Former Manchester United striker, Dimitar Berbatov, has dropped his predictions of how matches would end at different grounds on the Match-Day eight of the 2023-2024 Premier League season.

Burnley will tackle Chelsea on Saturday in an away Premier League tie at Turf Moor, while Manchester United will face Brentford at Old Trafford.

Arsenal will host Premier League holders Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Providing his predictions, Berbatov was quoted by Metro UK as saying:

Luton Town 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Burnley 1-1 Chelsea
Fulham 2-1 Sheffield United
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Liverpool
Manchester United 1-0 Brentford
Everton 1-1 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 0-1 Nottingham Forest
West Ham United 2-1 Newcastle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Aston Villa
Arsenal 2-2 Manchester City

[DailyPost]

Many petroleum products depots are currently deserted due to lack of products caused by foreign exchange rate volatility, as the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has increased to N720/litre, oil marketers said on Thursday.

Petroleum products’ dealers also stated that filling stations were shutting down daily in large numbers, as it was becoming increasingly tough to run the business. They said this could lead to widespread fuel scarcity in coming months.

It was further gathered that the landing cost of PMS into Nigeria had increased to N720/litre, up from N651/litre in August this year.

Speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, in Abuja on Thursday, the National President, NOGASA, Benneth Korie, said a lot of depots were presently dried up or out of stock.

He said, “Depot owners are so terribly affected by the increasing cost of crude oil and exchange rate, to the extent that many depots are practically deserted as their owners are unable to secure bank loans to fund their business due to high-interest rates.

“Banks are not willing to guarantee funds release to stakeholders as a result of the difficulty, instability and galloping rates of foreign exchange and high cost of the dollar. Many depots are presently dried up or out of stock, and this is no gainsaying as it is evidently verifiable.”

He added, “Worst hit are filling stations whose owners find it extremely difficult to secure funds to procure products for their retail outlets. Both the independent and major marketers are so terribly affected.

“As of today, filling stations are shutting down in great numbers on a daily basis and dealers are going out of business, with many more on the verge of bankruptcy because of their inability to secure funds to facilitate orders for their stations.”

Korie said the government must therefore urgently come to the aid of the industry as quickly as possible to save it from an impending colossal collapse, which would result in a more devastating blow to the economy at large.

N720/litre landing cost

The PUNCH further gathered that the landing cost of petrol has risen to N720/litre from N651 in August.

The Chief Executive Officer, PETROCAM Trading (Nig) Ltd., Patrick Ilo, during an interview session with The PUNCH, said 52,000 metric tonnes of petrol imported by the company on Tuesday was already N720/litre without subsidies.

According to him, if the landing cost was already N720, the pump price should be around N729/litre in Lagos State if the Federal Government had truly stopped subsidising the product.

“This is the second time I am bringing in my vessel. But after bringing it in, I am trapped. I can’t sell it because I landed my own product at N720. And if you add transportation from depot to station, the value today should be N729/litre at the pump.”

He blamed the price hike on high foreign exchange rate, adding that the Federal Government was still subsidising petrol through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

The foreign exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria as of Wednesday was around N766/$1, while it hovered around N990/$ at the parallel market.

He said.”Yes, PETROCAM has an import license, and we have products in Nigeria. I want to say this out loud that I brought (in product) 52,000 metric tonnes of PMS today, which I borrowed about sixty-something million dollars to import.

“But I cannot sell. Why? Because of the price NNPC is selling. NNPC to my mind, they are still subsidising. NNPC is quietly subsidising the market. And I don’t blame the government. It is when we have a stable government that there could be prosperity.”

Ilo added, “As of today, NNPC is subsidising these products. And I’m talking about a subsidy of more than N100/litre. Because if you need to sell today, I landed my own product at N720. So how do you look at it? You look at it from the perspective of how much is diesel”

[Punch]

Naira, our local currency has taken a huge tumble and a nose-dive that is unprecedented in the history of any monetary instrument. The naira over a protracted period of time has almost become a non-convertible currency. It has assumed the position of an unenviably worthless piece of paper suffering the vicissitudes of it’s own circumstances and redundant fate.

The change of fortune of the naira and its unwelcome and unpleasant pestilence did not begin today. It started way beyond the times that our common imaginations can ascertain. It started from the era when the men in khaki with zero clue on how to run an economy, seized the reigns of government, and down to the period when the same men, donning civilian clothes., babanriga and agbada, pretending to be democrats and bearing all the solutions to our problems, transitioned into politics. In these periods, the rapid fall of our currency began and never looked back.

I recall with nostalgia events that occured in the mid 1970s when I attended the University of Nigeria. Prior to our graduation, we the graduating students were interviewed on campus by prospective employers from the public services and the private sector. I was interviewed by the Central Bank, Customs and Immigration Services, the Foreign Ministries, and by companies like UAC, Lever Brothers, John Holt, Breweries and others. All these organizations were jostling for the bright students and dangling incentives to attract our attention and services. The top pay at that time was a monthly emolument of about N2,000. This was more than sufficient for a new entrant to the world of employment. This amount, at that time, was equal, if not more than US$4,000.

Upon graduation, I and other graduands were very anxiously holding on tightly to the admonition delivered at our Nsukka campus Convocation grounds by the former Nigeria’s President, Nnamdi Azikiwe. The great Zik in delivering his speech, after dwelling on the bright promises our country held for us, asked us to go ahead and see our country and the world as our Oyster, urging us to seize all the beautiful opportunities they had in stock for us. Azikiwe’s speech stayed on with me for a long time, but little did I know that the Oyster he talked about was very soon to turn into a deformed crab without any legs or claws.

