Presidential candidate of the Labour Party during the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has reacted to the news of a Nigerian lady, Ifeoma Amuche, emerging as the best-graduating student at South West University in China.

In a congratulatory message via his Twitter page on Friday morning, Obi commended Amuche, saying it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve such academic height.

The former Governor of Anambra State also acknowledged that Amuche had brought honour to Nigeria and established herself on the global state through her remarkable academic performance.

“I congratulate Miss Ifeoma Amuche, a Nigerian student who recently emerged as the Best Graduating Student at South West University, China. It takes immeasurable hard work and dedication to achieve such an academic feat and stand out from the crowd.

“You have, by your outstanding academic results, brought honour to our nation and established yourself on the global stage. As a firm believer in education, I know there are no limits to how far one can go by taking their education seriously.

“Every Nigerian youth will be able to attain their full potential if we make the right investments in education. Your outstanding achievement shows clearly that we must spare no effort in the education of the girl child knowing that excellence is no respecter of gender,” Obi wrote on Twitter.

He urged Amuche to remain hardworking, remain of good character, and focus on building a more productive and impactful life.

“Keep the flag flying,” the Labour Party presidential candidate ended his tweet.

[NaijaNews]

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday said that noodles produced in the country did not contain ethylene oxide or its metabolism.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this at a media briefing organised to present the outcome of its investigation on whether noodles produced in the country contained ethylene oxide.

Mrs Adeyeye said the investigation was occasioned by the recall of Indomie Instant Noodles Special Chicken Flavour by Malaysia and Taiwan, on account of the alleged presence of ethylene oxide, a compound associated with an increased risk of cancer.

She said: “At the time of my initial press release on the issue, I assured the public that a thorough investigation of the products would be conducted both at the factory and market levels and that our findings would be communicated.

“As soon as we received the news of the product recalls in Malaysia and Taiwan, immediately I requested the Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to carry out investigation and random sampling of Indomie instant noodles from the production facilities.

“And extend the investigation to other brands of instant noodles offered for sale to Nigerians.

“Imported noodles are not expected to be sold in Nigeria because NAFDAC does not register imported noodles as a result of the ban by the Nigerian government many years ago to foster local production.

“Samples of chicken-flavoured instant noodles of various brands and the seasonings were drawn from the production facilities across the country to ensure robust investigation.

“A total of one hundred and fourteen (114) samples of instant noodles and the seasonings were received, while samples were also collected from Lagos, Abuja and Kano.”

According to Mr Adeyeye, findings show that ethylene oxide or its derivative was not found in any of the instant noodles produced in Nigeria and their seasonings.

Mrs Adeyeye said: “The compound of interest, ethylene oxide, is a colourless, odourless gas that is used to sterilise medical devices and has been implicated as a cancer-causing chemical.

“We did not only analyse for ethylene oxide and its derivative 2-chloroethanol in the noodles and seasonings, we also analysed for other contaminants such as mycotoxins and heavy metals in the samples.”

The D-G explained that the delay in the analytical activities in the laboratory was not deliberate.

She noted that the agency placed orders for the procurement and supply of certified reference materials (standards), reagents and chemicals from overseas.

She reassured Nigerians that the agency would continue to remain proactive and committed to its responsibilities of protecting the public’s health.

(NAN)

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) says about 97,000 passport booklets issued were uncollected in the 36 states nationwide including Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Service Public Relations Officer, (SPRO) Comptroller of Immigration, Mr Tony Akuneme said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

Akuneme said that the service recently found out that Lagos State had half of the uncollected passports.

He said that there was also a danger that half of the owners of the uncollected passports could not be reached due to lack of proper documentation because of a third party involvement.

He also said that the essence of state of emergency declaration was to draw attention of the media so they could deepened the process for the service as alot of people do not know if their passport were ready for collection.

“Some of them engaged agents to help them in their passport processing and these agents might be doing for alot of persons.

