Fiction writer James Hadley Chase famously titled one of his popular novels, “The Vulture Is A Patient Bird”. That title often reminds me of the Yoruba anecdote which denounces the carnivorous bird as a cheat because it feeds on human carrion but man cannot (would not) feed on it. Thus, the vulture prospers from man’s misery without any risk of a backlash or revenge.

I don’t know of any culture where vulture is part of the menu. There are too many cultural taboos hanging around the ‘Dracula-hooded’ birds. They feed on carrion. Carry disease-bearing pathogens. Their relatively tasteless meat in comparison to chicken, cooks forever and is never tender. They are classified with evil or apocalyptic evocations in many cultures.

Human Vultures

Those are the vultures in the animal kingdom. In our real human world, we also have human vultures whose menace we grudgingly acknowledge but still tolerate under a barrage of excuses. Enter Boko Haram, ISWAP, cattle rustlers, armed herdsmen, unknown gunmen and other rogue elements who have totally demystified the government’s claim of exclusively controlling the means of coercion!

If the principal aim of the government is to protect its people and maintain order and stability, the Nigerian government has failed spectacularly in the last 15 years. Swathes of Nigerian territory are under the control of criminals. The government and its security forces continue to lie about the severity of the situation.

Over the years, instead of a frontal attack on the problem, the government and its security agencies were pussy-footing under a number of convenient excuses. The political elite in the affected northern states started playing ethnic and religious cards. When the government decided to end the embarrassment once and for all, the move was sabotaged through blackmail and a campaign to turn the people of the region against the government as if the fight against terrorism was an anti-north agenda.

Foreign terrorists were recruited to add an even deadlier dimension to the terrorists’ capabilities. Issues of the expansionist ambitions of some of the bandits which, in the last 10 years, have tried to colonise the Middle Belt region were quickly dismissed as farmers/herders clashes. Historical carryovers, such as unacknowledged unfinished ethnic wars were dismissed as non-existent.

When illegal mining of minerals in the North was a small-scale affair being run by the locals underground, it did not attract the level of organised violence that it currently enjoys with the involvement of the traditional and political elite. Now mining gangs have their own private armies. The government claims to be in charge of granting mining concessions but we all know that the bandits run the roost in many areas.

In the South where bandits come disguised as herdsmen and routinely waylay motorists on inter-state highways, the government continues to deny what is obvious. Even in cases where the locals have adduced evidence of some of the terrorists being foreigners, the government continues to tell the convenient lie of herders and farmers at loggerheads. That lapse has led to the generalisation in the South that all terrorists operating from the forests are Fulani.

Because of all these acts of omission or commission, as the case may be, we watched from the gallery of nonchalance as terrorism became a lucrative industry, especially after bandits in many states of the North started collecting taxes and protection levies from the people. Up till now, there are parts of the North where farmers have to pay terrorists to access their farms safely. In those places, the government is a distant memory.

The new fad is for the terrorists to issue video recordings of their domination of rural communities and their dispensation of their warped notion of justice — ranging from public floggings to more serious forms of physical torture. Some have even been turbaned by emirs! They are entrenched. They are the de facto government.

Government Abdication

It used to be embarrassing to those in government. Now, it seems that even the people have come to terms with the reality of Boko Haram and the other terrorists controlling territories outside the purview of the Nigerian constitution. We have, through a mixture of neglect, subterfuge and incompetence legitimised terrorism, insurgency, hostage-taking and allied crimes.

Enough of the shameless excuses! There is really no big deal about fighting terrorism if you have the will. Granted that we have lost a lot of ground in the years of complete lethargy, it is never too late to reclaim our space and rid the land of terrorism completely, once and for all. And I truly mean once and for all!

Granted that security is a specialised subject with its own esoterica and technicalities, I wager that what we have before us does not exclusively deserve the formal or conventional wisdom of the usual “experts” and their textbook analyses and fixations. If a band of largely illiterate brigands can outwit and overwhelm our entire security agencies, it is time we weaponise our collective cerebral muscle and deploy the same accordingly. We must out-think them!

We have heard, ad nauseam, about the introduction of “non-kinetic” tactics in the fight against terror. New terms are being introduced daily by the growing army of “security experts” doing the rounds on national television regularly. Nobody – least of all the terrorists – is impressed by all the technical jargon.

Nigerians don’t care whatever tactics you deploy to rid the country of terrorists. All they want is for their government to live up to what it claims to be — an authority in charge. If a government cannot protect its people from any kind of aggression, then it has lost its reason for being called a government.

Between July 2023 and June 2024, kidnapping alone accounted for 1,056 deaths in 1,130 reported incidents. According to the research document, “Economics of Nigeria’s Kidnap Industry”, Zamfara State recorded 1,639 kidnap victims and 146 civilian deaths with about N1.048 billion being deployed as ransom nationally.