After graduation, I was posted to the then peaceful and beautiful city of Jos in Plateau State to serve the one year compulsory National Youth Service assignment. After orientation, most of us were offered accommodation and our monthly allowance was N180. Out of this allowance we fed, clothed and transported ourselves to work daily. Looking back now, I must confess that this allowance was more than sufficient for us. We never complained, but lived a very decent life out of N180 per month. I belonged to a group of “bobos” who held weekly parties (we called it shindigs then). We would contribute N5 each to a common purse and we gathered enough funds to buy a goat (N10), Chickens (N1 each), some beer (10k per bottle), and other requirements to host a decent party with very little funds. Our naira had value, and was as strong, if not stronger than many other currencies.

When I began a journey to the United States of America for graduate studies, my first port of entry was the JFK airport in New York City. My ticket on board the brand new Nigeria Airways Boeing 747 piloted by the legendary pilot Captain Allwell Brown, was N300. Upon arrival at the airport, I visited a money changing kiosk and handed over N400 to the cashier who in exchange gave me about $600. Today, if I attempted to exchange the naira currency at this airport or any other parts of the world, not only will this currency not be recognized or accepted, one may risk being detained or arrested for passing off a strange Instrument of payment. In less than 50 years, the naira has lost its glory, and has become as worthless as the paper on which it is printed.

Nigeria’s exclusion from the global currency ranking should not come to anyone as a surprise, given that the country has ascended to one of the world’s poorest and undeveloped nations. The lack of respect that the naira commands amongst many, if not most other legal tenders, is a long festering indication of the economic disaster plaguing the country over many decades. Eventhough the Nigerian economy is supposedly the largest within the continent of Africa, a strong and influencing factor that should elevate the evaluation of its currency, the benchmark of this naira, remains abysmally and dangerously low and disappointing.

The continuing decline in the value of the naira may be traced to various factors; the decline in oil production and prices, the waning global dependence on oil and the detrimental effect, stifling inflation, expenditure of foreign currency to honour obligations to international creditors, distorted economy with unstable governments and democracy, incoherent and dependent monetary policies, and the most significant being, the indolence and lack of vision of those in charge of our monetary and economic affairs.

To further probe the circumstances and find a perfect distillation of the melange and the sickness that befell the naira, is to observe the weak fiscal performance that pushed the country closer to a fiscal precipice. The past years of Buhari’s administration brought a mix of heightened political tension and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions that relapsed economic growth. During most of Buhari’s tenure the economic performance was driven mostly by the Non-oil sector, which posted a cumulative average growth of about 5 percent, while the Oil sector contracted by well over 20 percent. The oil sector decline was due to the prolonged reduction in domestic crude oil production as a result of massive oil theft and other disruptions. The Agricultural and Industrial sectors while experiencing weak productivity levels contracted significantly, posting negative growth that also affected the value of the naira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria is responsible for manufacturing, issuing, controlling and protecting the naira. In discharging its monetary policy postures, the CBN in the recent past has taken a somewhat hawkish position by increasing the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) several times. The monetary institution, similarly increased other policy parameters, such as the Cash Reserves Ratio (CRR). All these measures were adopted to constrain the money supply growth in the economy and rein in inflation while shoring up the value of the naira and reducing capital flight.

The efficacy of the Central Bank measures have been questioned and doubted by economists who pointed to the adverse effects of these policies when they triggered further depreciation of the local currency against other foreign currencies, mostly the US dollar. The critics blamed the redesign of the naira in December of 2022, amongst other factors, for the catastrophic collapse of the naira.

Between 2022 and today, the naira has depreciated by well over 50 percent in the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E), and the parallel market rates to N700/US$ and N900/US$ respectively. The consequences of these rapidly accelerating variables are the dire distortions aiding the volatility of the naira.

Amongst the many structural and vulnerability variables that have over the decades been bedeviling the economic well-being of the country, the most devastating is the shocks presented by the fall of the naira. How can any economy grow when its local currency has gravely lost value and indeed, lost current? What has worsened the poverty index in the country, is that food insecurity, energy crisis and inflationary pressures have persisted, thus driving the cost of living over the roof. Similarly, the economy’s negative positions and vulnerabilities got exercabated due to the adverse effects of the importation of petroleum products and the ever-nagging petroleum subsidy issue in a country that is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil. The amplification of these issues further worsened and weakened the position of the naira locally and globally.

The fragility of economic growth in Nigeria is conversely tied to the stability of the naira, but its somersaulting acrobatics over several years, have rendered the people despondently poor and impoverished. The diminished value of the currency has completely decimated the prosperity for the people. Try buying pepper in our local markets and hear the local traders lament that the low value of the naira against the US dollar and perhaps many other currencies, is the reason food items have become extremely expensive. The local motor park economists are all quick to tie the deficiency of the naira to its inconvertible value and to its incapacity to sustain any bargaining powers or strength.

As we ponder the many unstable economic environments, especially the macroeconomic ones that have rendered the various sectors incapacitated and unable to drive economic growth, is there any hope, is there any light at the end of the proverbial dark and swampy tunnel? To present a drastic reversal of the impending doom, particularly with the dying currency, our objective should require that we sustainably achieve at least an 8.5 to 10 percent growth rate per annum in our Industrial and Manufacturing sectors. This projection if achieved, will create more jobs and ensure that our unemployed graduates receive decent and well-paying employment. Additionally, we must reduce our overreliance on oil and gas and their petrodollar inflows, and avoid our vulnerability to the external shocks that occur as a result of microeconomic and macroeconomic instabilities in terms of volatile exchange rates, huge external debts, mounting local debts, diminishing foreign reserves, high unemployment, high inflation, and unstable fiscal and monetary regimes.

