CITIZENS, including lawyers, human rights activists, academics, and artisans have
faulted the palliative measures put in place by some state governments to bolster the consequence of the removal of fuel subsidy on the people, saying it was a wrong strategy.

Some governments announced payment of N10,000 monthly for public sector workers, some allowances for medical personnel and occasional distribution of food to the poor and most vulnerable households as well as free bus rides for students of tertiary institutions. In their reactions, a number of the residents insisted that it was a rip-off while others said the Federal Government should have put in place a proper plan before getting rid of fuel subsidy.

Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, two-time Minister of Education and Health, said that for any palliative option to be meaningful, it should not be selective but one that would impact everybody. He argued that the effects of fuel subsidy removal “is on everybody” irrespective of one’s socio-economic status, hence, nobody should be discriminated against in government palliatives.

“The effects of fuel subsidy removal are on every citizen. So, the government should think of cushioning plans that everybody will benefit from.” Professor Madubuike blamed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for hastily removing fuel subsidies without any ready action plan to cushion the effects of the removal.

He said that the savings from the fuel subsidy should be evenly distributed to benefit all citizens irrespective of their class because everybody gets the heat of the subsidy removal.

He said that the first step to be taken by the government to cushion the effects of subsidy removal was to crash the cost of governance. He said it was a contradiction for the government to be talking of fuel subsidy removal on the one hand, only to be recklessly increasing the cost of governance on the other hand. “Our Presidents are behaving like kings and monarchs. But monarchy is gone even in Britain, people oppose it now”. The former Education Minister who decried the high cost of governance in the country insisted that only a conscious downscaling of the cost of governance will save Nigeria from imminent insolvency. The former Minister for Health also strongly advocated a shift from consumption to production. He regretted that Nigeria had remained the only oil-producing country without a functional oil refinery, a development, he said, smacks of cluelessness in leadership. “We must think differently if we must move forward as a nation. We must start producing something, and stop being a consuming nation”.

Mr Ayo Fadaka, former South-West Zonal Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP said, ”we have a fundamental economic problem that can only be addressed through a comprehensive action and not tokenism as currently obtained by state governments reactions. The Tinubu administration that exacerbated our economic woes is yet to put on its thinking cap in the midst of this crisis and that is disappointing. Government at all levels must think deeply and rescue Nigerians from serious economic woes, as failure to do that is simply to plan for a crisis. We are all poor now and rapidly reverting to hitherto unimaginable practices as people now trek kilometers to eke a living, this is not an advancement but retrogression.

Before Tinubu’s inauguration, the poor could still get an uninspiring meal for N100, that is no longer possible today because of the accelerating and galloping speed of inflation. The devaluation of the Naira clearly indicates that President Tinubu did not come into office prepared to tackle the sloppiness of the Buhari era but to accentuate same and this is disappointing when due cognisance is accorded to the education and training of both men, Buhari was a soldier with a questionable O Level result while Tinubu is a certified accountant with a pedigree. We are suffering in today’s Nigeria and we need help, I just hope that one day soon, social crisis will not erupt and create a dislocation that will be very costly to the nation.

Situation is volatile – Bishop Edem, C-River

Bishop Edem Offiong of the True Worshipers Assembly, Calabar, Cross –River state, said, “The situation is dire. The church offering has dwindled, attendance has gone down drastically, and the joy of being in the presence of the lord has disappeared from the faces of many members owing to what they are going through. In spite of the low offering, after service, many members line up to see me and from what we have collected, we share to them. Therefore, how can you see people dying and you keep money for programmes or development of the church. We have to give out. The palliatives talk is just trying to take the mind of Nigerians away from the real issues they are going through. Very soon, you will see people dying of hunger, diseases, and abject needs. Perhaps, this government is bent on placating its creditors in International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and China who are insisting on reduction of the country’s population to get more loans.

Palliative is a joke – Prof Ossopong, UNICAL, C-River

A Professor of Political Science at the University of Calabar, Ntimasu Ossopong, submitted that “provision of palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal is just a joke. 90 percent of Nigerians feel the pain of what is going on in the country, so who do you palliate and who do you leave out. How can N10, 000 or N8, 000 meet the needs of an average Nigerian? Those talking about palliatives to cushion effects of what we are facing are just not serious yet. As a professor I live at 8 Miles, in the outskirts of Calabar and each day I come here (University of Calabar), I buy 10,000 fuel which cannot bring me here the next day. My salary is less than half a million. If I take taxi, I pay N3, 000 back and forth. Moreover, at my status, I cannot ask students to give me money and yet my needs are mounting. Some junior lecturers earn far less, yet, they have families, and other needs. Therefore, the whole thing is just funny.

On his part, Comrade Nnanna Nwafor, the Executive Director, Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development (FENRAD), expressed doubt in the sincerity of government with the various palliative measures being promised. He said he was not convinced that government was serious in rolling out any palliative to cushion the biting effects of subsidy removal on the citizenry. Nwafor who said that the impacts of the subsidy removal on the masses had been devastating, said that government ought to have adopted gradual/phased subsidy removal instead of unprepared outright removal. He advocated social welfare packages that every citizen would benefit from, but regretted that such programme would be sabotaged or abused due to endemic corruption in the country.

According to him, “all these palliative measures cannot go a long way to addressing the suffering people due to government insincerity, corruption and government long term of betrayal and lack of data to ensure the most vulnerable persons are captured. I can see insincerity and lack of trust by government to fulfil this promise.”

Palliative is wrong approach – Nsuke, MOSOP president, Rivers

President of the Movement for Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) and lawyer, Fegalo Nsuke, said, “People need a functional system that offer opportunities and encourage production and not to be made to live on humanitarian gestures. Moreover, given Nigeria’s resource endowments, citizen’s living standards can significantly improve with investments in infrastructure and investor-friendly incentives.

“The present state of Nigeria is pathetic and I do not think things will get better with palliatives given the state of our roads and distribution system, power supply, and other essential infrastructure. Therefore, the government should begin with building infrastructure and providing security for farmers to boost food production while other sectors are being developed. The palliatives will not be sustainable if standards of living continue to decline. We also have to face the realities.

Workers must get commemorate pay rise to cope with the pains of subsidy removal. Nigerians will not pay same price for energy like citizens of Saudi Arabia and be on a minimum wage of N40, 000 per month (approximately $50). In essence, palliatives will be meaningless in an economy with exponentially rising inflation, increasing unemployment and high insecurity. Government should deliberately invest in building social infrastructure and food production. That will be a better way to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal than free transport and all that, which are not sustainable.

Mistaken course of action – Akpan, activist, A- Ibom

The Executive Director of COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peace Building, Uyo, Mr. Saviour Akpan, argued that, “giving palliatives to people as a means of cushioning the effect of fuel subsidy removal is a temporary measure that has no sustainability plan. It is a wrong policy; it is encouraging consumer economy. I do not support the idea of giving money to any group of people because it will create room for laziness.

