Let me begin with the golden words of Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem: "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me."

Interestingly, Nigerians are their own problems: sociopathic, subversive, sinister, religiously intolerant, and ethnic bigots. In the recent past months, I have written extensively on the subject of "Destructive" tendencies typically characterized by strong dispositions and self-advertising drives similar to the pre-'civil war' era in the sixties in Nigeria. Fast-forward to the pre and post 2023 general elections - it has been hell let loose. The concerns about the Justices presiding over the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having been under siege, unwarranted attack, intimidation, and harassment in recent past weeks.

Before going further, let me share with us the profound words of Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. "Things Fall Apart" (1958), Achebe’s first novel, concerns traditional Igbo life at the time of the advent of missionaries and colonial government in his homeland. His principal character cannot accept the new order, even though the old one has already collapsed. In the sequel No Longer at Ease (1960) he portrayed a newly appointed civil servant, recently returned from university study in England, who is unable to sustain the moral values he believes to be correct in the face of the obligations and temptations of his new position. Reflecting on our situation and circumstances 'THINGS' have fallen apart.

First, we overlook evil, Then we permit evil. Then we legalize evil. Then we promote evil. Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still have the boldness to call it evil. Let me be very clear when the foundation of where we are today as a nation was laid, 'block by block' by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who championed and institutionalized election rigging, particularly the 2007 general elections. Obj commissioned a certain Prof Maurice Mmaduakolam Iwu, who conducted a shambolic election, the worst election in modern era. Then, it was ok! It presupposed that there was nothing wrong as long as the "Headless mob" are not offended by the outcome of the fraud. One would have expected to see the same reactions that is currently deployed at the time that the foundation was laid.

It is against this backdrop, that I begin to reflect on the post-election activities of some disgruntled elements pushing for change through unorthodox means. Firstly, it was the balkanisation of our cherished Institutions. For example the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and Mmesoma Ejikeme, but for the confession of the young lady the mob hiding behind ethnicity and religion are up on arms against JAMB on account of their biases; hypocrisy, extremism, and exuberance without corresponding wisdom. Sadly, the flip side of this is to infer that all our institutions are not worthy of the trust of our citizens. In the recent past few weeks, the same measure of incongruous has visited the Judiciary and other establishments like INEC.

These folks are brainwashed religionists and so-called extremists described by Prof Chukwuma Soludo as a "Headless mob" They're a conglomerate of "Educated" guys and gals, the only thing they lacked excessively is a political permutation. No politically savvy team will think the same line without anyone of them assuming or presuming what can their movement bring that's unwanted. I once told one of them who takes pleasure in regaling the opinions and wishes of their groups; I made it emphatically clear... (I have nothing against your perception, you own it and it is your right. However, I stand firmly on my conviction that you can't destroy state Institutions on the basis of unfounded allegations) Justice shall be done regardless of any blackmail. It was after the usual tough talk about the consequences of overrated self-delusions of judgement that must reflect their own wishes. Nevertheless, as a people, we are more concerned about Nation-building not massaging anybody's ego.

Granted that Nigeria is a very religious country and it is run by 'men of God' and Imams or prophets who encourage their congregation to practice religious rituals. An average church in Nigeria will most likely ask you to keep praying for a change instead of working for it. The value system of the country is MIRACLE instead of PRINCIPALS, PROCESSES, and PROCEDURES. Ironically, the same set of our later-day progenitors of good governance who were romancing the power that be then, just suddenly wake up to the reality of having been part of enablers of evil. The truth is that hypocrisy has completely debased our natural sense of judgement and good reasoning.

Thankfully, Prof Wole Soyinka, a 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, succinctly captured their mood, WS posited: "...that makes them all the more noxious, for they hide behind some phony moral force. Kongi warned of populist symbolism as crass opportunism, which could set voters on a joy ride to nowhere, and ultimately end in tears." More relatively, Anyone who is too extreme and unbending in a stance be it politics, religion or any other is too biased and blinded by their beliefs to see reasons in others. This is part of the warnings and cautions that was completely ignore by those who are wishing for the impossible. IT IS TIME FOR HEALING, LET US REBUILD OUR NATION.

Richard Odusanya is a Mind Restructuring Enthusiast.

