Former Brother Naija reality star, Doyinsola David, simply known as Doyin, has said that ladies should have at least N5 million to 10 million before getting married.

She stated this while answering a question from her colleague, Chizzy who was a guest on the latest episode of her podcast, Doyin’s Corner.

Chizzy asked: “How much do you think a lady should have in her bank account before getting married?”

Doyin replied: “I think a lot of people are going to find it ridiculous. But I think you should have between N5-10 million.

“Love is not enough at the end. Money is very very important.”

Chizzy added that people shouldn’t get married if they are poor.

He said, “No matter how we want to paint it, money should be involved. Very important.

“If you don’t have money, don’t get married. Let me put it out there. Quote me anywhere. If you don’t have money, don’t get married. Please, leave that girl alone. She should go and find someone that has money that can take care of her.”

Say Statements That Give Impression Of Religious Dominance, Superiority In The Country Reprehensible

The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) yesterday reiterated the constitutional secularity of the country and added that no religion is superior to the other.

NIREC made the submissions in a joint statement by the co-chairmen of the body – President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Daniel Okoh and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar.

While affirming that Nigeria is a multi-religious state under God, the organisation called on religious leaders to resist political manipulation of religion that could lead to anarchy.

The NIREC co-chairmen said they were disturbed by the ugly trend occasioned by the hate speeches before and after the 2023 elections.

The statement said, “Weaponising religion for selfish, political gains is capable of causing religious conflict in Nigeria. NIREC therefore condemns, in strongest terms, the statements that give the impression that one religion is superior to the other. NIREC affirms that Nigeria is a multi-religious state under God.

“NIREC condemns statements that give the impression of religious dominance and superiority in the country. We wish however that every Nigerian could be a true Christian or a true Muslim as that would promote the religious values that could transform the nation. Given that most politicians in Nigeria practice one religion or the other, the Christian and Muslim politicians should proclaim the fear and love of God by caring for the common good and welfare of the citizens.”

NIREC called on religious leaders in the country to resist political manipulation of religion that could lead to anarchy.

“We condemn the antics of politicians whose main goal is to achieve their political interest by whatever means possible, including using religion as a cover. NIREC calls on our political leaders to use their platforms to sue for peace, unity and harmony while also refraining from making statements or comments that are capable of aggravating the already heated polity in the nation.

“NIREC calls upon all politicians to play politics with the fear of God, dignity, honour and decorum by eschewing the politics of division and sectionalism. NIREC appeals to the general public to note that the elections are over and various cases are in court challenging the outcome and must therefore give the judiciary the opportunity to do its work,” said the inter-religious body.

NIREC urged Nigerians to continue to be patriotic, law-abiding and peace-loving and oppose “all acts of machinations and manipulations by leaders who are using religion to tear the nation apart.”

It urged prayers for a nation that will continue to promote justice and peaceful co-existence.

“The task of building a prosperous Nigeria is the task of every citizen. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” declared NIREC.

Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), on Friday, met with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa, Abuja, declaring that his men, “employed by Nigerian government” are the ones securing Abuja-Kaduna road and not Nigerian Army.

Speaking with newsmen after the meeting, Asari-Dokubo accused the Nigerian military of blackmailing the security architecture of the country describing it as “shameful”.

His words;

“There is a full-scale war going on and the blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listen to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars. I repeat they are liars because I am a participant.

“I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers. And in Abuja today, you are travelling to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.

“Today, you travel to Baga, you go to Shiroro, you go to Wase. We have lost so many men and in all these engagements, we don’t even have one per cent of the armament deployed by the Nigerian military.

“One per cent and we have had resounding success. So, this blackmail must end. They have enough resources to fight. Instead of fighting, they are busy stealing. They are busy making the government spend unnecessarily.”

AIT Broadcaster, APC Disagree Over Transmission Of Result

The anchor of the Democracy Today program on AIT, Ijeoma Osamor on Friday, maintained that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Prof Mahmood Yakubu) did not declare that the results of the February 25 presidential elections will no longer be uploaded and transmitted in real-time.

Osamor disagreed with the counsel for the All Progressives Congress at the Presidential Election Petition Court where the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, are disputing the results of the presidential election.

One of the grounds raised by the petitioners in support of their prayers to invalidate the return of the president, Bola Tinubu was that the commission, specifically its chairman, reneged on his promise to upload the results sent to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to the INEC Results Viewing portal in real-time.

So far, video evidence tendered before the PEPC by the petitioners has bordered around clips showing the INEC chairman at different times assuring Nigerians of the use of technology in the presidential election.

The court, again on Friday admitted in evidence another flash drive and played in the open court a clip of Mahmoud delivering a speech emphasising the deployment of BVAS and IReV for the elections.

The event was aired live on AIT’s Democracy Today program anchored by Osamor who was subpoenaed to appear before the court.

