For decades, the Nigerian government has regularly rolled out obnoxious policies to make life difficult for individuals and businesses. The expatriates employment levy (EEL) must rank among the top five. It is as silly as silly gets. Although it has now been suspended by the same Bola Tinubu administration that launched the ghastly policy, it should still not escape intense scrutiny because it was deceptively packaged as a patriotic policy to save Nigerian jobs, whereas it was all about money, money and more money. While the government definitely needs as much money as it can get in this dire situation, we seem hell-bent on shooting ourselves in the foot because of narrow thinking.

Everything about the EEL is absurd — the concept, the levy, the timing, everything. It was sugar-coated with a claim of “discouraging” companies from hiring expatriates for jobs Nigerians “can do”. It is a fee of between $10,000 and $15,000 per head. If you really want to protect Nigerian jobs, the right thing to do, in my opinion, is to place visa restrictions on certain jobs or sectors. In countries like Canada, the UK, and the US, jobs in which locals have competence and there is no shortage of workers are not eligible for work visas. We are just being half clever by the “job protection” claim. I reckon that restrictions can be subverted, but at least we should be clear in our minds what we want.

If our interest is to “discourage” companies from hiring expatriates for jobs Nigerians “can do”, why is there no exception to the EEL? Why is the levy to be applied on all expatriates, including those doing the jobs Nigerians cannot do? In a society where there is rigour in public policy process, that is a question that would have been asked, dissected and answered before the fanfare of the launch. The EEL contractor is a company owned by foreigners who, you won’t believe this, are also trying to do the job Nigerians can do. We may be deficient in many things, but it is not too much for us to build an IT system. In fact, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has the IT infrastructure in place.

But you know what? The contractors are charging us $95 million to “build” the IT infrastructure in a country that has captured the similar data multiple times through BVN, NIN, driving licence, population census, passport processing, visa applications, work permit issuance, etc. There is hardly information needed on expatriates in Nigeria that is not already in the custody of NIS: biometrics, date of birth, place of birth, nationality, name of employer, office address, home address, etc. Trust me, the NIS system will be core to this “new” thing. But trust some smart guys to think up another scheme for yet another company to collect similar data once again — for a fee of $95 million.

The most tragic aspect of the EEL is that at a time we are desperately crying for foreign investors to flood Nigeria with dollars to help save the naira and create jobs, we are telling them there will be a levy of $15,000 on every expatriate they bring. Imagine a Dutch investor coming to Nigeria to set up a dairy factory that will employ 2,000 Nigerians, but we are telling him that in addition to all his expenses on diesel, bitumen, water treatment, equipment, police, and so on, he will have to fork out an additional $1.5 million for bringing 100 expatriates, whereas he will not incur such costs going to Ghana, Benin or Rwanda. This is aside the $2,000 level per dependent that we are already charging.

I think there is a bit of arrogance that goes into policy making in this country. I can easily claim that the government is deliberately making life hard for individuals and businesses. I can also easily claim that the policy making process is devoid of rigour. But the truth is that we also have this arrogance about us: that Nigeria is the biggest market in Africa, that investors would always rush down here no matter how sickening our policies are. Apparently, our policymakers do not take stock of how our tragic policies have either been chasing away investors or discouraging them from coming here. We need to get the data and take a critical look at the ins and outs in the last decade. It is not pretty.

Nigeria is not the only country in the world (in case we don’t know). Investors have options. Those behind the EEL idea project that Nigeria will rake $13.39 billion from it. Let me even concede some ground by saying that maybe this revenue motive tempted the government to approve the levy, but is the $13.39 billion revenue even guaranteed? You want to “discourage” expatriates and at the same time raise $13.39 billion from “discouraging” them! You impose $15,000 levy to stop them from coming here and still expect to raise $13.39 billion from the same people who have stayed away? That is why I said I would like to be a fly on the wall when these daft policies are being considered.

Nevertheless, my position is not a blanket endorsement of the practices by some companies who abuse our immigration system by flooding Nigeria with low-skilled workers under the pretext of “expatriates”. The right thing to do is crack down on them by developing a robust system of checks. The problem is the collusion by immigration officials, but our ingenious way of addressing this is to place a $15,000 levy — or a levy of any kind — on ALL expatriates. In a battered economy that wants to attract the best of brains and the biggest of investments! I recall the Yoruba proverb about blocking your nose to patronise a dirty pap seller — only for him to start charging premium prices.

The fact that the Tinubu administration suspended the EEL after consulting with the critical stakeholders in commerce and industry confirms yet again another malaise with public policy process in Nigeria: lack of proper homework and prior consultation. Those behind the EEL had been peddling the idea for years. It was resisted by the Buhari administration. But they found willing tools in the Tinubu administration who helped them fast-track it and then unleashed it on the economy. Thank God the damage had not been done before Tinubu suspended it, unlike in the cases of petrol subsidy and exchange rate when the government only started asking questions after hastily firing its guns.

The EEL apart, we generally live with many contradictions. We want the economy to grow, to tackle poverty, and to reduce crimes by creating jobs. We want businesses to boom. Yet, we subject them to the harshest environment with all kinds of levies and using thugs in uniform to extract taxes from them — as if it is not bad enough that they are buying diesel at N1,600/litre to power their offices and factories. We chase street vendors off the road without providing an alternative, like an organised location for them to do business and feed themselves and their families. We treat them as mosquitoes and cockroaches. We destroy shanties and provide no accommodation for the homeless.

In my previous article, I focused on the hardship the government has been inflicting on Nigerians since 2010 over biometric captures for SIM registration, BVN and NIN. My conclusion was that some of the stress Nigerians are routinely subjected to — in the name of “linking” BVN to bank accounts or NIN to phone lines — could have been better managed through the use of smart phones or portals on the websites of banks and telcos. But there seems to be this almost sadistic satisfaction some people in government enjoy from seeing Nigerians queueing up in the sun and under the rain and getting extorted as a result of directives and policies that are clearly not well thought through.

In the past, I wrote a series of articles on the traumatic processes Nigerians go through in trying to get a passport. I am glad that the stress is being reduced, although there is a lot of exaggeration and social media buzz on how easy it is to apply for a passport from your laptop. In reality, it is still hellish, just that if you know how to play the game, you will experience less pains. For the passport officials, the worst crime you can commit is to pay online. You will be properly humiliated at their offices. My niece who committed the offence said all who paid online were asked step aside at the Ikeja office for trying to be “wise”; only those who came with cash were attended to, and promptly.

I have a friend who has been trying to change one data error in her passport. It was not her fault that the wrong name was inputted, but she was ready to make amends all the same. After paying the official rate of N67,000 online without seeing result, she was asked to pay an additional N250,000 to get the correction done. In addition, she will have to travel to Abuja, even though on social media, the official line is that you can correct passport data from the comfort of your kitchen. Another official of the passport office said he can help her get it done in Lagos but blamed her for paying online. “The money has gone into TSA,” he told her, while asking for N200,000 to start all over again.

Having reflected extensively on our oppressive system and how it is impacting negatively on Nigeria and Nigerians, I am forced to conclude that we don’t know what we are doing — even though we speak highfalutin jargons, wear designer attires and play the part. There is no sincerity of purpose in many policies and actions by the government — and this is not just at the federal level, as we are wont to lament. There is no genuine intention to solve problems in many cases. There is no rigour in the policy process in several instances. A lot of public policies are motivated by what Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the former youth and sports minister, calls “carica-chop” — a caricature of caricature.

I will close today by throwing this challenge at our policymakers at all levels: take time to think through what you conceive as policies. There may be hidden costs — financial and human — to which you are blindsided. Consult widely to know the impact on the stakeholders, the economy and, most importantly, the people. Research and run the numbers. Test the ideas. Get yourselves organised to avoid duplications. Government needs money, no doubt about that, but do the benefits outweigh the costs? Should the people’s misery be aggravated all the time? Must they make our world so hard that every day we have to keep on struggling and fighting and panting to survive?

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

NAILING NINGI

The senate on Tuesday suspended Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) for alleging that the 2024 budget was padded by N3.7 trillion — although he tried to clarify by saying he was only questioning the details. I knew he was not going to get away with the allegation as his colleagues would viciously go after him — not when he too couldn’t prove his claim. However, I do not, for the life of me, believe that the whole fiasco is about accountability. When legislators fight like this, it is usually about money — who got and who didn’t get. Those who understand the shenanigans and intrigues in the corridors of power will not applaud either Ningi or his colleagues. Sameness.

DIE ANOTHER DAY

There are moves to de-criminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria. It is currently punishable by one-year imprisonment. Hon Francis Waive, a member of the house of reps, is sponsoring a bill that will remove the imprisonment. On the good side, he wants therapy. On the bad side, he prescribes compulsory community service for at least six months. Even if we know nothing about mental health issues such as depression and panic attacks, do we think any human being, under normal circumstances, would want to commit suicide? I hope mental health practitioners and campaigners will not miss this. It speaks again to the way we make laws and policies in this country. Antithetical. 

TECHNICAL KNOCK-OUT

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was jailed for 12 years in 2019 over allegations of fraud amounting to N7.1 billion when he was governor of Abia state between 1999 and 2007. After spending some nights in prison, he walked free as his conviction was nullified by the Supreme Court on technical grounds — that the trial judge had been elevated to Court of Appeal before he delivered the judgment. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tried to start the trial afresh, but the Court of Appeal has blocked the move — again on technical grounds, saying the record was not “properly” transmitted in line with court rules, and that it was not stamped or “properly” signed. Nigeria!

