President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to forward names of ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation less than one month before the expiration of the constitutionally-mandated 60 days within which the Federal Executive Council (FEC) must be constituted.

Since his swearing-in on May 29th, Tinubu has taken some tough decisions, including the removal of fuel subsidy, suspension of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa, sacking and appointment of new security chiefs, among others.

However, the new amendment to the 1999 Constitution, mandates the president and governors to submit the names of persons nominated as ministers or commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by the Senate or state House of Assembly.

Currently on a three-week break, the Senate is expected to reconvene next Tuesday, ahead of the possible screening of ministerial nominees.

Speaking to Saturday Sun, an ally of President Tinubu disclosed that the delay in announcing the names is as a result of the realities the President met on the ground when he took office in May.

He stated that the former Lagos State Governor would submit the names of the ministerial nominees to the Senate before the middle of this month.

According to the source, Tinubu would find a way to balance the political equation in many states where there are conflicting interests in order not to face a rebellion from his allies.

He said Ogun, Kano, Delta, Kaduna, and Lagos, are among the key states where the President is facing serious headaches over conflicting interests.

Another ally of the President revealed that lobbyists angling for ministerial positions have been harassing close friends and allies of the President.

He accused some of the lobbyists of offering money to secure appointments as ministers, or heads of departments and agencies, including Federal Boards.

The source, a former governor, said some of the lobbyists have also reached out to traditional and religious leaders from the South West, who are believed to command the respect of President Tinubu.

While in power, the former President, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR sited the following projects in Daura, his hometown in Katsina state. The Federal Polytechnic Daura, Airforce Reference Hospital, Daura, Women and Children Hospital, Daura, University of Transportation, Daura, Kano-Maradi rail line will pass through Daura, School for People with Special Needs, Daura, Nigeria Airforce Response Air Wing, Daura, Nigeria Army 171 Battalion Base, Daura and the Forwarding Operating Base, Daura, National Directorate of Employment Centre, Ganga, Daura, Upgrade and Expansion of Daura Mini-Stadium, Sustainable Development Goals Skills Acquisition Centre, Zango Road, Daura, Completion of the Sabke Dam, Daura supplies 1m litres od water to Daura and neighbouring communities, Several SDG School Projects in Daura, 73km 132KVA line from Katsina to Daura and two 30 and 40 MVA transformers to boost power supply, Dualization of the 72km Katsina-Daura road, 50 bed maternity Centre at the Daura General Hospital built under the name of the First Lady, Sir Emeka Offor E-Library, Daura, 400,000 litres capacity solar powered water system by NNPC and Belema oil in a joint venture with Jack-Rich Tein Foundation, NDE Cosmetology training and distribution of Cosmetology packs to 1000 women in Daura, 330KV /132KV power substation, Daura, among others.

He sited these projects in the spirit of nepotism. Since 1999, many of our governors have done the same. Former President Buhari GCFR did not take this action because he is a Fulani man. I know of many Fulanis both powerful and ordinary who do not practice the act of nepotism but who are fair, generous, considerate and objective. Former President Buhari did it because he is Muhammadu Buhari. He was not acting the script of any religion or tribe. No Nigerian leader has been worse in terms of nepotism than President Buhari. It is my hope that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR or any future Nigerian leader will not follow the path of General Buhari.

I am always guided by the conclusion of Mr Paul Kenyon, a BBC Correspondent, who wrote a book titled “DICTATORLAND- THE MEN WHO STOLE AFRICA”. In the book, he wrote on Nigeria, “this was a vast country of 200 million people, home to 300 tribes jigsawed together by British to create an artificial nation. To many of its inhabitants, Nigeria didn’t exist. There was no such country. The tribes themselves were the nations. The newly drawn borders were just an expression of imperialism. And now all these tribal groups, many of them hostile towards each other, were expected to govern themselves, peacefully and fairly, without the glue of national identity, in a federal republic.”
It should be the responsibility of our leaders to find that glue. It is important.

Every Nigerian leader must try to promote the Nigerian nationhood. We must all attempt to promote unity in all our actions. There is beauty in unity instead of divisiveness and the burden falls on our leaders to make unity and nationhood their watchwords. No leader must be allowed to promote ethnicity and division. It just does not pay.
Daura is a city of population with less than forty-five thousand people. I have visited Daura several times. It is a border post between Nigeria and Niger Republic. Daura is the spiritual home of the Hausa people. The emirate is referred to as one of the "seven true Hausa states" (Hausa Bakwai) because it was, (along with Biram, Kano, Katsina, Zazzau, Gobir, and Rano), ruled by the descendants of Bayajidda's sons with Daurama and Magira (his first wife). The University of California's African American Studies Department refers to Daura, as well as Katsina, as having been "ancient seats of Islamic culture and learning.