During cross-examination of the witness, counsel for the APC, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) asked the reporter if she was aware that a few days before the election, the INEC chairman made a press statement saying the election results will no longer be uploaded in real-time.

Owonikoko SAN raised the issue and cited that there was a publication by The Tribune on February 23 to that effect.

However, the reporter insisted that while covering the beat, she was present during the press briefing and at the collation center, particularly on the said day.

She said that Mahmoud did not make the statement.

However, she said while her news organisation was focused on live coverage of events and programmes, the newspaper publication could have been based on an interview with the reporter.

After the witness was discharged, the five-man panel of the court adjourned to Monday, June 19 for further hearing in the petition by LP and Obi.

Earlier in the proceedings, a Professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Eric Ofoedu, told the court that he analysed some of the results of the presidential election that INEC uploaded on its IReV portal.

Under cross examination, Prof. Ofoedu told the court that he embarked on the analysis, as an academic exercise that would benefit his students.

Professor Ofoedu disclosed that a total votes of 2, 565, 629 accredited voters were not reflected in the final result of the February 25 presidential election announced by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood.

Ofoedu, who is a Professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra, explained to the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) why he employed the use of projection in his analysis of election results from Rivers and Benue States.

Led in evidence by counsel to the petitioners, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), the subpoenaed witness

The professor was led to give his evidence in chief by the lawyer representing the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN, he alleged that when the blurred results he downloaded were matched with Form EC8As (polling unit results) given to Labour Party agents at the affected Polling Units, votes of 2,565,269 accredited voters were not reflected in the final results announced by the INEC Chairman.

“I observed that, from IREV portal, scores on Form EC8As of 39,546 polling units were inaccessible – contain uploads were not connected with the Presidential Election.

From the IREV portal, 18,088 polling units’ results were blurred. This number of PUs negatively impacted the votes of 2,565,269 accredited voters and 9,165,191 voters that collected their PVCS,” the professor had said in his statement on oath.

He had tendered in evidence, reports of Data Analysis from the Results of Nigeria’s February 25, 2023 presidential election in Rivers and Benue state among other documents.

Ofoedu had told the court that he downloaded 18,088 blurred polling unit results from the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV.

He explained why he used projection for Rivers and Benue during cross-examination by the legal team of the Independent National Electoral Commission, President Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress.

During his cross-examination by INEC’s lawyer, A.B Mahmoud SAN, Ofoedu said while he voted in the election, he was on February 20 requested by the Labour party to produce report on the election results on IREV and he eventually accepted for the purpose of using his assessment to educate his students.

He agreed with INEC that his primary source of data was the IREV portal.

Asked his reference to INEC Form EC8As (polling unit results) were same with the scanned results uploaded to the IREV, he said there was difference between several hardcopies of Form EC8As and what was uploaded on IREV.

“In place of uploaded Form EC8As, there were blurred copies on IREV,” the witness added.

At this point Mahmoud asked, “You made reference to 18,088 blurred polling units results on IREV. You referred to Form EC8As received by Labour party agents. Did you attach them to your report?”

The witness said he did not, adding that he thought they were already tendered (by Obi’s lawyers) to the court.

Mahmoud told him he was not an election expert and could not have competently determined what constituted compliance or non compliance to the Electoral Act 2022.

“It depends on what you mean by that. I can determine electoral compliance,” the witness replied.

In their cross-examination, counsel to Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, Akin Olujimi SAN, asked the witness to confirm whether the results already declared from polling units to the National Collation Centre by INEC “will change” if there is failure to transmit results from polling units to IREV , or if the results he claimed to download from the portal were blurred.

The witness said ” It will not change if it (Form EC8As) is properly used.”

The professor agreed that IRev is not a collation centre but it was meant to serve as a checker.

“Your report covers only two states, Benue and Rivers states?,” Olujimi asked him.

“Not only two states, but two states stand distinctively. Actually, we did analysis of all the states,” the professor replied.

Olujimi then asked that apart from Benue and Rivers, which other state did he mention in his reports.

The witness said he mentioned no other state.

When pressed further, the professor made it clear that he worked only on available data and if he had access to all the data, his results assessment will be different.

Olujimi asked him that if he was engaged by Labour party on February 20 to carry out data analysis of the Presidential Election and determine INEC compliance with Electoral Act, the witness responded in the affirmative.

Olujimi told him he already had a premonition about who should have won the election.

“I accepted to do the analysis because of my students,” Ofoedu told the court.

APC lawyer, Abiodun Ikoko SAN, also cross-examined the professor: “The report you tendered was based on blurred results you downloaded from IREV?,”

The witness said his report was not just limited to the blurred results he already tendered in court.

He was asked what aspect of mathematics he engaged to analyse the blurred results, to which, he answered that there is no theory in knowing that something is blurred.

