government Nigeria adopted in 1999, offers a template for a decentralised police structure with about 18,000 police departments, federal, state, municipal, county, village, college, campus and corporate organisations. (Punch, 2018.) State Police in the USA are also known as Highway Patrol, State Highway Patrol, State Troopers, all carrying out law enforcement activities including criminal investigations across the state. They collaborate with local police (county and village) to address complicated criminal cases. 

In other words, policing in the USA involves an independent autonomous police system at different levels of governance in the country. This implies that law enforcement in the USA is decentralised and the Federal police authorities deal with violation of federal laws while states police enforce state laws (see https://socialscienceresearch.org/index.php/GJHSS/article/view/3993/8-The-Imperatives-of-State_html)

I have argued for decentralisation of the police over the years. I am firmly of the view that, the bulk of the present personnel of the police force should be transferred to their states of origin to form the core of the police service for the states while the federal government embarks on a massive recruitment drive for fresh hands to man the new federal police with a minimum entry requirement of a university degree or Higher National Diploma. 

The on-going bombing campaign by Boko Haram and the threat of renewed violence by some elements in other parts of the country clearly show that the current structure of the police force under the ‘sole administratorship’ of an inspector general who reports to the president is unworkable. Each state should have its own police force headed by a police chief who reports to the governor of the state. 

I have heard arguments about the possible misuse to which politicians could subject the state police. I think it smacks of intellectual laziness to just sit idly to parrot a cacophony of fears of the unknown instead of pooling ideas to neutralise those fears. The argument that state governors will misuse any security force under their power is fraudulent. The greatest champion of impunity and self-help in Nigeria over the years is the federal government — and no one has suggested that we should strip the federal government of the power to control forces of coercion.  

The devil is in the details. The law enabling the establishment of state police should make it difficult for governors to hijack the body for selfish political purposes. 

Mark The Boundaries

The federal police should be something like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. That organisation is saddled with the task of protecting and defending the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to enforce federal laws. It currently has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal law. The national security priorities are stated as terrorism, counter-intelligence and cybercrime while the criminal priorities are public corruption, civil rights, organized crime, white collar crime, violent crime and major thefts. We can replicate that to delineate the duties and limits of the powers of our new federal police. 

The present nomenclature of inspector general of police should be converted to Chief of the Nigerian Bureau of Investigations to head the new body. The current crop of officers and men in the police force would have to be retrained to be useful to their states of origin before they are redeployed.

Some states in Nigeria are bigger and more populous than several countries in Africa and Europe. To argue that their governors are mere children who cannot be trusted with managing their own police service is fallacious and insulting. 

Every state can afford to fund a police service if security is prioritised.

Thankfully, the House of Representatives has started the process of legislating state policing into existence. I urge President Tinubu to put the weight of his office behind the initiative because, as things stand now, we are all sitting ducks at the mercy of random merchants of terror.

NO one in a position of authority deliberately sets out to give himself a bad image. What usually happens is that aides, family members, friends, influencers, lobbyists, and those in the corridors of power deliberately or inadvertently crop up injuries or a bad image for their principals. Some do this to curry favour as they pretend to be more Catholic than the pope, crying louder than the bereaved. Others do it deliberately to feather their own nests. Still, there are those who act consciously to give their principal a bad image. They hold grudges or have axes to grind for one reason or the other. It is not everything that happens in government that the governors know something about. No man can be in more than one place at a time. The late MKO Abiola recalled that he once introduced his Foreman to his father and the old man retorted, “Mba, no man can be four-man or do the job of four men”!

Authority must be delegated – but the one who delegates has a duty to ensure that the power so delegated is not abused. Where delegated authority is abused, the one who delegates carries the can because the buck stops on his table. Anyone who abuses the power delegated to him is either whipped into line or the powers delegated to him are withdrawn. It is in this wise that I beseech Gov. BabajideSanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos state, to either whip LASTMA (Lagos State Traffic Management Authority) and VIO (Vehicle Inspection Officers) into line or withdraw/review the powers vested in them, which they have, in my view, exercised arbitrarily, thereby inflicting much pain and sorrow on Lagos vehicle owners. The way and manner these two agencies, plus their Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) counterparts, extort Lagos motorists must now come to the attention of Gov. Sanwo-Olu.

