Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to publicly instruct former governors who are now serving as ministers in his administration to stop collecting life pensions, exotic cars and other allowances from their states.

SERAP urged him to “instruct the former governors to immediately return any pension and allowances that they may have collected since leaving office to the public treasury.”

This was made known in a statement on Sunday signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare.

The former governors who are now ministers in the Tinubu administration include Badaru Abubakar; Nyesom Wike; Bello Matawalle; Adegboyega Oyetola; and David Umahi. Others are: Simon Lalong; Atiku Bagudu; and Ibrahim Geidam.

In the letter dated 19 August 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “The appointment of former governors who collect life pensions while serving as ministers is implicitly forbidden by the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and the country’s international legal obligations.”

SERAP said, “You would be acting in the public interest by stopping former governors now serving as ministers in your government from collecting life pensions, especially given the current grave economic realities in the country.”

The letter further read, “If the ministers that the president appoints are those who collect life pensions rather than serve the public interest, then that may show little about the conduct and integrity of the ministers, but speak volumes about the exercise of presidential power of appointment.”

“Nigerians will judge you in part by the conduct, integrity and honesty of the ministers that you appoint to work in your government. Ultimately, the success of your government would depend on the conduct of the ministers that you appoint.”

“While many pensioners are not paid their pensions, former governors serving as ministers get paid huge severance benefits upon leaving office, and are poised to enjoy double emoluments on top of the opulence of political office holders.”

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.”

“The exercise of your power of appointment ought to reflect ethical and constitutional safeguards and requirements, and the fundamental principles of integrity and honesty.”

“Stopping the former governors from collecting double emoluments would be entirely consistent with the proper exercise of your constitutional power to appoint ministers.”

“Stopping the former governors from collecting life pensions would ensure that the country’s wealth and resources are used for the common good and benefit of the socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians rather than to satisfy the opulent lifestyle of a few politicians.”

“Instructing the former governors now serving as ministers in your government to stop collecting life pensions from their states would also improve public confidence in the integrity and honesty of your government.”

“Constitutional oath of office requires public officials to abstain from all improper acts, including collecting life pensions, that are inconsistent with the public trust and the overall objectives of the Constitution. A false oath lacks truth and justice. The oath statements require the oath takers to commit to uphold and defend the Constitution.”

“According to our information, the following former governors are now ministers in your administration: Badaru Abubakar (former governor of Jigawa State and Minister of Defence); and Nyesom Wike (former governor of River State and FCT Minister).”

“Others include: Bello Matawalle (former governor of Zamfara State and Minister of State for Defence); Adegboyega Isiaka Oyetola (former governor of Osun State and Minister of Transportation); and David Umahi (Minister of Works).”

“Others are Simon Bako Lalong (former governor of Plateau State and Minister of Labour and Employment); Atiku Bagudu (former governor of Kebbi State and Minister of Budget and Economic Planning); Ibrahim Geidam (former governor of Yole State and Minister of Police of Affairs.”

“The states currently implementing life pensions for former governors reportedly include Jigawa, Kebbi, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Yobe, and Rivers. Many of these states owe workers’ salaries and remain the poorest in the country.”

“Several of the pension laws in these states include provisions for six cars every three years, a house in Lagos worth N750 million, and another in Abuja worth N1 billion, unrestricted access to medical attention, and pensionable cooks, stewards, and gardeners.”

“Other provisions 100 per cent annual salaries of the incumbent governor, security operatives and police officers permanently assigned to former governors.”

“SERAP notes that in your inaugural speech as president you promised that your administration will be guided by ‘the principle of the rule of law, a shared sense of fairness and equity’, and that ‘Nigeria will be impartially governed according to the constitution.’”

“These commitments are consistent with your constitutional duties under sections 5, 130 and 147, and oath of office, under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

“By the combined reading of these provisions, your government has a legal obligation to appoint as ministers former governors whose conduct is entirely consistent and compatible with constitutional and international legal requirements.”

“These constitutional provisions also require you to instruct the former governors to stop collecting life pensions and to return any pensions collected to the public treasury.”