I am particularly troubled by the total enervation of the naira, the weakening and the draining of its energy and vitality. It has been made naked and deprived of the strength that it used to have. There is ample acknowledgement and evidence of the thrashing and beat-down of this currency, and the ripple and devastating effects of the cycle upon cycle of malevolent destruction and repeated obliteration. It appears that the nature of its tralatitiousness and its malfeasance in the hands of our leaders and policy makers over the decades, remain unabetted.

I began this essay as a raconteur; telling the stories of the glorious days of the naira, deliberately, and with an anecdote for every reason for us to evaluate the evanescence of our currency; its fleeting tendency to vanish like vapor, and fading away before our own very eyes. I have a certain feeling of torschlusspanik; a fear that time to act is running out, and that we may have dug a deep grave for our generation and many more to come for an implacable and an unstoppable fall to disgrace, hunger, and dystopia.

Our situation is not completely hopeless even as I am more pessimistic as any realistic person should be. The reason being that it appears that we may still be dwelling in paramnesia, and a condition of confabulation where those who should provide us with solutions are still living in confusion and fantasy. I am yet to see any serious policy thrust from our new government aimed at reversing the misfortune of the naira. Instead, what we see is what one may call a pococurante and almost apathetic statements without much weight or power.

Even as I have always stated that no one person or group has the solution to our myriads of problems, there are various reform solutions that have been advanced by well-intentioned Nigerians, of which I have been fortunate to be one. Unfortunately, it appears that the advice of these very few persons and groups has not been taken into consideration.

There are many critical reform strategies that I believe will create stability for the economy, and rescue the naira. Some of them are; to increase foreign exchange availability by removing capital controls, and encourage and promote the inflow of stable investments in the oil and non-oil sectors, ensure the appropriate pricing, rationing and management of foreign exchange by instituting a transparent and clear forex policy that will ensure market stability and restore investors confidence, control the spiralling inflation by synchronizing the fiscal and monetary policies of enhancing the efficiency of the CBN to project expansionary fiscal thrust policies. In addition, the authorities must develop agricultural value chains that encompass the much talked about, but nothing done, Commodity Exchange Market, and the integrated agro-processing industrial chain. This will enhance local production and competitiveness and save the country from dependence on dollar-based imports. Also of importance, is the removal of all export and foreign exchange restrictions by promoting and facilitating trade and exports that will support and deepen foreign exchange earnings.

Say and write what we may about the economic conditions of our country and the floundering position of the naira, the abundance of the aporia remain with our policy makers and our leaders. The wisdom, stoicism and selflessness found in true and upright leaders will determine the growth and development of our country. However, my philosophical inclination is the difficulty inherent in our leadership issues which imply that those who govern must first achieve governance of themselves, straighten out their souls, conquer their appetite for stealing, set their soiled characters aright; for the one who is tipping over and falling all over the place, cannot straighten others, nor can a thief teach or organize a disorganized country.

How can our naira not go to the pits when the custodians have been bent and toppled over by their innate idiocy, greed, avarice, foolishness and slippery fingers?

THE United Kingdom,UK, and Rwanda who conspired to have hapless migrants flown from London to open prison in Kigali, are trying hard to keep their unholy alliance on track. Ironically, the main driver of this criminal anti-immigration conspiracy, 43-year-old British Attorney General Suella Braverman, is of Indian origin whose parents, Uma and Christie Fernandes, migrated from Mauritius and Kenya.

Her boss, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s grandparents were Indians born in Pakistan, while his parents migrated from East Africa. The amiable King Charles III is a descendant of William the Conqueror who migrated from Normandy in France and whose forebears were Scandinavian Vikings. On the other hand, the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, knows what it is to be a migrant as his parents fled the country when he was two, and he was raised in refugee camps in Uganda.

It would have been expected that these leaders, given their backgrounds would be sympathetic to migrants, but the anti-migration conspiracies of the countries they lead, suggest otherwise. In order to carry out the inhuman act of rounding up illegal migrants, half of who are Indians and Africans, and sending them to an uncertain but difficult future in Rwanda, both countries tried to convince the world that what they are doing is compassionate work in the service of humanity. The argument presented by Braverman is that: “Many countries around the world are grappling with unprecedented numbers of illegal migrants and I sincerely believe that this world-leading partnership … is both humanitarian and compassionate and also fair and balanced.”

On the other hand, the claim of Rwanda as presented by its Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta is that the UK-Rwanda proposals “offer better opportunities for migrants and Rwandans alike and would help with the British government’s goal of disrupting people-trafficking networks.” Behind these claims are cold financial statistics and calculations in which the migrants are mere figures, not human beings. The British establishment is uncomfortable that the migrants, in comparison with the indigenes, have high birth rates which has implications for the country’s future, and that the country spends over two billion pounds a year to accommodate migrants. So it seeks a cheap way out: offer a $95 million contract to countries willing to take in so-called illegal immigrants and ensure they never come back to the UK.