Not all presidents have the capacity to do what former president Olusegun Obasanjo was reputed as doing: taking time to read virtually every memo sent to him, rather than consigning them to aides to handle. Also, not all administrators can do what Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa perfected as his own style of government when he was the military administrator of Lagos state. Marwa double-checked, even triple-checked, any information he received before acting on them. He had reliable friends outside of the civil service structure and government circles that he bounced information and decisions off before making up his mind. Again, not all politicians will be like Ayodele Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti State. Street-wise, man of the garb, and man of the people, Fayose hardly allowed a day to pass walking the street and mingling with ordinary people. “E pele, e pele” he would greet the people as he mingled with the hoi polloi. He was not averse to sharing his telephone numbers with the man in the street. He was also fond of putting phone calls across to ordinary people to seek first-hand information about happenings in their locality. I witnessed him bounce proposed decisions on ordinary folks or recruit them to conduct opinion surveys for him on critical issues affecting their communities.

Every leader has his own style, which differs from one leader to another. I cannot claim to know Gov. BabajideSanwo-Olu’s preferred style. Therefore, I would beseech whoever has his ears or those closer to his media advisers and image-makers than I do, to kindly bring this information to their knowledge: LASTMA and Lagos VIO, through their ingenious but oppressive activities on Lagos roads, are giving the governor a bad name. Under the guise of performing official duties, they fleece the people. Three weeks ago they almost ruined the wake of the wife of my brother-pastor: there is this place at the foot of the Mile 12 bridge while driving to Ikorodu where a conglomeration of Police, LASTMA, VIO, name it, are to be found congregating and hibernating; once an unsuspecting motorist steps on what they call the BRT lane, they swoop on the victim. No plea moves them. No condition you are in sways them. You must bribe them, and they usually demand hefty sums. If a motorist not familiar with a route mistakenly steps on BRT lane, what is wrong if you educate him/her and direct him/her to the right lane? Not these scoundrels parading as law enforcers!

It is like they have been given a target to meet by their office or they are the ones that have set a target for themselves! The woman ferrying the snacks for the wake of my friend’s wife was arrested and they demanded a bribe. She would not give. So, they kept moving her from one location to another. My friend, exasperated and sweating profusely at the other end at Ijede where the wake was to be held, called me. I began to trace these felons – common criminals in official uniforms acting under the seal and authority of the Lagos State Government. When they saw that the woman would not budge, they took her to an office in the Ojota area where she paid N70,000 and was let off the hook. She almost missed the ceremony. A few days ago, another friend who recounted the ordeal of his acquaintance in the hands of the same hounds told me that the receipts they write for offenders paying fines are usually fake and that the money often ends up in private pockets. It doesn’t get worse than that! The victims lose and the Lagos State Government loses as well. Some miscreants in uniform and their accomplices smile at the bank at the expense of both.

There is a subsisting court judgment barring VIOs from demanding the certificate of road worthiness of private vehicles. There is another restriction on the operations of FRSC officials, limiting them only to Federal roads. These brigands spurn court orders and peddle their impunity in broad daylight. But their day of reckoning may just be around the corner! Have you seen the videos of irate citizens engaging PHCN officials who come disconnecting their lines? It may soon be the turn of LASTMA, FRSC and VIO officials to begin to have their own baptism of fire. We have seen isolated cases already. It may soon become more widespread and commonplace. Lessen the people’s burden! Stop adding misery upon misery on a population already lying prostrate. When the long-suffering people of Israel told Jeroboam, who succeeded to the throne after the death of his father, King Solomon, to lessen their burden and he refused, threatening instead to make the people’s suffering doubly sore, the people scattered from following him!

