The Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu has reacted to the mob killing of a butcher in the state over alleged blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.

The Governor in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Abubakar Bawa said his administration would not condone any act capable of degrading the Prophet, particularly in a state like Sokoto which is predominantly Muslim.

He however warned the residents against taking the law into their own hands but to remain calm and law-abiding as the matter is receiving due attention from relevant authorities.

Naija News recalls a butcher identified as Usman Buda, was killed on Sunday by extremist Muslims over an alleged blasphemous comment.

The incident was confirmed in a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the Sokoto State Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, who revealed that a team of policemen was led to the scene by the Commissioner of Police, Area Commander Metro, and DPO Kwanni, only to find the mob had dispersed and Buda left unconscious.

He was transported to Usmanu Danfodio Teaching Hospital Sokoto (UDUTH), where he was later confirmed dead.

Reacting, the state Governor said while acts of disrespect to the Prophet would not be condoned, the people of the state must also understand the Islamic religion does not permit them to take laws into their own hands.

“Dr Aliyu said that Sokoto people have so much respect and regard for Prophet Muhammad SAW, hence the need for all the residents to respect, protect his dignity and personality.

“I want to call on the people of Sokoto State to avoid taking laws into their own hands and instead report any alleged crime or blasphemy to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.

“Our religion does not encourage taking laws into one’s hands, so let us try to be good followers of our religion,” he appealed in the statement.

Bawa added that the Governor has warned the people against fomenting trouble as his administration would guarantee the safety of lives and property.

He said, “He added that the present administration will not take the issue of blasphemy lightly, and will deal decisively with anyone found guilty of any act aimed at degrading the personality of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in line with the provision of Islamic laws.

“The governor assured the people of the state of his administration’s commitment to guarantee the safety of lives and property of all law-abiding citizens.

“The governor also warned would-be troublemakers to have a change of mind, adding that Sokoto is a wrong place for them.”

Federal Government officials, along with leaders from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), are set to resume talks today to discuss measures to mitigate the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.

This meeting aims to kick off the eight-week timeline that was set last week for concluding discussions on the issue.

During the previous meeting, a Presidential Steering Committee was formed to oversee technical sub-committees focusing on various aspects of the matter.

The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila led the government’s team and agreed that all labor demands should be addressed within the eight-week period.

Negotiations will continue with the five sub-committees: Cash Transfers, Social Investment Programme (SIP), Cost of Governance, Energy, Mass Transit and Housing. Today’s meeting will confirm the members of these sub-committees and define their working templates.

The Cash Transfer committee, for instance, is expected to devise a strategy for increasing income from the government to vulnerable Nigerians.

One anonymous source that spoke with The Guardian revealed that the NLC plans to promote a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) revival process in Nigeria, as part of a move away from oil to gas.

The goal is to provide alternative energy options to Nigerians to alleviate the burden of the fuel subsidy removal.

When asked if the eight weeks are feasible for the committees to complete their task, he said: “It may not be feasible, but what I see happening, going forward, is that the committees on their own will request an extension to deliver benefits to Nigerians, so that at the end of the day, we can break the vicious cycle of gang up, exploitation and under-development against Nigerians by the ruling elites.”

He revealed that Nigerians should be expectant, as the NLC wants to drive a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) revival process in Nigeria, a movement away from oil to gas.

The source said it is a project NLC is hoping to prioritise, so that the elites, who want to use Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to oppress Nigerians, would not have the opportunity.

The source said, “We will make alternative provisions for Nigerians, which is one of the key things we asked for. How can you hand over a monopoly to someone who has never helped with his prior monopoly in cement? Rather, we have to pay more for a bag of cement than our neighbours in West Africa.

“We plan to move away from the oppression, so that we can rely on gas. If the government doesn’t want to drive the process, we will.

“We are planning a CNG fair in Nigeria, where all stakeholders will come, partner with major car entities, research institutes, marketers and producers of conversion kits, technicians and artisans for capacity training across Nigeria, to ensure we have places where they can take their equipment and convert to gas immediately. We are also partnering with energy providers to have a distribution network, where gases will be made available to Nigerians.”

Also, TUC Secretary-General, Nuhu Toro, expressed optimism that the presidential steering committee set up to look into demands put forth by TUC would come up with ideas that would lead to fruition.

Renowned Constitutional Lawyer and Rights Activist, Dr. Kayode Ajulo OON, has described the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu and immediate past speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, as an exceptional politician on his 61st birthday. 

This is contained in a felicitation statement made available to the press by the lawyer on the occasion of Mr. Gbajabiamila's birthday on Sunday, in Abuja. 

"Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila CFR is a pragmatic public administrator who is not just a lawyer but a very great one at that. An exceptional, versatile, spectacular and experienced lawmaker who believes in professionalism and is a good listener to the people. These are the qualities he has always represented." Ajulo said. 

He said the former lawmaker has displayed excellent capacity since being appointed the Chief of Staff to the President, saying his choice for the position indicates that the present administration of Bola Tinubu is working in the right direction. 

