President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Didi Esther Walson-Jack, as head of the civil service (HoS) of the federation.

Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesperson, said in a statement on Wednesday that Walson-Jack’s appointment will take effect on August 14.

Ngelale said Folasade Yemi-Esan, the outgoing HoS, is set to retire from the civil service on August 13.

“Mrs Walson-Jack was appointed as Federal Permanent Secretary in 2017 and has served in several ministries,” the statement reads.

“The new appointee will take over from the incumbent Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, CFR, who is due to retire on August 13, 2024.

“President Tinubu, while thanking the outgoing Head of Service for her stewardship, tasks the incoming Head of Service to discharge her duties with innovative flair, integrity, and stringent adherence to the extant rules and regulations of the Civil Service of the Federation.”

WHO IS DIDI ESTHER WALSON-JACK?

Walson-Jack holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Lagos. She was called to the bar in 1987.

Before joining the federal civil service, she was the solicitor-general of Bayelsa and also served as the permanent secretary of the state ministry of justice.

She was first appointed as a permanent secretary in 2017 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. She was deployed to the office of the head of the civil service of the federation.

She had served as permanent secretary at the ministries of Niger Delta affairs, power, water resources and sanitation, and education.

In 2023, she was conferred with the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).

In her early days, she attended the Federal Government Girls’ College in Benin City, Edo state, and the Federal Government College in Ilorin, Kwara state.

She is married to Nimi Walson-Jack, a former general secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

[TheCable]

The controversy began in April 2004 following the creation of 37 Local Government Areas (LGAs) by then Lagos State Governor, now President Bola Tinubu. Riled by what he considered to be an impudent act, then President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that funds for the LGAs in the state be withheld until Lagos reverted to the 20 LGA structure. As I highlighted in my book, ‘Power, Politics and Death: A front-row account of Nigeria under the late President Yar’Adua’, Tinubu filed a lawsuit against the federal government, urging the Supreme Court to determine the propriety and legality of Obasanjo’s action. And in a somewhat controversial judgment, the apex court declared the 37 LGAs created by Tinubu “inchoate and inoperable” since the National Assembly had not listed them in the Constitution. But the same court also ruled that the federal government had no right to withhold the funds.

With both the federal government and Lagos state claiming victory in what had become a personality clash between Obasanjo and Tinubu, prominent Yoruba citizens intervened through a committee of elders led by a former Attorney General of the Federation, the late Prince Bola Ajibola. That effort culminated in the 37 Lagos LGAs being rechristened Local Council Development Authority (LCDAs) by Tinubu. This brought a temporary truce and Obasanjo ordered the release of a first tranche of N10 billion from the entitlements of the 20 LGAs then estimated at about N21 billion. When Tinubu insisted on conducting elections  for the 37 LCDAs, Obasanjo viewed it as an affront. So, for the rest of his tenure, funds for Lagos LGAs were not paid. This was the situation at the time the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua assumed office on May 29, 2007.  Following consultations, he ordered the release of the accumulated council funds to Lagos State under Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.

I therefore find it ironic that Tinubu would drag governors before the supreme court over local government funds, even though I support the idea behind it. With the apex court judgment, four key issues have been settled. One, section 162 of the 1999 Constitution is now completely redundant. Two, all funds standing to the credit of the 774 LGAs in the federation account shall henceforth be paid directly to them. Three, governors can no longer dissolve democratically elected councils, and/or replace them with caretaker committees. Four, no funds will be released to councils run by caretaker committees. But several issues beg for answers with perhaps the most significant being: What happens to the funding of LCDAs created in some states by their governors? Incidentally, Tinubu was the first governor to take that route before others followed, which is why many governors seem surprised by his move.

As I said, I support the principle behind the judgement given how governors play with local government funds. Besides, since President Muhammadu Buhari failed to achieve the same objective with ‘Executive Order 10’, I understand why Tinubu chose the apex court route. My main concern is that I do not think the judgement will change anything concerning the administration of local government in Nigeria. And that is why I believe we require a reform that is more practical. In his piece, ‘Let the Third Tier Breath’, published yesterday, Special Adviser to the president on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga raised pertinent issues. But I do not share his optimism that the apex court judgment will make much difference to the people at the grassroots.

Perhaps the only person who has spoken to the heart of the issue is Shehu Sani, a civil rights activist and former Senator from Kaduna State. In his characteristic way of reducing serious issues to humour, this was his summation of what will follow the judgement: “’Your Excellency Sir, I received the alert (from the federation account). What should I do with it?’ Despite the Supreme Court ruling, many LG chairmen will still behave like this when their account is credited directly,” he wrote. Before drawing my conclusion, I crave the indulgence of readers to reproduce my 27 August 2020 column, ‘Democracy and the Grassroots’.

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The 1999 Constitution (as amended), provides that each of the 774 local governments in the country is vested with powers to establish and maintain cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm; license bicycles, vehicles, canoes, wheel barrows and carts; regulate slaughter houses, markets, motor parks and public conveniences as well as construct and maintain roads, streets lightings, drains, parks, gardens, open spaces etc. They are also to register births, deaths and marriages and name roads, streets, and houses, while providing and maintaining public conveniences and refuse disposal among other functions. Perhaps most significantly, local governments are expected to provide and maintain primary, adult and vocational education and health services. 

These, no doubt, are heavy responsibilities for which 20.60 percent of our total national earnings is allocated from the federation account. That is one fifth of the entire resources accruing to the nation. Available data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) indicates that no less than about N25 trillion has been shared by the 774 local governments in the past 21 years. Even if we use the prevailing exchange rate, that still exceeds $60 billion! For instance, last year (2019), all the local governments shared N1.649 trillion; In 2018, they shared N1.667 trillion; in 2017, they shared N1.502 trillion; in 2016, they shared 1.011 trillion; in 2015, they shared N1.205 trillion; in 2014, they shared N1.557 trillion; in 2013, they shared N1.708 trillion; in 2012, they shared N1.535 trillion; in 2011, they shared N1.255 trillion; in 2010, they shared N1.328 trillion; in 2009, they shared N976.817 trillion and in 2008, they shared N1.206 trillion.