At the meeting of the National Economic Council presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the issue of palliatives to mitigate the current economic hardship in the country was discussed. In the communique issued after the meeting, it was agreed that the social register used for cash transfer by the Buhari administration would be subjected to integrity test by the State Governors. Other policy measures agreed upon include reduction in the cost of governance at Federal and sub-national levels; upward review of salaries of workers; release of essential food items by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); cash award for civil servants; energy transition plan from the use of fuel to gas for mass transportation as well as provision of agricultural inputs for farmers to boost food production
in the country.

However, one very vital palliative which is missing in the communique is the issue of privatization of moribund Nigerian National Petroleum Company's refineries to stimulate local production of fuel. This is the real palliative to relieve the hardship caused by continuous dependence on fuel importation. It seems that collective amnesia is a major challenge confronting the country. The truth of the matter is that the pump price of fuel will continue to rise as long as the country depends on fuel importation for domestic consumption. Fuel importation is subject to the exchange rate of the Naira which is volatile. At present, the Naira has become a very weak currency as a result of official devaluation by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the vagaries of so-called "market forces".

For the past three decades, Nigeria has been importing fuel while the local refineries remain wasting assets. This is despite abundant crude oil reserves. It is indeed a national shame and huge embarrassment that Nigeria is unable to refine a litre of fuel. It is obvious that the NNPC is incapable of running the local refineries efficiently and optimally. Huge amount of resources have been spent on "Turn Around Maintenance" without tangible result.

Another fundamental issue which requires urgent attention is the nefarious activities of currency speculators. The situation in the foreign exchange market is largely determined by the so-called black or parallel marketoperators who operate as a cartel and hold the country to ransom. There is a lot of distortion, manipulation and sabotage in the determination of the real value of the Naira relative to foreign currencies due to racketeering.

There is no way the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) can compete with the black market operators in determining the exchange rate of the Naira. The Naira will continue to fall while the citizens are the victims of economic exploitation. Millions of people are swimming in the ocean of poverty.

In Nigeria today, poverty walks on four legs. The people can no longer breathe due to economic suffocation. Nigeria's economy is largely import-dependent and monolithic as the major source of foreign exchange is crude oil. The primary motive of currency speculators is maximization of profit at the detriment of the macro-economy. In order to sanitize the foreign exchange market and curb the activities of economic saboteurs, only the commercial banks should be allowed to operate as foreign exchange dealers under the proper supervision of the CBN. This policy recommendation will go a long way to stabilize the exchange rate of the Naira. It is very dangerous and counter-productive to leave the economy and the fate of millions of Nigerians in the hands of foreign exchange speculators and racketeers.

*Afolabi Faramade is Programme Director and Editor-in-Chief of Journalists Against Poverty. ( Twitter. com//@JournalistsAga3)

Former Edo State Governor and Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, has expressed displeasure over the vandalisation of National Assembly properties by former lawmakers.

Naija News reports that Oshiomhole, during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, accused the former lawmakers of looting office properties despite the presence of security men and women.

According to the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the immediate past senators and House of Representatives members looted television sets, carpets and chairs.

He also said many of the lawmakers’ offices were left in shambles with holes in the wall, stressing he had to pay to fix his office before using it.

Oshiomhole added that the vandalisation also took place in the offices vacated by past Principal Officers of the National Assembly, whose names he will not mention.

He said, “Let me tell you one thing the National Assembly is not talking about and I don’t know why those who have a duty to speak are not speaking about it.

“I was shocked by the level of vandalisation of properties of the National Assembly. Televisions were carted away, carpets were carted away, Senators’ chairs were carted away. I had to use my money and someone also decided to deliver to me a printer, to give me a laptop to use in my office. I had to buy the carpet and pay the cost of fixing it. I had to pay some young people to clean the office to restore the new carpet. I had to pay to repaint my office. I will produce you the receipt.

“I can’t understand why and how a senate that sat on Sunday before we were inaugurated on the following Tuesday, and that level of vandalisation took place, and we have hundreds of security men and women in the National Assembly. I can never understand what happened. You find holes on the wall, even in the offices of principal officers of the senate, who I won’t get to mention.

“People told me there’s also the same level of vandalisation in the House Representatives”

The lead counsel for Endsars petitioners, Adeshina Ogunlana, has voiced his disagreement with the Lagos State Government’s stance on a leaked memo approving the mass burial of 103 EndSARS victims.

The memo, which surfaced on social media on Sunday, suggested that the state government had approved N61,285,000 for the mass burial of 103 individuals identified as victims of the 2020 EndSARS protests, causing significant public outcry.

In response to the leaked memo, the Lagos State Government clarified that those scheduled for the mass burial were not victims of the infamous Lekki Tollgate shooting.