“They end up dropping wrong contacts and thereby making it difficult to reach out to the owners of these passports when they are ready for collection. This is a big challenge, “he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Acting Comptroller General, NIS, Mrs Caroline Adepoju had recently declared state of emergency on passport issues across the country.

The SPRO said that the service recently found out that most applicants complains also bothers on some human factor and technical factor which included slow speed of Internet.

According to him, the CG didn’t want to leave anyone in doubt as to the issue of passport processing being her core area of interest.

“That’s how she came about that term of declaring state of emergency in the passport issues.

“When the acting CG assumed office, she made it very clear that she was going to focus on Passport reforms and staff welfare, “he said.

According to him, the Lagos state Governor is willing to collaborate with the CG in terms of expanding the Passport services on Lagos State.

“So, we went to Lagos State Governor to help in terms of giving us office space where we can set up front desk offices and immediately, the governor was very positive in his response

“So it was a welcome development and you can see that the state of emergency that was declared is already yielding fruits as the governor accepted CGs request on land allocation to build staff quarters in Lagos, “he said.

Akuneme said that the service however, needed the Media to tell Nigerians that people should not think there were no passport booklets.

He said “there are booklets issued that are not collected. It is ironical, we don’t have problem of booklet, we don’t have shortage of booklets.

“What we have had in the last one or two years is a sudden upsurge in the number of Nigerians wanting to travel . We felt it was also related to COVID-19, “he said.

Akuneme assured that the result would be instant as more facilities were going to be put in place to curtail any challenges of passport issuance across the country.

[ThgeNewsGuru]

The philosophy of true born, illegitimates and vagabonds poisons the umbilicus of society, gnawing at the core gradually until it is vanquished by its own internal contradictions.

No society makes genuine progress through classism, casteism, native ordering and social isolation.

The Igbo phylum is a variegated one as it is with other ethnic species. Homogeneity does not exist in the true sense of the word among any ethnic classification. In the south-east, there are subgroups and splinter groups within the entity. There are also many varying derivative dialects across communities and towns, some of which native Igbo speakers may not understand.

The variant of Igbo spoken in my native town is different from that spoken in other towns within the same state. There is also no homogeneity in religion. And there have been cases of clashes among communities over differences bordering on politics, land, and other contentions. In fact, my native town and a neighbouring town do not agree. There is still a disputation over land till date.

But one string binds all within the south-east and parts of the south-south ecosystem – all are Igbo. Nature bubbles in divergence and eclecticism. The beauty and wonders of our world are by the fashioning of heterogenous intelligence. Man was not made to be culturally, socially, morphologically, and linguistically unipolar.

It is the reason I have always argued that Nigeria’s multiformity is not the dominating factor for its seeming ungovernability. Rather, it is the abuse and exploitation of differences; abnegation of civic duty, denuded understanding of citizenship, refusal to submit to the collective interest, native nationalism, and the absence of a rallying identity and cause, that are the denominators of Nigeria’s quandary.

Those who say Nigeria needs to splinter according to ethnic ordering to achieve unity, peace and progress are ignorant of the complexities of natural design. “Presumed homogeneity” does not guarantee unity, peace, or progress among a people.

In fact, a good number of the world’s most successful countries are so endowed by the nourishment and talents of their diverse population. There is wealth in diversity.

So, essentially, the argument that a Nigeria carved up along sectional contours will become united and prosperous is a slothful one. It shows a vacancy of thought and reason. Nigeria’s challenge is not its diversity, but the unwillingness of its people to be deliberate citizens.

The antagonism, prejudice, hate and bias among the Igbo taxonomic category have reached depressing proportions in recent years with the birth of the terrorist group – IPOB. The group has put a dagger to that which holds us together; turning brother against brother; clan against clan, and community against community.

This group has played on the sentiments of the Igbo, weaponising native differences to keep the people in its thrall. According to this group, ‘’authentic Igbos’’ are those who support Biafra, and ‘’fake Igbos’’ are those who are against it. This is the propaganda deployed by the proscribed group to divide the people. IPOB has been decimated, but its dissentious philosophy prevails.

