The Bank of America (BoA) has said the it sees the value of the naira settling at N680 to the dollar by the end of the year, saying that the currency has moved from overvalued to being undervalued following the government’s recent foreign exchange reform.

This as it postulates that the next move of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to curb the oil theft that has besieged the nation.

This was contained in a note by the bank as seen by BusinessDay.

According to the bank, “We now see a USDNGN fair value of 680 per USD (previously 580). However, USDNGN is likely to trade above this level, with year-end 700, and a return to 650-680 in early 2024,” the Bank of America analysts said.

“The caution is transition time, aligning rates and still to unlock more USD into the formal market will take some time. When the dust has settled, the value of the naira should be stronger and appreciating,” the analysts added.

BoA notes that higher oil exports ($12 billion more) and a liberalised import regime ($10 billion increase in non-oil imports) can still result in consistent current account surpluses over the medium term.

“With the current momentum, Tinubu’s next big move should be to reduce oil theft – by reforming the security sector and involving host communities near the pipelines,” Bank of America, one of the big four banking institutions of the United States said in a note seen by BusinessDay.

If successful, the global financial institution predicts this could increase Nigeria’s crude production to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 12 to 18 months, from the current 1.2m bpd, barring OPEC limits.

“In our view, increasing crude oil production to 1.6m bpd in the next 12 months is feasible and would be a structural improvement from current levels of about 1.2m bpd. If we include condensates, total oil production could rise from the current 1.4m bpd to 1.8m bpd in two years a level that Nigeria was producing pre-pandemic,” Bank of America added.

Nigeria depends on hydrocarbons for 90 percent of its exports, at least half of fiscal revenues, and about 6 per cent of GDP.

“Higher oil revenues and increased effort for non-oil revenue would ease the high debt service burden,” Bank of America said.

Top universities and colleges in the United States (US) would have to review admissions rules based on race considerations that have often benefited black international students, especially Nigerians, more than Native Americans for whom they were designed after the US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the practice was unlawful.

According to the Institute for International Education, more than 13,000 students from Nigeria are enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States. Many were able to get into some of these universities through affirmative action.

The issue of black immigrants benefiting from affirmative action in the admissions process at selective colleges and universities was a sore subject in America. While some universities and colleges touted gains made in student body diversity, particularly with the increase in black student enrollment, native black Americans felt cheated.

“Although these colleges and universities would like to attribute this success to their affirmative action programs, data suggests that such gains in black student enrollment have resulted from the increasing enrollment of black immigrants and at the expense of native black students—the students for whom affirmative action was initially intended to benefit,” notes a study by the Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality.

The study argued that extending race-based preferences to black immigrants works against a fundamental rationale in the legal dispute that gave rise to the provision.

Black immigrants overall have higher admissions metrics compared to native blacks; using race-based preference results in the admission of a disproportionate number of black immigrants compared to native blacks, particularly at the most elite institutions.

According to an op-ed by Robert Cherry, an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a descendant of slavery, Mariah Norman, in 2021, bemoaned how immigrants or children of immigrants dominate the black student environment at Harvard.

She pointed to the Nigerian Students Association, which claims 200 members, suggesting that one-third of Harvard’s black student body is in the club. More than 15 black affinity groups exist on campus, like the African Students Association and the Caribbean Club. And while the Black Students Association encompasses all, there wasn’t an organization solely for black students like Norman until students got together in 2021 and formed one. Norman believed that nothing would change until Harvard started reporting on the ethnic composition of its black student population.

“The large numbers of African immigrants on American college campuses, coupled with the remarkably small numbers of native blacks on those same campuses, calls into question the effectiveness of America’s affirmative action programs. While affirmative action started as a system to right the wrongs of slavery and institutional anti-black racism, helping wealthy immigrants who weren’t here for those struggles doesn’t serve any of the program’s original intentions, argued Cherry.

The bulk of the international students at these high-priced universities are the children of politicians, top business leaders, and company executives in Nigeria and other African and Caribbean nations.