Government should channel the money into productive ventures that would better the lives of all citizens. Government should ensure development plans that are sustainable through the provision of rural infrastructure .let the money be used to revamp all the refineries in the country, build rural roads and tackle the challenge of rural electrification. Again, there is a need for the introduction of technical and vocational education, especially in rural communities. The problem in Nigeria is that endemic corruption does not encourage inclusiveness in policy formulation and implementation,” he said.

Palliative not the way out – Mumkhai, PDP chieftain, Delta

A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leader in Delta state, Alhaji Mumakhai Unagha, declared, “The fuel subsidy is endless as it has brought untold hardship to the entire country. It is not limited to the poor but to the average Nigerians which is very unfortunate. The federal government should urgently find an urgent solution to it; if not the country will slide to anarchy.

I am convinced that the federal government never envisaged that it would have such a negative effect on the masses. Otherwise, President Tinubu would never have announced the removal. Subsidy removal was a well-hatched and planned theory of the West to sabotage Nigeria to which our educated experts never thought of. The idea was wicked and unacceptable. Ordinarily, what we thought was that before the subsidy removal, the various refineries ought to have been put in place and new ones built. I believe that the government will be able to manage the situation to avoid snowballing to a full-blown and uncontrollable crisis. Nigerians are hungry and dying on a daily basis.

The federal government should fix all the refineries, which is the only way to salvage and save the situation. The N500 billion budgeted to remedy the hardship is not the solution, rather reverse it for now. Palliative is not the solution. Now that we have experimented with the removal and its effects proving tough economic hardship, we should reverse it. We need the subsidy.”

No to transfer of N8, 000 to 22m households – West, CLO member, Bayelsa

A member of the Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, in Bayelsa state, David West, said, “The palliatives should be holistic and encompassing to benefit the totality of the people because what is currently going on is just centered around civil and public servants and they consist just a minute proportion of the population.

The vast majority are independent people. Government should invest the subsidy in critical infrastructure that will benefit everybody. Government should invest the subsidy on rebuilding the refineries, making sure that one or two refineries are functional, expanding the railway transportation system and roads, and there should be adequate power, which will reduce the consumption of petrol which will benefit everybody. I am not in support of cash transfer of N8, 000 to 22 million households for six months, and after the six months, what happens? As members of the civil society and citizens of this country, we should hold government accountable.”

No clear-cut policy – Omare, ex-IYC president, Delta

Former president Ijaw Youths Council, Eric Omare Esq., regretted that several weeks after the removal of subsidy, the federal government was yet to have what he termed a clear-cut policy direction to reduce the impact on Nigerians. “Having regard to the hardships being faced by Nigerians because of subsidy removal, I strongly think that there should be palliatives. First, those that should benefit are the low-income earners, students, unemployed and aged people.

However, my problem is that there is no clear-cut policy direction by the government on palliatives to reduce the impact of the subsidy removal. I think that government must, as a matter of urgency, come up with palliatives to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal at the local, state and federal levels. Nigerians are passing through pains.”

Palliative not sustainable- Odi, retired civil servant, Bayelsa

A retired senior civil servant, Elder Chris Odi, said, “I am not too comfortable with the nature of the palliatives because they are not sustainable. For how long will the government continue to distribute food items to the poor? Instead of cash that they will give for some time, the government should add it to the workers’ salaries. Another big issue is how the palliatives will go around to reach non-public sector workers, or how the government will identify the very poor in a country without a proper database.

The way forward for me is to distribute buses to all the states to convey passengers free or highly reduced fare; ensure there is no electricity tariff hike for now; support farmers with farm inputs so that food prices can come down.

In addition, the government needs to fix the roads for easy evacuation of farm produce from the hinterlands to the markets. The biggest palliative, however, will be the fixing of the nation’s refineries so that petroleum products will be readily available for local consumption and export. The government needs to revive the country’s moribund industries to employ the teeming masses. This will facilitate production, which in turn will encourage export and strengthen the naira”.

Fix refineries – Alagoa, ERA, Bayelsa

Programme Manager/Head, Niger Delta Resource Centre, Morris Alagoa, told Saturday Vanguard, “If the federal and state governments want to initiate social security schemes or welfare schemes for Nigerians as some groups and individuals have been advocating over the years, it is fantastic.

Instead of looting treasuries and engaging in money laundering at the expense of the masses, the federal and state governments should provide legal framework for social welfare or social security for identified categories of Nigerians. Such schemes should have legal backing so that no incoming administrations can toy with it. Unless legislated upon, the idea of giving cash to so-called poor in the society is another avenue for those in the corridors of power to steal such funds. Rather, the federal and state governments should use such funds to find lasting solutions to the lingering and epileptic power situation, get functional refineries, including embarking on a thorough research on local refinery and encourage the locals with modular refineries to make products cheaper, available and reduce unemployment and violent crimes. Such a system should create formal avenues for local refiners to obtain crude oil at domestic price and not OPEC price.

What govs should do – Ambakederimo, -S-South leader, Bayelsa

Convener of the South South Reawakening Group, SSRG, Elder Joe Ambakederimo, asserted, “Before the petrol subsidy was removed, many state governments preferred giving handouts to their citizens, who daily throng Government Houses from Monday to Fridays, throughout the month, appealing for one form of support or the order. The state governments should invest in a multi-modal transportation system and establish agriculture commodity boards that incorruptible persons will manage.

These boards will be off takers of farm produce to be sold at subsidies prices. In the short term the cash handout and free bus ride must be across board for many who are not civil servants; who are unemployed or working in small businesses, including providing for owners of small businesses to keep them in business. The medium term strategy would be embarking on a social housing scheme. The long term strategy would be the provision and construction of rural roads for purposes of evacuation of farm produce, and the light rail to get to all the nook and crannies of the state. When people can move around without stress they feel no pain and this is the real palliative.”

Zadok Akintoye, Public analyst: I believe that payment of extra money to civil servants by some state governments may be an evidence of the knowledge deficit on how the economy works and how it would respond to such increases. Putting more funds in the hand of workers will not resolve the value-depletion of the Naira to other currencies, which has further worsened our economic situation. I disagree with government increasing wages, but will suggest that they do what is required in tackling the widening exchange rate of the Naira to the dollar. Increasing wages only postpones the inevitable by tokenizing the core issues affecting our nation. In the short term, the government should remove all taxes on salaries of public servants as an emergency intervention to provide more funds to them at this time; reduce customs levies on goods and services essential to citizens wellbeing; increase levies paid on luxury items and tax the rich more; create new monetary policies that mitigate round tripping and effectively protects the CBN from being taken advantage of; support the Naira against the Dollar and fund the LGA’s directly. The provision of buses and other consumables are not sustainable in long term and would further plunge the country into economic crisis.

