If you were to choose between three infrastructure, which is also often referred to as social amenities, which of these three would you choose? Or, better still still, how will you prioritize power supply, water supply and good roads? Which will come first in your order of preference? 

Power supply is the life-wire of economic activities, apart from its domestic use as well as for relaxation. Power supply also aids security. In the dark, anything can happen. That is why our people say darkness does not recognize who is VIP and who is not. Important as power is - it was the first creation of God (Genesis 1:1-5) - we can still do without it but no one can do without water. In one of Fela’s songs, he said “water no get enemy”.

 As a general rule - there may be exceptional cases - a man can only survive without water for about three days. According to Google, wilderness guides often refer to what they call the “rule of 3”, which means that a person can live without air (oxygen) for 3 minutes, without water for 3 days, and without food for 3 weeks. Water is also the soul of hygiene. Without water, it is impossible to keep our environment clean, tidy and hygienic.

Now, what are good roads? If you travel by road as often as some of us do, you will realize the importance of good roads as critical infrastructure that cannot be relegated to the background. Apart from over-speeding, one of the major causes of avoidable deaths on our roads is bad roads. Other causes include reckless driving, mechanical fault and, wait for it, overzealous and corrupt road traffic officers such as the police, civil defence, Customs, VIO, and road safety marshals. 

The wear-and-tear that bad roads inflict affect the vehicle as well as the person driving it. The economic loss that results and the health impairment that road users suffer cannot be quantified. While citizens can provide themselves with power through generating sets (even if it is the poor man’s generator called “I pass my neighbour”), inverter and solar panels; and we can also dig boreholes or wells to meet our water needs, no one is able to build all the roads he will travel on. This is a duty set apart for the government. Hence, a road is either a federal, state or local government road. How effective, responsible and responsive has the three tier of government been in living up to this obligation?

On Monday last week, I traveled to Abeokuta to participate in a live radio programme on Rockcity 101. 9 FM at the invitation of my friend and professional colleague, Niran Malaolu. The topic of discussion was the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), which the six governors of the south-west states (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo) appear to have suddenly developed interest in! 

Someone said it was because of the marching orders given to the 36 state governors by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to find a solution to the food shortage and the resounding cries of “we are hungry” resonating all over the country. Another said the incentive was the funds the president promised would be made available. I am sure you know our leaders go after the money, like the two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people (Hem and Haw) went after the cheese in the book “Who moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson.

 Yet, another explanation was that the fear of military coup (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) and the people’s rage (Kenya) has suddenly become the beginning of wisdom for our leaders. So, DAWN, which had been comatose since its inauguration in July 2013, with many of the governors failing in their statutory financial obligation to it, has suddenly become the darling of the south-west governors. We shall return to that.

The trip from inner Lagos to the interior of Abeokuta took me less than two hours. In times past, that would have been impossible. Good roads make trips easier, faster and pleasurable. You are able to meet up with appointments - and with ease. No sweat. Each time I hopped into my car to travel, I always felt the trepidation and disgust of what lay ahead of me on some of our roads. There was an occasion when I spent six hours on the Lagos - Sango-ota - Abeokuta road that ordinarily should not have taken more than one hour. I missed the appointment I went for. That was when the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was undergoing its unending construction. I never again ventured near that road!

 Not only has it not been made good, it has gotten even worse. The right hand side of that road, going from Lagos to Abeokuta, I understand, has now totally collapsed from very close to the foot of the Abule-Egba flyover all the way to Abeokuta while the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, blames the FG . How is a gateway without good road networks linking it to Lagos, the commercial and economic life-wire of the entire country? To think that this is the same state that has produced some of the country’s foremost leaders - Awolowo, Obasanjo, Diya, MKO, Shonekan, Osinbajo, among others!

Neighbouring south-west states cannot take full advantage of their proximity to Lagos because of bad roads. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which took eternity to construct, is already wobbling at some sections, particularly at Ogere and as you drive into Ibadan around the Foursquare church camp , down to Guru Maharaj and beyond. As they say, a stitch in time saves nine. But not with Nigeria! Here, nine stitches are needed to save one! It is only when contracts worth billions of Naira can be awarded that our leaders get interested. I am sure you understand why this is usually so. 

The federal road that runs from Ibadan through Ife to Ilesa is a nightmare. I have lost tyres, shock absorbers, tie rods, upper joint, lower joint - what have I not lost on that stretch of road, save life? I have run into crevices and potholes better described as manholes. I have suffered breakdowns and skidded off the road once. On one occasion, my friend, Prof. Tope Ogunbodede (immediate past VC of OAU), had to come in the dead of night to tow my vehicle off that road. Only the grace of God sustains someone on that road.

From Ilesha juncture to Akure is fairly okay but from Akure to Owo, my hometown, is another nightmare. I understand Akure to Ado-Ekiti has become impassable. Apart from its disincentive to economic activities, bad roads make the job of terrorists, kidnappers and other sundry criminals easier. They - and the traffic and security officials who extort money from motorists and other road users - wait at the very bad sections of the road to strike because they know you must slow down there. One mischievous FRSC official sarcastically told me: “Sir, it is in your interest that the roads are bad because our statistics show that ghastly accidents are more prevalent on good roads than on bad roads!” Let's ask our leaders: is that, then, the consideration?

From the Ibadan end of the Lagos - Ibadan expressway to Iwo road junction and from there until one gets out of Ibadan and is on the Ibadan - Ife road was nightmarish in times past. One could spend hours there - a stretch of road that, ordinarily, should not take more than 10 minutes. The road was particularly bad at the time. Now, it has been reconstructed. The by-pass from the expressway into Old Ife road, just before the Iwo road junction, has also helped travelers to escape getting enmeshed in the unpredictable traffic flow at the Iwo road junction. 

The clincher, however, is the Ibadan Circular Road that the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, is constructing at a whopping cost of N120 billion. When the road is completed in November this year (hopefully!) travelers coming from Lagos and going towards Ife and those from Ife travelling towards Lagos will have the opportunity of bypassing Ibadan. I told Makinde during the facility tour of his legacy projects during the first anniversary celebration of his second term in office on Saturday, June 8, that I cannot wait to see that happen!

The 110 km Circular Road, named after a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Olawolu Ladoja, comprises bridges and interchanges to ease traffic congestion in various areas of the city. Handled by Craneburg Construction Company, it encircles the urban area of the Ibadan metropolis and will provide a strategic link between different parts of the city and the new Central Business District. 

According to the Oyo State Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Prof. Daud Sangodoyin, the Circular Road is not just a mere stretch of asphalt but “a catalyst for monumental change and advancement. The expansive setbacks along the road corridor will be transformed into sprawling industrial parks and a myriad other amenities. Appropriately, Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa by land mass, aims, with this project, to rival and even surpass the landmarks set by other larger and (more famous?) African cities like Cairo (Egypt), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Johannesburg (South Africa). Again, I cannot wait to see this happen!

 Only last Thursday, the Oyo State Government carried newspaper adverts personally signed by the governor announcing the commissioning of 33 klm roads in what Makinde described as keeping his promise to fix hundreds of city centre and rural settlement roads during his second term in office. Thirty-three minus hundreds leaves us with how many more roads for Makinde to fix?