The latest Supreme Court decision has ended this debate by putting an end to affirmative action. The Court consolidated two cases against Harvard and the University of Carolina.

In the case against the University of North Carolina, the plaintiffs argued that the school is bound by both the Constitution’s equal protection clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars race discrimination by institutions that receive federal money.

The plaintiffs, Students for Fair Admissions, said that the university discriminated against white and Asian applicants by giving preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American ones. The university responded that its admissions policies fostered educational diversity and were lawful under longstanding Supreme Court precedents.

The case against Harvard accused the university of discriminating against Asian American students by using a subjective standard to gauge traits like likability, courage, and kindness, and by effectively creating a ceiling for them in admissions.

Lawyers for Harvard said the challengers had relied on a flawed statistical analysis and denied that the university discriminated against Asian American applicants. More generally, they said race-conscious admissions policies are lawful.

Both cases were brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by Edward Blum, a legal activist who has organized many lawsuits challenging race-conscious admissions policies and voting rights laws, several of which have reached the Supreme Court.

The universities both won in federal trial courts, and the decision in Harvard’s favor was affirmed by a federal appeals court.

Outside the school, there are also concerns that the Supreme Court decision could complicate diversity efforts elsewhere, narrowing the pipeline of highly credentialed minority candidates and making it harder for employers to consider race in hiring.

The justices of the US Supreme Court voted 6 to 3, along ideological lines, with the liberal justices all in dissent.

As the Presidential Election Petitions Court reconvenes on Monday (July 3), the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has lined up witnesses to defend the election victory of President Bola Tinubu and one of them is Dr. Lawrence Bayode, Deputy Director in the ICT Department of the electoral umpire, THE WHISTLER reports.

The petitioners, including the Labour Party and Peter Obi as well as Peoples Democratic Party and Atiku Abubakar, had concluded tendering of evidence and presentation of witnesses last Friday, insisting among other prayers, that INEC’s failure to upload scanned polling unit results in real-time contradicts the Electoral Act 2022 and amounts to electoral fraud.

In their separate petitions, they want the PEPC to nullify Tinubu’s election while declaring them winners of the 2023 presidential election.

Obi had presented before the court cloud engineering and cyber security experts, including a Professor of Mathematics to explain his team’s findings on the INEC Results Viewing Portal, IREV, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines, and deflate INEC’s claim that “technical glitches” prevented transmission of the presidential results to the IReV portal.

Atiku also presented a forensic expert, among other witnesses.

In Bayode’s witness statement on oath seen by THE WHISTLER, he said during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections, INEC’s technical team did everything to restore the (IREV) application to functionality, including the creation and deployment of patches and updates to resolve the glitches that made the BVAS machine not to upload results in real-time from the polling units.

He contended that the downtime encountered on the IREV application lasted for 4 hours and 50 minutes until it was resolved and the first presidential result was “successfully” uploaded at 8:55 pm on the 25th of February, 2023.

“The investigation by the INEC experts shows that the system was returning error codes specifically HTTP 500 error.

“HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) 500 error is a coding message which indicates that a computer or server has encountered an unexpected error that has prevented it from carrying out or fulfilling a specific request or executing a command,” he said in his witness statement.

Bayode further explained that the upload of data or images captured and automatically stored on the BVAS machine by presiding officers requires data service of mobile network operators.

“Where there is no data service or where the service is poor, the BVAS device is designed to work offline. The upload of data will occur when data service is available,” Bayode added, maintaining that offline transmission using BVAS did not affect the integrity of upload of the election result to the e-transmission and IREV portal.

THE WHISTLER reports that INEC has five days to call its witnesses to pave the way for the legal team of Tinubu and the All Progressive Congress to do the same.

In line with the PEPC directive, parties must have concluded presentation of their evidence by July while parties will adopt their final addresses in August.

Judgment on the petitions will come in September.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is “wrong” to suggest that it wasted taxpayers’ money due to the “glitch” in the upload of results of the presidential election.