"Some of the accolades the President get for the right steps he has taken in his few weeks in office especially after he had made his first set of appointments should also go to some present members of his cabinet and Hon. Gbajabiamila should be the first as the Chief of Staff who is advising the President genuinely in the right direction.

As a lawmaker who has served in different governments, he would bring his rich experience to bear in discharging the duties of his new office and one result of that is witnessed in the student loan bill recently signed by the President. His appointment is a great choice for Nigeria and I know he would perform more than he did as a lawmaker. Nigeria is in safe hands." The lawyer said. 

Ajulo prayed for sound health for the former speaker, also strength and wisdom as he carries about his duties as the Chief of Staff to the President.

It is no longer news that the just concluded national bi-annual convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, which held in Owerri, Imo State capital, produced Eze Anaba, editor of the Vanguard newspaper as the new president. In the next two years, he and 15 other officers will run the affairs of the elite club of Nigerian editors. It is not going to be an easy task but editors are confident that the Anaba-led team will deliver.

It turned out to be a Guild election like no other, with difficulties more fundamental than the normal schism that characterises every struggle for power. Since the NGE was founded on May 20, 1961, at the old National Press Club in Lagos by Alhaji Lateef Jakande, who also emerged as its first president, the 2023 election was perhaps the most toxic.

To be sure, the NGE is not immune to crisis. Though the Jakande-led executive that included other veterans such as Babatunde Jose(vice president), Abiodun Aloba (secretary) and Nelson Ottah (assistant secretary), had the vision of advancing the interests of the media profession and deepening editors’ relationships with their various publics, including the government, the political crises of the 1960s became a clog in the wheel of progress. The 1966 coup and the 30-month civil war led to the sacrificing of the journalistic principles of objectivity, credibility and accuracy on the altar war propaganda.

But even in the heady era of sundry military juntas after the war, Nigerian editors jealously guarded the independence of the media, so much so that when General Olusegun Obasanjo’s junta promulgated a Press Council Decree to muscle the media in 1977, the NGE rejected it. The NGE also pushed back against civilian governments that wanted to skyjack its leadership.

Anaba being congratulated by Gov Hope Uzodimma

Thus, at the 1982 convention in Minna, Niger State, when the Alhaji Shehu Shagari-led National Party of Nigeria, NPN, government through Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the Minister of Transportation, tried to take control of the Guild by sponsoring the campaign of Alhaji Ibrahim, the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, who only became a registered member at that conference, members revolted and thwarted the move.

Such push-backs were possible because the founding fathers designed an exclusive club of professional news managers where editors as the ultimate gatekeepers on media content could interrogate issues of professionalism. Since then, it has remained true to its calling, working in collaboration with other journalistic bodies across the world to preserve the standards of journalism practice, strict adherence to ethics and advocacy for press freedom and democracy.

Nigerian editors under the NGE aegis have played their watchdog role conscious of the clear provisions of Chapter 2 Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), that: “The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people.”

How then can the media hold the government accountable if the practitioners become subservient to the government like the Ninth National Assembly headed by Senator Ahmad Lawan?

Sadly, 62 years after those great journalists founded the NGE, some editors wanted to ride on the back of the asinine 2023 politics of ethnicity to win the Guild presidency. They insisted that it would augur well if the NGE was embedded in the presidency, perhaps as a parastatal rather than the Fourth Estate of the Realm as envisaged by the Constitution. That was a fallacy. And fortunately, Nigerian editors saw through the heresy.

Never in the history of the NGE was ethnicity considered a relevant factor in the election of its leadership. Competence and character always trumped such primordial considerations.

Since its revival in 1992 by Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, the NGE has had presidents – Biodun Oduwole, Garba Shehu, Oluremi Oyo, Baba Dantiye, Gbenga Adefaye, Femi Adesina, Garba-deen Muhammad, Funke Egbemode, and Isa Mustapha – who nobody cared where they came from. The only consideration was that they were editors with track records of achievements.

So, what changed? Nothing other than the fact that those who profiteered from the ethnic profiling of fellow Nigerians in the 2023 general elections thought they could export the same condemnable template to the Guild. So, rather than selling their policies to fellow editors, they were busy promising guaranteed access to Aso Rock if elected. In running this nefarious and harebrained campaign, they were backed to the hilt by those who made incendiary comments against fellow Nigerians for no crime other than their electoral preferences which did not agree with theirs.

For daring to contest the presidency of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Eze Anaba was branded an Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, member simply because he is Igbo. These characters, without qualms, called to threaten and abuse fellow editors for going around with an Igbo to campaign in an election a Yoruba was vying for the same position.

Yet, if the expression “true Nigerian” means anything, Eze Anaba embodies that truth. The only thing Igbo about him is his name. Son of the late Mr. Josiah Anaba, who hailed from Umuota, Obingwa, Abia State and mother, late Mrs. Rosaline, an Ishan (Esan) from Ubiaja in Edo State, Eze and his siblings were born and raised in Lagos. Over 70 per cent of his friends are non-Igbo, including those who suddenly realised that he is Igbo and not qualified to aspire to lead a professional body like the NGE. His wife, Itoro, one of the most hardworking women in Nigeria today, hails from Akwa Ibom State.