What Tinubu should do – Amorighoye, ILoT scribe, Delta

Secretary of the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought, ILoT, Sir Amorighoye Mene, said, “The truth is that all Nigerians, particularly the poor and low-income families, are passing through very difficult times. Therefore, government and private companies should provide bonuses and allowances to cushion the costs of transportation; mass transit vehicles to move people, goods, and services within their domain and subsidize the cost of conversion of vehicles from petrol to gas, which is far cheaper and more environmentally friendly; government should invest in sundry measures to drastically reduce the cost of living, particularly in the area of food items, health care, and education. The government should create the enabling environment to promote private sector growth to create employment for the unemployed, particularly in the agricultural and mining value chain, and other sectors.”

In Plateau state, Comrade Friday Bako said, “N10,000 monthly palliative is not enough to address the high rate of inflation, cost of living and improve the standard of living which today is very low since income per capita is also very low. What the nation needs now are sound economic policies that will stimulate economic growth and improvement in the salaries and allowances of workers to reflect the present realities.”

Mr. Raymond Gukas noted, ”The entire palliatives plan is a scam. How can they determine who is qualified and who is not? And how many of the needy have bank accounts? Or is it meant only for the city dwellers, what of the villagers without bank accounts are they not Nigerians? There are so many unanswered questions, the same people continue to empower themselves whenever they need to rehabilitate themselves.”

Mr. Solomon Praise, a Private School teacher added, ”This so-called palliative measure is a scam. What modalities are on the ground to ensure that the targeted poor people will be the sole beneficiaries of palliative? Is there a comprehensive data to know who are these poor people, where they are located and what is the number of people in each household? Will the disbursement of the cash be done by hand or via banks and if it will be done from house to house, who are those that will carry out the exercise and how trustworthy are they that the money will not miss? If payment will be via the bank, how many of these poor households even have a savings account? The government should have given palliatives and ensured it is working well before the removal of the fuel subsidy. The money and resources for the so-called palliative should be used to build a strong and stable economy. I am not in support of the so-called palliative measures because it is another way of corruption for some government officials and individuals.

Plateau State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Sylvanus Namang noted, “The palliatives being announced by some states are scratching things on the surface. It needs a holistic approach across all sectors of the economy which had collapsed. When it comes to the states, politics must be removed so as not to equate it with the distribution of political patronage.”

Another APC member, Dr. Elkanah Garang stressed, “The proposed N10,000 will not make a significant impact in the lives of public sector workers with the economic realities of present-day Nigeria. Wages need to reflect the government’s commitment at all levels to ameliorate the inconvenience of subsidy removal. The pressure should trickle down to States and Local Government administrators to ensure funds released by the Federal Government are not misappropriated.”

Mrs Zainab Babaji, journalist said, “It is not feasible. Considering how some other programmes such as the school feeding programme, social investment programme, etc, were managed, there were a lot of allegations of corruption and misappropriation where many people who were captured did not benefit from the programmes. Unless a structure is put in place to ensure prudence, the programme will not be effective.”

Mrs. Kaneng Pam-Hworo from the National Orientation Agency maintained, “My opinion is that the fuel subsidy removal is timely. Palliatives distribution at all levels to the workers and the general public is welcomed to cushion the effect of the untold hardship on Nigerians. The N10,000 monthly payment as palliative for as long as six months will go a long way to assuage the pains and hardship of the people. In addition to the provision of free buses to convey students and workers, the government should ensure that the cost of foodstuff and medicines is reduced to make it affordable to the poor Nigerians.”

Hon Stephen Adewale, Social Democratic Party chairman in Ondo state : Palliatives are essentially temporary aid that might not be attainable or financially viable in the long run. However, these small measures being introduced as palliatives by the state governments will go a long way in cushioning the excruciating effect of the fuel hike until the government is able to successfully introduce a curative measure that permanently alleviates the burden of the fuel hike on the masses. However, state governments must implement palliative policy that will be felt by all citizens in order to guarantee that the actions being implemented reach every individual. First, the ideal method to accomplish this is to implement a successful transport system that will enable students to commute for free. This measure should also be extended to the residents who will pay little as transportation fare.

Ayo Ologun, spokesperson for The Osun Masterminds, TOM

“ The monetary palliative measures introduced for public workers cannot be sustained for a year. The N10,000 proposed for workers by some states is not even enough to buy 20 litres of fuel and how does one survive on 20 litres for 30 days? The government should embrace measures that can benefit majority of the populace. In the area of transportation, government should put buses on our roads, allow students board the vehicles at subsidized rates if it can’t be free. Also, government should look at the possibility of moving farm produce to cities through subsidized transportation to tackle the price hike for food items. If they insisted on monetary provision to civil servants, what will be the fate of other people whose population form over 80 percent of the masses across the country?

In Oyo State, some of the residents said that though the government has tried to cushion the harsh effects of the subsidy removal, the gesture was minimal. Mrs Sidikatu Sulaiman, a trader at Aleshinloye Market said, “the provision of buses by the state government has reduced the hardship to a certain extent. This has greatly relieved commuters who could have been paying through their noses”.

Another commuter, Mrs Esther Ajayi, a businesswoman, said, “many people who are not government workers now prefer to leave their vehicles at home and make use of the state government buses because they are cheaper. We have felt the government response in the area of transportation, the subsidy removal affects other sectors too. Foodstuffs are very costly for average people.”

At various markets like Sango, Eleyele, Bodija, Inalende, Dugbe, traders complained about low patronage saying hike in foodstuff prices has forced people to stay away from the market.

In Ekiti State, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Biodun Oyebanji, Yinka Oyebode, said the government has been putting mechanisms in place to ensure that palliatives measures capture all residents to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal. He said the governor was not only concerned about civil servants but all residents in the state. Oyebode stated that the palliatives will also capture youths, students, market women, labourers, mass transit workers, local government workers, among others so that they can also benefit from the system.

In Ogun state, a businessman, Mr. Adeniyi Olanrewaju commended Governor Dapo Abiodun, for approving the palliatives for all categories of people, such as civil servants, public servants, pensioners, artisans, farmers market men and women and others.

Also speaking, a community leader, Oladimeji Abayomi, queried how far the N10,000 can go with the present rate of inflation in the nation’s economic. He said, he found it difficult to believe Nigerian politicians whenever they make promises. They are good in making promises, but find it difficult to fulfill the promises made.

The President Generel of Mzough U Tiv, worldwide, Chief Iorbee Ihagh advised the Federal and state governments to pay special attention to rural dwellers in the distribution of palliatives. Chief Ihagh also warned that politicians should not be allowed to hijack the distribution process by allowing political sentiment to gain prominence during the distribution. He advised that people from different political party affiliations should be drafted into the distribution process to ensure that Nigerian were not unjustly excluded from benefitting from the intervention for reasons of their political inclination.