Now back to DAWN! Its mandate is: To manage Western Nigeria Development Agenda. The vision is: For the south-west region of Nigeria to become the preferred place for people to visit, live, work, and invest. Its mission is: To engender regional cooperation and integration as a catalyst for development and facilitate sustainable working relationships among different governance stakeholders. Noble ideals! 

Our problem, I am sure you know, is not in formulating ideas and coming up with programmes and policies that will wow anyone. Leadership deficiency, lack of the political will to implement laudable policies and programmes, reluctance to follow-up and conclude what we start (leading to abandoned projects and waste of resources), the selfishness and self-centredness of our leaders, their lack of discipline; political partisanship, political instability and incessant change of leaders are some of the problems that we face. 

Our people have a saying: This thing is our own is different from this thing is my own. “This thing is our own” often suffers neglect. It is passing the buck that ensures that the hen being taken care of by two owners ends up in the wolf’s belly. That was one of the viruses that killed Sketch newspapers where I started my journalism. We also saw it rear its ugly head in the tussle between Oyo and Osun states over the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso jointly owned by them. I suspect the same factor will dog, if it has not already dogged the feet of DAWN. 

DAWN’s name will also wag it, like the tail wags the dog: It is the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria; not the Development Agenda for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states. We must return, first of all, to Western Nigeria. Stop putting the cart before the horse!   

 Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of THE WESTERNER newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD'S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

The Supreme Court judgment on Thursday, July 11, granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in Nigeria has been widely commended by Nigerians.

This is as Nigerians have expressed fears that the governors, who may not give up easily, might find another means of diverting council funds.

The judgment reinstated the powers to the local government areas across the nation by mandating that financial allocations from the federation account be channeled directly to them.

It is believed that this would effectively curb the authority of state governments to remove local government executives at will.

The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had earlier filed a legal suit against the 36 state governors, seeking full autonomy and direct funds allocation to the 774 local governments in the country.

He had prayed the apex court to make an order that funds of local governments being run by caretaker committee chairmen appointed by governors instead of elected chairmen and councillors should be withheld.

The AGF had also asked the apex court to grant all the reliefs sought by the Federal Government and grant the local governments full autonomy as the third tier of government in Nigeria as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.

He prayed the court to order the direct allocation of funds from the federation account to the local governments, even as he also sought an order prohibiting the unlawful dissolution of local government administration and the state governors’ appointment of caretaker committees to run the councils.

The suit was hinged on 27 grounds that the Constitution of Nigeria recognises federal, state and local government as three tiers of government.

It also averred that the three recognised tiers of government, draw funds for their operation and functioning from the federation account created by the constitution.

The originating summons read: “That by the provisions of the constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system and that the constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than the democratically elected local government system.

“That in the face of the clear provisions of the constitution, the governors have failed and refused to put in place a democratically elected local government system even where no state of emergency has been declared to warrant the suspension of democratic institutions in the state.

“That the failure of the governors to put a democratically elected local government system in place is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution, which they and the President have sworn to uphold.

“That all efforts to make the governors comply with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution in terms of putting in place a democratically elected local government system has not yielded any result, and that to continue to disburse funds from the federation account to governors for non-existing democratically elected local governments is to undermine the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.”

The AGF asked the apex court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the governors and state houses of assembly are under obligation to ensure democratically elected systems at the third tier.

But, the 36 state governments, represented by their attorneys general, opposed the suit on various grounds, including their contention that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit. All the states opposed the suit and prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss it.

However, on Thursday, the seven-man panel of Supreme Court Justices, in the judgment delivered by Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves, maintaining that the power of the government was portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.

However, in the last three days that the judgment was delivered, Nigerians from all walks of life, including ethnic nationality groups, labour unions, eminent lawyers, and ordinary Nigerians, have been commending the judgment.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, described the judgment as timely and courageous, noting that by the decision, money would now be made available directly to the local government areas.

His position was contained in a statement he released after the judgement.

He said: “What the judgement has done is more like interpreting section 162 of the Constitution, which provides for a joint State-Local Government Account. In which case, money is normally paid to state governors’ accounts and then for them to disburse to the local governments for them to share.

“But what has been happening is that, as I noted in 2020, over three years ago, the state governors have been behaving like ‘bandits,’ waylaying local governments funds along the way, and thus, impoverishing them, and leaving them with nothing to work for, just a little for salary, and nothing to actually work for the people whom they represent.

“I agree totally with the judgment of the supreme court to grant full financial autonomy so that money is released and paid directly to the 774 local government councils, which constitute the third-tier of government, to develop their places because the LGAs are grass-rooted and nearest to the people.

“Rather than allow overbearing state governors to throw their weight around and muzzle the local governments and seize their purse, they will now allow LGs breathe some air of freedom.

“If you take a look at our situation, Nigeria is operating a very lopsided federation, more like a unitary system of government. Where the Federal Government is supposed to be a small government, it is controlling 67 items on the exclusive legislative list.

“That is why the Federal Government gets the lion share of the federation account up to the tune of 52.68 percent.

“The states get 26.72 percent, while the entire 774 local government councils in Nigeria get just 20.60 percent of the monthly allocation by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RLASMC.

“The question is: what is the Federal Government doing with almost 53 percent of the national income? That is because it is a government that is behemoth and elephantine; a government that intrudes and intervenes in areas that should not concern it at all.

“What is the Federal Government’s business with licensing cars and trucks for states? What is its business with the Marriage Act, dealing with how people marry and wed in Nigeria and how they live together as husband and wife and separate or divorce?

“What is the Federal Government’s business with unity schools; FG operating secondary schools? What is their business? Why is the FG not allowing states to generate their own power, operate their own railway stations, if they have the capacity?

“Why should the Federal Government not allow states to have their own police force? Even for the local governments to have their own police force as we have in the United States and other advanced countries of the world where even tertiary institutions have their own police?

“The truth is that the Federal Government is over bloated and over pampered. That is why it is using too much money and making the centre become too attractive, eating deep into funds that ought to be meant for the states and local government areas.

“The states take not only that which belongs to the states, but also waylay at source that which is meant for the local government areas. No nation grows that way.

“So, I see this judgment as epochal, having a far-reaching effect because money will now be made available directly to the local government areas, which will no longer be subservient, like fawning slaves to state governors.”

For the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the judgment is a triumph for the nation’s democracy.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described the judgment as courageous and transformative, saying, “We, at the Nigeria Labour Congress, wish to commend the Supreme Court of Nigeria for restoring power to the local governments.

“Its epochal pronouncement on Thursday, July 11, 2024, directing that financial allocations be made directly to local governments, as well as divesting state governments of the power to remove local government executives, is both courageous and salubrious.

“The Supreme Court, through this landmark judgment, has not only restored our democracy, but also our hope in democracy.

“Not a few believe the stunted national growth or development and the overwhelming surge in crimes and threats to our collective good is directly tied to the seizure and paralysis of local governments by state governments.

“The journey to the local governments’ freedom has been a tortuous one. For years, we have watched with dismay and discontent, the remorseless and mindless erosion of the powers of the local governments, and embarked on a series of national protests as workers.

“We also note the effort made by the Buhari administration to remove the strangle-hold of governors on local governments. We must also mention the commendable role on this matter by the 9th Assembly.

“We pay tribute to the Tinubu government for its presence of mind to institute this action at the Supreme Court. We specifically commend the President and the Attorney General of the Federation.”

Ajaero noted that, henceforth, the focus should shift towards ensuring smooth implementation without any sabotage.