Speaking on Sunday in an interview with Channels Television, Festus Okoye, INEC spokesperson, said the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) did not fail during the 2023 poll.

On February 25, INEC was unable to instantly upload the results of the presidential election on its result viewing portal (IReV) like it had promised.

However, the results of the senate and house of representatives elections were instantly uploaded on the portal.

All three elections — senate, house of representatives and presidential — were held on the same day.

The development elicited angry reactions, with many Nigerians accusing the electoral umpire of sabotaging the upload of presidential election results.

Reacting to the development, Okoye said it is unfair to say that the BVAS failed during the 2023 election, adding that the machine worked well for voter registration, accreditation and results upload.

The INEC spokesperson added that the commission only experienced a technical glitch in the upload of presidential election results, while results of other elections were successfully uploaded.

“The machine (BVAS) did not fail. It was used successfully in terms of voter registration, voter accreditation and results upload,” he said.

“We are only talking about result upload for the presidential election.

“It is not true or correct to insinuate even remotely that taxpayers’ money was wasted, and the machine did not work. The machine worked optimally.

“We explained to Nigerians that there were challenges in the uploading of the presidential election result. I’m using the word ‘challenges’ as a layman’s way of trying to explain what happened.

“There was a glitch in terms of uploading of presidential election results.”

[TheCable]

Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, Hyacinth Dajoh, has appealed to people of Mbaivur and Mbasombo in Ikpayongo axis of Gwer-East Local Government Area to sheathe their sword and allow peace to reign.

Dajoh made the call in Makurdi during a meeting with stakeholders from Gwer-East local government area.

He invited President Generals of the Masev Development Association in Mbasombo and Mbaivur as well as Ter Gwer  for a meeting within five days from Thursday, in order to resolve the crisis between the two communities.

The Speaker who briefed newsmen after the meeting, called for immediate ceasefire between the two communities.

He also called on president generals of Mbasombo and Mbaivur to initiate a process towards withdrawing all pending litigations regarding the land within five days in order to pave the way for resolution of the problems.

”If you fail to resolve the crisis, the Benue government will take over the disputed  land and send all occupants out.

”I urged security operatives to wade in and ensure that anyone of whatever status found sponsoring or causing trouble in the area to be brought to book,” he said.

Also speaking to newsmen after the meeting, President general of Mbaivur development association, Mr Atime Ikyo, thanked the state government for taking steps to end the five-year old crisis.

”I will go back home and inform my people about the resolutions. I promise to do anything in my  power to end the crisis,” he said.

The Mbaivur/Mbasombo crisis which was triggered by a dispute over land between the neighbouring communities has lingered for five years and all measures by the previous government including the suspension of the traditional rulers of both communities failed to rest the crisis. 

[Eagleonline]

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has declared the regulation to obtain bank customers’ social media handles illegal.

Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week issued new regulations mandating financial institutions to gather additional customer information, including social media handles, email addresses, telephone numbers and residential addresses.

The CBN stated that the goal of the regulation is to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (MLPPA), 2022, Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act (TPPA), 2022, Central Bank of Nigeria (Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Countering Proliferation Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Financial Institutions) Regulations, 2022 (CBN AML, CFT, and CPF Regulations), and international best practices.

However, reacting to this regulation in a press statement, the National Commissioner of NDPC, Dr Vincent Olatunji, explained that there were prerequisite steps any Data Controller must take prior to the collection of data from data subjects.

He noted that “there are provisions in the law to go against any data controller, be it private or government office, NGOs, hotels, because we are pro-citizens.

“The whole idea of this law is to protect the rights, the interests of Nigerians who are data subjects. Any organisation that defaults is going against the law and causing a data breach, as well as would attract fine,” e affirmed.

According to him, asking for social media handles is not necessary.

He, however, said that if the collection of the social media handles happened under public interest, which could include to monitor some transactions, there should be proper awareness to the customers.