Eze speaks Yoruba better than he speaks Igbo. He has worked and thrived in an organisation owned by one of the doyens of journalism in Nigeria today, Uncle Sam Amuka, who is not Igbo. In his capacity as Editor of the high-flying Vanguard newspaper, he manages colleagues from all the nooks and crannies of this vast country without any complaints from any quarters.

But why did they try that nonsense? Didn’t they know they were dealing with members of an elite club who know what the real issues were and what was at stake? Impunity is the answer. It has a way of beclouding people’s senses. But what was at stake was the very soul of the Guild. And when it mattered most Nigerian editors, just as they did in 1982 in Minna, made a resounding statement in Owerri on June 16 by rejecting tendencies that divide rather than unite us. When the votes were counted, Eze Anaba polled 250 to defeat those who labelled him IPOB. They only managed to garner 81 votes. It was real shellacking.

In repudiating the idiocy of ethnic and religious politics, Nigerian Editors have once again demonstrated to politicians that politics could do with some decency and elections can be transparent, free, fair and credible.

The Maimuna Garba-led election/screening committee that had Isaac Ighure, a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Yusuf Abdulssalam, Mary Atolagbe and Felix Nwadioha as members did a job that INEC Chairman Mahmoud Yakubu proved incapable of doing.

It is not about numbers. It is all about political will to do the right thing and fidelity to the Constitution and country. Indeed, Nigerians have something to learn from the Nigerian Guild of Editors who made a loud and unambiguous statement in Owerri on June 16 that their conscience can never be purloined.

Ikechukwu Amaechi, former Editor of Daily Indepepndent, is Publisher of The Niche, an online newspaper. 

Mr Osita Okechukwu, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria, VON, is from Enugu State, South-East Nigeria. He is a foundation member of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Okechukwu is an ardent supporter of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari. In this interview with DAILY POST Editor, Emmanuel Uzodinma, he bares it all on the past administration and makes projections on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government. Excerpts!

As a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress and a Buharist, what would you say were the major achievements of the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly in areas of infrastructural development and security?

Without being immodest, as a Buharist, one wishes to start with what ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, did from day one that most people have forgotten which made a tangible impact in our lives. One is that before he even presented his cabinet members to the Senate, he carefully perused through the federal and state files which led to his shock that some states were owing workers and pensioners humongous debts ranging from 3 – 27 months.

Federal files were also dotted with huge debts to workers and pensioners dating back to police officers who participated over 50 years ago in the Biafra-Nigeria civil war. He ended up expending about N3 trillion on these debts. Secondly, were implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and sundry applications, which aided the anti-graft war. Foundations were also laid in the development of vast and dynamic Internet-of-Things.

Why was the defraying of workers’ salary and pensioners’ debt Buhari’s top priority?

Thank you very much my dear. One recalled that in one such meeting, I proposed to the meeting that if N1 trillion of that amount was used to construct federal roads at N50 million per kilometre, that we would have instantly about 5,000 kilometres completed. Buhari then paused and asked me why and I preferred the publicity advantage to workers and pensioners’ plight.

I argued that construction of roads will accord more publicity premium to the young regime than expending such huge funds on public servants who are not up to 15% of our population? He countered by narrating the negative consequences of non-payment of salaries on not only workers but the pensioners. That the negative multiplier effect goes down to the shopkeeper, barbers, pharmacist, et al in the neighbourhood of those workers. He posed the question, how can you talk of anti-corruption when you don’t pay pensioners? Buhari’s pension compliance records are outstanding. If you are in doubt, please cross-check with PTAD and Pencom.

Buhari’s administration also implemented various policies and reforms in the agricultural sector, such as the Anchor Borrowers’ Program and the Green Alternative initiative. Do you think these had impacts on food security and rural development in Nigeria?

I was going to add the standard Western Corridor Rail Line, 2nd Niger Bridge, Loco/Owete Bridge and over 8,000 federal roads as the visible milestones before his huge investment in agriculture.

On your question, the truism is that Buhari invested more than any other federal government post 1970 on agriculture. I dubbed it Buhari’s Agrarian Revolution, notwithstanding that insecurity blurred it. Insecurity was the issue which hampered farmers’ production. He failed to act with immediate effect when the Herders/Clash erupted, it was a grave unforced error.

The Buhari administration had a strong focus on diversifying the economy away from oil dependency. However, with the state of the economy as handed over to President Bola Tinubu, in your own thinking, did the former President achieve his desired plan for the economy? Many think the government failed in the area of economy.

Economic development is a process and a continuum like every government. There was bad weather, as some of us he appointed didn’t share his vision. Unfortunately, he never applies Key Performance Index (KPI) to evaluate us. Suffice it to end on the truism that there are big pluses and minuses of the Buhari’s administration.

However, on infrastructure and agriculture; I can bet that President Bola Tinubu or whichever regime that comes in the next 50 years is bound to follow his pattern, in the bid to diversify our economy, whether you call it Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) or Back to Land, it will be akin to the advert – glucose or glucode.