The APC asked him what theory he used in choosing Rivers and Benue state as the touch stone of his analysis.

“It was a random pick,” the professor said.

He was asked if the total number of polling units in Rivers and Benue adds up to the 18,088 polling units he said were blurred on IREV.

“My lord, the 18,088 blurred results are not connected with the polling unit results in Rivers and Benue states,” Ofoedu said.

He added that the data he analysed was an “exact data”, while he randomly picked Rivers and Benue state from all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

He told the court that the most important INEC form to analyse in an election is Form EC8A, that is, polling unit results.

The witness was subsequently discharged.

After him, Arise News staff, Lumic Edevbie came forward for cross-examination by the respondents, as the petitioner’s fifth witness.

APC legal team asked him to summarise his understanding of the INEC Chairman’s briefing at the Chatham House, London.

“In summary, INEC and its official decided to use technology for the 2023 elections,” he said, and was subsequently discharged.

In his evidence, the sixth Petitioners witness (PW6), a staff of African Independent Television(AIT), Ijeoma O tendered a video of the television station’s Democracy Day program, which featured the INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, saying election results will be uploaded from polling units on election day in real-time.

The case was further adjourned to Monday by the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.

The Olisa Agbakoba law firm has called for a review of the Student Loan Act recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, particularly the sections that listed the criteria for accessing education loans.

The Student Loan Bill which was sponsored by the former speaker of the 9th House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, was signed into law by Tinubu as part of the federal government’s measure to boost access to higher education for Nigerians.

The development has, however, drawn mixed reactions from the relevant stakeholders in the education sector, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

As stipulated in the Act, for one to be eligible for the loan, the following criteria must be met:

“Applicants must have been admitted into any Nigerian university, Polytechnics, College of Education, or any Vocational School established by the Federal and State Government of the Federation.

“Applicant or family income must be less than N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) per annum.

“Applicants must provide at least Two Guarantors. Each of the Guarantors must be a Civil Servant of not less than 12 years in service, or a Lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience; a Judicial Officer, or a Justice of Peace.”

Section 18 of Act also stated that repayment of the loan will commence two years after completion of the beneficiary’s National Youth Service Corps programme, to which a two years imprisonment or fine awaits defaulters.

The act was analysed by Babatunde Ogungbamila, a partner at Olisa Agbakoba Legal, who heads the firm’s Dispute Resolution Practice.

Ogungbamila wrote that while the Act is innovative, its implementation and operations will be difficult for indigents.

On the requirement that loan is accessible by students whose parents earn below 500,000 annually, the firm’s partner said the Act set out the financial benchmark based on current realities without anticipating future improvement in standards of living.

“The threshold for financial qualification is that applicant and their families who earn less than five hundred thousand naira every year may make the vast majority of the vulnerable unqualified. Whenever the minimum wage is reviewed for an increase, most students would be ineligible to apply for a loan because they would no longer qualify due to the increase in the minimum wage.

“The Act also fails to take into account parents who have many children attending higher institutions and are making more than Five Hundred Thousand Naira a year.

“Parents who earn above five hundred thousand naira per annum with more than one child in higher institutions may be unable to take advantage of the law,” he stated.

He advised the government to reconsider the financial threshold for qualification, so as to accommodate even parents who earn above N500,000 monthly.

He added, “The Act may have unwittingly destroyed the very fundamentals of its creation by leaving many vulnerable outside its net. With the enactment of this Act, there is a great possibility of an increase in school fees, making it difficult for individuals who are not eligible to apply for loans to pay their tuition.”

Ogungbamila explained that it will be very difficult for poor Nigerians to get lawyers with ten years of post-call experience as their guarantors.

“Further, given that the Student Loan Act is to assist poor Nigerians, the stipulation that the applicant must furnish at least two guarantors, each of whom must be a civil servant with at least 12 years of service may be an herculean task for the poor.

“It may be a big challenge for the poor to get a lawyer with ten years of post-call experience as a guarantor. How is a student who lacks the funds to complete his study going to be able to find a lawyer with ten years of post-call experience to serve as a guarantor?

“The statute has to be reconsidered because few poor Nigerians will be able to utilize this student loan program as a result of this clause,” he added.

He maintained the repayment plan is “impractical” because there is no possibility that those who pass out from the NYSC will get a good job after two years of service.

“It is not news that some graduates struggle to find employment in the years following NYSC due to a lack of job opportunities in Nigeria,” the partner stated on the firm’s official website.

…Seeks Severe Sanctions For Culprits

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), on Saturday, called on President Bola Tinubu to set up an independent panel to unravel the unending mystery surrounding oil theft in Nigeria and probe oil bunkering and allied crimes, especially from 2015 till date.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the government must not spare the culprits identified at the end of the probe but name and shame them and sanction them severely.