Olatunji said there were guidelines to follow for government agencies to tap into citizens’ mobile communications for national security.

“There is data minimisation, meaning you don’t collect data beyond the purpose for which it was intended, purpose limitation, what purpose is it for,” he explained.

He added that the commission will engage with the CBN to let them know that what they have done is against the law and also engaging with other government institutions, data controllers, to sensitise them on the requirements of the NDPA and data collection prerequisites.

[NewsDirect]

Workers in Osun State are lamenting the planned staff audit and workers’ verification by the state government.

The new twist is the insistence of the state government for the workers to produce a record of their bank statements.

DAILY POST had earlier reported that the Ademola Adeleke administration had notified the state’s workforce of plans to conduct a staff audit.

Governor Adeleke in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed had also assured the state workforce that the audit would strengthen the capacity of the government to satisfy the needs of the workers.

The labour unions had kicked against the exercise, accusing the state government of not carrying the workers along in the proposed audit.

Though, the same labour unions stated that they were not against the exercise.

Earlier in the week, the academic and non-academic staff of state-owned higher institutions in a press statement urged the government to decentralise the exercise as it was impossible for all the workers to converge in a central location for the exercise.

The workers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, College of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU and Non-academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions made this known in a joint statement in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Speaking on behalf of the unions, Fatai Afolabi, ASUP Chairman, Osun Poly, Iree, maintained that they were not against the staff audit for the Osun workforce but alleged that the consultant engaged by the state government was not competent.

They also asked the state government to review the audit procedure or be ready to face industrial action.

Speaking with DAILY POST, Busola Adebowale, lamented that the exercise would cause a lot of hardship on the workers.

According to her, “Imagine that they want to do staff verification and they are asking that we submit our bank statements.

“It is really outrageous. Honestly this is outrageous.”

Another worker, Ademola Olasunkanmi also berated the government for demanding for a bank statement for the workers’ verification exercise.

“Osun workers have suffered a lot within the past 10 years. We suffered in the hands of the Federal Government when they asked us to get the Bank Verification Number, BVN.

“They asked us to get our National Identification Number, NIN. We suffered. Now, the state government is asking us to get bank statements,” he lamented.

Another citizen, Charity Ogunsanmi queried the rationale behind demanding for a bank statement.

“They pay our salaries through banks. Do they think we are ghost workers? It is the government that should notify the banks to get such statements from them,” she declared.

Already, there is apprehension among workers as the various demands put forward by the contractor have been causing panic.

According to the workers, they were required to present bank statements from 2016 and pension statements from 2010.

Labour Party governorship candidate in the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa, Mr Udengs Eradiri, has unveiled his People, Education, Agriculture and Power manifesto in Yenagoa.

Eradiri, 47, an engineer told newsmen at his campaign secretariat on Thursday in Yenagoa, that he was compelled to join the governorship race to reverse the gross neglect of the developmental needs of the people of Bayelsa, who earned one of the highest revenue but ranked the second poorest in the federation.

According to Eradiri, a former commissioner for youths and later environment in the state, said it was both an irony and contradiction that the development index of Bayelsa is not commensurate with its monthly revenue from the federation account.

“I am driven by the passion to transform the state of Bayelsa and make life more meaningful for the people whose level of poverty is alarming and glaring due to the neglect of governance by the political class.

“When you compare Bayelsa to Ebonyi and Gombe States created the same day and with less than 10 per cent of the monthly revenue that accrues to Bayelsa, you will be amazed and ask why Bayelsa is so backward.

“So I do not want to be part of those complaining and that is why I joined the race on the platform of Labour Party to offer my services and youthful energy in a social contract with the people in our PEAP manifesto.

“Even though I am young, I have garnered adequate experience and developed myself enough to govern and improve the living conditions of the people by efficiently deploying public funds that accrue to Bayelsa.

“I trained as a Production Engineer and have a thriving engineering services firm with over 40 staff. I have served as Commissioner in Bayelsa in addition to being a former Secretary and President of Ijaw Youths Council,” Eradiri said.