It is concerning that an element of this divisive philosophy has been adopted by some to determine who is true-born Igbo and who is not.

The revulsion to the appointment of Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla as chief of naval staff, who is from Igbo-Eze in Enugu, by people of the same stock is embarrassing. Those opposing his appointment says he is not Igbo enough – that he is from Igala speaking part of Enugu. This is mortifying. This revulsion plays into the prevailing philosophy of the proscribed group.

Does this imply being ‘’Igbo enough’’ means one must be seen as an ethnic crusader; hold corrosive views of division; show prejudices and biases against other citizens? Does it imply one must be seen as representing the clan instead of the country? This is an abhorrent philosophy.

Going by the proclivities of these traducers, it is clear that the only Igbo fitting for appointment is one who represents their biases. How tragic.

I believe Igbo elders led by Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo should take an interest in the declension of Igbo society and in this disharmonious concept of ‘’fake and authentic Igbo’’. Why should a Nigerian of Igbo origin from Delta state, Rivers, Benue, Kogi deny his origins? It is a question we need to address. The reason is partially implicit in this schismatic philosophy.

There are aboriginal Igbo populations indigenous to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, and other countries. But why is there no plan or programme to make them a part of the larger Igbo fold, recognising and giving them a sense of family-hood?

No society makes real progress through casteism, native ordering, and social isolation.

. Nwabufo, aka Mr OneNigeria, is a media executive.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service has partnered with the Market Traders Association of Nigeria to collect and remit Value Added Tax  to the FIRS from the country’s markets, especially in the informal sector.

According to available information, the association has a membership of well over 40 million traders across Nigeria.

This cuts across the country’s 774 local governments, 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, which makes it the biggest player in Nigeria’s market space.

The details of the FIRS’ partnership with MATAN was disclosed at a Stakeholders Engagement Programme on the VAT DIRECT Initiative held on Thursday in Lagos State.

The partnership will see the FIRS collaborating with the association to deploy technology to enumerate traders for collecting and remitting VAT to the Service, consequently leading to an expansion of the tax net and increased revenue for the Federation.

The VAT DIRECT Initiative is a programme designed to foster collaboration between the FIRS and the market place, especially the informal sector, in the collection and remittance of VAT using technology.

Speaking during the Stakeholder Engagement, Muhammad Nami, Executive Chairman of the FIRS, highlighted that the initiative was the first of its kind and that it was crucial to revenue generation and also to eliminating multiple taxation, especially from the informal sector.

The Executive Chairman of the FIRS, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Tax Board, further stated that the government was worried about the multiplicity of taxes.

Nami said the Service and JTB were working on various modalities of addressing this challenge and that this partnership has laid a very good foundation for the government to address the issue of multiple taxation and extortion by tax officials, tax agents and touts in the market place.

He further noted that the Service would collaborate with security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police, to deal with illegal tax collection by touts in markets.

He said: “One important area of our collaboration is the issue of providing adequate security in the markets.

“We are aware of the challenges that you have faced in the past with miscreants, self-imposed tax collection agents and touts.

“I want to assure you that as part of this initiative, we will be collaborating with the relevant security agencies, particularly the Nigeria Police Force, to tackle all forms of touting and illegal tax collection by miscreants and keep them away from your markets.”

Nami further noted that the success of this collaboration would lead to increased revenue for the country and in turn provide government the needed resources to fund infrastructure and other social amenities.

He added: “The successful outcome of this collaboration and additional revenue accruable will have multiplier effects on all sectors of the economy as the government will have more revenue to provide the needed social amenities and infrastructure in critical sectors.

“An improved VAT collection will improve the revenue base of the States and Local Governments at the sub-national level and the citizens will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

“This initiative is very important to the government, particularly at this moment of dwindling revenues from the petroleum sector and therefore, requires that we put all hands on deck and optimally explore all available opportunities.

“The administration of VAT in the informal sector is characterised mainly by a low level of compliance and a lack of awareness in terms of obligation and liability.

