The Federal Government has approved a downward review in electricity tariff for Band A customers to N206.80/kwh, from N225/kwh.

Ban A customers are electricity consumers with a minimum supply of 20 hours daily.

In a notice to its customers on Monday, Ikeja Electric, stated: “Please, be informed of the downward tariff review of our Band A feeders from N225/kwh to N206.80/kwh effective 6th May 2024 with guaranteed availability of 20-24 hours supply daily.

“The tariff for Bands B, C, D, and E remains unchanged.”

Details on this coming.

Band A

recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, had increased the tariff paid by Band A customers from N68/KWh to N225/kWh.

Band A customers are expected to receive between 20 and 24 hours of electricity supply daily. Those under B enjoy 16 to 20 hours of power supply and those in Band C receive 12 to 16 hours daily.

NERC also said that Band A customers make up just 15 percent of total electricity customers in the country.

Additionally, these customers would no longer enjoy government subsidy on electricity.

However, the review of electricity tariff generated reactions across the country.

For instance, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), said the Federal Government was working in the interest of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank in hiking electricity tariff. 

He said: “The Honourable Minister of Power is acting the script of the IMF and the World Bank.”

Also, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ikeja branch, gave the Federal Government and electricity distribution companies, DisCos, a seven-day ultimatum to reverse to the old electricity tariff or face a lawsuit.

Speaking, chairman of the branch, Mr Seyi Olawunmi, described the increase in the electricity tariff by almost 300 per cent as unreasonable and insensitive.

He said NERC order in respect to the tariff hike was not in line with the current economic realities of an average Nigerian.

Labour’s reaction to tariff

Also recall that the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, appealed to NERC, and power sector operators, to reverse the increase in electricity tariff within one week.

President of the unions, Mr Joe Ajaero and Mr Fetus Osifo, respectively, made the call last Wednesday in a joint speech to mark the 2024 Workers’ Day in Abuja.

They expressed dissatisfaction over the epileptic power situation in the country. The labour leaders said it was affecting the economic growth of the country.

According to them, it is imperative that any nation incapable of effectively and efficiently managing its energy resources faces certain ruin.

In their words: “One of the pivotal factors constraining our nation is our glaring incompetence in managing this sector for the collective welfare of our citizens.

“Power, regardless of its source, remains paramount in kickstarting any economy, while oil and gas are indispensable for robust energy success in every country. “

They said it was absolutely critical for the government to collaborate with the people to establish frameworks that ensure energy works for all Nigerian.

According to the duo, the plight of the power sector remains unchanged over a decade after privatisation of the sector.

Vanguard News

The issue of minimum wage or salary increase or by whatever nomenclature is a complicated policy issue. The wage increase is neither good nor bad, but as a policy choice, it must be tied to some ultimate objective and benchmarked on the projected cost of living and inflationary trends over a given period.

A pay rise can improve employees’ motivation while giving them more purchasing power and disposable income. It may result in businesses being shut down, hyperinflation, joblessness, and a decline in the value of the national currency. At face value, salary increases are a tool to address inequality, poverty, and welfare or an incentive to check corruption. However, the issue is more profound than this surface-level discourse.

Recently, the federal government announced a new salary raise for mainstream federal workers. This is not the new minimum wage; at least, that is what we are told. Some state governments followed suit with discordant tunes. The truth is that for the average Nigerian worker, with headline inflation at 33.2% by March 2024 and food inflation at 40.1%, the current wage is insufficient and cannot sustain any worker. This underscores the need for the government and all labour employers in Nigeria to review salaries. However, the government’s current economic realities and financial position make it challenging to create a salary increase that is not backed by increased value and productivity. While it may seem complicated, this measured approach is necessary to avoid harsh negative implications on the economy and the unintended backlash on people with low incomes and many on the fringes of our society.

Expectedly a policy to help people experiencing poverty and create some semblance of equity within our socio-economic ecosystem, salary increases for government workers, albeit less than 25% of the workforce, will have ramifications. Given these difficulties evident in the new policy, the government and labour leadership must play a balancing act to midwife a new salary structure that is fit for purpose yet germane to the multifaceted nuances of our current economic reality.

The wage increase will result in both negative and positive economic impacts. On the negative side, inflation will worsen, small and medium-scale businesses (SMEs) barely managing to survive will be hugely impacted, and the cost of doing business will skyrocket. How many SMEs can afford this increase? Most of the companies are struggling with paying the existing minimum wage, given the rise in the cost of doing business, interest in loans is over 40%, the cost of raw materials is over the roof, consumers with little income are squeezed to a pulp by the constant increase in prices. Besides, how many state governments can afford it? Most Nigerian states have failed to optimise their potential and go cap in hand every month to FAAC. Across a sizeable economic terrain like Nigeria, a uniform nationwide minimum wage may be foolhardy. Costs of living are divergent across the country. States should negotiate with labour unions for acceptable minimum wage structures in different states and geopolitical zones. There may be an urgent need to de-link the minimum wage issue from national politics.

On the positive side, wages should increase in tandem with the cost of living. It will keep workers motivated and may even help the economy rebound. A living wage is not only desirable but expedient. What Nigerian workers earn today is a “symbolic wage” and has no practical bearing on reality. The federal minimum wage, currently at N30,000, was last raised in 2019 when the inflation rate was 11-12%. The purchasing power of the naira has since been eroded by 276% (compared to the 2019 rate). Nigeria is ranked 44th in Africa for minimum wage, according to Prof. Kemi Okuwa of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research. These factors indicate the need for a wage increase to address the growing disparity between wages and the cost of living.

When implementing wage increases, the government must exercise caution to ensure that its devotion to its responsibility does not have the reverse impact. The government must develop a robust economic plan to reduce the cost of living as well as mitigate the ripple effects on low-income workers, SMEs, and the macroeconomy. We remember the infamous Udorji’s commission saga and its economic impact. Many economic historians have pointed to the significant shake-up of the salary structure by the Udorji commission as one of the major problems of Nigeria’s economy in the 1970s that upended our pricing system and created significant price inflation in the economy. We must learn from history! A situation where the monetary reward for work is increased but not based on productivity will often lead to unwarranted inflation.

Productivity and added value creation should be a significant consideration among many bases for ascribing monetary wage increases, not just policy or legislation. Can the government link the increase in public servants’ wages and salaries to measurable productivity? Any increase in the cost of production and labour at this point, with no corresponding increase in added value to production, is not sustainable and often is an aberration to the system. Therefore, a balanced approach that considers both the need for increased wages and the economic reality of our country is crucial. This will ensure that our wage policy is fair and sustainable in the long run.