Rwanda, whose primary interests are financial gains, agreed in 2022 to receive thousands of illegally deported migrants for a fee of $146 million. Specifically on who is to be deported to Rwanda, under the April 14, 2022 “asylum partnership agreement” the British Interior Ministry says they would be: “Anyone who comes to the UK illegally – who cannot be returned to their home country – will be in scope to be relocated to Rwanda.”

Despite their agreement on how to treat migrants by virtually holding them in open prison, both countries still have differences. The Rwandan High Commissioner to Britain, Johnston Busingye, in a video aired on Saturday September 30, 2023, fired a missile at his host, saying although his country has a binding agreement with the UK on the migrants, the latter should stop posing as a compassionate country that has the interests of refugees at heart. He said this is “immoral” and that Britain should address the root causes of migration rather than treat its symptoms.

Busingye said: “They should have a long-term policy of making it a choice for people not to risk their lives coming to the UK. Because right now, many people are not coming here because of war in their country. No, they’re coming here because they are hopeless. They’re coming here because they have no future.” He added: “It is immoral for this country to still see themselves as the refugee country, the solace country, the protection country, the compassion country. They enslaved millions of people for 400 years. They destroyed India, they destroyed China, they destroyed Africa.”

A red-faced British establishment is yet to make a coherent response. It is likely it would ask the High Commissioner to be withdrawn. Finding the chicken feed offered by UK appetising, Rwanda, five months later, turned to Denmark for a similar deal to dump unwanted asylum seekers from that country in Rwanda for a fee. Denmark, a socially conscious country may with this agreement find itself in strange company. It is a country that has a full Minister in charge of foreigners and integration. Its Integration Act is to ensure that “newly arrived foreign nationals get an opportunity to use their abilities and resources to become active citizens on equal terms with other citizens in the Danish society”.

So, how does a country with such a model law, embark on a mission to deport migrants for a fee into an uncertain future? It is also not certain if Europeans from Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Germany who form the bulk of the migrants would be sent to the African country or it would be the comparatively small number of non-European migrants from Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and India that would be sent.

The fate of the asylum seekers in Rwanda is not certain. But what is clear is that the 6,400-kilometre journey from UK to Rwanda is a “One way ticket”, so the victims cannot return. In Rwanda, the asylum seekers may be granted refugee status to remain in the country or seek asylum in another “safe third country”. Were they to remain in Rwanda, the possibility of eventually being expelled and forcibly returned to their countries of origin, is high.

There is the experience of Australia in 2012 seizing asylum seekers and seconding them to Papua New Guinea and Republic of Naru. There were long delays in determining their refugee status; they were virtually abandoned with little food and virtually no medical care even when a number of them developed mental illness. In some cases, 112 of them were cramped into a single dormitory. Some times when they ventured out of the detention centre, they were attacked, raped or beaten by the locals.

Four years later, it was discovered that at least 83 per cent of them were suffering from psychological disorder. The asylum seekers were so badly treated that some begged to be allowed to return to their home countries. Eventually, Australia was forced by international pressure to close the centres. In spite of this experience and the illegality of the UK-Rwanda agreement, most of the world is silent. This is worse in Africa whose ancestral land is to be desecrated. I am not aware of any African country that has called out Rwanda. The message out there is simple: migrate illegally to UK and go to jail in Rwanda.

Serie A Champions Napoli have condemned the sale and manufacturing of a Victor Osimhen doll, detaching themselves from the item.

Images of an Osimhen doll went viral on social media recently and the doll, which has the trademark hair and mask of the Nigerian striker, has been made out of the template of one of the most prominent dolls in Italy. It is, in fact, a new design of the Cicciobello Bomber, which is made by Giochi Preziosi.

It was reported in the media that the doll has been authorised by Napoli and Aurelio de Laurentiis and that it will be sold soon later this month.

But Napoli have released a statement, confirming that the Partenopei never authorised the sale and they condemned the reports which state otherwise. They have stated that the product is ‘unofficial’ and the club never authorised it from their end. The club have now taken actions to protect its interests.

Napoli announced that they will take legal action against the famous Italian toy store for an unlicensed.

“With reference to the news, which appeared on numerous online information sites, relating to the imminent marketing of a children’s game called “Cicciobello Bomber” – a doll that reproduces the features of the player Victor Osimhen, portrayed wearing a uniform clearly referable to the shirt from the Club’s first team – the SSCN specifies that this is an unofficial product, the creation of which has not been authorized in any way by the Club,” Napoli said in a statement.

“The Company has therefore taken steps to protect its interests in the appropriate places.” the statement read.

Osimhen was recently involved in a TikTok video row with Napoli.

The Nigeria international’s contract extension is currently in doubt and his relationship with the Serie A champions remains frosty.

He has scored five goals in nine appearances across all competitions for Napoli this season.

In a country of 133 million multidimensional poor, with youth unemployment at 53.40 percent, it would be a pity if anyone looking for an opportunity to earn a living missed the chance to hear the Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma recently. 

In a campaign speech for his second term, Uzodimma promised, as my father would have said, what Napoleon in all his extraordinary conquests and ambition could not even have dreamed of. 

In my humble view, it’s Japa 2.0, a giant leap forward for the youth delivered in a moment of creative genius, the last of which was seen when the Supreme Court’s ruling on his election petition sprung His Excellency from number four position on the Imo ballot list of contestants in 2019, all the way to the Government House.

I must dispense with any further rigmarole and get to the point, while the governor’s generous offer lasts. The governor told a crowd of excited, cheering youths who came to visit him at the Government House on September 26, that he had finally come up with a plan to put at least 4,000 of them out of unemployment, as part of his “Skill Up Imo” programme. He said he had spoken with representatives of some Canadian and European firms in Nigeria. The companies would not only train these youths, but also send them to different choice destinations in North America and Europe to work. 