“This brings us to the conduct of elections at local governments. Elections by the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIECS, have been anything but fair.

“The true freedom of the local governments, in our view, must also come from those who govern them. Should SIECS be allowed to conduct elections or should the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, take over, even as they are over-burdened and are not exactly the best example?

“Should there be a regulatory agency or commission with an oversight over SIECs? We will find the devil in the details through a stakeholders’ conversation.

“Finally, the freedom of local governments will be nothing if those who will take charge end up behaving badly like their predecessors in power. Thus, there is need for a self-purgulation or a national rebirth as laws or court pronouncements alone may not be enough,” he said.

Also for the Igbo youths, under the aegis of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, the judgment was a landmark that would deepen the nation’s democracy.

President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, said it has returned governance to the people in line with the vision of the 1999 constitution.

“All governors should immediately conduct local government elections in accordance with the Supreme Court Judgement and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We call on the National Assembly to amend the constitution to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducts Local Government elections.

“The amendments should include that the tenure of LG Chairmen must be three years as enshrined in the constitution.

“We call on the Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, ICPC, NFIU and other anti-crime agencies to monitor all allocations to the local governments to ensure that their funds are being used for the purpose and benefit of the people.

“No local government chairman should allow himself to be intimidated by their governor to handover the people’s money to him. The Chairmen should know that they are only accountable to the people,” Ibem said.

Concerns, fear

Much as Nigerians across all divides have commended the judgment, there is growing concern and fear that the governors might resort to subtle threat to obtain money from the local government chairmen, thereby defeating the purpose of the judgment.

Those on this divide are arguing that if the conduct of the local government elections are still left for the governors, using the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC, they would still handpick and install their cronies and puppets as LG chairmen.

It is the thinking of those who hold this view that the National Assembly should move a step further to make a law that would hand over the conduct of local government elections to the INEC.

One of the proponents of this view is Mr Anthony Ugwuoke, a public affairs analyst.

He said: “The only way to make the joy of Nigerians complete over this judgment is for the National Assembly to make a law removing the power to conduct local government elections from the SIECs to the INEC.

“This is because if SIECs are allowed to do that, the governors will make sure that only their candidates emerge, and by doing so, they will still be in control of the LG funds.”

There is also a call on the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution to legislate a uniform tenure and election for the local governments across the country.

This was amplified by the National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau, during the opening of a two-day retreat for members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review, the 36 state Houses of Assembly Speakers, and the judiciary in Lagos.

He argued that a uniform tenure of office and election for local government executive would enhance grassroots government and strengthen the country’s democratic experience.

There is also a belief in some quarters that with this judgment in place, it is now time for the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, to track the council funds and prevent their diversion to state governors by council chairmen.

A Lagos based lawyer, Mr Marcellus Onah noted that strict adherence to the NFIU guidelines would prevent any diversion of funds to state governors by local government chairmen.

He told DAILY POST: “Any person that wants to tamper with the local government funds should be ready to go to jail.

“Governors are not only doing it because they have immunity, they are also doing it because the money goes through them to the local governments.

“Now that the money is going directly to the local government account, no governor will ask the chairmen to rewire the money to them.

“I know that some governors would want to try by using subtle threats on the LG chairman, but once the chairmen are aware of the NFIU guidelines, they can stand their grounds and nothing will happen.”

The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON as well as the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, are equally asking the NFIU to brace up for the job ahead, as they have also expressed concern that the governors might not want to give up the fight so easily.

[DailyPost]

A serving police inspector, identified as Hussaini Umar, has been reportedly murdered by some suspected members of a ‘one chance’syndicate in Abuja.

The deceased, said to be attached to the Force Intelligence Bureau (FID), had reportedly boarded the gang’s vehicle from Maitama Junction in the city centre to his home in Dei-Dei community, FCT, on Friday night.

Our reporter who visited the Kubwa General Hospital on Saturday morning, came across a police convoy, who went into the facility to convey his remains, and headed for Zaria, his home town, for burial.

A police official in the convoy,  who didn’t disclose his name, said Umar was stabbed robbers before they dumped him around a bridge, near the NNPC Junction in Kubwa.

He said another vehicle ran over him, before the police patrol team, stationed around the junction, were alerted about the incident by some motorists, who took him to the hospital.

A police source in Dei-Dei equally confirmed the incident, adding that the victim had been living in the area for a while, and recently relocated his family to join him.

The FCT Police Command spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, promised to make an inquiry and get back to our correspondent, but she was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report.

[DailyTrust]

An ingrate is but a robber in disguise. I am thrilled to celebrate, on the same platform today, two great Nigerians who have impacted greatly on our collective intellectual environment and whose birthdays providentially fall within a few days of each other. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka turned 90 on July 13 while Emeritus Professor Olatunji Dare will clock 80 on July 17.

Armed with a calabash full of frothing palm wine, I raise an elbow in a twin celebration of our own WS, the irrepressible Kongi, Eniogun, the man of iron on the one hand; and the unassuming four-star general of journalism, dean of satire and incredibly prescient public intellectual, Olatunji Dare, on the other.
Let’s take them one after the other.

Kongi

Soyinka is 90! Our very own teacher, playwright, poet, novelist, hunter, philosopher, rebel, musician, essayist, literary stylist, cultural beacon, social engineer and public intellectual has defied all odds to breast the tape of his 90th year.

If you ask, what’s in a number, you may attract the riposte, what’s NOT in a number. In their own esoteric way, numerologists break 90 into 9 and 0 and postulate that Number 9 brings us the energies of completion, universal love, inner-wisdom, and compassion while 0 adds its own vibrations of eternity and infinity — a reminder that we have access to infinite resources within ourselves when we remain connected to our spiritual essence.

A little over 50 years ago, many people who analysed his trajectory as an activist of the ‘talk-and-do’ hue, swore that the young Soyinka was destined to die young without even the remote possibility of having a nice-looking corpse. But whoever is monitoring when the crab goes to bed should prepare for a long vigil because the crab does not go to bed early (and the crab is Soyinka’s zodiac sign)!

Ninety years is special, culturally, spiritually and commemoratively. It is called the nonagintennial or granite anniversary. There are only about 22 million nonagenarians in existence, constituting 0.28 percent of the global population of 8.1 billion people. It is the privileged club of the anointed, those fated to be among the last set to tell the story of their generation — and Soyinka’s generation of intellectual elites was our golden generation.

It is not given to many people to be of abiding relevance to their country as Soyinka has been for six decades. By the time my path crossed that of Soyinka at the University of Ife in the 70s, he had already achieved fame (his foes will say, notoriety) and was a highly sought academic. I wasn’t a spring chicken myself having cut my teeth in journalism at DRUM Publications before returning to school.
As president of the students’ union, I knew that I needed the collaboration of those who had seen it all before and who would be there as trusted allies if things turned awry. In that sense, Soyinka was an uncommon counsellor and backbone. It was from him that I learnt that what matters in life is not the ‘ariwo ojà’, but the nobility of your convictions and the courage with which you pursue your ideals using all your talents, no matter the odds. He shares that honour in my life with his cousin, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Dr. Tai Solarin and Chief Gani Fawehinmi.