NO COMMENT

Maybe I should start something called “Oronsaye Watch” to keep Nigerians updated with the drama surrounding the inevitably doomed reform. Since the directive by President Bola Tinubu that the report — which proposes streamlining dozens of governmental bodies through mergers — should be implemented, I have lost count of the number of new agencies being considered to be established by the National Assembly. On Wednesday, I read that there is a bill to set up a mining bank. The following day, there was another one to set up maritime bank. We play too much in this country. What next? A bill to set up a rat commission and another to establish Isi-ewu Bank? Wonderful.

If I were President Tinubu, I would, without further delay, approve the contracting of search and rescue missions to private security firms. The deliverables would be simple: Track and locate the camps run by terrorists and hostage takers of whatever hue; neutralise the terrorists; and rescue the victims.
If the above measure is taken, the Nigerian armed forces will be freed to pursue their ‘normal’ constitutional duties of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country and the police can also concentrate on their traditional role of maintaining law and order.

The current challenges predate the Tinubu administration. There is no point splitting hairs over what, before our very eyes, has ballooned to become an industry with its own ecosystem. The way the Gordian knot has metastasised indicates that only a carefully executed programme of calculated ruthlessness will achieve the goal of ridding the country of the vermin.
Right now, terrorists are running rings round the security forces as they have done in the last 10 years. That is because we have been tilling the ground of the anti-terror campaign with the wrong implements. How do you prosecute an asymmetrical war with conventional tactics? Imagine, we have been deploying air force planes and helicopters to trace and bomb locations identified as terrorists’ dens when we could have achieved better results with a targeted, tech-assisted mission by crack professional counter-terror operatives.

The Financial Times recently made the following evaluation of the Nigerian situation:
“Much of Nigeria is in effect ungoverned. Millions of children, especially girls in the North, are out of school and health provision is so dire that life expectancy is 53. In many parts of the country, law and order is non-existent. This month, in Borno State, at least 200 mainly women and children were kidnapped searching for firewood. A few days later, in Kaduna State, less than 300 kilometres from Aso Rock, armed men abducted nearly 300 schoolchildren.
“The incidents will rekindle memories of 2014, when Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in Chibok. Ninety-eight are still missing. Abductions have become hideously common, mostly carried out not by religious zealots, but by criminal gangs who have turned kidnapping into a racket. Last year, almost 4,000 people were abducted. What explains such prolific criminality? Part of the answer is economics. Ordinary people’s incomes have gone backwards for a decade. Former president Muhammadu Buhari oversaw eight years of economic self-harm, with clumsily executed state intervention that fuelled corruption.”

If, for national security concerns, we are reluctant to openly accept help from other nations with more experience in fighting terror, we can at least procure the services of companies specialised in neutralising the monster. Remember, oil theft in the Niger Delta was a free-for-all until the government introduced private security firms who have been making a huge difference.
Outside Nigeria, let’s look at the example of one security company called Executive Outcomes. In March 1995, the company contained an insurrection of guerrillas known as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone, regained control of the diamond fields, and forced a negotiated peace.
According to Wikipedia, “Executive Outcomes was directly involved militarily in Angola and Sierra Leone. The company was notable in its ability to provide all aspects of a highly trained modern army to the less professional government forces of Sierra Leone and Angola. For instance, in Sierra Leone, Executive Outcomes fielded not only professional fighting men, but armour and support aircraft such as one Mi-24 Hind and two Mi-8 Hip helicopters, the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle and T-72 main battle tank…”
To ensure proper control and coordination, I suggest that the National Security Adviser lead the recruitment, monitoring and periodic evaluation of the activities of such security firms when engaged. But there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that that is the route we should be headed for quick wins at this critical time.

I will urge the government to be wary of self-appointed negotiators and pro-ransom clerics who offer to help negotiate between the authorities and the bandits. Anytime there are mass abductions, they show up at TV stations pontificating on the need to reach out to the terrorists using non-kinetic lollies. We have spent the last 10 years trying to pacify evil. It is time we simply apply the law and bring in competent professionals whose specialty is ridding the earth of these kinds of pests.
I think that President Tinubu has already started well by declaring that the government under his watch will not pay any ransom to criminal gangs. The government should not be shy to declare a state of emergency in any specific area where such a measure will facilitate the interdiction of terrorists. This desperate disease requires a desperate cure.
My greatest fear is that if we don’t staunch this perennial haemorrhage decisively, Nigerians may begin to lose the only thing that has been tethering them to rationality — hope. The whole world knows that Nigerians, more than other Africans, live on a diet of hope. We are incurable optimists. We believe that tomorrow has no option but to be better than today.

So, considering that hope is the greatest thing Nigerians have going for them, it will be nothing short of cataclysmic if anything were to happen to remove hope from the Nigerian equation. The society will simply regress into bottomless depression and medieval brutality. It is not for nothing that politicians have been milking the ‘H’ word for eons, some of the most recent coinages being ‘Hope Assured’ (President Buhari) and the ‘Renewed Hope’ of incumbent President Bola Tinubu.
To hope is to experience that magical mix of positive expectation and deep desire. And hope is necessary to get us through times of difficulty and suffering. Social scientists have asked over the years whether hope is intoxicating but detrimental, like a drug?
As a matter of fact, there is a drug called hope. Hope 0.5 mg Tablet belongs to a class of medicines called benzodiazepines and is used to treat anxiety, stop seizures (fits) or relax tense muscles. This can also help relieve difficulty sleeping (insomnia), and is usually prescribed for a short period of time, if used to treat sleeping problems.

Hope is crucial in times of uncertainty, and in dealing with adversity.
Nigerians have been living on hope since Independence in 1960. We have always exuded the ‘Ogadinma’ spirit — “e go better”. Even when we repeat the same mistakes over and over again, we somehow hope that the outcomes will be different “by the grace of God”, or “insha Allah”. Psychologically attuned to not taking responsibility for our actions and inactions, we are free of any guilt feeling or emotional encumbrances. No wonder we wind up, by global acclaim, as the happiest people on the planet.
Boko Haram, terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen and all the other criminal gangs terrorising Nigeria should not be allowed to continue dominating the game of coercion. When I was growing up, I was taught that no matter how great a hunter was, he could not be greater than the government because whereas he could only hunt animals, the government was the only hunter permitted to hunt men.

Let the government live up to its name. Outsource the ‘fumigation’ of our ungoverned spaces and restore normalcy so that we can return to relishing our diet of hope. If hope dies, then the people will no longer be able to mobilise for a common purpose; nor will they be in a position to appreciate whatever else the government is doing to make their lives better. It used to be said that when there’s life there’s hope; now we know better: When there’s security there’s hope.

Nigeria’s now perennial insecurity has been damaged by political laziness. Every two- penny politician has developed a habit of weaponizing insecurity as political language. In the process, very little effort or rigour is devoted to the reality of what we are dealing with. Even those who are paid to keep us safe tend to resort to simplistic solutions to what is clearly a complex problem. Everyone seems to be mimicking politicians, talking frequently about insecurity as if the problem will go away the more we talk about it.

National insecurity as we have come to know it has grown in dimension and scope over the last twelve years or so. When factions of jihadist terrorists invade local governments in parts of Borno or Yobe state, we are dealing with threats to Nigeria’s sovereignty by an adversary that may indeed be ‘external’ with inputs from ignorant local zealots. They take and hold territory, convert citizens into dissidents and collect taxes and levies  and in the process extract loyalties that ordinarily belong to a sovereign authority. This level of national insecurity belongs in the realm of external aggression by a concerted foreign adversary. It does not matter whether it recruits and arms our citizens to do its bidding or draws inspiration from an external multinational ideology such as fanatical Islamist fundamentalism. We must call it its real name and design and deploy containment instruments and strategies that befit an external aggression.

With the onset of the Boko Haram insurgency in parts of the North-east, Nigeria can be said to have been involved in a counter insurgency war for the better part of the past twelve years. In the process, Boko Haram has sometimes been degraded, reinforced, splintered or been acquired by ISWAP and other franchises  born and bred in the Middle East and nurtured in the turbulent Sahel. Have we been winning or losing that war? Yes and no. We have at least retaken most of the local governments that the terrorists  initially acquired as part of an evil caliphate in the hot days of  Al Queda and ISIS. But the fact that twelve years after the inauguration of Boko Haram, factions of this movement are still taking huge numbers of hostages and razing buildings is an indictment of whatever effort we have exerted so far.

In the immediate neighbouring precincts of the insurgency war- Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara- hybrid forms of insurgent insecurity have taken shape. Banditry, quantum abductions and kidnapping for ransom are now recognized forms of national insecurity. Initially, these hybrid forms acted as retail arms of the larger jihadist insurgency. They used to  supply them with hostages, sha ransoms and collected revenue and hide under their ideological umbrella for greater political relevance. Over time, however, the bandits and other downstream criminal gangs have come unto their own. They mostly now operate as independent criminal enterprises with a purely commercial purpose. This form of insecurity has graduated into a criminal enterprise. They carry out daring raids, collect huge ransoms which is reinvested in more arms for further raids. The industry grows. 