Just Do It!

To put an end to all this nonsense, the authorities first have to agree that, among other things, anyone who takes up arms against Nigerians or against the country is a terrorist, no matter under what guise. All terrorists, no matter where originated or based, are equal. Any non-authorised civilian group carrying weapons should be treated as terrorists. After all these years, there shouldn’t be anything like “repentant terrorists” anymore. Any terrorist that hasn’t repented by now does not deserve to live.

Government should map out the territories currently being controlled by terrorists. Security contractors should then be contracted with specific targets, deliverables, expected outcomes and mutually agreed Standard Operating Procedures. Security contractors should concentrate on taking out terrorist kingpins remotely through drones and other digital devices while our police and armed forces are adequately armed to mop up. With the lion’s share of the 2024 budget allocated to Defence and security, we ought to be able to finance this without any problem. State policing is imperative.

The reason for the current spate of insecurity is that the government is not yet ready to stamp it out. When those in government are sufficiently conscientised to end the scam, we will all breathe easy; but not a moment before then.

If Providence grants the collective invocations of Nigerians, the government will regain its consciousness and declare that all birds of prey are equal; that what is good for the hawk is good for the abominable vulture.

Forget the taboo. We shall barbecue the vulture!

A former national vice chairman, North West of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has said former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso inability to commence proper political negotiations was emboldening President Bola Tinubu to continue with what he termed “his crazy impulsive visionless governance experiment” unperturbed with the harsh realities it had created for Nigerians.

Lukman in a statement yesterday said somehow, unknown or unaware to key political opposition leaders, the strength or confidence of Tinubu was derived from their inability to open themselves and honestly commence negotiations to build a united front ahead of 2027.

He said key opposition political leaders, Atiku, Obi and Kwankwaso had paid their dues and were still actively nursing ambitions to become president.

“To be fair to them, they all agree that the performance of President Tinubu since his assumption of office has been disastrous. Unfortunately, their agreement falls short of making them accept to work together towards building a common platform capable of mobilising and uniting Nigerians to defeat Tinubu and the APC in 2027.

“It is quite worrisome that notwithstanding the dangers before the nation, our key opposition leaders believe in business-as-usual approach to politics whereby the most important thing in politics is the management of their personal ambitions to become president.

Lukaman appealed to the key opposition leaders to wake up and try to be compassionate and appreciate the gravity of the dare-heart situation facing citizens and work to dislodge the APC-led administration of Tinunu in 2027.

[Leadership]

The Police Command in Edo says it has commenced a mop up of illegal arms and ammunition ahead of the Sept. 21 Governorship Election in the state.

SP Moses Yamu, the spokesperson of the command, quoted the state’s Commissioner of Police, Nemi Iwo, as saying this on Saturday in Benin.

Iwo said, during a meeting with the chairmen of political parties and their respective governorship candidates, that the aim was to ensure the security of the electoral process.

The commissioner appealed to them to prevail on their supporters to shun all forms of violence during the forthcoming election.

He assured them of adequate security to ensure that people go out to exercise their franchise without fear of harassment or any form of intimidation.

The commissioner, however, reassured them that the police and sister security agencies would ensure that all stakeholders, including electoral materials, were protected for a peaceful election.

He solicited for information that would assist the police to ensure an enabling environment for the election process.

(NAN)

Troops of 6 Brigade/Sector 3 Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) have apprehended a suspected female kidnappers’ informant, in Taraba State.

The announcement, which was contained in a statement made available to journalists in the early hours of Sunday in Jalingo, the state capital, said the female suspect was arrested on 6 September, 2024 by the troops in Sondi village of Wukari local government council.

Signed by the Acting Assistant Director, 6 Brigade Army Public Relations, Captain Oni Olubodunde, the suspect who was identified as Miss Markus Grace, was confirmed by the soldiers to be a girlfriend to a notorious kidnapper named Chen who was reported to be terrorising the general area.

“The suspect is currently in custody and undergoing further investigation to reveal the extent of her involvement in various criminal enterprises,” the statement read.

Items announced to have been recovered during the operation that led to the arrest included an AK-47 rifle, and a vehicle.

The troops, who vowed to flush out from the state those making life unbearable for the good people of Taraba, accused Grace of aiding kidnappers and criminal elements in the area.

In another separate operation, the troops also announced to have intercepted a Toyota Yaris vehicle with registration Number, Taraba KLD 652 XA, that was carrying an AK-47 rifle, an AK-47 magazine and two Identity Cards of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW.

“During a separate operation in the late hours on 5 September, 2024, troops of the Brigade while on routine stop and search patrol in Bantaje town of Wukari council, flagged down a suspicious Blue Toyota Yaris vehicle with Registration Number, Taraba KLD 652 XA coming from Wukari and heading towards Jalingo.

