The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission said it had begun investigation into a petition it received from the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee, Yusuf Gagdi, regarding job racketeering.

The anti-corruption commission disclosed this in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, on Friday, adding that it also received a petition from Premium Times, an online newspaper.

It read, “The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has commenced investigation into petitions received from Premium Times and Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Ad-Hoc Committee on the Investigation of Job Racketeering and Gross Mismanagement in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, over bribery allegations against the probe panel.”

Recall that the House of Representatives had issued a warrant for the arrest of a former desk officer at the Federal Character Commission, Haruna Kolo.

Earlier, the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities denied paying money to bribe members of the House Committee investigating the job racketeering in Ministries Departments and Agencies.

The Vice Chancellors at a panel hearing on Friday noted that they paid money into a particular account in order to get some foreign currencies needed for their travel.

The Vice-Chancellor, the University of Jos, Prof. Ishaya Tanko, who spoke on behalf of the vice-chancellors when they appeared before the committee, said the money that was sent by some vice-chancellors was meant for foreign exchange for them to attend an international workshop organised for them in Birmingham, the United Kingdom beginning from Tuesday, September 5.

He said, “During our last meeting, we requested for two weeks because some of the universities did not come with some of the documents required from them.

“But we read the very disturbing media publication and I can say that the vice-chancellors are not part of that. The vice-chancellors have not provided any bribe to anybody.

“What I recalled happened was that the next day, there was a workshop for the vice-chancellors and because there is another international workshop organised for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, I recalled that a number of people were looking for estacode in the form of foreign exchange that will enable them to travel.”

Tanko added, “We are looking forward to this committee concluding its work so that the challenges relating to employment in Nigerian universities are addressed so that we can continue to provide the quality manpower we need for the development of this country.”

On the morning of August 30, 2023, a group of high-ranking officers of the Gabonese armed forces appeared on national television to announce that they had taken power and annulled the results of the August 26 elections, in which incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who had held office since 2009, was re-elected for a third term. Altogether, various countries across Africa have experienced more than 90 coups d’etat since 1952. Here are the most recent coup that occurred across Africa since 2017.

Zimbabwe – 2017 coup d’état: On November 15, 2017, Zimbabwe’s military placed President Mugabe under house arrest, after he fired his vice president, Mnangagwa, who had the support of the war veterans. The ruling party, ZANU-PF, ousted Mugabe from its leadership on November 19 and nominated Mnangagwa as his successor. Mugabe resigned on November 21, ending his 37-year rule, and Mnangagwa was sworn in as the new president on November 24. The Supreme Court upheld the legality of the military’s intervention on November 25.

Sudanese – 2019 coup d’état: On the afternoon of April 11, 2019, in response to widespread mass demonstrations demanding his removal from office, President Omar al-Bashir was ousted from power by the Sudanese Armed Forces. During this critical moment, the military, led by Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, took decisive action to overthrow the existing government and dissolve the National Legislature. Subsequently, a three-month state of emergency was declared across the nation to restore stability and address the prevailing crisis. Following this tumultuous turn of events, a two-year transitional period was initiated, marking a pivotal phase in Sudan’s political landscape. Over time, negotiations and diplomatic efforts ultimately led to the successful agreement that paved the way for a more stable and inclusive government in the country.

Mali – 2020 coup d’état: On August 18, 2020, a mutiny within segments of the Malian Armed Forces escalated into a full-fledged coup d’état. This sudden and dramatic turn of events resulted in the detention of numerous government officials, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who ultimately decided to resign from his position and dissolve the government. Notably, this coup marked the second instance of political upheaval in Mali in less than a decade, with the previous one occurring in 2012.

Malian – 2021 coup d’état: On the evening of May 24, 2021, the Malian Army, led by Vice President Assimi Gota, carried out an operation to apprehend and detain President Bah N’daw, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, and Minister of Defence Souleymane Doucouré. This marked a troubling development as it was the third coup d’état to disrupt Mali’s political stability in just a decade. The previous military takeovers occurred in 2012 and 2020, with the latter taking place a mere nine months before this latest incident.