I pity those who, because of a disagreement over political perspectives, think that they can diminish Soyinka’s stature as a global intellectual. Great as the invention of social media is, it has, sadly been turned into a lynching machine by those that Nelson Ottah, (one of those who taught me how to chew the journalistic cud) would have described as “intellectual piccaninnies”.

Former presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu has this to say on the matter: “Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is a principled fighter for justice in our country and around the world. He is a phenomenon that unlettered and uncultured people may not fully understand in an age of lazy social media in which many don’t read or think deep.”

In 2014 when he turned 80, I invoked Providence to spare our elderly friend and pathfinder for many more years, especially as he still looked so comely and strong. In many ways, he is “a tree that makes a forest”, as I titled my column in Daily Trust at the time (https://dailytrust.com/kongi-a-tree-that-makes-a-forest/) In just one more decade, if the Heavens permit, we’ll be gathered to usher him into the club of centenarians. Happy birthday, Prof!

Olatunji Dare

By the time I enrolled for a Masters degree at the University of Lagos, I was already an editor at DRUM. I knew a few of the teachers on the faculty, like Prof Alfred Opubor and Dr. Idowu Sobowale. I was later to meet another respected member who made a strong impression on me — Prof. Frank Ugboaja. We hit it off straight away as friends. Ugboaja said he would be proud to supervise my final thesis and I looked forward with excitement to it.

But Fate decreed otherwise. Ugboaja died. In the meantime I had also become familiar with other faculty members, especially those whose speciality tallied with editorial expertise. The then Dr Olatunji Dare easily stood out. Among the postgraduate students, the whisper making the rounds was that Dare was the first and only student of the faculty so far to make a first class and that he had only returned to UNILAG from the United States out of patriotic commitment after finishing his Masters and PhD at Columbia and Indiana universities respectively.

Dare’s Editorial Writing class opened the eyes of many strutting professional peacocks to the reality that they still had a lot to learn to become field generals. His style was collaborative rather than autocratic. He preferred to show ‘how’ rather than pontificate. He deservedly won the respect and friendship of his students.

When he took his talent and art to Nigeria’s flagship newspaper, The Guardian, his brilliance was acknowledged on the national stage. His award-winning Tuesday column was a must-read. Indeed, his satirical writings have become the subject of two Masters theses. He was to serve as editorial page editor and chair of the Editorial Board of the newspaper for almost 10 years.

Dare resigned from the Guardian when the newspaper’s proprietor chose to apologise to the military junta of General Abacha rather than continue to suffer financial loss on account of the shutting down of the newspaper over the June 12 crisis. Abacha was a usurper and the newspaper clearly said so through its powerful editorials and op-eds, many of which had Dare’s imprimatur.

Embarrassed that his publisher would choose acquiescence with despotism over principled commitment to propriety and the rule of law, Dare resigned from The Guardian without an immediate Plan B. Nigerian journalism has produced many heroes of the June 12 struggle. Dare was one of them. Unable to find meaningful media work and facing constant harassment, he left Nigeria in 1996 to take up a faculty position at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA.

His book, “Diary of a Debacle: Tracking Nigeria’s Failed Democratic Transition, 1986-1994”, is, perhaps, the most authoritative work on the military’s democratic transition programme in Nigeria’s Third Republic.

The oak is the symbol of octogenary. Just as the oak is the source of durable timber, Dare has been instrumental in not just helping to produce some of the finest editorial writers in contemporary Nigerian journalism, but has also been part of the movement to elevate public discourse and mobilise public opinion for the common good. He still writes a weekly column in The Nation from his base in the United States.

Both Soyinka and Dare are Cancerians with the crab as their zodiac sign. Experts say that the symbol of the crab offers a key to understanding Cancers’ preternatural ability to know things without knowing how they know them. I raise an elbow in a hearty toast again. Birthday blessings!

ON Thursday, July 11, Nigeria’s apex court, the Supreme Court, dropped the gavel on the much-awaited suit marked SC/CV/343/2024, brought before it by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Barrister Lateef Fagbemi, SAN on behalf of the Federal Government.

In the suit, the Federal Government had prayed to the Supreme Court to grant full financial and administrative autonomy to the 774 local governments recognised by the 1999 Constitution, thereby, effectively recognising the councils as the third tier of government in the country. Before that ruling, there had been divided opinions about the status of local governments in the polity. One opinion is official and the other dubiously speculative. The nation has known a three-tier system of governance since the days of the military. The 1999 Constitution attempts to further cement that in Section 7, by guaranteeing democratically elected government at the councils. In the thinking of the constitution, the local governments are presumed to be the third tier of government. The state governments, however, believed that the councils should at best be seen as their appendages.  Some state governors openly expressed the view that a democratic system is supposed to operate two tiers of government, federal and state.

In that posture, the states want to eat their cakes and still have them. It is dubious in the sense that while the governors would happily keep the councils under their armpits, they do nothing to object to the allocation of 20 percent of the federation account which accrues to the councils. Rather, they will gladly assist the councils in managing the funds once appropriated. Incidentally, there is no one cube-fit-all model of democracy. Most democratic settings tailor their examples in line with local experiences, history, and culture. In truth, there is no such universality in democratic practice.

So, when President Tinubu asked his Attorney General to drag the 36 state governors to court, it was clear that the apex court would make some landmark decisions.  On Thursday, the court unanimously declared in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, that it was unconstitutional for state governments to tamper with the allocations due to the councils and that the democratically elected governance in the local governments is guaranteed.  The judgment ordered the federation account to henceforth pay all monies including shares from taxes and other sources meant to the councils directly to their accounts. The court barred governors from dissolving democratically elected officials of local governments, while also declaring that it is unconstitutional for governors to tamper with council funds. The court said that the 774 local government councils should be allowed to manage their funds. Aside from that, the court also barred the operation of caretaker officials in the councils. The federation account was empowered to withhold funds meant for councils that operate the caretaker system.

The declarations by the Supreme Court have, therefore, affirmed the third-tier status of local governments in the country in line with the 1976 Local Government Reform, which established the presidential system of government in the councils. Several commentators have praised the apex court for the bold move to free the councils from the apron strings of the state governments. In one of such comments the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which spoke through its president, Comrade Ambali Olatunji, said that the ruling has solved 50 percent of Nigeria’s problems. “We believe that with the local government autonomy judgment, over 50 percent of Nigerian problems have been fixed. Also, we hope there will be financial integrity at the local government levels and all financial transactions will be tracked,” he said. Olatunji’s prognosis can however be said to be too generous. Autonomous councils hold huge benefits for the grassroots but attendant issues remain as potent as the existing situation. It is good to have councils that can address the needs of the people at the local level and serve as avenues for leadership recruitment.  But as Olatunji said, there are questions about the sincerity of the council officials in providing quality service. An example is already emerging in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja, where no governor is breathing down the necks of the councils, but where the councils hardly embark on any developmental projects. Commendable as the ruling is, there appear some booby traps and some rivers to cross before the nation can reach its desired destination on local government autonomy.

One of the speed bombs is the constitutional provision on the operation of joint accounts between the states and the local government. Section 162(6) of the 1999 Constitution(as amended), mandates the states to operate a State Joint Local Government Account. The Section reads: “Each state shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the local government councils of the state from the Federation Account  and from the Government of the State.” In Section 162(7) the 1999 Constitution goes further to mandate each state to pay a percentage of its earnings to the local governments. I suspect there is an assignment for legal minds to dissect the intendment of subsection 6 in relation to the ruling of the Supreme Court.  There is also the question of Local Council Development Authorities(LCDAs), which the Supreme Court had declared inchoate as far back as 2006, but which has become a fad among states in recent years. The political system also needs to state clearly the relationship between the councils and the ministries of local governments in the states. Are the councils to be seen as mere departments of the state government, which have to submit files for approval of the governor or they are to operate their presidential system in the real sense of the word?