As if that was not enough, he then added that his government was prepared to pay the flight tickets of all 4,000 eligible persons once their employment has been processed, with the possibility, I might add, that a few lucky ones may even fly first class!

Upon hearing this bonanza, the crowd roared and roared in raptures of ecstasy. Of course, the governor didn’t have to say this too-good-to-believe offer was tied to the potential beneficiaries voting for him at the November 11 governorship election in the state. Quid pro quo was implied.

Campaign in lullaby

Mario Cuomo’s dictum that politicians campaign in poetry doesn’t really do justice to politicians of the Nigerian variety. They do much better – they campaign in lullaby. 

In 1999, for example, a fellow called Ahmed Yerima campaigned for governorship, promising to make Zamfara the believer’s paradise. He vowed to end corruption and enthrone justice and prosperity through political sharia. The seed of his green-eyed fanaticism has bred a deadly variety of bandits that haunt that state today. 

Another fellow, Saminu Turaki, promised that if he was elected governor, Jigawa would become Africa’s Silicon Valley, with a tablet for every voter. It turned out, however, that the only time there was Internet service in the state for most of his tenure was immediately after he received billions of naira in monthly allocation from Abuja. Once the money entered the state’s treasury all lines to the Government House were unreachable until the next allocation.

There’s even a more recent example of campaign by lullabies, the sort that is now ensuing from Imo State. A gentleman governor called Professor Ben Ayade promised among a litany of things during his campaign that he would build a 260km superhighway from Calabar to Katsina-Ala in Benue State. He also promised a deep-sea port in Bakassi and a cargo airport in Obudu.

Voters bought his snake oil and repurchased it by giving him a second term. After eight years, they woke up to the harsh reality of the empty musical notes of Ayade’s broken promises.

Uzodimma-nistan

Perhaps Uzodimma would be different? What is the price of a vote, anyway, compared with the prospects of a new life, so bright and beautiful that the vistas only compare with a terrestrial realm which, permit my limited imagination, I can only describe as Uzodimma-nistanat this time? 

As I watched the excitement and anticipation in the mostly young crowd, I felt sorry for Uzodimma’s opponents who have so far been thoroughly unimaginative. All they have been doing when they’re not pressing for the Charter of Equity that they say should disqualify the governor from re-contesting, is to talk about some plan to make Imo safe and secure again, and how to end graft and corruption in government. 

After listening to Uzodimma’s extraordinary redemption plan for Imo youths, his opponents should humble themselves and take remedial classes from this man who has been a consummate snake oil salesman long before Imo River. 

The governor’s announcement on September 26 may appear ordinary to the undiscerning, but a friend of mine and obviously a closet Uzodimma admirer expanded the grand dimensions of the governor’s Japa 2.0 programme, totally hidden from my simple heart. 

When I criticised the scheme as a cheap and foolish campaign gimmick, my friend admonished me promptly. How could I compare Uzodimma with Yerima or Turaki or Ayade? Couldn’t I see the governor’s ingenuity, he asked? 

New industry

First, he said, all the talk about insecurity and corruption would vanish once the 4,000 ambassadors started working and remitting foreign exchange back home. And second, how could I not also see that the announcement by the governor, an accomplished salesman, had unleashed a cottage industry of sorts in the state already? 

According to my friend, as soon as the governor promised to provide jobs for 4,000 youths in Canada and Europe and also to pay their airfares, some smart folks in and around government would take the matter to greater imaginative heights 

In the next few days or weeks, for example, expect some people who might start hawking forms for Cohort One of either the Canadian or European editions of “Skill Up Imo.” If these retailers of snake oil charge only N5,000 per form, for example, they would have made N20m, if only 4,000 bought forms – a very conservative estimate in a state with an estimated population of 5.2 million, mostly youths! 

Imagine what that means for both the personal and government internally generated revenue. Between the sale of forms to the multiple rounds of screening, tests and final selection, my friend said, surely the good times would be back again. 

Think of the hundreds, if not thousands, of young people who instead of risking their lives in the desert of North Africa and the perilous Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe now have the opportunity of not only being trained by some of the best companies in the world but also being employed by them. And all of this on Uzodimma’s ticket, just for the price of a vote to return His Excellency to office! 

Reverse migration never looked so potentially profitable and America and Europe should have no difficulty seeing the win-win in this grand scheme. I therefore urge all busybodies trying to fact-check the governor to think about the implication of their action on this laudable and patriotic project and to desist forthwith.

My regret

My only regret perhaps is that non-indigenes registered to vote in Imo may not benefit from this programme, although it is likely that given the wild excitement that greeted the announcement and the likely political harvest, the governor may extend this scheme to non-indigenous voters as well, as long as they vote for him and retain a certified true copy of their ballot paper.

There’s a saying in my neck of the woods that if a fashion designer is offering to make you a special wear you must first look at what he is wearing. Surely, anyone like His Excellency, who registered a company in 2012 with a share capital of N5m and won a dredging contract of N26 billion five years later which was diligently not executed, should be trusted to send only 4,000 Imo voters to the moon and back, without much difficulty.

As they say in the South East, “Ya kpo tu ba!”