“Upon being stopped, the driver abandoned the vehicle and fled into nearby bushes. A thorough search of the abandoned vehicle led to discovery of an AK-47 rifle, an AK-47 magazine and 2 Identity Cards of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Mutum Biyu,” he said.

Identifying the bearers of the Identity cards, as Isa Ibrahim and Mallam Isa Garin Tukura, investigation, according to the statement, is still in progress to trace and arrest the suspect, as well as to ascertain the involvement of individuals with the identity cards.

Reacting to the operation, the Commander, 6 Brigade, Brigadier General Kingsley Chidiebere Uwa, commended the troops for their professionalism and swift action.

He urged residents to continue cooperating with security agencies by providing timely information that could help prevent and combat criminal activities.

[DailyPost]

Man’s three basic needs or necessities are generally given as food (including water), clothing, and shelter. Food (including water) is needed to keep body and soul together and give us the energy required for our daily activities. Apart from air, food (including water) is the most basic – and important – of man’s needs. Water appears more indispensable to the human body than food. Clothing basically is meant to keep us warm as well as cover our nakedness. Shelter or accommodation is the roof that we need over our head, just as the Mighty Diamonds crooned.

Taking a cue from the Creator of the universe as told in the BIble, light was the first of His creation to bring order and form into a disorderly and formless world. It was afterwards that He began to create all else.

If a vox populi is conducted among the generality of Nigerians today, I am certain the order of priority will be something like food, fuel and power supply (light). Clothing and shelter will come a distant fourth and fifth. In our institutions of higher learning, however, the order of priority will be different. It will be something like water (including food), power supply (light) and shelter (hostel accommodation). Many of the disturbances or student unrest that we have witnessed have centred around water and light issues. Only the electricity subsidy that we heard the Presidency has extended to the hospitals and our institutions of higher learning – if it is substantial enough – will starve unrest from our institutions of higher learning in our present circumstances.

It is a matter for regret that we have proven unable to solve the twin-problems of water and light; rather, they have become exacerbated all over the place. Other problems of decrepit infrastructure, inhospitable learning environment, and inadequate hostel accommodation have joined the league of problems that our so-called leaders of tomorrow contend with in our institutions of higher learning. Things get worse there; they don’t improve or get better.

What you are about to read – Let there be light – was written by Wole Olaoye, erstwhile Student Union president of the then University of Ife (Great Ife), now Obafemi Awolowo University but still “Great” all the same. When we return, we shall make some closing remarks.

“It has been seven seasons now since banner headlines “OAU TO GENERATE 8.03 MW OF ELECTRICITY” announced to the world that Obafemi Awolowo University was poised to become the first university in Nigeria to generate its own power and, in addition, cater to the needs of its immediate neighbour, the Ile-Ife community. In the beginning was the promise and the promise was visionary but the promise has now been dashed.

In the place of round-the-clock provision of electricity leading to increased productivity, enhanced quality of research and improved health, the university now has an abandoned project with sundry installed equipment and facilities rotting away as yet another symbol of the Nigerian government’s corruption and medieval backwardness.

In 2017, Obafemi Awolowo University entered into a working relationship with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to provide a gas-powered turbine that would produce the institution’s independent power needs. The project was to be delivered within two years.

When the project was launched amidst pomp and pageantry, the institution’s then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, revealed that with the coming to fruition of the project and consequent disengagement of OAU from the national grid, the institution would save between N35 million and N65 million monthly. He added that their daily energy requirement was below six megawatts. The gas-turbine-based system being installed was projected to produce eight megawatts daily, hence the assurance that the institution would be in a position to share the excess with neighbouring communities.

Seven other federal universities were also approved to self-generate electricity: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; Bayero University, Kano; Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; University of Lagos, Akoka; Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Warri; in the first phase of the federal intervention.

For OAU, trouble started in the form of what appeared like a personality clash on the surface but was actually the monster of corruption gripping the federal system under the (Muhammadu) Buhari administration. The Rural Electrification Agency was headed by Clara Ogunbiyi at the time. For some reasons, there was no love-lost between her and the newly-appointed Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman. If you put your ears to the ground, you would hear that the lady was considered uncooperative with the various sleaze schemes brought to her table. Eventually, she left Nigeria to its peccadilloes and resumed a new job in a saner environment at a global agency.

She was replaced as managing director by Ahmad Salihijo, who did nothing to facilitate the completion of the Ife project but soon demonstrated that he had demons of his own to contend with. As soon as the Buhari administration expired, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) swooped in. Salihijo was suspended by the new Tinubu administration. Many eyes popped when the EFCC made public the kernel of its findings. One of the pegs of the investigation was the uncovering of 27 accounts linked with the suspended REA Managing Director.