On the Green Imperative Project (GIP), it is a very patriotic project meant to mechanise forever our agriculture. For it’s proven that every kilometre in our 923, 000 square kilometres’ landscape is arable to one crop or livestock. The Brazil-Nigeria government to government GIP was halted when Chief Audu Ogbe was unceremoniously yanked off as the minister of agriculture.

The two ministers who succeeded Ogbe killed the tempo. One hopes President Tinubu accelerates the project which is its final relay; luckily, the officer in charge is still on seat waiting anxiously.

The €995m GIP project provides a veritable solution to food sufficiency and food export. Imagine what will happen when multiple modern farm implements, including ranch machines are installed under public private partnership, with service centres in 774 local government areas and 6 Area Councils of FCT, dotted with Agro-Processing Plants.

This is one of the solid foundations Buhari had laid for harvesting to feed ourselves and generate funds to defray our huge debts. The Russian-Ukrainian war has left a huge wheat grain void in the international market, beckoning for countries like Nigeria to fill.

Looking at the poverty rate in the country, which is put at over 133 million, how would you rate the various social intervention programs – the N-Power scheme and the Conditional Cash Transfer initiative?

My rating of the Social Investment Programme is above average. For it’s just a palliative and short term measure. It’s not medicine to cure all illness, as in any multi-dimensional poverty scenario, the healing or mitigation process differs from one strand of poverty to the other. I know for instance that when we submitted names for N10,000 each, some of the beneficiaries any time I am back in the village will troop to thank, whilst those who didn’t get, still bear grudges up to date. They always ask, when are people coming again, especially on the school feeding program.

All one can propose is that agriculture provides a veritable way out, plus hooking youths up to the good digital fin-tech works National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has embarked upon.

Insecurity worsened in the South-East under the Buhari era, with unknown gunmen taking over the streets, what should the Tinubu government do differently?

Insecurity in the Southeast and albeit generally in Nigeria is regrettable and very unfortunate. Like every coin there are two sides to the coin. As I hinted earlier, it was an unforced error that our leader didn’t pounce with immediate effect when the Herders/Farmers’ clashes erupted. Methinks that could have erased ethnocentrism out of the imbroglio.

On the other hand, one keeps on advising my people and every Nigerian to gradually weed ourselves of the ethnic toga all of us wear. We are all tribalists in one way or the other, which is unfortunate. This is why when Buhari offered Ndigbo the Olive branch in 2003 and 2007, they wittingly or unwittingly rebuffed him. This was when he nominated Rt. Hons. Chuba Okadigbo and Edwin Umezoke, respectively, as his vice presidential candidates. This is the laurel President Tinubu graciously inherited.

Is that why he marginalised Ndigbo in his appointments?

Methinks he didn’t marginalise Ndigbo in physical and social infrastructure. For me I would prefer if President Tinubu embarks on infrastructural development in the Southeast more than on the so-called juicy appointments. To me the 2nd Niger Bridge, rehabilitation of federal roads, universities, dams, internet broadband penetration, Standard Eastern Corridor Railways, et al are more important than juicy appointments.

We are entrepreneurs and hard working people being hindered by infrastructural development. I beg the food-is-ready politicians to pardon me. Most of them are today hovering at Abuja, lobbying President Tinubu and his kitchen cabinet, even those who blackmailed APC with a campaign of calumny.

One appeals to Ndigbo to learn from the Japanese and Germans who after World War II, despite the bombardment of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Berlin, etc, rested the matter and moved on with the Americans.

What has been the experience as the Director General of Voice Nigeria?

To be sincere, Voice of Nigeria (VON) is a new school of Nigeria for me. New school in the sense that I met some brilliant and passionate Nigerians who are ready to give their best, but are handicapped by inadequate funding by the system.

This funding handicap is as a result of the dynamic nature of broadcasting, bombarded by technological changes in the ever changing broadcasting industry.

VON took off in 1960 as the external department of Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation with Professor Chinua Achebe, an international icon of blessed memory, who was the first Director.

VON commenced broadcasting in the Short-Wave (SW) Modem Frequencies, capable of long range, reaching any location globally. The Shortwave has its advantages of freedom of news crossing both friends and enemies borders and the disadvantage that many countries use little or no Shortwave again.

With the dynamics of the broadcasting industry enhanced by digital broadcasting, the relevance of ShortWave comes under stiff competition.

We are in an era where the future of shortwave is threatened by the rise of power line communication, internet of things – website, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook and sorts of Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), which uses data streams transmitted over unshielded power lines.

My greatest challenge is to successfully install and run effective Visual Radio, which offers our audience audio and visual and still maintains our Shortwave Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM).

[DailyPost]

Blockchain can be applied in SME financing, supply chain, mobility

Nigeria has ranked among the top 10 countries for adoption of crypto across the globe. This was according to a report, titled ‘State of Web3.0 in Africa’, unveiled at the weekend and prepared by Emurgo Africa, in strategic partnership with PwC.