“It, therefore, becomes necessary to leverage the MATAN platform to positively change the status quo.”

Nami also noted that to ensure transparency and accountability of the project operations, a combined monitoring and evaluation team comprising both organisations would be formed.

During the Stakeholder Engagement, the Executive Chairman, FIRS also unveiled an Identity Card that is to be given to each trader upon enumeration.

The card contains their tax identification number and other personal details.

The VAT Direct Initiative Stakeholder Engagement was attended by the Secretary of the Joint Tax Board, representatives from Deposit Money Banks, Iyalojas of Markets across the country, members of various trade clusters, representatives from all major markets across the country, as well as officers of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

[TheEagleonline]

Flutterwave, a leading African payments technology company today announced it is working with Microsoft to build its next generation platform on Microsoft Azure, powering payments infrastructure across the African continent and beyond. This agreement reflects com Flutterwave’s commitment to give businesses and individuals access to global-grade services across all of Africa and drive digital transformation around the world. With Flutterwave and Microsoft’s plans to power payments to-and-from Africa, this collaboration is an incredible opportunity to impact growth across the continent.

Through this engagement, Flutterwave will support the accelerated growth of transactions processed on Flutterwave platform for global clients like Uber, Netflix, and Microsoft, solidifying Azure’s role in facilitating a seamless, reliable, and secure payment experience.

Key Flutterwave products such as Flutterwave for Business, Send by Flutterwave, Flutterwave Store, and Flutterwave for Fintech Platform, are being developed and transitioned onto the robust Azure cloud platform. Moreover, Flutterwave uses Azure OpenAI Service capabilities, enabling the scaling of its product offerings to millions of merchants worldwide.

“Microsoft has been an invaluable partner, providing a platform that allows us to deliver consistently high-quality services to our clients,” stated Olugbenga Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave. “As we manage high-volume payment processing, particularly during peak periods, the robustness, reliability, and scalability of Microsoft Azure become critical. As such, deepening our collaboration with Microsoft is the most logical step forward for us.” It means Flutterwave will continue to drive the transformation of global commerce, taking full advantage of the diverse and expanding range of services offered by Microsoft.

“Our development on Microsoft Azure has set a strong foundation for Flutterwave,” said Gurbhej Dhillon, Flutterwave CTO. “Their platform provides us with significant developer leverage, which we harness in service of our clients. Looking to the future, we’re excited about the possibilities of scaling with Azure OpenAI Service, which will enable us to serve even more merchants worldwide,” added Dhillon.

“We have proudly supported Flutterwave’s core operations with Microsoft Azure for many years. We are excited to further fuel their growth and innovation through this expanded collaboration,” said Mike Gaal, Microsoft Corporation General Manager. “Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Working with Flutterwave will take us a step closer to achieving our mission In Africa,” added Gaal.

[Nairametrics]

Less than 30 days into the job, President Bola Tinubu is dealing with managing the assets and liabilities inherited from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

However, unlike in 2015, the new president is unable to criticise his predecessor on his liabilities considering that they belong to the same political platform, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

During the inauguration of the National Economic Council, President Tinubu admitted that “The situation that we have seen is one- I inherited, and it is fundamental, I inherited assets and liabilities of my predecessor.”

Pro-market people and forces have hailed his reforms particularly, fuel subsidy removal and deliberate attempts to end the multiple exchange rates.

Here are the liabilities President Tinubu inherited from his predecessor, Buhari

N77 trillion debt

The current administration has been left with a debt burden of N77 trillion by the former President.

The figure was given by the Debt Management Office (DMO). This is perhaps the biggest liability the former administration left for the current government.

“The danger with the debt burden is that even with the removal of subsidy, a large chunk of the federal government revenue is going to be used for debt servicing, Lekan Olaleye, an Economist, told DAILY POST.

He added that “The ongoing reforms mean the government cannot afford to introduce any form of new taxation. The government must increase the minimum wage and still deal with the loans.”