Most importantly Daura has the same identity with Gbadolite and Yamoussoukro. The three, are homes of former Presidents. I hope Daura will not share the same fate with Gbadolite and Yamoussoukro. I felt sad after watching recently the documentaries on Gbadolite and Yamoussoukro. The two documentaries have been trending on YouTube.
Yamoussoukro as of the 2014 census,is the fifth most populous city in Cote D’Ivoire, with a population of 355,573 inhabitants. Located 240 kilometers (150 mi) north-west of Abidjan, Yamoussoukro covers 3,500 square kilometers (1,400 sq mi) among rolling hills and plains.
Yamoussoukro became the legal capital of Cote D’Ivoire in 1983, although the former capital Abidjan retains several political functions. Prior to 2011, what is now the district of Yamoussoukro was part of Lacs Region. The district was created in 2011 and is split into the departments of Attiégouakro and Yamoussoukro. In total, the district contains 169 settlements. Yamoussoukro is a sub-prefecture in Yamoussoukro Department and is also a commune: since 2012, the city of Yamassoukro has been the sole commune in the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro.

In March 1983, President Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and administrative capital of Cote D’Ivoire, as the city was his birthplace. This marked the fourth movement of the country's capital city in a century. Cote D’Ivoire’s previous capital cities were Grand-Bassam (1893), Bingerville (1900), and Abidjan (1933). The majority of economic activity still takes place in Abidjan, and it is officially designated as the "economic capital" of the country. Félix Houphouët-Boigny (18 October 1905 – 7 December 1993), affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux ("The Old One"), was the first president of Cote D’Ivoire (1960 to 1993), serving for more than three decades until his death.
Yamoussoukro is the site of the largest Christian church in the world: The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 10 September 1990. I visited Yamoussoukro twice, first in 1982 and later in 1986. When I watched the documentary on Yamoussoukro recently it brought me memories, especially the Presidential Palace now surrounded by the crocodile lake. At Present, judging by what I watched in the documentary, there are more than 3,000 crocodiles surrounding the Presidential palace today in Yamoussoukro. It is safe to conclude as of now; the glory of Yamoussoukro is gone.

In 1982, I accompanied Dr. Joseph Wayas, the Senate President between 1979 and 1983 to Gbadolite. The flight from Kinsasha to Gbadolite took us two hours. Kinsasha is a crowded city like Lagos. Gbadolite is the capital of Nord-Ubangi Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of the Ubangi River at the border to the Central African Republic and 1,150 kilometres (710 mi) northeast of the national capital Kinshasa. Gbadolite was the ancestral home and residence of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, later self-styled as Mobutu Sese Seko where airport, colleges, malls, supermarkets and libraries were built by the President in a program of modernization. Gbadolite is where Mobutu led the summit that would produce the Gbadolite Declaration, a short lived ceasefire in the Angolan Civil War, in 1989.
Mobutu built Gbadolite into a luxurious town often nicknamed "Versailles of the Jungle". He built a hydroelectric dam on the nearby Ubangi River in Mobayi Mbongo, an international airport, Gbadolite Airport, which could accommodate a Concorde, and three large palaces.
President Mobutu hosted us in Gbadolite. At that time, he built a soft drink factory in Gbadolite. Mobutu also built a nuclear bunker that could house more than 500 people and was the largest in Africa; this was the only nuclear bunker in Central Africa. The bunker was connected to the Ubangui River by a secret tunnel, giving access to the military harbour at the village of N'dangi.

Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1971, and later Zaire from 1971 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968. Mobutu was the object of a pervasive cult of personality. During his rule, he amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a "kleptocracy". He presided over a period of widespread human rights violations. Under his rule, the nation also suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations.
In August 1997, Mobutu Sese Seko (14 October 1930-7 September 1997) flew from Gbadolite to Lome, Togo to be a guest of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma (26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005), Togolese military officer and politician who was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005. And from Lome, President Mobutu flew to Rabat in Morocco. He died on the 7th September, 1997.

His corpse is yet to be exhumed and reburied in Democratic Republic of Congo—a land he ruled for over thirty-two years.
Democratic Republic of Congo has moved on without Mobutu where the mere mention of his name is now a taboo.
Gbadolite and Yamoussoukro got transformed by the power of the PRESIDENCY. Now the two towns are like ghost towns. What is happening to the two towns now is a clear example of the futility and vanity of this is our turn syndrome. It happens in some countries of the world especially in Africa where leaders personalise their offices.
Let us take a look at Iraq whose leader tried to impose his tribe on the other tribes in a united country. Such attempt is dangerous as it is only very short term. In this part of the world we call it nepotism and ethnicity. But nepotism itself is corruption. Nepotism refers to granting jobs to one’s relatives in various fields including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities. The term originated with the assignment of nephews to important positions by Catholic popes and bishops. Trading parliamentary employment for favours is a modern-day example of nepotism. Criticism of nepotism, however, can be found in ancient Indian texts such as the Kural literature.
Nepotism refers to partiality to family whereas cronyism refers to partiality to a partner or friend. Favouritism, the broadest of the terms, refers to partiality based upon being part of a favoured group, rather than job performance.

The term Nepotism comes from the Italian word nepotismo, which is based on the Latin word nepos (nephew). Since the Middle Ages and until the late 17th century, some Catholic popes and bishops, who had taken vows of chastity and therefore usually had no legitimate offspring of their own, gave their nephews such positions of preference as were often accorded by fathers to sons.