“The country’s international legal obligations especially under the UN Convention against Corruption also impose a legal commitment on public officials to discharge a public duty truthfully and faithfully.”

“Life pensions for former governors serving as ministers are entirely inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s obligations under the UN Convention against Corruption.”

“The convention specifically in paragraph 1 of article 8 requires you and your government to promote integrity, honesty and responsibility in the management of public resources.”

“Furthermore, Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo in a judgment dated 26 November, 2019 also indicated that double emoluments for former governors are unacceptable, unconstitutional and illegal. Indeed, former governors collecting life pensions while serving as ministers would clearly amount to taking advantage of entrusted public positions.”

“‘Public function’ means activities in the public interest, not against it. The alleged collection of life pensions by former governors now serving as ministers amount to private self-interest or self-dealing. It is also detrimental to the public interest.”

THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has refuted the alleged appointment of afrobeats star Afeez Adeshina Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, as an ambassador.

The Agency, in a statement by its spokesperson Femi Babafemi, on Saturday, August 19, described the alleged appointment as ‘misleading’ and ‘absolute falsehood,’ adding that the picture of his visit to the agency was properly captioned.

Marley, it would be recalled, had visited the agency’s Abuja headquarters on Thursday, August 17, where he delivered a message against drug abuse, encouraging Nigerians to steer clear of drugs.

Sharing images of his visit on Thursday via its Twitter account, NDLEA wrote: “Photo caption 1: Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd.) with music star, Naira Marley when the artiste paid a visit to the National Headquarters of the Agency in Abuja to declare support for the War Against Drug Abuse on Thursday 17th August 202.

“Photo 2: Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) and music star, Naira Marley (both middle) flanked by the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi (2nd l) and other members of Marley’s team: Sam Larry; Dami Marshal and Chuddy Naira when the artiste paid a visit to the National Headquarters of the Agency in Abuja to declare support for the War Against Drug Abuse on Thursday 17th August 2023.”

This event was followed by different reactions and speculations from Nigerians on social media, with many asserting that the singer had secured an ambassadorship with the agency during his visit.

Several individuals who commented on the post expressed concerns that the agency hadn’t done its due diligence before ‘appointing’ Naira Marley as ambassador, while some stated that the supposed appointee is a drug user.

Meanwhile, reacting to this, NDLEA said its engagement with the star was “to encourage him to use his skills and platforms to put out content that will discourage millions of his followers and Nigerian youths from substance abuse.”

Part of the statement read: “This clarification became necessary following continued misrepresentation of the purpose of the visit, especially on online platforms where some reports suggest that the British-Nigerian singer was appointed as an NDLEA Ambassador.

“This is a misleading and absolute falsehood as the pictures of the visit and the short video containing Naira Marley’s advocacy message to his followers were properly captioned and shared by the Agency without any suggestion of such an appointment.

“The decision by the Agency to encourage Naira Marley with over seven million followers, half the population of those who abuse drugs in Nigeria, to use his platform to share anti-substance abuse messages as against using same to promote and glamourize drug abuse with the dire consequence of misleading millions of Nigerian youths into their peril, is to create a balance between our drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

“This is also in line with the Agency’s whole society approach to the fight against drug abuse and in tune with global best practices as well as the theme for this year’s World Drug Day; People First: Stop Stigma and Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention.”

[ICIR]

Here’s the list of the top 10 most powerful militaries in Africa in 2023, according to the most recent data from Global Fire Power.

Based on the military strength, the country with the Power Index (‘PwrIndx’) score of 0.000 is considered the strongest. The military strength of countries is compared with this score.

Egypt has the strongest military forces in Africa in 2023 thanks to its conventional fighting capacity. Egypt has a score of 0.22, the highest in Africa. Trailing behind Egypt in the list are Algeria and South Africa in second and third positions, with scores of 0.39 and 0.48, respectively.