The commission said, among other things, that about N1.2 billion, which immediately accounted for Ahmad’s suspension, had been wired into the accounts of eight staff members, including two directors. The allegations against the top officials of REA are criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of public funds, procurement fraud and money laundering.

In announcing Salihijo’s suspension in a statement signed by Ajuri Ngelale, the presidency had said: “In the light of new findings unearthed during a comprehensive investigation into the financial activities of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), President Bola Tinubu has approved the indefinite suspension of the managing director/CEO of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, alongside three executive directors of the agency, from office.

“Furthermore, President Tinubu has ordered a wider investigation into the conduct of the aforementioned officials in a fraudulent mis-expenditure amounting to over N1.2 billion over the past two years, some of which has already been recovered by anti-graft agencies”.

Cynical Nigerians said it would all end up as a game of musical chairs. Abba Abubakar Aliyu was appointed as the MD/CEO to replace Ahmad; Ayoade Gboyega as executive director, corporate services; Umar Abdullahi Umar, executive director, technical services; Doris Uboh, executive director, rural electrification fund (REF); and Olufemi Akinyelure, head of project management unit, Nigeria electrification project.

Although Ngelale reiterated President Tinubu’s determination to elevate the yearnings of Nigerians for good governance and qualitative service delivery above the narrow interests of individuals who are entrusted to provide critical services to Nigerians, the Ife power project stalls still.

The institution’s stakeholders who have been anxiously hoping that all encumbrances in the way of the completion of the project would immediately be removed were surprised that, so far, nothing concrete is happening. The Asian staff who came for the installation of the last set of equipment on site have since returned home. Then, some sources indicated that the Tinubu government wants to convert the project to a solar-powered facility instead of the gas originally designed and upon which the 75 percent completion already achieved is based.

There is also talk of introducing a new player who had never been part of the project before. Nigeria! Now, being a self confessed Engineering illiterate, I will refrain from laughing in vernacular or composing panegyrics concerning this project; neither is required, although this tragic stalling of a developmental project is both galling and dispiriting. For goodness’ sake, how does corruption dog every attempt to gain an inch?

Rather than news about project completion, we have been regaled with tidings of a different kind. It will be recalled that throughout his tenure, President Buhari removed only two ministers. The man posted to the Ministry of Power was one of them, having been sacked for alleged corruption in September 2021.

Last July, hearing in his case was stalled because he was said to have suddenly taken ill outside the court premises and had to be sprinkled with water to revive him. While granting Saleh the benefit of the doubt, there have been too many incidents of government officials dramatising fainting spells or showing up in wheelchairs when dragged before the law. Those are mere distractions.

The buck stops at President Tinubu’s table. Will he allow the present scandalous situation regarding the OAU power project to continue or will he direct the incumbent Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, to expeditiously resolve this matter to ensure that, for once, corruption is put to shame? When will Tinubu declare, ‘Let there be light?’”

So sad, not so? But there are more intrigues to the independent power project issue at OAU than president-emeritus Wole Olaoye hinted at above. He only scratched the issue on the surface. My own investigations revealed that more than corruption was involved. Tribalism also played a role in the stalling of the OAU independent power project. Some of the equipment meant for the project were said to have been cleared at the port and transferred to some other locations up North. The authorities must speak to that.

It is not the power project alone that is stalled, the Opa dam that is supposed to supply water to the university community has also been mired in controversy. Land grabbers are engaged in a tussle with the university over a swath of land belonging to the university, which has adversely affected the dam. At a point the water in the dam was suspected to have been poisoned by enemies of the university community.

The unwholesome activity of land grabbers is another headache the OAU authorities have had to contend with. Sometime ago, a Fidelity bank account belonging to a prominent traditional ruler into which funds were reportedly paid by those who bought part of the OAU encroached land, made the rounds.

As if these headaches were not enough, illegal miners also invaded the university and began to mine minerals right within the vicinity of the staff quarters and student’s hostel accommodation! Spirited efforts by the university to ward off the encroachers and procure a licence to prospect for minerals on its own land were reportedly rebuffed by the Buhari presidency!

Reprieve, however, came with the new sheriffs in town as Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals, gave listening ears to the OAU authorities and suspended the so-called licence being flaunted by the encroachers. That done, it is, however, not yet ‘uhuru’ for OAU. The vice-chancellor, Professor  Adebayo Simon Banire, has a mountain to climb. So also the new chairman of the OAU council, my friend, classmate and coursemate, Professor Gafar Siyan Oyeweso.

All of us the alumni of Great Ife, male and female, young and old, at home and away must stand up to be counted. The battle is not for the OAU authorities or students alone, it is for all of us that have a stake in Great Ife. If there is one way we can give back to our alma mater, it is to make its battle our battle and its cause our cause.

A senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the United States is pressing for consular access to a detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, currently held at the Kuje custodial centre in Abuja.

Gambaryan, a US citizen and Binance’s financial crimes compliance chief, was arrested in February 2024 along with another executive, Anjarwalla, upon their arrival in Nigeria.

Their detention followed an investigation that allegedly tied Binance to money laundering and terrorism financing.

Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja fixed October 9 to rule on the fresh bail application brought before the court by Gambaryan’s lawyers. 

Concerns about his well-being have been raised, with Binance Chief Executive Officer, Richard Teng, calling for his release due to claims of deteriorating health and inadequate medical care.

Gambaryan’s family has also alleged that he is being denied access to a wheelchair.

The MFA source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter,  told Sunday PUNCH that the US was particularly focused on Gambaryan’s health.

“I only know that the US is concerned about the man’s health, especially now that his  family has gone public in the US with the matter.

“I would not say they are lobbying, they are just concerned that they are not being granted access to the man (being a US citizen). Remember that Binance had their issue in the US as well,” the source explained.

Reacting, a retired Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico and Singapore, Ogbole Amedu-Ode, said the US request for consular access to the detained Binance executive was justifiable but should not interfere with Nigeria’s legal process.

“The US is right in requesting consular access to the detained Binance executive,” he said. “Nigeria does not interfere when Nigerians are arrested for criminal activities in the US. We allow the US legal system to proceed without interference.”

A retired Consul to Cameroon and Delegate to the World Expo and Economic Development Centre in Paris, Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie, emphasised the critical role of embassies in ensuring the protection of their citizens detained abroad.

He stated, “It is the right and function of every embassy to have access to detained nationals in a foreign country, regardless of the offence—be it murder or any other serious crime.

“The embassy needs to be informed to ensure that the individual is not mistreated or unjustly punished.”

Akinkuolie explained that once embassies are involved, they investigate the charges and provide legal support if necessary.

Akinkuolie stressed that embassy involvement often results in better treatment for detainees, regardless of the gravity of their offense. “When the embassy is involved, the host country becomes more cautious in their handling of the detainee.”

[Punch]

The urge to pray for the survival of Nigeria’s Labour Party (LP) has suddenly become a patriotic duty; not for the sake of the party but to rescue Nigeria’s democracy. It is really saddening that since 1999 when democracy was restored in the country, the otherwise known best system of government in other climes has remained a motionless experiment in Nigeria. How come ours is the only country where no one can identify the political grouping to which any politician belongs?

As of today, the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was a few years ago, a state deputy governor under a different political party. No one is sure if the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his executives are not members of the APC making it obvious that politics in Nigeria is a game of chance with no speck of principles.

In a Nigerian election, it is easy to see a ballot paper displaying the logos of as many as 18 political parties but no less than 14 of those parties are fake and are merely used by those running them as revenue generating entities. With less than one month to the next Edo governorship elections, 5 such parties, the other day declared their support for one of the few real parties. When asked to explain their decision, they said what their parties wanted to do are exactly same as that of the candidate they are now supporting. How come they never knew that? The reality therefore is that Nigeria is made up of a team of political speculators who see politics as an avenue for material exploitation and are thus prepared to even belong to more than one political party at the same time. This explains why the setting up of government has become a relay race between the two strongest political parties APC and PDP.

During the 2023 general elections, the charisma of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the LP and the fact that many Nigerians had become frustrated by the unending relay race between the leading political twins pushed many to support the Labour Party. Under the cover of the party, political power fell into the hands of charlatans, many of whom had earlier lost the nominations of the leading political traders. Except something is done quickly to remove the grains from the chaff, the LP would itself degenerate beyond the subsisting mercantile groupings. It is against this background that many welcome the on-going efforts to reposition Nigeria’s Labour Party. If that is done, it would be easier to expose the social democrats in the workers’ party whenever they decide to operate as capitalists and power grabbers. All those who are part of the struggle should thus be encouraged to take it to its logical end.

Last week’s stakeholders’ conference at Umuahia which constituted a 29-member caretaker committee to restore the LP to life is a right step in the right direction not necessarily in favour of the party but as stated earlier in the bigger interest of Nigeria’s democracy. To start with, the emergence of a strong LP would drive the drunken leading parties back to line. It would push them to remember that the main purpose of democracy as a system of government is to develop Nigeria and not for a group to confiscate the national wealth. To start with, it is good to hear that most well-meaning leaders of the party were all part of the Umuahia conference. Apart from Peter Obi and his 2023 running mate, Senator Victor Umeh, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State and other governorship candidates of the party such as Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of Lagos State, Chijoke Edeoga of Enugu State and Athan Achonu of Imo State were all reportedly at the meeting. 