And with the decision of the apex court, that LG funds must henceforth be paid directly to the councils from the federation account, one would want to ask what use would the State Joint Local Government Account continue to serve. What happens to the balances or liabilities (if any) in such an account while the states ran the show?

One other emerging issue as far as the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling is concerned is the continued existence of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), as stipulated by Section 197(1) of the 1999 Constitution. The SIECs are recognised as one of the State bodies, which can only cease to exist via constitutional amendment. Will the states let go of SIECs, which are a potent force that would enable the governors to control the happenings at the councils? It is a well-known fact that in the Nigerian political ecosystem, whoever pays the piper dictates the tune, and that has informed the cautionary note some commentators have chosen to employ in celebrating the Supreme Court ruling. If council elections are still to be conducted by the SIECs, is it not possible we start hearing that candidates are being forced to swear oaths in all manners of shrines before they are made council chairmen?

Even though the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF) has welcomed the judgment of the apex court, the nation is still awaiting a comprehensive response from the governors on this matter. Even at that, it is not yet uhuru, as per local government autonomy.

THE Iloko, offspring of Arelu, (Iloko Omo Arelu) are held in awe in Yorubaland. For a people who fought one another in internecine wars that began in 1793 and lasted for almost a century, Yoruba give effusion of reverences to people with unusual bravery. Their reverence for the Iloko however comes from this clan’s queer and odd brand of bravery: Spillage of blood. The Iloko earned their renown from decapitation of heads. They cut off human heads with magisterial finish, holding the familial history of being the king’s executioner. In ancient England, as execution of enemies of the monarchy was done through the guillotine, in the Oyo Empire, it was done by the Iloko with sword. Iloko harvested multiple cognomens on account of their deft beheadings. They were the meticulous Cutter of heads, the Bé’ríolá (one who relishes decapitation) and whose swords guzzle blood. The Iloko is one who, even if the sword is as pint-sized as a Kèmbè short, masterfully uses that sword to decapitate his in-laws. His rationalization for beheading one with whom he shares matrimonial bloodline is, whoever gives one their child to marry is the rightful one to behead.

A verse in Iloko’s cognomen recitation depicts their bloodthirstiness. When other farmers cultivate yearly hectares of plantations of maize, okra, yam and “òsìbànbà tí ńbe l’órùn ebè”, the Iloko mock these farmers’ naivety of true essence of farming. To demonstrate how farming should be done, the Iloko dug thousands of heaps. Therein, he buried decapitated heads like yam heads. Unfortunately, the heads refused to sprout. When his attention was called to the barrenness of his planted seedlings, the Iloko’s excuse was that every human creation, including animals, has their own setbacks! The paradox came when the Iloko ran afoul of the king’s laws and he was slated for execution. The Iloko then stretched his legs and hands pleadingly and demanded from the executioner which of his body parts would be cut off: the hands or legs?

Last week, in my J. F Odunjo and the hunger this time, I reflected the acute hunger ravaging Nigeria. It is an understatement to say that many of our countrymen are dying of hunger. Some wander aimlessly on the streets, uttering indecipherable monologues, dialogues with God-knows-who. Some are locked up in sanatoria, their sanity dispossessed of them as a result of social de-masculinity. Once cohesive homes lose the social glue that gums them in amity; no thanks to the emptiness of their pantries. Financial impotence is leading to husbands losing their manhood, causing katakata in homes. Many once prude wives are now delectable prawns on adulterous beds of men with money. Female children are forcibly dispossessed of age-long home values at money point, becoming easy preys to the lures of Sodom. In the midst of this social upheaval, Aso Rock’s tepid and Babelian answers to our affliction of hunger appear like a kick-and-go children community football. Its policies stagger and somersault like a village Burukutu local alcohol drunkard.

Before the ink of my pen dried last week, however, Aso Rock had provided answer to Nigerians’ hunger. Her Excellency the First Lady of Nigeria, Remi Ahmed Tinubu (RAT), immediately moved to her backyard inside her expansive powerhouse abode. Therefore, she emerged with solutions. She planted okra, ewedu, waterleaf, green vegetable, lemon grass and bitter leaf. She even suddenly became a doctor. Like a knowledgeable medic, RAT clinically told us how measles can be cured by eating ewedu. For ulcer, said the medic, plenty waterleaf is answer. No contribution to the national food drive could be greater.

Less than a week after, the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed-Tinubu (BAT) also came up with government’s response to the stasis in Nigeria’s agriculture. Last Tuesday, he announced the creation of a new Ministry of Livestock Development. Its establishment was part of the recommendations of ex-Kano State Governor and Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje-led National Livestock Reforms Committee. Then, he appointed a herder in academic gown, Prof Attahiru Jega as co-chair of the committee. With Ganduje and Jega, Tinubu is prepared for the hara-kiri of sacrificing a child of Ore to the Ore deity.

President BAT and Madam RAT’s responses to the acute hunger in the land possess features similar to the Iloko. Is this couple of Iloko descent? It is only Iloko who plant human heads in heaps in the guise of yam seedlings. The way the Aso Rock couple is going about this hunger quench drive, rather than okra, ewedu, waterleaf, green vegetable, lemon grass and bitter leaf, they may need to dig more millions of heaps and furrows. Dry heads of hungry Nigerians may occupy those heaps. Does Madam RAT not know that home gardening is too tokenistic, too tiny an offering to propitiate to the god of acute hunger that ravages Nigeria? I also see the Iloko paradox in BAT’s Ministry of Maalu (cows). In demanding from his executioner which of his body parts would be cut off, the Iloko executioner conflated a process he jolly well knew to be wrong. He then deliberately chose to sell a dummy of personal naivety to his nemesis. Does President BAT actually believe that a ministry of livestock is response to our hunger? And it is a response to the farmer-herder crisis that has ravaged Nigeria for close to a decade now? Do BAT and RAT, like Iloko, take pleasure in hunger literally decapitating Nigerians?

It looks like this is a season when our own bat is being smoked out by owls, hawks and snakes, the bat’s greatest predators. Chiropterologists (scientists who study bats) reveal that, apart from these predators, the greatest threat to the bat is a disease called the white-nose syndrome. It is a white fungus that perches on the muzzle and wings of bats and which affects their hibernation. In Canada, white-nose has killed 90% of one of bat’s species. It was detected in 37 states and seven Canadian provinces. In Nigeria, the cause of our unprecedented inflation in history is ascribed to a disease called white-nose. It afflicts our BAT and its prognosis is Bretton Woods’ economic prescriptions.  With them, the beak-nosed economists hold our bat by its balls.