In this form, agents of insecurity have sometimes reached for recognition by state governments and agencies of  national security. Some local bandit squads have in the recent past reached understandings with individual state governments and even posed for photo opportunities with them after these meetings. Implicit in such unholy alliances is a certain illicit power sharing arrangement. Under these arrangements, embattled state governments are known to have ceded parts of their territory to bandit squads, allowing them  to collect revenue from locals and to wield authority over some local governments literally unchallenged.

This form of national insecurity is inherently dangerous because it cedes parts of the national sovereign space and authority to non -state actors and in the process accords them space and scope to disturb the peace, make lots of money and whittle down the capacity of security agencies to exercise total control over  the national sovereign space. More dangerously, illicit non -state actors partake of national resources to make the nation even more  ungovernable while also compromising segments and aspects of national  security structures and personnel.

The atmosphere of insecurity created by the proliferation and free reign of bandit squads and roving armed cartels has led to a spread in the supply of small to medium scale arms. Retail editions of trouble makers like armed robbers, small time kidnappers and urban cults have found an atmosphere of general insecurity that is both lucrative and in vogue. An industry of sorts has been born. Herdsmen that were originally engaged in herding and the livestock trade have since found kidnapping, armed robbery and abductions more lucrative than escorting scraggy herds around the nation.

We cannot fail to add to this picture the thriving political industry and its inherent criminal offshoots. Political thugs, licensed state militias and all manner of private armies have in the last twenty four years of democracy  come into being. Political supremacy in most parts of the country has come with the help of armed thugs generously supplied with weapons, narcotics and other dangerous substances. In post election periods, these political agents of violence tend to find work for their hands and use for their weapons in sundry criminal undertakings. In an atmosphere where employment is scarce and easy money quickly runs dry, the political industry has perhaps inadvertently been fueling the atmosphere of national insecurity  which the same politicians return to convert into campaign issues in the next election cycle.

The fierce competition for political vantage placement has also led to the growth of ethnic, regional and other separatist movements. They generally start out by shouting for recognition and relevance in a national space that deliberately ignores extant disquiet. When no one seems to be listening, the rhetoric of separatist agitators assumes an incendiary tone. Soon enough, the more determined ones set up armed militias since the authorities tend to listen more when their monopoly of violence is challenged by an equally fierce contender for power and political space. Armed separatist movements have in the last ten years therefore added their voice and muscle to the spread of violence as a means of political expression in the country. IPOB, ESN and the various Niger Delta militias belong in this sphere.

This is the effective backdrop to the current situation in which governments at nearly every level seem to have been held to ransom by all these forms of insecurity all over the country. The sheer expanse of the insecurity landscape is more vast than the entire security asset base of the country can deal with. Therefore, bandits and all sorts of criminals are fairly certain that the security agencies cannot easily interrupt their operations let alone effectively trail or arrest them.

There is no lack of response from government. Endless meetings have taken place between politicians and service chiefs. The two chambers of the National Assembly have met severally with the service chief. State governors have met repeatedly with the president with the matter of insecurity topping the agenda of every meeting. The Federal government has gone to considerable length to acquire weapons of war  from all corners of the globe to combat what has become a systemic insecurity. It has become systemic because it has become self- regenerating, having become an economic sub sector which requires  self sustainability to drive itself as a series of economic activities.

Last month, however, an emergency meeting of the president and state governors was prompted by an increase in incidents of insecurity in and around the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. The most consequential decision of that meeting was a decision to begin the implementation of the long canvassed introduction of State Police as a silver bullet to end insecurity in the country.

One of the strongest arguments advanced by advocates of a State Police system is local knowledge and proximity to the community origins of criminality around the country. This argument is not new. Nor are we just being introduced to perspectives about  how to solve insecurity in the country.

Given the picture of the multi dimensional nature of our insecurity,  no single item agenda can deal with the problem. State Police is fraught with many weaknesses. It is likely to be commandeered by ambitious state governors into private political weapons. The operatives could become terror squads who use their new found power and uniforms to torment innocent people. State Police can further divide the country,  terrorize the people they are supposed to protect and reduce the effectiveness of the existing national police force.  Misuse of the powers of the State Police can further divide the country. After all, before the civil war, we had regional police formations. They became part of the divisive forces that had to be neutralized to reunify the country in 1970.

It is undeniable that one of the benefits of over four decades of military rule and the civil war is the emergence of a unified police and military command. That benefit cannot be wiped away by the present anxiety over insecurity. Nothing has so far happened in our national security situation that invalidates or overrides the advantages of national integration in matters of police or military command and national security control. On the contrary, what our situation requires is a serious interrogation of the overall internal security situation in the country to determine why the existing structure has not quite served us well enough.

We are under policed. The police has been overwhelmed for years in terms of personnel and equipment. Equipment and recruitment in the police has not matched our population growth and the rate of sophistication of the criminal enterprise. Similarly, the military has in the post civil war era found itself in roles that have degraded its operational capability and professional advancement. The involvement of the military and entire gamut of national security apparatus in internal security has militated against real professional development of the various services.  Our military is today involved in civil security operations in all of our 36 states and Abuja.

As indicated earlier, the profile of our internal security challenges presents a complex picture that may not have fully dawned on the present state. At the end of the civil war, the enemy was either  an external aggressor or internal criminals. The civil populace wanted to be at peace after the trauma of war. While a war -tested military was adequate for the former role, the police was more than adequate for the latter task of keeping the peace.  The military is defined in its role. Its rules of engagement are self -defining: defend or be conquered. The police is a civil force with rules of engagement circumscribed by democracy and the civil rights of free citizens. 

Towards the end of the Babangida regime, a different internal security picture began to emerge. A different type of civil unrest became more manifest. Inter communal  violence began to feature among groups that had coexisted for years. Between the Jukun and their neighbours, in the Zango Kataf area of Southern Kaduna, in parts of the Niger Delta etc. Sections of the country began to witness problems of ethno national integration. Even within the newly created states, issues of inter communal co -existence began to show up. There was a perception then than the task of nation building was largely uncompleted and still needed to be fine -tuned. A different type of trouble maker was emerging. Armed militants intent on challenging the federal might were in the horizon.

The new forms of violent self -assertion were more than the police could deal with but a little less ferocious than what a full military engagement was required to deal with.  The necessity was therefore for an intermediate force; something not as tame and civil as the police and also not as ferocious and terminal as the military. Thus was born the idea of the National Guard. Unfortunately, this idea came too late in Babangida’s troubled political transition programme. Opposition to the possibility of a Babangida self- perpetuation ploy also became part of the opposition to the idea of a National Guard. For the political class, no good or disinterested idea could come from the beleaguered military administration. Both were thrown away  with the same birth water.

Here we are once again with an insecurity challenge that literally re-writes the challenge that was envisioned by the authors of the National Guard over 30 years ago.  The idea of the National Guard was to have a uniform national organization but with substantial state government control on deployment. It should be a mid intensity force that is civil enough to realize that the criminals and trouble makers in each state are first and foremost Nigerians with full civic rights. It however needs to be taken more seriously than the police at the local government office who separates domestic fights and settles quarrels among siblings.

The National Guard should be under the ultimate control of the president as commander-in-chief without whose endorsement no state governor has the power to deploy the National Guard. But the National Guard needs to be composed of state contingents who are familiar with the local terrain.

In the United States, the National Guard is an offshoot of the army. It is made up of army reservists who are called up for specific tours of duty for specific lengths of time annually. In times of national emergency above the call of the police but less intense than requiring the military, the army can advise the president to call in the National Guard. The desirable Nigerian National Guard should be a variant of this format.

On no account must we establish and equip a separate state police force and place it under the control of our emergent crop of imperial governors. That would be an invitation to quick anarchy

My birthday anniversary is today, the 17th of March. But I prefer to sing the blues this time because I feel blue.

Folks around me know that I don't spare any moment that calls for gathering friends for a time to enjoy culinary delights, assorted drinks and pleasant music. And on each birthday anniversary since my liberation, I usually use the day to drink the joy of being alive; hence, I live out my fancies. So, I have had several significant birthday anniversary celebrations in recent years.

On my birthday, I once travelled to Stockholm, Sweden, to enjoy singing along at the Abba Museum. It was like a dream come true after Assad Hassan Alvi of blessed memory first played Abba music to my hearing in 1982.

In 2022, Toyin Dawodu and a few friends helped me organise a big event at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, to mark my birthday and launch LawTimes.Ng. The ambience of that evening was electric. The food setting was otherworldly, and the conviviality among friends that night was surreal. The Distinguished Senator Ita Enang and Otunba Gbenga Onayiga led the 'big boys' in a show of massive solidarity. And some of the many beautiful women who have supported me so far were there. I was simply creating memories.

In 2023, I got the most significant exposure ever on global television when the dream maker, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, flew me on his private jet to Warri to host the Delta State Governorship debates, which aired live on the Arise News channel. I had to contend in the spirit, the night after successfully co-hosting the debates, whether the prophetic was correct to have declared that I had a brighter future in the media than practising law. I fought principalities and powers so viciously to graduate from UNIBEN and to be called to the Nigerian Bar, I am called to be in the media but law, I must practise. I do appear to be at rest from such kind of spiritual warfare, but I trust the Almighty God to see me through life's battles, present and coming phases.

After 50 years, it seems life is just about to start because so many things are yet to be done. Hence, I pray that I don't die before my time. Not because I like this life so much. There isn't really much in it, after all. But I am fixated on completing my task here on earth. Some legacies must be built, and children must be parented to fulfil their destiny; hence, there is no more time to waste. So the prayer is that our days here on earth be complete before being transported to the other side.