[as]

The report provided an expansive and insightful analysis of the emergent influence of blockchain and Web3.0 technologies within Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

It cast a spotlight on pivotal rise of blockchain investment within Africa. It noted that blockchain funding soared by a stunning 1,668 per cent in 2022, compared to the preceding year, accumulating a total of $91 million in countries like Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, heralding Africa’s burgeoning presence within the global blockchain arena.

It noted further that blockchain funding raised in Africa grew from $5.165 million in 2021, compared to $91 million in 2022. The report noted that blockchain technology could be applied in areas including SME financing; supply chain; governance; digitising trade infrastructure and title deed registration.

Other areas are verification of education credentials and mobility smart contracts for informal markets, among others. Illustrating the progress and latent potential of blockchain and Web3.0 technologies across Africa, the report painted a picture of Kenya’s forefront role in blockchain adoption and digital innovation. It showcased Kenya’s speedy growth in implementing blockchain solutions that stimulate economic development in East Africa. In South Africa, the report indicated the escalating adoption of Web3.0 and blockchain technologies that are revolutionising industries via secure and transparent data management in Southern Africa.

The report also highlighted Nigeria’s high-ranking position in the top 10 worldwide for crypto adoption, emphasising the country’s role in propelling financial inclusion and nurturing innovation in the digital currency sector in West Africa.

These findings underline the transformative effect of blockchain and Web3.0 technologies in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, establishing them as major contributors to the digital revolution unfolding across Africa.

The MENA region, concurrently, has been identified as the fastest-growing crypto market from 2021 to 2022, leading the digital revolution among users, regulators and crypto investors alike.

On the global stage, crypto regulation is evolving, with 40 per cent of the 35 nations surveyed having instituted regulatory frameworks, 34 per cent actively developing them, and a scant nine per cent enforcing outright prohibitions on cryptocurrencies.

Despite the fact that Africa has, thus far, received a mere 0.5 per cent of global blockchain funding, the continent’s commitment to Web3.0 technologies and digital currencies is poised to recalibrate its technological and financial landscape, paving the way for unprecedented financial inclusion and innovation.

Weakening local currencies, coupled with fragile economic backdrops have created rapidly growing demand for USD-pegged stable coins on the continent, as consumers protect their asset values from free falling, and owners of SMEs seek cheaper and efficient ways of payment.

This development is a testament to the burgeoning adoption of digital currencies and blockchain technology as practical solutions in economically volatile environments.
Chief Executive Officer of EMURGO Africa, Ahmed M. Amer, emphasised: “Web3.0 technologies are already redefining the African digital landscape, offering innovative solutions to long-standing challenges and empowering individuals and communities across the continent. This report presents an in-depth exploration of the potential of these technologies to drive positive change, while highlighting the importance of fostering a collaborative environment between stakeholders, policymakers, and regulators to unlock the full potential of Web3.0.”

[Guardian]

On July 17, 2012, Peter Obi, then governor of Anambra State, swore in five new commissioners. One of them was Chike Okoli, whom he assigned to the Ministry of Science and Technology where he would serve as commissioner until the expiration of Mr. Obi’s governorship tenure in March 2014. Two months later, around May 21, 2014, Chike set out from the state capital in Awka to Nanka, his village in Orumba South Local Government Area, LGA, of the state. He never got there.

Somewhere in Agulu, not far from Nanka, Chike’s car was reportedly intercepted by men in a sports utility vehicle, SUV, who abducted him. Despite having much of their ransom demand of N16 million met, Chike has not been seen or heard from since then. It was widely reported at the time that Chike was “abducted by unknown gunmen”.

Forty-one days before Chike Okoli’s abduction, then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, went to Awka, where he declared that the state was the safest it had been in five years. Five years before this revelation by the Inspector-General, in April 2009, a campaign of violent crime leading to the death of over 30 persons in lethal fortnight, forced the House of Representatives to hold an urgent debate at the end of which it adopted a resolution expressing alarm at and asking for urgent measures to address the activities of “the men of the underworld in Anambra State”.

In the first six months of 2009, violent crime killed over 60 people in Anambra State alone. Abia, Anambra and Imo states in the South-East were among the top five in the kidnapping league table compiled by Nigeria’s security agencies in 2009. A report by the Voice of America in December 2009 attributed these trends in the South-East to “criminality and violence from the proliferation of armed gangs”. One year later, in the last quarter of 2010, Aba, the commercial centre in Abia State, was reported to be “in the firm grip of kidnap militia”.

Transnational crime gangs were the suspects when unknown gunmen attacked St. Phillip’s Catholic Church in Ozubulu, in Ekwusigo LGA in Anambra State, shooting indiscriminately at worshippers in an incident that killed at least 13 persons and injured many more in the early hours of August 6, 2017.

These instances do not by any means pretend to scratch the surface of the patterns of atrocity violence in South-East Nigeria. But they illustrate some features that have been lost as the situation has become the stuff of a bifurcated, single narrative. Internally in the region, one prong to this narrative claims that the sources of insecurity in the South-East are external, caused mostly by armed herders. Externally, outside the South-East, much of the country perceives insecurity in south-east as the handiwork of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB. Both claims are blinkered.