The problem with government-induced increase is that only a limited number of workers, civil servants at the federal level, will get the money; many states may claim they need the means to pay that. Even if the state civil services pay that, combined with the federal civil service, they make up less than 25% of the employed workforce in Nigeria. Most of our workforce comprises low-wage workers, whom SMEs and organized private sector firms employ. These small businesses are struggling to pay the N30,000 per month minimum wage, much more than the new minimum wage. This minimum wage will make these workers poorer if they do not get it like the civil servants because they all buy from the same market.

Besides, making unenforceable laws does not make sense. In other climes, it is against the law not to pay the minimum wage. It is enforced with explicit punishment for breaking the law. In Nigeria, this is different. Nothing happens even if any tier of government fails to pay the minimum wage. Most businesses will completely ignore the new salary structure, and there will be no legal consequences. The government must put some teeth to the new minimum wage rule for equity and justice and at least make it stick across the board. It must also consult widely and make the minimum wage more realistic.

I understand the need for an increase in salary because of hyperinflation that has eroded purchasing power. However, I am preaching caution and a measured approach to dealing with this issue by considering all the ramifications and putting measures in place to cushion unintended consequences. Our recent experience has shown that a salary increase may start a merry-go-round of cyclical inflation that begins with a salary increase, and then inflation eats up the value, and then we are back to where we started. In an economy with over 40% food inflation, all stakeholders must apply caution and careful measures in implementing a new salary structure. However, governments (federal, state, and local) cannot afford to play politics with the issue of “living wage”.

The implications of creating new salary structures and increasing the minimum wage are complex and multifaceted, requiring careful consideration of various factors, including economic conditions, industry dynamics, and social equity goals. Although I advocate for workers getting a living wage and meaningful salaries, given our current economic realities, a more measured approach based on value addition, productivity, and accountability will suffice. As the new wages are implemented, a corresponding demand for increased productivity must be implemented by all stakeholders to make the system sustainable.

I understand the need for government intervention in this, especially the political benefits to the government in terms of reasonable public opinion and support, good labour relations and collective bargaining dynamics, and the corresponding public and political debates and legislative actions this generates; however, the economic exigencies – potential job losses, negative impact on SMEs, and inflationary pressures – must be paramount and considered.

A living wage is the right of every Nigerian, and we must fight for that to reduce income inequality gaps and fight multidimensional poverty. High productivity and less economic legislation are the way forward, and the current confusion in the debate over a minimum wage needs to be more holistic and better informed. All the variables must be on the table, devoid of political grandstanding.

[TheCable]

Nigerian politics is far too divisive and toxic. In addition to the toxicity, there is a pervasive self-fulfilling prophecy that holds that all public servants are corrupt. As a result, both elected and appointed public officials in the past and present are unfairly subjected to relentless media trials based on this assumption, usually on trumped charges.

This sets the scene for understanding the current media trial that Okezie Ikpeazu, the former governor of Abia state, is facing. Among other claims, his successor, Alex Otti, asserted that his predecessor had paid N10 billion for an Abia state airport that did not exist. Otti claimed to be quoting from a forensic audit report that he had ordered, though it hasn’t been released to the public or printed in a government gazette.

Otti appears to be acting like a magician, pulling what he pleases from the audit report—if it truly exists—and presenting it to the angry public, who act as juries and judges in media trials. The report is already accomplishing its goal of running Okezie Ikpeazu down.

However, it appears a boomerang is in the making. Otti’s credibility could be damaged, as will that of his young government, which many believe is off to a smooth start if the information he released against Ikpeazu and released to the public to facilitate a media trial turns out to be false. Nobody will ever believe Otti again, and that will be pathetic.

“Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” is a Latin aphorism that translates to “false in one thing, false in everything.” At common law, it is the legal principle that a witness who falsely testifies about one matter is not credible to testify about any matter. A witness who makes a false statement regarding one issue is not credible to testify about any other matter, according to common law.

The Stuart Treason Trials in the late seventeenth century are where the common law doctrines of “falsus in uno and falsus in omnibus” first appeared. The notion served as a required presumption that a witness was untrustworthy if they had previously lied in court.

English courts started advising juries way back in the nineteenth century that they could assume a witness who gave a false statement was not trustworthy. A required presumption of unreliability for witnesses or sources that have previously provided misleading testimony must also be upheld by discerning minds. A person must enter equity with clean hands.

Applied to the accusations made by the current governor of Abia state against his predecessor, whom he accused of embezzling N107 billion from the state during his tenure, including the assertion that Okpeazu spent a whooping N10 billion for an Abia state airport that never existed. Otti said his claim was the outcome of a report by one of the three best worldwide audit firms, as he defined them, which he said he commissioned to carry out a forensic audit as soon as he took office.

Ikpeazu’s aides and some informed Abians have dismissed Otti’s claim of Ikpeazu paying N10 billion for a nonexistent airport as a malicious fabrication, saying that no additional money was ever paid beyond the N10 million paid for the preliminary spade works, such as site identification, clearing, and the like. They posit that the project was halted because it was widely believed that an airport was not a priority for Abians at the time.

The forensic audit report has reportedly not yet been made public, despite attempts to obtain a copy of it. Subsequent inquiries have shown that the aforementioned audit report has not yet been formally presented to and approved by the Abia State Executive Council. Otti hasn’t even allowed his executive council to see it and is still keeping it close to his chest.

Furthermore, what is in the public domain points to the fact that the payment for a nonexistent Abia Airport used to stigmatise and mock the former governor, Ikpeazu, does not exist, just as the Abia State Airport does not exist either. So one might wonder why there is a rush to selectively release to the public portions of the audit report that is not yet been adopted.

The question is: Is Governor Otti simply trying to play politics with the public’s perception for optics’ sake, providing something for the media trial of his predecessor, and igniting a media frenzy? If Governor Otti did fabricate the N10 billion tales, he may have unintentionally destroyed any credibility that may have been in the forensic audit report since it is laced with lies that may have been injected to mask the truth.

It is right to state that Section 308 of the Constitution prevents Otti from being sued while he is in office for defamation. According to Section 308 of the Constitution, “no civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against the President, Vice-President, Governor, or Deputy Governor, and they may not be arrested or imprisoned, nor may any process of any court requiring or compelling their appearance be issued against them.” So, Otti is safe.

However, Ikpeazu still has some recourse (after the harm he sustained is confirmed by Otti’s inability to substantiate his claim). Once the falsehood is confirmed, the audit report will be rendered meaningless, and the public will perceive it as more of a witch hunt than anything else.

When Nyesom Wike became the governor of Rivers state, a similar situation occurred there as well. He launched a comparable audit inquiry into the tenure of Chibuike Amaechi, his predecessor. Because the report was a witch hunt, it never saw the light of day. It was a precedent Otti should have been familiar with.

