Twenty seven states are yet to have vehicle conversion centres as the federal government moves to actualise the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to mitigate the effects of fuel subsidy removal.

Our correspondents across the states report that it is still a long way to go for the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI), considering that only a fraction of the 15.5 million potential vehicles for conversion have been converted so far.

Even though seen as a game-changer when handled with a sense of responsibility, stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, as well as public and private vehicle owners, believe there are many impediments to the actualisation of the CNG initiative.

These include complete or near absence of the conversion centres in many states, and non-availability of refuelling stations in the event one converts his vehicle.

At present, a litre of petrol has crossed over N700 in many parts of the country, a development that affects prices of goods and services occasioned by hike in cost of transportation.

In contrast, the CNG equivalent of litre is N230.

Experts believe that once the CNG is made available, and cost of conversation, which is over N1, 000, 000 reduced, many Nigerians would seamlessly embrace the initiative.

CNG is seen as a suitable and cheaper alternative fuel for motorists with lower emission impact and a more environmentally friendly fuel.

Daily Trust investigation revealed that it now costs nearly N1.5 million to convert a single sedan vehicle from petrol to CNG, both in Lagos and Abuja.

The conversion cost has skyrocketed from about N400, 000 over a year ago to the current prices, as a result of the devaluation of the exchange rate as the entire component is imported.

Motorists currently running on petrol have complained about cost of conversion kits as a hindrance considering the current cost of living crisis.

How to get it right

Analysts have identified three critical infrastructure that will unlock the transition from petrol to CNG, without which the conversation around the benefit to the nation will remain elusive.

The infrastructure included gas pipelines across the country, CNG conversion centres and dispensing points in retail filling stations.

Officials of one of the companies championing the transition, NIPCO said they are leveraging their extensive and robust natural gas infrastructure to make a difference.

The officials said that they had successfully converted about 10, 000 cars so far.

One of them said they currently have 10 ongoing conversion infrastructures in Lagos with four already completed and awaiting formal inauguration.

“We also have conversion centres in Kogi, FCT, Edo, Uyo, Ogun and Lagos,” he said.

Daily Trust investigation revealed that there are Less than 25 conversion centres nationwide in nine states, to cater for over 15.5m vehicles in the country.

The data collected by our reporters across the 36 states and Abuja also indicates that 27 states have no single CNG conversion centres.

Lagos has the highest number at the moment, with conversion centres in Marina, Fadeyi, Itire-Ishaga, Badore, LASU, Lekki Phase 1, Ketu and Ajah.

There are other independent conversion centres in Abuja in addition to the two provided by NIPCO.

But checks in the far North showed that the project portrays a gloomy picture.

Situation in states

Daily Trust findings showed that there is only one conversion centre in Kwara State located beside the Soludero Park, Post Office, Ilọrin.

The plant is still under construction when our reporter visited the facility.

The state’s Supervising Commissioner for Works and Transport, Abdulquawiy Olododo, said the construction is in line with the objective of the Presidential Initiative on CNG.

The Nasarawa State government said it has taken steps to establish CNG vehicle conversion workshops in the state.

The Niger State Commissioner for Land and Survey, Maurice Magaji, said land had been allocated for the establishment of CNG and LPG centres in the state in Minna, Bida, Tafa, Suleja and Mokwa towns and the Certificates of Occupancy have already been prepared and signed by the governor.

In Ondo State, Gbenga Omole, the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Transportation, said the state was still awaiting a directive from the federal government on the CNG-powered vehicles centre.

How Tinubu bought into the CNG initiative

President Bola Tinubu had, in August 2023, approved the establishment of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI).

His spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said the initiative was to revolutionise the transportation landscape in the country, targeting over 11,500 new CNG-enabled vehicles and 55,000 CNG conversion kits for existing PMS-dependent vehicles.

The Federal Executive Council last week mandated all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to procure only vehicles and generators powered by CNG and begin converting all petrol or diesel-powered vehicles or generators to CNG.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPL) and NIPCO Gas Limited had disclosed a plan to ramp up the first phase of the CNG penetration plan in Q1, 2024.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said the partnership would see the rollout of 35 CNG stations nationwide to cater for refuelling of about 200,000 vehicles in the first instance.

Under the NNPC-NIPCO strategic partnership, he noted that 35 state-of-the-art CNG stations would be constructed nationwide, including three mother stations.

FG partners ALGON conversion centres’ establishment in 774 LGAs

The federal government and the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja yesterday, expressed readiness to partner to establish CNG service centres in all the 774 local governments areas.

Director, Road Transportation and Mass Transit, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Musa Ibrahim, who represented the Minister of Transportation, Ahmed Alkali, said: “There are millions of vehicles on our roads today that are running on petrol and we have been approached by investors who want to partner with us to see that we have as many cars being converted to CNG.”

He said the federal government believed that service centres for CNG conversion should not be located only in urban centres. “That is why we’re partnering with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria to ensure that we also have the service centres closer to the people at the grassroots.”

The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Kaduna State, Bayero Salih Farah, said the collaboration with ALGON was important as the majority of Nigeria’s population live in the local areas.

Dr. Farah said: “The NITT has already sent its engineers for training, both locally and internationally, to equip themselves with the requisite skills they need to provide services in all the 774 LGAs in order to develop a roadmap for the actualisation of the project.”

Chinese firm seeks partnership with FG

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, Nicholas Ella, on Tuesday in Abuja, met with officials of a Chinese company, Wen Advisor, in Abuja who are seeking partnership with Nigerian government on CNG-powered vehicles.

The Managing Director of Wen Advisor, Haikuo Weng, said his team was in Nigeria to explore possible areas of investment in the CNG-powered vehicles project.

Weng said to develop a CNG gap pump station, it was necessary to ascertain whether local buses in Nigeria currently use liquefied natural gas or the CNG.

Experts want adoption private sector-driven

An auto industry stakeholder, Dr Oscar Odiboh, in a chat with Daily Trust, said the federal government must fully involve private businesses, especially owners of filing stations, to key into the initiative.

“This kind of CNG thing, the government’s hand should be removed. Leave it for the private people, let them handle the business and ensure they don’t over-profiteer while the government should play a regulatory role,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative Steering Committee, Engr. Michael Oluwagbemi, could not be reached for comments as our reporter was told he was out of the country.

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy has projected a whooping sum of N3.7 billion for “research and development” amid calls for cut in governance costs.

This was reflected in the 2024 budget of N28.7 trillion signed by President Bola Tinubu in January this year and sighted by DAILY POST on Wednesday in Abuja.

DAILY POST recalls that the budget presented by President Tinubu was N27.5 trillion, but was increased by lawmakers by a difference of N1.2 trillion.