The latter prong of this single narrative has much of its origins in two developments and one tendency. One was the designation of the group as a terrorist organisation by an ex parte court order at the instance of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in 2017. The tactical objective, it seemed, was to isolate the group. The actual consequence was a strategic metastasis.

A second was the decision by National Security Adviser in his inaugural Annual Security Threat Assessment in 2017 to take a federal character approach to security threat analyses and boil down a resilient problem of insecurity in the South-East into an IPOB problem, putting the group on the same footing as Boko Haram.

These two developments derive from the tendency to turn every problem of insecurity in Nigeria into a revenue source for those supposed to manage them. The result is that no theatre of insecurity in Nigeria ever gets better. The Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta, for instance, has been in existence since 1994. It was meant to be temporary.

These developments were foreseably wrong-headed. Contrary to urban legend, atrocity violence in the South-East had been on the rise since the return to elective governance in 1999. In his 2007 book on Political Assassinations in Nigeria, Shehu Sani, the former Senator from Kaduna State, details over 50 crimes and victims of political murder which occurred in Nigeria in the first eight years following the return to elective government in Nigeria in 1999. The South-East and South-South easily out-ranked the other geo-political zones of the country with the highest number of assassinations.

As the disappearance of Chike Okoli in 2014 shows, the “unknown gunman” is not a recent moniker. When unknown assassins set upon the then chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in Onitsha, Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Abigail, brutally killing both around September 1, 2002, IPOB was not in existence. Three years later, the former Governor of Anambra State, the recently deceased Chinwoke Mbadinuju, walked free on charges of having procured the double murder of Mr. and Mrs. Igwe. Their killers remain unknown.

In his 2023 Annual Security Threat Assessment, the National Security Adviser claims that IPOB attacks “led to the death of 77 civilians” in 2022, with 54% of reported incidents credited to the group being directed, however, at security agencies. Clearly, 77 persons killed is 77 too many, yet, this statistic should put perceptions of IPOB as an insecurity proposition in perspective.

By comparison, Obosi, the ancient town in Anambra State which shares part of the commercial hub widely referred to as Onitsha, has been overtaken by an orgy of cult killings which claimed the lives of nearly one hundred young men over the same period. The Obosi killings have not merited the attentions of the NSA even though they have a much longer history; are much more deadly; involve more sophisticated weapons; and are linked to organised crime. The reason is simple: Obosi killings do not fit into the single narrative of separatism.

Of course, the violence in the South-East is not exclusive to non-state actors or gangs. The month before the Ozubulu Massacre, scores of bodies of young men were found floating on the Ezu River in Anambra State in a mass liquidation that appeared to bear the hallmarks of the Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS.

At the beginning of a pattern that would define the millennium for many in that part of Nigeria, in the early hours of February 7, 2001, over 150 armed men of the Police Mobile Force attacked what was believed to be the national headquarters of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, in Okigwe, Imo State, shooting at will at hundreds of unarmed activists. It was reported that dead “casualties of the raid littered everywhere”. In May 2008, MASSOB released a list of 2,020 of its members allegedly killed by Nigerian security agencies.

A major inflection point was the prison break in Owerri in April 2021, which freed over 1,844 prisoners, many of them violent and dangerous, from a facility not far from the office of the state governor who was reportedly not far from the vicinity of the prison as the incident occurred. Quite miraculously, no prison officers suffered any casualties in the break. The aftermath of the prison break would witness an indiscriminate escalation in the South-East on a scale suggesting the partisan weaponisation of insecurity.

The Buhari regime approached insecurity in South-East Nigeria with peculiar prejudices, which did not much bother itself with knowledge or evidence. With the region excluded from strategic leadership in the security services, much of the decision making about how to manage exposure to insecurity in that part of the country lacked the benefit of informed insights.

Far from being helpful, the interventions by the Buhari lot did much to hinder efforts to find solutions to insecurity in the region. To be fair, the South-East was not the only region mismanaged under the Buhari misadventure. Over eight years, Muhammadu Buhari left every part of Nigeria worse than he met them.

As the country turns the page on a toxic eight years, there is an opportunity to re-think the metrics and methods by which it manages insecurity. In Nigeria, those who should end insecurity seem committed instead to making it durable. That must end.

*A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bill Gates, the American with a trophy as one of the World’s richest men, came visiting Nigeria last week. He publicly visited the Presidential Villa twice; first to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the second, to meet Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha and our governors who came before him with begging bowls for health aid.

Despite Nigeria being one country, each governor had a separate health agenda and request, all expecting the former husband of Melinda French to grant their wishes. Although the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a $50 billion endowment, out of which $7 billion has been earmarked for polio eradication, how do the governors and the Federal Government expect Gates to grant their separate requests, more so as Nigeria is just one of 196 countries in the world? If we must beg Gates for health hand outs, why can’t it be consolidated, or should we also have lined up the 774 local government chairmen before him?

I reflected that it would have cost us a fortune to gather the governors and their entourage in Abuja given the fact that most would have flown down while those coming by road would have burnt fuel at N500 per litre. Such money, if spent on healthcare, would have helped.