The LP candidate noted that he also served as Special Assistant on Youth Matters to the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, a position that further prepared him for the governorship.

In the PEAP manifesto, he said that following the commencement of campaigns by the timetable from the Independent National Electoral Commission, he would, in the coming days, take the programme to the people.

Eradiri pledged to provide social amenities, including healthcare and education, boost human capacity development, and prioritise infrastructure and job opportunities.

According to him, the agricultural potential of the state in fishery, rice, sugarcane, and other crops where Bayelsa has comparative advantages would be harnessed to provide raw materials for industries and processed for export.

Eradiri also promised to leverage the recent inclusion of power generation into the concurrent legislative list to use the abundant gas deposits across the state for industries and power generation, if elected.

Besides, he pledged to exploit the ongoing road construction in various communities for economic gains by encouraging businesses around the road corridor.

Eradiri expressed optimism that the youths and impoverished people of Bayelsa would embrace his manifesto and vote massively to enable him to win the election, adding that the people are sick and tired of the old ways of doing things.

According to him, the recent general election’s outcome has sent a message of hope that the power of the people can dismantle established structures.

He however urged INEC to offer a level playing ground to all political parties in the poll.

(NAN)

President Bola Tinubu says he still holds a Nigerian passport, hence the need to make the country a better place for all.

Tinubu spoke on Thursday at the palace of Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland, in Ogun state.

The president reiterated his commitment to bringing positive change to the country.

He said with the prayers and support of all, Nigeria will be great.

“What I ask for is prayers that will help the country and be determined to help the country, to steer the ship of the nation, build a positive team for the country and deliver on all promises we made,” he said.

“The hope is recharged, it is here. That hope will never fade. I am here still making that pledge of the campaign promise.

“Let’s be united, purposeful, no distractions. We will arrive at a positive destination for this country.

“It is only in our hands to make history and I promise that by the grace of God Almighty, we shall reap the fruits of our labour.

“Nigeria will see positive changes as we move along.”

He implored Nigerians to bear with him and go through recent policy changes which he described as “baby steps of pain”.

“Just go through these baby steps of pain. Me too, I’m taking baby steps as the president. Not marching in a hurry. Being ready to listen, maintain an open door policy. Let the freedom flow, let confidence return to Nigeria,” Tinubu said.

“This country is the only country we have. I’ve been a refugee. I know what it means to be a refugee in another country and my green-back passport is what I still have now. I know what it is.

“So, please, we need your prayers, support, interventions to get our people’s change of mind so that the economy, prosperity of this country being opened up will affect everyone of you positively.”

Shortly after Tinubu was declared president-elect, there were allegations that he is of dual nationality.

The allegations generated mixed reactions on social media and litigations in the courts. 

[TheCable]

On Saturday, February 25, 2023, Nigeria conducted an election for the position of President, which was widely regarded as the most fiercely contested in the country since 1999. On March 01, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner and President-elect. On May 29, the Chief Justice of Nigeria swore him in as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While the reaction of the international community was mixed, the two major opposition parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), took their dissatisfaction to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja in petitions challenging the announced outcome of the presidential election.

Their core argument revolves around the President’s alleged failure to secure “not less than 25 per cent of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of the States of the Federation, AND the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja,” as mandated by the constitution (capitals added). They contend that this constitutional requirement was not met in the elections.

The challenge to the  February 25, 2023 presidential election results has revived a well-known constitutional dilemma around the intended meaning of the phrase “and FCT” in the aforementioned constitutional clause as distinct from “including FCT” or “plus FCT.” While there may be disagreement on the precise interpretation, it seems generally agreed that the intention was not to exclude the FCT from the constitutional requirement.

If indeed the framers of the constitution intended “and FCT” to mean “plus FCT” or “FCT specifically,” the opposition would be justified in challenging INEC’s declaration of an APC victory. If the interpretation leans towards “including FCT,” then INEC’s result would fulfill the specific constitutional requirement, especially considering that the 1999 Constitution also acknowledges that the FCT can be treated as a state.