The budget came under public discourse when Senator Abdul Ningi representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District alleged the padding of the budget to the tune of N3 trillion for which he was sent on suspension.

The ministry was carved out by Tinubu from the old Ministry of Information, Culture and National Orientation. The sum of N160 million was also earmarked for the construction of a skill acquisition centre for art and craft in Musawa LGA of Katsina State in the North West.

Again, the sum of N290 million was allocated for construction of solar street lights in Musawa Local Government Council, the home of the Minister.

A further look at the compendium of the 2024 budget shows N98 million and N150 million for a “Nigerian pavilion” at the next Cannes Film Festival slated for May 14 and 25 in France and the ministry’s “information desk” at the Abuja international airport respectively.

The sum of N26 million was set aside for miscellaneous – refreshments and publicity among others.

Speaking with Dr Muktar Alkali of the Centre for Transparency and Accountability on his feelings on some agencies of government after one year of President Tinubu’s administration, he expressed disappointment, saying:

“In the last one year, it’s been inefficiency and high cost of governance by some agencies.

“This means that there no difference from the past that has brought the nation to the sad story we are seeing today. We are studying what and what has happened in some agencies and will get back to the media in due course”.

Last Sunday, May 19, the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide while calling for “peace throughout the entire Niger Delta region”, at the end of a one-day peace and security summit, ‘urged the politicians causing political turbulence in Rivers, to sheath their swords’. The following day, Monday May 20, former President Goodluck Jonathan while performing the flag-off of the construction of the multi-billion naira Trans-Kalabari Road project in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State appealed to Minister Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara “to work together for the development of the land and the people of Rivers State”. He then went on to commend Governor Fubara for his “vision and the courage to start the much needed road located within a difficult terrain which he said “is not going to be a tea party”, among other critical elements including airport, rail and water transport systems if (we) must develop a  nation”. 

It was apparent from Jonathan’s comment that the work of development cannot be accomplished by one administration. This fact was probably lost on Wike who was named Mr. Project by ex-VP Yemi Osinbajo on account of the giant strides he made in infrastructural development in Rivers to have suddenly forgotten that before him was Governor Rotimi Amaechi who attracted those who mattered in Nigeria including the Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, to Port Harcourt to commission completed projects.

But for President Jonathan’s observation, those outside Rivers State would have thought there would be nothing else to commission after 16 year’s rage of commissioning of projects executed by Amaechi and Wike. 

We however now know there is still much work of development to be carried out in Rivers. And this is why it is hoped Wike will humble himself by admitting ‘the world is a stage where everyone plays his own part’ instead of trying to hold Rivers and its new governor hostage.

Ignoring the fact that there is already a new sheriff in town, Wike publicly expressed a desire to control Rivers State PDP political structure he successfully deployed to secure victory for Fubara. I don’t think anyone should begrudge Wike for laying claim to ownership of Rivers political structure. He has demonstrated during different elections that he is the undisputed leader of the riverine grassroot politicians who decide outcomes of every election within dangerous riverine terrains election umpires and observers will do anything to avoid.

Wike admitted reaching a truce after President Tinubu privately waded into their conflict. The truce was however dismissed by some Rivers elders, led by Rufus Ada-Gorge, a former governor of the state, who claimed that if the peace deal is allowed to succeed it, would amount to President Tinubu unilaterally suspending the Nigerian Constitution which he says portends executive rascality which undermines our constitutional democracy, rule of law and good governance.”

The elders were joined by some opportunistic youths eyeing the seats vacated by pro-Wike commissioners. They were in solidarity rally at the demolished Rivers State House of Assembly complex which was earlier torched on October 29, 2023, to forestall planned impeachment of the governor, singing “we are not slaves. Some slaves are happy in their chains”.

Lionized by elders and opportunistic youths, Fubara refused to represent the budget earlier approved by four suspended loyal state lawmakers even after the warring 27 state legislators withdrew their impeachment threat.

If Wike had been a good student of Nigerian politics, it was at that point he ought to have known the game was up. It was obvious Fubara had borrowed a leaf from Akintola’s playbook of 1962.  Like Akintola ‘taku’ (refused to step down in line with constitutional provision), Fubara dared Wike, saying “I am now in power even if it was by mistake”. That was a subtle threat he was prepared to pull the whole edifice down on their heads.

Fubara was also a good student of Obaseki. To forestall impeachment by Adams Oshiomhole’s 17 loyal state lawmakers, the Clerk of Edo House of Assembly, Yahaya Omogbai, was said to have ushered seven members in a house of 24 lawmakers-elect into the chamber at midnight and read out the Obaseki’s letter of proclamation with which Honourable Frank Okiye the governor’s anointed candidate for speaker was elected. To seal the fate of the 17 elected majority lawmakers, Obaseki refused to swear them in while the National Assembly was told “it could not compel Obaseki to issue another proclamation within the lifespan of an existing proclamation”.

Fubara on his part first secured the support of Uche Secondus and other PDP elders Wike had fought to a standstill. He then relied on four suspended members of Rivers State House of Assembly to declare vacant the seats of decamping 27 state lawmakers loyal to Wike.

It is also obvious, the 1999 constitution created Leviathans out of our governors. Deputy governors or other adversaries will take on our governors only at their own peril.

Wike had before leaving office publicly declared paying for all projects, a claim Fubara as Wike’s chief accountant did not dispute while being railroaded to become governor. He even admitted: “Originally, our mantra was supposed to be ‘Consolidation and Continuity”. Now in power, he says his administration is bogged down by the debt piled up by Wike. Like Akintola did with disastrous consequences, Fubara has started to talk of probing the administration of his estranged godfather.

 Fubara also now questions the integrity of his godfather. Last week he told reporters that he invited the governor of Abia State to commission his projects because “he is not an artificial integrity man. He is an action integrity man. He is not the one that they will gather because they just want to talk”.

But before we crucify Fubara, let us first look at ourselves in the mirror. Democracy is a new values system we embraced without the accompanying democratic ethos.  Of this, character, or what Aristotle described as ‘balance between passion and caution of political actors’ is important if democracy, as a majoritarian rule is to be anything other than the tyranny of the majority. For democracy to thrive therefore, political actors must be committed to a set of ideals. Unfortunately for us our political space has been largely populated since independence by men that believe neither in any creed nor any set of ideals.

 The collapse of the first republic started with Akintola’s refusal to obey his party’s constitution and Prime Minister Balewa and President Nnamdi Azikiwe, who in breach of the constitution, served as accomplices while Senate President/Acting President, Nwafor Orizu, once convicted by the colonial powers for fraud against his people, out of ethnic sentiments, ceded power to Aguinyi Ironsi.