Despite such huge financial resources, local governments are not playing their roles because governors have conspired to render them completely prostrate. The national president of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel once argued that “the concept of bringing governance closer to the people through a third-tier participatory form of government has not materialized in Nigeria.” After tracing the history of reforms of local government from the Dasuki Committee of 1976 to the Etsu Nupe report of 2003 and several Supreme Court rulings, Khaleel gave a damning verdict: “there is no state in Nigeria where one form of illegality or the other is not committed with the funds of local governments. Through over deduction of primary school teachers’ salaries; spurious state/local government joint projects, sponsoring of elections, taking over the statutory functions of local governments and handing them over to cronies and consultants; non-payments of pensioners and non-utilization of training fund despite the mandatory deduction of stipulated percentages for these purposes, we can go on and on. Most of these shameful activities are known to all of us.”  

To be sure, local government administration in Nigeria has always presented a challenge, but it has never been as bad as it is now under the current dispensation. Even though democracy is a never-ending process of inquiry that requires the validation of voters, what we have witnessed over the years in the name of local government elections has been no more than a charade. For the benefit of readers, let me highlight results of the last local government polls in all the 36 states of the federation (in alphabetical order). 

In December 2016, the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission conducted LG polls, where almost a million people were recorded as having voted. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state won all 17 chairmanship and 292 councillorship seats. “There was no election anywhere in the state,” the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) secretary, Sunday Onukwubiri, told reporters. A year earlier during the 2015 general election, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had secured 264,713 votes (representing 59.4 percent of total votes cast) to defeat Dr Alex Otti, the then APGA candidate who secured 180,882 votes (representing 40.6 percent of total votes cast). Yet, APGA could not win any seat at the LG polls. That has been the pattern in all the states where the Independent National Election (INEC) results are at variance with the figures churned out by the state electoral commission that conducts LG polls. 

Last December (2019) in Adamawa, candidates of the ruling PDP in the state won all the 21 chairmanship and 226 councillorship seats. Akwa Ibom is billed to conduct the local government election on 31st October this year, but the APC has already seen the handwriting on the wall by threatening a boycott. In the last one conducted in December 2017, PDP won all the 31 chairmanship and 329 councillorship seats. “Details of scores will be made available by the field operations/logistics department of the commission,” according to the chairman, Aniedi Ikoiwak, who only gave round figures without providing any breakdown of the results! 

In Anambra State where council polls have not been held in the past six years, businessman, Chief Arthur Eze, has issued a stern warning to Governor Willie Obiano: “I want him (Obiano) to know that since he has refused to hold local government elections, he must be ready to vomit all the allocations and revenues of the councils at the end of his tenure. He will not go free. I have taken up the matter formally in writing with President Muhammadu Buhari concerning all Southeast governors who have refused to organise council elections but chose to unilaterally usurp the functions and finances of that level of government. They will all be called to account. None will get away with it.” 

It will be interesting to see how Eze executes his threat but in the last council polls held in January 2014 under Governor Peter Obi, the ruling APGA in Anambra State was ‘magnanimous’ enough to cede some councillorship seats after taking all the 21 chairmanship positions. In Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed had promised to conduct council polls in June this year before COVID-19 put a spanner in the works. But in the last one conducted 13 years ago, it was 100 percent victory in both the chairmanship and councillorship positions for the then ruling PDP in the state! 

On the eve of the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election last year (2019), the PDP government at the time conducted council polls, winning all eight chairmanship positions and 105 councillorship seats. A few weeks later, it was the APC candidate who won the gubernatorial election conducted by INEC with a comfortable margin. It took the intervention of the Supreme Court for the PDP to win back the state on technical grounds that had nothing to do with how the people voted. In Benue State, COVID-19 did not prevent council polls from holding in May this year with the ruling PDP winning all the 23 chairmanship and 276 councillorship seats. But in deference to the pandemic, Borno State has postponed its own LG polls. In June this year, the ruling PDP won all the 18 chairmanship and 196 councillorship positions in Cross River State. 

The January 2018 council polls in Delta State produced an interesting outcome. After winning all the 25 chairmanship seats, the ruling PDP in the state conceded a single councillorship position in Ward 2, Aniocha North local government area, the home base of the then minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to APC, winning the remaining 424 councillorship positions. Ebonyi will hold its council polls this Saturday. In the last one conducted in April 2017, PDP won all the 13 chairmanship and 171 councillorship seats. In Edo State in March 2018, the then ruling APC won all the 18 chairmanship and 192 councillorship seats. In Ekiti State, the last local government poll held in December 2017 and predictably, the then ruling PDP won all the 16 chairmanship and 177 Councillorship seats. In Enugu State where the poll held in March this year, the ruling PDP won all the 17 chairmanship and 260 councillorship positions. In Gombe State, the then ruling PDP won all the 114 councillorship and 11 chairmanship positions in the February 2017 LG polls. In Imo State, in August 2018, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship positions and 636 of the 645 councillorship positions. In June 2019, the ruling APC won all the 27 chairmanship and 286 councillorship positions in Jigawa State. 

In May 2018, what perhaps remains the only semblance of a competitive election was conducted by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM). At the end, the ruling APC won in 12 local government areas, the PDP won in five local government areas, with results from three local government stalemated. In February 2018, the ruling APC swept all the 44 chairmanship and 484 councillorship seats in Kano State. In August 2014, the PDP cleared all the 34 chairmanship and 361 councillorship seats in Katsina State. In October last year, the ruling APC in Kebbi State won all 21 chairmanship and 223 councillorship positions. The last local government polls in Kogi state were held in 2013 and the then ruling PDP cleared all the 21 chairmanship and 225 councillorship positions. In Kwara State, the November 2017 LG polls also produced the then ruling APC as winners of all the chairmanship but conceded nine councillorship positions to the PDP. 