In particular, Otti should officially receive the report without further delay, have the Abia State Executive Council adopt it, and leave it available for public review as well as impartial, independent interrogation and investigation. If it is true that Otti did not fabricate at least some parts of the report to get media conviction against his predecessor, making the audit report available to the media shouldn’t be an issue at all. The fact that this procedure was the one that ought to have been followed also underlined the fact that Otti was essentially putting the cart before the horse when he released portions of the forensic audit report piecemeal, which many have trashed as untrue.

Ikpeazu’s experience demonstrates that the media trial of public officials in Nigeria has deep ramifications and implications for the battle against corruption. Even if the victims can prove their innocence, they are not granted real relief because the accusers never go back to debriefing the Nigerian public about the lies they peddled or offering an apology to the good Nigerians who have been maligned and falsely shown to other people as criminals.

In Ikpeazu’s case, Governor Otti must come clean by providing the media with proof of the funds made for the fictitious Abia State Airport, along with the name of the receiving firm or firms. If Ikpeazu never paid such money and there is no such evidence, Otti owes Ikpeazu a public apology.

The media should keep a close eye on this case, as it is a seriously developing story. Either Ikpeazu paid N10 billion for the airport or he did not, or Otti made up the tale or he did not.

As required by both the ethics of journalism and the law, the media should continue to hold public officials innocent until their guilt is proven by the courts and should assist in advocating for justice for those who have not been found guilty as charged. In addition, the media must continue to follow the two golden laws of journalism: hear the other side of the story and, when in doubt, leave out, while also conducting more in-depth investigations.

To determine if this is a case of falsus in uno or falsus in omnibus—”false in one thing, false in everything,” as many now suspect—Nigerians are waiting for the declassification of the Otti’s forensic audit report. He who alleges must prove.

Okezie Ikpeazu should take turns laughing last and should have his integrity back if indeed the phantom airport payment is a fabrication and politics.

Dr Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. He can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter:

Ademola Adeleke, governor of Osun, has directed an immediate investigation into the alleged deportation of Osun youths from Lagos state.

On Saturday, there were reports that the Lagos government implemented the deportation of Osun indigenes from the state.

The reports claimed that police officers had picked up Osun indigenes from various parts of Ajah, TBS and Lagos Island.

In a statement issued on Monday by Olawale Rasheed, spokesperson to the governor, Adeleke expressed shock over the incident, adding that the state has set up an investigative team and was interfacing with the Lagos state government.

“The report was confirmed by an investigation team set up to confirm the veracity of the story by the Osun state government,” the statement reads.

“The state team reported that eyewitness accounts confirmed the dropping of the youths in several luxurious buses by a team suspected to be from Lagos State.

“The state’s report showed that the youths were systematically dropped at Ilesa-Akure express junction, Breweries; Ilesa – Ibodi – Iginla to Ife express junction, Osun Ankara express junction, Imelu express junction and Iperindo express junction.”

The governor said he has engaged Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, who also expressed shock over the development and promised to take urgent action.

“I spoke with my brother, governor Sanwo-Olu on the matter. He too was surprised and he denied ever authorising any such action,” the governor said.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu has promised immediate investigation to unravel the facts of the situation. The Lagos team will update us as quickly as possible.

“I am subsequently directing our security agencies in Osun to mount surveillance in and around Ilesa to track the deported youths and their destinations.

“I will update our people on this development. I urge residents to be calm while the security agencies carry out surveillance.”

[TheCable]

As widely expected, Togo’s national electoral commission has declared the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) Party, as the overwhelming winner of the country’s divisive parliamentary and regional elections held on 29th of April 2024, paving the way for President Faure Gnassingbe to accomplish the dream of prolonging his 19-year stay in power.

According to the results announced by the Commission on Saturday, the UNIR won 108 of the 113 available seats in what opposition parties and civil society groups dismissed as a sham vote that followed the government-pushed constitutional changes approved by the UNIR-dominated parliament 10 days before the elections.

David Dosseh, one of Togo’s prominent civil society activists fighting against injustice and impunity, has described the changes as a “constitutional and electoral coup.”

Speaking after the elections as a panellist on a television programme with this writer, Dosseh explained that “most of Togo's estimated nine million citizens have not seen the texts” of the constitution passed by the parliament on the 19th of April.

The hurriedly passed changes preceded by two postponements of the elections have far-reaching consequences on Togo’s political governance and electoral system.

Without adequate consultation, the changes turned Togo from a presidential to a parliamentary governance model and from a direct system of electing the President/Prime Minister to an indirect one.

Ninety-one MPs had emerged from the opposition-boycotted 2018 parliament elections in Togo.

Following the changes, the number of parliamentarians was increased to 113, who are now to elect the President of the Republic, with a largely ceremonial status for a five-year mandate.

The MPs from the majority party in parliament will also elect the Prime Minister/President of the Council of Ministers with executive powers, who will serve for six years.

This is even though, Article 2(1), SECTION II of the 2001 ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, clearly states that  “No substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws in the last six (6) months before elections (in member States), except with the consent of a majority of political actors.”

Before the latest elections, ECOWAS, the regional economic bloc had sent a pre-election fact-finding mission from 15th - 20th of April to Togo.

The objective of such missions in the past was to ascertain the level of preparedness, identify challenges if any, and determine whether the political environment met international standards for credible and transparent elections.

Like in previous elections in Togo, where politics has been dominated by the Eyadema family since the country’s independence from France in 1960, the last polls were overshadowed by political tensions and government suppression of opposition and public protests.

Faure assumed power in 2005 following the death of his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled Togo with an iron fist backed by a notoriously repressive armed forces for almost four decades.

According to the opposition, the same armed forces, with senior officers drawn largely from the Kabye ethnic group of northern Togo, imposed Faure on the country and have continued to support him to the hilt. They are afraid of losing power to another ethnic group while Faure is also riding on the crest of his father’s dictatorship.

Faure’s current mandate ends in 2025 but with the ‘fait accompli’ achieved with the pre-determined outcome of the elections based on questionable constitutional and electoral changes, the coast is now clear for him to assume the position of Prime Minister/President of the Council of Ministers to elongate his tenure.

Dosseh acknowledges that neither the opposition parties nor the civil society groups in Togo are in a strong position to challenge the Faure government. This is mainly because poverty and repression have been weaponized, leaving the citizens in a traumatized, if not dehumanized state of permanent fear.

External support also appears not forthcoming. For instance, ECOWAS, which under normal circumstances, should take a principled stance by calling out the Togolese government over the violation of the regional protocol appears to be “playing it safe.”

Four of its 15 member States - Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger - are under military dictatorships, and the last three countries have already served notice of their intention to quit the regional organization altogether.

According to diplomatic sources, there is therefore the fear by the ECOWAS leadership that Togo could join the rogue group if the organization came hard on the country.