Apart from the late Umaru Yar’Adua, there was no evidence Obasanjo, who embarked on a third term fiasco, and Buhari, who was unable to rein in ethnic irredentists in his government, believe in any set of ideals. And precisely because we often play the ostrich, we expect Fubara to be different from Odili, Amaechi and Wike, predecessors.

A part of a whole cannot be holier than the whole.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has challenged   Katsina State Governor  Dikko Radda to substantiate his allegation that some security personnel were aiding and profiting from banditry in the state.

 The DHQ  said since the ‘’Armed Forces is for Nigerians,’’ anyone with credible information on misconduct by its personnel was free to bring it to its attention.  

It pointed out that the military is also subservient to all elected government representatives, and, therefore, regards the relationship with utmost respect.

Director of  Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba,  said in a  statement yesterday that Rada made the allegation during a national television programme on May 4

 The governor had said: “Now it (banditry) has turned out to be a business venture. A business venture for the criminals, some people who are in government; some people who are in security outfits, and some people who are responsible for the day-to-day activities of their people. These are so many reasons why we are unable to bring banditry to an end.”

But Gen. Buba said even though the claim by the governor was untrue, it was capable of demoralising the spirit of troops in operational theatres.

“In the light of the aforementioned statement of His Excellency the Governor of Katsina State, the Armed Forces of Nigeria decides not to join words with the state governor, rather would encourage him to approach the military high command to substantiate his allegations,” he added.

The Defence spokesperson said the military under the leadership of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, has zero tolerance for indiscipline and any form of criminality in the conduct of operations across the country.

  “It is for this reason that there are standing court martials to treat any form of misbehaviour by troops especially those that portray the military negatively to the general populace.

“The military remains unperturbed by such statements capable of demoralising or dampening the spirit of troops in operational theatres. Rather, we will continue on the trajectory of conducting operations as well as working assiduously in the fight against terrorism.

“The Armed Forces is for Nigerians and as such citizens are urged to own it and also report any credible observed bad conduct within the ranks so that they can face the appropriate military justice system,” he said in the statement.

 Also yesterday, the  Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja hailed the role of the Nigerian Army Corps of Signals in the ongoing counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the Northeast.

He made the commendation during the inauguration of the remodeled Headquarters of the Nigerian Signals Corps complex (Muritala Mohammed House) at Arakan Barracks in  Apapa, Lagos State.

The COAS also praised the Corps of Signals for its anti-banditry operations in the Northwest and other operational engagements in the different parts of the country.

Lagbaja said: “The corps effort despite the complex electro-magnetic space and highly dynamic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) era is highly commendable.

“I am proud to note that the Nigerian Army Signals has remained in tune with the fast-paced development and transformation being witnessed globally in the ICT(Information Communication Technology) sector.

“The corps has excelled at annexing new technologies to develop state-of-the-art networks that impact mission success by facilitating command and control in the Nigerian Army.” 

According to Lagbaja, the  Army Signals has also extended its services to other government agencies and the private sector, thereby projecting the image of the Army in the ICT domain.

 He said that there have been various infrastructural developments as part of efforts to provide the needed conducive living and working environment for Nigerian Army personnel to enhance productivity and well-being.

“I’m a week short of 11 months since I assumed office as the COAS and the army headquarters has executed several life-changing projects.

“This includes the construction and renovation of living quarters for officers and soldiers, the provision of portable water, and improved medical facilities for our barracks communities.

“Also, there has been renovation, remodeling, and in some instances outright reconstruction of office facilities such as what is commissioned today,” Lagbaja added.

 He also thanked President Bola Tinubu for his belief in and unwavering support of the   Army and its leadership.

[TheNation]

Women affairs minister Uju Ohanenye’s decision to file a suit that put paid to the impending mass marriage of 100 orphaned girls in Niger State is well-intentioned, but she might soon discover that she played God for nothing. While addressing a press conference, the minister pointed out that she stopped the ceremony so the ministry could find out if the girls to be married out were of the appropriate ages, determine the (self-)interests of the organisers/ sponsors, and crucially, if those women gave their consent. Now, the last point is where her good intentions might meet some blowback. Yes, it is good to inquire if those marriages are consensual. But what is consent and what does it mean to give it amidst the circumstances of choicelessness, social/religious pressures, manipulation, and fear of the uncertain (especially for poor rural women with limited education and marketable skills)?

When women whose possibilities are narrowed by material poverty and limited upward mobility choose marriage as a face-saving option, a means to claim some social respectability, what does it mean to have made a “choice”? Sometimes, people consent to a legal contract like a marriage because they have no other choices. For all her good intentions, Ohanenye might soon find out that the road paved with the good intentions of gender empowerment might still lead to the Nigerian social and religious hell. Why? Given how much the controversy is wrapped in religious sentiment, it cannot be that hard for the girls’ family circles and the religious patriarchs in their community to “persuade” (read: coerce) the young women into giving “consent.”

Merely for the audacity of a southern Christian woman to challenge what they would like us to believe is an expression of the Islamic North culture, “consent” can be extracted from the girls to vindicate the decision of their religious leaders who have socialised them into believing that marriage is their destiny. So, if those women insist to the minister’s emissaries that they gave their “consent” as legal adults, would that still justify the decision to mass marry them off? What would the minister then do if those women insist the marriage is their choice? That is why I think she needs to be careful about uncritically elevating “consent” into the main issue at stake here. Many a “consents” inked into legal documents were never truly consensual; they were merely inconvenient choices made within the constrictions of choicelessness.

What I think needs to be severely discouraged is the culture of public officials using public funds to mass-marry people. Northern governors do it frequently, but it is a misuse of public resources. Other than a mad obsession with seeing women’s heads buried between the laps of domesticity, the men—and it’s always men!—have never advanced any logical reason for mass marriages and why the government should sponsor them. They say marriage is better than waywardness, but why are those the only options available to a woman? 

Being married goes beyond the wedding ceremony. Marriage is a serious business that should be reserved only for those who can afford it—physically, emotionally, socially, and quite crucially, financially. Those who do not have the money to stage a ceremony can do themselves the favour of getting married quietly in front of a judge, go home, and start building their lives. Nobody needs to get married on charity, period.

 Marriage is also a private business, and nothing—and I repeat, nothing—says having a grand wedding makes you more married than those who have the dignity to wed according to the limit of their means. The issue of using public funds for marriage is another reason I see those criticising the minister for her intervention as clowns. You cannot purport to get married with other people’s money and then turn around to tell them they have no business in your private (religious) affair.

Speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the culprit who announced his plans to sponsor the ceremony as his “constituency project,” is also playing God by making the girls’ wedding his business. Yes, those girls lost their parents in banditry attacks in Mariga Local Government Area (which he represents), but why is it his business to pay the girls’ dowry?  He is a lawmaker, and a public representative should not assume a paternalistic role in other people’s private lives. It would be a different argument if he were a private individual using his money to sponsor weddings. Rich and generous people sponsor weddings; it is their prerogative.

Sarkindaji’s legislative overreach is the fallout of a political culture that hands lawmakers a huge sum of money to carry out something called “community projects,” initiatives well outside their responsibilities as lawmakers. For long, lawmakers have loosely defined what constitutes constituency projects, which is why people like Sarkindaji can stretch the meaning beyond tolerable elastic limits.

The mass wedding event, which would have taken place tomorrow but is now suspended, was to be conducted alongside the flagging-off of a road network and—this is where it gets interesting— distribution of cars to the eight district heads and other critical stakeholders in the local government area. That the wedding of 100 couples is not even the main point of the event—just one item to check off the agenda—makes you wonder why the spectacle was necessary in the first place. That old men will be gifted cars while young women will get husbands illustrates how the skewed allocation of resources makes for poor productivity in this country. If Sarkindaji wants to be a proper sugar daddy, he should consider giving the car gifts to the women instead. Who knows, that initiative might be their chance at an independent life which, I can bet, Sarkindaji’s daughters enjoy.

Though imperfect, Ohanenye’s challenging Sarkindaji is commendable. In fact, it is about time someone stood up to people who mass-marry poor women for dubious reasons and instructed them there is more to life than continuously satiating the region beneath your waistline. Mass marriage, as it takes place in northern Nigeria, is an agenda to keep poor people poor and perpetually beholden to predatory religious and political leaders. The problem of northern Nigeria has been a problem of the libido. To contain the libidinal urges, they stage mass (and early) marriages that produce mass children whose impoverished existence culminates in mass poverty, mass urchins that prowl the streets and eventually grow up into mass terrorists and mass bandits.

If Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world today, most of it has to do with the North. They reproduce an ever-growing army of children merely born to give them political victories and decommissioned soon after every election. Nobody has plans for those children’s future. And for a long time, nobody could challenge them because of their propensity for violence. Their leaders’ inability to think of serious means of resolving their social issues outside of frequently tucking people inside marriage to reproduce has created a mass problem for Nigeria, one that will unfold for at least another 50 years.

Finally, media reports stated that in response to the audacity of Ohanenye to file a suit against an impending mass marriage, the Muslim Lawyers Association declared that they had raised 32 lawyers—five of them Senior Advocates of Nigeria—to challenge her in court. As much as I doubt whether the minister is on firm legal ground on this issue, I think 32 supposedly trained professionals coming up to challenge her judgment is another pathetic example of the Nigerian tendency to overdo things. I would not worry about them too much though. If that many lawyers had to bunch themselves up like firewood just to pursue one case, they must be incompetent, ineffective, and frankly, unserious.

President plans low-key celebration, ministers begin sectoral briefings today

In commemoration of his first anniversary in office, President Bola Tinubu has directed his ministers to present their performance reports to Nigerians.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, while announcing this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, said the low-key first-anniversary celebration would be marked with sectoral media briefings by the 47 federal ministers starting on Thursday (today).

Idris was joined at Wednesday’s media press conference by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu.

Tinubu was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on March 1, 2023.

Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, garnered 8.7 million votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, who came second with 6.9 million votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party secured 6.1 million votes.

At the opening of a three-day cabinet retreat for ministers, presidential aides, permanent secretaries and top government functionaries on November 1, 2023, the President said the ministers in his cabinet would only retain their offices based on performance, which would be reviewed quarterly.

“If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” said the President.

On January 24, 2024, the agency in charge of the assessment, the Central Delivery Coordination Unit, trained at least 140 officials to track and assess the performance of federal ministries, departments and agencies ahead of the assessment.

Performance reports

Speaking on Arise TV’s News Night in April, the President’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, who heads the CDCU, affirmed that the unit had received performance reports from at least 20 of the 35 ministries.

She explained that the assessment report would be a product of a joint effort of the ministers, citizens and industry experts.

Bala-Usman said, “Our submission is for the first quarter. So, the first quarter has just ended, and we have initiated the assessment process. The ministers have all been asked to submit their performance based on the deliverables.”

She asserted ministers would be assessed “Based on what is out there in the public space. They would write to say, ‘Based on every deliverable you have given me, this is what I’ve done within the first quarter of the year.’

“Through the Citizens Delivery Tracker app, Nigerians will also say, ‘this is what we’ve seen the minister do’ and they would aggregate it.’’

The PUNCH reports that the Tinubu administration has implemented significant reforms to stabilize the economy, reduce inflation, and attract foreign investments.

He ended the graft-ridden fuel subsidy regime, triggering high fuel and transportation costs, leading to food inflation and increased hardships across the country.

To curb food inflation, the government allocated substantial funds to the agricultural sector, including N200 billion to boost agricultural productivity and ensure food security.

Efforts have been made to transition from single-season farming to year-round farming through investments in irrigation and water bodies.

The administration has also provided N75b to support small and medium-sized enterprises, fostering job creation and economic diversification.

It launched a N100bn consumer credit fund to mobilize the manufacturing sector, encouraging production and enhancing economic growth.

The student loan scheme meant to open greater access to tertiary and vocational education will commence operation on Friday.

In terms of infrastructure development, the Tinubu administration has initiated a 100,000 renewable housing programme across seven states to address the housing deficit and stimulate the construction sector.

To tackle high transportation costs and promote energy efficiency, the government has directed the purchase of compressed natural gas buses.

In a move to combat security, the Federal Government allocated significant portions of the budget to national security, while supporting the clamour for state police.

Some of the administration’s reforms and efforts to stabilize and grow the Nigerian economy had received recognition from international agencies and leaders.

The Central Bank of Nigeria introduced a slew of reforms to reign in the forex crisis.

These include unifying the multiple exchange rates to create a single, transparent exchange rate that reflects market dynamics more accurately and reduces arbitrage opportunities.

In a bid to boost the supply of foreign exchange in the market, the CBN implemented the diaspora remittances, encouraged non-oil exports by providing exporters with rebates and facilitating their access to forex at competitive rates and restricted access to forex for the importation of certain items that can be produced locally.

The CBN regularly intervenes in the forex market by selling forex to banks through various auction mechanisms.

Speaking on the first anniversary programmes, the information minister said there would be no fanfare to mark Tinubu’s one year in power.

He stated, ‘’From tomorrow (today), we are going to have ministers come in here to discuss what they are doing in their various ministries consistent with the policies of President Bola Tinubu.

Sectoral briefings

“The first anniversary of the president will be on a low key, with an emphasis on sectoral briefings by the various ministers. There will be no ceremonies relating to the one year in office of the president.”