According to him, “I do not agree with the process of giving large chunk of the palliatives to workers because at every month end they get salaries which nonetheless can be augmented. But there are people living in the villages who do not even get up to N5,000 in a year. And they are no longer farming because of the activities of Fulani herdsmen. Hence, the hunger is so much, people go to the farm and get killed. I strongly feel that the palliatives should get to the people living in the rural areas, it should not be restricted to public servants. The actual poor people are in the villages.

These are people who when they see N10,000 will celebrate to high heavens. They do not have money to buy drugs or even their basic needs. That is why the rural dwellers should be given top priority. The government must take steps to take care of the people in the rural areas because that is where the poverty is biting harder”.

[Vanguard]

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, transmitted a list of 28 ministerial nominees to the national assembly for screening, in time before the 60-day deadline set by a recent constitutional amendment. 

TheCable had reported that the nominees were selected from 25 states of the federation — excluding 11 states. 

An analysis by TheCable Index showed that the minimum qualification of the nominees is a bachelor’s degree and the highest qualification is a doctorate degree. Two of those with doctorate degrees have practiced enough and become professors. 

While 16 nominees hold a master’s degree as their highest educational qualification, nine have bachelor’s degrees as theirs and three of the appointees have a doctorate degree. 

According to section 147(5) of the constitution, no person shall be appointed as a minister “unless he is qualified for election as a member of the house of representatives”. 

Section 65 (1) (a) of the constitution states that a person shall be qualified for house of representatives election if he has been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent. 

Even though all of the nominees were qualified, according to the constitution, lawmakers had previously voiced reservations about the bare minimum. 

In January 2022,  Femi Gbajabiamila, former speaker of the house of representatives, said there is a need to amend the constitution to increase the educational qualification for election into the office of the national assembly. 

The house of representatives, in February 2022, began the process of increasing the minimum educational qualification for election as a governor, state and federal lawmaker, to at least a “university degree level or its equivalent”.

WALE EDUN AS ‘OLDEST’ MINISTER

The oldest ministerial nominee on record is Wale Edun, aged 67. The youngest nominee is Betta Edu, 31 years younger than Edun, which supporters have said suggests a generational mix but critics disagree, claiming that there would be a huge disparity in ideas.

TheCable’s analysis is based on available data on the ages of the ministerial nominees.

The youngest minister in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet was 44 in 2019, while the oldest was Buhari himself, who was 76 and held the portfolio as minister of petroleum.

Below is a list of the academic qualifications of the ministerial nominees:

[TheCable] 

The news that came from Johannesburg, South Africa on July 19, in this year of our Lord, was heartrending: Kole Omotoso is dead! The lionized writer, Kole  Omotoso, was my teacher at the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, for four years of my study there in the Dramatic Arts Department with Professor Wole Soyinka as Head of Department.

My first encounter with Kole Omotoso as a lecturer resulted to my handing over a manuscript of mine to him when he asked us, his students, if any of us had “written something, maybe a play or novel.” That manuscript of mine was accepted by Macmillan, publishers of the popular Pacesetters Series, but I kept having some arguments with the publishing house until the Nigerian economy collapsed and the novel could no longer be published. But that is another story…

Professor Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso was born in Akure in present-day Ondo State on April 21, 1943 and was educated at Oyemekan Grammar School, Akure and the prestigious King’s College, Lagos, before taking his university degree at the University of Ibadan in 1969.

He was awarded a scholarship to study for a doctorate in Arabic Literature at the University of Edinburgh and the American University in Cairo, Egypt.      
He married Marguerita Rice, a native of Barbados, before returning to Nigeria to teach in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Ibadan.

With the establishment of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Ife under the headship of Soyinka, Kole Omotoso transferred his services to Ile-Ife where we met.

He was a striking presence on campus with his Volkswagen Beetle car and the Marxist predilection of his bearing. He was a prominent member of a Marxist group of intellectuals known as the Positive Review Collective that included the fiery Biodun Jeyifo, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Femi Osofisan, John Ohiorhenuan, Odia Ofeimun etc.

The intellection on the Ife campus those days was robustly radical, and the exchanges between the lecturers and the students could be high octane. There was, for instance, one hot session in class when our teacher, Kole Omotoso, and our classmate, Owei Lakemfa, disagreed on the interpretation of a book by the Marxist theoretician, Raymond Williams, which led to the abrupt end of the class!

It’s a mark of Kole Omotoso’s class that he never visited any harsh retribution upon any contrarian student for any excesses whatsoever. Wole Soyinka summed up the class struggle of those days thusly: “They are my students. They don’t listen.”    

Kole Omotoso was elected as the first secretary-general of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and later became president after the founder Chinua Achebe.

His first novel, The Edifice, was published by the esteemed Heinemann African Writers Series (AWS) in 1971. It deals with the sad disintegration of the marriage between the Nigerian overseas student, Dele, and the English girl, Daisy, when he takes her home to Nigeria. The marriage ends and he marries another white woman. The second novel of Kole Omotoso, The Combat, published in 1972 also by Heinemann’s AWS, is a sad parable on the Nigeria-Biafra war depicting two brothers embroiled in a senseless fight. 

He published a collection of short stories entitled Miracles in 1973 and initiated the experimentation in detective fiction in Nigeria through his 1974 publication of Fella’s Choice. His other books are Sacrifice, The Scales, To Borrow a Wandering Leaf, Memories of Our Recent Boom etc.

He also published two plays, namely The Curse: A One-Act Play in Four Scenes; and Shadows in the Horizon: A Play about the Combustibility of Private Property.

Kole Omotoso equally distinguished himself by authoring critical books, notably The Form of the African Novel: A Critical Essay; The Theatrical into Theatre: A Study of the Drama and Theatre of the English-Speaking Caribbean; Season of Migration to the South: Africa’s Crises Reconsidered; Achebe or Soyinka? A Study in Contrasts; and Woza Africa.

The most controversial book of Kole Omotoso is without question Just Before Dawn, a faction on the history of Nigeria published in 1988 by Spectrum Books, Ibadan under the charge of Chief Joop Berkhout. A former Nigerian Head of State threatened to sue him and his publishers. Hell was let loose in some security quarters. The most interesting development about the book’s publication for me was the war it unleashed between two of Nigeria’s most distinguished historians. Prof J.F. Ade-Ajayi of the then History Department of the University of Ibadan stated that he felt more history in Kole Omotoso’s Just Before Dawn when compared with the 13-volume history of Nigeria commissioned by the General Olusegun Obasanjo government and edited by Prof Tekena Tamuno. It’s understandable that Prof Tamuno was not amused at all that his colleague, Prof Ade-Ajayi, had a greater feel of history in the admixture of fact and fiction called faction than in a proper book of History with a capital “H”.