Fuel Subsidy

The outgoing administration made provision in the budget for petroleum subsidy till June 30, but Mr Tinubu did not wait for the due date, as he announced that “fuel subsidy is gone” in his speech on Inauguration Day.

While the administration has been able to remove fuel subsidy, however, the question of palliative and other interventions remains to be addressed.

The former government only planned to borrow $800 million as palliatives.

Emefiele/Naira redesign

Nigerians still face uncertainty over the old Naira notes in the pocket as the Supreme Court order still stands till December 31, 2023.

It would be recalled that Nigerians went through biting Naira notes scarcity in the first quarter of the year due to the Naira redesign policy of the now-suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Mr Tinubu had in his inaugural speech promised to do cleaning in the monetary space, and Mr Emefiele appears to have been the first casualty of the cleaning as he is facing prosecution by the state secret police, the DSS.

But Nigerians still don’t know if the Naira notes in their hands will be of value after December or not.

Census

One other thing the new administration inherited is the 2023 national census. The past administration already expended N200 billion on preparations for the population census, however, it has been suspended.

Population census in Nigeria has always been controversial because of the political implications of census figures.

It remains unclear if the current administration will be willing to continue on this path.

Closed borders

The Tinubu administration also has to decide on the closure of land borders.

Only Atiku Abubakar made his position on the border closure very clear during the campaign.

DAILY POST had reported that the former Vice President had vowed to open the border, a declaration that was criticised by Lai Mohammed, the immediate past former Minister of Information and Culture.

A memo for the re-opening of the Seme land border for the importation of vehicles is said to be awaiting a final approval.

[DailyPost]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Thursday in Paris – France said ongoing reforms, starting with removal of fuel subsidy and streamlining of exchange rate, will be sustained for a more competitive economy that attracts Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), urging investors to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria.

“We are ready for business, prepared to welcome investments,’’ he said, while receiving President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim), Prof. Benedict Oramah and President of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud–Basso, in separate meetings, on the sidelines of the Summit for New Global Financing Pact.

The President assured the delegation of AfreximBank Executives led by Dr Oramah that the Federal Government will continue to stimulate the economy with policies that support investments in areas of Nigeria’s competitive advantage, particularly agriculture.

“We need reforms for national survival,’’ he added, noting that it would take boldness and courage to reposition the economy, calling for more collaboration to solidify the economy.

“We must stimulate recovery for the growth and prosperity of our people, which will not be far away. Nigeria is ready for global business and our reform is total.

“Nigeria is blessed with human and material resources,’’ President Tinubu told the delegation, who had earlier listed areas of interventions to buoy the economy, like infrastructure, health, energy and agriculture.

The President of AfreximBank commended President Tinubu for the bold steps in removing the fuel subsidy and unification of the exchange rate, assuring the Nigerian leader of the full support of the financial and development institution on the ongoing reforms.

Dr Oramah said the bank was already building the first African Specialist Hospital in Abuja, and Energy Bank, pledging to inject more money into the economy to further build confidence of investors.

In the meeting with the EBRD,  President Tinubu said, “We are challenged in terms of reforms, and we have taken the largest elephant out of the room with removal of fuel subsidy, and multiple exchange rates are equally gone. We are determined to open up the economy for business. Consider us a stakeholder in the Bank.’’

He told the EBRD President that Nigeria’s economy was too large and potent to be ignored, adding, “Ignoring Nigeria will be a peril to the universe.’’

Renaud-Basso said it would be a mistake for the development bank not to invest in Nigeria, after considering six potential economies for investment.

She explained that focus would be on the private sector, especially Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

Dele Alake

Special Adviser to the President

Special Duties, Communication and Strategy

Seven African leaders stunned the world on June 16 and 17, 2023 when they went on a peace mission to warring Ukraine and Russia. The reaction from many in the West was that of contempt; how is it the place of lowly Africa to intervene in a war of Europeans? In fact, Poland tried to scuttle the mission by detaining for 30 hours the aircraft carrying the protection unit of President Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of the delegation.