During his address, the SGF, Akume, highlighted the administration’s ambitious agenda aimed at economic revitalization, social inclusion, and infrastructural development.

Akume pointed out that significant economic reforms had been implemented to stabilise the economy and promote sustainable growth.

These policies, according to him, have successfully attracted foreign investments, reduced inflation, and boosted job creation across various sectors.

“Let me begin by admitting that the first year in office for Mr. President has been a testament to the unwavering commitment and resilience of this administration towards serving the Nigerian people with diligence, integrity, and dedication,” Akume remarked.

 “Despite daunting challenges, President Tinubu has maintained his calm and demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities, guiding our nation with vision and foresight. The government has implemented significant economic reforms aimed at stabilizing our economy and fostering sustainable growth. Key among these is the introduction of policies that have attracted foreign investments, reduced inflation, and boosted job creation across various sectors,’’ he further noted.

In his presentation, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Bagudu, stated that Tinubu’s administration inherited a low revenue and shrinking economy but was determined to address these challenges through the Renewed Hope Agenda.

This agenda, he added, formed from extensive reflection and input from various stakeholders, focused on eight priority areas crucial for Nigeria’s progress.

Bagudu emphasised the need for difficult decisions, noting that countries Nigeria aspires to emulate made these choices long ago, arguing that the Renewed Hope Agenda involves confronting economic realities, which may cause temporary discomfort but are essential for long-term stability and growth.

“We must restore a macroeconomic environment that can stimulate investment, generate revenue, and address under-investment in sectors like security, education, and social welfare,” Bagudu explained.

He highlighted that Nigeria’s current crude oil production is below its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries quota due to under-investment in infrastructure and security.

He elaborated, “So we impact, as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda, on a macro-economic reform because that was what was responsible for low investment, low revenues and our economy’s size was shrinking, was too small compared to our needs.

“Nothing we do can solve the problem of under-investment in various sectors of the economy; be it security, be it education, be it social welfare, without restoring a macro-economic environment that can stimulate investment in our economy, which will generate revenues for us to fix security.

“That is why we are not even producing crude oil in the quantity we used to before, or as allowed by international convention, which is our OPEC quota, because of under-investment, whether in the physical infrastructure itself or security, and so on and so forth.’’

The minister stated the administration was focusing on food security by investing in irrigation and water management to enable year-round farming, noting that similar efforts were being made to revitalise the livestock sector, which has been a source of conflict rather than economic growth due to historical under-investment.

Enhancements in infrastructure, education, health, the creative economy, the digital economy, and the steel sector are also prioritized, he added.

Bagudu reasoned that some of the government policies might involve some discomfort and pain.

He argued that true leadership involves first and foremost telling the people the truth of their reality.

“Food security, despite our potential, we are under-investing. Most of our farmers are one-season-per-year farmers. So, when you have an asset that you only utilize four months in a year because you don’t have irrigation, you don’t have water bodies.

“Most of our fishing communities, they go to freshwater bodies where there’s no fish anymore, we have to transit them. The livestock sector, which in countries like New Zealand, is an important engine of growth, but in our country, due to cumulative under-investments, it has formed a basis for conflict rather than economic opportunity,’’ he lamented.

The former Kebbi State governor asserted that the President was committed to fiscal discipline, aiming to reduce the fiscal deficit from 6.11 per cent in 2023 to below 4 per cent in 2024.

He also revealed that the administration planned to increase capital expenditure to 39 per cent, the highest in Nigeria’s history, stressing that the innovative N100bn consumer credit fund and mortgage fund aimed to stimulate manufacturing and housing sectors, respectively.

Budget allocations

Bagudu further disclosed that significant budget allocations had been made to national security, leading to improvements in Borno, Imo, Kaduna, and Taraba.

Tinubu, he said, supports local government autonomy, ensuring resources are effectively used to benefit communities.

Bagudu detailed three significant budgets under Tinubu’s administration. He said the first, an N819bn budget, was renegotiated to allocate N500bn for interventions supporting vulnerable populations.

According to him, the second N2.17tn budget was focused on national security, infrastructure, and cash transfers, adding that the 2024 budget aims to restore fiscal discipline and stimulate economic growth through increased capital expenditure.

The minister said, “The three budgets Mr President participated in the first, the N819b budget which he inherited, which was even passed into law before he came, he renegotiated with the National Assembly.

“He said ‘I want N500bn to fund intervention that will support the vulnerable populations, who might be affected by the reform measures.’ About N200bn went into agriculture; N75bn into the medium and small enterprise sector, as well as N40bn into the nano-credit sector.

“Equally, another budget of N2.17tn that went to support gains in national security, most of it to security and infrastructure and also providing more money for cash transfer and meeting commitments to labour.’’

The minister pointed out that the President was clear that he would not blame his predecessor for the state of the nation.

Reeling out the benefits of the programmes and policies instituted by the government, he said, “So, we believe that with consumer credit mobilizing the manufacturing sector; with mortgages re-energizing the houses sector; with Agriculture Development Fund mobilizing the agricultural sector, our youth and our productive economy will be mobilised.’’

The minister said the N130bn provided for the transition to CNG (compressed natural gas) would restore energy competitiveness and benefit the manufacturing and transport sectors of the economy while the cheaper energy would support economic reforms.

[Punch]

China on Thursday encircled Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft in war games aimed at punishing the self-ruled island after its new president vowed to defend democracy.

The two days of drills are part of an escalating campaign of intimidation by China that has seen it carry out a series of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in recent years.

The latest show of force is a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” China’s military said as the drills got underway.

China — governed by the Communist Party since 1949 — claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to bring the island under its rule, by force if necessary.

Thursday and Friday’s drills involve aircraft and ships surrounding the island to test their combat capabilities, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said.

Taiwan responded by deploying air, ground and sea forces, with the island’s defence ministry vowing to “defend freedom”.

Taiwan’s presidential spokeswoman also condemned China’s “provocative military behaviour”.

The drills come after Lai Ching-te was sworn in as Taiwan’s new president this week and made an inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of independence”.

“In face of the many threats and attempts of infiltration from China, we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation,” Lai said in his speech while hailing a “glorious” era of democracy.

China warned of strong reprisals to Lai’s speech, in which he also vowed to continue building Taiwan’s defence capabilities.

It had previously branded Lai a “dangerous separatist” who would bring “war and decline” to the island.

– ‘Kill independence’ –

The drills, which began at 7:45 am (2345 GMT Wednesday), are taking place in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island, PLA Eastern Theater Command Naval Colonel Li Xi said.

As the “Joint Sword-2024A” drills were launched, commentary on state Chinese broadcaster CCTV declared them “a powerful disciplinary action” against Taiwanese separatism.