Several popes according to the papal history elevated nephews and other relatives to the cardinalate. Often, such appointments were a means of continuing a papal "dynasty". For instance, Pope Callixtus III, head of the Borgia family, made two of his nephews cardinals; one of them, Rodrigo, later used his position as a cardinal as a stepping stone to the papacy, becoming Pope Alexander VI. Alexander then elevated Alessandro Farnese, his mistress's brother, to cardinal; Farnese would later go on to become Pope Paul III.
Paul III also engaged in nepotism, appointing, for instance, two nephews, aged 14 and 16, as cardinals, as well as making efforts to increase the territories of his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese. The practice was finally limited when Pope Innocent XII issued the bull Romanum decet Pontificem, in 1692.The papal bull prohibited popes in all times from bestowing estates, offices, or revenues on any relative, with the exception that one qualified relative (at most) could be made a cardinal.
The ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar condemned nepotism and ethnicity as both evil and unwise. In a larger world, nepotism could be applied to where you favour your tribe more than other tribes. That is enlarging the word in its interpretation.

Iraq has a population of over 40 million people. The country also has over 150 tribes. Some of these tribes include Arabs, Kurds, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians and Kawliya.

According to Wikipedia, the Al-Bu Nasir is one of a number of Arab tribes in Iraq. It is a Sunni Arab tribe comprising some 30,000 people who primarily inhabit the town of Tikrit and the surrounding area of northern central Iraq, as well as many other areas in south and center of Iraq. Although not very numerous, the Al-Bu Nasir nonetheless obtained a reputation of being "a difficult lot of people, cunning and secretive, whose poverty drove most of them to pervert the Bedouins' legendary qualities of being warlike and fearless. Like many Iraqi tribes, it follows the Hanafi fiqh and it traced its origins to the Arabian Peninsula and maintained cordial ties with other related clans and tribes.
The tribe rose to prominence in the 1960s, when one of its members, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, seized power in Iraq. Bakr's successor, Saddam Hussein, was also a member of the Al-Bu Nasir and the tribe became a crucial element of his hold in power from 1979 to 2003. Saddam drew heavily on the tribe to fill the upper echelons of his government and in particular to manage his security apparatus, notably the Intelligence Service and the Special Republican Guard. Most of the key posts in the Iraqi government were held by members of the Beijat clan group and Majid extended family to which Saddam belonged; some elements of the regime's security apparatus, such as Saddam's bodyguards, were recruited exclusively from the al-Bu Nasir.

The relatively small size of the tribe was, however, an obstacle to Saddam's ability to fully "tribalise" the institutions of the Iraqi government. He recruited tens of thousands of supporters, whom he placed in command positions in the Iraqi Army, from a number of other tribes allied to the al-Bu Nasir. The resulting network of tribal alliances, centred on the al-Bu Nasir and bound to them by payment and patronage, provided the backbone of Saddam's regime.
Of all the accusations made against General Saddam Hussein none is greater than nepotism and tribalism. And it led to his downfall. When his trouble started his tribe Albu Nasri could not save him. When the western world led by the Americans waged a war on Iraq, Saddam Hussein was abandoned to his fate by other tribes because he excluded other tribes from his government. He lost out. Iraq lost out too. After Saddam Hussein Iraq has lost its momentum in the Arab world. Leaders must know that nepotism and ethnicity are no longer fashionable in the modern world. It strains growth. It is bad. Very bad.

One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to promote unity. This does not mean that there is not disagreement or even periodic conflict on the team or within the organization. To be a unifier, the leader brings people together around a vision, a mission, or a project. Team unity drives results. Babe Ruth said in his paper “the way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”
The great calamity that has befallen most African leaders is that they are busy promoting their tribes instead of promoting unity within their countries. And that is why there is no development in African states. Instead of national leaders, all we have are sectional and tribal leaders who promote divisiveness. A leader’s behavior either promote unity or division.
Leaders who seek to divide, for whatever reason, may think they will succeed. After all, they are playing to their allies; but in reality, no one admires divisive behaviours and the leader will quickly lose much of their support.

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Dr. Nnaemeka Obiaraeri (Development Economist and Investment Banker)

Topic: Managing fuel subsidy savings

Date: 1ST JULY, 2023
                         
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Meeting ID: 928 7714 1732
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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made his first official visit as Nigeria’s President to France where he was between June 20^th 2023 and June 24^th 2023. He attended the summit on New Global Financing Pact in Paris, France’ capital.

At the time Tinubu was attending the historic summit, two masterstrokes had been achieved in Nigeria – the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the country’s exchange rates.

Oche Egwa in an op-ed in PM News had this to say about this highly strategic meeting where he wrote: “The two decisions taken on the nation’s economy made President Tinubu a toast of world leaders and financial institutions at the Summit. The ovation by economic and financial experts for the courageous steps revealed more for the future, with the World Bank projecting, after the meeting in Paris, that Nigeria will save about $3.9 trillion in 2023, and N21 trillion between 2023 to 2025. 