Below is the top 10 list of powerful countries in Africa with their Power Index scores:

• Egypt (PwrIndx Score: 0.22) 

• Algeria (PwrIndx Score: 0.39)

• South Africa (PwrIndx Score: 0.48)

• Nigeria (PwrIndx Score of 0.55)

• Ethiopia (PwrIndx Score: 0.79)

• Angola (PwrIndx Score: 0.87)

• Tunisia (PwrIndx Score: 1.32)

• Libya (PwrIndx Score: 1.47)

• Uganda (PwrIndx Score: 1.62)

• Kenya (PwrIndx Score: 1.77)

THE taste of victory is particularly sweeter in the aftermath of a series of defeats. We are reminded of this paradox of human life as…

[Tribune]

Soon after the 2011 general elections which the PDP won by a landslide,Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in the media calling on all opposition parties to form a mega party.By 2013 he had reached out to every component of what is today known as the APC and sold to them the idea of a coalition that would produce the most popular opposition figure and perennial contestant; Muhammadu Buhari as presidential candidate.That singular move cemented his status as one of the greatest politicians in the history of this country and not a few of those that voted him into power in the 2023 election hope we will all benefit from his wisdom.

A friend and I were texting today about how our mornings had not started well. She had lost her keys and subsequently missed both a dentist appointment and a work meeting. I had placed an important form in a “safe place” and then could not remember where I put it. The longer my friend and I kept looking for these items, the more flustered and upset we became.

As time dragged on, my friend’s worries grew. What if she did not find her keys? Had she thrown them away by accident? Getting a replacement key fob is not easy nor cheap. My concerns mounted as well. While requesting a new form would not set me back in money, it sure would set me back in time. I just knew I would have to call customer service and be passed from person to person to request what was needed. I dreaded the hassle it would be. Instead of stopping a moment to collect the proper perspective——we both swirled through our homes like raging storms.

I want to see the new ministers do well, but there is little they will be able to do because even their emergence has been greeted by our usual pessimism, not because we don’t believe in them, but the process itself is a lost cause, a missing in action methodology.

The ministers will not minster well because if you have watched the drama between the House of Representatives AdHoc Committee investigating job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), and what has happened at the Federal Character Commission FCC despite all that swearing with various hold books simply points to the fact that while the big thieves do theirs, the civil servant who steals public funds will not stop because there are new ministers.

There is a new Acting Inspector General, he may want to do things differently but it will still be the same difference, call policemen off the roads, establish call lines which by the way are not toll free and a few rhetoric but personnel will still collect bribe at the detriment of national security, and thus whoever is head of police affairs cannot minister much.

There is not much we can do when a nation that saw the creation, birth, and production of an “the damsel from the east and her high JAMB score”, and how the matter has died, fact is that the Minister for Education cannot do much especially not only as teachers who organizes special examination centres litter around there will remain those at Unical that turn faculties into brothels.

Will the Minister deal with parents who pay for exam malpractice for their children, that pay teachers to have their kids get prizes they do not deserve on the speech and prize giving day.

We want to see change whether by renewed hope or the illusionary from consumption to production, whoever is minster has to deal with citizens who shunt queues and disobey traffic rules, those that refuse to get valid papers for their vehicles and will shout about how some ministers will embezzle Public Funds.

As I write this, several ministers already have been hosted to all kinds and manners of receptions, with some even being celebrated with full paid page adverts and when they start to act to script, they will be no different from the boss who gives unmerited favours to his subordinates on the basis of religion, tribe, political, and other social affiliations.

Mr. Tinubu has taken a whole lot of stick, and like leaders the bulk stop on his table, but like the Ministers they will be no different from the goods sellers who hoard goods to create deliberate scarcity.

The new Attorney -General and charge de affaire for Justice will have new ideas and like his counterpart in health,  judges and lawyers will make ways for criminals to escape facing the wrath of the law; same way that doctors will refer their patients to private facilities for personal gains. And engineers will construct below agreed standard facilities for personal gains, the Minister will look away because of because. It is who we are!

The Central Bank and preliminary findings from its audit report show dat wahala dey with bankers that collect brokerage that has been inflated, inside trading from stock brokers are fraudsters benefit because of insider information. The youths who believe shady and fraudulent acts are ways of hustling will test the minister for finance and our economy will be tested, will he be able to minister?

We are all guilty, whether it is the cleric that calls for fasting without fasting, if the government fails, other things will fail automatically, incidentally no one is called government, we are government. The new ministers are products of our environment. We need to figure out what we lost, where we lost it.