Elections into the 57 LGAs/LCDAs of Lagos State were conducted in July 2017 with the ruling APC winning all the chairmanship positions. The party also won 369 councillorship seats while the PDP won four seats, and Accord Party, the remaining three. In May 2018, the ruling APC won all the 26 chairmanship and 147 councillorship positions in Nasarawa State. In December last year, APC cleared 24 of the 25 local governments in Niger State with PDP winning one. In October 2016, the ruling APC won the chairmanship positions in all the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs in Ogun State. The party also won 346 out of the chairmanship and 349 councillorship seats. In January 2018, the ruling APC cleared all the 389 councillorship positons in Osun State. In the May 2018 poll in Oyo State, the then ruling APC won all the chairmanship seats in the 33 LGAs and the 35 LCDAs.  

In October 2018 in Plateau State, council polls held in 13 of the 17 LGAs. APC was declared winner in 11 (no figures were announced) with the remaining two stalemated, leading to a violent protest. In June 2018 in Rivers State, the ruling PDP won all the 23 chairmanship and 302 councillorship positions. In Sokoto, the then ruling APC (now PDP) won all the 22 chairmanship and 234 councillorship seats at the March 2016 local government elections. In June this year, after the Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission (TSIEC) chairman, Dr Phillip Duwe declared PDP candidates the winners for both chairmanship and councillorship positions in all 16 local government councils, he urged the defeated candidates and parties to understand that ‘leadership comes only from God.’ But after the February 2017 LG poll in Yobe, the state electoral commission chairman did not beat about the bush: “Having received and compiled the election results, all the 17 candidates of the APC in the chairmanship category are declared winners.” And in the council polls conducted in April last year by the then outgoing Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, his APC cleared all the 14 chairmanship and 147 councillorship seats. 

The entire essence of voting is for citizens to decide how they are governed. But in a situation in which Nigerians have been conditioned to believe that exercising their franchise in local government elections is simply a waste of time, then something is wrong with our system. Therefore, to reform the institutions and practices that have placed structural roadblocks in the path of our democracy at the grassroots level, we must disempower the few who lord themselves over the many. Aside wasting enormous resources on these meaningless elections, the governors do not even pretend that they consider them serious. In Gombe some years ago, the state government engaged a contractor to supply ballot boxes for council polls. The contractor went to China for the procurement, but the election was conducted, and winners declared before the ballot boxes were eventually delivered. In Bauchi, a former deputy speaker of the state assembly (and a prominent member of the ruling party then serving as an aide to the governor) was once appointed chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission!

In their book, ‘How Democracies Die’, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that while there is a general tendency to believe that a democracy is imperilled only by military adventurers, it is now the elected leaders who most often subvert the very process that brought them to power. These are men who have no qualms “rewriting the rules of politics to permanently disadvantage their rivals”, the authors wrote before adding, “The tragic paradox of the electoral route to authoritarianism is that democracy’s enemies use the very institutions of democracy—gradually, subtly, and even legally—to kill it.” 

ENDNOTE:

As I stated in my October 2017 ‘Platform Nigeria’ presentation, the promise of good governance embedded in the theory of decentralization is being delivered in the breach in Nigeria today because accountability diminishes as you move from the centre to the other units: states and local governments. But to saddle the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the additional burden of conducting council polls, as suggested by Onanuga and other stakeholders, is not the right approach, all factors considered. In a country where every election ends in litigation, the problem of INEC would be compounded if it adds council polls to its assignments. Besides, the challenge of local government administration in Nigeria goes beyond money and the process of electing chairmen and councillors. The question we should ask ourselves is whether we need three tiers of federating units. In most federal countries, including the United States from where we photocopied the presidential system of government, there only two. What we have today is a Nigerian invention that has not worked.

To alter the trajectory of our country and bring government closer to the people, there must be institutional reforms, beginning with the charade we now call local government elections. But it cannot end there. In his column, ‘Refocusing the Debate on Local Governance in Nigeria’ a month ago, Waziri Adio, the Executive Director of Agora Policy, a think tank focused on development and governance, argued that “Nigeria is overdue for another and a more thoughtful reform of governance at the local level.” Central to the quest for improving local governance in Nigeria, according to Waziri, “should be how to creatively and sustainably deepen democracy, citizens’ participation and social accountability at the local level,” All these, he added, “should be the overriding focus of not just the ongoing debate but also of the next generation of local government reforms in the country.”

I wholeheartedly concur!

Eniola Bello @ 60

In the first decade of THISDAY Newspaper, our Chairman, Prince Nduka Obaigbena (who clocked 65 last Sunday) established a unique selection and recruitment tradition regarding editors of the three titles: Saturday, Sunday and Daily. Even though there was a clear line of succession, he still allowed each title editor to nominate their successor. So, on two occasions, the Managing Director of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr Eniola Bello, known mostly as EniB, nominated me to succeed him, first as Sunday editor and later as editor of the main title. While the second occasion in August 2005 was fairly straightforward, the earlier one in 2003 was not. Having been labelled ‘ambitious deputy’ by mischief-makers, EniB could have played office politics to frustrate me. But he was comfortable enough that we worked harmoniously. And he has remained a brother and friend.

As a member of the foundation staff in 1995, EniB has, over the years, played a significant role in the evolution of THISDAY as a formidable institution in Nigerian journalism. Strong in prose (he read English as his first degree), EniB writes the way he speaks (never takes prisoners) and was the first to earn the distinction of editing all THISDAY titles before I and later, Ijeoma Nwogwugwu joined the club. 