The seriousness and quick engagement of critical stakeholders in the economy, like trade unions, oil marketers, depot dealers, the NNPC Ltd by the administration was also taken by the foreign institutions as a deliberate attempt, and not political convenience, to take the country to a new height, as well as various initiatives and measures being out on the drawing board to alleviate the impacts. 

The two-day Summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, was aimed at repositioning the global financial architecture to reconsider less developed countries, who are dealing with debilitating debt hangovers, struggling through energy transitions, and still reeling from effects of climate change and Covid-19. President Tinubu seized the moment to start a new conversation about Nigeria. 

A plethora of sideline meetings were lined before he arrived in Paris, and the President was careful in making the right choices for Nigeria’s economic prosperity. President Tinubu met with French President, Macron at the Elysée, President of Swiss, Alain Berset, at Palais Brongniart, President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon, Director General of World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim), Prof. Benedict Oramah and President of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud–Basso.

The President also held meetings with Senior Vice President of Airbus/ATR, Public Affairs, Laurent Rahul Domergue, on aviation matters and a two-hour marathon interaction with the Nigerian community based in France, where he outlined his vision for the economy, starting with a roadmap on palliatives to soothe the burden of subsidy removal. He sought “family” support for more inclusive growth, especially with technical expertise.

Every speaker at the forum thanked the President for taking the bull by the horn, and getting the “elephant’’ out of the way.

“You have shown we have a committed and competent leader. You are the first President of Nigeria, who has no godfather. You are your godfather. We are impressed with the removal of subsidies and streamlining of foreign exchange. We will wait for the palliatives,’’ Prof. Emmanuel Iga, a Nigerian in France, said”.

While I am happy at the meeting because of the strategic importance of France as a world power and member of the elite G7, Tinubu must set the precedent of Nigeria relating with world superpowers on the basis of equality rather than the usual tokenism that has defined international relations since most African nations gained independence from their erstwhile majorly domiciled European former colonial masters.

My worry is that France’s status as a so-called developed nation is largely predicated on her continued parasitism of the resources of her former colonies In Africa. Françafrique is the name of this unequal balance of power between France and the Francophone countries which have been a source of anguish and underdevelopment of the latter.

Let us go down memory lane: In 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle commissioned his adviser Jacques Foccart to build up Françafrique. "Foccart built a network of personal contacts between the French leadership and the elites of the former French colonies.”

Foccart came up with the treaties that are still in force today. In exchange for military protection against attempted coups and the payment of hefty kickbacks, African leaders guaranteed French companies access to strategic resources such as diamonds, ores, uranium, gas and oil. The result is a solid presence of French interests on the continent, including 1,100 companies, some 2,100 subsidiaries and the third largest investment portfolio after Great Britain and the United States. France also retains the right of first refusal on all natural resources and privileged access to government contracts.

France also has a considerable military presence in Africa. It leads the Barkhane operation against Islamist groups in the Sahel region, in which around 5,100 soldiers from several countries are involved. According to the US daily "New York Times", in 2007, almost half of France's 12,000 peacekeeping troops were deployed to Africa. These troops have both military and advisory capabilities as well as supporting and stabilizing the regimes of the respective countries.

If France loses her ex-colonies to a possible rebellion by nationalist African leaders, its status risks being plunged to a similar one like Spain who largely depended on the plundering and looting of resources from abroad and when that stopped as a result of the loss of the Armada war against England in 1588 which saw the rise of the British Empire, the hydra-headed monster of poverty crept into the country which it is still yet to recover from.

France and eight members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had an agreement  on replacing the CFA franc with a new West African single currency called Eco.

According to the agreement, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) will no longer have to deposit half of its foreign exchange reserves with the Banque de France as was the case until now. However, the fixed parity with the euro will be maintained, allegedly to prevent inflation. At least this will put an end to remittances from Africa to France. But it will not enable an African independent monetary policy.

In the past, African countries paid up to 65% of their foreign exchange reserves into the French treasury.

Tinubu should beware of a country that has no respect for the Sovereignty of her former colonies as the tendency is that the nauseating paternalistic relationship may be extended to Nigeria which wouldn’t be in our national interest.

It is high time Africa with Nigeria leading the vanguard altered the terms of foreign policy from aid to trade so that we can sit at the negotiation table and deal with one another as equals.

Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream speech’ particularly rings true here. The time for the paradigmatic shift in trade relations is now and Nigeria like it did during the anti-colonial liberation struggle should spearhead this vanguard, especially in the impending post-fossil fuel era.

Gone are the days when libraries were Mecca to both young and old who craved and longed for knowledge. But unfortunately today, many contents on social media that do not conform with generally accepted standards of behavior have overtaken and overshadowed the libraries that were known, decades ago, as sanctuary of knowledge where information and enlightenment flowed like water.

In a noteworthy event on Friday, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, made a visit to his predecessor in office, Senator Ahmed Lawan, at his residence in Abuja to celebrate Sallah.

Retiring Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs in Nigeria will be granted certain benefits upon retirement.

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that these benefits, outlined in a confidential document known as the Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces, include bulletproof vehicles, personal assistants, guards, and generous medical allowances both in Nigeria and abroad.