China’s military put out a series of posters touting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”. They featured rockets, jets and naval vessels next to the blood-stained text.

“The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared.

– Economic blockade –

Beijing, which split with Taipei at the end of a civil war 75 years ago, regards the island as a renegade province with which it must eventually be reunified.

China has stepped up pressure on the democratic island of 23 million people, periodically stoking worries about a potential invasion.

A Chinese military expert told CCTV that the drills were partly aimed at rehearsing an economic blockade of the island.

Zhang Chi, a professor at Beijing’s China National Defense University, said the drills aimed to “strangle” Taiwan’s critical Kaohsiung port to “severely impact” its foreign trade.

They would cut off “Taiwan’s lifeline of energy imports” as well as “block the support lines that some US allies provide to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”, he added.

The last time China announced similar military exercises around Taiwan was in August last year after Lai, then vice president, stopped over in the United States on a visit to Paraguay.

Those drills also tested the PLA’s ability “to seize control of air and sea spaces” and fight “in real combat conditions”, according to state media.

They followed April drills that simulated the encirclement of the island, launched after Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen met then-US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

China also launched major military exercises in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited Taiwan.

World powers are keen to see as much stability as possible between China and Taiwan, not least because of the vital role the island plays in the global economy.

The Taiwan Strait is one of the world’s most important maritime trade arteries, and the island itself is a major tech manufacturer, particularly of vital semiconductors — the tiny chips used in everything from smartphones to missile systems.

The United States switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979 but remains the island’s most important ally and supplier of military hardware.

US President Joe Biden has said he does not support Taiwan’s independence but also that he would back sending forces to defend the island. The official US position on intervention is one of ambiguity.

The United States did not give an immediate official response to the drills.

US Lieutenant General Stephen Sklenka, speaking in Canberra, described the exercises as “concerning” but not unexpected.

AFP

For the second day running, the ongoing tripartite negotiation on the new national minimum wage involving the Federal Government, organized labour and the Organised Private Sector, OPS, yesterday ended in another stalemate as government and private sector employers made minimal adjustments to their earlier offers.

This came as none of the six governors who are members of the committee attended the meeting yesterday.

But Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, was present at the meeting, which has been adjourned to Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
While organised labour which had earlier yesterday brought down its wage demand from N615,000 to N500, 000, and later N497,000, OPS increased its last week’s offer of N54,000 to N57,000.

The government negotiating team had earlier remained adamant, but had to take a short break to consult. It returned from the short break to increase its offer to N57,000 to match OPS’ offer. The government’s negotiating team had on Tuesday, offered to pay a minimum wage of N54,000.

Vanguard gathered that the government team added N3,000 to its earlier offer to match the OPS offer after members of the team returned from a short break to consult.

Recall that OPS had earlier upped its offer to N57,000 from the initial N54,000 it presented during last week’s meeting.
Vanguard sources said the labour negotiating team immediately rejected the fresh offers from both the government and its OPS counterpart, saying they were not ready to negotiate.

“Government has agreed that NLC is using evidence-based presentation. But they argue that eight states are not paying or not fully implementing the 2019 minimum wage.

‘’Government is talking of non-availability of funds. They are also talking about the inability of the private sector to pay.

“Labour has been requested to shift ground in response to the government’s. We complied and came down to N500, 000.
“Imo State governor has stepped in. He is not a member of the committee but it is good that there is at least a governor, as the six governors in the committee have been regularly absent,’’ a source told Vanguard yesterday.

One of the Labour leaders who spoke to Vanguard, expressed anger, saying the government is not ready to negotiate or was not prepared for negotiation.

The labour leader said: “Government cannot be telling us that there is no money; this is an insult. We did not remove subsidies or float the national currency. The government created this problem. Since the removal of the petrol subsidy and floating of the naira, has the government shown proof that the country has no money, no?

“We are aware that the government gave members of the National Assembly no less than N160 million each to buy cars, the same government has released N90 billion to subsidise hajj operations.

‘’The government has renovated the Senate chambers, and the vice president’s office, and it is buying luxury buses for Customs in millions of naira.

‘’They are also buying all manner of SUVs for government officers. Since the removal of subsidies, the government has been making life better for political elites who have been feeding fat on workers.

“Crude oil sales have increased considerably and it has been getting more money in dollars, while workers have been suffering and going deeper into poverty.

“The state governors have been receiving three times more than they were receiving before the removal of subsidy. We cannot accept this. We did not cause the socio-economic challenges the country is facing.

“The government inflicted these problems on the country with their ill-thought out and unprogressive policies of subsidy removal and devaluation of the national currency. If the country has no money, let it reflect in the lives of government officials, their aides and cronies.

“It is becoming obvious that the government does not want industrial peace. And it is clearly evident that the government is not ready to negotiate. Well, if it is industrial unrest that will make the government do the right thing, we shall give it to them after May ending. “

A source at the meeting, who spoke to Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, said labour rejected the N57,000 offer, noting “we are about to adjourn. No agreement.”

After the meeting, the source said: “They are crying now. They stuck to N57,000, there is a problem if the government cannot pay appreciable salary increase. There is no sign that there is no money, we adjourned till next Tuesday.
“The government is insisting on N57,000, which is like wage reduction, how can you go and negotiate wage reduction because there’s nobody that is earning N57,000 now?

“We came down from N500,000 to N497,000 because when they increased by N3,000, we now came down by N3,000 too so that if they are joking, we also decided to joke, they are not the only ones who know how to joke. We came down to N497,000, when they came up to N57,000. We told them straight away that we didn’t accept the N57,000 offer.

“They pleaded with labour to accept their offer, we told them there was nothing to plead about. We told them to break down the N57,000 offer, so we will know how much they are allocating to transport, how much to accommodation, how much to health so that we know and not lump everything but they didn’t do that.”

The source said government’s offer was once again presented by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

Some of the government team members at the meeting included the Ministers of Finance, Wale Edun, Minister of Budget, Atiku Bagudu, that of Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, among others.

On the side of the six governors that are members of the tripartite committee representing the six geopolitical zones, none was present but the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, came briefly and left.

He did not explain why he came, whether he came to represent Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State who represents the South-East zone.

[Vanguard]

Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, says he will “keep contesting” for the Nigerian presidency as long as he is hale and hearty. 

He said this during an interview on the Hausa service of the Voice of America in Abuja.

Abubakar, who is 77-years-old, was the standard-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election.

The politician will be 81 by the time the next presidential election comes around in 2027.

“Of course, I will keep contesting again and again as long as I am alive and healthy,” Abubakar said.

Abubakar has run for the number one office six times but has been on the ballot as a presidential candidate on three occasions — 2007, 2019, and 2023.