If the former, then this raises the fundamental question of why the framers of the 1999 Constitution would grant such a special right or privileged status to citizens of Abuja and the FCT that voters in other administrative units in the country do not enjoy.

To unravel the “and FCT” conundrum, it is important to examine what the founding fathers of the 1999 Constitution, all military personnel, had in mind when they decided earlier, in 1976, to build a new capital city on virgin land and set it up as a special federal capital territory. This article analyzes the historical context and the public policy considerations that drove the establishment of Abuja as a FCT, in order to inform the ongoing national debate and decision-making concerning the 2023 presidential election petition process.

The Founding Fathers of the FCT/Abuja

Among the various reasons identified for the decision to construct Abuja, two factors stand out prominently. Firstly, there was the notion of “national pride.” As Africa’s most populous country and one of the wealthiest due to its abundant natural resources (further bolstered by the oil boom and petrodollars of the 1970s), Nigeria was seen by both its citizens and the international community as the “black giant” of Africa and potentially a global leader.

The military, as the founding fathers of Abuja in the mid-1970s, believed that Nigeria was destined for greatness. They aspired to build an ultramodern city that would rival Western capitals and serve as a source of national pride and symbol of modernity for black people worldwide. A new capital city in Abuja deliberately located inland and distinct from the congested and traffic-heavy urban landscape of Lagos, the military believed, would establish a modern and prestigious metropolis, simultaneously banishing the conspicuous remnants of British colonial influence in Nigeria. This reinforced the notion of a new, independent Nigeria that had firmly arrived as a legitimate member of the “Newer World.”

The second significant motivation behind the military’s choice of Abuja was the concept of an administrative framework known as the FCT. Beyond the evident fact that the FCT does not possess the typical characteristics of a Nigerian state, lacking an elected Governor but instead having an appointed Minister of the FCT, there is a less known yet crucial aspect of “national unity and ethnic neutrality”.

As I wrote years ago, “It is common knowledge that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country …and that the country has been riffed by ethnic rivalry from its inception. Lagos, obviously, is a Yoruba land and with such a lop-sided ethnic mix (Yoruba, 72.2% Igbo,15.4% Edo, 3.17% and Hausa, 2.05% in 1963), it was felt that the city, as capital, is inimical to the spirit of national unity, as it could never be a place where all Nigerians could lay claim to every available right, privilege and resource on an equal footing. This could only be achieved in a sort of no-man’s land where no one ethnic group predominated.”

The just concluded May 2023 gubernatorial elections in Lagos confirmed this fundamental truth about the Nigerian polity. In the weeks and months leading up to that election, the prevailing discourse revolved around the question of who are the “real owners” or “indigenes” of Lagos and which individuals or groups possessed a more legitimate right to influence and shape the city-state’s future political trajectory.

The strategic location of Abuja—an attempt to make it equi-polity-distant for all

Thus, the founding fathers of Abuja in the 1970s and 1980s embarked on a social re-engineering endeavour with the goal of achieving three objectives related to national unity and cohesion. Firstly, they aimed to strategically locate Abuja at the geographical heartland of the country. By doing so, they hoped that both government and development would be brought closer to the governed., . This approach aimed to ensure that citizens from all parts of the country had relatively equal access to the capital city in terms of physical distance.

Additionally, it is worth noting that one of the underlying motivations for the establishment of Abuja was a desire to address the concerns of the northern elite for conducting the nation’s affairs from a capital that was not located so far away in the perceived hostile southern region.

The question of who owns Abuja and making it a place for all, on equal footing?

Secondly, another key objective pursued by the military proponents of Abuja was to establish a territory that would provide equal rights and opportunities to all Nigerians, devoid of any specific regional or ethnic affiliations. To achieve this strategic objective, the military regime made a series of ‘deliberate and courageous decisions’ regarding the FCT.