Thankfully, I am happy to report that we both found our missing items. My friend’s keys were in a closet on the top shelf. She had looked in that closet but in a raincoat pocket. She never thought to look up at the shelf. I had misfiled my form, and in my agitation and haste, must have flipped right on past it while looking. I was relieved but not proud at how easily I lost my cool. And if I am honest, this is not an isolated case. How many times have I let minor inconveniences and agitations rob me of my peace? Yes, today we misplaced important items. Tomorrow it may be traffic. We may spill something the next day and make a huge sticky mess. 

Sometimes, our peace is jeopardized not by something that happens but by worries and negative thoughts, the problem with Nigeria is that we have all by default become negative people, by our inherent negative actions and so no matter the best of intentions the new ministers won’t minister, if we don’t change, except by some magic and miracle—May Nigeria win

The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN), on Saturday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to give female engineers an opportunity to fix the nation’s moribund refineries.

Newly-elected APWEN Lagos Chapter Chairman, Mrs Atinuke Owolabi, made the call during the association’s public lecture and Annual General Meeting in Ikeja.

Owolabi assured that female engineers spread across the various arms of the profession could fix the refineries within a year.

“All women engineers are ready to come together and see how we can proffer solutions, making sure that we revamp these refineries.

“So, we call on our president to challenge female engineers to revamp and rehabilitate these refineries, and I want to assure you that, within a year, just challenge us, we will make sure that the refineries would be put to operation by the grace of God,” she said.

She said any nation aspiring for development must empower its indigenous engineers and manpower.

“It is imperative that our homegrown engineers are empowered and granted the right opportunity to showcase our competence,” she said.

She said women had inbuilt natural qualities of being good managers and being excellent, adding that their talents should also be explored in building roads and other critical infrastructure.

Owolabi said Nigeria should reduce reliance on foreign experts and give opportunity to local engineers who are equally or more competent than their imported counterparts.

“I want to also implore our leaders, especially our president and governors, to empower indigenous engineers because we are very good.

“A country without engineers cannot develop,” she said.

Owolabi, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, promised that her administration would focus on mentorship and skill development for young engineers.

She also pledged collaboration with other NGOs while reeling out planned development programmes for three Lagos communities.

“Together, we shall shatter barriers and triumph over challenges in reaffirmation of the fact that gender should never constrain one’s potential in any domain,” she said.

The guest speaker, Mrs Olayinka Abdul, speaking on the theme, “The Role of Female Engineers in Building Sustainable Infrastructure”, said rising fuel prices required urgent measures for green alternatives.

Abdul, a former APWEN President, said green buildings reduce wastes, conserve energy and ensure huge energy savings and enormous long-term benefits.

She said Lagos was investing heavily in renewable energy while listing completed and ongoing interventions in various sectors, including health, education, housing and transportation.

Abdul said the various options available were wasting because some Nigerians have a class mentality not allowing them embrace local researches.

She cited examples of viable technologies, developed by “our forefathers”, being ignored because people want to move with trending foreign technologies.

Abdul advised APWEN to adopt communities and train them on how to generate power from their wastes.

She also enumerated measures female engineers could adopt against work place discrimination and how to receive mentorship from male counterparts without bruising their ego.

Panelists at the event proffered solutions to the multifaceted problem of inadequate water supply in Lagos State.

They enumerated ways mentorship and advocacy could grow capacity of female engineers. (NAN)

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assigned portfolios to his motley crowd of Ministers. Close to 50 Ministers in a depressed economy calls for jeers, not cheers. This is not to mention the plethora of advisers and assistants, each of them with their own retinue of aides, all with tantalizing perquisites of office. One is bound to query whether, truly, this economy is depressed. The crowd of Ministers, Advisers and Assistants is one thing; their suitability for assigned portfolios is another. I also thought we were told that Tinubu will not appoint Ministers of State; how come they have now reared their ugly head: Job for the boys or payback time for those who worked to make Tinubu president?