Its claim was that the security men carried “dangerous goods”(weapons). Did they expect them to carry candies? The protocol all over the world is for the paper work for the weapons to be submitted; but Poland declined. Eventually, the aircraft which also had a dozen journalists on board, could not join Ramaphosa as Hungary barred it from using its airspace. These are clear indications that some Europeans countries do not want peace.

The United States had also tried to scuttle the peace process by its Congress insisting that sanctions be imposed on South Africa for being a member of the Brazil, Russia, India , China and South Africa, BRICS, economic initiative and promising to allow President Vladimir Putin on whom it had imposed unilateral sanctions, to attend the BRICS meeting in South Africa without any consequences.

The reaction of some in Africa was one of self-denigration: how can African leaders think of making peace among Europeans, especially when the Pope, the United Nations and China had failed? Some, in trying to portray the African leaders as jobless busy bodies asked: what is Africa’s business? I will tell you what our business is by retelling a true story.

The European countries in search of territories, and to exploit the world’s human and natural resources went on a voyage to colonise the rest of the world.

As is often the case with the greedy tortoise, they came close to blows, and in 1884, met in Berlin to agree on how they would steal the resources of other peoples without fighting themselves. But greed has no limit, so on July 28, 1914, they commenced an All-European War. Since there were no persons to mediate, the Europeans were left on their own and at the end, 16 million human beings were killed in what they beatified as the First World War.

Despite the Europeans proclaiming that the First World War was a “War to end all wars”, they were back at another endless slaughter from September 1939. This time, some 85 million human beings were killed. They christened this slaughter, the Second World War. In each of these wars, genocide was a side menu. In the first, Armenians were the main victims, while in the second it was six million Jews. In all these, innocent Africans, Asians and Latin Americans were killed as they were forced to fight for both sides.

So today, with the same countries engaged in another slaughter, is it logical for anybody to ask what the concern of Africa is?

 If the senseless war in Ukraine were not brought to a quick and peaceful end as the African leaders are trying to do, is anybody in doubt that all humanity would be affected and that part of the war would also be fought on African soil as it happened in the Second World War?

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday told the African leaders that he is not interested in peace and is confident of resolving issues militarily, is anyone fooled that his faith is in the decimated Ukrainian armed forces? Is anybody in doubt that the war in Ukraine is an international one with the military from various countries, including America, Asia and Europe, engaged? Are we to pretend that since those armies are not fighting under their countries’ flags, then they are not on the battle field?

Did those querying the business of Africa in pushing for peace, listen to Putin when the African peace ambassadors asked him if the Russian nuclear weapons recently deployed to Belarus would be used? He had retorted that in case of a “threat to the Russian statehood” they would be used. He emphasised: “In that case, we will certainly use all the means that the Russian state has. There should be no doubt about that.” So, is Africa to do nothing in the face of a possible Third World War in which nuclear weapons will be used or do people think all these is a joke?

Those who argue that Africa has no business initiating peace in Ukraine are like occupants of a multiple storey building who claim that it is not their business if an occupant on the ground floor decides to blow up his flat.

Some scoff that the African leaders returned home empty handed. Such people do not seem to understand that a peace process is not a quick fix; once it is not going to be an imposition, it is often a marathon race. An African saying goes: an elder that listens to only one side of a story to pass judgement is a wicked elder. So the African leaders have gone to Kyiv and Moscow, listened to the combatants, poked them for response and watched their body language. A wise step the African leaders also took was to ensure their team includes friends of the warriors and their allies who might be beating the drums to which they are so energetically dancing. It is a known fact that South Africa is not opposed to Russia; Egypt is an ally of the United States and Senegal strives to be in the good books of France.

Again, there are those who argue that we have not been able to settle African conflicts like the senseless one in Sudan. True, but that does not mean we cannot strive for peace in Ukraine as we are also doing in Sudan. By the way, who praised Africa for the peace process in Ethiopia?

Then, there are those who query why the African countries went on the peace mission rather than the African Union, AU. To me, it is not on all issues we must wait for the bureaucracy of the AU to agree before an action can commence. In any case, how do they know the AU was unaware of the peace mission? How do they know the delegation did not get the nod of the AU before setting out?