Another evidence that the stakeholders really mean business is that both the interim chairman and the secretary are tested politicians who are coming to office with strong administrative experience. Nenadi Usman, the chairman was once a senator representing Kaduna South. She had previously served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Coming in as secretary of the committee is former Senator Darlington Nwokocha, who was elected to represent Abia Central Senatorial District on the platform of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election. Nwokocha was later elected the Minority Whip/Principal Officer of the 10th Senate and Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on the NDDC. Earlier, he was in the House of Representatives, from 2015 to 2023 as the member representing Isiala Ngwa North/South Federal Constituency of Abia State.

In addition, for the first time in recent history, Labour party leaders appear to be on the same page. As Peter Obi explained at the Umuahia meeting, “we are not here to suspend or sack anybody, but to rebuild the party…. Whatever we are going to do in future, everybody is free to participate in it and nobody will be excluded…. Even after this meeting, we will continue with more consultations and reconciliation… In going forward, let everybody learn to sacrifice.” To Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central)”allowing the current leadership of the party to continue in office is like building on quicksand, saying nobody is against anybody…What brought us here is a doctrine of necessity…Our party is currently rudderless.” On his part, the Labour Party National Transition Committee chair, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar described the Umuahia Decision 2024 as a turning point for Nigeria’s future as it brings to an end in the LP, “the era of transactional leadership of graft and crime.”

It is however worthy of note that like a normal viable political party, there are dissenting opinions by members. The Kaduna state chapter of the party for instance rejected the emergence of Nenadi Usman as the party’s National Caretaker chairman. In a statement, the State LP chairman, Auwal Tafoki, following the stance of the party’s outgoing National Working Committee led by Barrister Julius Abure, described the emergence of Usman, an indigene of the state, as illegal and unconstitutional. They raised 2 main allegations; first that Usman is allegedly not a registered member of the party and second that the organ which convened the Umuahia meeting was unknown to the party’s constitution.  There is doubt however if these technical points make sense now that even the electoral body is shunning the LP. The party has not been invited to at least two recent major political activities organized by the Independent national Electoral Commission INEC.

It is valid and in order to raise technical points that should keep a political party within the rule of law and indeed, to avoid arbitrariness. But such technicalities would certainly become dysfunctional if they are intended to keep a political party in a state of dilemma in which little or no progress is achieved by the party while those holding it to ransom continue to appropriate its resources. In fact, crises in other Nigerian political parties are attributable to unending legal arguments employed by different factions to undo their parties. The support of this piece for the repositioning of Nigeria’s labour Party will evaporate if after the reforms, the party returns to the usual posture of political parties in Nigeria whose members are basically self-seeking. Instead, we look forward to the LP providing leadership and compelling other parties to see politics as a basis for societal development.

For this to happen, LP unlike other Nigerian parties must be well administered. The party must depart from the old system where everyone is pursuing public office to the detriment of an effective management of the ruling party. No Nigerian political party has a viable membership register. That must stop. There must be adherence to regular meetings of organs of a political party as enshrined in the party’s constitution. Nigerian political parties must stop working to the answer by holding national conventions whereas local and state congresses that should have elected delegates to the national conventions were not held.

Also to stop is the idea of politicians turning organs into secret cult like the case of legislators colluding to deceiving Nigerians about their remunerations. For example, many Nigerians were disappointed to find that labour party legislators from a social justice background joined others to accept unduly expensive official vehicles at the expense of the nation’s economy. The character of a Labour Party differs substantially from that.

Actress and media personality, Nancy Isime, has shared her vision for early retirement and her journey of hard work during a recent episode of the CreativiTEA podcast.

Isime disclosed that she has been working since she was 17, with a clear goal of achieving financial security before an early retirement.

“I have been working since I was 17, early retirement is the plan.So I’m doing all my work now so by the time I am retiring at an age people feel is too early, my portfolio and achievements will speak for themselves.”

The role interpreter also emphasized on the importance of enjoying the journey rather than focusing solely on the end result, saying, “We tend to want to see the end results before we do anything. We don’t enjoy the process. I’m very intentional about enjoying the process and the journey, understanding that you can never truly arrive.”

A believer in the power of small steps and struggles, she expressed that overcoming challenges is a key part of her success story. “People feel like struggles are something to be ashamed of; for me, it’s not. If you go through my Instagram page, you can scroll all the way down. I don’t delete anything because it’s like a memory book for me,” she explained.

Reflecting on the importance of building a strong foundation, Nancy compared her journey to a biblical principle: “There’s a part of the Bible that says when your foundation is built on Christ, it’s like building on solid rock, and when the rain comes, it stands solid. That’s what I’ve done, building my way through life.”