During an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Ogunlana criticized the state government’s explanation, stating it was being “clever by half.”

He said, “The government is being clever by half and they are not telling the absolute truth. Yes, I agree with the position that the 103 bodies were said, not all of them were picked up from the Lekki toll gate and its environs.

“To use the word the pathologist used at the panel, that is Professor Obafunwa, he said bodies were scavenged, and corpses were picked from different places. But around the area of Lekki Toll Gate, they were corpses too, some of them were dumped at the General Hospital, Lagos Island and all that.

“For the government now to be saying oh no there is no named citizen, the question I want to ask them is this, even the 103 corpses that they want to dispose of, do they have any names? There was no name.

“The bodies that were taken around the environment of Lekki toll gate when Baba Fafunwa was speaking, he at least identified three that were perforated with missiles.

“People saying that the 103 is proof that actually 103 people were killed at the Lekki toll gate is a very grave error and I will not join anybody saying that.

“But to say that there was no body recovered in the environs of the Lekki toll gate incident of 2020 is completely wrong,” he said.

Ogunlana asserted that government was attempting to “profit from the cruel loss of lives” by approving as much as over N60 million for the mass burial.

He added, “Even now the system of government that we have in Lagos State and by extension Nigeria is showing that they want to profit by cruel loss of lives.

“How could you say that you have approved N61 million to bury 103 degraded bodies in a mass grave? People that are unidentified, people that nobody came up to claim and all that, I mean that is horrendous.”

The Federal Government has said the tuition of students in Federal Government Colleges, also known as Unity schools, excludes tuition.

According to the government, the hike only affected boarding and textbook fees, as well as uniforms.

Naija News reported on Friday that school fees of Federal Government Colleges, otherwise known as Federal Unity Colleges, across the nation, increased from N45,000 to N100,000.

The platform gathered that the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, has directed that new students of these colleges across the federation would pay N100,000 on resumption.

The new directive was contained in a circular from the Office of the Director of Senior Secondary Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, reference number ADF/120/DSSE/I, dated 25th May 2023 and addressed to all Principals of Federal Unity Colleges.

However, the government had clarified that the additional N49,500 added to the fees of JS1 students in the new school fees regime reflected on uniform, boarding, medical, utilities, textbooks, notebooks, and prospectus fees.

The documents also show that the increase in the fees for J.S.1& S.S.1 (new students) was not in tuition fees.

Similarly, other contents in the same circular ADF/120/DSSE I, addressed to Principals of the Federal government colleges for J.s.1,2 & Senior Secondary School 1&2, indicated an increment of N15,000 in boarding fees, N3000 in textbooks, and the sum of N2000 added for notebooks.

Speaking to the fee hike, the office of the Director, Senior Secondary Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education said overheads in the federal government college system are still very low.

The office revealed that the government released funds for April 2023 two weeks ago, so fees paid by students are used to augment their feeding and other school running costs.

The office said, “The school fees were reviewed by the last administration. If you check the date on the circular, it was before President Bola Tinubu assumed office, and we released it in May to sensitise parents.

“So the slight increase is not in tuition fees. As a matter of facts, with evidence, tuition fee is still free because which child will you put in school that you will not buy books for and also buy uniform?

“The increase is insignificant as projected in the media. True be told, we don’t charge school fees. Which school will you put your child and feed him or her for three months with N30,000?

“The entire fees were reviewed across the board, not only for JS1 students.

“Uniform was added because of adulterated uniforms procured by parents for uniformity’s sake the school changed the idea so that all parents will buy same color of uniform.”

Below is a document obtained by VON with break down of the hike:

THE convoy of Governor Godwin Obaseki was stranded at the dilapidated and flooded RCC junction on the Benin- Sapele-Warri highway that has become a nightmare to road users.

This came as the governor said conflicting Federal Government’s position on federal roads in states had made it impossible for his administration to fix dilapidated federal roads across the state.

In a viral video of the incident, a background voice was heard urging viewers to share the video to show that it was payback time for leaders, who fail to take needed action to help the people.

The background (male) voice said: “The governor is the one inside the vehicle but it has stopped moving. This is his vehicle, he cannot come down as he is ashamed. Everyone is feeling the brunt of bad policies in the country.”

Meanwhile, Obaseki, during a visit to the Edo State secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, said: “The position and location of Edo, particularly Benin City, which has been a blessing is now becoming a curse. A blessing because we are very centrally located in Nigeria and we are one state where all major federal trunks pass through.