So, instead of capitalizing on the recent positive development in Senegal, where the opposition parties combined with the population and vibrant civil society groups to checkmate President Macky Sall, who had wanted to play a similar tenure elongation game, ECOWAS has developed cold feet, further eroding what remains of its dented integrity and reputation.

Faure has contributed to the disunity in the ECOWAS ranks by fraternizing with the military juntas and making the regional sanctions ineffective. By sparing him the consequences of his “bad behaviour,” ECOWAS is vindicating critics who accuse the organization of weakness and inconsistency by applying one set of rules for “political, constitutional and electoral coups” and another for military coups.

The critics have cited several recent instances, such as the dissolution of Guinea Bissau’s Parliament by President Umaro Embalo; former President Sall’s sacking of Senegal’s Electoral Commissioners close to the last presidential election, which his ruling party lost, and now, the controversial constitutional and electoral changes, less than two weeks before the parliamentary and regional elections in Togo.

While the implications and potentially negative consequences of the Faure government’s violation of the ECOWAS protocol against an unconstitutional change of government may yet unfold, the regional organization, along with the African Union and La Francophonie, which observed the elections at the invitation of the administration in Togo have failed the people of Togo and Africans in general.

Against their standard practice, the three organizations did not issue Preliminary Observation reports on the elections. They merely released a timid joint statement, saying that the vote was “inclusive,” contrary to widely held opinion in the country.

By their act of omission or commission, the three organizations might have allowed the Faure administration to use them to rubber-stamp an illegitimate act.

The ECOWAS Commission in 2009 stopped the then-President Mahamadou Tandjan from dissolving Niger’s parliament, and also in 2011, declined an invitation to observe the presidential election organized by then-President Yahya Jammeh because there was no level playing field for the poll.

The Commission refused to recognize the outcome of that election and Jammeh held another election in 2016, which he lost but wanted to claim victory before ECOWAS intervened, resulting in his current exile to Equatorial Guinea.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has its headquarters in Banjul, the Gambian capital, yet the AU could not muster the courage to take the type of tough but principled decisions that earned ECOWAS international acclaim.

If ECOWAS is to regain its past glory, this is the time for more tough, strategic result-oriented, impactful, transformational and pro-people actions borne out of critical thinking. 

Inconsistency, duplicity, fear, or sitting on the fence will further divide the organization and derail the regional integration goal of its founding fathers.

On the other hand, Togolese citizens, especially the pro-democracy advocates owe themselves and the region a patriotic duty to work together against all undemocratic forces in their country.

Time and circumstances might be different, but the anti-apartheid fight in South Africa is an illustration that outside support will only complement a focused, united and aggressive internal struggle.  

Right, liberty or freedom is taken not given!

**Ejime is an Author, Global Affairs Analyst, and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communications

The more than 100 journalists and media workers killed as of 3rd May, 2024 in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, ignited by Hamas’ unprecedented attack against Israel on 7th of October 2023, makes it the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began gathering data in 1992.

This year alone, 25 journalists and media workers have been killed, including 20 in Gaza alone, according to the U.S.-based CPJ, a non-profit organization, that advocates for press freedom and the protection of journalists worldwide.

The Committee also says that it is investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists’ homes.

Globally, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza and the West Bank, and 1,200 in Israel since the Hamas attack and Israeli retaliations.

Every death in a conflict is one too many, journalists are not special.

However, the CPJ Programme Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna posits that: “Journalists are civilians who are protected by international humanitarian law in times of conflict. Those responsible for their deaths face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”

CPJ’s President, Jodie Ginsberg, put it more succinctly: “Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world.”

Speaking on behalf of all advocates of press freedom she said: “(We) must work collectively to ensure that journalist killers are brought to justice … and that the public’s right to be informed is protected from those whose power is threatened by the scrutiny of reporting.”

In his speech to mark this year’s World Press Day or World Press Freedom Day, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights paid tribute to the “countless, fearless individuals daring to question,” including “71 journalists and media workers killed and the 320 imprisoned, in 2023, the highest number ever.”

Describing 2023 as “a devastating year for journalism,” the senior UN official said: “It was a year characterized – again – by impunity. Only 13% of the murder cases have been investigated, he said, adding: “When we lose a journalist, we lose our eyes and ears to the outside world. We lose a voice for the voiceless.”

The 2024 World Press Freedom Day focuses attention on the climate and the environment under the theme “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of Environmental Crisis.”

Türk said the occasion was being marked “in an era of acute global turmoil and the profound fragmentation and polarisation of humanity,” with “conflict boiling over in many places – from Myanmar to Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, and several other parts of the world – causing intolerable human suffering.”

According to him: “Disinformation is infecting our media and digital landscapes, fuelling hate and division. And as climate change batters our fragile planet, the lives and livelihoods of future generations are under the gravest threat this world has ever known.”

He acknowledged “journalists around the world who are working to hold polluters accountable for the damage and the devastation. They are driving open debate and critical thinking,” the UN official affirmed.

“And by separating facts from lies and propaganda, they are pushing for evidence-based policy decisions on the climate crisis that the world so urgently needs.

Environmental journalists need stronger commitments from their governments and their employers to protect them. Better and safer working conditions…

The dramatic consequences of inertia and inaction on the climate crisis are unfolding as we speak. This doesn’t have to be the case,” Türk added.

The World Press Freedom Day is observed annually on May 3rd. It was established by the UN General Assembly in 1993, following a recommendation adopted at UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.

The day celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom, evaluates press freedom around the world, defends the media from attacks on their independence, and pays tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

The date was also chosen to commemorate the Windhoek (Namibia) Declaration, on free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

It emphasizes the importance of freedom of the press and reminds governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As part of the commemoration, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is conferred on deserving individuals, organizations, or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to the defence and promotion of press freedom worldwide.

The prize is named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá in 1986.

Cano’s writings offended Colombia’s powerful drug barons, and journalists in other parts of the World face similar threats today.

According to the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Norway ranks the highest in press freedom, while Eritrea ranks the lowest.

According to the CPJ, of the 320 journalists and media workers imprisoned as of December 1, 2023, China with (44), followed by Myanmar (43), Belarus (28), Russia (22), and Vietnam (19), rank as having the highest number of jailed journalists.

*Ejime, a former War Correspondent, is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communications

As Toyin Falola temporarily relocates to East and South Africa in the summer, giving lectures in Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, and Botswana, he moves into what one can describe as “the orbit of intellectual comparison.” He is not like the figures they are used to: Nurudeen Farah, Ngugi Wa Thing’o, and Wole Soyinka. He does not deal with the ambiguities of creative writing but the directness of intellectualism. He is a front-rank figure in African nationalist and political thought. As I prepare a public lecture on Toyin Falola, to be presented on May 13, 2-24, as part of an intellectual feast, I began to see how he resembles Wilmot Biden, Marcus Garvey, and W. B. Dubois. I eventually settled for an intellectual paradigm that linked him more to Ali Mazrui, who had tremendous respect for Falola while he was alive. At one time, Mazrui likened himself to John the Baptist while talking about Falola, whom he called Ndugu.