Within Nigeria, the bat is also facing demonic predators. They come too in the form of owls, hawks and snakes. It is Northern Nigeria. For a man who said his life-long ambition was becoming the Nigerian president, the North is intent on putting sand-sand inside BAT’s second term gari. The northern anger is manifest. Afro-haired Twitter minstrel, Shehu Sanni, alerted us to this. That northern adder – Nasir El-Rufai, and his irreverent-tongued legislator child are fighting like a decapitated venomous snake. While the father is sending cryptic messages laced with apocalypse on X, the son is spitting venom like a badly-brought-up puppy spits saliva. BAT is their target. His northern enemies are also coalescing. Recently, we saw an elésìnrìn (worthless) pilgrimage to Daura, where the most effete of Nigerian leaders in modern history lives. Nasir, the adder, was also there to offer his infamous kneeling before powerful leaders. Shakespeare predicted this coalesce in Julius Caesar: “It is the bright day that brings forth the adder and that craves wary walking.” BAT’s bad governance of the last one year has brought forth the adder of flip-flops that dog his path.

Not minding its ambiguity, the North is also using the Samoa agreement as ploy for re-grouping of bile. In the Senate last week, the North had scathing words for BAT. Ali Ndume, who in 2021 was quizzed for his alleged romance with Boko Haram, complained that the Lagos Boy runs a government that blocked access to quality advice. So also Ahmad Lawan who complained that Tinubu’s policies “have caused hunger and unbearable hardships.” Wonders seem to have ended! Like sharks that can smell blood hundreds of meters ahead, the north has smelled a BAT wall with huge cracks opened by misgovernance. This was a region that kept mute for eight years as Buhari picked his teeth and drifted into deep sleep. It preened its feathers like an Odidere bird when BAT announced a presidential Muslim-Muslim ticket. What it didn’t know was that BAT is just a jolly good fellow who enjoys good life. Full stop! Those Islamic religious prescriptions the sons of Uthman Dan Fodio thought he would help them fight mean nothing to him.

The kitchen is now getting hotter. The North’s opportunist alangba (lizard) must poke its nose inside this man-made crack to feed on ants. What could not be achieved under a Muhammadu Buhari whose greatest joy on earth was to own cows in his ranch is now being pushed under a man who hails from where the philosophy is not to bow for the cow for the sake of its meat. For the jolly good fellow, to dobale (prostrate) to the maalu so as to have access to its meat is a moral non-starter. It is immaterial. Establishing a Federal Ministry of Maalu is a dobale to the maalu. Perhaps this will appease the children of Fodio?

The wisdom in establishing a Maalu ministry is very far between. If the motive is to placate the north for a second term, does the Iloko know that blackmailers, all over the world, are insatiable? Blackmailers are akin to the proverbial wastrel child, the Omolokun, who won’t rest until it demands his parents’ life. Second, as has been revealed over the years, herders are terrorists who do not deserve human pity. The kernel in that alleged statement from Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is eternal: “It is God’s prerogative to forgive terrorists but my own business is to dispatch them to Him.” Yes, insecurity has decimated food security in Nigeria, with food inflation cruising at frightening altitude. What Nigeria needs now isn’t a beatification of terrorists, nor pandering to a set of people by a government afraid of re-election. By the way, which brand of federalism do we practice in Nigeria where a federal government that has no livestock under its umbrella creates a ministry of livestock?

As last week got set to wind up, the Iloko got decked in victory regalia. The Supreme Court announced that the executioner has secured yet another 774 heads to plant on his heaps. Thirty-six heads of state governors were already in the kitty, demonized and tar-brushed as enemies of the struggle for a better Nigeria. We must thank the Iloko for this victory against our governor-vassals who have turned local governments into their backyard farming. It is to the 774 heads we must look up to for redemption of our decadent infrastructure, impassable roads, payment of teachers’ salaries, council workers’ salaries, gratuities, new minimum wage and others. It is the greatest victory yet for the Iloko whose sword is law. As the Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, brilliantly remarked, “The Supreme Court’s judgment…is a distraction; we need to face the real issues we have. Nigeria is not productive. There is hunger and anger in the land.”

We hope, with this judgment, Betta Edu will now be taken to court to answer to the charge of allegedly siphoning N585.2 million from the Humanitarian Affairs ministry and that gari will now be within the reach of the common man. God bless this Supreme Court judgment that will make hunger a thing of the past in Nigeria.

Access Bank has shared insights about ambitious plans to position its UK subsidiary, Access Bank UK, among the top 20 banks in the United Kingdom, targeting an annual profit of $1 billion by 2027.

This was disclosed by the managing director/chief executive officer of Access Bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna during the ‘Facts Behind the Rights Issue’ presentation held at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) in Lagos.
Ogbonna emphasised that this projection underscores Access Bank’s commitment to becoming a global banking leader, focusing on expansive growth and robust financial performance.

“We are positioning ourselves to be one of the most respected banks globally. Our focus is on superior service across all the continents and countries we are operational in, and by 2027, we aim to be one of the top five African banks, powering trade across the continent and providing superior services to our customers,” Ogbonna stated.

The CEO further highlighted that “Access Bank’s customer base is expected to grow to 125 million by 2027, further cementing its market leadership. This ambitious growth plan is part of the broader strategy to drive organic growth through strategic acquisitions, partnerships with international banks, and substantial investments in infrastructure and technology.”

The insights were shared as part of discussions around Access Holdings’ ongoing rights issue, which aims to raise up to $1.5 billion to strengthen its financial position and support its growth ambitions. The rights issue offers 17.773 billion ordinary shares at N19.75 per share and will close on August 14, 2024.
The shareholders gave their vote of confidence in Access Holdings and Access Bank, and particularly, the rights issue.

The national coordinator, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Bisi Bakare noted, “since Access Bank first started trading on the stock exchange at N0.65, we shareholders have witnessed its incredible growth and accrued immense value, with the stock now trading at N19.35 as of June 9, 2024.”

“Access Holdings can be confident that as the consolidation phase of the Group’s expansion fully takes shape and the brand’s profitability continues to increase, those of us who have been on this journey from the beginning are not about to jump off now. We fully back the capitalisation plans, starting with the Rights Issue, and are excited for the future that lies ahead for Access Holdings,” Bakare added.

[Leadership]

“The judiciary has immense power. In the nature of things, judges cannot be democratically accountable for their decisions. It therefore matters very much that their role should be regarded as legitimate by the public at large” — Jonathan Sumption, Law in a Time of Crisis, 121 (2021).

For a cumulative period of 17 years between 1885 and 1905, Hardinge Giffard – who was better known as Lord Halsbury – served three tenures as Lord Chancellor. In this capacity, he earned a reputation for having “appointed many undistinguished men to the bench because of their political services to the Conservative Party.” In 1897, Lord Salisbury, one of the prime ministers under whom Lord Halsbury served, advised him that “the judicial salad requires both legal oil and political vinegar; but disastrous effects will follow if due proportion is not observed.” For having so manifestly got the proportions out of kilter, Nigeria could be on course for a date Lord Salisbury’s predicted effects.

Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, is a place where mutual intercourse between lawyers, politicians and judges is both natural and habitual. It is home to judges too numerous to count and host to the headquarters of many court systems, including the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT High Court) as well as of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The headquarters of the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court of Justice) is also in Abuja.

The pace of production and reproduction in the courts in Abuja has been rather dizzying recently. On the penultimate day of the past working week, Nigeria’s supreme court in a case instituted by the federal government against the states issued a decision designed to make it mandatory for local government to be run only by elected officials. This judgment has unlocked a predictable scrum of both political ululation and lamentation but the risk remains that its full benefits are likely to be undermined by the well-established jurisprudence of the supreme court in favour of bandit ballots which support the production of leaders at all levels who lack electoral legitimacy.