Back in 2018, Kole Omotoso reflected on 30 years of Just Before Dawn thus: “Why faction? This has been one of the many questions about the book. In continuous discussions about the idea of the book with the late Dele Giwa I came to the conclusion that the overall effect would be worth achieving through a style far from the so-called objective historical narrative. Dele Giwa made the case for prose style that affected the reader internally. This should not be a history book. It should be a historic book. I had hoped that he would live to approve of it. What about a sequel? I did attempt a sequel entitled DAYBREAK! The dark clouds had gone and all Nigerians woke up to go to work: the weaver went to his or her weaving machine. The clerk bathes and takes his biro pen and paper and on to the office. The doctor takes his bag and bedside manners and off to the hospital she goes. And so on. But I have no idea where that manuscript is. It is obvious that a sequel in the same manner of detailed narrative of wrong decisions and wrong options although aplenty would be boring to write. It would also be difficult to read. Once, in this case, is enough. How things changed for the better would have been the natural sequel to the book. And since nothing has changed for the better there is no sequel to write. Or is there?”

Kole Omotoso eventually left Nigeria following the ruckus elicited by Just Before Dawn. He briefly got himself in theatrical undertakings at Talawa Theatre Company in London. He wrote articles and reviews for West Africa magazine as demanded by the London-based magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Kaye Whiteman who was his friend.  

He served as a visiting professor at the University of Stirling and was also a visiting professor at National University of Lesotho.

Kole Omotoso was professor of English at the University of Western Cape, South Africa from 1991 to 2000. He served as a professor in the Drama Department of Stellenbosch University from 2001 to 2003. He did a stint with Elizade University upon his return to Nigeria.

He was an advisor to the Big Brother Africa television show which put him in some conflict with his guru Prof Wole Soyinka. He was the patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature from 2013 to 2016. A prominent public intellectual, he wrote the weekly column “Trouble Travels” for The Guardian on Sunday.

Kole Omotoso shook up South Africa when he started appearing all over the media as the face of the leading telecommunications giant Vodacom. He got splashed all over the television and on billboards as the “Yebo Gogo Man”.

It’s remarkable that when Kole Omotoso met Nelson Mandela, the legend described the Nigerian as “the most photographed man in South Africa.” It takes more than magic to rival the great Mandela for popularity! Incidentally, Kole Omotoso acted the role of Govan Mbeki, Mandela’s fellow prisoner on Robben Island, in the television film Mandela and de Klerk.

Even with all the fame and fortune, Kole Omotoso still retained his personable mien anytime one ran into him in the Lagos home of his bosom friend, the poet Odia Ofeimun, author of The Poet Lied. Having known him from his Great Ife Marxist days as a “ragged-trousered philanthropist” – apologies to the title of the proletarian novel of Robert Tressel – I cannot but celebrate my teacher’s revelation that if a play was being staged in London and he felt like going to watch it, he would just hop into a plane in South Africa, land in London, watch the play, and fly back to South Africa!

A noteworthy fact about Kole Omotoso is that he lived to the old age of 80 after being a sickly child who was nicknamed “Mosquito” by his naughty schoolmates. In fact, some of us in the department at Great Ife called him “Agama Lizard” – behind his back!

He was the father of three children from his first marriage – Akin the influential filmmaker, Pelayo the engineer, and Yewande the novelist and architect who designed his father’s house in the Akure bush.

Kole Omotoso later got married to Bukky after the death of Marguerita, and the marriage is blessed with the children Taiwo and Olamiposi. The renowned author is also survived by his grandchildren Alula, Itai, Paida, Kehinde and Taiye.

Novelist, playwright, scholar, critic, public intellectual, raconteur, actor, loner, teacher, multidimensional author, Kole Omotoso deserves celebration because the writer never dies.     

Music star Davido’s social media promotion of a new song by Logos Olori (whose real name is Olalekan Emeka Taiwo) titled “Jaye Lo” where men dressed in stereotypical Muslims robes gyrated into a sudden burst of frenzied dancing shortly after performing the Muslim prayers near a mosque has incensed Muslims in Hausaphone northern Nigeria but doesn’t seem to bother Yoruba and other Nigerian Muslims.

The differential reactions to the music video—and to most other issues involving religion— among Nigerian Muslims can be traced to the history and character of the evolution of Islam in the North and in the Southwest.

It is not often known that Yoruba and Hausa Muslims share a common, age-old heritage even though the manifestation of Islam in the lived experiences of the people is fundamentally different, which is magnified by the often acrimonious political differences between the two groups in contemporary Nigeria. 

The emergence of Islam in both societies is not only fairly co-extensive, it is also from the same West African source. Islam came to Katsina, Kano (and in much of Hausaland in Nigeria’s northwest) in a sustained, systematic form in the 1300s. It came to Kano when Yaji I was king of Kano— and to Yorubaland in the 1450s during the reign of Oluaso, the defunct Oyo Empire’s longest reigning monarch on record.

Tarikh arbab hadha al-balad al-musamma Kano, the Arabic-language palace diary known to us in English as the Kano Chronicle, which recorded biographical profiles of Kano’s kings from the 10th century until the Usman Dan Fodio Jihad in the early 1800s, is the first known written account to state that Islam was brought to Kano by the Wangara people of Mali during the reign of Yaji I who ruled from 1349 to 1385.

Islam also came to Yorubaland (and surrounding areas such as Borgu and Nupeland) through the same Wangara people of Mali, which explains why Islam is called “Esin imale” in the Yoruba language, which literally means “religion of Mali.” Note that the Wangara are also known by such names as Mande, Mandinka, Malinke, Mandingo, Dyula, Bambara, Soninke, etc.

Although Islam has existed in Yorubaland since at least the 1400s, the first mosque wasn’t built in Oyo-Ile, the ancient capital of the Oyo Empire, until 1550, and in Iwo, a historic Yoruba Muslim town, until the 1600s. While Islam took enough roots in Yorubaland that Sharia courts were established in some towns, traditional modes of Yoruba worship coexisted with Islam for centuries.

Former Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda pointed out on April 26, 2013, that “the first Sharia court [in what is now Nigeria] was established in Iwo, in Osun State.” Many Yoruba Muslims repeat this claim both to show that Islam in Yorubaland has a historical edge over Islam in the North and to persuade the Nigerian government to allow the implementation of Sharia for Yoruba Muslims who desire it.

But the claim is probably an exaggeration. Sharia courts seem to have existed in Hausaland before they appeared in Iwo, but their appearance in Yorubaland obviously did precede colonialism by at least 100 years. Other Yoruba towns that had sharia courts decades before colonialism are Epe, Ikirun, and Ede (incidentally Davido’s hometown), which are all located in what is now Osun State. (Davido’s grandfather, Alhaji Raji Adeleke, was a respected Muslim leader in Ede who had the title of Baba Adini of Ede, that is, the Chief Protector of Islam in Ede town).