Tunisian – 2021 self-coup: On July 25, 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied orchestrated a dramatic overthrow of the Hichem Mechichi government. This extraordinary move included the suspension of the Assembly of Representatives of the People and the removal of immunity from its members. Termed a self-coup, this action came in the wake of a period marked by political turmoil, which was punctuated by a series of protests against the Ennahda party and the deterioration of Tunisia’s healthcare system amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guinean – 2021 coup d’état: On September 5, 2021, President Alpha Condé of Guinea was captured and detained by the military. In a televised address on state television, Mamady Doumbouya, the leader of the special forces, declared the dissolution of the government and the constitution, signaling a significant political upheaval in the country. In a separate incident, on October 25, 2021, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Sudanese military staged a coup against the sitting government in Sudan. This coup resulted in the initial detention of at least five top government officials, further contributing to the political instability in the nation.

Burkina Faso – 2022 coup d’état: On January 23, 2022, Burkina Faso’s military staged a coup and ousted President Kaboré. The coup leaders accused the government of failing to stop the Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions. The international community condemned the coup and demanded the return of constitutional order and the release of the president and other officials. The coup is the ninth in Burkina Faso’s history and threatens its democracy and stability.

Burkina Faso – 2022 coup d’état: On September 30, 2022, a coup d’état took place in Burkina Faso, resulting in the removal of Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba from office. The coup was primarily driven by concerns over Damiba’s perceived inability to effectively address the nation’s ongoing Islamist insurgency. Remarkably, just eight months prior to this coup, Damiba himself had come to power through a previous coup. In the aftermath of the recent coup, Captain Ibrahim Traoré assumed a temporary leadership role to manage the situation.

Nigerien – 2023 coup d’état: On July 26, 2023, Niger’s presidential guard staged a coup and detained President Bazoum. The coup leader, General Tchiani, claimed to have dissolved the government and the parliament, citing the president’s failure to address the security and constitutional issues. The international community condemned the coup and demanded the release of the president and the return of democracy. The coup is the second in Niger’s history and jeopardizes its security and development.

Now, that’s a new one wouldn’t you say? But bear with me and come along. We know of the employment index. We also know of the unemployment index. There is then, again, the underemployment index. These indices have become convenient devices for masking a frightening democratic fact, namely that we ought to also take inventory of that active, perhaps too active, part of our population that is absolutely unemployable. But can someone really be absolutely unemployable?

We speak of the employed as people who are engaged in some type of employ, for wages or profit. They may be working for an individual, an organization or for themselves. The unemployed would be generally taken to be “those who have nothing doing”. But that is incorrect, in my view. A person may have nothing doing out of choice. So, the unemployed should strictly refer to those with some skill or capacity for which they could earn pay or make profit, but which is not put to use; even though such parsons are able, willing and available to be employed or deployed. As for the underemployed, it is perhaps best to explain that with a telling example.

Imagine that you spent six years to obtain a university degree in architecture. Imagine also that you are willing and ready to either work in an architectural firm, or open up your own practice. Imagine, further, that you have no way of doing either for two reasons. The first reason is that there is no architectural firm willing and able to hire you. The second reason is that even if you would like to set up your own firm, you are not able to do so. So, there you are starving. You cannot buy soap for a bath or fend for yourself in any way. Fortunately, you run into a friend who knows of a vacancy in a small hotel, which needs a receptionist. You jump at the job, lest you perish.

You are then underemployed in two distinct senses. In the first sense your capacities completely outclasses every demand the hotel will ever make of you as a receptionist. In the second sense, the hotel does not even have enough room, or human traffic, to task just your ability to be awake and alert in the hotel’s front office. 

As for the underemployed, they are simply too many today. They range from graduates who cannot find what to do, to artisans and workmen whose skills are not being sought by a weather-beaten populace that is writhing in economic anguish and gnashing of teeth.

As for the unemployable, they include graduates and non-graduates. A student who obtains a university degree by paying his teachers from start to the point of graduation cannot be employed for anything in his field of study. If, in addition, he also did not acquire any vocational skills, or even develop muscles in order to serve as a bouncer or load bearing tout in the market, then he is truly finished. Such a person must be “retooled” for value, or he will remain eternally useless to the society – and also to himself -in terms of engaging meaningfully in his immediate and remote economic environment. But he can be a criminal, because of the low entry requirement.