The day before the supreme court judgment, on the approach to the fourth anniversary of Nigeria’s #EndSARs uprising of 2020, the ECOWAS Court of Justice ruled that the conduct of the Nigerian government and its security agencies in their response to the #EndSARS uprising violated the guarantees of “security of person, prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association, duty to investigate human rights violations, and right to effective remedy.” In effect, the court said that the Nigerian government engaged in a cover-up of the violations that occurred during the #EndSARS protests, especially at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.

Weighty as they were, both of these otherwise seminal outcomes were relative non-events in the political and judicial registers of Abuja this past week. On the same day that the ECOWAS court delivered its judgment in the #EndSARS case to a near-empty gallery and the day before the supreme court held forth on the destination of local government funds, all roads led to the supreme court where the outgoing chief justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, presided over the inauguration of 22 new justices of the court of appeal and 12 new judges of the FCT high court.

Many people may have missed the number of justices of appeal inaugurated, however. Anyone who followed the reportage would have been forgiven for supposing that there were just two justices of appeal sworn in: “Wike’s wife and 21 others”, a reference to the wife of a political bruiser and current minister of the federal capital territory, Nyesom Wike. Also among the new justices of appeal is Abdullahi Liman, Kano’s self-appointed federal king-maker. The excess political vinegar in some of these most recent elevations to the court of appeal sadly detracts from the tasteful salad among others. For the sake of their own professional and career advancement in a cynical system, it is best at this time to preserve the anonymity of those deserving ones.

Among the 12 new judges of the FCT high court, at least seven were family members of serving or living judicial figures and three were family members of persons directly involved in the appointment process. Among these, the chief justice of Nigeria, who presided over the appointment, had his daughter-in-law made a judge; the chief judge of the FCT high court made his daughter a judge; and the president of the court of appeal got her daughter appointed a high court judge for the second time in three years. In 2021, Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau state made the same daughter a judge of the Plateau State High Court.

Responding to these appointments, Access to Justice, a group that monitors judicial independence and accountability in Nigeria pointedly said that “three candidates were ineligible to be considered for such appointments in the first place at the time the vacancies were announced.” This was about the daughter of the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court; the daughter of the President of the Court of Appeal; and the daughter-in-law of the outgoing Chief Justice of Nigeria. According to the group, these three appointments were a composite transaction between the CJN, the president of the Court of Appeal and the chief judge of the FCT High Court best described in local parlance as: “You scratch my back, I scratch your back.”

To say that these three appointments violate the judicial code of conduct as well as the regulations governing judicial appointments is to be kind to the lack of scruples at the helm of the current judicial appointment process in the country. It makes a joke of the judicial appointment process that someone in Nigeria can be appointed a High Court judge while holding a subsisting appointment as a High Court Judge.

In the days when the Nigerian judiciary was under credible leadership, these judicial inaugurations would pass almost as a non-event, attended only by select staff of the affected courts and by some members of the families of the new appointees. Reflecting the mood and mores of the times and consistent with the current tyranny of perverse incentives in judicial appointments, however, this swearing-in was a carnival taken over by cavalcades of dubious politicians and insider dealers in perverse political influence. Following the formal swearing-in of the new judges, Abuja was littered with “receptions” convoked by politicians and senior lawyers for many of the new judges.

There was good reason for the politicians to make an obligation of their noisy presence at the swearing-in of the new judges. Section 14(2) of Nigeria’s constitution loudly proclaims that “sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria” but under the colour of “rule of law” and judicial independence, the judges have toppled the people and installed themselves as the ones who alone can elect politicians to positions of power and influence in Nigeria. Access to political office now, therefore, is a transaction that begins and rests with political access to judges. Having thus murdered the rule of law, what we now have is a rule by judges under which both political power and judicial office have become bereft of legitimacy. The victim is the public good.

The week ended with a report which said that “[J]udges top [the] list of bribe recipients in Nigeria.” 15 years ago, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights warned that “the courts need the trust of the people in order to maintain their authority and legitimacy. The credibility of the courts must not be weakened by the perception that courts can be influenced by any external pressure.” In Nigeria, this is now a vain hope.

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

“As a nation, it is so shameful that we have about 4.5 gigawatts. We must increase our oil production too to 2 million barrels per day within the next few months. Remove all barriers hindering investments into the sector to enhance competitiveness” – President Tinubu in Abuja, July 4, 2024.

Watching Tinubu addressing the Council and the nation on television, I felt deeply sorry for one member – Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Dangote Group.

Dangote, every government’s nominee to join an Economic Committee hastily assembled in response to a national economic emergency, once more led the private sector contingent.

He has been the automatic choice since 1999.

He has been forced to sit and listen to every President who ostensibly appoints a Committee or Council when, our recent history has demonstrated that they labour in vain.

In reality, by the time the Council members are selected, the most important decisions to be made have already been settled.

I cannot recall a single occasion when the Council has had any significant influence on vital matters.

Buhari serves to illustrate the point that the eminent individuals drafted to serve as presidential economic advisers, by whatever name they are called, invariably, have wasted their precious time.

And, being extremely wealthy, the sitting allowances paid cannot be regarded as value for money – they would have preferred to be doing something more profitable.

Long before Ministers were appointed, in 2015, Buhari inaugurated the Economic Management Team – headed by Vice President Osinbajo.

In addition to the VP, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was also a member, Dangote was also there, as well as Soludo.

Given the utter failure of the economic policies of Buharinomics, none of the members would want to be reminded that they were part of the team.

The disastrous situation in which Nigeria finds itself stems from the fact that Nigerian presidents appoint Councils or Committees to address problems which the Civil Service, supported by experts and consultants, usually can solve.

WHY COMMITTEES DON’T WORK

“A camel is a horse designed by a Committee… a Committee is a collection of the unfit, appointed by the unwilling to perform the unnecessary” – American wisecracks, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 30.

President Jonathan probably set the national record for the appointment of Committees.

Every major problem was referred to a Committee; the first Committee’s report was also referred to another Committee to advise government on what to do.

Only God knows how many reports of Committees, appointed by GEJ, are gathering dust in the archives of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, from that government alone.

Yet, decisions were made regarding those matters.

Among the things we were taught in my MBA course in Boston, 1968-70, is that not specifically making a decision on important matters is also a decision – the decision to do nothing and let things sort themselves out – usually with calamitous results.

Nobody can now possibly know what might have become of Nigeria if Jonathan had sent an Executive Bill to the National Assembly, NASS, after the 2014 Constitutional Review Committee completed its work.

Instead of deciding, he sent it into the tank called another Committee.

 Buhari, in 2019, starting the second term of his administration, set up an Economic Advisory Council, EAC, headed by Dr Salami, but including Soludo (again?), Professor Ojowu, Dangote (again?), CBN Governor (again?), etc, without disclosing to them that his government has already raided the CBN to the tune of several trillion naira through illegal Ways & Means, W&M, borrowing.

Obviously, those appointed were only used as window dressing to deceive the public – while the grandest larceny in Nigerian history was underway.

In an article published in September 2019, on this page, titled: Economic Advisory Council: Rescuers or Undertakers? I predicted, quite accurately, that the members were risking their reputations on Buhari who had demonstrated that he lacked the intellect and self-discipline to accept and implement their proposals and that Nigeria would be worse off by the time Buhari left office.