Tell Sanwo-Olu and his party, APC, that another General Election will soon be here! Have they forgotten so soon how they lost the presidential election but managed to escape with the skin of their teeth in the last governorship election?  When penalties for traffic offences are insanely high, you end up aiding and abetting corruption. In the present dire economic situation, many will prefer to cut corners and save some bucks. Government loses at both ends: It loses the money it intends to make and loses as well the support and empathy of the citizens. No fine for minor traffic offence should attract the penalty of a fine higher than Five Thousand Naira (N5000). Before you compare the penalties for traffic offences in the United States and such other places (in dollar terms) with what you should replicate here, first compare the minimum wage here with the minimum wage in those other countries.

Gov. Sanwo-Olu should please withdraw the power of LASTMA to impound, arrest and impose fines on motorists. Their duty should simply be to direct traffic. When you see them crowd together at traffic lights, their main objective is for mischief. If the STOP sign (Red light) is on but they flag you on because there is no traffic on the other ends, you will be making a mistake to obey them because the installed camera will pick you as breaking the traffic light. In the next few hours, you will receive a notice on your phone that you have committed a traffic offence and should come to an office to settle your fine! But if they urge you on when the traffic light stops you and you choose to disobey them and obey the traffic light, they will swoop on you, taking fake photographs and accusing you of obstructing the free flow of traffic! Head or tail, you lose! Head or tail, they win! Have you noticed that traffic lights here do not operate as traffic lights operate elsewhere? They have tampered with them and have confused the way traffic lights normally work. This is one reason foreign countries usually advise their nationals, even those with dual nationalities, not to drive while in Nigeria.

The oppressive tendencies of LASTMA, VIO and FRSC on Lagos roads are becoming suffocating and unbearable. Something urgent should be done by the governor before citizens begin to take the law into their own hands. In this country, every layer of officials armed with guns or uniforms and licensed by the government usually results in another layer of oppression and impunity. I am beginning to reconsider my support for state policing!

The federal government has disclosed that following the report of investigation done by some committees set up by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), it will not hesitate to withdraw funds from any non-performing Centre of Excellence out of the 23 established years back.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, in Abuja while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.

Mamman, who noted that the report analysed is a major policy shift in education, said government will not continue to reward indolence by giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.

He said, “The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.”

On the non-performing institutions, he said: “If you were established five years ago and you are still at your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.

He however admitted that some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, stating that a lot of them are doing innovations.

Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof. Oyewale Tomori, in its report, declined to recommend any centre for upgrade.

 [DailyTrust]

Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.

Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.

Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.

He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.

According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.

“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.

“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”

Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.

“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”

The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.

Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.

This, the former governor denied.

[DailyPost]

A fast rising actress, Damilola Omotoso, has shared how she handled randy movie directors and producers who demanded sex for roles.

She stated she lost a lot of movie roles and job opportunities for shunning the sexual advances. 

“The most common challenge I faced in the industry as a newbie was losing a lot of job opportunities because I turned down several sexual advances from those who were in charge of the movie productions.

“I had to find money and start producing my own movies and from there I got more than enough chances to showcase my skills. 

So other producers and directors started noticing me and calling me for jobs,” she stated. 

The UNILORIN Chemistry graduate, who joined the movie industry in 2015, said her love to be a thespian started from childhood. 

She explained she was nervous the first time she was featuring in a movie.

She said she appeared in the work with established actors like Muyiwa Ademola and Bimbo Oshin.

“I was extremely happy being featured for the first time, it was an opportunity for me to showcase my talent but I was also nervous because I had to work with some of our industry veterans like Muyiwa Ademola and Bimbo Oshin,” she added.

The Ekiti-born actress, writer and movie producer has since featured in several other works and produced her movies.

Mentioning the titles of her own movies she stated, ” I have been privileged to produce movies like Oju Ide, Kanranjogbon, Radehun Alapoka, Married Strangers, Hidden Venom, and.a lot more. I have also featured in a lot of movies produced by some of my colleagues.”

Talking about the movie that brought her to limelight, Omotoso believes that there are a number of them but “If based on number I believe Kanranjogbon is it.”