For the umpteenth time, Labour leaders have suspended their declared strike action after an eleventh-hour meeting with the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They said the suspension is for a period of one month. If, at the expiration of one month nothing concrete comes out of the so-called “promisory note” the Labour leaders said they got from the government - as a result of which the latest threat of strike action was suspended - what happens? They will start mobilizing for another strike again! The government will wait for the new deadline to approach before calling them in again for another meeting and another “promisory note” ad infinitum, and ad nauseam!

Who is fooling who? Or is this a combination of both the government and Labour fooling the people? How long will this game of musical chairs go on? That is one problem I have with the Labour leaders and their incessant threat of strike actions which they have been unable to carry through. Another is that I do not believe that strike is the proper weapon to wield at this point in time or that incremental wage increment is the solution to the problems at hand. N35,000, which the government has promised Labour, cannot buy a bag of rice and it cannot fill the tank of an average-size car with petrol that will last for more than one week. And this for only Federal Government workers and for only six months! What happens to other workers and non-workers alike? What happens after six months?

Nigeria’s problems are more structural and fundamental; the FG/Labour so-called MOU makes a mockery of a very serious matter. It’s akin to the so-called palliatives they claim to be sharing all over the place. The mockery of a palliative that palliates nothing apart, another is the callousness of those superintending the sharing in many instances, in that even this measly offering is not allowed to get to those who desperately need it. Our problems are more fundamental than Labour is making of them. For once, they should be patriotic enough not to allow the check-off dues they will cream off workers’ enhanced wages to be the main motivation. If the Labour movement is intent on helping the masses as well as seeing to the prosperity of this country, it has to change its focus and orientation.

There are more lofty ideas it should push forward. There are goals that will better benefit society at large that it should pursue than the tiny, tiny concessions it is disturbing our peace over again and again. This is not the time for the usual “aluta” grandstanding by Labour; our problems are very deep and demand sober reflection. It demands the putting together of heads by government and Labour - everyone, including those who have relocated to Chicago - to proffer solutions that will point the way forward in the right direction. Strike actions will further worsen an already bad economic situation.

The “promisory note” that Labour is gloating over cannot even make a dent in the armour of poverty that has enveloped the entire country. Labour was here when Muhammadu Buhari and his cabals cannibalized the economy and took the country back to the Stone Age. To now pretend and gallivant all over the place, making fiery but deceitful statements purporting that a four-month-old government will just wave a magic wand that will cause all the problems to disappear and usher in an El-Dorado overnight is not only unrealistic, it is also irresponsible.

I expect Labour to address itself to the core problems that need to be tackled and not play to the gallery. Getting the refineries to work so that the price of petrol, diesel and other petroleum products can climb down considerably is one such problem. The belated decision to jointly patrol ongoing work on the refineries by FG and Labour is, in my view, the right step in the right direction. Let the Labour movement keep a round-the-clock watch over the refineries and give the citizens blow-by-blow-account of what is going on there. Will the refineries be ready in December as promised? What of Dangote’s own refinery? Are we producing enough crude to feed the refineries? We must not wait until December before we start threatening strike action again over another botched promise.

Critical and fundamental issues such as restructuring, reducing the cost of governance and a probe of the Buhari administration are what I expect Labour to lead. Carry the elephant on your head rather than use your toes to hunt crickets! The groundswell of opinion is that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic (as amended) is defective and can only lead the country down the precipice. Does Labour share this view? If it does, it should lead the agitation for a better Nigeria but if it does not, then, it means that it is not in tune with reality.

While the people are demanding for a drastic reduction in the cost of governance, the government at all levels carry on as if nothing is amiss. Governors are appointing hundreds of aides. The National Assembly is buying bullet proof cars in a country that is the poverty capital of the world. If Nigerians have developed a thick skin to evidence of monumental corruption that was taken to dizzying heights by Buhari and his cabals, should Labour also follow suit? If Labour declares a strike over the humongous corruption perpetrated by the Buhari administration, Nigerians will salute it.

Education is being priced beyond the reach of students in our institutions of higher learning. Tears welled in my eyes when two youths in my church, both of them orphans, came to me to announce that they might drop out of LAG, as they call it, because of the increase in fees. Student leaders are in the streets demonstrating against the increase in fees but has Labour joined them? ASUU, an affiliate of the NLC, was at the receiving end of the big stick from Buhari for eight months without Labour lifting a finger. Is payment of the eight months’ salary arrears to ASUU part of the negotiation of Labour with the Tinubu administration?

If Labour partners Nigerian students to resist the commercialization of education; if it partners ASUU to arrest the rot in our institutions of higher learning and lean on the FG to respect its MOU with ASUU, the generality of Nigerians will be better served than the measly and selfish “promisory note” from the FG that Labour is waving in our face. One of the salutary effects of the removal of fuel subsidy, if I may call it that, is that more funds have been available for sharing to the three tiers of government – but will that not translate into more security votes for governors and more money in the pockets of our political leaders? Will it translate into the regular payment of salary and pension arrears, and enhanced salaries as at when due? Will it translate into drugs in the hospitals, good roads, employment of more teachers, doctors, nurses and other essential workers?

I can go on and on! Labour’s approach to Nigeria’s problems is embarrassingly pedestrian. Fortunately, we have had Labour leaders properly so-called in this country. We saw Labour leaders like Pa Michael Imoudu during the colonial era. And we saw Labour leaders after Independence. As a reporter, I covered Labour and I saw Labour leaders like Hassan Sunmonu, Lasisi Osunde and even Paschal Bafyau, Frank Kokori and others. Incidentally, many of the Labour leaders of today were pupils of those leaders but why are they not following in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors? Labour began to show signs of compromise during the time of Bafyau; Adams Oshiomhole as NLC president, though loud, did not fare better. Running with the hare and hunting with the hound; speaking from both sides of the mouth; leading workers on protest in daytime, making fiery speeches but dining with the “oppressors” in the night hallmarked the Labour activities of that period. In my view, Labour is yet to recover from the shenanigans of that epoch.