Let us leave the university graduates and such others and look at the graduates of the Almajiri school system. Many observers and commentators make the mistake of saying that Qur’anic education is useless; and that graduates of the system are useless dullards and that it should be abolished. These claims and assumptions can be traced to a misunderstanding of the real challenge facing products of this system. To begin with many graduates of the Almajiri system prove their intelligence, measured as the ability to memorize and reproduced presented data the way it is done in the average classroom in the Western educational system, by scriptural recitations, etc. 

What they lack is the tools with which they can engage meaningfully, and also at the level of values. Without economic survival skills, in terms of the ability to provide goods or services that could earn them income, they remain a troublesome demographic group to any development planner. They need to be retooled at two levels: the economic and the axiological. But the axiological is a matter for another day.

Our limited intention here is simply to show that the ignored unemployability index is not readily acknowledged in clear terms and it not being planned for. Yes, there are government “empowerment programmes” and job creation agencies and platforms. But is anyone tracking their impact or trajectory in real terms? Is anyone relating the number of people they reportedly empowered economically to the unemployment figures? Is anyone tracking job losses and juxtaposing them against claims about job creation, to be sure they are not all cancelling out each other? Just asking. 

It would seem that not much will change around here in the short term. If anything, matters are likely to get much worse, before they get any better. The security situation is not getting better, but let us hope that the 8-point Agenda will do something about that. I am not sure how; as oil theft is still thriving and poverty is walking the land; and holding hands with fuel price hike and rampaging rise in food prices. 

The facts staring us in the face today, for which the blame does not necessarily lie with the three months old government, include the following: “ (1) The problem of increasing national productivity in the face of insecurity and other negative factors; (2) The prevalence of consumption patterns and product preferences that negatively impact Nigeria’s Balance of Trade, especially from the angle of accruing deficits, (3) The fact that the Nigerian State, and the political and economic elite, consume mostly what they do not produce and are not in a hurry to change; (4) The tendency to mistake policy statements and records of expenditure for positive impact on lives, and (5) The challenges of an operating environment that flagrantly undermines the best policy initiatives and economic intervention programmes. 

All things considered, and taking us back to our subject matter for today, unemployable Nigerians have become an absolute majority today. This includes intelligent graduates who actually studied for, and got, their academic qualifications. Their “unemployability” stems from a moral handicap. In their education, socialization and engagements, they internalized the wrong values about leadership, public office, service delivery and much more. If you “employ” them to manage the common till, via an electoral process, they go there to serve their personal interests. Thus, they are a danger to the state and are the wrong mentors for those coming after them.

See what unemployability has morphed into? So, look around you again and answer this question: Is it correct to say that the major crisis facing the Nigerian State today is the failure to work out, and be guided by, the unemployability index in everything it is doing today? Just asking.

Values create the right mindset for substantive citizenship, rather than nominal citizenship. In our New World Order, wherein anyone with a cell phone and a social media handle is automatically a media owner, broadcaster, Editor-in-Chief and even a television station, we need a rallying call for a gathering of wits. But who will make the call? Who is making it? Who even thinks that such a call is necessary?

The issues and problems raised here demand some reflection. Other issues not raised here are also alive and well. Some are cheerfully mutating, and not disappearing. Many more are even popping out of every street corner as I write. That is why weariness walks the land. But let the weary not thump their chests and point fingers. The space is being progressively taken over by aggrieved indigenes – not citizens – who are withholding loyalty from the Nigerian State. This is perhaps understandable when we consider that, in many cases, we have official marauders and state-decorated insurgents passing themselves off as leaders and statesmen. 

As observed on this page, under “The Call for Authenticity” nearly a year ago, “Inauthenticity walks the land! In Aso Rock, in the National Assembly, in the judiciary, in state government houses, in state Houses of Assembly, in local government headquarters, in churches and mosques, in institutions of higher and lower learning. We walk through a maze and claim to be walking under bright lights. Debauchery has been given a new name, in the hope that the discerning will no longer keep watch over disappearing values. No, the relevant eyes are still wide open, even if fewer in number than hitherto. The call for authenticity is real”. Enough said!

NIPR Gets a New President

Last week, Dr Ike Neliaku emerged the new President of the Nigerian Institute of Public relations. It was a victory well deserved and for an organization that he has tirelessly helped to build and nurture for so long.

Always in the background and almost desperate not to be seen, Ike has been the backbone of some of the most highly celebrated and successful national events. He has worked in government at the highest levels, but has never focused on anything else that adding value to the nation and to his principals. Ask any former minister about him and you will always get the same nostalgic and grateful note in the voice as they speak of a man without whom they would not really have had a meaningful tenure.