The sultry actress noted that stardom has not changed her routine. 

 “I rarely go out unless it’s important or for work, even before I started acting so nothing has changed much for me,” she stressed. 

Shehas an advice for the up-and-coming actors and actresses. 

 “First,I’m  still up and coming as well but I would say we shouldn’t be so desperate and lose our morals just to become a star.  

“Take your time and also make sure you’re doing something different because there a lot of people doing the same thing in the industry and the only way to stand out is to be different,” she said.

[TheNation]

The Federal Government may consider the suspension of the $56.7bn peer-to-peer cryptocurrency market after a crucial meeting between the Securities and Exchange Commission, and digital asset operators scheduled for Monday.

Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis, a United States of America-based international blockchain analysis firm.

The latest move by the SEC signals a broader effort by the Federal Government to tighten regulatory oversight within the cryptocurrency space amidst growing concerns over illicit activities and the manipulation of the naira exchange rate.

Earlier this week, the Central Bank of Nigeria had stopped major fintech firms from onboarding new customers in an ongoing audit of their Know-Your-Customer process. Following the regulatory action, major fintech firms, including Opay and PalmPay, sent emails to their customers on Friday, warning them against trading in cryptocurrency or any virtual currency on their apps, and threatened to block any accounts found engaging in such activities.

The threat to block accounts has faced heavy criticism, particularly from the 33.4 million individuals actively trading cryptocurrencies; many of whom rely on cryptocurrency trading as their primary source of income.

However, Sunday PUNCH learnt that during the proposed Monday meeting, the government may choose to announce a temporary halt in the P2P crypto trading to enable it come up with a comprehensive set of rules for effective regulation of the space.

Other sources privy to the meeting said the government might choose to engage the crypto stakeholders on a new set of rules that could be deployed to better regulate the space.

They ruled out the possibility of imposing a temporary halt on P2P crypto trading. As of Sunday, details of the exact decision the government might take during or after the meeting with the crypto operators remained sketchy.

However, operators in the crypto market confirmed the meeting, saying the meeting would bother on the current development in the space. The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria, in a notice posted on its X handle on Saturday, noted that the meeting had been at the instance of the new Director General of the SEC, Dr Emotimi Agama.

BICCoN said, “The newly appointed Director General of the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed an industry-wide meeting with the Nigeria blockchain community. The meeting will be facilitated by the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria.”

Officially, the SEC has yet to confirm the Monday meeting, but sources close to the commission confirmed the meeting on Saturday. They, however, said that ‘nothing was cast in stone yet’.

In 2021, the CBN had restricted banks and other financial institutions from operating accounts for cryptocurrency service providers. However, in December 2023, the financial regulator lifted the ban and announced a reversal of the policy.

Fresh concerns emerged in February over the activities of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, on its peer-to-peer platform, such as implementing a price cap on USDT trading.

Authorities said those activities contributed to the devaluation of the naira and destabilised Nigeria’s economy.

Worried over the significant volume of transactions through Binance Nigeria, the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, stated that $26bn had passed through the platform over the past year from ‘unidentified sources’.

Amid the crackdown, the crypto exchange ceased all naira services, including deposits, withdrawals, and trading pairs, starting in early March 2024.

In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the Chairman of BICCoN, Lucky Uwakwe, said that the group would be seeking to reach a middle ground with the regulator, which had so far this year introduced stiffer guidelines for digital asset operators, as well as a proposed increase in the registration fees.

Ukakwe said the meeting “is for us to try and bring the industry to be compliant and remove bad actors who abuse technology, especially the concern raised by the government on those that use the technology for market manipulation of naira.

“We also hope that innovation in the industry is encouraged to enable the industry to gain more foreign inflow that will aid the current administration’s drive for foreign investment into the nation as seen in other countries such as China and the UAE, and not to stifle the industry.”