So, Islam in Yorubaland and Islam in Nigeria's extreme north share similar Malian-inflected historical trajectories, and neither is a direct consequence of the other, although there are interesting historical overlaps between them. For instance, several Hausa (and pre-Dan Fodio Jihad Fulani) Muslim scholars traveled to Yorubaland to preach and share Islamic knowledge. This inspired a robust linguistic and cultural interchange between the two groups.

Prior to Usman Dan Fodio’s 1804 jihad, Islamic practices in both Hausaland and Yorubaland were similar in their syncretism. That is, they blended traditional African religions and Islam. In his book Imale: Yoruba Participation in the Muslim Tradition. A Study of Clerical Piety, Patrick Ryan characterized Islamic practices in Yorubaland as “accommodationist” and pointed out that Usman Dan Fodio would have condemned Yoruba Muslims as “mixers”—as he did Hausa Muslims of the time.

So, Usman Dan Fodio’s jihad was the defining point of departure between Islam in Hausaland and Islam in Yorubaland. The jihad didn’t just extirpate the accommodationist, syncretic brand of Islam previously practiced in Hausaland, it also laid the grounds for a new syncretic ethnic identity in Hausaland.

Over the years, Islam has become not just a religion but an intrinsic constituent of an evolving, increasingly expansionist, politically consequential, and largely non-primordial Hausa Muslim identity. This fact has made Hausa the most ecumenical ethnic identity in Nigeria, by which I mean anybody can be “Hausa” provided they are Muslim, speak the Hausa language with native proficiency, dress like the Hausa, disavow allegiance to competing identities, and subscribe to the cultural consensus of the people.

That is why for most “Hausa” Muslims, Islam isn’t just a faith; it’s also an encapsulation of the totality of their identity and being. That explains why they are more emotionally invested in it—and react forcefully when it is, or perceived to be, attacked, undermined, or ridiculed—than Yoruba and other Muslims are.

Communication scholar Bala Abdullahi Muhammad once wrote in his Weekly Trust column that Hausa Muslims carry on as if Islam was revealed in Kano, as if the Qur’an was written in Hausa, and as if Islam is a uniquely primordial Hausa cultural heritage. Even Mali and Senegambia from where Islam came to Hausaland aren’t as roused to extreme passions over Islam as “Hausa” Muslims often are.

Islam in Yorubaland, on the other hand, hasn’t quite evolved from the accommodationist character it previously shared with Islam in pre-jihad Hausaland. And because Islam has been caked into the Hausa ethnic identity and constituted as the most important building block for identity formation in Northern Nigeria so much so that “Hausa” and “Muslim” have become misleadingly synonymous in the Nigerian popular imagination, Yoruba Muslims have been compelled to privilege their ethnic identity to fend off equivalence with, and to establish difference from, “Hausa” Muslims.

In other words, the association of Islam with Hausa—or Hausa-Fulani—has led to its recalibration in even historically Muslim polities in southern Nigeria such as Yorubaland and northern Edo. 

As John Paden noted in Ahmadu Bello Sardauna of Sokoto: Values and Leadership in Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello, Northern Nigeria’s first premier and great-great-grandson of Usman Dan Fodio, actively promoted Islam as Northern Nigeria’s official religion before and after independence. Professor Sakah Saidu Mahmud, in his 2004 article in the African Studies Review titled “Islamism in West Africa: Nigeria,” also pointed out that Islam in northern Nigeria emerged as “the source of identity and a medium of competition for resources and political power.”

He added that “The regional leaders were in competition with each other as they worked to consolidate their local powers, and Islamization was a means for promoting regional identity.” (It also caused dissension in the North and intensified the struggles for a separate “Middle Belt” region for Northern Christians). This reality put Yoruba Muslims in Western Nigeria on the spot since the North instrumentalized Islam for identity and for competition with southern Nigeria, including Yorubaland. 

Perhaps as a consequence of this, many Yoruba Muslims in pre- and post-independence Nigeria chose to conceal their Muslim names even when they were practicing, believing Muslims, just to distinguish themselves from Northern Muslims who have ethnicized Islam. For example, a prominent pre-independence Ibadan politician by the name of Adelabu Adegoke who was famous for his electrifying oratory changed his family name from Sanusi (which he bore throughout his educational career) to Adegoke.

The fact that the Sultan of Sokoto is recognized in Nigeria as the permanent leader of Nigerian Muslims, whether or not the Sultan is knowledgeable in Islam and against the merit-driven principles of leadership in Islam, hasn’t helped.

It should be noted that these are broad-brush characterizations that overlook many exceptions. There is a minority of Yoruba Muslims, for instance, who have more allegiance to Islam than they do to their ethnic identity. For example, at a gathering of Yoruba Muslims in Akure on June 19, 2021, Sheikh Imran Molaasan, national president of Jama'at Ta'awunil Muslimeen and Iwo native, reportedly said, "If Nigeria breaks up, Yoruba Muslims will suffocate" in an Oduduwa Republic, and even implied that the resentment against the Fulani in Yorubaland masks sneaky anti-Muslim designs by Yoruba leaders who are mostly Christians.  

 There is also a minority Hausa ethnic nationalists who resent the “dilution” of their ethnicity with other ethnicities in the name of Islam, and there are Fulani nationalists who agonize over the progressive decline of their language, culture, and identity, but these groups are, for the most part, marginal.

Nonetheless, the foregoing background explains why most Yoruba Muslims see Logos Olori’s music video as mere harmless art not worth their time and Hausa Muslims see it as a mockery of “their” culture over which they must fight. 

urges Igbo community to ignore the reports

Simon Ekpa, a well-known Biafra agitator and separatist leader, has recently called on the Igbo community to disregard circulating reports concerning an alleged letter from Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Ekpa, who is a lawyer based in Finland and claims to be the Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government, made this declaration on Friday.

Earlier, it was reported by WithinNigeria that Nnamdi Kanu had expressed his views on the disruptive sit-at-home protests in the beleaguered South-East region.

In response to the situation, the embattled leader of the secessionist group specifically urged Simon Ekpa to halt all sit-at-home activities in the area. Furthermore, Kanu instructed Ekpa to refrain from issuing counter-orders to those given by the governors of the South-East or politicians from the region.

Kanu distanced himself from the sit-at-home protests and the ensuing wave of violence, cautioning that anyone enforcing such actions in the South-East is not a true follower of his cause and should face legal consequences.

However, Simon Ekpa refuted the authenticity of the letter, stating that it is a fabrication created by mischief-makers who oppose the liberation of Biafra. According to him, there are forces at work trying to hinder Biafra’s quest for independence.

Reiterating his call for the release of Kanu to ensure lasting peace in the southeast, he said: “Our attention has been drawn to the fake letter from the pit of hell being paraded by Nigerian media claiming that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu wrote a letter. It is not only a joke but an insult taken too far that the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra is being misrepresented in this way. As the Prime Minister of Biafra under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, I call on all Biafrans to disregard the fake letter coming from DSS.”