I wish the African peacemakers: Presidents Ramaphosa, Macky Sall of Senegal, Comoros’ Azali Assoumani and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly of Egypt and the envoys from Congo-Brazzaville and Uganda, success. Africans cannot just sit back and watch the Europeans engage in another mutual slaughter or ignite a Third World War.

Before grappling with the subject matter of this column today, I feel encouraged to get readers acquainted, if they are not already, with certain universally applicable concepts and perspectives of law. They are Natural law, Positive law, Judicial activism and the Separation of powers.They provide a meaningful backdrop to the surveillance of the rule of law in Nigeria 

According to my sources, ‘the theory of natural law believes that our civil laws should be based on morality, ethics, and what is inherently correct; that laws should reflect moral reasoning and should be based on moral order.This is in contrast to what is called “positive law” which holds that there is no connection between law and moral order’.

Proponents of judicial activism are persuaded ‘that the courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of its decisions.The specific decisions that are activist are controversial political issues’. 

‘Separation of powers is the division of the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of government among separate and independent bodies

The purpose is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances’.

Now to the column proper- beginning with the rave of the moment, namely, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa. He confessed:

“Mr. Chairman, I must say that okay, to round off, since that is what you want me to do, I will do that and I must thank particularly my wife whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while she was in office and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues.”“I know – I look at faces in this chamber whom have come to me and sought for my help when my wife was the President of the Court of Appeal and I am sure…”

In a left handed salute and acknowledgement, Nigerians owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa for laying bare before the public glare, what we have always suspected of the Nigerian judiciary. We now know for certain that the culture of rampant corruption in the Nigerian judiciary is alive and kicking, thanks to the loving husband of the former president of the Nigerian court of appeal.. 

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the law in Nigeria and the ultimate destination for all cases before the lower courts. As such, the apex court is the personification of the Nigerian judiciary, in its entirety. Hence it is from its conduct that we draw the exemplars of the culture to which Mr Bulkachuwa speaks. 

First, on the last governorship election in Imo state in 2019, the Supreme Court rules:

“It is thereby ordered that the appellant votes from 388 Polling Units unlawfully excluded from the appellant vote declared shall be added and that the first respondent, Emeka Ihedioha, was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the said election.”

Responding to this judgement, here was fellow Supreme Court Justice Chima Nweze:

“The decision of the Supreme Court in the instant matter will continue to haunt our electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come. This court has a duty of redeeming its image. It is against this background that the finality of the court cannot extinguish the right of any person. This Court has powers to over rule itself and can revisit any decision not in accordance with justice,”

In tandem, we learnt from another source that ‘Professor Ben Nwabueze accused the Supreme Court of playing a discreditable part in manufacturing a jurisprudence of electoral impunity, lamenting the failure by the Court to appreciate that the question of who should rule Nigeria is not one to be decided by a perverse and narrow legalism, by the technicalities of the rules of evidence, practice, and procedure and by considerations of.expediency.”

Second, is the Supreme court judgement on the eligibility of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Senator Godswill Akpabio to contest, simultaneously, for the presidency and the Senate haven taking no part in the APC primaries: Delivering the unanimous judgement of its five-member panel led by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the Supreme Court held that the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were wrong to have assumed jurisdiction in the suit because the issue of candidate nomination lies squarely with political parties.

The explicit implication of the judgement of the Supreme court here is that regardless of how the party candidate emerged, with or without participation in party primaries, such a candidate is eligible to contest. It also found no offence in contesting for two electoral officers at one and the same time.

Another instance is the upturning of the conviction of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu: “The trial court found him guilty of corruption in December 2019 and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. But in one of a series of questionable judgements given by the Supreme Court, his jail time was nullified on technical grounds: that the judge who jailed him was ineligible to handle the trial having been elevated to the Court of Appeal’s bench as of the time he concluded the case”.