Come Sunday, EniB will be 60 and while a few of us were planning to host him to one of those ‘surprise celebrations’, it turns out he has his own plan. Having gotten wind of the plot (as often happens with competent reporters), he called me a few days ago to say we should save ourselves any trouble. By this weekend, he would already be out of the country with his family for a quiet holiday. That’s the quintessential EniB!

As he joins the sexagenarian club on Sunday, I wish him long life and good health.

Happy birthday, Baba Wura!

July 5 2024 was a historic day in the political and cultural annals of Aáwé town. That day was the memorable culmination of more than thirty years of a struggle to achieve the status of a beaded monarch for the Alaawe of Aáwé, Oba Cornelius Taiwo Oladokun. And the Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, made this feat possible by the singularly courageous act of cutting through the red-tape of political shenanigans and prejudices to underscore historical imperatives that have to do with the cultural status of Aáwé as a significant Yoruba community in the southwest. Aáwé has always been a town that has been shaped by sociocultural and political conflicts and circumstances. And so, it becomes inevitable to connect this current breakthrough with the trajectories of so many others that situate Oba Taiwo Oladokun right within the dynamics of the Aáwé forebears and the Aáwé mystique.

What I have been calling the Aáwé mystique derives from Aáwé’s pragmatic mix of critical enlightenment, communal investment deriving from social capital, and educational commitment that facilitate the capacity of a small town to forge its own path within the context of complex sociocultural ferment from then till now. Aáwé’s strength lies in the generational, communal and diasporic investment that birthed great names that contributed to Aáwé’s image of resilience and progress. Even though Aáwé is a small Yorùbá town, it carries the weight of great achievements—the aggregation of its diverse indigenous pool into a developmental capital that propels continuous advancement in social, cultural, economic and political terms. Aáwé’s indigenous pool is made up of the expatriates abroad who invested in educational advancement and those, equally educated, who stayed behind to keep up the chain of communal commitment and advancement.

This mystique is founded on an even more fundamental governance principle that takes the grassroots seriously as the basis of a distinct and peculiar development founded on subsidiarity and social capital. These two principles form the basis of local governance that embeds governance and development in traditional institutions and the will of the members of the grassroots. I have provided these sociological and political narratives to underscore two points. The first is to underscore the rationale behind the doggedness and courage of His Royal Majesty, Oba Cornelius Abiola Taiwo Oladokun. This kind of struggle and sacrifice to realize the transformation of the status of the monarchy at Aáwé could only further elevate the status of the town and the historical forbearance of Aáwé’s forebears. The Kabiyesi is only following in the footsteps of the Aáwé ancestors who kept up the trajectory of historical and cultural responsibility to the town and to posterity. The new bearded crown is therefore a testimonial to the historical resilience of Aáwé as a small town that withstood the complexities and intrigues of being situated within the context of a larger Yorùbá historical circumstances that had the capacity to swallow it up.

More importantly, therefore, beyond the pomp and circumstances of the coronation, I am reading the entire event as Aáwé’s Nehemiah’s moment. At a very critical juncture in time, the biblical Nehemiah came to that conscious moment when all circumstances became propitious for him to take on the challenge of harnessing the will of the people and the resources of the land to reconstruct the walls of Jerusalem. I am convinced that Aáwé has reached its own critical moment when there is a conjunction of history, vision and possibilities; it is a moment to rehabilitate the shared vision that has never failed to unite the Aáwé homeland and the Aáwé diaspora, or the Aáwé people and its distinguished elites towards a sustainable developmental future. Given the committed efforts of Aáwé’s ancestors to the Aáwé mystique, there is already in place a vast demography of generational capital—in terms of human capital and available resources—that creates a space of possibilities. What must then be added is a context for the sharing of opinions and blueprints for moving Aáwé forward. And it is the responsibility of the Alaawe to facilitate the flowering of the space that accommodates different shades of opinions and scenarios within leadership large-hearted seminal spirit; especially the peculiar one, required to manage a demographic of people with perhaps one of the largest professors and professionals per capital in the world, for moving Aáwé forward.

Like Nehemiah, these needed conversations and discourses need to be had around the urgency of taking Aáwé to the next level of composite development. There is no questioning the visible and tangible level of infrastructural achievements that dot the landscape of Aáwé as a result of self-help efforts. And they are though few, but too numerous to be mentioned, from the Oba’s palace to the Odo Sogidi tourist center, and from the police post to the bank. We must also not fail to mention the industrializing spirit of late Chief (Sir) Anthony Amoje (the Otun of Aawe and his Amo Sanders), Chief Debo Omotoso (the Asiwaju of Afijio and his Bond Chemicals), etc. These self-help and industrial activities tell a tale of communal and collective responsibilities to the perceived need of a community that has always been aware of itself. However, by reason of this significant event of the crowning of the Aáwé monarch, we are challenged to rethink Aáwé’s development status and to take the self-help initiatives a fundamental step further. This is to the extent that the existing self-help efforts provide the enabling motivation to ground real development that transforms the well-being of the Aáwé people.

I mentioned that part of the Aáwé mystique is the available demography of people and resources that has been accumulating for a long time. This implies that there is really no need to reinvent the development wheel in putting Aáwé on the map. Starting from the Egbe Omo Ibile Aáwé to the Aáwé Development Plan: The OPTICOM Approach—and the ongoing but relevant Chief Emmanuel Adisa, the Asiwaju of Aawe-led attempt at developing an Aáwé Vision 2050, a blueprint that encompasses Aáwé Economic Renaissance and Restructuring for Economic Activities and Revitalization—speaks to the larger intention to take Aáwé beyond its present status in terms of leveraging local governance principles. For instance, Professors Ojetunji Aboyade and Akin Mabogunje’s OPTICOM—from optimum community—represents a unique experimental approach to grassroots mobilisation for community development. It is an attempt at establishing interactive platforms between researchers and grassroots producers in a unique synergy that facilitates the critical flow and fusion of knowledge and expertise. The OPTICOM thesis rests on the assumption that traditional structures possess the inherent capacity, borne out of centuries of adaptability and resilience, to bear the weight of responsible policy initiatives properly managed by equally responsible and development-sensitive leadership.