[Vanguard]

Perhaps unknown to most Nigerians, the Nigerian government hosted its political opposition in the hallowed chambers of the Federal Executive Council last Wednesday. It was a unique opportunity to hear an opposition perspective on the current state of the nation right in the executive chambers of Aso Villa. This was in a week when Mr. Dinuba was out touring in China after sneakily authorizing a cruel increase of petrol pump prices over and above the wildest imagination. The opposition flag and message were carried by an unusual mascot: American tech billionaire and philanthropist, Mr. Bill Gates.

Escorted by Nigeria’s leading money mascot, Aliko Dangote, Bill Gates got an opportunity to literally gate crash into the Executive Council Chambers at Aso Villa where he had the rare opportunity of lecturing the entire Federal Government including Vice President Kassim Shettima and ministers. A lecture on basic development challenges ended up as an unscheduled talk on the inconvenient truths of the present times in Nigeria.

What was auspicious is not so much the presence of the two money merchants. It was rather the message that Mr. Gates had to deliver at the Aso Rock Council chambers that should interest us. Forget the fact that America’s own money men do not get to casually walk into council meetings at the White House to lecture anybody about anything. It is not usual for Gates, Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffet to hike a ride and gate crash into a White House Council meeting to talk about anything. If indeed they have to make a Congressional appearance on any subject, they have to be invited by the relevant committee leadership and answer specific questions. But this is Nigeria. All anyone needs to qualify to lecture an entire Nigerian government is a trove of cash and influence either as a refinery owner or a rich technology billionaire turned philanthropist.

In any event, both Dangote and Bill Gates are familiar sights in Nigeria’s power precincts. Dangote is constantly on hand in all meetings that have to do with running a successful economy especially on matters that concern cement and petrol. Bill Gates similarly shows up ever so often in Abuja and Lagos to talk about Guinea worms or his over $2.8 billion spend on charity, especially primary healthcare, in and around Nigeria.

What is important is the message that Mr. Gates had for his unlikely audience in Abuja. I am sure that most of those there gathered must have been uneasy in their padded seats as the man delved deeper into the substance of his subject. Mr. Gates told them unkind and uncomfortable truths. His contentions were in two major areas of Nigeria’s contemporary economic and social situation: government spending priorities and tax performance.

Mr. Gates told our government people what they probably already know but dare not openly admit in the corridors of power. All is not well in the economy. Nigeria’s economy has stagnated in the last 15 years. The revenue to GDP ratio has worsened over the same period. For the first time, our debt exceeded 50% of GDP. Our government is now the third most indebted in the world with debts still climbing.

That is not all. Nigeria now has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the world with hunger ravaging more than half of the populace. Access to primary healthcare remains a mirage while out of school population has just approached 20 million. Given his preoccupation with primary healthcare in his Africa wide philanthropy projects under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he is shocked about the average annual spend of N3,000 per citizen in Nigeria. It is of course his contention that what Nigeria needs now is attention to the basic components of development like primary healthcare, basic education and poverty alleviation.

Implicit in his elaborate presentation is an excoriating critique of the current trend and direction of priority of the Tinubu government. Implicit in Bill Gates’ well timed lecture is an outright condemnation of Mr. Tinubu’s emphasis on wasteful and luxurious government spending. Mr. Gates says it without naming it.

Nigeria ought to be sending more kids to school away from the streets, buying more medicines and medicaments for health centres and hospitals in remote places, assisting basic enterprises so that common people can find resources to meet their basic needs. Nigeria ought to be sending more hands to the farms to produce the food now urgently needed to feed millions of the hungry.

Our priority ought not to be presidential yatchs, fleets of luxury SUVs, new presidential jets, mansions and expensive junkets to literally all corners of the globe to attend inconsequential gatherings that have nothing to do with the welfare of the common Nigerian. In the latter respect, the intrinsic value of Mr. Bill Gates’s lecture to our Council of Ministers is actually in the eloquent silences of the message. He told us what we ought to prioritize and left our ministers to conclude on the wrong priorities of the government they are serving.

Within the present Nigerian political space, there exists a dialect that belongs alongside Mr. Gates’ preoccupations. In fact, Mr. Gates’s rhetoric corresponds to the outlines of the contention of the mainstream political opposition. Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party are more less saying the same things as Mr. Gates but not in aid of a philanthropic end. Indeed, the basic developmental logic of Mr. Peter Obi since after the 2023 presidential election corresponds to the kernel of Mr. Bill Gates major argument. Of course, Mr. Gates was not out on a political campaign. He was merely marketing his philanthropy. But his philanthropy is essentially a humanistic development agenda. It takes its departure from a human development perspective. Its broad contention is that Africa’s future depends on its ability to harness its resources to actualize its present human resources in the things that matter and will uplift the majority of Africans.