A day before the meeting, Gates had indicted Nigerian political leaders for poor investment in the nation’s health sector. He said government spends only $10 (N6,900) per Nigerian on healthcare annually compared to $31 in sub-Saharan Africa. He admonished that: “Leaders need to make a much bigger financial commitment, focusing most on improving primary health systems. Making sure clinics are well-staffed and supplied, making sure children get the vaccines they need.”

What Gates was saying is that the primary challenge is not in begging for assistance, but what is Nigeria doing with the healthcare system? Part of the answer was given a day before the June 22, 2023 Gates-Nigerian Governors meeting when some 400 health practitioners met under the umbrella of the Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals, NUAHP. The theme, ‘Alarming Brain Drain In Nigeria’s Health Sector: Need For Emergency Rescue’, summarised the state of our healthcare.

Former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Rahman Mimiko, a medical doctor, had introduced a medical revolution ‘Abiye’ in the state; building and equipping emergency medical facilities within five weeks and striving for zero fatalities during childbirth. To achieve this, his administration had made a cost of taking care of a woman from conception to delivery and how to meet it.

In his analysis why governments are not making much of an headway in healthcare delivery, Mimiko said: ”It is not the bricks and mortar that matter; it is the delivery. We spend so much on non-functional structures.”

He posited that no nation develops until it takes the health of its citizens serious and that life expectancy reflects the development of every country.

Mimiko, a two-term Governor and former Federal Minister for Housing and Urban Development, argued that health is a major investment and any government that is not making serious investment in health, is not serious.

In arguing that subsidising the healthcare of the citizenry should be a basic commitment of any government, he said the United States which is the father of capitalism takes healthcare so serious that the sector is the biggest employer while in Britain, the National Health Service, NHS, is a second religion. He said many never realise how poor they are until they are required to produce money for healthcare.

In making a case for the urgent equipment of health facilities and treatment of health practitioners as a special cadre, Mimiko warned that if the current rate of migration is not checked in the next five years, Nigerians may be at the mercy of traditional doctors.

On the professional harvesting of Nigerian health practitioners by foreign countries, Mimiko posited that there should be bilateral agreements such that if the United Kingdom, UK wants 1,000 nurses from Nigeria, it should contribute to producing another 1,000 Nigerian nurses.

In agreeing with Mimiko, Comrade Festus Osifo, the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, said if health practitioners are not provided the conducive atmosphere, any bill brought to the National Assembly to stop them from migrating, would be dead on arrival.

Dr Godswill Chikwendu Okara, the Registrar, West African College of Medical Laboratory Science, in his forensic analysis submitted that health professionals are leaving the country in droves due to mass unemployment, poor salaries and work conditions, mass poverty, religious, communal and political crises. He said between April 1, 2022 and this March, over 3,300 Nigerian nurses and midwives trained in the country, were licenced to practise in the UK, while by March 31, 2023, 10,639 of them were practising in UK alone.

Dr Okara’s solutions include a guaranteed peaceful environment, improved economy, access to competitive and fair paying jobs, better cost of living, strategic talent management, proper funding of tertiary education and allocation of more resources to education generally.

NUAHP President, Dr Obinna Ogbona, said COVID-19 was the “most traumatic, challenging and calamitous period of monumental proportion (as it) claimed the lives of some health workers and infected several others who were carrying out their duties to save lives in various hospital facilities and isolation centres in the country”. He regretted that the brain drain is depriving the country of the best talents to provide healthcare needs.

Former Minister of State for Environment and current Emir of Nasarawa, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, said most strikes, including in the health sector are due to the poor implementation of Collective Agreements, adding that in the first place, some agreements entered into by the government are not realistic. The health practitioners, he said, must develop team spirit to be able to serve the people.

Begging Gates or other donors will not fundamentally improve our health system; in any case, such funds can easily be frittered away. First, like Gates advocated, the system must be funded rather than have left over bones thrown at it. Secondly, we must return to the First Republic system of preventive medicine; the period we had active health inspectors fumigating gutters and checking the environment we lived. Back to those days when incinerators were provided in various areas rather than now when in most parts, refuse is not cleared. The country also has to return to the building and promotion of the primary healthcare system as was under Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti when he was Health Minister. Our leaders also need to discourage medical tourism by developing a health system that would be good enough to treat them as was the case in the First Republic. These are some of the gates to adequate healthcare in Nigeria.

…. .Ajulo Asks Tinubu to Caution DSS Operations

A renowned Constitutional Lawyer, Rights Activist and National Honouree of Officer of the Order of Niger, Dr Kayode Ajulo OON, has asked the Department of State Services, DSS, to respect the rule of law in pursuing the case against the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFFC, Abdulrasheed Bawa and others, and not infringe on their fundamental rights.

The lawyer said it is unlawful to keep Mr Bawa in detention longer than when the law stipulates. He asked President Tinubu to caution the operations of the men of the DSS concerning the matter and ensure that the rule of law prevails.