A revitalized OPTICOM approach, adapted to current development challenges, will provide the framework for transforming individual efforts into cooperative endeavors. For example, Aáwé farmers could be given the opportunity of re-organizing into enhanced cooperative societies and the building of entrepreneurial networks that could connect them with multi-sourced credit and infrastructural supports within a structured agro-processing industry value chain. This feeds directly into the poverty alleviation component of the Opticom model that is meant to reduce the burden of individual efforts that does not usually amount to much outside of cooperative capacities. This also speaks to Aáwé’s small and medium enterprises whose tenacious capacities as cottage industries not only delimit Aáwé’s comparative advantages, like the ebu ose (black soap) industry, but also remain the key to the creative industrial and economic transformation of Aáwéland. When the late Prof. Mabogunje consolidated this component in the celebrated experiment in Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction (IDIPR), its success had the critical support and the transformational leadership inspiration of the HRM the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona. This is then the crucial benchmarking of traditional governance structure and development achievement that Aáwé needs to emulate.

The development drive in Aáwé is also tied further to the dream of connecting Aáwé to the world, especially through age-long struggle to facilitate the establishment of a tertiary institution, as well as the urgent construction and rehabilitation of Aáwé’s network of roads and highways. Three highways are crucial in this regard—the Aáwé-Ife Odan, Aáwé-Akinmorin and Aáwé-Iwo roads. These are significant contributors to the industrialization of Aáwé. At the sociocultural level, Aáwé is also embedded in a historical and cultural axis under the sway of the Alaafin of Oyo. This place a heavy burden of wisdom and diplomacy on the Alaawe to find the right amount of relational skills and diplomacy that will make the peaceful coexistence between the different interests within Aawe town and those in diaspora on the one hand, and with our neighbors on the other, the centre-point of Aáwé’s development. And given that the days of imperialist expansion are long gone, what we are left with is a scenario of mutual and peaceful coexistence within the context of regional advancement that Aáwé itself can benefit from.

Therefore, even before the euphoria of the crowning ceremony wears off, it is time to commence the process of communal dialogue instigated by the Alaawe, the council of chiefs, Awe Development Corporation, the numerous egbe omo ibile Aawe, the Aáwé elite at home and in the diaspora, and the Aáwé people themselves. It is high time Aáwé took its place in the comity of places that deploy local governance through the political and sociocultural sophistication of their traditional governance structures to connect their people to human flourishing. This is a critical junction when the broken walls of Aáwé’s development trajectories needed to be rebuilt. And I believe the omen are auspicious sufficiently for us to re-start the formidable engine of progress.        

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi will be 63 years old on Friday, July 19, 2024.

Reacting ahead of the day, the LP standards bearer directs all those well wishes planning to celebrate him to direct the resources to the poor and the needy in the society.

Writing on his X handle on Wednesday ahead of the day Obi said he would wish for a solemn celebration as usual especially now that the poor and the needy are swelling in our midst.

"On Friday, July 19th, I will be celebrating my 63rd birthday. As usual, it is a time for personal reflection and thanksgiving to Almighty God, who has graciously granted me life, good health, and the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of humanity. I am humbled by the numerous well-wishers, both locally and internationally, who have already begun sending birthday wishes and organizing events in my honour.

"My appeal to my well-wishers and supporters, particularly in Nigeria and Africa, is to use this occasion to fervently pray for our nation and respective countries. Let us present ourselves, as political leaders, to God, so that He may touch our hearts to make sacrifices, utilize public resources for the greater good, and prioritize the needs of the poor and marginalized. Let us also provide better opportunities for our youth to thrive.

"To those organizing events and spending funds in celebration of my birthday, I kindly request that you redirect those resources towards supporting the needy, particularly those in hospitals and schools. Your contributions can help pay medical bills and school fees for the less privileged.

"I also appeal that all gifts intended for my birthday be donated to care homes, schools, and hospitals, which will greatly benefit from your generosity. I have therefore personally, redirected the resources I would have used for celebrations towards supporting critical areas such as health, education, and poverty alleviation. I firmly believe that through these sacrifices, God Almighty will grant your heartfelt wishes for me and answer our prayers.

"Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers. I urge you all to remain faithful to Nigeria, our beloved country, and your respective nations. May God Almighty protect, bless, and prosper you and your families, and may He bless our dear nation. 

Signed 

Yunusa Tanko 

POMR SPOKESMAN 

July 17, 2024.

Covid-19 is no longer a scare around the world because the pandemic is over, it is now a long-term disease just like any other infectious disease that is treated according to standard guidelines. However, there is a silent creeping burden of post covid-19 impact on public health with post-covid consequences even at very low transmission rates.

The silent burden of covid-19 arises from complications from previous covid-19 exposure. These conditions called covid-19 post-acute sequalae (or long covid) refers to aggravation of pre-existing conditions, or development of new symptoms ranging from neurological conditions, fatigue, brain fog, multiple organ damage, etc.

The silent undetected burden of long covid presents differently in people, hence it is sometimes difficult to identify. It is therefore necessary to consider previous history of covid-19 in patient management of seemingly unrelated new diseases to reduce public health burdens that soon will arise from covid-19 complications or long covid.

Also, there is a need for public awareness of the spread of new variants (forms) of covid and post-covid conditions (long covid), which can develop into serious conditions that lead to death. Back in the year 2020, who would guess that a new virus which emerged in late 2019 would cripple the world in a pandemic that has infected to date over 760 million people and killed over 7 million persons globally.