On his part, the President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Obinna Iwuno, told one of our correspondents that there was no official communication on the ban of cryptocurrency transactions from regulators. He said, “There is a whole lot going on. It is not just clear the direction as we speak, but hopefully, on Monday, we will get to have a position, “What we have done to solidify our position with the Nigerian government is that local exchanges stopped their naira services. The government raised an alarm that cryptocurrency was responsible for naira depreciation; operators stopped,” Iwuno explained.

The ‘Know Your Customer’ compliance level of fintechs has also been a source of worry for regulators. This involves verifying a customer’s identity and understanding their financial activity to prevent financial crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System’s fraud watch report, fraud losses increased by 496.96 per cent over the past five years, and financial institution customers had lost N59.33bn between 2019 and 2023. 

The report read in part, “The amount lost to fraud has increased over the past five years, along with the growth of financial transactions in the digital payments sector.”

A source from one of the major fintechs in the country, who preferred anonymity, disclosed to Sunday PUNCH that the CBN was not declaring cryptocurrency illegal, but was rather focusing on addressing regulatory and identity management issues.

“Some of the expectations from the meeting would be to have a more robust and safer ecosystem that will prevent fraud, and protect the funds of customers.

“The CBN is not saying that cryptocurrency is illegal, but there have been issues surrounding regulations and identity management. Those are the grey areas that the CBN is trying to address. They don’t want a situation where people are getting into Nigerian systems to defraud others, or engage in any negative activity that could harm innocent Nigerians.

“It is more or less about finding a way to make this thing work better. Sometimes, people can simply create a virtual account, and one won’t even know who is behind the account. So, it’s really about ensuring end-to-end verification, from the first line of payment to the very end, with the account holders’ identities attached to it. I think it is necessary at this time,” the source explained.

Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis. Despite Nigeria now leading in peer-to-peer exchange volume, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for only 2.3 per cent of the global cryptocurrency transaction volume between July 2022 and June 2023, making it the smallest crypto economy in the world.

In an interview with Techpoint Africa, Youssef said most of the P2P transactions did not happen on Binance or any other platform, but on social platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and ‘everywhere on the streets’.

“Most peer-to-peer (transactions) don’t happen on Binance P2P, NoOnes, or any of those other platforms. They happen on WhatsApp, Telegram, coffee shops, and everywhere on the streets. That is where most peer-to-peer is happening. I think most of that is peer-to-peer volume. They are trying to cover up too, because Nigerians are very crafty and have ways of using things for reasons other than what they were created for,” he maintained.

In March, the SEC, under the former DG, Lamido Yuguda, revealed plans to issue updated guidelines for the operations of digital assets and virtual asset service providers in the country, saying the new guidelines would ensure criminals did not gain entry into the country’s capital market.

The SEC notice, dated March 4, 2024, partly read, “The SEC has also developed a new AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual for licensing, registration, and ongoing screening of digital and VASP beneficial owners to ensure that criminals are not registered as operators in the capital market. The SEC is ready to interface with genuine VASPs based on these clear rules and regulations.”

The SEC also proposed that for virtual (crypto) asset service providers, ‘no person or entity shall provide any virtual asset service unless registered with the Commission; a company seeking to operate as a VASP shall be incorporated and have an office in Nigeria. Its Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director or its equivalent shall be resident in Nigeria.”

When questioned about the SEC’s proposed guidelines in the crypto sector at the last Capital Market Committee meeting that he chaired, the former SEC DG said investor protection was a driving motive.

“We want to ensure that investors who decide to get involved in digital asset products are well protected. We want a platform where certain capital market functions are duly segregated. If you are an exchange, we don’t want you to also be a custodian, and such.

“Also, we are very mindful that AML/CFT considerations are very important when one is dealing with crypto assets. We want to make sure it is not money laundering or funds used to promote terrorist financing,” the former SEC DG said.

The Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria, Babatunde Obrimah, told Sunday PUNCH, “I am not privy to the circulars sent to the Fintechs, and I am not aware that crypto is illegal. The meeting will put things into perspective.”

“I think the issue is that to trade, one must be licensed by the SEC. So, if one is trading without a license, then one is technically illegal. But, we should talk after the Monday meeting, instead of speculating,” he added.