Read the full statement;

ATTENTION MR PRESIDENT: ILLEGAL AND LONG DETENTION OF MR ABDULRASHEED BAWA & OTHERS BY THE DSS AND THE IMPERATIVENESS OF THE COURT TO DECIDE THEIR FATE

I once again present my warmest and most sincere compliments to our dear President, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR. Hearty kudos for the months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds spent in power and for taking bold, pragmatic and egalitarian steps to assent several bills into law in a bid to boost and revive the country’s economy amidst other strata. I unreservedly salute your Excellency for the developments thus far but would however beseech and appeal that several of the bills passed should be professionally reviewed further to ensure that better amendments are made to some of them but I would, however, dwell less on this path as that is not the locus and focus of this press statement.

Your Excellency would recall that on May 29th, 2023 during your swearing-in and in your inaugural speech, you said,

_*“Our constitution and laws give us a nation on paper. We must work harder at bringing these noble documents to life by strengthening the bonds of economic collaboration, social cohesion, and cultural understanding. Let us develop a shared sense of fairness and equity”.*_

Further in defining the principles that would guide your administration, Your Excellency then said:

_*“Nigeria will be impartially governed according to the constitution and the rule of law”.*_

However, before this time Mr President you have displayed your trust in and advocacy for the rule of law as enshrined in the speech you directed to the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004, about 19 years ago, during the Christmas Eve event at Island Club in Lagos. You said:

_*”Federal government has a responsibility. They are the leader of moral persuasion. The number one law implementer must obey the rule of the land. You cannot be junketing around the world looking for investment for this country- you want to create employment opportunity, you want people to come and invest in Nigeria. The investors will ask you can I come in and if I find anything wrong can I go to your judiciary, will you obey the rule of law?”*_

The first principle on the list, though brief and concise but entails and embeds a lot in its simplicity. Therefore, the same cannot be said casually without work done towards upholding and adhering to it.

Your Excellency, let me also remind you that one of the fundamental ills of the past administration headed by former President Muhammadu Buhari which was vehemently rebuked by many Nigerians was his failure to comply with the provisions of the Constitution regarding issues of unlawful detention as many suffered abuses to their Fundamental Rights as provided for in chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended), particularly provisions of Section 35 relating to rights to Personal Liberty and further recognized by the provisions of Articles 6 & 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as Articles 3 & 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Consequently, in impartial governance according to the constitution and rule of law, issues of rights of individuals and citizens should be paramount and all measures, actions and procedures to correct aberrant personnel should be done by the provisions of the law and nothing below such standard counts as same contradicts the principles with which your administration sets out to govern the Nation.

…Only NNPCL still importing fuel

…As ex-depot price rises to N505 per litre

Barely a month after deregulation, operators in the downstream sector have not been able to import petrol into Nigeria, due mainly to a lack of license and foreign exchange.

Checks by Vanguard, weekend, indicated that many oil marketers that applied for license are still waiting for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to release it.

It also showed that the six companies, including Eterna, which got the license have not started importing the product into the country.

The checks further indicated that despite the floatation of foreign exchange rates by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, many oil companies still find it difficult to go into business.

A visit to many private depots in Apapa, Lagos, showed that the oil marketers are not contemplating importation in the coming weeks because of uncertainties currently staring oil marketers in the face.

This means the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is the only entity still importing fuel into the country.

We have not started importing fuel — oil marketers

The national president, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, could not be reached for comments, yesterday.

But in an interview with Vanguard, yesterday, the national operations controller of IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, who noted said the oil marketers have not yet commenced the importation, said: “The cost of importing petrol has tripled because of subsidy withdrawal.

‘’We now need more funds to put into the business than before. Remember the exchange rate of the naira has also increased from over N400/ a dollar to over N700/per a dollar.

“This means that a lot of funds are needed than before. it is not easy for a single company to bring out that level of money. So, we are discussing with the banks.

‘’It will take some time to conclude the various discussions before securing funds for the importation. The price of petrol may be high at the initial period, but it would drop later as many oil marketers begin to import the product.”

Ex-depot price rises to N505 per litre

Already, he said the ex-depot price of the product has increased from over N400 per litre to N505 over the weekend, thus forcing the independent marketers that lift the product from private depots to sell at different prices, ranging from N510 -N530, depending on location, to recover cost.

It takes time to get license —Applicant

A chief executive officer, who pleaded anonymity, said: “We have applied for license to import. We are waiting on the regulator. We also need huge foreign exchange at a competitive rate because it cost billions of naira to bring a mother vessel into the country. This has to be done in an environment of certainty.

“We cannot dabble into fuel importation at this time. Adequate caution is required from everyone, including the banks that will provide the funds, to ensure that such investment could be recovered at least with minimal profit.

‘’It is a business that one can easily get his or her fingers burnt. We are currently watching the investment landscape and will import at the right time.”

Regulator keeps mum

The Authority Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, did not respond when Vanguard reached out yesterday

Transporters charge high fares

Meanwhile, transporters, including Uber, have increased their fares by more than 100 per cent on all routes.
For instance, it now costs over N2,000 for commuters to move from Ikorodu to Mile 2 in Lagos, a distance that used to be below N1,000. 

It also cost more than N1,500 to travel from Marina to Ajah, a distant that used to be less than N1,000.