They carefully selected a central area in Nigeria that had relatively low population density and limited development. This selection was crucial in creating a neutral ground where every Nigerian would be treated equally and have the same rights. In response to this, the military government claimed full ownership of the entire FCT area, granting the federal government complete control over the land. Unlike in any of the other 36 states of Nigeria, the federal government possesses 100 per cent monopoly control over the land in the FCT.

Thirdly, and significantly, the military decided to compensate and physically relocate all indigenous populations from within the FCT. Approximately 600 villages predominantly inhabited by farmers and potters belonging to the Gbagyi or Gwari ethnic groups, had to be swiftly resettled between 1976 and 1991. Where relocation of the indigenes proved costly, the military government simply decided to excise those parts from the FCT, as can be observed by examining the map of the FCT (Figure 2), where one can notice a distinct “V” shape at the top. This cutout represents the removal of the present-day Suleja town and its sizable indigenous population from the FCT.

Situating FCT/Abuja within the political and democratic framework of the new Nigeria

During the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari (1979-1983), significant construction work began in Abuja. However, the bold and visionary decisions to build Abuja, along with meticulous planning and the allocation of substantial resources for its groundbreaking and full-scale implementation, were made under Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo (1975-1979). It can be argued that Abuja represents one of the most remarkable and ambitious endeavours in political and social re-engineering for nation-building undertaken by the Nigerian military. Subsequent military rulers – Muhammadu Buhari (1983-1985), Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993), Sani Abacha (1993-1998), Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998-1999), and Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) – demonstrated increased commitment in terms of political support and financial resources allocated to the project.

Considering the foregoing historical context of the capital relocation, it is reasonable to assume that the military, while formulating the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, deemed it appropriate to uphold the same principles and institutionalize in the political fabric of the country the “broad official aims for the new capital,” including among others:

“To provide for a physical symbol of national unity, and of Nigeria as a symbol of Pan Africa unity; and To provide a physical expression of the ideal constitutional democratic government.”

They had envisioned FCT/Abuja as a place where ethnic considerations would not dictate political power and where the genuine essence of Nigerian polity could emerge unhindered.

Conclusion – FCT/Abuja as electorate- barometer of the nation’s true pulse and spirit

It is hoped that this article has provided some insight into history on the FCT/Abuja that many Nigerians may not know, along with how this relates to the constitutional issue about the 25% threshold of voters in the FCT/Abuja. To understand this debate, one must decode the reasons behind its establishment and the great lengths to which successive Nigerian military rulers (1975-2007) went to create a special identity for the territory and enshrine it in the 1999 Constitution.

It is this article’s thesis that the outcome of the February 2023 presidential election in FCT/Abuja validates the foresight of the Generals who envisioned and implemented the FCT project as a deliberately designed “neutral microcosm” of Nigeria, where ethnicity did not trump all else—a kind of legitimising “litmus test” of the ability of an aspiring candidate for the highest office in the land to appeal to and garner threshold support from diverse segments of the population.

Until such a time that Nigerian political leaders can harness our rich multi-ethnic and cultural heritage into the positive force for change that it is, an emphasis on obtaining at least 25% of the votes in FCT/Abuja as a constitutional requirement may serve as a necessary barometer for both measuring and safeguarding the nation’s true political pulse in ideals of national unity and democracy.

As the only “ethnically neutral zone” of the country, with above average income, voter education and awareness, and security atmosphere relatively free from voter intimidation and vote suppression, it logically follows that the legitimacy of any individual aspiring to lead a diverse and significant country like Nigeria should be questioned, if they fail to garner at least 25% of the electoral votes from this special territory. The voice of people in the FCT must not be taken lightly (i.e., not among the 24 ‘states’ mandated by the constitution), or without factoring in its historical context and raison d’etre. For both the generals and civilians alike, FCT symbolizes true unity, representing a shared national identity about the progressive Nigeria everyone wants.

•Morah received a PhD from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, in 1990 with a dissertation on the establishment of Nigeria’s FCT.