Inflation is at an all-time high. Unemployment figures are alarming. The “japa” syndrome has emptied the country of critical professionals; industries and capital are voting with their feet. Insecurity has driven farmers off the farm and food shortages have seen food prices shooting through the roof. Youth restiveness and heightened crime wave are turning the country into the Hobbesian “state of nature of the war of one against all, where life is brutish, nasty and short” A holistic approach to the country’s myriad problems is needed. Labour’s playing to the gallery obfuscates issues. They raise workers' hopes but dash them at the eleventh hour. Is it not safe, then, to conclude that they are part of the problem and not part of the solution?

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has downplayed the gravity of the forgery allegation levelled against President Bola Tinubu by former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Recall that Chicago State University had during a deposition at a United States Court in Chicago said they did not issue the certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC to contest for the election.

At a press conference yesterday in Abuja, Atiku opened a can worm of Tinubu’s past misdeeds and unpalatable actions, the allegations were mostly based on the documents he obtained from the Chicago State University.

Reacting to allegations against Tinubu, the APC
said that it is unfazed by allegations made against the President by Atiku, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election.

The APC stated that Atiku is deeply resented of Tinubu because, according to them, he believes Tinubu was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year.

The APC, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said that Atiku delivered nothing except the pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions and deliberate falsehood on his infantile obsession with the academic record of Tinubu

The party said that Atiku has been out there for several weeks now, displaying utter desperation in his bid to become the President of Nigeria.

The APC said that Atiku’s press conference was a calculated attempt to whip up public sentiments and inordinately pressure the Supreme Court.

“We believe Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should have known better than to demonstrate gross contempt of the highest court by making public comments on a matter that he has submitted to the court for adjudication

“The major takeaway from his Yar’Adua Centre show, especially at question time, was that Atiku harbours deep animosity towards Tinubu, whom he believes was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year” the statement read.

Protocol

Gentlemen of the Press, Fellow Citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I consider it important to address and report to you today on issues that define the future of elective government and legitimate leadership in our country.

Political leadership and active citizenship matter because they are ways through which we all work together to build a country that works for all who live in it. Our country is bigger than any of us, and its standing in the world affects the fate of all who come from or live in it. As leaders, it is our duty to advance the well-being of all our people and of the country.

For this purpose, my generation worked hard to return the soldiers to the barracks and to defend the right of the people to elect and establish for ourselves a legitimate government. Our elections are established and governed by law and founded on the constitution from which leadership and government in Nigeria alone derive their legitimacy.

The people look up to us as leaders to respect these rules and, where necessary, to defend them. This is what brings us here.

Today, we are called upon again as a people to uphold and defend the ground rules of elective government in our country. The constitution prescribes the requirements for those who seek the highest elective office in the land.

It should not take months or, indeed, decades, for the institutions concerned to be able to do their work in establishing the credibility of any certificates presented by candidates for public office.

We undertook this journey at great cost and for important reasons. The ground rules for legitimate governance in our country need to be upheld, and the reputation of our country is at stake. That affects everyone, Nigerians everywhere.

I am a democrat by conviction and a citizen of a country that I love. The issues at stake in this case require us once more to re-dedicate ourselves to both the country and our constitution.

Now, we entrust these facts to us all as citizens and as leaders of the institutions charged with interpreting our constitution. I should thank the lawyers both in Nigeria and in the United States, who have assisted us in bringing clarity and definitive answers to these issues that appear to have defied our institutions for nearly a quarter of a century. I also want to extend my gratitude to Nigerian citizens and friends of Nigeria both within and beyond the shores of our country for their patience as we have sought to find the facts and establish the truth.

I wish to pay tribute to the late human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, who inspired us on this path of discovery. Now, he can truly rest in peace in the assurance that what he started about 23 years ago has come to fruition. Gani’s vindication today gives credence to the saying that no matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it.

Former American President Thomas Jefferson once said, “If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter”. From exposing the Watergate scandal and unravelling the dubious certificates of politicians, journalists have maintained eternal vigilance by bridging the gap and stepping in when other arms of government failed.

It is for these reasons that commendation must be given to David Hundeyin, an independent journalist whose extraordinary work and those of many more young people like him has become a source of inspiration. Special thanks must be given to the millions of Nigerian youths and citizen journalists too who continue to put out the truth online even when no one is listening. Indeed, the price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance. They have put the country first in their firm commitment to unravel the truth and hold leaders accountable. This gives me the hope that we have worthy partners in the struggle to reclaim the country we call home.

This quest is not for or about Atiku Abubakar. It is a quest for the enthronement of truth, morality, and accountability in our public affairs. In line with this, therefore, I am calling on all well-meaning Nigerians, leaders of thought, our religious leaders, our traditional leaders, our community leaders, our political leaders, and in particular, Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP and, the leaders of every political party in Nigeria, and, indeed, every single person who loves this country, as I do, and who wishes nothing but the best for the country, as I do, to join me in this campaign to enshrine probity, accountability and the basic principles of justice, morality and uprightness in our country and in our government. This is a task for each and every one of us.