It has been the consistent position of Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last presidential election, that what Nigeria needs is a basic developmental strategy, not a grandiose pretentious display.  Mr. Obi has consistently harped on the need to prioritize basic development issues of primary healthcare, poverty alleviation and education. In accordance, he has taken the Tinubu government to task on its wasteful priorities of luxury, white elephant projects and highways that lead nowhere in particular.

As a way of addressing the paucity of revenue in relation to GDP, Mr. Gates used his speaking opportunity to critique Nigeria’s tax performance. In his view, Nigeria is collecting less tax than it should. Literally, Nigerians are not being taxed enough.  Or, better still, the Nigerian tax administration system is not sufficiently effective to collect all that is due to the government. The latter is more true than the former. Predictably, ordinary Nigerians who have been at the receiving end of all manner of multiple and incidental taxes have jumped on Mr. Gates on the social media to question his temerity to talk about taxation in Nigeria.

Perhaps Mr. Bill Gates does not understand the massive implicit taxation regime under which Nigerians have lived for decades. In Nigeria, the same people who pay monthly income tax, annual business tax and several other incidental taxes are also subject to several implicit taxes. Government for the provision of water, electricity, security etc taxes people. Yet, nearly every Nigerian provides his own water borehole, private electricity generator, private security guard etc. These are all services that the government taxes and levies people but does not provide any services.

On the surface, ordinary Nigerians contend that Mr. Gates cannot talk about personal income tax in Nigeria where the government taxes people without discharging the reciprocal obligation of providing social and other services. In Nigeria, we have governments at both federal state and local government levels that levy a multitude of taxes, charges, levies and tariffs without delivering the corresponding services and infrastructure.

Nigerians are unhappy that Mr. Gates would come from the United States, a country where governments account for every dollar of tax payers’ money by way of services to the people.  Yet, it would seem that Mr. Gates is more concerned about corporate and institutional taxes than personal income taxes which has little loopholes for tax avoidance since these taxes are direct charges on monthly incomes at source.

Mr. Gates of course admits the ineffectiveness of government services in Nigeria but still insists that the Nigerian government needs to find the resources to fill the gap between its current obligations and what it needs to maintain the semblance of a functioning nation state.

So far, there have been no signs from government circles that the oppositional essence of Mr. Bill Gates’s visit and address to the Federal Executive Council struck any chords within government circles. Instead, what has lingered is the war of nerves between Mr. Dangote and the NNPCL over what killer pump prices to charge Nigerians for gasoline. Implicit in that price war is yet another unstated petroleum tax whose incidence falls almost uniformly on every Nigerian who has cause to stop by the gas station in order to keep moving.

Mr. Bill Gates has delivered his message and returned to America. It was a message about a more viable alternative development strategy. I doubt that the political import has yet dawned on the Nigerian ruling class who were the immediate audience. The Nigerian opposition will keep up the Bill Gates message but they are not likely to receive the claps and ovation that Bill Gates got in Aso Rock last Wednesday. What a pity?

To further improve the standard of education, Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, has released cut-off marks for its Screening Exercise into 42 flagship secondary schools for the 2024/2025 academic session.

Commissioner in the Ministry, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, while addressing Principals of the flagship schools during a meeting in Abeokuta, explained that the cut-off marks, which vary from one school to the other, was based on learners’ performance and capacity of each school.

Prof. Arigbabu, expressed delight at the impressive performance of students in the Entrance examination, with 14,363 out of 19,691 applicants scoring above 50, representing 76.2 percent of the total score, revealing that a student from Abeokuta Grammar School had the highest score of 91.

He appreciated the principals and other stakeholders for their contributions towards the smooth conduct of the exercise, reiterating the passion of Prince Dapo Abiodun administration towards providing modern laboratories, libraries and other technological equipment in public schools across the State, especially in flagship schools.

"As a fallout of the Progressive Mathematics Initiative and Progressive Science Initiative training we organised for 750 Science Teachers in year 2023, we are providing laptops to teachers. We will also equip our schools with furniture to ensure conducive learning environment", he said.

Remarking, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Oluwatosin Oloko, represented by the Director of Education, Department of Secondary and Higher, Mr. Oluwole Majekodunmi, stated that the results of learners in flagship schools were encouraging due to government’s commitment to the sector.

Earlier, Director of Education, Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Mr. Temitope Lasilo, said the purpose of the meeting was to determine the cut-off mark for the flagship schools, towards ensuring qualified candidates gained admission and equal opportunities for the learners.

Appreciating the Commissioner for the opportunity to be part of the decision making, Principals of Remo Secondary School, Sagamu, Mr. Samuel Soneye and Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro, Mrs. Janet Hammond, on behalf of other Principals, expressed optimism that students in the state would continue to excel through government’s laudable initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner, in a meeting with the state executive of National Examination Council (NECO), led by the State Coordinator, Mrs. Bukola Alloh, at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, lauded the examination body for its consistency, saying it had become a notable option for students.