In March, the SEC proposed a 400 per cent increase in crypto firm registration fees. However, checks by Sunday PUNCH, on Saturday, showed that the proposed guidelines had been deleted from the SEC’s website. It is unclear when the PDF was removed from the regulator’s website.

The proposed amendments to the rules for crypto issuers, exchanges, and custody platforms include hikes to all supervision fees. Instead of a N100,000 application fee and a N30m registration fee, the SEC proposed N300,000 with every application, N1m as a processing fee, and N150m as registration fee, with the sponsored individual fees raised to N300,000 from N100,000.

An economist, Aliyu Ilias, emphasised the need for urgency in addressing the deficiencies within the fintech ecosystem, citing the ongoing struggle of the apex bank to effectively regulate them, as illustrated by the recent case involving Binance.

Ilias argued that in the dynamic tech industry, regulatory clampdowns often led companies to exploit loopholes, stating, “Even the Know Your Customer requirement proves insufficient.”

Another industry stakeholder, who is also the founder and coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chuta Chimezie, expressed hope that the Monday meeting would ‘help the industry significantly, and improve the relationship between regulators and policymakers’.

“The last few months have been nothing short of wars. as the CBN keeps clamping down on P2P platforms,” he lamented.

[Punch]

Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage, NNMW.

It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.

Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.

According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.

Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.

“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”

Misquoted

Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.

“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.

“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying.

“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.

“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.

“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.

“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.

“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.

“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.

“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”

Negotiation table

On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.

However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.

“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.

“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.

“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.

“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.

“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.

“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.

“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”

‘How we arrived at N615, 000’

NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.

The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.

But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024.

In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.

“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.

“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.

“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.

“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.

“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.

“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.

“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.

”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.

“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.

Commencement date

”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.

”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.

“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”

Vanguard News Nigeria

A Nigerian couple based in the United States has been convicted of forced labour by a federal jury in New Jersey and faces 20 years imprisonment.

Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, and Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50 — who are both US citizens were also found guilty of operating a coercive scheme to compel two victims to perform domestic labour and childcare in their home.

Speaking at the end of the trial on April 24, Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general, said the husband and wife lured the victims to the US with promises of a better life and an education but instead subjected them to hours of physical and psychological abuse.

“The defendants confiscated the victims’ passports, threatened them, degraded them, physically abused them and kept them under constant surveillance, all to coerce the victims’ labor and ruthlessly exploit them for the defendants’ own profit,” Clarke said.

“Human trafficking is a heinous crime, and this verdict should send the very clear message that the justice department will investigate and vigorously prosecute these cases to hold human traffickers accountable and bring justice to their victims.”

According to the evidence presented at trial, including the testimony of two victims, the incident happened between December 2015 and October 2016.

“Once Victim 1 arrived in the United States in December 2015, Bolaji Bolarinwa confiscated her passport and coerced her through threats of physical harm to her and her daughter, verbal abuse, isolation and constant surveillance to compel her to work every day, around the clock for nearly a year,” the court heard.

“Isiaka was aware of his wife’s threats and abusive behavior toward Victim 1 and directly benefited from Victim 1’s cooking, cleaning and childcare.

“The defendants then recruited Victim 2 to come to the United States on a student visa.

“When Victim 2 arrived in the United States in April 2016, Bolaji Bolarinwa similarly confiscated her passport and coerced her to perform household work and childcare but relied more heavily on physical abuse.

“On at least one occasion, Isiaka Bolarinwa also physically abused Vitim 2, and he was aware of his wife’s coercive, abusive behavior toward Victim 2 and directly benefited from her cleaning and childcare.”

The US department of justice (DOJ) said both victims endured the abuse until October 2016, when one of them (victim 1) summoned the courage to outcry to a professor at her college, who in turn, reported the targets to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Both defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each forced labour count and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the alien harbouring count.

The DOJ added that they will also be required to pay mandatory restitution to the victims and each faces a fine on each count of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss from the offence, whichever is greatest.

A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.

[TheCable]