The group’s call comes hours after the allegations by prominent Niger Delta leader and former agitator, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, who accused the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Navy of being culpable of oil theft in the oil-rich Niger Delta area.

Dokubo, who met the President on Friday at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, said, “The military is at the centre of oil theft and we have to make this very clear to the Nigerian public that 99 per cent of oil theft can be traced to the Nigerian military, the Army and the Navy especially.”

“The Army and Navy are behind oil theft. They intimidate civil defence, who are by law expected to protect installations. They tap directly from the oil head. What has been happening in the last eight years is unprecedented anywhere in the world.

“The livelihood of the people is being destroyed. The main culprits are the army and navy. There are notorious army commanders who are known to be the ones behind oil bunkering,” the former militant stated.

The Nigerian Army has since responded to the allegations, saying it has been vigorously engaged in the fight against illegal oil bunkering, oil theft, illegal oil refining and other sundry crimes in the region with positive results.

Also, the Nigerian Navy has challenged Dokubo to produce the names of officers involved in crude oil theft.

In its reaction, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “The allegations by Dokubo are startling and damning and these allegations must be thoroughly investigated.

“We ask that the President set up a seven-man independent panel of criminologists drawn from reputable global fora to investigate the larger cases of crude oil thefts from 2015-2023.

“The panel should identify, prosecute and sanction culprits in the severest of mechanisms and recover to the last dollar public funds diverted through those stolen crude oil by these rogues no matter their statuses.

“Also, Dokubo who made the allegations must provide irrefutable evidence or be prosecuted for providing false information which is a criminal offence.”

Oil theft has become a malignant cancer in Nigeria for years. Last October, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said it uncovered an illegal oil connection from Forcados Terminal that operated for nine years with about 600,000 barrels per day of oil lost in the same period.

Similarly, former militant leader, Government Ekpemepulo, popularly known as Tompolo said about 58 illegal oil points have been discovered so far since the operation to end oil theft on the waterways of Delta and Bayelsa states began.

The arrest was made while the criminals were pumping crude oil from an illegal connection which they had fixed to a Chevron pipeline in the Warri River.

One week later, another illegal oil pipeline was uncovered which was used by criminals to steal crude oil from Forcados Terminal in Delta State.

The illegal pipeline was located in
Okuntu Community which is a few metres away from the Forcados crude oil export terminal

The illegal 6 inch pipeline was connected to the 48 inch Trans Forcados Export Pipeline connecting the high sea where crude oil is being loaded into vessels.

It was connected with the primary intention to steal crude oil from the main pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company and Agip.

The distance from where the illegal pipeline was connected and where it was being used to load stolen crude oil into the ship is between five to six kilometers.

So far, Tantita Security Services working in collaboration with NNPC has discovered over 60 illegal connections to the trans-Escravos, trans-Forcados, and other major trunk lines by oil bunkers in Delta and Bayelsa states.

The Chairman of Heirs Holding Ltd had on Wednesday during the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS) 2023 Annual Value Assurance Review (AVAR) in Lagos lauded the NNPC for the effort it is making in curbing crude oil theft.

According to Elumelu, due to the efforts of the NNPC Ltd, Heirs Oil & Gas has witnessed 96 per cent recovery rate.

Elumelu said, “When I listened to the Group CEO speak today (Wednesday), talking about us moving to 2.5 million barrels we challenge him to do more. I believe that it is achievable. From losing 97 per cent of our 50,000 barrels production, interestingly and it will be bad of me to have this platform and not share this here.

“That day, I got a call from the GCEO and I thought he was going to kill me for speaking up, to my greatest surprise, he said to me Tony we are sorry about what is happening, we are doing something about it, it will be corrected.

“They worked as a team and the Board of the NNPC, the FG, the security agencies, and last month our recovery factor was 96 per cent. So GCEO NNPC, you have delivered.

“I speak from experience, a beneficiary and one who cried out before and today standing up today to say we have improved our production and that is what we need to encourage more investments in the industry.”

He added, “Today (Wednesday), we lifted 501,000 barrels of oil bringing our total lifting this year alone to 2.6m barrels of oil. I am a great beneficiary of the new NNPCL

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday said that the 43 items restricted from accessing Foreign Exchange from the official window remain banned from the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

This means the restriction of foreign exchange allocation for the importation of the 43 items still stands.

The bank said this in a series of Q&A tweets Friday afternoon to explain the operational changes to the foreign exchange market.

“The status quo remains on the 43 non-eligible items. The items are not permitted to be funded from the I&E window,” the CBN said.

The apex bank had Wednesday announced the collapse of all forex windows into the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window in its efforts to unify all segments of the Nigerian forex market.

“All transactions will now be done through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, where the exchange rate will be determined by market forces. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks,” the bank said in a statement.