“We are a transport hub, so you have the dual carriage coming from the West, one coming from the East, one coming from the South-South and one is supposed to be going to the North.

“And a federal policy relating to its roads is very confusing. In the past, we could go as a state, rehabilitate and give the Federal Government the bill for refund. At one point, they said states can apply to take over those roads but I am yet to see one state that they have given a federal road to.

“The Auchi-Ibillo Road was so bad that some of our contractors couldn’t go to their quarry site. We appealed to the Federal Government to do palliative work on that road but they refused, saying the road is under contract.

“If I want to do the same to Benin-Sapele Road, I am not allowed to because first, it is not our road and second, the Federal Government said it had already given it out to a contractor. So, I cannot do anything on that road. So, we are in a very difficult situation in Edo.

“It is like our hands and our legs are tied and they say we should run because the only government people know is their state government.

“I am not here to criticise the Federal Government but I am here to say that we are all Nigerians and it is only fair and proper that the Federal Government, which has 52 per cent of our revenue allocation should treat Nigerians as human beings and that they all come from this country.

“You don’t have to vote for a Federal Government for the government to care about you but it is like there is nobody to talk to. Nobody cares about us in Abuja.”

A Senator representing Edo North Adams Oshiomhole has said they did not promise miracles to Nigerians when they campaigned for the election of President Bola Tinubu.

Oshiomhole, a former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), said this on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

The former Edo State governor said Nigerians need to be patient with the new government, noting that the president is not a magician that will immediately solve all problems in the country.

“They know they were not electing a magician. And nobody promised a magical solution,” Oshiomhole said.

“You don’t need to give me an example. I know what we (APC) promised more than you who was reporting it. Whatever you reported, we were the source. We did not promise a 24-hour solution. We did not promise miracles. We did not promise an overnight solution.

“You show me any document that says in 48 hours, this will be done. In 14 days, this should be done. In 21 days, this should be done.

“I think you are the one who has the illusion that once a promise is made, automatically once you get into office, either spiritually or by miracles, solutions will emerge.”

The former Edo State governor said since the removal of fuel subsidy, Tinubu has taken steps to address the impacts of the decision.

“What Nigeria needs is what President Tinubu has demonstrated the courage to make decisions and to be humble to admit some of the unintended consequences of those decisions, and, the will to deal with those consequences. And he has put in place instruments to deal with them.”

On the N30,000 minimum wage in the country, the former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president described it as a criminal wage.

“What we call minimum wage is a criminal wage,” he said. “If you exchange N30,000 at N800 or N700 to the dollar, what does that translate to? So, the value of that minimum wage when it was N125 – when it was first introduced under, I think, (Shehu) Shagari’s government – is about two times or three times the value many years later, even in the public service.”

Parents, under the aegis of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have called on President Bola Tinubu to apply the brake to the spate of increment in tuition fees and others by government-owned schools.

The parents said life was being snuffed out of them as a result of such increases in almost all sectors, such as fuel, electricity and now school fees.

According to them, the increases are becoming too many and pouring on the citizens like a heavy rainfall.

Speaking in a chat with Vanguard yesterday, the Deputy National President of NAPTAN, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, urged the President to, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to the tuition fee hike in public schools.

“It is unfortunate. We support the President regarding the removal of oil subsidy, but it does not mean everything should just be hiked at the same time.

”You still want to remove subsidy on electricity, and also hike tuition fees at the same time. That will be too killing on parents and their children.

“The President should by tomorrow, mandate schools to revert to their old fees. They should not snuff life out of parents and their children.

”He should temper justice with mercy. The moment the government increases fees payable in its schools, others will follow – the state governments and private school owners. He should just stop it,” he stated.

Giving advice to the President on how to bring down the cost of fuel in Nigeria, Ogunbanjo said though licenses had been given to some importers to bring in fuel, the solution did not lie in that step.

He said: “Prices of petroleum products would still continue to be on the high side as long as they are imported and the process is dollar-denominated.

”What he needs to do is to encourage modular refineries. That will bring succour to the people and the country entirely. He should address that and set standards for those operating such modular refineries if he is not pleased with what they are doing now.

“While the modular refineries are working and meeting the people’s needs in their own little ways, then the big ones, such as Dangote Refinery, can come on stream.

”The huge impact of the subsidy removal is already affecting businesses and many may close down. If that happens, it is still parents that will be the worst for it if they lose their jobs and still have family commitments to handle.”