As I mark my birthday anniversary this year today, I will not celebrate as usual because my heart is aching about the state of affairs in our country.

Today, across the country, in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and many other parts of the country, there are mourning families whose loved ones are currently in captivity in kidnappers' dens, yet life appears to be normal as constituency projects of Senators and allegations of budget padding are dominating the headlines. Sadly, the government appears to be at its wits end in tackling Nigeria's present security and economic crises.

I will not celebrate, yet I am thankful for Paul the Apostle admonished in his letter to the Thessalonians, that we should give thanks in connection with everything (in any situation).

I will not celebrate like I would have wanted. Instead, I will be praying that the Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, visit our country and deliver us from this present political and economic quagmire

That is why I will not celebrate; rather, I'll be singing the blues because I feel blue of the situation in Nigeria.

I will sing the blues like African slaves in history working on American slave farms. So anyone who cares for a time of musical contemplation with a bit of cheer can join me this afternoon for some sombre yet cheerful karaoke and sing-a-long sessions. It is my birthday!

Frank Tietie
Lawyer, Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy for Social Economic Rights (CASER) and
Arise News (Legal) Analyst, writes from Abuja

At the LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards 2023 which held recently in Abuja, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), delivered an adrenalin-pumping keynote which ruffled not a few feathers, even as the appreciative audience applauded his brilliant and thought-provoking presentation.

But what exactly should anyone expect from such a great mind, public intellectual and authority on political economy? Going by his antecedents, Prof Moghalu shoots straight and does not like beating about the bush. He delivered an excellent Masterclass which will resonate in the public and private sectors for a long time to come.

The economic challenges that we face today, Prof. Moghalu pointed out, are the result of continuous mismanagement over the years, yet those responsible always go scot-free. “The past 10 years have been particularly ruinous,” he said. Moghalu spoke from his heart as an economist, professional, technocrat, and patriot – not as a politician.

Clearly, he was not interested in any blame game; his aim was to proffer solutions to our seemingly intractable economic problems. The best way to solve a problem, he said, is to know what caused it.

Speaking on the topic, “Nigeria’s distressed economy: Which way forward?” the keynote speaker explained that every choice we make has consequences, but we have no choice over the combined consequences of the choices that we have made.

When a country like Nigeria that is so blessed with human and natural endowments refuses to achieve its full potential, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Our GDP per capital, as Prof. Moghalu told his attentive and bewildered audience, is only $2,000 in more than 60 years of nationhood which he described as a “testament of failure.”

That kind of report is shocking and deeply troubling, and it calls for serious interrogation of our economic fundamentals if we truly want to join the league of developed nations.

How do we undo the period of the locusts? The issues that Moghalu raised in his presentation are not exactly new, but he wondered why rising unemployment, extreme poverty, debt distress and revenue challenge have refused to go away.

If we add the illegal ways and means lending of N30 trillion, unprecedented corruption, hyperinflation and the hunger in the land which the keynote speaker also listed in his paper as problems we must address urgently, it means all hands must be on deck, no matter our political persuasion or where we come from.

If we know what are economic problems are, why can’t we fix them? What is holding us back? When we have experts like Prof. Moghalu pointing the way forward, why has it been difficult to act on their recommendations?

The answers are not far-fetched. One, we politicise the best ideas and actionable plans; two, we weaponise tribe, region and religion, and three, corruption - the big elephant in the room – has remained a major albatross.

Moghalu explained that “ideas rule the world,” but he also knows that we have never lacked good ideas or policies; the other elephant in the room has been poor implementation of policies by the enemies of Nigeria. They know themselves.

Having situated what the problems are, Moghalu went on to make recommendations on how we can navigate our way out of the crisis. But he provided a caveat: the crisis and its effects will last for three to five years.

If we are truly serious about fixing the myriad of economic problems, five years is not a long time, but the political leadership under President Bola Tinubu must come up with a winning strategy as we have seen in the USA, UK, Germany, UAE, Singapore, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, etc.

In the case of UAE, Moghalu provided data to explain how the country’s economy was transformed. By 1971, 90 percent of UAE’s GDP depended on oil but it is now less than 30 percent arising from a deliberate strategy of development away from oil. He also said that UAE’s GDP grew more than 247 times in 50 years – a remarkable economic growth index indeed.

It would appear that the unprecedented assault on the CBN is giving Prof. Moghalu sleepless nights and grief, and he said it must stop. How did we get here? Having played an active role at the CBN as a deputy governor for financial system stability, he is obviously disappointed and pained at what the CBN has turned into.

It is evident that the unbridled political assault on the independence of the Central Bank since 2014 is at the heart of most of our economic problems today. How will Godwin Emefiele defend his tenure as CBN governor? It will be nice to hear his own side of the story – that is if he chooses to write his memoirs or grant media interviews.

Moghalu praised President Tinubu’s decision to remove petrol and forex subsidies, describing the decision as “bold and correct.” He said that we could no longer afford to pay petrol subsidy or defend the naira artificially – the double whammy and hydra headed problems that eroded our foreign reserves.

He also said Yemi Cardoso, CBN governor, acted well by raising MPR (monetary policy rate).by 400 basis points to 22.75 percent on February 27 – a new record high since 2007, and above forecasts of 21 percent. The aim is to tighten rates and money supply to rein in inflation. Well done, Yemo.

However, Prof. Moghalu went on to identify three “strategic errors,” or, if you like, blunders, that the Tinubu administration made. He said it loud and clear that he was not attacking the government with his comments, but he believes that there are lessons to be learned by everyone, except, of course, those who earn their daily bread sabotaging the economy and de-marketing Nigeria.

In fact, he said that we must not waste the current economic crisis as it presents an opportunity to re-build the country. The three mistakes, he noted, were: 1.) the precipitate nature of the reform policies; 2.) the exchange rate unification that occurred in a loose monetary environment which contributed to the naira’s race to the bottom, and 3.) it took too long for the cabinet to be formed, and it was predominantly political.

In a nutshell, if we had a tight monetary policy, the demand pressure on the dollar would have reduced. It goes without saying that when you prioritise politicians over technocrats, there’s no way we will not pay the price.

Based on his research and findings, Moghalu went on to present a dashboard of seven problematic areas which he believes caused our present predicament.

They are: 1.) absence of nationhood, 2.) bad governance in Nigeria’s national life, 3.) adhoc-ism and lack of strategy, 4.) absence of philosophy and knowledge, 5.) financialisation and de-industrialisation, 6.) irregular power supply (let there be light!) and 7.) population crisis.

In order to craft the right strategy to overcome our economic challenges, we must first know whether we are operating a capitalist, socialist or a mixed economy.

Moghalu said in our free market type of economy with capitalist orientation, the economic system must guarantee property rights, unleash innovation and that access to capital is non-negotiable. An economy built on innovation, he explained, is the secret of the rise of great nations.

Rich people, he continued, have access to capital but how many of them re-pay their loans when they are due? For Nigeria to develop its productive base, Moghalu prescribed that SMEs – they constitute the engine of the economy – must have access to capital.

Since liquidity is critical, the political economist recommended that the federal government should raise a N20 trillion bond to develop three strategic sectors in three years: railways, housing and agriculture. He described the proposal as Project 3-in-3 which is capable of putting about five million Nigerians to work.

Moghalu also listed the following prescriptions: a vibrant fiscal policy, end oil theft and corruption, cut the cost of governance that is bleeding the economy, CBN must continue its monetary tightening, and Nigeria should carefully consider borrowing between $20 billion and $30 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would serve as a stabilisation fund and life line.

The corruption-laden palliative economy, he said, must be abolished immediately. He also did not mince words when he said that our national and subnational budgets legalise corruption because between 40 percent and 50 percent of the budgets are usually not accounted for; they simply disappear like the morning dew.

He believes that the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) should sell some of our assets to raise additional funds to reflate the economy.

Moghalu also strongly recommended that President Tinubu should create a full time Economic Advisory Council (EAC) made up of seven wise men and women. The idea behind the EAC is to build an economy that can function, adding that fixing the economy cannot be a part-time job.

He was very clear about the composition of the council: they must be experts with established credentials in agricultural economics, business economics, fiscal policy, industrial policy, trade policy, industrial policy and development economics.

How well are some of the ministers performing? Probably not good enough and we should not be surprised to see a cabinet shake-up by May 29 which Moghalu also recommended. Such a moved, he believes, will boost investor-confidence.

The keynote speaker accused banks of hoarding US dollars. He asked the CBN to go hard on bank CEOs and take action against erring banks. Why should they become part of a criminal enterprise sabotaging the economy?

Another strategic policy prescription is that the government should work towards achieving 20 megawatts of electricity within three years which should be tied to our productive base to enhance industrialisation.

Finally, Moghalu is confident that we can beat the crisis, but President Tinubu must have the political will to insulate our institutions from politics, and avoid knee-jerk reactions because of policies that are not well thought out. It is common practice for our political leaders to mix politics and governance which is clearly a recipe for disaster.

After all said and done, only Nigerians can make Nigeria a productive economy and better place. Moghalu is of the view that Nigeria is too important to fail. If Nigeria fails, he said, then we have all failed.