Intellectuals across different generations are known for the outstanding contributions they make to issues that concern the progress of their people in their ways. Through what they postulate and the ideologies that they project, they are drawn to a community of followers that identify the light in their engagements and decide to be associated with them because of their constellation of ideas that are useful for personal and even collective development. This occurs in every aspect of human endeavor. Shakespeare, for example, commanded a swath of literary disciples who wanted to be like him and postulate exactly like that great man. Interestingly, it was not only Shakespeare that attained that feat. In the field of philosophy, several individuals understand that Aristotle made intimidating accomplishments that are commonly used as the benchmark for quality intellection in the ages and centuries far after his own. Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Wole Soyinka, among others, have made such an indelible mark in the literary industry in recent years, and they have had a massive impact on a crowd of intelligent folks who intend to be like that and carry out similar lights in their endeavors. Toyin Falola is another bright scholar who has blazed the trail in historical writings, and his popularity is a product of his undying love for intellectual engagements involving human history, particularly African history, for a global overview. Falola is indeed a brilliant scholar who traverses many disciplines. In a world flattened by the thorns of partial criticism by Western scholars who are scarcely educated about African realities and history, Falola has erected himself as an irrepressible voice challenging newfangled rhetoric against Afrocentric ideas. 

All these scholars in the category mentioned above and those who are unintentionally omitted have one thing in common: they are consistent in their ideological projection and committed to their life-long philosophy. At the heart of every writing is a philosophical argument made by writers for the purpose of bringing to the attention of people certain issues that can potentially challenge their sociocultural or ontological realities or educating them on the most effective ways to prevent unwholesome damage and challenges that could come to them spasmodically. To that extent, writers are considered the light of their society and would be looked up to when expectations of a refined social environment are rife. In the African legal discourse, such writers would include the Senegalese Jurist Keba Mbaye, who, after a good analysis of the state of (under)development in Africa, posits in his Inaugural Lecture back in the 70s that development is a human right or an entitlement. His ideas germinated, and today, not only is the right to development binding in the African human rights system, but it is also clearly provided in the 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development. There is also currently a Draft treaty on the Right to Development for debate at the UN.  

Falola, however, stands out and is very different in this category of African scholars for some very important reasons. He shares compelling attributes with the scholars in this category by using his intellectual engagements as a force to remedy the wrongs that the world has done against Africans. Just as Ali Mazrui employed history to demystify the negative perception that people have against Africans, Falola has used that discipline and others as launchpads for his shining ideas that primarily dislodge the poor notions that are generated and spread about Africans from the West to the world. Mazrui was popular for discrediting the untested hypothesis about Africans, and he was seen for who he was: an uncompromising individual channeling his ideas regardless of the circumstances, protests, and criticism that people hurled against him. 

Toyin Falola explains to people how the deliberately (mis)constructed identity of Africans by the West has obstructed the people from actualizing their fullest potential. Although many people have always been critical of that position, it remains true to the extent that sufficient resources and evidence are provided to substantiate that position. All the works of man have always centered on the exploration of different aspects of African life so that they would assist in projecting the ideas that challenge the very negative remarks and overview that the world has about Africans through the reliance on Western history and historical narratives that are purely doctored to achieve a particular intention. Perhaps his resourceful intelligence is enhanced by the reality of his active participation in African cultural engagement; the understanding that he brings values to the table of discourse shows the reason why many people accept his positions in ways that challenge the superordinate projection of the universalists. Falola has researched African political history, and we cannot but marvel at how much evidence he has brought to the debate as to how the precolonial African societies were filled with organized political systems, effective economic templates, sound philosophical debates, and more, that helped to shape their corresponding families, settlements, and states. Contrary to the misconception that individuals peopled Africa without the quality intellection needed for the transformation of their societies, evidence abounds through Falola’s work that they really evolved intellectually just like other peoples of the world, and they erected vibrant and sound structures during the various phases of their growth. In one of his talks at UNISA, Falola problematized customary law to demonstrate that before the arrival of colonial masters, Africans were governed by their laws, customs, and traditions, which now characterized universalists to be customary vis a vis (Western law).  

While we cannot deny that Africa regorges a massive amount of wealth and natural resources, central to the intellectual argument of Ali Mazrui is the fact that Africa’s most influential resources are the resources are people themselves, for they have amazing brainpower, which they translate into concrete results to transform any place where they find themselves. Falola equally holds such a view in a more instructive manner. Falola has been a vibrant voice in the diaspora, helping Africans who are indifferent to the core African values to reconnect to their background and claim their identity in positive ways. By his boldness and confidence in expressing the African truth in ways that accommodate divergent thinking, he has been able to unlock the gridlock of age-long stereotypic sentiment that has placed Africa and Africans in a subaltern position, thus denying a whole continent of people the opportunity to express confidence in themselves and their heritages. Falola takes a sharp departure from Mazrui’s approach here. Falola dips his intellectual fingers into African history, which has received maximum denigration from anti-African advocates or Afro-pessimists, and brings replicable evidence that is required to unsettle otherwise straight-jacketed positions that have held about the continent for a very long time. That Africans at different locations and places have begun to feel alive about their past is not unconnected to the fact that individuals like Falola have taken a frontline position in rendering the destructive or hegemonic narratives against Africans invalid by producing a more credible version of the true history backed by replicable evidence. 

One of the most powerful instruments of this scholar is the advocacy for the embracement of African cultural history as their model of development. As I argue in my forthcoming book on Falola’s works, Falola maintains that Africa’s agency is inalienable and, as such, cannot be compromised. This means that, unlike Mazrui, Falola does not solely believe in depending on other people’s epistemic traditions for the safety of the African identity. In fact, rather than this, he has continued to voice his thoughts about African spirituality as a credible source of the people in challenging the crucibles of external power. His approach to liberation and emancipation is all-encompassing in that he continues to demonstrate how the reliance on African indigenous spirituality, such as Ubuntu (or the togetherness of Africans), would help bring several Africans to the awareness that their world has been invaded in ways that have detrimental effects, and consequences on other areas of their existence including socialization, political system, and also economic practices. Just like Mazrui, Falola does not reject Islam and is of the view that it can be practiced in Africa alongside other spirituality but not as a superior spirituality perspective to the pool of what Africans have available in their indigenous stores.