Ike was central to the conception, and successful execution, of the recent NIPR powered Nigeria Citizens Summit that moved from the Zonal Level to a well-attended Grand Finale in Abuja. In all of that, he was only concerned about ensuring that every demographic group and stakeholder platform had visibility, representation and voice. Those that were not forthcoming were approached specially. Ike’s argument in all instances was consistent: “We are not complete if we are not complete. The very idea of inclusivity in national discourse implies the absence of observers, of whatever coloration. So, those who have not said anything should be specially briefed on the subject matters on the table and their input taken”.

Need I say anything from the personal angle. I had better not. We leave it a this: NIPR has got the good man it deserves at a time like this.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has promised that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will bounce back to deliver Nigerians from economic hardship.

The presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 presidential election spoke in a statement released by his Media Office in Abuja on Friday.

Abubakar is challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

The tribunal has reserved judgment in separate petitions filed by Atiku, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) to overturn the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

PDP marked its 25th anniversary on Thursday, August 31 but the party, which ruled Nigeria for 16 consecutive years from 1999, when the country returned to civilian rule, has been out of power for eight years, from 2015.

Atiku said, “I have every confidence that the PDP will bounce back to give Nigerians a responsive government.

“PDP is the progenitor of our contemporary democracy and shall ensure that democracy did not only survive in Nigeria, but that the country thrives through it.

“Being one of the founding fathers of our great party, the PDP, I take great pride in having participated in the process of nurturing the party from infancy to a deliberate agency of socio-political and economic development in Nigeria.”

Atiku, who served as vice president to former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2003, described the achievements recorded by the party in the 16 years it was in power as the ‘benchmark’ for economic development in the country.

“In the 16 years that the PDP was at the helm of affairs in our country, the party offered quality leadership through various administrations and the achievements recorded in those 16 years have remained the benchmark for positive growth in our economy and other critical areas of our national life.

“Of course, the PDP took leading role in the deconstruction of military rule in Nigeria, and the peculiarities of our contemporary experiences both within Nigeria and other countries in Africa demand that the PDP should once again, rise to the occasion in cancelling the economic hardship and other structural deficiencies that directly bear negatively on our people in the past nearly eight and half years.”

The Department of State Services (DSS) has allegedly the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of economic policy, Kingsley Obiora.

According to Peoples Gazette, the CBN deputy governor has spent four nights in the custody of the DSS.

It was gathered that the secret police is looking into allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the suspended apex bank governor.

A source familiar with the arrest said he was being targeted as a principal witness against his boss.

Another top CBN official, Abbas Masanawa, was arrested recently and held in custody as officials seek to determine the steepness of Emefiele’s alleged corruption.

The publication did not promptly hear back from the SSS and CBN about Obiora’s detention, which officials said was not entirely unexpected given his knowledge of CBN’s policy decisions.

Obiora, born March 6, 1976, was a policy chief at the International Monetary Fund and advised former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. He was also an adviser to Emefiele until March 2, 2020, when he was confirmed to his current position as one of CBN’s four deputy governors.

Recall that Emefiele, who was first appointed as CBN governor in June 2014, has been in SSS since June 10, 2023, a day after he was controversially removed from office by President Bola Tinubu.

Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti has terminated the employment of all civil servants who were employed into the state civil service from December 2022 to date.

The sack, which took effect from August 31, 2023, was announced in a circular signed by the state Head of Service, Lady Joy Maduka.

The circular, which was addressed to the Secretary to the State Government, all Commissioners, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, the Deputy Chief of Staff, and all heads of agencies, said the decision was taken in order to “streamline the civil service and make it more efficient.”

The affected workers are said to be about 10,000 in number.

According to the circular “Following the ongoing reorganization in the Abia State Public Service and in line with the provision of the Abia State Service Rules nos. 02801 and 02803. I write to inform you that the Executive Governor of Abia state has directed the disengagement of all the staff employed into the Abia State Public Service from December 2022, till date.

“However, any further directives of His Excellency on this matter shall be communicated in due course.

“Please take appropriate steps to implement immediately and according to His Execellency directives.

