One phenomenon that cannot be denied in Nigeria today is hunger. Nigerian people are hungry. Very unusually, no one – politicians, elected government functionaries or their appendages – has been able to allege that this general cry of hunger is politically motivated. So many occurrences have been painted with the camwood of that word, “politically motivated”. It is worse for some of us who write. We must have taken overnight instructions from political baron opponents to paint the government black. Or, our views are hangovers from ancient hatred and bile. But, hunger seems to be in a class of its own. It is borderless.

Hunger is like death. Permit me to cite a line of a song I have cited severally which relates to one of death’s innumerable cognomens. It is the line in a song of Ibadan master singer, Awurebe lord, Alhaji Dauda Adeeyo, a.k.a. Epo Akara. In an elegy to General Murtala Muhammed on his assassination by Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka, Epo made an evergreen quip. He sang, “Ikú tí ó p’eni à ńpè, á p’eni tí ńpe ni” – death the leveller is the one that will kill the chanter and the enchanter.

Hunger is such a monstrous and awesome phenomenon, so much so that Yoruba promoted it from its inanimate to an animate being status. In doing this, they conferred on death the cognomen, “ebi òp’àgbà f’owó m’éké”. I have struggled to defrost this deep Yoruba saying of its inscrutable meaning. The farthest I have gone was to explain it. In ancient society, when people were hungry at home, all they did was look heavenwards at the ceiling rafter, as if looking unto Eledumare – God – for redemption. It was almost as if Hunger had turned into a huge snake which crawled up the eké wood, up to the rafter. All that the hungry did was look towards the ceiling, the àjà.

In this piece, I want to take the liberty to talk about hunger, poverty and connect them with Chief Joseph Folahan Odunjo. Odunjo was known simply as J. F. Odunjo. His highly celebrated poem, Isé l’òògùn ìsé – Work is an antidote to poverty – is my referent. I chose Odunjo so as to analyze his poem which can be found in the famous Alawiye series. That poem was used in syllabi of primary schools in the 1970s and 1980s. By the way, who is Odunjo? Literary colossus, educator and politician who was best known for his works in Yoruba children’s literature, Odunjo, in 1951, won a seat in the Western House of Assembly and was later appointed Western Region’s first minister of lands and labour by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. In his immense literary prowess, Odunjo communicated Yoruba values through folklore and myths.

Africans used folklore as a strong imprint from the past. Odunjo then deployed those folklores to relate to our present social and sociological conditions. Like D.O. Fagunwa, Odunjo was greatly respected for having shaped the minds of generations of Yoruba of western Nigeria, especially through his highly famous Alawiye series. The series transformed into a book from the oral folklore and stories of traditional society told at moonlight after dinner. With this, he was able to communicate the values, beliefs and literary skills of the people. Using fictive characters (human or non-human) like Trickster Tortoise (Ijapa, his wife, Yannibo and their son, Irere), ghomids, (ebora) streams, animal kingdom, human kingdom, etc., Odunjo intermixed ìtàn (traditional mythology, history and philosophy.) and ààló (beliefs, customs and stories of a community passed through generations through words of mouth). Ìtàn was more believable because they are factual, dependable and historical than myths, in conveying the reality of the time.

Like all other ethnic groups, Yoruba have very many epistemological stands on hunger. In their paper entitled Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria: Lessons from Socioeconomic Thoughts of the Yoruba, four scholars, Joel Babalola, Adesoji Oni, Ademola Atanda and Benedicta Oyejola-Oshodi did this.  They examined how Yoruba distinguish between three seemingly similar concepts of “òsì”, “ìsé” and “ìyà.” While Òsì is unending chronic poverty, ìsé is acute, transitory poverty and ìyà is suffering, hunger, psychological torture and shame. The three are borne out of denial of essential needs necessary for the sustenance of life.

In Igbo philosophy, poverty is ụ̀bị̀àm̀. Igbo believe that hunger is the complete erosion of human dignity. A man who is unable to feed himself and his family is éfűléfụ (a worthless person) and Igbo see hunger and poverty as a disease, expressed in Ụbịam bụ ajọ ọrịa or ágūū bụ ọnyà – hunger is a sickness of its own. To them, evil or human suffering comes from the interplay of man and their god, the Chi or the machinations of some known or unknown mischievous spirits. Igbo cosmological study seems to agree that human suffering cannot be fully explained and as such, human suffering is a mystery.