Among the retirees set to receive these benefits are General Lucky Irabor, the former Chief of Defence Staff, along with other military leaders such as Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, and Air Marshal Isiaka Amao.

According to Section 11.8 of the revised HTACOS 2017 (a revision of the HTACOS 2012), the retirement benefits for the Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs encompass several privileges. These include a bulletproof SUV or an equivalent vehicle, to be maintained and replaced every four years by the military service. Additionally, they will receive a Peugeot 508 or equivalent backup vehicle, along with five domestic aides consisting of two service cooks, two stewards, and a civilian gardener.

Furthermore, each retiree is entitled to an Aide-de-Camp or security officer, a special assistant of lieutenant/captain rank or equivalent, or a personal assistant of warrant officer rank or equivalent. Additionally, they will have nine soldiers serving as standard guards.

In terms of transportation, the former Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs will have access to three service drivers and one service orderly. They will also be provided with escorts by appropriate military units or formations when required. Furthermore, the retirement benefits include free medical coverage within Nigeria and abroad.

Retirees will have the privilege of retaining their military uniforms and accoutrements for ceremonial purposes, as well as personal firearms. However, it should be noted that such firearms will be reclaimed by the relevant services upon the beneficiaries’ demise.

Section 11.19 of the HTACOS 2017 specifies the retirement benefits for Lieutenant Generals in the Nigerian Army, Vice Admirals in the Navy, and Air Marshals in the Air Force. These benefits include two Peugeot 508 cars or one Toyota Land Cruiser, two cooks, two stewards, four residential guards, one service orderly, two service drivers, and free medical treatment in Nigeria and abroad, amounting to $20,000 per year.

For Major Generals in the Army, Rear Admirals in the Navy, and Air Vice Marshals in the Air Force, who hold the rank of two-star officers, retirement benefits consist of one Peugeot 508, a cook, a steward, two residential guards, one service orderly, one service driver, and free medical coverage within Nigeria and abroad, up to $15,000 annually.

Brigadier Generals, Commodores, and Air Commodores, who are one-star officers, will be entitled to one Peugeot 408, a service driver, two residential guards, one service orderly, and free medical coverage in Nigeria and abroad, totaling $10,000 each.

As for Colonels, Captains, and Group Captains in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, respectively, their retirement benefits include a Peugeot 301 or a vehicle of similar value, as well as free medical coverage within the country.

It’s worth noting that the document underwent a review in 2022 after a five-year period. However, it remains unsigned due to concerns regarding unequal distribution of benefits. In order for the revised terms to take effect, the Chief of Defence Staff requires permission from the President to sign the document.

The current HTACOS, which is in effect, specifies that the Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs must hold the rank of four-star Generals and serve in these positions for a continuous period of two years. The Commander-in-Chief has the authority to extend these appointments for an additional two-year term following the initial expiration.

Despite the detailed provisions outlined, the duration of the Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs’ tenure ultimately rests at the discretion of the President. This has raised concerns about potential unfair extensions, as was the case under the previous administration when President Muhammadu Buhari extended the tenure of service chiefs appointed in 2015 until their replacement in January 2021.

[PoliticsNigeria]

A former chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Tunji Oyebanji, has cautioned Nigerians and marketers against speculations over the pump price of petrol.

Oyetunji in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos said in a deregulated market, prices would be determined by market forces, noting that it was a needless speculation to project that a litre of petrol would sell for N700.

Oyebanji was reacting to a recent statement by the National Controller, Operations, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Mike Osatuyi, who said the pump price of petrol could hit N700 per litre, especially in the North once independent marketers started importing the products from July.

Oyebanji said no marketer could predict the pump price until importation of the product commenced.

Oyebanji, who is the Managing Director, 11 Plc, said, “It depends on the exchange rate. If those factors are changing, prices of those products will also change. As you know, at a time, diesel went up significantly at above N800 per litre, but now it has come down to within N600 to N620 per litre.

“So, once you are in a deregulated environment, that is how it is, especially when you are importing the product. I cannot predict the price of petrol for now until we import the product.”

“Not until you order a cargo and know the exchange rate before you can predict the price. Those projecting the price are just saying this on a sensational basis to get marketers excited. I do not think anybody needs to do that. If you are observing the exchange rates, you will see that it is getting worse. If the price at the international market is also going up, then, you see how those things are being affected and that is how the price comes in.”

He said people would “have to adjust their spending accordingly and prioritise their choices”.

Oyebanji, however, added that the price could drop depending on the exchange rate, adding that it would create a healthy competition among marketers.

He noted, “The bottom line is that there will be an adjustment in price. Yes, it may go up and can also drop, depending on the exchange rate. But the good thing is that products will be everywhere. If people see that yours is more expensive than those of the filling stations around them, they will not patronise you. Then, you will be forced to bring down prices.

Osatuyi told NAN that fuel being sold by marketers such as DAPPMAN, IPMAN and MOMAN were old stock

He added, “Nobody has imported new products from the new foreign exchange regime and the new deregulation. Marketers are just planning to import, so everybody is in a transition pricing to the new regime.”