Coronavirus disease 2019 known as (covid-19) is an infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) characterized by rapidly spreading respiratory illnesses affecting multiple organs in children and adults. Covid-19 causes a barrage of mild to moderate symptoms and in severe cases leads to death, but long covid presents like chronic conditions. In most cases, long covid is identified months after recovery from covid-19.

The acute infection involves viral attachment to a receptor on the surface of host cells, in particular Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor on lung cells, to infect humans. Several other events take place after the virus attaches itself to the host cell and these include viral replication, viral release which causes the acute infections but long covid continue to develop over a long time.

Covid-19 pandemic put the world to a stop in 2020 because public health experts and scientists were caught unprepared with the magnitude of the widespread of the virus, the overwhelming effects on the health systems and unprecedented deaths. Covid-19 was a newly discovered virus, but it was later found to be very similar to the known SARS and MERS viruses which causes severe respiratory illnesses.

In the early months of the pandemic, there was no drug known to treat the unknown virus or vaccines to prevent its continuous spread. Several strategies were used to manage patients, many of whom developed severe cases that led to the high number of deaths. It then became apparent to the world–including first world countries, that we were not pandemic ready!

This was due to high shortage of ICU facilities, staffing, as well as shortage of medical supplies. Strategies included social distancing, whereby movements were largely restricted and social gatherings–this reduced the transmission, but the virus soon defied this strategy and continued to spread therefore therapeutics and other preventive approaches were quickly developed.

Another public health concern of covid-19 virus is the changes in parts of its genetic makeup (genome) – a term called mutation, just like other viruses. These variants differ slightly in their genetic makeup, the severity of covid-19 illnesses they cause and the ease of transmission. As a prevention strategy of covid-19, many vaccines were rolled out globally. In the wake of the pandemic, some vaccines prevented infection but soon the covid-19 virus continuously mutated causing many vaccines to be discontinued or booster shots (2nd, 3rd, 4th doses) introduced.

New variants are now causing rising cases of covid-19 in western countries, like JN.1 and KP.2 variants in the UK and US as of July 2024, but in Nigeria, transmission has been insignificant, and BA.2.86 variant circulating according to CDC, however the burden of long covid is not yet known. Scientists are still in search for more treatments for COVID-19 emerging variants, and more importantly understanding the silent burden of long-covid.

The currently used drugs including Remdesivir, Molpunavir, etc only treats the acute early stage infection but drugs are yet to be developed to prevent or treat long covid which may impact the world masked as an increase in chronic diseases thereby increasing the public health crisis. Scientists will continue to research for new therapies and strategies to combat covid-19 and its consequences to prepare for any future pandemics and post-covid sequalae.

Dr. Dokunmu is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry, she has expertise in pharmacology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

RE: Supreme Court Judgment in Suit No: SC/CV/343/2004 - Attorney General of the Federation v. Attorney General of Abia State & 35 Ors

I wish to address the recent Supreme Court judgment in Suit No: SC/CV/343/2004 - Attorney General of the Federation v. Attorney General of Abia State & 35 Ors, delivered on the 11th of July, 2024.

This judgment, which has garnered significant public interest, is indeed a matter of great importance to our legal system and the country as a whole. It is with utmost diligence and dedication that we have been actively pursuing the Certified True Copy of the judgment and the enrolled Order from the Supreme Court.

Despite the challenges faced in obtaining these documents, I wish to assure the public that we are working tirelessly to secure the necessary materials. We must have access to a complete and accurate record of the judgment to thoroughly study its contents and implications.

It is worth noting that the Supreme Court's decision in this case was not unanimous, with a split judgment of 5 against 2. Furthermore, the majority of the Justices even disagreed on the reliefs sought by the Federal Government. This complexity underscores the need for a careful and comprehensive analysis of the judgment.

As we await the Certified True Copy of the judgment and the enrolled Order, we remain committed to upholding the rule of law and ensuring that justice is served. Our efforts are focused on understanding the intricacies of the judgment and determining the appropriate course of action for its implementation, while also ensuring that the administrative apparatus of our Local Government is appropriately manned with suitable personnel throughout the transitional phase.

I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the steadfast and industrious Justices of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Attorneys General of the 36 States of the Federation for their dedication and professionalism in handling this complex matter. Their commitment to justice and the rule of law is commendable and sets a high standard for the entire legal community.

I urge the public to remain patient as we navigate through this process with diligence and transparency. Rest assured that the Government of Ondo State, under the able leadership of His Excellency, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, is dedicated to upholding the principles of justice and will carefully examine the judgment and promptly set the necessary mechanisms in motion, reaffirming our unwavering commitment to fully implementing the rule of law in all our endeavours.

Thank you.

Wednesday, 17th July, 2024

E-Signed,
Dr. Olukayode Ajulo, OON, SAN, FCIArb. UK
Honourable Attorney-General of Ondo State and Commissioner for Justice

“It is the position of this court that the federation can pay local governments allocations directly to the local governments or through the states. In this case, since paying them through the states has not worked, justice demands that local governments allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the local governments,” – Justice Emmanuel Agim on Thursday, July 11, 2024.

Nigeria’s federation rests on a tripod: federal, state and local governments. However, over the years, local governments have operated as a mere appendage of the state government. By virtue of Section 162 (6) of the 1999 Constitution that created a joint state/ local government account, state governors spend money due to local government on their behalf. They award contracts on behalf of LGs in their states and make any other deductions they deem fit. Local government administration has been left comatose as workers of LGs are owed a backlog of salaries, sometimes up to a year. Primary education, primary health centres and Trunk ‘C’ roads, which are supposed to be serviced and maintained by local governments are abandoned. Workers in local governments have gone on routine strikes.