For this reason, he has beamed his searchlight of research and intellectual engagements in various areas where indigenous practices can be explored for common benefits and even exported without prejudice. Falola believes African spirituality contains a number of things, including a scientific approach that is waiting to scale through continental boundaries. Africans have maintained a strong scientific system for centuries and millennia thanks to their knowledge of science and approaches that they had in different dimensions. Their knowledge of sciences enabled them to build pyramids in Egypt, the Mandengue Empire, the Kingdom of Monomotapa, and the Bamoun people of West Cameroon to invent their specific writings. 

Falola’s engagement in this way has, therefore, mandated a discovery of methods that are deserving of immediate incorporation into global intellectualism so that the world would have several alternatives to getting problems confronting the human family solved without further acrimony. Therefore, from being an exclusive historian, Falola is believed to have mutated into an epistemologist who uses his vast educational experience to draw information from otherwise marginalized areas and refine mined ideas until they become useful to humanity in many ways. It is, therefore, no coincidence that he has organized many conferences on the continent. 

Of all the existing global academics, especially the ones that come from Africa, Falola stands out as one of those who have never compromised the global standard of knowledge production, and he does that in a frequency that would amaze anyone and everyone. For that reason, all the accolades directed towards him are not misdirected or ill-motivated. They are reflective of his unwavering determination and commitment to the resurgence of alternative knowledge in a world stoked by universalist fundamentals that crucify differences. Although preceding intellectuals have made efforts towards rescuing the dying epistemic heritages of Africa, which has suffered malignant damage courtesy of the absence of necessary materials that could serve as counterpoints, Falola has become an irrepressible voice in this domain today by giving his attention and seriousness to the resurgence of these knowledge items so that the world will be blossomed by the presence of alternatives. 

Great man, welcome to our part of the world!

Nigerians are visibly facing hard times following reforms in critical sectors involving petroleum, power and foreign exchange issues. President Bola, Tinubu, the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu and to a large extent, Vice President Kashim Shettima have quickly learnt how to show empathy to the suffering masses. They say they fully appreciate the gravity of the impact of the reforms on the masses while consistently appealing to Nigerians to be steadfast in support of the policies because of the expectations of a better tomorrow.

Although, no one is really that such golden expectations, would ever materialize, the compassionate posture and open support of those leaders for several palliatives, have made many people to remain silent in pain. However, any other top office-holder that does not appreciate the fragility of the silence makes a basic mistake.

Adebayo Adelabu, our current Minister of Power, is one such official who in addition to repeating the appeals already made by his bosses, engages in hurting and contentious communication that offend the sensibilities of a frustrated people. Perhaps Adelabu needs to learn a few lessons from Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development who speaks with a confidence that conveys hope. Alake is also talking tough but he restricts his threats to saboteurs and unpatriotic elements who are exploiting the nation. The other day Alake revoked 924 licences. In fairness, the assignments of both ministers differ just as Alake is in addition, a communication professional but no officials should take citizens for granted. For example, it is unfair to suggest that it is because of an alleged low tariff system in Nigeria that many Nigerians adopt a carefree attitude towards the use of the public power supply system. 

Minister Adelabu’s viewpoint is not only incorrect but it is made in a clime where the most unreasonable and permanent situation is a public power system that has remained epileptic. It is not only ordinary citizens that greatly deprecate Nigeria’s power system, the elites similarly loathe the trend. Only last week, power supply was seized while Adelabu was fielding questions from senators at the investigative hearing on “the need to halt the increase in the price of electricity” organised by the Senate Committee on Power. It was an excellent opportunity for the minister to hear the experiences of wealthy Nigerians. Addressing Adelabu on the power interruption that occurred in his presence, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said “You see what just happened. This is what we all experience. We the Senators experience it too and I am sure even the President does experience it at the Villa, just that he cannot speak out like we are.”

Certainly, Minister Adelabu cannot controvert the general view put to him by Senator Abaribe. If so, why did he have to threaten that Nigeria would be in darkness if the new tariff system is not implemented? When have we not been in darkness? In fact, 90 percent of Nigerians are not likely to understand the threat on darkness because almost every part of Nigeria has remained in darkness for longer than makes sense. The remaining 10 percent are out of darkness not because they get public power supply but because they have resources to get alternative power supply. To threaten Nigerians that there would be darkness except exorbitant tariffs are paid is a misplaced communication strategy because we all know that the power problem of our nation is caused by corruption. If the minister does not know this basic fact, then, he is probably in the wrong ministry.

It is therefore not irrational to imagine that perhaps Nigerians both high and low know more about the problems of power than its current minister. If our people do not know other details especially technical issues, it is an open secret that our power officials have made Nigeria become notorious for asking consumers to pay for even the tools that they work with. A few days ago, some citizens in Ilorin, Kwara State made public the demands on them to pay for multi-million-naira Transformers and even transport fares to fix faulty power facilities. Meanwhile, the relevant regulator, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is aware of the law that forbids electricity distribution companies from asking customers to buy or repair electricity assets as a condition for the restoration of power supply, yet it does nothing about the Kwara story which is replicated nationwide. 

To make matters worse, the tariff structure that officials want Nigerians to swallow is a 419 arrangement which explains why everyone is apprehensive about it. Whereas there are a few people would still evade tariffs even if the system becomes efficient, there is no doubt that no one is today satisfied with the power narrative which even reputable institutions have problem with. The communication between the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company IBEDC and the University College Hospital UCH, Ibadan is a case in point. Last month, the hospital threatened to shut its doors at 4pm everyday because power had been seized from the nation’s foremost teaching hospital. IBEDC’s case is that the UCH had been owing N400 million spanning some 6 years, but Jesse Otegbayo, UCH’s chief medical director (CMD), accused the company of giving the hospital industrial bills. 

Neither the illegal trend of forcing consumers to pay for official working tools of workers of electricity companies as revealed in the Ilorin story nor the categorization of the UCH as an industrial site has been reacted to by those who specialize in blaming citizens for the problems in the power sector. 

Instead, what seems to matter to both the regulatory body and the minister is a hurried tariff system that is put in place ahead of an inept service. It is like getting passengers to pay for a flight whose aircraft is undergoing repairs in the aviation sector. What makes the situation more irritating is that the electricity companies are making no effort to invest in the sector to make it ready for tariffs. Nigeria needs a power minister that can ensure that tariffs come after infrastructure is ready to deliver service. Before then, the current communication of the deaf by our power officials and their minister would remain ineffectual.

If the truth must be told, it is regulators and not the relevant minister that should monitor and manage the electricity companies for better performance. They should be compelled to do that forthwith while the minister holds-on strongly to policy. In other words, all efforts should be made to constitute an independent regulatory body for our power sector. The National Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC as currently constituted has not shown that it has the courage or expertise to call their agencies to order. Perhaps the problem may not be far from the situation in the last 8 years when friends and relations with little or no cognate experience in a business were mandated to regulate the same business. If so, government should pick competent hands into the NERC instead of seeing it as opportunity to give jobs to political supporters.