In June 2015, the Central Bank announced that some 41 items were “Not Valid for Foreign Exchange”, on the grounds that they could easily be produced in Nigeria rather than being imported into the country.

Some of the affected items include rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry, tomatoes/tomato paste, soap and cosmetics, and clothes.

Other items include private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce, cold rolled steel sheets, ggalvanised teel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards, and panels.

Equally affected were security and razor wire, wood particle and fiber boards and panels, wooden doors, furniture, toothpicks, glass/glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles (vitrified, ceramics), textiles, wooden fabrics, plastic/rubber products, polypropylene granules, and cellophane wrappers.

The apex bank subsequently added fertiliser and maize/corn to the list of banned items.

According to the apex bank, the I&E market functions by a “willing buyer, willing seller” system, where an entity with demand for FX seeks out another entity with FX to sell at an agreed price through an authorised dealer.

Remember the good old days of Finance Houses in Nigeria? Our young men achieved success overnight. One minute they were marketing officers and the next, they were on management floor. Those places were real magic places. And you know how young men who come into money early run things. They simply remember their long gone ancestor, the prodigal son in the Bible. Exactly. They lived large and spent money like it was going out of fashion. The set-up of the Finance Houses didn’t help matter much either. They paid more attention to glamour than the deposits. Their buildings were chrome and glass. The new rich boys dressed in the best of the season. Or have you forgotten that that was when such expressions as ‘power dresser,’ ‘yuppies’ and upwardly mobile’ joined our lexicon?

Those were the magical days when the streets were full of 26-years old green horns who became treasury managers straight after doing their NYSC year in remote farm settlements.

They drove Daewoo Racer, Daewoo Espero, Hyundai Excel, Sonata .Then, affairs were straight from best sellers, complete with expensive perfumes, chic restaurants and weekend trips. Husbands performed their God-given roles and wives did their wifely duties. Girls milled around the glamour boys. The boys picked, chose and discarded as they wanted. Yes, they were spoiled for choice. Shameless desperate uncivilized girls fought over them in public places. But it was fun and dance for the lucky ones. But you know how it is with things that are too good to be true. The Finance Houses soon fizzled out, collapsed like a pack of cards.

Suddenly, the big salaries and posh cars disappeared. Some of the directors of the glass and chrome offices were declared missing or wanted or both. The fine girls left the fine boyfriends who no longer had enough money to give them. Engagement rings were returned or kept as ‘retirement benefit’.

The search for Mr Right who dwelled in greener pastures resumed. The home girls were wary . The fast- lane ones worried about how soon the easy life would return, when things would return to normal and the days would be lit again? Their prayers soon got answered as resourceful Nigerian blokes came up with new tricks. There was advance fee fraud (419), armed robbery, Otokoto and now yahoo, yahoo plus and yahoo plus plus.

The bad fast girls were back in business. All that mattered was the posh cars and bright lights. Who cares where the money came from?

With careless, greedy mothers all over the place scheming and swindling, more and more of our girls are today falling into deadly traps and becoming raw materials for diabolical concoction of desperate get-rich-or-die-trying boys. These days, you wake up to one stranger-than-fiction story or the other. A young pretty girl the other day alighted from a cab and stripped herself naked in broad daylight. Another one has been menstruating since she returned from a ‘baecation’ in South Africa with her young ‘Boo’ who has since dumped her.

The flashy guys with no defined business address are back in town and it’s so easy to fall for them. Fortunately, there are signs and characteristics that set apart this breed of men.He is 32 or thereabouts, money makes up for whatever he lacks in looks or dress sense.

He drives G-Wag, Lexus gleaming black, in the mornings and has an array of convertibles for evening swags.

He wears designer wristwatches and shoes. In fact, each fashion item from his head-to-toe carries mind-blowing price tags.

He has all manners of call cards. The reason is he has a chain of businesses ranging from importing condoms to crocodile. There is always a bevy of bleached girls around him as he moves from night club to night club, mixing all kinds of powdery stuff with alcohol. The way he spends money tells all his right-thinking neighbours he is either going to go broke soon, die young or end up in jail, or all of the above. Unfortunately, the death of one has not diminished the zeal of more to join the evil wagon. Easy life, soft life, soft money have all become the albatross of decency. Bad parenting is making our boys into little demons who seek money in all the wrong ways and wrong places. But I am more worried about how our young women, our precious daughters are getting sucked into the destructive cauldron . For the desire of something as flimsy as bone-straight , double-drawn lace front wig, our girls are being‘used’ to cook blood money.

To a non-African, that is a strange concept but here, it is a sad reality. And to worsen an already deadly trend, the girls these fast boys used no longer have to die ‘after use’. They are allowed to wear their designer wigs and false lashes but they are empty shells, according to a pastor friend . He told me this sad story.