While the 768 local governments and the six area councils recognised by the constitution are gasping for breath from the chuck hold of governors, some of the governors went ahead to create what they called Local Council Development Areas. Lagos alone has 37 of them in addition to the 20 constitutionally recognised LGs. What many governors do is simply redistribute the federation allocations paid into the joint state and local government accounts. Thus, what is not sufficient to effectively run the constitutionally recognised LGs is further reduced to fund the LCDAs. Meanwhile, most of the functions of the local governments listed in the Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution have been taken over by the state government.

It doesn’t end there; State Independent Electoral Commissions are created by section 197 of the constitution. However, they lack both administrative and financial autonomy. That’s part of the reason they kowtow to the whims and caprices of the state governors on who should win at the local government elections. Had it been that SIECs also enjoy financial and administrative autonomy which the Independent National Electoral Commission has been enjoying since the constitutional alteration of 2010, the story of badly conducted LGA polls could have been different. As has been witnessed across many states, new governors routinely dissolve SIEC boards put in place by their predecessors and reconstitute them with their own loyalists. Supreme Court has ruled these state governors out of order in many of its judgments but ‘none so deaf as those who will not hear.’

Section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution says, “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this constitution guaranteed; and accordingly the government of every state shall subject to section 8 of the constitution, ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.”  There is no gainsaying that this constitutional provision is observed in breach. According to The Guardian newspaper of Monday, July 15, 2024, 21 states have caretaker committees running the affairs of their local governments. Supreme Court in many of its judgment has said this is unconstitutional, null and void but the governors continue to ignore the warnings and orders of the apex court. That is how deep the culture of impunity has sunk in Nigeria.

In 2019, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit issued a regulation, effective from June 1, 2019, which bans transactions on State and Local Governments Joint Accounts. Funds were sent directly to the accounts of the local governments. It also limits cash withdrawals from local governments accounts to a maximum amount of N500,000 per day with penalties for banks that fail to comply. The Nigerian governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum kicked against this regulation and the NFIU eventually capitulated.

The status quo was maintained until May 2024 when the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), filed suit marked SC/CV/343/2024 at the Supreme Court to strengthen the autonomy of the local government areas as guaranteed by the constitution. It sought to prevent state governors from unilaterally dissolving democratically elected local government councils and establishing caretaker committees, actions that violate constitutional provisions. The AGF argued that the constitution mandates a democratically elected local government system and does not allow alternative governance structures.

The suit also prayed that the funds from the Federation Account be channelled directly to local governments, bypassing the allegedly unlawful joint accounts managed by state governors. The Federal Government also sought an injunction to stop governors and their agents from receiving or spending local government funds without a democratically elected local government system in place. It contended that the governors’ failure to establish such a system constitutes a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution. The Supreme Court heard parties to the case on June 13, with the state governments, through their respective attorneys-general, opposing the suit.

That was the prelude to the Supreme Court judgment of last Thursday, July 11, 2024, which has now affirmed the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 local governments. In the unanimous judgment of its seven-member panel, the Supreme Court upheld the suit brought by the federal government to strengthen the independence of local governments in the country. A member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the court’s lead judgment, held that the local governments across the country should henceforth receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation. He ruled that it is illegal and unconstitutional for governors to receive and withhold funds allocated to local government areas in their states.

He noted that ordinarily, the constitution permits the Federal Government to pay local government allocations directly to them or through the state governments. However, he said, “Demand for justice requires a progressive interpretation of the law.” He then ordered that, “The amount standing to the credit of local government councils must be paid by the federation to the local government councils and not by any other person or body.” He added, “An order of injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants from collecting funds belonging to the local government councils when no democratically elected local government councils are in place. An order that henceforth no state government should be paid monies standing to the credit of the local government councils. An order for immediate enforcement and compliance with these orders by the state governments and successive governments henceforth.”

This decision which has been welcomed by well-meaning Nigerians is laudable but not far-reaching enough to guarantee total independence to the LGs. This is because the credibility and quality of elections into local government have to be equally sorted out. Also, the Secretary of Local Government and other key administrative staff of the LGs are appointees of the state government. In essence, governors can still control LG funds by proxy. The other point is that the state Houses of Assembly which exercise oversight on local governments are still strongly tied to the apron strings of their respective governors and could be used to witch-hunt any LG chairman or councillor who fails to do the bidding of the state governors.

Apart from the overbearing attitude of the governors, there are powerful traditional rulers and godfathers operating in the LGs who can still make life miserable for any chairman or councillor who refuses to do their bidding. Some of these elected political office holders at the LG may actually be made to swear an oath of allegiance and loyalty to the godfathers in shrines in order to coerce them to do the bidding of these powerful individuals. The NFIU and anti-corruption agencies like the ICPC and EFCC must also henceforth beam their searchlights on local government chairmen and councillors to ensure that there is proper accountability of the LG funds. Lastly, there is a need for a constitutional amendment to streamline the Supreme Court decision with the provisions on local government administration as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution.

The spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka has said that President Bola Tinubu has been fair to all sections of the country regarding appointments into key offices.

Morka asserted that it is too early for detractors of the ruling party to raise disapproving eyebrows against the President’s appointments.

He stated this during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.

Morka was responding to claims by some northern heavyweights alleging that the region was not properly represented in the president’s government.

He said, “President Tinubu is trying to be fair… We have some fairness in the key offices,”

“And this is a government that has just done one year in office, that has yet to even exhaust all of the opportunities for people to be invited to serve in this government. There are so many offices that are yet to be filled. There is more to come.

“We have the President, we have the Vice President. We have the defence, we have the finance. The defence is mostly staffed by people from the northern side while the minister of finance and the CBN governor are from the southern side.

“It’s always premature to make that assessment. Hold your breath till a lot of the key positions are filled.

“For those who want to make an issue of ethnicity, the President has the country as his constituency. The President is not the President of the South-West, or the North or the South; he is the President of Nigeria and every part of this country deserves to be effectively represented, consistent with the Federal Character flavour of our constitution.”