Thank you for listening. May God bless you, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

From his experience last week with the workers of his ministry, David Umahi has now realized that Abuja is not Abakaliki; and federal civil servants are not as docile as the workers in Ebonyi whom he treated shabbily with disrespect, disdain and humiliation for eight years. The minister must have picked up a few lessons in employee relations and the need to be empathetic to others. I commend the workers in the federal ministry of works for making their points succinctly to the minister and I ask all former governors who are now ministers to learn a lesson or two from Umahi’s experience. The minister of works had arrived his office around 9.40 am on Thursday, September 28, and realized that most of the ministry’s civil servants were not in office. Typical of what many a governor would do, he ordered for the late comers to be locked out. If this had happened in Abakaliki or any other state capital, the workers would have begged, crawling on the floor and crying. The governor would probably order them to be flogged; suspended or punished, depending on his mood. But the federal civil servants would have none of that. Instead, they barricaded the gates to the ministry, protesting the minister’s seeming highhandedness and challenging him to do his worst. A rowdy scene erupted at the gates, as nobody was allowed in and out. There were chants of ‘’Umahi must go’’. Suddenly, the minister became a prisoner in his office, locked in by his workers, whom he had locked out earlier. He did not see this coming.

The workers berated the minister for his impulsiveness without due consideration to their plight. They go to work from outside Abuja metropolis, some from as far as Niger State. Without proper mass transit services which all national capitals have; and with the recent hike in fuel price, commuting to work has become a nightmare, especially for low-income workers. When Umahi realized that the workers were not joking, he called for a truce and asked their leaders to come up to meet with him. They refused, and instead, asked him to come down to meet with them at the gate. He obliged, but the workers went further to ask for his apology for his overbearingness. He did. The spokesman for the workers told the minister, ‘’This is not a state; this is the federal capital. You should respect us…’’. Umahi looked visibly shaken, humiliated and disheveled. Never before in his long career in politics and public service has he been this subdued by his workers. ‘’We expect the minister to show better understanding of the situation in the country, instead of trying to run this place like Ebonyi State’’, one of the workers told the press. The revolt of the workers was a clear indication that if pushed to the wall, Nigerians will take their fate in their own hands. It is likely that if the minister had not quickly pacified the workers, something drastic would have happened. It is a lesson to the other big men of Abuja.

As governor of Ebonyi for eight years, Umahi was notorious for abusing, harassing and terrorizing workers and the people of that state. In October last year, he was inspecting construction work at the Ebonyi airport, Onueke, when suddenly he realized that some workers were late to work. Umahi ordered the workers to sit on the floor while his guards (police and soldiers) started whipping them on his orders. It was a scene reminiscent of how slaves were treated in cotton farms in Europe and the Americas over 400 years ago. In October 2019, Umahi ordered the arrest of some motorists whom he claimed had blocked his motorcade on the road. They were mourners returning from a funeral. The following day at a public event in the Government House, the governor bellowed out, ‘’Next time, the ADC should order for them to be shot. It is very illegal to block a governor; and if anybody is killed in the course of that, it is allowed in the law’’. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the governor ordered security men at the state’s isolation centre to gun down anybody who tried to leave the centre. In addition, he instructed that those who do not wear mask should be arrested and flogged publicly.

I recall also the case of a journalist with The Sun newspaper, Chijioke Agwu, who wrote a report on the outbreak of Lassa fever in Ebonyi in 2020. Umahi did not like the report, and he instantly ordered for the arrest and detention of the reporter. After his release, the governor banished him, together with Peter Okutu of Vanguard newspaper, from entering Ebonyi State. The was outrage nationwide, but the governor couldn’t care less. He soon issued a fatwa against the press: ‘’If you think you have the pen, we have the koboko. Let’s leave the court alone; Ebonyi people are very angry with the press, and let me warn that I won’t be able to control them, or know when they unleash mayhem on you if you continue to write to create panic in the state’’.

David Umahi has been in politics and public service for a good part of his working life. He’s been PDP Chairman in Ebonyi; Deputy Governor; Governor and recently a senator. He has become very rich; and with his fabulous wealth, he can get away with anything. But in Abuja, he will have a tough time continuing with his authoritative and arrogant conduct. Civil servants are well protected from harassments, highhandedness and the imperiousness of their bosses by the Public Service Rules; Trade Disputes Act; ILO Conventions; ILO Declarations and Principles on the Right of Work and ILO Declaration on Safe and Healthy Working Environment. In our public service, lateness to work only attracts a query. Even then, it must be ‘’a habitual lateness’’ to attract a query; and in any case, it is not the minister that is expected to deal out any punishment to the workers. This is where the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation should come in and update the ministers on how the civil service works.

The minister’s baptism of fire is a wake-up call to other ministers, especially former governors, who are used to high-level impunity. Nigerians are facing the most excruciating living conditions since the end of the civil war. Many can no longer afford to drive their cars to work due to high fueling costs. While some make do with the unreliable public transport, others walk long distances to get to, and return from work. Some are unable to provide for their families. They are hungry and angry, and any unjustified provocation from any minister or politician may easily result in a combustible explosion. Public officials should therefore be more empathetic, sympathetic and understanding of the plights of ordinary workers and Nigerians. The FCT administration under Mr. Nyesom Wike will have to provide adequate bus service for the residents of Abuja. This was a common sight in the city during the el Rufai administration. I think Wike can repeat that. Across the states, the governors should also take steps to ameliorate the sufferings in the land by providing bus service for the low-income workers and students.