[Punch]

Relax, I am aware that the man has only been in office for one month. From the way he is going, he certainly has a thing or two to celebrate thus far.  But there is no real need for such a celebration, which will probably be accompanied by a public holiday this time. It will not add any real value to his performance, or historical track record, as a leader. Tinubu must keep his eyes on the ball. Let us begin to do things differently.

So, before his handlers prance off, in a frenetic pace to make a good impression, and show off their superstar, they should first answer this question: Does this government need to organize a State Event, complete with government officials, sniveling crumb-crunchers, genuine stakeholders and the president’s party members all lined up to reel off his specific and general achievements? I think not. We have had nore than enough of such charades over the years. And this is at all levels of government in Nigeria. Tl

Tinubu can create a new precedent by putting an end to it. There is an Igbo saying that when impropriety, or even an abomination, lasts long enough, it gets absorbed, applied and treated as tradition.

The first person who celebrated his first hundred years in office did so in a faraway country, on another continent. We have tried it, so our name is on the register. Now we need to move on, as a serious people. This pointless national engagement has cost the nation hundreds of billions of Naira in perfectly avoidable expenses for decades. Past governments at all levels have put too much energy, funds, fanfare and needless floodlights and festoons around it. And to what purpose? To tell Nigerians that the person they elected has been working for the first three months after being sworn in? Really? What else was he supposed to be doing? Why was he elected in the first place?

This sham proof of exceptional performance, and capacity to lead, is rarely ever followed through in the remaining 45 months of a 48-month tenure in office. So, let us show some sobriety and maturity here; knowing that the money to be thus squandered can be put to better use in these days of starving citizens, abominable inflation, unaffordable automotive fuel and much more – including trekking under the sun because of high transport fares.

Tinubu should, instead, let his foot soldiers do more work of explaining and justifying all the moves he has made so far. Some of them are clearly unsettling for many people. Even the supporters are unable to present a coherent narrative. Yes, whoever must make an omelet has to break some eggs; but the government must avoid a situation wherein the perception is that eggs are being broken just for the heck of it. The federal Government’s current decisions, actions and policy initiatives are foundational measures on which it is expected to build. They will make or mar Tinubu’s tenure. That is why their intent and purport should be simplified in the public domain.

A nation in crisis of the worst type, across all frontiers, cannot afford the additional crisis of avoidable confusion and quarrels arising from good but mismanaged, misrepresented, misinterpreted or simply misunderstood good intentions. The dumb-witted attempt to push forward the idea of a salary raise for the president and elected official, for instance, is so silly that it may well be a deliberate “enemy” action. Of all things on which to send a hurried memo to the president at this time? This degree of insensitivity says a lot about the level of disconnect between most managers of agencies of government and the Nigerian reality they are supposed to be dealing with.

With teachers, ASUU, doctors and sundry labour unions on the war path with government, amidst unprecedented rise in transportation and foodstuff for the citizens, the most brilliant idea a presumably serious agency of government can think of is increasing the pay packet of the president? A president who ordinarily lives at public expense? Ejikwa m ogu o!

While not agreeing pointedly with those who have gone so far as to say that the fledgling Tinubu Presidency has already outdone in three weeks what his predecessor would not have accomplished if he was given another eight years in office, it must be said and noted that the painfully lethargic, somnambulistic and purposeless eight-year tenure of former president Muhammadu Buhari has helped to project the actions of the current president as nothing short of the eighth wonder of the world.

Buhari’s tenure is likely to go down in history as the period of the greatest spiritual and material damage to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The North, in particular, will take decades to get out of its present bind. The loss of lives, property and means of livelihood, the spate of banditry and general insecurity and the cheerful waste of human capital in an ill-informed insistence on trekking thousands of kilometres to feed cattle will yet rebound. The damage done by Buhari to the APC, national cohesion, service delivery, leadership sensitivity, equity, natural justice, genuine democracy in a plural society and the idea of leadership and responsible self-presentation as leader is immeasurable.

Practically everything that spoke to a better, and greater, humanity, suffered shipwreck under Buhari.  That is partly why what is going on at the moment looks, or seems, a bit dizzying for most Nigerians who lived for eight years with a president who did nothing, knew nothing and was bothered about nothing. Tinubu took over from a man who was not on the job at all.

It took Tinubu’s predecessor six months to appoint ministers. It took him practically one year to dissolve the Governing Boards of MDAs, and more years to reconstitute them. He retained most government functionaries for eight years, thereby forcing many carrier officers to either stagnate or retire without deserved fulfilment. That is why the apparent ease and speed with which important decisions and appointments are now being made, as well as the excitement of those who kept telling us that Tinubu would hit the ground running once sworn in, is understandable.

But, let’s get real; and remain real. A leader is supposed to lead, is he not? This leading means, first, designing a comprehensive engagement strategy. It means, second, thinking through the appropriate policies for dealing with various problems. It also means finding and deploying the right type of human capital for implementation. The criteria here must include competence and sensitivity to the existing, and subsisting, sociopolitical realities; two paradigms on which Buhari performed disastrously and delivered miserably. This will then all be capped by a credible compliance system that is driven by cost-effective implementation, monitoring, evaluation, feedback, recalibration and re-engagement – within a self-correcting framework.