Reminds me of the street football we played in those days, which we called “work and eat” There is only one goalpost and one goalkeeper; everyone struggles for the ball and whoever scores becomes the goalkeeper and keeps the post until someone else scores and ejects the goalkeeper who now has to join the struggle to win the ball and score to keep the post again and take a deserved rest as the goalkeeper. The formula used by Tinubu to share Ministerial posts appears to me to follow the “work and eat” formula; although he still bent over backward to satisfy the constitutional provision of national spread, it is those that worked that have been called upon to eat now; although some have ended up holding the short end of the stick! Do you hold a grudge against them? The shoe would have been on the other foot were Abubakar Atiku or Peter Obi the winner of the last presidential election!

The suitability of Ministers for the portfolios assigned them apart; there is also the issue of the president grabbing the portfolio of the petroleum minister, a throwback from the Muhammadu Buhari era. The States are already copying from that: In Osun State, the governor has made himself the Commissioner for Works (which is their own cash cow or “Petroleum” ministry!) The discussion is on as to how many square pegs the president has put in round holes. Names have been mentioned but that need not detain us here. At least one ministry (that of the Niger Delta) has been scrapped while many others have been split, re-named, reclassified and what-have-you.

The noise following the scrapping of the Niger Delta ministry apart, the immediate impact of Tinubu's tampering with the structure he inherited is “job for the boys” as billions of Naira will have to be spent by the “new” Ministries on new billboards, signposts and what-have-you to reflect their new name. New letter-heads have to be printed and the old ones consigned to the dustbin; so also new call cards and ID cards for staff, etc, etc. These are not the kind of expenditure you expect to find in a comatose economy or in a government that has an eye for prudence. While the citizenry are being called upon to make sacrifices, those in government should not, to carry the people along, carry on as if nothing is amiss.

Square pegs in square holes are good; there is a place for cognate experience and academic qualifications but these, alone, are not enough for performance. We have found rookies who have performed excellently well in strange posts while experts in certain fields have failed scandalously. But this is no excuse to brazenly discountenance requisite qualification. Ministers are not the accounting officers of their ministry; permanent secretaries are. In the Nigerian system, a rookie Minister will be at the mercy of the civil servants in his ministry and they will dribble him at will. Ministers (and Governors) don't sign cheques; how come, then, they are able to siphon billions of public funds? They are helped by civil servants.

Whereas all attention is focused on politicians, civil servants are more corrupt. There are thousands, if not millions, of silent civil service billionaires all over the place, in both the Federal and State civil service. They perfect the paper works for the corrupt politicians and help them to also cover up their tracks. No governor or Minister will steal a dime without the support, connivance, collusion and protection of civil servants. And when they steal a dime for the politicians, they steal at least twice that amount for themselves. The war against corruption will amount to nothing until we also focus our attention on civil servants.

No Minister will perform if civil servants are bent on frustrating him, like they did to the late Chief Bola Ige in his first place of assignment as Minister of Power under Olusegun Obasanjo before he was redeployed to his natural habitat as Minister of Justice and Federal Attorney-General. It is worse if the Minister is a rookie in the ministry to which he has been assigned. So, because of the Nigerian factor, it is better if a minister is familiar with his terrain.

Civil servants are generally the reason why there is little or no development in the land. They know how to frustrate people, policies, programmes and projects. Ever had the terms “red tape” “bureaucracy” and “bureaucratic bottlenecks”? These are sinister tactics employed by civil servants to clog the system, frustrate any Minister and arrest the nation’s development. They are adept at inflating the actual cost of contracts and ensuring that, in the end, the contract is not executed but money is paid out. They approve and certify shoddy jobs; delay project execution or outright “execution” of projects only on paper. Towards the end of the budget year, they race to clean up the plate with frivolous contracts or simply share what is left of the budget instead of returning the same to the treasury. Buhari complained of that sharp and shady practice during his tenure. So, we must wean ourselves from giving undue attention to Ministers while leaving untouched the monsters, which are the civil servants.