To avoid failure, Moghalu said we must do away with corruption, nepotism, tribalism, cronyism and mediocrity. Let us have a new resolve to replace these unproductive adjectives with meritocracy, strategy, discipline, competence, and integrity in governance.

Thank you Professor Kingsley Moghalu for the deep insights on, and critical analysis of, the Nigerian economy and your bold recommendations which, by the way, some consultants get paid for. You truly earned the standing ovation that you received for your honesty and scholarship.

Braimah is a global public relations and marketing strategist. He is also the publisher/editor-in-chief of Naija Times (https://ntm.ng) and Lagos Post (https://lagospost.ng), and can be reached via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

Emem woke up suddenly. She didn’t know what startled her out of sleep. She sat up and could hear movements. Was there a rat in the house? Then she listened again. It was water falling on a hard surface. But it was not raining. She pushed aside the window blind and saw the most traumatic, strange and confusing sight of her life. Her husband of 20 years, the father of her twins boys who were undergraduates, was there bathing naked, chanting something. Incarnations? Prayers? Well, the covered calabash he was scooping soap, black soap, from told the rest of the story.

When we say or hear that a wife should step back from a marriage that has become life-threatening, what most of us think is that it is about physical abuse, wife battering or husband battering. Well, there are more things than kicking in the teeth of a spouse that can be life-threatening. One of them is resort to diabolical or fetish ways to manipulate or even eliminate your spouse, for whatever reasons.

Like Emem found out to her shock and dismay that night. She was too scared to confront Emeka when he finished his ‘black bath’. Indeed, she dived right back under the duvet and pretended to be fast asleep. Of course, she didn’t sleep a wink the rest of the night. Who would? She didn’t know if the sight she just beheld would be followed by beheading. She didn’t know if her husband was going to continue the diabolical session in some other way in their room.

Emem couldn’t look at the husband in the eyes the following morning. She became afraid generally around Emeka. She couldn’t eat if the food was bought by Emeka. The usual suya and barbecue chicken he bought every Friday on his way home suddenly became suspicious, dreaded and some sort of sacrifice in her imagination, even without tasting it. She simply couldn’t leave her drink with Emeka.

‘I became extremely cautious around him. I searched through his wardrobe and found a lot of fetish stuff. I noticed he had fresh incisions just above his buttocks. I started paying more attention to his conversations, movements and habits.

‘I found out a lot of things I never thought possible in my marriage. But the camel’s back broke the day I saw him shaking hands with two of his friends with his left hand. I was born and bred in Ibadan and I know what that meant. They didn’t know I saw them and I pretended all was well, but after that I knew my marriage was in trouble. The children were in school most of the times, leaving me alone with the domestic staff. I was afraid to let my husband make love to me. What if he has incisions on his dick? I was afraid in my own bed, in my kitchen, everywhere. The only place I felt safe at was in my office.

‘Emeka started making strange demands that coincided with the few times we had sex. Right after, he would ask me for huge sums of money or to see my will or to be made Chairman of my company. If I refused, I fell ill, got hospitalized.’

Emem described a very evil pattern that left her without much choice but to step back.

‘I kept asking myself why it was only Lagos that I fell ill. Never in Abuja or Port-Harcourt.’

So, was Emeka trying to harm or even kill his wife to take over her wealth and business? Do men do it too? Of course, women adapt to things like that. We are witches, wealth grabbers, gold diggers who marry for money, trade sex for money, kill our husbands to inherit their wealth. Which is why there are more widows than widowers. Isn’t that the evil brush the society and little-minded people use to tag women? Or have you heard of widowers being subjected to head-shaving and drinking water used to bathe their wives’ corpses? Do you hear of widowers being thrown out of their homes so their late wives’ families could strip and pillage and generally make the widower miserable?

If you do not have at least 10 examples of husbands who are wizards or widowers as victims, begin to believe when I say men, still just a handful of them, do juju to inherit or to dispossess their wives. They connive and conjure. They charm and chant. They consult evil diviners to harm and disarm their wives so they can take over their wealth and lives. These few evil men put things on their tongues to command their wives to hand over their hard earned money or businesses to them. They blow ‘dark powder’ over their sleeping wives to turn her into ‘mumu’.

You don’t believe me? Well, may it never happen to your daughter. You think I’m exaggerating? Ask victims! And in any case would you still believe me if your sister has three cars but hops on okada to work so her husband could pick and choose which of the cars to drive to work and return to take which one to take to the club to hang out with his friends? Yet, he has no business address.

My point? Marriage does not just become life-threatening when a man starts slapping his wife around and beating her till she goes into premature labour. Marriage does not only become life-threatening when a husband verbally abuses his wife until she does not know whether she’s going or coming, lazy or hard working and loses herself, her self-esteem and self-confidence.

There is physical abuse, emotional abuse and spiritual abuse. The last one, if not acted upon quickly, is usually fatal and irreversible if the victim and her family realise it too late or explain it away with stuff like ‘juju is not real’. ‘juju is bullshit,’ and ‘I don’t believe in such rubbish’. This is a different clime, and as one of my friends, an ambassador’s wife would say, ‘our spiritual environment can be very toxic.’

Thinks about these things.

French political philosopher, Baron de Montesquieu, in his seminal work, The Spirit of Laws, 1748, posited that the executive, legislative and judicial functions of government should be allocated to separate and independent bodies, with none of them superior or more powerful than the other; so, they can act as checks and balances on one another. In one word, they are co-terminus and equal in powers.

 John Locke had earlier argued that where legislative and executive powers belong to separate hands, then, the protection of all members of society can be as high as possible. This is what is called the principle or theory of separation of powers and its aim is to prevent too much power in one branch of government and allow for checks and balances.

 Remember that Lord Acton had said that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority”

It is that “tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority” that is at the bottom of the constituency projects or padding of the 2024 budget that has ensnared the National Assembly. Constituency projects are an aberration; it is corruption of the functions and duties of the Legislature.

 Law makers have two functions: To make laws and to have oversight functions on the Executive; that is, to act as checks on the Executive. They are not to begin to hijack and exercise executive functions or powers. They are not to even share executive functions or powers with the Executive, in the same way the Executive is not supposed to dictate to the law makers as regards their legislative and oversight functions.

Our legislators have fished in trouble waters since the Fourth Republic. Like the angels who abandoned their estate in heaven to eat the forbidden fruit among the daughters of men, the National Assembly members who took money for constituency projects have abandoned their own duty post to hanker after filthy lucre. There is no argument that can wash them clean of corruption.

The argument that they want to ensure fair and equitable distribution of projects all over the country does not wash. Without becoming contractors, they can ensure equity before passing the budget. And from what we have seen, constituency projects are a huge scam and corruption personified. 

The constituencies seldom get value for money. Carcasses of constituency projects litter the landscape of Nigeria. The system employed is opaque and not transparent. Who determines what? Who handpicks the contractors? Who supervises? Who dispenses funds? Who ascertains that quality job is done? Who holds the law makers to account? Constituency projects are sleaze money, no more! 

Any law maker who defends constituency project is a thief, pure and simple. Those who collect hundreds of millions of Naira for constituency projects should not only desist but should also return the money so collected to the national coffers without delay!   

FEEDBACK

The rumour of coup d'etat is the hand work of those who thought they can prevent Tinubu from being the president. Perhaps, this is their last joker! Tinubu’s decision on removal of petroleum subsidy is the best. Waiting a minute later, he would not have been able to do it. What we need at this time is to cooperate with the president in rebuilding the country. The governors should come to terms with the reality that they have a great role to play in securing their respective state. - Kola Oloye.

No coup is coming up in Nigeria; the military is already as corrupt as the politicians. I think they enjoy sharing the national cake quietly without the burden of governability. Anyone planning a coup will be silenced within. What Nigerians need is re-orientation, to be truthful and to worship God in truth. Everyone cannot, and should not, own or build a house, for example. The quest for material things by everyone and the unnecessary outdoing of every other person in a negative competitive environment is what is adversely killing the country. - Dr. Demola Sodeinde.

Nigerians are optimistic that Nigeria will come out of the numerous difficulties and challenges created by ourselves. This recovery will only manifest when corruption and fraudulent activities by all of us are tackled headlong. The government should listen to the people, and their policies should have a human face. You will not expect the economy to grow when businesses are folding up and relocating to neighbouring countries. The struggle by the government to woo investors is a mirage because the cost of doing business in Nigeria is on the high side. Look at insecurity everywhere! The cost of diesel and PMS rises daily. What of electricity supply? Will investors bring in an enabling environment to do their business here in Nigeria? No! Some of the people in the leadership boat of Nigeria’s recovery have a record of "the good, the bad and the ugly." How will such people perform? The judiciary, all arms of government, must rise up to save the country from total collapse. Politicians who have failed Nigerians are not ready to quit the stage for genuine politicians to come on board. Some of the politicians who milked their state dry are still occupying various elective and appointive positions. Some of them are now law makers while others are to execute the policies of government. The judiciary has a big role to play in salvaging the economy. Politicians who have skeletons in their cupboards should not run to the judiciary to shield their evil. The judiciary should let erring politicians face the music. I am not an advocate of military take-over but let us ask ourselves what military rule vis-a-vis civilian rule has achieved in Nigeria. The military have ruled for much longer, their achievements towards national unity, economic emancipation, and security are glaring for all to see and judge. The military single-handedly built the federal capital territory and some notable infrastructure in Lagos. The civilian rule that we refer to as democracy is a demonstration of craze, according to one songs-writer (musician). The only achievement of civilian rule is the GSM. Considering the fact that some Nigerians who are highly-placed are not interested in the unity of the country, then, Prof. Banji Akintoye’s suggestion for a peaceful dissolution becomes sellable. The attitude of some Nigerians for self, region or tribe alone must change. There is strength in diversity, and on the unity of Nigeria I stand! - Dr. Eclarke.