The governor of Niger State, Muhammad Umar Bago has declared a three-day public holiday for the distribution of palliatives to the various wards and units across the 25 local government areas of the state.

The three days declared are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week.

The governor announced the development at a press briefing in Minna on the modality adoption for the distribution of the palliatives.

He explained that to ensure proper distribution of the palliatives, civil servants in Niger State would shut down governance for three days in the state.

He also directed all political appointees, including permanent secretaries and local government council chairmen who are members of standing committees set up by the state government, to return to their wards and units for the distribution of palliatives.

Bago, however, warned that anyone caught diverting palliatives meant for the people would be jailed to serve as a deterrent to others.

He further announced that so far, the sum of N2bn with five trucks of rice have already been received from the federal government, while 40 bags of maize and additional N2b are being awaited.

According to him, “The sum of N3.2bn will be disbursed to the 25 LGs as palliatives next Monday, and N5.2bn will be injected into local markets next week to boast economic activities in the state.”

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President Bola Tinubu, on Friday in Abuja, declared his unwavering support for a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Health’s National Eye Health Programme and the Peek Vision Foundation to provide more than 5 million pairs of eyeglasses to Nigerians with sight impairments.

The President recounted how close to home his first intervention in eye health was as he made a pledge on behalf of the Federal Government during a courtesy visit by the Founder and CEO of Peek Vision Foundation and Co-Founder of the Vision Catalyst Fund, Prof. Andrew Bastawrous.

"My first experience was with my mother of blessed memory. She was ill and she could not recognise me. When I intervened, she was treated and given a pair of glasses. The next question she asked me was: I have you, and you are able to do this for me. What about those other women and their children who may not have somebody like you to intervene for them?

"So I made a promise to her that I will pursue the mass provision of eye care vigorously and that I would provide free eye screenings and surgeries to people because of that question my mother asked me and because of her passion to see others healed. We eventually impacted the eye health of millions of people in Lagos, and you could see their joy over the immediate sight enhancements when they were given a pair of glasses," the President fondly recalled.

Highlighting the pressing need for improved eye health services in Nigeria, President Tinubu expressed concern about the more than 24 million Nigerians grappling with varying degrees of vision impairments.

"We must act now because sight and vision is critical to economic development and growth," the President said, recalling his visionary "Jigi Bola" programme, which was initiated during his tenure as the Executive Governor of Lagos State in 2001 and provided free eye screenings and surgeries to Lagosians while setting a new precedent for proactive eye care initiatives in West Africa.

"I am in support of this initiative, and I will encourage the mobilisation of further commitment to see this through and to reach vulnerable people all across our country. Some parents may not pay attention to this, but I will, because I am touched," the President concluded.

Expressing his commitment to the cause, Prof. Bastawrous said:

"Good vision unlocks human potential. It improves earning, learning, and wellness for individuals, communities, and countries."

He shared his personal story and the transformative power of vision care:

"When I was 12, I was told by my teachers that I was clumsy and lazy, but the results of an eye exam explained I had very poor vision. And when I put on a pair of glasses, I saw the leaves on a tree for the first time, and my life completely changed and two weeks later, I was using my first pair of free eye glasses and I saw stars clearly for the first time. My grades improved, and the trajectory of my life completely changed, all because of a very cheap intervention that is 700 years old. Had that not happened, I would not be standing in front of you today. I would not be a professor, and I would not be involved in the work I am doing because sight gives opportunity," the Peek Foundation CEO shared.

Professor Bastawrous noted that eye care is still chronically under-resourced in many countries, adding that the estimates in Nigeria show that 0.0002 percent of the health budget is spent on eye health.

"The good news is that President Tinubu has an excellent team in the health sector, and some of them have demonstrated tremendous leadership in the sector. What we would like to offer is to bring our Peek Vision methodology and platform to Nigeria to help unlock resources from multiple sources. In the countries where we have worked, Peek in Botswana unlocked 10 million dollars for the school programme, and in Kenya, 17 million Euros. Through the Vision Catalyst Fund, we have secured a donation of 200 million pairs of glasses, and we would like a significant proportion of that to come to Nigeria,” he concluded.

At the end of the event, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate was joined by the Coordinator of the National Eye Health Programme, Dr. Oteri Okolo and the Director of Public Health, Dr. Chukuma Anyaike, as he presented a National Policy Document on Eye Health to the President.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)