There will always be bad eggs in any institution or organ of government including the Judiciary. In any functional society however, such bad eggs are the exception and not the rule. A situation of crisis therefore arises where the bad eggs become the rule rather than the exception. In this latter instance, what you then have amounts to institutional subversion. 

At its maturation, this phenomenon is characterised as state capture- which refers to the way ‘formal procedures (such as laws and social norms) and government bureaucracy are manipulated by government officials, state-backed companies, private companies or private individuals, so as to influence state policies and laws in their favour’ 

It is within this concept of state capture that we can best locate the crisis of the judiciary. The other organs of government namely the legislative and the executive are, of course, equally implicated. What we then have is a systemic crisis in which none of the organs can be meaningfully isolated for remedial action.This is presently the case with Nigeria. The argument is that given the near criminal capture of all the arms of government, it is unrealistic to assume that the judiciary will not follow suit.

Nonetheless there are several dimensions to the crisis of the Nigerian judiciary. The crisis (of the judiciary) is the crisis of the Nigerian constitution, especially in regard of overcentralisation of power at the centre. Lord Acton aptly admonished that power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Today, the most destabilising factor in Nigerian politics is the take no prisoners pursuit of the Nigerian presidency by contending factions of a self-destructive power elite.

In its zero sum dimensions, “the premium on political power became so exceedingly high that political contestants regarded victory at elections as a matter of life and death struggle” The judiciary is thereby co-opted and subverted to become the hired gun of desperate unscrupulous politicians. From this subversion at the national level, those at the subordinate levels have duly taken a cue.

Of equal significance is the utility of the unintended consequence of federalism. There is the profitable coincidence that federalism is, at once, the cure prescribed by the wholistic systemic crisis diagnosis of the entire Nigeria sickness and of a judiciary gone rogue.There is however the caveat that this ascriptive role (of federalism) is Nigeria specific. Taming a criminally implicated judiciary is not a generic role of federalism 

We have come to learn that the institutional subversion of the judiciary has largely emanated from its power of adjudication over the eligibility of who should contest and who should not contest elections; who wins and who loses elections especially at the governorship and presidential election levels. 

The overcentralisation of powers at the centre has precipitated and fuelled a desperation that is subversive of any legal and moral norm in the pursuit of its acquisition. Being the final arbiter of formal political conflicts, it is inevitable that the judiciary will become the major casualty of this anomaly. It then follows that any countervailing measure such as devolution and decentralisation of power will commensurately diminish the incentive to subvert the institutional integrity of the judiciary. 

There is the saying that all politics is local and by dint of the same logic, it can be validly argued that all development challenges are local. For development to take root, it has to be localised and owned by the beneficiary local population especially in a polity that is defined by large scale diversities and disparities. This self-prescriptive decentralisation and devolution of powers is the philosophy behind the Nigerian federalism. It was true in 1960 as it is true today.

Even if we did not have the crisis of the judiciary in mind, whenever the case is made for the restoration of federalism, it is now clear that this constitutional remedy has the potential to tame the monster. Without the murderous desperation to acquire the presidency, it is improbable that there would be a judiciary buyer of the sale of the inducement to subvert the course of justice.

Another dimension to the ailment is the immanent threat of facistic encroachment where presidents begin to arrogate to themselves the arbitrary privilege to determine what constitutes the boundaries of legitimate judicial intervention and

pronouncements.The proper recourse for any president who is not satisfied with the conduct of the judiciary is the national judicial council. The president has no power in the constitution to appropriate and arrogate such leviathan sovereignty to himself.  

In this tendency to take liberty for license we need look

no further than the exemplified pronouncements of Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu. Said Buhari “Our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place, in favour of the greater good of society.” In similar fashion, Tinubu threatened that “It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary, illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.”. 

To recap, the problem of Nigeria is a near systemic collapse which must to be addressed as such if the country would survive. Pending the acceptance of this prescription, all attempts at isolating the sporadic and episodic manifestations for remedial initiatives will end up in self-defeating smokes and mirrors.