Abubakar said he is consoled by the fact that former United States President Abraham Lincoln did not win the presidential vote on the first time of asking.

He also spoke about the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the party needs to be united and forge alliances with other political groups to win the presidential election in 2027.

“Even the former US President Abraham Lincoln contested seven times before finally winning,” he said.

“However, given the current state of the PDP, it is clear that a single-handed effort will not suffice to win the election. Strong support and collaboration with other parties are required.”

Last week, Abubakar said he was engaging Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, on the possibility of a merger.

“This is to anybody that thinks there is going to be a misunderstanding between me and Obi, let me assure you that not even a small issue is going to happen between us,” Abubakar said.

“Also, we are going to be behind anybody that will be chosen to represent us in the forthcoming elections.

“I have made it clear in my previous speeches that if our parties are going to merge to agree on a candidate from the south-east, as long as he is qualified, we will allow it.”

[TheCable]

Last Sunday, for the fourth time in a row, Manchester City Football Club won the English premiership title. And because of that, ‘enemies of progress’ have not allowed some of us to rest. Even more annoying is that many of the noisemakers actually supported teams of little consequence in the title race. But in Nigeria, there are lessons we can all learn. Not only about the season that just ended but also about football generally and the way we run our country. But I will get to that later. Especially considering the issue of ‘colonial mentality’ that is often peddled by those who do not understand why many of us are obsessed with foreign leagues.

Thanks to my brother, Femi Edun, I was last Thursday inducted as the 80^th member of an exclusive WhatsApp group of ‘Gooners’ comprising accomplished male professionals (SANs, renowned medical practitioners, oil and gas executives, company owners, academics etc.) who support Arsenal football Club of London. The youngest is a 29-year-old techie and the oldest a professor of 89. Put together by Sola Adepetun, a respected lawyer who specializes in oil and gas, most members are in their late 50s and 60s and many trace their fan history to their schooling in the United Kingdom. The fact that discussions on the forum are restricted to sports with “posts on politics, economy, religion, advertising, birthday greetings and other wishes” no-go-areas, particularly appeals to me. And it’s been fun since I joined.

In the days preceding last Sunday’s final set of matches, there were optimistic posts by members who were predicting their wish. For me, expecting Manchester City to lose their final match at home to West Ham bordered on the delusional but not a few were on that train. Some of the posts give validity to what one ‘bad belle’ guy wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle: “I think Arsenal is a social experiment created by government to see how long people can support a team before going mad.” That guy deserves a prison term! But it is also interesting that now that the premiership has been lost and won, motivational speakers have taken over on most Arsenal platforms.

We are being reminded that Liverpool waited 30 years between championships and that Manchester United has also been waiting for the past 12 years. “Arsenal is indeed in its 20th year. But we are closer to winning than any of you except perhaps Liverpool that has done its period of purgatory,” one football philosopher argued before this clincher: “So, don’t laugh – unless you are a Man City fan – and with 115 charges against them, even their future success is uncertain. Notice I didn’t even bother with Spurs. They built their beautiful stadium for Beyoncé concerts not for winning titles!”

As I have previously written, football evokes emotions and passions that are difficult to understand by those who do not follow the game. Shortly before the commencement of the 17th FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan in 2002, respected British sportswriter, Simon Kuper wrote that football arouses “collective passions that are matched by nothing short of war.” In the piece, ‘The World Game is not Just a Game’, published in New York Times on 26th May 2002, Kuper argued that unlike almost any cultural phenomenon, football is distinguished by its political malleability. “It is used by dictators and revolutionaries, a symbol of oligarchy and anarchy. It gets presidents elected or thrown out, and it defines the way people think, for good or ill, about their countries…”

Kuper is right on the power of football. With one sublime twist or turn, footballers can make us forget our hunger, thirst, and sometimes even our financial predicament. I once referenced the example of Hernan Crespo, one of the best football strikers in modern times who narrated how the late Diego Maradona’s genius transformed his family. He said their father never talked or betrayed any emotions, so everyone learnt to keep to themselves in the house. But everything changed on 22nd June 1998, during the quarter final match between Argentina and England at the 13th FIFA World Cup in Mexico. According to Crespo, who was eight years old at the time, the moment Maradona scored his incredible solo goal against England, his father broke into tears and started hugging everyone. Crespo said he had never seen his father like that before and it was on that day he decided he would play football and strive for excellence if only to make his father happy.

The treatment meted to former England Skipper David Beckham after the 1998 FIFA World Cup provides another example of what football can do to people. In the group stage match against Columbia at that tournament held in France, it was Beckham’s free kick that earned England the qualification for the first knockout round. But in the match against Argentina, then Argentine fiery midfielder, Diego Simeone, (current manager of La Liga Club, Atletico Madrid) committed a cynical foul against Beckham. In anger, Beckham kicked Simeone who went down as if he was hit by a truck. And the trick worked. Beckham was sent off by the referee. England went on to lose a match they had controlled up to that moment against a bitter rival. The next day, the banner headline in The Mirror newspaper was: ‘Ten Heroic Lions and One Stupid Boy’. A church even put a banner outside its premises which read: ‘God forgives even David Beckham.’ 

Now to the main issue. Following the conclusion of the 2023/24 English premiership season won by Manchester City, Ike Imo, a legal practitioner and writer, sums it up this way: “The real winners are the creators and managers of the English Premier League. These are the men and women who have branded a common product (football) and successfully sold it all over the world in such a way that people from New Delhi to Kinshasa (not forgetting Chicago and Riyadh), identify themselves and their daily aspirations and success, with it. It’s brilliant marketing to make a young lad in Enugu forget to eat his dinner because his favourite team (Chelsea) lost a match at Stamford Bridge. I’m almost certain that the English Premier League probably ranks as one of the biggest exports that Britain still has left to offer to the world.”

This then brings me to the question often asked: Why is it that those of us who love the game cannot recreate the same situation in Nigeria? I interrogated this question on 24 August 2006 in a column titled, ‘Killing the Beautiful Game’. Before I conclude, let me share what I wrote 18 years ago.

================================================

On the last day of the football season anywhere in the world, there is usually some high drama. But here in Nigeria, you also witness the bizarre and the unexpected. That was exactly what happened last week Wednesday (16 August 2006) in Oron, Akwa Ibom State when the curtains fell on the 2005/2006 football season. The match was between promotion-seeking Akwa United, a professional Division One team and Calabar Rovers. In practical terms, for Akwa United to gain promotion into the Premiership, winning their match would not just do; their competitor, Bussdor United of Port Harcourt, also had to lose or at least play a draw. Because of the wide goal difference, any other result would consign Akwa United to Division One for another season. Except of course they could score 13 goals within 90 minutes!