Military rule is an aberration. 1966 to 1979: Thirteen years of uninterrupted military misrule. 1983 to 1999, another sixteen years of military misrule. 1999 to 2007 witnessed eight years of our Number One citizen being the military exchanging uniforms for “agbada”. Number 2 citizen was a controversial Customs officer and the Number 3, (Senate president) was also a retired military officer. Many of the senators and House of Representatives members were ex-military officers. 2007 to 2015 was a period of confusion when the elected president died in office and a cabal refused to allow the acting president to assume office as president. 2015 to 2023 witnessed another military man becoming the president of Nigeria. 29 years of straight military rule plus 16 years of military presidency, that's a whopping 45 years of military misrule in a young country like Nigeria, compared with just about 13 years of civil rule. The five years of the First Republic witnessed far-reaching development in some parts of the country. The long years of military misrule have done so much havoc to the development of this country. The way to go is not to bring in another military intervention. Let's allow the military perform the functions for which they are recruited and trained: to defend the territorial integrity of the nation! Pa EK Odeleye.

I do not support military dictatorship but, perhaps, it is needed to reset our country! - Azuka Jebose.

President Tinubu needs to focus on policies that safeguard the future of Nigeria from potential threats posed by the Fulani tribe. Given rotational presidency, power will eventually shift to the North after eight years. It is crucial to prevent a Fulani man from becoming the next president because that will definitely reverse every progressive policy being put in place now. The current government should prioritize policies that will empower the Hausa community and liberate them from Fulani dominance. We need to ensure that when power rotates back to the North, it goes to a Hausa president, not a Fulani. History has shown that Fulani-led governments tend to hinder Nigeria's progress and even damage its economy, as seen in past administrations. We must learn from these experiences and enact measures to break free from Fulani hegemony, allowing Nigeria to thrive and ensuring a brighter future for the nation. If we can achieve this, then, the battle for the progress of Nigeria is half-won. - Idowu Faleye.

If we are not to play any ostrich and deceive ourselves, the best that should happen now is military termination of the current democracy because the governance Nigerians have got from the political actors since 1999 has been mediocre and punitive. We have only always bred a new band of thieves in governance that are increasingly decapitating the life of ordinary Nigerians through rapacious stealing of state resources and intolerable inflation on the honest labour of the average Nigerian. A military government will clear all the imbeciles murdering Nigerians and kidnapping for money on a daily basis, set up a new constituent assembly to redraft the Constitution and adopt a new model of government recommended by the assembly before the country returns again to elections. This is the desirable break that the country needs. Nigerians have justifiably lost interest in these thieving politicians. They are crooks basically and a crooked man or gang cannot lead any nation anywhere other than Armageddon. - Bashiru Wahhab.

May God give us good leaders! - Gbenga Osinaike.

It has always been said that the worst civilian regime is better than the best military administration. But then, the question is: Are we actually having true civilian rule in Nigeria based on free and fair elections? This is because there is no true democracy in Nigeria. What we are having is riggo-cracy. That is, most of the elections in Nigeria that would have brought about true democracy have been based on election rigging. Therefore, any civilian rule derived through the rigging of election should be seen as an aberration, just like a military coup. The civilians who found themselves in office through election manipulation should be treated as 'civilian coup plotters'. I quite disagree that past military regimes have not contributed to the economic growth of Nigeria. Many of Nigeria’s major roads, especially, rural-urban roads, were built by past military regimes. Bad governance would always invite military rule. - Dr. JF Olukotun.

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

OMoyele Sowore Says no regrets over ‘Revolution Now’

Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 General Election, Omoyele Sowore, has said he has no regrets embarking on his aborted protest tagged ‘Revolution Now’ which led to his incarceration by the immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

In this interview with Saturday Sun, the Publisher of Saharareporters, an online news platform, however said the movement started too late and wished it happened earlier. 

Sowore, who returned to his base in the United States last week after spending close to five years in Nigeria, further said he was happy that he enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime privilege to act amongst change agents in his lifetime, especially in a country seeking courageous and upright men and women to change its course of history. Amongst other issues, Sowore dwelt on the recent move by the Federal Government to implement the Steve Oronsaye Report and concluded that the report is a distraction at this material time. He spoke with AIDOGHIE PAULINUS.

How would you describe your ordeal in the hands of the Federal Government?

I have reached a point in life when I do not romanticise the fact that the system comes after people in my mould and character. I have a revolutionary spirit; it is a package that attracts severe reactions from cowards in power. So, my five-year ordeal is not extremely difficult to understand or explain. In a way, I am one of the lucky few. In the last nine years, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party has made Nigeria hell on earth for Nigerians.

Do you regret embarking on that voyage to incarceration known as Revolution Now?

Absolutely no regrets. I am happy that I enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime privilege to act amongst change agents in my lifetime, especially in a country seeking courageous and upright men and women to change its course of history.

During your ordeal, some said it served you right because you helped the Muhammadu Buhari administration to power. What is your take on this?

It is needless to address those who make such uninformed and outlandish claims. First, there is no truth or substance to it, except it serves those who have done a duty to self-perpetuate a narrative they knew to be false. Ask yourself if the majority of those who were massacred in the South-East through several criminal operations by the Nigerian Army ever supported Buhari’s elections.

Looking back, what would you have done differently regarding Revolution Now regarding the strategy you employed?

We started too late. I wish we had started earlier because Revolution Now emboldened a generation of youths that realized their potent powers to change the course of history. I hate to be self-serving, but I doubt that #ENDSARS would have happened had Revolutionnow not shown to a new generation of youths that they could fight power. 

You were in Nigeria for five years, unable to return to the United States where your family resides. What did you miss most during the five years?

Oh, I missed the solid growth of my kids. I left them both when they were practically toddlers, and I returned to them five years later to meet “adults.” They had grown into a world I am now trying to navigate. My daughter read a poem during my homecoming last Saturday; she was deeply introspective, and she captured my departure and returned in ways I never thought she could.

How would you quantify your financial loss during the period?

It wasn’t about finance; my losses were beyond economic, and it is also fair to say it was a massive economic loss too.

While in Nigeria, you lost loved ones, particularly your brother. How would you describe those moments?

That was a testy moment! I can’t describe it, it was very hard to get over it, and I doubt I will ever get over his death.

Nigeria is experiencing turbulent times. What plans do the civil society organizations in which you have played active roles have to lift Nigeria out of the woods?

I don’t see the solution as something civil society could resolve. By their very nature, “civil society groups” have low bandwidth. They are not social movements, and they are also “limited liability” groups that are largely risk averse. Nigeria’s problems have reached beyond what could be solved by or with civil society activism. 

Based on your political participation experience, will you contest the 2027 presidential election?

I have always stated that my political career is never tied to election cycles. 

What is your opinion about the planned implementation of the Oronsaye Report? Is it too late?

Orosanye’s report is a distraction at this time. 

Tinubu has spoken in favour of state police. Is restructuring gradually being achieved?

No, Tinubu doesn’t even believe in policing in the first place. He’s a lover, sponsor, and supporter of criminal and violent non-state actors. The gimmick he’s putting out about state police is to empower such actors, lawless and brutal non-state actors.

What are your thoughts about the planned constitutional amendment?

How many times could a constitution be amended? There is no way an illegitimate “Constitution” thrown at Nigerians by the military could be amended. The amendment of the Nigerian constitution since 1999 has become a drain pipe on Nigeria’s resources.

A crisis is looming in the National Assembly over alleged N3 trillion budget padding. Your opinion, please?

Nigeria must abolish the bicameral legislative system and engage part-time lawmakers to make laws. The Nigerian Senate is the retirement home of looters and criminals, mostly former state governors.

What message of hope do you have for your fellow compatriots whom you have left behind to return to the United States?

I will be back!

Gunmen suspected to be soldiers on Friday abducted the Editor of FirstNews and former Kaduna Bureau Chief of The PUNCH, Segun Olatunji.

He was picked at his home in the Iyana Odo, Abule Egba area of Lagos State.

The management of the online Newspaper linked the action to a recent story published by FirstNews titled, "Revealed: "Defence Chief running office like family business - Public Interest Lawyers", published by many other online platforms.

But the management also linked his abduction to another report titled, "EXCLUSIVE: How contractor, company stole N100bn, laundered funds for top govt officials - Investigation", which was later pulled down.

The arrest has thrown panic among staff of the Newspaper.

His wife, Abiodun Olatunji, said the armed men numbering ten arrived at their residence, a few minutes after 6pm and whisked her husband away without leaving any information behind as to where they were taking him to. 

She said her husband's abductors reached for his phone and seized it immediately they arrived before bundling him into a van like a common criminal and zoomed off.

While further narrating the incident, she said efforts to know his offence or where they were taken him to were rebuffed by the stern-looking men. 

"Some armed men dressed in military uniform totaling ten in number (two in uniform and the remaining 8 in mufti but all armed) arrived at our residence at Dauda Oriyomi street, Iyana Odo along Joke Ayo in Abule Egba area of Lagos State and took away my husband.