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal is affecting refineries far away in Europe and threatening to squeeze European refiners, Reuters reports.

The average monthly West African (WAF) gasoline imports fell by 56 per cent in the second quarter compared with the first, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

North America and West Africa, with Nigeria at the top, historically have been the top two destinations for petrol exports from Europe (which produces more petrol than it uses), Reuters reported.

So far, benchmark profit margins for gasoline in northwestern Europe have hovered at around $27 a barrel, Reuters said, citing Refinitiv Eikon data.

“They have been supported by demand from North America, a shortage of high-quality blending materials, disruption caused by low water levels inland and local refinery outages,” the report reads.

“But analysts say the reduction of flows following the upheaval in Nigeria will increase pressure on European refiners, and any winners are likely to be newer Middle Eastern refineries.”

At the end of May, President Bola Tinubu announced that the petrol subsidy regime was over.

Petrol demand in response fell by 35 per cent, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

According to Jeremy Parker of the CITAC consultancy, which focuses on Africa’s downstream energy industry, onshore petrol reserves in Nigeria have increased to 960,000 tonnes from an average of 613,000 tonnes between January and June, signalling a decline in demand.

“Meanwhile, the black market for smuggled subsidised Nigerian fuel in Togo and neighbouring Benin and Cameroon has collapsed, further reducing demand for shipments via Nigeria,” Reuters said.

“There is no reliable data on how much fuel was smuggled out of Nigeria under the subsidy regime, but a comparison of estimates from official and independent sources indicate more than a third of petrol could have left state oil firm NNPC’s depots every day to be sold illegally abroad.

“Without the subsidy, the financial incentive for smuggling disappears.”

“The key point is that demand from West Africa is drying up,” Reuters quoted Raj Rajendran, Refinitiv lead oil analyst, as saying.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude oil producer, relies heavily on imports because of its inadequate domestic refining capacity.

“Imports, however, are increasingly unaffordable as Nigeria’s naira has weakened to record lows since the central bank removed currency restrictions in June. At the same time, inflation is near two-decade highs,” Reuters said.

“The huge, much-delayed Dangote refinery was designed to address the domestic supply shortfall, but full 650,000 barrel per day production is unlikely before the second quarter of 2025, CITAC estimates.”

Regardless, it is possible that the demand for petrol would not fully recover in the country, Analysts told Reuters.

Recall that the NMDPRA said the volume of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, consumed across the country in the first half of 2023 was 11.26 billion litres, with consumption reducing by an average of about 18.5 million litres daily in June, after the removal of subsidy on petrol, following the pronouncement by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.

Data from the Authority showed that between January 1 and May 28, 2023, which was the pre-deregulation period, the total amount of petrol consumed nationwide was about 9.9 billion litres.

The average consumption for the 148-day period was put at 66.9 million litres, indicating the country consumed an average of 66.9 million litres of petrol daily during the five-month period when subsidy on petrol was still in place.

But figures from the NMDPRA indicated that between June 1 to June 28, 2023, which was described as the post-deregulation period, the total petrol consumption across the country was 1.36 billion litres, while the average daily consumption was put at 48.43 million litres.

An analysis of the data showed that the difference between the average monthly consumption figures during the pre-deregulation and post-deregulation periods was about 18.5 million litres.

This implies that the average daily consumption of petrol across the country reduced by about 18.5 million litres after subsidy on the commodity was stopped by the federal government.

It was, however, observed that petrol consumption rose above 100 million litres in some days, while it fell to below 10 million litres in a few other days.

A random pick of petrol consumption figures contained in the NMDPRA report, for instance, showed that on March 8, April 20, and May 16, Nigerians consumed 103.6 million litres, 105.02 million litres, and 101.9 million litres respectively.

These were during the ore-deregulation days, as figures from the post-deregulation period indicated that the country never consumed beyond 78.84 million litres all through the 28-day period captured in the document.

The 78.84 million litres was consumed on June 20, and it was the highest consumption figure during the post-deregulation period, while the lowest figure during the same period was the 470,000 litres that was consumed nationwide on June 11.

Days after the submission of the first batch of ministerial nominees to the Senate, President Bola Tinubu plans to restructure some federal government ministries.

Some will be merged, others will be created, and a few will be scrapped.

This reshuffle is based on the Stephen Oronsaye report’s recommendations on restructuring the civil service.

According to Punch, President Tinubu is set to implement some of these recommendations.

The Ministries of Education, Youths and Sports Development, Agricultural and Rural Development, Solid Minerals, Works and Housing, Power, and Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development are among those being considered for restructuring. These changes will also lead to the creation of new ministries.

There are plans to split the Ministry of Education into two: the Ministry of Tertiary Education and the Ministry of Basic Education, each overseeing tertiary and primary and secondary education respectively.

“The decision to create two ministries would improve the quality of service delivery in the two sectors,” sources in the civil service revealed.

The Ministry of Works and Housing will be unbundled, with a standalone Ministry of Works focusing on federal roads and highways and a revamped Ministry of Housing aimed at stimulating economic growth.

The Ministry of Humanitarian, Social Development and Disaster Management will be transformed into the Ministry of Human Development, with social development as one of its responsibilities.

The Federal Ministry of Transportation will be split into the Ministry of Railways and Rail Transport and the Ministry of Waterways and Marine Transportation.

The Ministry of Information will be renamed the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, with the National Orientation Agency taking on a significant role in disseminating information to the public.

Other new ministries will include Solid Minerals and Iron and Steel Development.

The Ministry of Budgeting and National Planning will be restructured, with budgeting merged with the Ministry of Finance, and National Planning moved to the newly formed Ministry of Statistics.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry will also see changes, with the commerce component moved to the Ministry of Trade and Investment, and the industry component transferred to the new Ministry of Employment and Industry.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, hinted at these changes in a recent interaction with journalists.

However, it remains unclear whether the Tinubu administration will scrap some ministries and agencies per the Oransanye report.

Despite this uncertainty, experts believe the restructuring process will benefit certain ministries and facilitate the steady implementation of government policies.

CITIZENS, including lawyers, human rights activists, academics, and artisans have faulted the palliative measures put in place by some state governments to bolster the consequence of the removal of fuel subsidy on the people, saying it was a wrong strategy.

Some governments announced payment of N10,000 monthly for public sector workers, some allowances for medical personnel and occasional distribution of food to the poor and most vulnerable households as well as free bus rides for students of tertiary institutions. In their reactions, a number of the residents insisted that it was a rip-off while others said the Federal Government should have put in place a proper plan before getting rid of fuel subsidy.

Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, two-time Minister of Education and Health, said that for any palliative option to be meaningful, it should not be selective but one that would impact everybody. He argued that the effects of fuel subsidy removal “is on everybody” irrespective of one’s socio-economic status, hence, nobody should be discriminated against in government palliatives.

“The effects of fuel subsidy removal are on every citizen. So, the government should think of cushioning plans that everybody will benefit from.” Professor Madubuike blamed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for hastily removing fuel subsidies without any ready action plan to cushion the effects of the removal.

He said that the savings from the fuel subsidy should be evenly distributed to benefit all citizens irrespective of their class because everybody gets the heat of the subsidy removal.

He said that the first step to be taken by the government to cushion the effects of subsidy removal was to crash the cost of governance. He said it was a contradiction for the government to be talking of fuel subsidy removal on the one hand, only to be recklessly increasing the cost of governance on the other hand. “Our Presidents are behaving like kings and monarchs. But monarchy is gone even in Britain, people oppose it now”. The former Education Minister who decried the high cost of governance in the country insisted that only a conscious downscaling of the cost of governance will save Nigeria from imminent insolvency. The former Minister for Health also strongly advocated a shift from consumption to production. He regretted that Nigeria had remained the only oil-producing country without a functional oil refinery, a development, he said, smacks of cluelessness in leadership. “We must think differently if we must move forward as a nation. We must start producing something, and stop being a consuming nation”.

Mr Ayo Fadaka, former South-West Zonal Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP said, ”we have a fundamental economic problem that can only be addressed through a comprehensive action and not tokenism as currently obtained by state governments reactions. The Tinubu administration that exacerbated our economic woes is yet to put on its thinking cap in the midst of this crisis and that is disappointing. Government at all levels must think deeply and rescue Nigerians from serious economic woes, as failure to do that is simply to plan for a crisis. We are all poor now and rapidly reverting to hitherto unimaginable practices as people now trek kilometers to eke a living, this is not an advancement but retrogression.

Before Tinubu’s inauguration, the poor could still get an uninspiring meal for N100, that is no longer possible today because of the accelerating and galloping speed of inflation. The devaluation of the Naira clearly indicates that President Tinubu did not come into office prepared to tackle the sloppiness of the Buhari era but to accentuate same and this is disappointing when due cognisance is accorded to the education and training of both men, Buhari was a soldier with a questionable O Level result while Tinubu is a certified accountant with a pedigree. We are suffering in today’s Nigeria and we need help, I just hope that one day soon, social crisis will not erupt and create a dislocation that will be very costly to the nation.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate in the March 18 election in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, Friday, closed their case before the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal, after calling 94 witnesses.

The petitioner, who is challenging the victory of Governor Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the election, also tendered over 200,000 documents, including a forensic expert report.

In the last two weeks they opened their case, the petitioners called voters and party agents from Sagamu, Ikenne, Odogbolu, Remo North, Ogun Waterside, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Ado-Odo/Ota and other local governments as witnesses to prove alleged disruptions in different polling units across the State.

The petitioner also subpoened two INEC adhoc staff, an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), a statistician and a forensic expert to testify before the tribunal.

Adebutu also tendered in evidence, certified true copies of INEC electoral materials, result sheets, voters registers, printouts from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation (BVAS) machines, incident forms, video evidence, and others.

Adebutu and PDP had alleged, in the petition, that elections were disrupted by thugs in over 99 polling units, disenfranchising over 40, 000 voters from participating in the polls.

With this, Adebutu and the PDP said they have closed their cases, waiting for the petitioners – INEC, Abiodun and the APC to open their defence.
Addressing newsmen after the sitting, counsel to the petitioners, Chris Uche, disclosed that, “We have called 94 witnesses on behalf of the petitioners and we have tendered over 200,000 INEC documents before the court as well as our own documents.”

Uche explained that, having done all these, “we formerly ended the calling of witnesses on behalf of the petitioners. It is the turn of the respondents to start their response. They have asked for an adjournment to Wednesday, which has been granted to them.

“When we come on Wednesday, we’ll find out what their defence to all these various allegations in respect of which we’ve brought overwhelming evidence before the court is. And we are going to confront them with all these documents we have tendered if they call their witnesses.

Meanwhile, INEC is expected to open its defence on Wednesday, being the first respondent in the petition.

INEC’s Counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, during the pre-hearing session told the tribunal that the electoral umpire would be calling just one witness.

The National Executive Council, NEC, of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has endorsed the August 2 nationwide strike and mass protests by NLC over the recent hike in pump price of petrol.

In a communique issued at the end of the NEC meeting on Thursday, NEC members also approved other decisions reached by the Central Working Committee, CWC, of NLC, held on July 25, 2023.

The Communique signed by President and General Secretary of NLC, Joe Ajaero and Emma Ugboaja respectively, reads and others, “NEC-in-session after exhaustively deliberating and reviewing the current socioeconomic situation confronting Nigerian workers and masses and the attendant mass sufferings and deprivation across the nation as a result of the unfortunate actions and Policies of the current occupiers of the seat of
Government arrived at the following conclusions in agreement with the Central Working Committee’s (CWC) earlier deduction that the government has shown disdain and contempt to the plight of Nigerians, shunning reasonable dialogue and refusing to take active measures to protect Nigerians instead it resorted to robbing the people to pay the rich despite the massive outcry across the nation.

“To this end, NEC-in-session applauds, Re-affirms and supports all the decisions of the Central Working Committee Meeting of the 25th of July, 2023 of the immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies of the federal government including the recent hike in PMS price, Increase in Public School fees, the release of the eight months withheld Salary of University lecturers and Workers and increase in VAT.

“The immediate inauguration of the Presidential Steering Committee as agreed in the earlier consequential dialogues, to begin the building across the nation of a Coalition of all Nigerians where all will be leaders and all will be followers, to call on all civil society organisations and Nigerians wherever they may be to begin mobilization to take action on theirown to save our nation and to lead and organize mass protest rallies across the nation to demonstrate outrage against the inhuman actions and policies ofthe government.

NEC agreed “to give the federal government a Seven- Day ultimatum within which to meet all our demands and to embark on a nation – wide action beginning Wednesday the 2nd of August, 2023 to compel the government to reverse its anti-poor and anti-workers policies.

“NEC Consequently directs all Affiliates and State Councils to begin immediate mobilization and closely work with associations, individuals and other entities including the ones already on the streets to ensure that government listens to the people.”

Members of NEC “insisted that the unseriousness of the federal Government towards the creation of frameworks to cushion the impact of its hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or Petrol was demonstrated not only in the quality of its representation in the hastily called meeting of yesterday (Wednesday) but also in their unpreparedness to deal with the issues as canvassed.

“NEC therefore set up strategy committees across all the states urging all affiliates and State Councils including the civil society to come out beginning Wednesday, the 2nd ofAugust, 2023 across the nation to protest Government’s insensitivity to the plights of Nigerians.”