It would seem that Tinubu has set out with some kind of broad strategic framework. That framework, whatever it may be and in whatever way it is conceptualized, must run on the path of equity, natural justice and good conscience. It must also note the right type of investment that will lead to national development, instead of merely recording expenditure on all manner of projects; with neither positive impact nor tangible benefit on the people.

I cite as example in this regard one of the very telling decisions of the previous leadership under “investment in education”. The sum of N4.7 billion was approved for the construction of seven Models Schools in the six geo-political zones of the country and Abuja. This was totally unnecessary. As was pointed out here on May 31, 2019, “To build new model schools is to award building contracts to “reliable” contractors. Construction of the schools will take years, to be followed by the provision of state-of-the-art amenities; which essentially boils down to a series of procurement contracts.”

Would it not have been better for the federal government to upgrade the over 100 Unity School in the country into Model Schools, with even less financial resources? As said then: “A simple costs-benefits analysis shows that 4.7 billion Naira will go a very long way in rescuing the now-decrepit and derelict Unity Schools in the country and increasing their carrying capacity. It is not right that we should have such huge budgetary provision on record as proof of government commitment to education when it is not”.

With this new APC government, which probably came into office despite the efforts of APC stalwarts to abort it, things must be done differently. Doing things right, and differently in a positive and upbuilding way, is the strongest campaign any party in power can make for itself.

That is why this government should note, in particular, the following observation that was made here four years ago: “The school system is like a “factory” producing human capital for the nation. It needs “factory workers”, as well as facilities and the physical infrastructure housing all activities. Investment that focuses on factory machinery and the premises of our education industry is not the best approach to improving the quality of citizens (or “products”) we turn out. It is not enough for an investor to procure and install fine “machinery.” The equipment will not translate into quality products, or even any products at all, except there are also competent people to handle them”.

We can illustrate this with the example of a man who builds a bakery to the best global standards, “complete with a service and marketing templates that even the Jews would envy, but who fails to train bakers and install an efficient and effective management”. He has invested foolishly, has he not? Every industrialist knows that impressive installed capacity that is accompanied by poor capacity utilization and incompetent staff is a recipe for unmitigated disaster.

That is why we must consciously plan for national development with a holistic template and outlook. It is beyond hitting the ground running, or rolling out several decisions in a hurry. It has more to do with sustainability. The Tinubu government has much to make good, and for several reasons. One thing it can spare Nigerians is the celebration of its first 100 years in office. If anything, it can do first 30 days in office. Now, that will be something.

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I really wanted to stop talking about subsidy removal for two reasons. One, senseless, right-wing, anti-people economic populism has become hegemonic in Nigeria as a direct result of careful, deliberate, sustained, artful, and largely unimpeded propaganda by out-of-touch and unfeeling World Bank/IMF ideologues in Nigeria such as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Peter Obi, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Akinwumi Adesina, and others.

Two, because corrosive right-wing populism now enjoys an unchallenged rhetorical high ground, opposing it comes across as deviant, unreasonable, and tone deaf. Most people whose quality of life is being eroded, and in some cases outright exterminated, by the withdrawal of the state from the quotidian life of the citizenry (which subsidy removal represents) have been brainwashed into supporting the policy. They fight people who question the wisdom in exposing vulnerable populations to the torments of the elements through World Bank/IMF-dictated subsidy removal policies.

At a point, you ask yourself if there is any merit in fighting for a people who are deeply invested in their self-immolation, who are cheerleaders for their oppressors, who fight you for fighting for them, whose counterattacks you need to fend off as you attack their attackers, and who remind you of Zimbabwean nationalist Benjamin Burombo’s pithy observation that “Each time I want to fight for African rights, I use only one hand — because the other hand is busy trying to keep away Africans who are fighting me.”

But two things caused me to change my mind. The first was a conversation I had with my retired uncle who told me in a moment of profound despair that the agony that the removal of petrol subsidies has brought on him has compelled him to give up on living and to prepare for his death. That broke my heart. Paradoxically, though, he praised the government for “saving the masses” by removing petrol subsidies, which he thought hurt only “the greedy oil marketers.”

Until I pointed it out to him, he didn’t have any self-awareness of the relationship between the unbearable anguish he was experiencing and the removal of fuel subsidies. That’s precisely what social scientists mean when they say an idea has become hegemonic: most people accept it as self-evidently commonsensical and beyond debate even if it isn’t. Even people who criticize the removal of subsidies in Nigeria only criticize its timing or method, not its undesirability. 

Of course, it’s hard to justify apportioning any blame to the Tinubu-Shettima administration for the removal of subsidies. For one, the departing Buhari administration made it a fait accompli. It wasn’t just that removal of petrol and other subsidies were some of the terms and conditions international lenders gave the Buhari administration for securing loans that were stolen with impunity, no provisions were made for subsidy payments in the current budget, which the Buhari regime prepared.

For another, deceitfully engineered mass rage against “subsidy” is so strong in the public sphere that if Tinubu didn’t announce the removal of petrol subsidies, he would have been attacked by both the elite and the poor, not to mention by international finance institutions. Thanks to the successful propaganda of our homegrown neoliberal, right-wing ideologues, being heartless, cold-blooded, indurate, and anti-people is now celebrated as bold, brave, and beautiful.