‘One of these bad boys came to my church and gave his life to Christ. His confession was long and terrifying. He told me that most of the beautiful girls we see around have been ‘used’ for money rituals.The boys no longer need to kill them physically. They just do what they need to do on a sacred bedsheet, chant some lines of incantations, for five or seven days and the fate of the victim is sealed. The victim is quickly dumped by the man once the ritual is complete.

‘They start by wooing the girl with expensive gifts. That is followed by a vacation where her full attention is on the man. According to my new convert, when they return, the guy starts picking quarrels over inconsequential things and then dumps her. The sad thing is even though the girl looks okay to all, she is finished. She is not likely able to have children even when all medical reports say she is fine. She may never be able to hold down a good job or make a success of any business. Indeed some of them may never be able to find husbands because there is already an evil mark dedicating them to someone’s pot of wealth. In other words,many of the girls you see around are empty shells.’

Did that leave you shaken? I was covered in goose bumps when I heard the story. And this is just half of it. Occasionally these days, when I see a fine babe swinging her waist, I ask myself, is she still whole or she has been used? Imagine buying a basket of big snails and finding that they are just health brown on the outside but empty shells.

Dear mothers, my dear sisters and daughters, this ugly trend is heart tending. It’s not a matter we can invite the police into or a case we can prove in court but it is a present palpable evil. The mean glamorous, fun-loving, sleek man doesn’t even look like the mean things he’s capable of but the polished look is only skin-deep, for the discerning, that is.

He talks and drives like an Italian.

His money is not inherited or from a long chain of family business. His money is his. Ask yourself how he made so much at age 30. Are his decent parents also dazed at the rate at which their son ‘arrived’ suddenly?

He most likely belongs to many societies and clubs that on the surface look like social associations. But they are cults. He is too far gone to consider leaving. His blood brothers are his lifeline. He owes them and his life is in danger if he betrays the oath.

Girls who flock around him are taking big risks and if you are involved, you need all the luck you can be wished. This dude may offer you his kind of romance and glamour. He may spoil you with money. But remember he may also be cut down in his prime.

His brains may get spilled all over your bedroom wall in the middle of the night. His offended blood brothers may send goons after him. His cult may ask for your blood for the next sacrifice.

You may end up as accessory after murder. Whichever way you look at it, greedy girls who flock around men of questionable income are not likely to end up well.

Then, what’s the worth of all the glamour dollars and pounds sterling if you can be dead or widowed at age 25 or worse still, end up an empty shell, walking corpse designed to move from one disappointment and failed venture to another.

There is a new sheriff in town. One who is a stickler for excellence. One who sees, who listens, who superintends, who manages, and who executes. This sheriff does not take a nap on the shift. His judgment is swift; his decision measured and calculated; his process thorough, incisive, and decisive.

Napping federal government agencies are suddenly angling to outdo one another in a show of performance. It is the Tinubu effect; the wand waking up dead matter. With President Tinubu, it is no longer governance by body language, but governance by bold language. It is clear to all that the President has no stomach for incompetence, indolence, and indiscipline. It is either performance or the heave-ho.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu obviously has a different aspect; a diligent one, to leadership. He has demonstrated the possibilities of change. He has chiselled an arc of possibility over seeming impossibilities. He has shown with purposive leadership, mountains can be moved.

With diligent leadership, ye can say to that mountain, be moved; and it shall be moved.

And President Tinubu has just begun.

WHEN GOVERNANCE RUNS ON THE STIMULUS OF HOPE

President Tinubu earned the tag “Baba-go-fast” for the decisiveness, punctiliousness, diligence, and swiftness of his leadership.

“Hitting the ground running” has a walking and talking example in the President.

Upon assumption of office, he did the derring-do — axing petrol subsidy; averting a national strike and giving the naira the muscle to find its fortune in the agora of trade.

According to JP Morgan, a US financial services firm, the naira is expected to appreciate, and trade at N600 to the dollar over the coming months.

The firm said: “While it will take a few days for USD/NGN spot to settle, we fully expect an initial overshoot towards the parallel market rate of -750 or higher, after which, we expect USD/NGN to settle in the high 600s over [the] coming months.”

Bloomberg, an international news agency, reported that investors were excited about Nigeria owing to the president’s swift reforms. It also reported that Nigeria’s equity market witnessed a boom — a corollary of the incipient policies, signalling a return of confidence in the market.

Reuters reported that investors were stunned by the quick reforms of the President. Reuters reports: “Nigeria’s new president, in office, for less than a month, is pushing to put Africa’s largest economy on a reform track that investors have eyed for decades, fuelling excitement that money could flow to the nation that many had deemed uninvestible.”

Governance is not rocket-science after all. It takes courage. Audacity. Diligence. Purpose. And forthrightness. Bold decisions take bold leadership.