When Adelabu was appointed minister late last year he pledged to make a mark. There is doubt if he really understood the exact scope required to make a mark in a ministry that has become known as a giant killer. The legendary Bola Ige had to be rescued from the ministry in 2000 after spending just a year as its minister. Babatunde Fashola performed wonders as Governor of Lagos State but got humbled in the power ministry.

The only two ministers sacked by former President Muhammadu Buhari included Saleh Mamman who was Minister of Power. Since democratic rule was restored to Nigeria in 1999, no minister has exceeded the dismal 4MW of power coverage in Nigeria. If we cannot emulate Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia which have 100 percent coverage, Adelabu should find out how Botswana, Kenya and Senegal are fast moving towards the same feat. It can certainly not be through aggressive communication.

If I was a fly on the wall of the presidential quarters, I would whisper to President Tinubu that the streets are abuzz with the clamour for state police and that the current unitary policing system has outlived its sell-by date. 

Without doubt, one of the greatest legacies the president can gift Nigeria is a new policing architecture that guarantees the protection of lives and property for both the mighty and the lowly alike. If he fails to do that, the security situation will continue to deteriorate and, no matter whatever else his government achieves, it will just be written off as inconsequential. 

The House of Representatives has already set the ball rolling through a bill titled, “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to Provide for Establishment of State Police and for Related Matters (HB. 617)”. The proposed legislation was sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu alongside 14 co-sponsors.

The proponents argue that the establishment of state police forces is not merely a desirable reform but an imperative measure to address the burgeoning security challenges that threaten the nation’s collective safety. The bill envisages a transformative shift in Nigeria’s policing architecture, advocating for the decentralisation of policing powers by transferring the “Police” item from the “Exclusive Legislative List” to the “Concurrent Legislative List.” 

This strategic amendment seeks to empower states to establish and manage their police forces, thereby introducing a dual policing system intended to enhance responsiveness and accountability at the state level.

Already, some shrill voices of opposition have emanated from serving senior police officers  who frown at the idea of anyone balkanising their empire— even if that empire as presently constituted is but a pack of cards. A backward glance at history will educate nay sayers about the imperative of dismantling the current unitary system in preference for a more inclusive one. 

Separation Of Powers

An important feature of federation is devolution of powers and in any federal state, the primary responsibility for law enforcement should necessarily lie with the federating units. The police as the first line of defence for the citizens should be very close to the people as much as possible, but in Nigeria the police authority is far removed from the people and this tends to limit the effectiveness of the Nigeria Police Force.

With 371,000 officers, the Nigeria Police Force is overwhelmed, and many parts of the country lack any permanent police presence. Insurgents of different hues have seized control of some far flung territories, imposing brutal, bloody rule over the locals. In response, the military is now deployed in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, a major distraction from its role of territorial defence. Sadly, the creation of additional combat divisions by the Nigerian Army to join the existing four has been primarily in response to internal security rather than immediate threats of external aggression. 

In the 1960s, Nigeria operated a three-tier policing system comprising federal, regional, and local police. Community policing was the order of the day. The various tiers of government allocated adequate resources to ensure that police work at their various levels was effective. I knew the policeman whose beat covered our street. He knew every resident. The easiest way a visitor could locate an address or a family was simply by asking a policeman on the beat. 

Now we have policemen who don’t know the names of the street on which their ‘toll gates’— euphemistically called check points— are located. That is why they behave like an army of occupation. Their instructions come from Abuja. The mentality is that of a force deployed to occupy the states.

While it is true that there were allegations of brutality, nepotism and double standards levelled against the local police in the First Republic, the subsequent centralisation of the force under the military government did not fare any better. Politicians abused their access to the police at that time as they do today.  

The Us Example

The USA, whose presidential system of government Nigeria adopted in 1999, offers a template for a decentralised police structure with about 18,000 police departments, federal, state, municipal, county, village, college, campus and corporate organisations. (Punch, 2018.) State Police in the USA are also known as Highway Patrol, State Highway Patrol, State Troopers, all carrying out law enforcement activities including criminal investigations across the state. They collaborate with local police (county and village) to address complicated criminal cases. 

In other words, policing in the USA involves an independent autonomous police system at different levels of governance in the country. This implies that law enforcement in the USA is decentralised and the Federal police authorities deal with violation of federal laws while states police enforce state laws (see https://socialscienceresearch.org/index.php/GJHSS/article/view/3993/8-The-Imperatives-of-State_html)

I have argued for decentralisation of the police over the years. I am firmly of the view that, the bulk of the present personnel of the police force should be transferred to their states of origin to form the core of the police service for the states while the federal government embarks on a massive recruitment drive for fresh hands to man the new federal police with a minimum entry requirement of a university degree or Higher National Diploma. 

The on-going bombing campaign by Boko Haram and the threat of renewed violence by some elements in other parts of the country clearly show that the current structure of the police force under the ‘sole administratorship’ of an inspector general who reports to the president is unworkable. Each state should have its own police force headed by a police chief who reports to the governor of the state. 

I have heard arguments about the possible misuse to which politicians could subject the state police. I think it smacks of intellectual laziness to just sit idly to parrot a cacophony of fears of the unknown instead of pooling ideas to neutralise those fears. The argument that state governors will misuse any security force under their power is fraudulent. The greatest champion of impunity and self-help in Nigeria over the years is the federal government — and no one has suggested that we should strip the federal government of the power to control forces of coercion.  

The devil is in the details. The law enabling the establishment of state police should make it difficult for governors to hijack the body for selfish political purposes. 

Mark The Boundaries

The federal police should be something like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. That organisation is saddled with the task of protecting and defending the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to enforce federal laws. It currently has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal law. The national security priorities are stated as terrorism, counter-intelligence and cybercrime while the criminal priorities are public corruption, civil rights, organized crime, white collar crime, violent crime and major thefts. We can replicate that to delineate the duties and limits of the powers of our new federal police. 

The present nomenclature of inspector general of police should be converted to Chief of the Nigerian Bureau of Investigations to head the new body. The current crop of officers and men in the police force would have to be retrained to be useful to their states of origin before they are redeployed.

Some states in Nigeria are bigger and more populous than several countries in Africa and Europe. To argue that their governors are mere children who cannot be trusted with managing their own police service is fallacious and insulting. 

Every state can afford to fund a police service if security is prioritised.

Thankfully, the House of Representatives has started the process of legislating state policing into existence. I urge President Tinubu to put the weight of his office behind the initiative because, as things stand now, we are all sitting ducks at the mercy of random merchants of terror.