[NaijaNews]

Dear African compatriots, we’re poor because our cousins in power have betrayed us. They own the tools for our development but they misuse their interests. They confine themselves in comfortable vehicles and forget about the ordinary woman who has to till her mall plot to raise food for her children. The response to the protests and backlash from Kenya’s young people (Gen-Z), has the potential to reshape the way power works in Kenya.

Sadly, the authorities increase taxes to be paid by the poor, and they are happy about it because they don’t feel the pinch, at the end of the day, a huge allowance is waiting for them. As if not enough, they exempt themselves from such taxes and go on to make laws and policies that only favor them and their masters. This is the sad reality intertwined with hopelessness.

Additionally, many other factors such as diseases, wars, corruption, and embezzlement have played a significant role in African underdevelopment. Furthermore, external factors like globalization, slave trade, and colonialism were found to be contributing factors to African underdevelopment. Therefore, as long as we still have them in power, Africa shall continue to dwell in multidimensional poverty. 

For emphasis, the average GDP of Africa is the lowest amongst the seven continents (Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia, and Europe) at $9,700 (2021). In 2022, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Africa reached 2,150.6 U.S. dollars, the highest value since 2015.

Furthermore, in 2014, the value per Capita was higher, at 2,316 U.S. dollars. As of 2023, the GDP of Africa was estimated at roughly 3.1 trillion U.S. dollars. Seychelles had the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Africa as of 2024. The value amounted to 21.87 thousand U.S. dollars. Mauritius followed with around 13 thousand U.S. dollars, whereas Gabon registered 9.31 thousand U.S. dollars. GDP per capita is calculated by dividing a country’s GDP by its population, meaning that some of the largest economies are not ranked within the leading ten.

Sadly, things have only gone from bad to worse with liberation and independence. While most of what we have to deal with today is the aftermath of colonialism, bashing the long-gone colonialists for everything is shirking leadership responsibility. Pan-Africanist and human rights activist, P L O Lumumba, opined that the deficit of trust in governance in many African countries is impeding democracy and development on the continent.

Characteristically, the former director of the defunct Kenya Anti-corruption Commission (KACC) pointed out that freedom will not be given to Africa on a silver platter, but that the continent must stand up and take responsibility for itself. Lumumba remarked as follows:

“We must pray and fast but it will not happen, because the last time I checked even those of you who are believers – when Abraham was taken from the Ur of the Chaldeans and given Canaan, it was not on a silver platter. He had to fight the Canaanites; he had to fight the Philistines.”

Africa will always be poor and is bound to fail further until the attitude of people changes. Many factors contribute to the underdevelopment of certain parts of Africa. Some of these include historical factors such as colonialism, which disrupted traditional economic and social structures, and the legacy of the slave trade. Other factors include poor leadership/governance, corruption, profligacy, recklessness, conflict, and insufficient investment in education and infrastructure.

Following the above reasons “Why African Countries Are Poor And Underdeveloped” I opined, that, Africans have failed over time to develop their intellectual and cultural capacity (not as fast as the whites at least), and largely due to a deep imbibed (almost on a DNA-level) satisfaction with mediocrity which stemmed from environmental advantages (not even disadvantages) millions of years ago in the earliest stages of human development and migration when the first hominids started to migrate out of Africa. 

Unfortunately, while Europe was meandering through the Age of Enlightenment, for example, and celebrating groundbreaking discoveries in science and technology, most of Africa was bottled up in comfort zones of small organized farming and fishing territories with little interest in developing beyond satisfying their basic needs.

In conclusion, allow me to adopt the position of Paul Kagame, a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. President Kagame profoundly posited: “I will rather argue, that we need to mobilize the right mindsets, rather than more funding, after all, in Africa, we have everything we need, in terms of whatever is lacking, we have the means to acquire, and yet we remain mentally married to the idea that nothing can get moving without external finance. We are even begging for things we already have.”

As the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) convenes its crucial policy meeting today (Thursday), prospective students across Nigeria have anticipated the decisions that will shape their academic futures for the 2024 admissions cycle.

The JAMB gathering is set to hold significant weight, influencing admission criteria, eligibility requirements, and procedural guidelines for universities nationwide.

Amidst the policy meeting’s deliberations, students and parents are keenly focused on potential changes that could impact their admission prospects.

Key discussions in the meeting would typically revolve around cut-off marks, the adoption of new examination formats, and adjustments to the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus.
According to a statement released by JAMB, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, will chair the 2024 policy meeting, slated for Thursday, July 18, in Abuja.

The board, in its weekly news bulletin, stated: “This year’s exercise will also feature the National Tertiary Admissions’ Performance-Merit Award, NATAP-M Awards, where the overall winner will receive N500 million, and other consolation winners will share N250 million collectively.

”The policy meeting, usually attended by vice-chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics, monotechnics, and innovation enterprise institutes, provosts of colleges of education, and other critical stakeholders, will consider and approve the guidelines for the 2024 admission exercise.

“The meeting will review the performance of the 2023 admissions exercise and the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME performance of candidates.

“The minimum admission scores, an aggregation of individual institutions’ submissions, will be approved at the meeting.

“This is not a cut-off mark, as often misconstrued, but a minimum score that no institution should go below. The decisions made at the meeting, chaired by the Minister of Education, form the guiding norms for admission and are a collective decision, not solely that of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

“No institution is expected to commence the admission process until after the policy meeting, as the guidelines regulating the year’s admission exercise are determined at the meeting with the endorsement of the Minister of Education.

“The meeting declares the commencement of the year’s admission exercise, setting the grand norms, and any institution that violates these collective norms will face sanctions.”

One of the prospective students, Happiness Chris, expressed her anticipation and hope during today’s JAMB policy meeting.

“I’m eagerly awaiting the decisions today. It’s a pivotal moment for us prospective students aiming for 2024 admissions in tertiary institutions.”

[Leadership]