"They refused to state his offence and where they were taken him to despite all the efforts to make them do so", she said. 

The Publisher of FirstNews, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, who also confirmed the incident, said there has been no trace of Olatunji, as his phone line has been switched, neither has anyone reached the family or the management of FirstNews to disclose the real reason behind his abduction.

While condemning the way and manner Olatunji was whisked away, Iworiso-Markson stated that he was never invited formally to answer any issue that bothered on national security.

"The management of FirstNews is using this opportunity to call on the military high command and the security agencies to let us know his whereabout and the reason why he was arrested. 

"FirstNews (online & print) is a reputable independent digital news network that prides itself on being a frontline media outfit committed to engaging her world-class audience with factual, authentic, and credible information.

"We conduct our journalism activities with strict observance of the high standards of ethics, accountability, professionalism and legality, while exercising our rights to freedom of expression and information, all in a bid to ensure credible reporting of the news behind the news in Politics, Business, Education, Sport, Health, Entertainment and many more.

"If there was any infraction that bothers on national security, Olatunji should have first been formally invited rather that this gestapo style of arrest that reminds of the dark days of the military era, where press freedom was stifled". 

Any Nigerian who could see to the evacuation of 503 Nigerians from South Africa during xenophobic attacks in 2019 free of charge, bring back stranded Nigerians from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Dubai and South Africa at the height of the dreaded Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, using his airline, Air Peace, and paid to bring home 584 Nigerians from the UK deserves to be celebrated.

But that is not all. This Nigerian is an enigma!

Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, 59, a lawyer, peacemaker and entrepreneur is a reporter’s delight. He is the proprietor of Air Peace Airlines. He just shocked the airline world again. Possessed with courage, patriotism and an uncanny love for country, Allen Onyema just crashed the prohibitive Lagos/London fare with his proposed commencement of flights from Lagos to London next week. From a callously exploitative cost of N15m/N17m business class ticket and N4m economy class, to about N4m business class and N1.2m economy, and a further 15% discount for students, this Anambra-born entrepreneur deserves an applause. Once he announced his Air Peace fares on that route, other international airlines started reducing their air fares.

Last Tuesday, Onyema hosted the quartet of Onochie Anibeze, Editor, Saturday Vanguard; Jide Ajani, General Ediror; Charles Kumolu, Deputy Editor, Sunday Vanguard; and Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor. It was the presentation of the letter of award as Vanguard’s Personality of The Year. Formalities over, an interview session followed. And Onyema spoke. He was blunt – in fact, too blunt, some times, for his own good. But we had to take it all in. After all, every statement he made represented an over-swirling lava of patriotism. Here was a man who almost singlehandedly created the process that led to the surrender of Niger Delta militants through his nonviolence advocacy and the ultimate Amnesty Programme.

From contemporary issues of the economy, governance, President Tinubu and what Nigerians and Nigeria need to do to regain her esteem in the comity of nations, Onyema waxed avuncular, suggesting apolitical and nonpartisan pathways to progress and development.
Excerpts:

On being nominated as Vanguard Personality of the Year, 2023

I thank the Publisher, staff and everyone in Vanguard, who deemed it fit to consider me Personality of the Year, 2023. I cherish this award because it is not for all-comers. I really appreciate it. Receiving this is a huge honour for me and a challenge to do more. An award of this kind helps in nation-building. It is part of the reasons I recognize those who toiled for the nation in the past.

On Air Peace London route and impact on the Aviation industry and Nigeria’s economy

If not for anything, I am one of the happiest persons on earth today. Even if Air Peace is told not to go to London again, this airline has achieved something for this nation at a time when the country is in doldrums. At a time this country is going through social and economic stress, Air Peace has come in to give this country succour. If nobody wants to praise us, we are praising ourselves. If nobody wants to recognise what we have done for this country in the last two weeks, we will praise ourselves.

In the face of daunting hostile problems even from government agencies, we did something great. Therefore, I will praise myself. Three weeks before now, Nigerians were paying N15 to 17 million to do a six-hour direct flight (business class) to London. Nigerians were paying N5 to 6 million (economy) to go to London. In order to avoid paying N17 million (business class), N6 million (economy), Nigerians had to travel round the world to get to London. There were situations in which Nigerians would fly to Qatar, an eight-hour flight, stay over for two hours before flying to London, which is another eight hours.

A whole 24 hours would be spent flying for a six-hour flight because a kind of fare regime was deliberately brought on my nation by foreign airlines. Over time, I have complained and I have been targeted both within and outside the country for my efforts towards building a nation. I am happy because I have been vindicated for those things I said.

How Nigerians suffered to fly to London

Nigerians were going to Rwanda, Morocco, Egypt even South Africa to go to London. To save money, they would fly down to South Africa (six hours) to get to London. No one can blame them. Like I always say, it is only indigenous investments that can protect this country. Foreign investments are good, but you also have to encourage indigenous investments to stabilize and succeed. Indigenous investments provide the real jobs and when the chips are down, they are the ones to save the country. When I talked, nobody wanted to listen to me, but I beat my chest and I am happy today. I am absolutely happy for what I have done for this nation in the last few days.

Do you know the millions of dollars or billions of Naira Air Peace has single- handedly saved for this country by what we did? From N17 million, we brought a Business class flight to London down to N4 million. From N6 million we brought economy class flight down to N1.2 million and even afforded our students a further 15 per cent of the N1.2 million.

What happened? Pandemonium in the aviation world. All the foreign airlines started scrambling for safety. They started scrambling for cover. Within 24 hours of Air Peace releasing its fares, those airlines brought their fares from N15 million to N5 million. As I speak to you, the fares are coming down. They are advertising and begging people on social media to fly with them.

I have said this overtime but because some people suffer from colonial mentality, slave mentality, they think everything foreign is okay. Do you know how much Nigeria is saving now because too much strain was put on the Naira? Within 24 hours, Air Peace brought foreign airlines to their knees. Air Peace and other Nigerian airlines deserve to be supported.

What kind of support do local airlines need from the government?

The problem we have in this country is that the public and government officials look at private investments as investments belonging to individual owners. What they don’t understand is that when Air Peace is going to London, it is representing Nigeria. As such, both the government and the people of Nigeria must support Air Peace wholly because things won’t be easy there (London). They are going to find faults to destabilize the airline.

It has happened before. When we went there to bring Nigerians back during COVID-19, they unleashed dogs on our aircraft. They didn’t even allow us to do a walk-around. They committed a certain breach and Nigeria protested to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, protested to ICAO because that plane could have fallen out of the skies.

Once an aircraft takes off, even if it is for five minutes, that plane can never take off again until the engineer or the pilot does a walk around because anything could have breached the fuselage as of the time of flight. Such a situation can only happen to a Nigerian airline. If that is tried with America, they will come after that country. It is only in this country that people think that if Air Peace is supported, Allen Onyema has been supported.

Let me state clearly, it is no longer Allen Onyema’s airline, it belongs to the over 220 million Nigerians. At times I wonder what is driving the hate because to the best of my knowledge, I have paid my dues. I have sacrificed my family to be out there in the creeks when people could not look into the faces of militants. My activities, among others, brought down militancy. After all these interventions, you would expect to be supported, but nobody is supporting.

The kind of support we need is a sincere one from everyone. If these foreign airlines knew they could charge N5 million, why didn’t they do so before now? What has changed? President Bola Tinubu and his government should not be swayed because these foreign airlines undermine his government. When they overcharge, Nigerians take it up with the government, saying it is because of the dollar. They put everything on the doorstep of the president.

Nigerians unfair to Tinubu

Frankly, we are being unfair to President Tinubu by blaming every woe in the country on him. As a citizen, you have to play your part.

Allen Onyema has played his part. I have shown that with patriotic acts, we can move this country forward. If you are patriotic, you can’t engage in corruption. If you are patriotic, you will engender the ease of doing business in your country and encourage businesses to grow. If you are patriotic, you won’t stifle businesses out of wickedness. If you are patriotic, you will drive a positive narrative for your country. One doesn’t need to be president or governor to bring about social change. When I brought about social change in the Niger Delta, I wasn’t a councillor. If every citizen is contributing his or her quota, the country will move forward.

One thing I will say is the present government owes it a duty to support Air Peace, not only on the London route but also other routes. It also owes it a duty to support other Nigerian airlines because we have done something for this government that has cleaned its image.

Most Nigerians travelling abroad blame all their woes on Tinubu, saying it is because of him that fares escalated. The foreign airlines cashed in on the (exchange) situation to escalate their bills to N15 million.

Internal, international conspiracies against Nigeria’s economy

Unhealthy competition with foreign airlines for London, other foreign routes

It has started happening. Look at the fares they are publishing now on social media, they went below cost. We all know the fixed cost of both foreign and local airlines. When they brought down their fares to N5 million (business and N1.9 million (economy) that was okay. Now, the plan is to take out Air Peace from the market. If they succeed in taking us out now, they will return to the status quo. Nigerians will be fools to embrace their new love. Currently, foreign airlines are doing all sorts of market gimmicks. For instance, one airline published $98. That is why the government should support Air Peace wholeheartedly with whatever it takes. It is not about money. I am not asking them to give me money. Government should show that this airline belongs to Nigeria and must be protected.