NO one in a position of authority deliberately sets out to give himself a bad image. What usually happens is that aides, family members, friends, influencers, lobbyists, and those in the corridors of power deliberately or inadvertently crop up injuries or a bad image for their principals. Some do this to curry favour as they pretend to be more Catholic than the pope, crying louder than the bereaved. Others do it deliberately to feather their own nests. Still, there are those who act consciously to give their principal a bad image. They hold grudges or have axes to grind for one reason or the other. It is not everything that happens in government that the governors know something about. No man can be in more than one place at a time. The late MKO Abiola recalled that he once introduced his Foreman to his father and the old man retorted, “Mba, no man can be four-man or do the job of four men”!

Authority must be delegated – but the one who delegates has a duty to ensure that the power so delegated is not abused. Where delegated authority is abused, the one who delegates carries the can because the buck stops on his table. Anyone who abuses the power delegated to him is either whipped into line or the powers delegated to him are withdrawn. It is in this wise that I beseech Gov. BabajideSanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos state, to either whip LASTMA (Lagos State Traffic Management Authority) and VIO (Vehicle Inspection Officers) into line or withdraw/review the powers vested in them, which they have, in my view, exercised arbitrarily, thereby inflicting much pain and sorrow on Lagos vehicle owners. The way and manner these two agencies, plus their Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) counterparts, extort Lagos motorists must now come to the attention of Gov. Sanwo-Olu.

Not all presidents have the capacity to do what former president Olusegun Obasanjo was reputed as doing: taking time to read virtually every memo sent to him, rather than consigning them to aides to handle. Also, not all administrators can do what Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa perfected as his own style of government when he was the military administrator of Lagos state. Marwa double-checked, even triple-checked, any information he received before acting on them. He had reliable friends outside of the civil service structure and government circles that he bounced information and decisions off before making up his mind. Again, not all politicians will be like Ayodele Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti State. Street-wise, man of the garb, and man of the people, Fayose hardly allowed a day to pass walking the street and mingling with ordinary people. “E pele, e pele” he would greet the people as he mingled with the hoi polloi. He was not averse to sharing his telephone numbers with the man in the street. He was also fond of putting phone calls across to ordinary people to seek first-hand information about happenings in their locality. I witnessed him bounce proposed decisions on ordinary folks or recruit them to conduct opinion surveys for him on critical issues affecting their communities.

Every leader has his own style, which differs from one leader to another. I cannot claim to know Gov. BabajideSanwo-Olu’s preferred style. Therefore, I would beseech whoever has his ears or those closer to his media advisers and image-makers than I do, to kindly bring this information to their knowledge: LASTMA and Lagos VIO, through their ingenious but oppressive activities on Lagos roads, are giving the governor a bad name. Under the guise of performing official duties, they fleece the people. Three weeks ago they almost ruined the wake of the wife of my brother-pastor: there is this place at the foot of the Mile 12 bridge while driving to Ikorodu where a conglomeration of Police, LASTMA, VIO, name it, are to be found congregating and hibernating; once an unsuspecting motorist steps on what they call the BRT lane, they swoop on the victim. No plea moves them. No condition you are in sways them. You must bribe them, and they usually demand hefty sums. If a motorist not familiar with a route mistakenly steps on BRT lane, what is wrong if you educate him/her and direct him/her to the right lane? Not these scoundrels parading as law enforcers!

It is like they have been given a target to meet by their office or they are the ones that have set a target for themselves! The woman ferrying the snacks for the wake of my friend’s wife was arrested and they demanded a bribe. She would not give. So, they kept moving her from one location to another. My friend, exasperated and sweating profusely at the other end at Ijede where the wake was to be held, called me. I began to trace these felons – common criminals in official uniforms acting under the seal and authority of the Lagos State Government. When they saw that the woman would not budge, they took her to an office in the Ojota area where she paid N70,000 and was let off the hook. She almost missed the ceremony. A few days ago, another friend who recounted the ordeal of his acquaintance in the hands of the same hounds told me that the receipts they write for offenders paying fines are usually fake and that the money often ends up in private pockets. It doesn’t get worse than that! The victims lose and the Lagos State Government loses as well. Some miscreants in uniform and their accomplices smile at the bank at the expense of both.

There is a subsisting court judgment barring VIOs from demanding the certificate of road worthiness of private vehicles. There is another restriction on the operations of FRSC officials, limiting them only to Federal roads. These brigands spurn court orders and peddle their impunity in broad daylight. But their day of reckoning may just be around the corner! Have you seen the videos of irate citizens engaging PHCN officials who come disconnecting their lines? It may soon be the turn of LASTMA, FRSC and VIO officials to begin to have their own baptism of fire. We have seen isolated cases already. It may soon become more widespread and commonplace. Lessen the people’s burden! Stop adding misery upon misery on a population already lying prostrate. When the long-suffering people of Israel told Jeroboam, who succeeded to the throne after the death of his father, King Solomon, to lessen their burden and he refused, threatening instead to make the people’s suffering doubly sore, the people scattered from following him!

Tell Sanwo-Olu and his party, APC, that another General Election will soon be here! Have they forgotten so soon how they lost the presidential election but managed to escape with the skin of their teeth in the last governorship election?  When penalties for traffic offences are insanely high, you end up aiding and abetting corruption. In the present dire economic situation, many will prefer to cut corners and save some bucks. Government loses at both ends: It loses the money it intends to make and loses as well the support and empathy of the citizens. No fine for minor traffic offence should attract the penalty of a fine higher than Five Thousand Naira (N5000). Before you compare the penalties for traffic offences in the United States and such other places (in dollar terms) with what you should replicate here, first compare the minimum wage here with the minimum wage in those other countries.

Gov. Sanwo-Olu should please withdraw the power of LASTMA to impound, arrest and impose fines on motorists. Their duty should simply be to direct traffic. When you see them crowd together at traffic lights, their main objective is for mischief. If the STOP sign (Red light) is on but they flag you on because there is no traffic on the other ends, you will be making a mistake to obey them because the installed camera will pick you as breaking the traffic light. In the next few hours, you will receive a notice on your phone that you have committed a traffic offence and should come to an office to settle your fine! But if they urge you on when the traffic light stops you and you choose to disobey them and obey the traffic light, they will swoop on you, taking fake photographs and accusing you of obstructing the free flow of traffic! Head or tail, you lose! Head or tail, they win! Have you noticed that traffic lights here do not operate as traffic lights operate elsewhere? They have tampered with them and have confused the way traffic lights normally work. This is one reason foreign countries usually advise their nationals, even those with dual nationalities, not to drive while in Nigeria.

The oppressive tendencies of LASTMA, VIO and FRSC on Lagos roads are becoming suffocating and unbearable. Something urgent should be done by the governor before citizens begin to take the law into their own hands. In this country, every layer of officials armed with guns or uniforms and licensed by the government usually results in another layer of oppression and impunity. I am beginning to reconsider my support for state policing!