Who among the members of Buhari’s ECA now want to acknowledge the fact that he was part of that Titanic failure?

NEED FOR A PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER ON ANTECEDENTS

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana, 1863-1952, VBQ p 93.

One of the things that are most astonishing about African leaders, especially Nigerians, is how frequently they repeat the same mistakes made by their predecessors; and sometimes with some of the same cast of characters.

The men for all seasons governments select either are not as good as we think they are; or governments are wasting their talents.

To be quite candid, some of those drafted into Tinubu’s Council should decline the appointment – particularly those who served Buhari.

The reason is very simple.

The Presidents who appoint them seldom wait for their advice before making disastrous mistakes.

Already, Tinubu, apart from continuing his predecessor’s “borrow-and-spend” fiscal policy, has already broken Buhari’s awful records on several fronts.

Those of us who thought that no President could be worse than Jonathan must now admit that we were wrong.

On the eve of another Olympic Games, I invite the readers of this page to join me and shed their own tears. 

Believe it or not, when Dr. Ebele Goodluck Jonathan , GCFR, was President of Nigeria, he approved the establishment of a federal government committee with the singular mandate to revive academicals sports in the country. That means, sports at the grassroots, at secondary schools level – natural feeder to elite sports in the tertiary institutions, Local Governments, States and the national sports councils and associations. 

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports at the time, inaugurated the committee whose membership included several stakeholders at the secondary schools sports level across the country. 

I believe that my background as a product of school sports, owner of the country’s first multi-sports, co-educational secondary school, Chairman of the Governing Council of the country’s only national sports institute, and an active participant in the organization of secondary school sports in the country at the time, earned me the appointment of Chairman. 

The President’s mandate was simple – set up the machinery to revive participation in sports in every secondary school in the country. For most members of the committee, particularly those that were instrumental to establishing it, their vision was small – to organise a national football competition for secondary schools, name it after Mr. President and get all State governors to direct their ministries of sports and of education to participate, have grand finale in Abuja and get Mr. President to attend. 

It was good, but limited in the scope of what could be achieved additionally with an expansion of the vision. 

I saw it as an opportunity to catalyze the biggest grassroots sports development programme in Nigeria with multiple outcomes that will revolutionize sports, take its outcomes beyond academicals level, impact national youth engagement, youth empowerment, encourage enrolment into schools (particularly in the Boko Haram ravaged North East at the time), document all Nigeria’s athletes, create a seamless transition from secondary to tertiary and to professional levels in sports, and so on. 

After several months of consultations and conversations with the highest authorities in the country amongst the stakeholders to be involved in this project, and a draft document was scripted capturing the vision and all the details of strategy, funding, implementation, outcomes, a SWOT analysis, and so on, it was clear that the President’s simple and single mandate, escalated, became an exciting trip into uncharted new territories in sports development that would have changed the lives of the youths for good. 

It was clear that for the project to succeed there needed to be a general clear understanding by everyone involved in the different parts, with clear roles and responsibilities, a cord connecting all the moving parts in the complex architecture, and a seamless relationship up the ladder of the production line from grassroots to the elite and professional ranks of sports, areas that were outside the direct mandate of the Committee. 

The weakest part of the project was the absence of a legislation to give it teeth and a permanent life. The committee was ad-hoc at best, to survive at the whims of any new Minister. 

‘Unfortunately’ I was never a small dreamer. I saw beyond the superficial intentions.

With me as pilot, following consultations and meetings, the committee came up with a master plan for deployment to strategic institutions and organizations in the country, without whose buy-in and participation the project would not take off from the tarmac. 

At different fora, I led the committee to meet with the Principals of all Federal Government Secondary Schools in the country; all State Ministries of Sports; all State Ministries of Education; Directors of Sports of all State Sports Councils; all Local Governments Sports Councils; the Nigeria Governors’ Forum; all Principals of all public and private Secondary schools in Nigeria; Directors of Sports of Tertiary institutions in Nigeria under NUGA for the Universities, NIPOGA for the Polytechnics, and NACEGA for Colleges of Education; the committee of Vice-Chancellors of Universities; Heads of all military schools in Nigeria; the Directors of Sports in the States education ministries;, the leadership of the Nigeria School Sports Federation, NSSF, that are direct supervisors of academicals sports in Nigeria; and so on. They were all consulted, briefed and integrated into the grand plan that they readily embraced with relief that the President was involved! 

The plan was to document all students (and indirectly, all students) in all these institutions interested in participating in any one or more of different sports in their institutions. The documentation will include their full names, home address, date and place of birth, next of kin, institution, course of study, class, sports, blood type, biometrics, and any other information that may be found useful for proper documentation. This data will be universally available and accessible to all the institutions in the country. 

Meanwhile, each student athlete would have been given a card (like an ATM card) that will serve several purposes. This card will be provided by a bank that partners with the Committee and houses all student sports levies and details from the over 180 Universities, 420 Polytechnics and hundreds of Colleges of Technology, hundreds of Colleges of Education, tens of thousands of Secondary schools, and so on. Every institution readily bought into the grand scheme. Funding was going to be simple and easy. 

Beyond marketing, sponsorships and partnerships, every student in tertiary institutions would pay an annual sports levy as they have paid to date. 

In secondary schools, levies used to exist until they were cancelled as a result of abuse by school heads. With proper legislation they were to be revived and better monitored. 

I leave everyone to work out the Math of what those levies would amount to when domiciled in a partnering bank. 

Let me tell you.

I approached only one bank with the proposal. The MD of one of the biggest banks in Nigeria today, listened to me in rapt attention until I finished my presentation. 

His response remains etched in my mind till this day. 

He told me that every day of his life as MD he received tons of proposals from organizations and people, big and small. 90 % of them, he said, ended up in his dustbin. A small percentage attracted his attention and he sent those ones to responsible subordinates for consideration. But there were a few that attracted his full attention. 

Whenever he encountered one of those ones, he knew instantly. The proposal I brought to him was one of the best he had ever received. It was a winner. His bank would partner with NASCOM to actualise it. And to demonstrate the bank’s seriousness and commitment, he invited one of his directors to join us, and instructed him to process and deliver one of the new cars the bank was using for promotions to the secretariat of NASCOM in Abuja for the project! 

Within a few days, a committee of the bank had begun work. The bank’s IT department created designs for the cards that were to serve as national student ID cards, Insurance cards to cover accidents and injuries during sports events, basic ATM cards, registers every sports person within the project from secondary to any tertiary institution as a part of a welfare scheme that sustains through their sports careers and beyond! 

It was a project that was too good to be true, cruising along until close to the London Olympic Games in 2012. A new minister for Youth and Sports was appointed. By the time he was returning from the Olympics, he had his own ideas and projects. Unimpressed with NASCOM, one of his first moves was to change the leadership and to install his choice of members. The body died a natural death! 

In one moment of ‘ignorance’ with the stroke of a pen, he aborted a heavily ‘pregnant’ project, one of the most ambitious grassroots sports development programs in Nigeria sports history. 

Quote: I approached only one bank MD with the proposal. The MD listened to me in rapt attention until I finished my presentation. He told me that as MD he received tons of proposals, big and small. 90 % of them ended up in his dustbin. The one I brought to him was one of the best he had ever received. It was a winner.