When Delta Airlines came to Nigeria in 2007, the entire US State Department followed them. Go and touch Virgin Atlantic, the highest echelon of government in Britain will come calling. Touch Air Peace, they will tell you the owner is an Igboman, religion will also come in. Who did this to black man? I don’t know.

It is a pity that even government officials also say Nigerian airlines do not have capacity. It is a pity. It is unfortunate the way we treat our investors or indigenous investments. We did Hajj over a year ago but we have not been paid. Apart from that initial payment that was meagre, we have not been paid. About $9 million or $10 million they owe Air Peace and Azman, non been paid.

The requests for Forex by Nigerian airlines have also not been met. Our funds are trapped with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Air Peace borrowed money from the bank at 26 per cent, now the bank has changed it to 30 per cent. I also have my money stranded at CBN for almost a year.

Foreign airlines have been paid, why can’t the local airlines be paid? I remember the former acting governor of CBN, Mr Shonubi, he had compassion on me because I spoke about it at a conference held by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. I said I had 15 aircraft stranded abroad that needed to be brought back. However, the money ($14 million) was tied up at the CBN. Shonubi flew to Lagos and came to this office, which I respect because that is what a government official should do. Before the day he came here, I never knew him from anywhere. He didn’t treat me like I am an Igbo man and he is a Yoruba man. He realised that this is a major stakeholder in the economy of this country. He realised the importance of aviation and came here to explain what the issues were. Even though he couldn’t help me, I felt respected. He carried me along and made me understand the pains of President Tinubu’s government, that there was no dollar in the coffers. He asked if there was anything that could be done, he suggested if I could take some of it in Naira and see how I could get dollars. To date, I respect that man.

However, what happened to those after him? Do they pick calls? Do they even listen to you? The problem is not President Tinubu. He means well but he should look at his appointees. It is the appointees of the government that cause problems, not the elected man. They block the elected man from seeing the truth about things.

As far as I know President Tinubu, he means well for the country. When Tinubu came on board in 1999 as governor of Lagos, on the back of Brigadier General Buba Marwa’s successes, people were not patient because Marwa created a large shoe. For anyone to fit into those shoes, he had to outperform Marwa. When Tinubu came in, people were crying, just like it is happening now. But when he hit the road running, he outperformed whatever Marwa had done.

Sincerely, I believe it is the same way now. He inherited something not so good and I believe he has that vision, goodwill and good intent to help this country. What he needs is the right people to work with. That is all.

Back to Shonubi, who came here and pleaded with me. I told him, okay, maybe I would apply for some of that money to be given to me. Can you imagine an indigenous investor borrowing money at 26 per cent for the past one year? These are the same airlines they are saying are weak. As I speak, $14 million has not been paid and nobody is talking to me. When you call, the powers that be at the CBN, they are not answering. Let them know that we own this country together. I am a huge player, I have intervened for this country at the worst times, I have even intervened for this government with what I did 10 days ago.

When the government announced fuel subsidy removal, I was the first corporate body to announce an incentive for staff. I also called on other corporate bodies to do as I had done to cushion the effects of the rise in costs of items. How else do I support this government? Yet the powers that be look down and don’t want to do what is necessary. Let them give me my money.

On challenges the government is having in paying…

They will say it is the documentation. Which documentation? The bank has provided everything. Let them give me back my money or treat me like Shonubi treated me. I still respect that man to date and that is what government officials are supposed to do. Government officials are not your lord, it is the mistake they make in this country. Elected officials or appointed individuals are our servants. They should treat the polity and citizenry in that manner.

For the Hajj, they have not paid either us or Azman. Do you know why I keep telling you the problem of this country is not the President and his Vice? I went to the Vice President, who called the minister of Finance in my presence, asking: “What are you people doing about Allen Onyema’s money stranded on this Hajj issue? We can’t leave our private investors to suffer. Myself and the president are very worried about things like this. How are you people sorting it? It has lingered.”

The minister responded: “We are treating it.” The Vice President continued: “I want that payment to happen and I am going to meet Mr President on this.”

The Vice President met with the President. In fairness to President Tinubu, he approved the payment. President Tinubu ordered the release of about N24 billion to offset whatever is owed through Hajj operations. The Hajj Commission has collected it.

I pity the president of this country. People will do things that they are not supposed to do, act when they are not supposed to act and the president will be blamed. The president is not God and he cannot see everything at the same time. Vice President Kashim Shettima did what he was supposed to do, President Tinubu acted swiftly, but that money is still with the Hajj Commission domiciled at the CBN for almost one month now. As I speak, we have not been paid. We went to the Hajj Commission and they keep telling us tomorrow. Nobody will stop me from intervening for my country, I will never be dispirited from doing what I do for this country.

What really informed your participation in the Amnesty programme and de-radicalization of former Niger-Delta militants?

That was in 2004. I believe in broad nationalism. I hate ethnic and religious nationalism that has been the bane of this country. The fact that we don’t speak with one voice is a problem. This country has potential, which we have not been able to harness. I love our diversity and I think the numerous ethnic groups should be a source of strength. This country ought to be one of the greatest places under the sun, but we have not been able to realise our potential because of our inability to manage our diversity. From Government College Ughelli to University of Ibadan, I have been like this. I love this country. Dead or alive, I have no apologies to anyone for my love for Nigeria. I believe in one Nigeria.

Having said that, in 2004, we were at Emab Plaza in Abuja when I saw on television a clip where a kidnap of foreign oil workers was announced. I was preparing to do the first Nigeria Forever project, which I took around Nigeria and funded with hundreds of millions of Naira on my own just to bring peace to the motherland.
I remember that late President Shehu Shagari hosted me in Sokoto, brought me and my executive to his house to request that I stay with him for one night as I was doing great things for this country.

While making inquiries on how to deal with the Niger-Delta issue, I discovered the Niger-Delta people took to arms because nobody listened to their plights. I remember politicians had armed them in the past for political gains, so they had arms. If you go to the Niger-Delta, you will see that the water they drink is polluted. It is as black as ashes. They agitated against it but nobody listened to them, so they took up arms. They believe that, through arms, they would get attention and solutions to their problems.

Having studied the situation, I thought that their choice (violence) would lead to nowhere but further disruption. I realised that nonviolence was the way out, so I studied India and Mahatma Gandhi, who led the struggle against British rule without encouraging his people to take up arms. I also learnt about Martin Luther King Jr, who brought down official segregation in the United States without encouraging violence and Lech Walesa of Poland who, through the Solidarity Group, used nonviolence to bring down the communist government at a time it was almost impossible. It is instructive to add that South Africans ended apartheid when they embraced nonviolence.

Having carried out these studies, I now decided that I would bring nonviolence education to the militants, but I didn’t know how I would because I had never studied nonviolence in my life. Therefore, I applied to the University of Rhode Island Study Centre for nonviolence and peace study to attend their summer course. Having admitted me, I gave them 22 names among my staff for admission so that they could train us all after which we would come back to Nigeria and train the militants. They gave us admission and I paid. However, when we went to the embassy, we were denied visas.

I appealed to them that it was not about granting visas. I told them to come to Nigeria and train us. They came to Nigeria to train us. The rest is history. We now went in and started doing the programme. For every violent person, he wants out of violence but doesn’t know how to achieve that. Nonviolence education provided a route to liberation from the clutches of violence for the militants. They also saw the sincerity in purpose and embraced it. We took them to South Africa to deepen their knowledge.

So, America called us, gave us visas so they could deepen their knowledge. The rest is history. When Shell saw what was happening, it embraced the programme, bankrolled it, then Chevron later entered, Akwa Ibom State government and other oil companies also joined. Therefore, it was a matter of time before the death of militancy.

After a while, then late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua asked Timi Alaibe about me, saying there were positive reports about what I was doing with the militants. Yar’Adua brought the idea of training Tompolo, Asari and the rest so they could come and have a meeting with him. That was how they brought me in and the rest is history. I trained the over 30,000 people who registered under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP when the so-called United Nations agencies and companies charged about N60 billion because they said it was a dangerous assignment.

On their own, the militant leaders held a meeting in Yenagoa to say that without the man who liberated us, we were not reporting to any camp. That was how I was brought in, even though I was not interested. To me, I was happy to walk away knowing that I had helped my country. The first time the government paid a kobo into my account, I became a suspect for money that wasn’t even enough. Everybody had forgotten that it was my billions I used in bringing solutions to the problem before the government came to me. In 2005, I charged as much as N250,000 for my programme per person and people sent their wards.

The military was coming, lawyers were coming. People wanted to acquire knowledge on nonviolence and I brought in Americans to teach them. How much was I supposed to charge five years later? When you look at inflation, dollars and everything, I was supposed to be charging like N3 million. Do you know how much I was offered by the government to teach the militants five years later? N112,000 per person and there were 30,000 persons. Though I told Timi Alaibe I wouldn’t do it, he begged. When the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, saw the contract, it marvelled. It was about N4 billion then. Meanwhile, they would have paid about N58 billion to foreign agencies.

Those foreign agencies were waiting for it to collapse but it didn’t. In fact, nobody was killed at the Obubra camp. The UN, European Union, British and American governments all visited there and couldn’t believe it. When they visited the camp in Obubra, Cross River State, they thought nothing was happening because everywhere was silent. To their surprise, the boys were in the halls undertaking their lectures without creating confusion. We used 13 halls. Everybody was amazed and they praised it. Foreign diplomats came to my house to dine and find out how I did it. Today, it is a different story.

[Vanguard]