Expecting a team that had not succeeded in putting 12 goals into the net all season to now score 13 goals in one match would be expecting a miracle which rarely happens in modern competitive football games. But in Oron, the unexpected indeed happened. Within a few minutes of a most scandalous match where the referee and the 22 players on the field were acting out a macabre drama, the ‘Diego Maradonas’ in Akwa United scored 13 unreplied goals!

Available reports indicate that the match was bought and sold in Akwa Ibom State Government House. If what happened was, however, just a one off, one would not be worried, but it is not. Our football is being run by a bunch of unscrupulous men who have conspired to kill the domestic league by fixing results in boardrooms and effecting such decisions on the field of play. Since Nigerians are no fools, it is equally no surprise that nobody watches football matches here anymore. We are now all hooked to SuperSport for Spanish La Liga, English Premiership, and Italian Serie A. No matter how much we all love what Pele has appropriately dubbed the ‘beautiful game’, no sensible person will waste his time watching a match whose result had already been predetermined.

For those who may not be interested in football and, there are some strange people like that, the real message here is not about sports but rather the culture of dishonesty and lack of any sense of shame that permeates the entire system. What played out on the field in Oron was a parody of what is fast becoming the norm in our land where the ethics of hard work and integrity are being jettisoned for quick-fix deals. No nation can develop with such a culture that tends to promote, indeed celebrate, fraud and mediocrity.

Two years ago, also on the last day of the league, Kano Pillars and Bendel Insurance were jostling for the third position in the League that would earn the winner a WAFU Cup qualification. Bendel Insurance were playing Lobi Stars of Makurdi in Benin while Kano Pillars were playing Gombe United. The two matches ordinarily ought to be played simultaneously. Indeed, the two matches started at the same time but ended almost two hours apart because in Benin, a 90-minute match was allowed to drag for four hours and at the end, the objective was achieved. First, the match was abandoned at half-time and about an hour after the one in Kano ended with the result already known, the Benin match resumed. By a simple arithmetic, Bendel Insurance needed five goals to displace Kano Pillars from the number three slot and by the time the match, which commenced at 4p.m. finally ended at 8pm, the five goals were conjured without a single reply from their opponents!

To understand the gradual decline of Nigeria despite abundant human and material resources, one needs only to study our football that at some point in the past held so much prospect with abundant talents. Not too long ago, most of us that now describe ourselves as ‘Gunners for life’ or ‘Red Devils’ or those who are ever afraid to ‘Walk Alone’ used to have local teams which we were passionate about. There were Leventis United, Bendel Insurance, Abiola Babes, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Rangers International, IICC Shooting Stars, Stationery Stores, Raccah Rovers, Ranchers Bees and several others. But all teams bright and beautiful, the NFA killed them all!

That things are upside down in Nigeria football is all too evident but what worries me is that we are all behaving like ostriches, burying our heads in the sand. Yet this is the only aspect of our national life where all 11 national players on the field for Nigeria could come from the same Arochukwu village and we would all see them as representing our country. It is the most unifying factor in Nigeria today but also the most mismanaged. The culture of corruption is so pervasive that even with our abundant talents, those who run our football do not believe matches can be won on the field of play. It is only in Nigeria that a referee would be whispering to players to “fall inside the box” so he could award dubious penalty kicks; it is only here that the International Transfer Certificates of players are traded like GSM recharge cards while officials openly auction results of matches not yet played…

ENDNOTE:

Although the foregoing was written 18 years ago, nothing much has changed in recent years. On 14 July 2022, for instance, the Mail of London carried a report on how the Ogun State football Cup final for that year was concluded with a bizarre penalty shoot-out after the match ended goalless. “For one of Ijebu United’s spot kicks, the Remo Stars goalkeeper stands on his line and remains perfectly still” the newspaper reported. “He then appears to allow his opponent to direct a fairly tame penalty into the bottom corner. Things got even more bizarre when a Remo Stars player stepped up to take a penalty and then blasted his effort sideways, with the ball flying off the side of the pitch. He then held his hands on his head in an apparent effort to make the miss appear genuine.”  

Although the newspaper also reported that the Nigerian podcast host, Ibukun Aluko, who broke the story later claimed that the Remo Stars squad had deliberately missed their penalties to protest officiating in the match, that in only confirms the rot. “Remo Stars would eventually go on to lose the penalty shootout 3-0, with Ijebu United lifting the cup. Whatever the reason for the misses, you’re unlikely to ever see a more bizarre penalty shootout,” the Mail wrote. 

Where do we go from here? I believe there are a few things we need to do. One, we must bring private sector participation into the management of our football. The challenge is whether that would happen under the current structure that is sorely lacking in both professionalism and integrity. But that is also why the government must come in. We need a wholesale reform like it was done by China in 2015 with a plan that targets the schools as foundation for the game. As a part of the Reform Plan, the set-up of domestic football management in China was also changed. That must also happen in Nigeria.

I am not an expert on football but Nigeria has an abundance of such people. The current Minister of Sports, John Enoh, has shown a willingness to make a difference. I hope he reaches out to such stakeholders. There is so much to gain from reforming football in Nigeria. Meanwhile, to all the Arsenal fans in Nigeria, please ignore all the naysayers and noisemaker: Next season is for us!

Still on the Mariga Wedding

Following my column of last week on ‘The Betrothal of Mariga Orphans’, I received messages from several respected people saying whatever may have been the merit of my arguments, they were based on the wrong premise. The Niger State House of Assembly Speaker, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, who proposed to sponsor the mass wedding of 100 orphaned girls, I was told, intervened out of altruism. I have been availed videos of the interviews granted by the Speaker on the issue where he explained that the whole idea came from religious and traditional leaders in Mariga local government area, the constituency he represents and had twice served as chairman.

According to Sarkindaji, a number of girls who lost their parents to banditry wanted to marry but lacked the needed resources. By tradition, the bride is required to take items like furniture, kitchen utensils, boxes, clothes and other things to the groom’s house. “They initially submitted the names of 210 girls to me and I told them there was no means for such. So, we cut it down to 100 names. They told me that I would bless the marriage and I told them I cannot attend every marriage, so they should do it in a day, and I would grace the occasion,” Sarkindaji said. “That is the reason for the event. I had wanted to grace the occasion, but I won’t do that again since helping my people has become a crime.”

Certain issues have come to light. One, the girls do not fall within the bracket of the Child Rights Act because they are adults and of marriageable age. Two, there is also no problem about consent. Three, I understand that the rigorous process adopted to prune the list eliminated those with doubtful claims. While I still do not believe that marriage offers any enduring solution to socio-economic problems, the girls have made their choice. And we must respect their decision.