The President has signed four seminal bills into law. The bill harmonising retirement age for judges and stipulating uniformity in pension rights for judicial officers; The Electricity Act which effectively decentralises power, empowering states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity; The Student Loan Act which allows students in tertiary institutions access to interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, and The Data Protection Law which protects the privacy and liberties of citizens.

The past 16 days have been motion. Movement. And acceleration. Good things happen when governance runs on the stimulus of hope.

RANK OF ‘AGBADO CONVERTS’ SWELLS

Good governance is contagious in its effect. It is enthralling. It soothes everyone — supporters and opposition alike. The best form of political proselytising is performance. The evidence of good governance is in the performance. Nigeria’s trajectory is obvious to everyone — an upward swing. Citizens did not have to wait to decrypt the direction of the government; they saw the course the leadership was charting from the very first day.

The government has, essentially, earned public trust and goodwill. And I believe it will keep it.

Today, ardent critics of the President have become his griots, singing his praises on the rooftops. It is good to see. Good governance does not discriminate. Soon more ‘’Agbado converts’’ from all sections of the country will join the bubbling line-up of ‘’Agbado exponents’’. Nigeria needs the rank of active citizens who supports the government but criticises it constructively where necessary. It will take the effort of all Nigerians to make Nigeria work. The leadership is already leading the way.

I had ‘’prophesied’’ in a previous column that a bountiful agbado season was upon us. And true to that prophecy, it has been a season of fetching expectations, giant leaps, and reforms.

A new beginning for Nigeria is here. A New Nigeria is emerging. I hear the joys of expectations from fellow citizens; I see the longing and desire for change. Our earnest prayers and wishes for a peaceful and progressive Nigeria will come fulfilled. To more of the governance by bold language.

Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a media executive

Even the worst of  President Bola Tinubu’s critics will admit that he has proved to be a man on a mission. Within two weeks of assuming duty, he has removed subsidy on fuel causing the price to rise by over 150 per cent. He has announced the unification of FX window putting an end to multiple exchange rates; suspended the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and signed into law the Student Loan Bill, among others. 

The student loan act is worthy of attention because it is the first major policy targeted at Nigerian youths whom the President claimed to have heard loud and clear following the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in which the younger generation pushed their political advocacy beyond the social media to the polls. 

In his acceptance speech after emerging the President-elect, President Tinubu promised to grant education loan to Nigerian students and ensure that university lecturers no longer go on strike. “Four years course will be four years, no more strikes. Education loans will be available,’’ he had said among others. So, signing the student loan bill into law on Monday was  indeed a promise fulfilled. 

Tagged “Access to Higher Education Act, the law makes provision for interest-free loans to indigent Nigerian students. It is also available to all  students seeking higher education in any public institution in Nigeria provided they meet the criteria for qualification. The loan  according to the document in public space is only for the payment of Tuition fees. 

The Act provides for the establishment of a Nigerian Education Bank to be funded by the Federal Government. The Bank is expected to start with a share capital of N1 billion at N1/share with the Federal Government holding 100 per cent of the shares. 

Beneficiaries are expected to start paying back two years after their compulsory national youth service. Payments will be 10 per cent direct deductions from their salary account. Self-employed graduates are expected to document their income for deductions within 60 days. They will also remit 10 per cent of their monthly profits. Defaulters will face two years imprisonment or N500,000 fine. 

To be eligible, applicants must have secured admission into any tertiary institution either federal or state. This could be universities, polytechnics or colleges of education.  The student must also come from a family with an annual income of less than N500,000 and provide at least two guarantors who must either be civil servants above Level 12 or a lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience. 

The education bank will get its supply from education bonds, all interests arising from deposits in bank and education endowment fund schemes. Also, one per cent of taxes, levies and duties to the Federal Government through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigerian Customs will go to the bank. It will also be funded by one per cent of profits from oil and other natural resources as well as grants, gifts and any other endowments. 

Applications are to be done through the Students Affairs Offices of the respective institutions to be forwarded to the Chairman of the Education Bank in their territory. These applications will thereafter be forwarded to the Minister of Education for approval within 30 days of submission and disbursement made immediately after the minister’s approval.

Students are disqualified from applying if they have defaulted in any loan before; have proven case of exam malpractice; ever been convicted for any offense of dishonesty or fraud; convicted for drug abuse; or their parents have any history of previous default on any loan. 

President Tinubu believes this loan is capable of ensuring that every Nigerian has access to higher education. Considering its multifaceted sources of revenue, the Education Bank is not likely to suffer a drought.  After all, other Federal Government initiatives with lesser funding channels still run successfully today. Take for instance the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) whose major source of funding is the two percent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria. With this, TETFUND has done incredibly well in uplifting essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning in many tertiary institutions in Nigeria. 