Having said that, I wish to advocate that there is one Ministry which should be created but which has not yet been created – it is the Ministry of Seminars, Symposiums, Workshops, inaugural Lectures and Lectures in general and also Book launch. So many useful ideas are generated at these events that will be useful for national development. Let us have a Minister, assisted by one or two Ministers of State, to attend these events and collate ideas generated there and pigeon hole them for the relevant agencies and the private sector for implementation. Ideas rule the world. I advance the following reasons for the creation of this Ministry: One is that our leaders are too lazy to read. All the ideas generated by researchers and writers are wasted, so to say, because our leaders do not access them. Some even deliberately shut themselves out of the world of ideas and wallow in their ignorance and stale environment. Two: Reading culture is generally low in the country today; na book we go chop! Yet, no country can develop faster than the quantum of knowledge available to it. Three: Our leaders are generally snobbish of the literati. Their “turenchi” is too much and offensive. Four: Our leaders do not have the time for much academic exercise, even for those of them that are diligent in the performance of their duties. Five: There is usually a yawning gap between policy enunciation and policy implementation. We need a Ministry to track this; and do a follow-up of some sort. Finally, we need a kind of Ombudsman to ensure that the ideas being generated all over the country on a daily basis are not allowed to go to waste, as is the case at the moment.

I attended two events in Lagos last July that gave me the inspiration for asking for the above Ministry to be created; one was the fifth annual lecture of an online publication, Freedom Online, published by consummate journalist and editor, Gabriel Akinnadewo. The event held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos on July 18; and the second, a few days later, on 20th July, at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, was a lecture delivered by Prof. Babafemi Badejo titled “Utmost Freedom: The real essence of national interest” The ideas generated at the two events, if warehoused and put to use, are enough to solve the myriad of problems confronting the country, even at this its most trying period.

At the Freedom Online event were the likes of Chief Bode George, High Chief Tola Adeniyi, former governor Omoniyi Olubolade, veteran journalist Richard Akinnola, Barrister Benson Enikuomehin, Ogbeni Lanre Openiyi, Barrister Yinka Oguntimehin (representing Iba Gani Adams), among others. State duty prevented the big guns like the governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri; his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma , the former governor of Ogun state now senator representing Ogun East, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, from attending but they were duly represented.

Although Nigeria is said to have hundreds of ethnic groups and languages, Gov. Uzodimma said the common language spoken and understood by all of them is good governance. You cannot beat that! George, a retired General of the Nigeria Navy, warned that military life (rule) cannot be compared to civilian life (rule). In the former, you can expect anything anytime. This should be enough warning to anyone trying to toy with the country’s renascent democracy. High Chief Tola Adeniyi warned that the 1999 Constitution, which he described as absolutely military in nature, will take this country nowhere. Olubolade said a leader that would build the country must unite its people, put competent people in places and set its priorities. I can go on and on!

Gov. Diri, who gave the keynote address, said he believed in miracles. How will he not, seeing how he miraculously became the governor of Bayelsa state! His Imo state counterpart, Uzodimma, should also believe in miracles seeing how he, too, miraculously became governor! Diri asked that the younger generation be empowered so they would not be pawns or drug-induced thugs in the hands of misguided politicians. He regretted that, so far, Nigeria has failed to rise up to its potentials or to the huge promise of its founding fathers.

The NIIA event had in attendance the institute’s Director-General, Prof. Eghosa E. Osaghae; Prof. Adele Jinadu as chairman; my lecturer at the Graduate School, University of Ibadan, Prof. Femi Otubanjo, Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, among others. Is utmost freedom the real essence of national interest? If so, how does war in the Niger Republic enhance or guarantee Nigerians’ utmost freedom? According to Prof. Otubanjo, utmost freedom does not exist; African societies have no such concept. The Hobbesian paradox is that society guarantees your freedom by limiting your freedom! Prof. Jinadu, quoting another thinker, said it is in the interest of every man to be free. “But suppose a man refuses to be free? Then, he has to be forced to be free!” Olukanni, drawing on his experience as Nigeria’s ambassador in many countries, said the need had arisen for the country to restructure so that the regions can decide, design and pursue their own interests.

If the purpose of human existence is utmost freedom as posited by the lecturer, Prof. Badejo, then, whatever limits the utmost freedom of individuals or groups cannot be in the national interest. QED!