That’s why I have zero respect for Peter Obi supporters who are critical of Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies. More than anyone in the last two years, Obi has emerged as the most passionate assaulter of basic compassion in governance. He parlayed his popularity with a section of Nigeria into an opportunity to attack subsidies, deodorize wickedness in governance, and convince people that a poison that destroys them piecemeal is actually salutary for them. In other words, he helped to create the manufactured anti-subsidy consensus that Tinubu is now exploiting. 

And this leads me to the second reason I’ve decided to embark on this futile swim against the self-destructive mainstream of anti-subsidy sentiments in Nigeria. Ideologues of subsidy removal base their arguments around four major points: that it benefits only a few elites, particularly greedy oil marketers; that government needs the money it saves from removing subsidies to fund education, health, and infrastructure (the same canard we’ve consistently heard since the 1980s); that it’s riddled with corruption, which necessitates its removal; and that petrol subsidies only subsidize consumption at the expense of production at a time we need to move from “consumption to production.”

These are all hollow, threadbare, and logically impoverished arguments. For starters, the notion that subsidies don’t benefit the poor is one of the stupidest, most manifestly flawed fallacies I’ve encountered in my entire life. Petrol subsidies are the only subsidies that benefit all strata of the Nigerian social hierarchy. All other subsidies exclusively benefit the rich.

The evidence stares at us everywhere if we care to look with sensitivity and empathy. It stares at us in the crushing collapse of everyday life in Nigeria because of the removal of fuel subsidies. Transport fares have more than tripled. The cost of food has more than tripled, too, because of the increase in the cost of transporting food from point to point. 

People are resigning from their jobs because the cost of transportation to work is now higher than their monthly salaries. So, unemployment, which is already unsustainably high, will triple with the attendant unsettling effect on society.

The informal economy, where the vast majority of Nigerians are employed, is folding because small businesses can't power their generators for their businesses in the absence of stable electricity from the national grid. Small businesses such as grinding machine businesses that use generators to power their engines are packing up.

 Those that can afford to power their generators can't produce because everyday folks can't afford the new petrol-price-increase-inflected cost of the goods and services they produce. This reality gives the lie to the idea that we’re subsidizing “consumption” and not “production.” Consumption and production are not mutually exclusive; they’re mutually reinforcing.

 Schools and even government ministries in many states are reducing workdays because ordinary people can no longer afford the 5-day commute to school or work. That affects productivity and the future of our children. And some people say petrol subsidies benefited only a few rich people? What kind of mind-altering weed do these callous dunderheads smoke?

Even the wicked wretches and witches at the World Bank have conceded that an additional 7.1 million Nigerians will be thrown into the menacing trap of multidimensional poverty as a result of the removal of petrol subsidies. “Without compensation, many households could be pushed into poverty by higher petrol prices and forced to resort to coping mechanisms with long-term adverse consequences, such as not sending children to school, or not going to health facilities to seek preventative healthcare," the World Bank said.

And oil marketers? These are friends of people in government who have been given blank cheques to extort Nigerians as they wish. When Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidies, these same marketers who are supposed to be the targets of subsidy removal arbitrarily jacked up their pump prices to more than N500 per litre on old stock that was subsidized by taxpayers, and which was supposed to be sold at N184. That was a government-sanctioned rape of Nigerians.

Now the oil marketers say whenever they replenish the current stock, Nigerians will pay more than N700 per liter starting this July. In other words, whether or not there are subsidies, the marketers will always make money.

There is unanimity of opinion that petrol subsidy administration is riddled with unspeakable corruption, as everything else in Nigeria is. But why is the corruption in petrol subsidy administration the only kind of corruption that causes the government to stop it? Why not the corruption in the turn-around maintenance of non-functional refineries, for example, where way more money is stolen than in subsidies? For that matter, why not governance itself, which is a magnet for the biggest corruption in Nigeria? 

Every government project is amenable to corruption. Even in the US here, welfare projects for poor people and unemployment benefits for people who have lost their jobs are riddled with corruption. The recent COVID relief funds, for example, were undermined by corruption. But you know what the government here hasn't done? Stop helping people who need it because of the corruption in the programs designed to help them. You know what it does? Go after the corruption in the system.

Instead of reforming the dispensation of subsidies so that people who need the relief can get it, people are being told to “sacrifice.” As an elder statesman told me recently, the poor are actually now being “sacrificed” while the political elites use proceeds from the removal of subsidies to fund their luxuries.

 But you will never hear opponents of subsidies (who, by the way, benefited from subsidies right from their primary school up to their universities but who now want to break the ladder they used to climb to their current positions) talk about the corrupt, unearned privileges of the rich and the powerful.

Their “bravery” and “expertise” come forth only when they attack subsidies for the poor, when they defend the destruction of the fabric of society that mean, racist, and hateful IMF/World Bank economists recommend.

 No society that brazenly starves and robs its poor to enrich its rich should expect to make progress or enjoy peace.