Recall that federal government’s unity colleges recently increased fees from N45,000 to N100,000 and federal universities have done same.

The University of Lagos, UNILAG, for instance, weekend increased fees from N19,000 to N190,250.

Parents are apprehensive that by the time new session begins for primary and secondary schools in September this year, a number of parents might find it difficult to cope with fees and buying books.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, had expressed fears that the introduction of the Student Loan Scheme by the government would lead to hike in tuition fees.

Presidents of both unions, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke and Dr Anderson Ezeibe, had said the government would just be referring any indigent student who cannot pay fees to approach the Student Loan Board, but wondered how many of such students the board would be able to assist.

They also faulted the repayment method and timelines.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has pleaded with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to summon enough courage to do substantial justice to his petition seeking the nullification of Ahmed Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25 election.

Atiku said on Sunday that contrary to the threat of Tinubu, heavens would not fall when he (Tinubu) is sacked by the tribunal as Nigeria’s president on the account of massive electoral fraud that brought him into office.

In his final written address, Atiku dismissed Tinubu’s threat as an empty one deployed to scare the tribunal from upholding justice in the petition challenging Tinubu’s election.

In the final written address by his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the former Vice President recalled the courageous position of the Supreme Court in the case of Rotimi Amaechi, where the apex court held that heavens would not fall when justice is done in the manner prescribed by law.

Justice George Adesola Oguntade, who delivered the Supreme Court judgment in the cited authority, had said: “I must do justice even if the heavens fall. The truth, of course, is that when justice has been done, the heavens stay in one place and in peace.”

Atiku asked the tribunal to invoke the courage displayed in the past Supreme Court judgment to settle his petition against Tinubu by disregarding the threat of monumental chaos issued by Tinubu to shield himself from justice.

The former Vice President maintained that Tinubu had lost the moral and legal rights to be in office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, having admitted a punitive forfeiture of $406,000 in a narcotics and money laundering-related matter.

Besides, Atiku accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the results of the presidential election in the most corrupt manner in favour of Tinubu and thereafter, unlawfully proclaimed him (Tinubu) the winner of the election.

Citing the alleged brazen subversion of the popular will of the voters by INEC in favour of Tinubu, the former Vice President appealed that the proclamation of the electoral body is voided and set aside and in its place, declare him the winner of the election having convincingly scored the majority of the lawful votes.

The naira maintained its downward trend against the dollar as it traded for 876/$ at the parallel market on Sunday.

Some Bureau de Change operators, who spoke to News-men, said the local currency had earlier exchanged to the dollar at 820 a week earlier.

Since the unification of the exchange rates in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria in recent weeks, the naira had continued to slide to the dollar, due to liquidity crunch, speculations, and other challenges.

Speaking with our correspondent, a BDC operator in Lagos, Alhaji Sanni Abdul, stated, “Naira is currently bought and sold at 850/$ and 876/$. The exchange rate has not been stable for some time now.”

Another BDC operator, Alli Ibrahim, said, “Things are getting more expensive. As of Friday, we were buying and selling the naira at 850/$ and 865/$.”

Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the foreign exchange market was evidently under pressure as a result of a number of factors.

He said there was a curious surge in monetary expansion in the last month.

Yusuf said, “Money supply grew by an unprecedented 15 per cent in one month between May and June 2023. Broad money grew by over N9tn, from N55.7tn to N64.9tn. This surge in monetary growth is unprecedented. Obviously, this must have had an effect on the exchange rate.”

He said the monetary authorities should investigate this drastic growth in money supply and take steps to curb subsequent expansion.

“Such dramatic growth in money supply poses a significant risk to macroeconomic stability, especially price stability,” he said.

Over the last few years, he said, there had been a cumulative backlog of unmet foreign exchange demand, running into billions of dollars as a result of acute illiquidity in the foreign exchange market.

With a more liberalised forex market, he said, the pressure of the backlog of unmet demands and other maturing forex-related obligations had been unleashed on the investors’ and exporters’ window.

However, at the Investor & Exporter forex window, naira appreciated by 3.24 per cent against the dollar in the previous week.

According to the data from the official trading platform of FMDQ Securities, there was a slight appreciation of the naira by 3.24 basis per cent, bringing its value to 777.82/$. It ended the previous week at 803.90/$.

As of Friday, the naira traded at an intra-day high of 855/$ and a low of 665/$ with a total turnover of $77.99m.