If not for TETFUND, perhaps many public institutions in Nigeria may not have new structures. I was once at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro in Ogun State, and all the new buildings there were built by TETFUND. The story is similar in many institutions.  The fund has also helped in training many Nigerian academics abroad, though many of these lecturers have also been lost to these foreign countries no thanks to the unconducive learning environments back home. Perhaps, the only area where Nigeria is yet to feel the worth of TetFund is in the area of research and development.

Likewise, the  Universal Basic Education Commission  (UBEC) has been sustained over the years despite being funded solely by two per cent of Nigeria’s Consolidated Revenue. In fact,  UBEC has so much money in its kitty that it is always begging state governments to come and access it. The management of the commission recently lamented that about N110bn of the intervention funds for the 2021 financial year had yet to be disbursed in 2023. So, we can imagine the amount of funds that will come to the education loan bank through all the government agencies and other sources that have been mandated to contribute towards it. 

But money is not enough. There should be a clear definition of what the scheme aims to achieve and how it intends to succeed. Right now, the first major threat to its survival is nonrepayment of loans. An average Nigerian graduate earns between N30,000 and N50,000 a month. This is less than $100. These are the fortunate ones. Many of them are unemployed. Unfortunately, this problem is not ending soon. Unemployment rate is projected to reach 40.6 per cent in 2023.  Without jobs, the loans may end up as students’ own share of Nigeria’s national cake. Besides, what happens to student dropouts who could have enjoyed the loans for years and never get employed or engaged in business. 

Yet as big as the concern over repayment is, it is just a minute part of a bigger issue. The real question is how is this loan going to ensure that lecturers are well paid as at when due and that they do not go on strike. The government has always complained of inadequate funds to honour the different agreements it signed with university lecturers. How is a student loan scheme intended to boost the revenue base of Nigeria’s public institutions? 

Secondly, Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions are currently tuition free. Agreed, students pay for course registration, accommodation, etc. but that is not tuition. So, what is the purpose of this loan. Is it to help students pay registration fees? Or is it a precursor to the introduction of tuition in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions? If students will pay tuition, how much is government projecting?

The act says the loan will ensure access to education for all Nigerians. How? Currently, less than half of about 1.5 million candidates that sit for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination yearly, gain admission to tertiary institutions. While some candidates don’t meet the cut-off mark for admission, majority are left out due to lack of space in the institutions they applied to.  

In 2019,  over 1.8m candidates sat the UTME, but only 612,098  representing 33.7 per cent were admitted. A report shows that about 367,499 candidates applied for the 43,717 slots available in Medical Departments in Nigerian universities in 2022. Likewise, 231,907 applied for social science courses that had only 93,277 slots while 204,734 applied for science-related courses that had just 132,796 vacancies. 

Likewise, 81,653 applied For Law-related courses that had 8,529 vacancies; 103,891 students applied for technology-related courses with 60,199 vacancies; 72,014 applied for courses under Arts and Humanities despite the 48,744 vacancies in this programme. 

For now, the only courses that have lesser candidates than available slots are Agriculture and Education. For Agriculture, 21,568 applied despite the 31,217 vacancies that were available while only 53612 applied to fill the 111,601 vacancies existing for education courses. 

When it comes to accessing tertiary education, the real problem is limited carrying capacity of our institutions which limits the number of students that can be admitted per time and lack of students’ interest in certain courses which results in the undersubscription of such courses. 

Solving this problem requires boosting the carrying capacity of our institutions and making courses like agriculture and education more attractive to students. This means employing more lecturers to boost the student-lecturer ratio; constructing more lecture theatres; investing in teaching aids; and enlarging accommodation spaces on campus for students among others. Giving students loan will not solve any of these problems.

Interestingly, the loan act states that students can only benefit from the scheme if their family income is not more than N500,000 per annum. In other words, a family where both parents are minimum wage earners are automatically exempted from the scheme since their total income is more than N500,000. If children of people earning less than $100 a month cannot benefit from a loan, who then can, or who should? 

The law also says guarantors should be above Level 12 or lawyers that have over 10 years post-call experience. How easy will it be for people that earn less than $100 a month to get senior civil servants as guarantors? 

The act is silent on both the minimum and maximum amount of money that can be drawn by a beneficiary. Maybe these details will be provided when the law is gazetted.

From all indications, President Tinubu is planning to introduce tuition in Nigerian universities. I have nothing against this. I have always advocated it. It is the way to go if we are sincere about rescuing our education system from its current state of rot. But this process should be well-thought-out. Existing laws that provide for free tertiary education in federal-government-owned public institutions should be amended. Also, the tuition should be reasonable. Education is a public good. It can’t be funded with tuition alone. Tuition can never be the alternative to government funding and student loan will not do any magic in this regard!

Olabisi Deji-Folutile (PhD) is the Editor-in-Chief, Franktalknow.com and Director at AF24NEWS.COM. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.