Aminu, M. L., in a then-unpublished doctoral thesis, entitled The Hausa Metaphysical World View: A Paremeological Exposition, submitted to the Department of Nigerian and African Language, A.B.U. Zaria, after scrutinizing 230 proverbs, came to the conclusion that the Hausa identify the chief goal of human life as peaceful living, what is called Zaman lafiya. He also found out that there are fourteen attributes of world life. Poverty, called talauci, is a variety of pain, expressed as drinking, like in sunàa shân wàhalàa, literally meaning, drinking trouble.

Yoruba believe that human personal intervention is key to arresting poverty and hunger. This is why they express it in “bí ebi bá kùrò nínú ìsé, ìsé bùse” (by removing hunger from poverty, you have defeated it). To curtail poverty, individual effort is necessary. The people however also believe that, no matter how harrowing and persistent the pangs of poverty may be, whether for 20 years or 30 months, once poverty does not lead to death, it has an expiry. So, they say, “Ìsé tó sé omo l’ógún odún, ìyà tó je omo l’ógbòn osù, tí kò bá pa omo, á dèhìn léhìn omo.” No matter how difficult poverty may be to man, the people still believe that you can wrestle it and conquer it. This speaks to the capacity of human intervention in existential travails.

From whatever human prism you may want to look at it, food security is sine non qua non to human existence. Yoruba even made the stomach, a deity. They did in such statements as “no god demands propitiations as the god of the throat – òrìsà tìí gb’ebo bí òfun s’òwón”. This is why the sky-high cost of living that has made food scarce on Nigerians’ tables, as well as unprecedented inflation, are causing untold hardships in the country today. However, the above dips into traditional epistemology of hunger have shown that, while governments of all cadres are complicit in the mass hunger across Nigeria, as individuals, we seem to have abandoned what used to be done. This has resulted in the unusual happening.

Our situation today was painted by William Butler Yeats’ 1919 poem, The Second Coming. In it, he said, “The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” I am sure we all have recollections of our personal gardening in the 1970s and 80s. This was at a time when, comparatively, Nigerians were not hungry. This has almost totally dried off now.

Odunjo’s evergreen poem teaches that work is the only antidote to poverty (Isé l’òògùn ìsé) and hunger. It tells us that hard work and self-reliance have pleasant endings. He also counselled that hard work is the only pedestal to the top (Isé la fií d’eni gíga). Today, this virtue has gone to the dogs. Indolent but street-smart Nigerians are the ones at the top, exploring tact and terse energy to sustain their leeching leverage. In those days, resolute persons, who though were bereft of helpers, were recorded to have made it in life, as the poem says (Bí a kò bá r’éni f’èyìn tì, bí òle làá rí, bí a kò bá r’éni gbékèlé) in which case, we needed to work harder (A te’ra mósé eni). Odunjo frowned at reliance on parental wealth (Ìya re leè l’ówó l’’ówó/ Bàbá re leè l’ésin l’éèkàn/Bí o bá gbó’jú lé won/O té tán ni mo so fún o). Today, people don’t suffer for the attainments they get. You only need to be a politician or Yahoo Boy. But, Odunjo has a word for them: Whatever accomplishment that is not complemented with sweats has a twinkle-of-an-eye endurance (Ohun tí a kò bá jì’yà fún/Sé kìí leè t’ójó). It is only what is laboured for, the – Ohun tí a bá f’ara sisé fún/Níí pé l’ówó eni – that endures, he says.

Odunjo also counsels on total reliance on our strength (Apá l’ará/Ìgúnpá n’ìyekan). The world only loves you on account of your material accomplishment (B’áyé bá ńfé o lónìí/Bí o bá l’ówó l’ówó/Ayé á má fé o l’óla). They can also love you if you occupy a prestigious position (Tàbí tí o bá wà n’ípò àtàtà/ Ayé á máa yé o sí t’èrín t’èrín). However, the day you become poor or lose that position, (Jé k’óo de’ni tí ń’rágó/Ayé a máa yínmú sí o) you will be a recipient of their grimaces. Odunjo then ends the poem by canvassing the eternal essence of education (Èkó sì’ńso ni d’ògá/Múra kí o kó dára dára) and the need to flee the midst of those who mock education (Bí o sì rí òpò ènìyàn/Tì wón ńf’èkó s’èrín rín/ Dákun má f’ara wé won). The consequences of abandoning education, he says, are dire (Ìyà ń’bò f’ómo tí kò gbón/Ekún ń’be f’ómo tí ńsá kiri).

Finally, Odunjo pleaded with those who turn their youths into casinos to get off the waste of their youth because time waits for no man (Má f’òwúrò se’ré, òré mi/Múra sísé, ojó ńlo). An Apala musician, Ayinla Omowura, in his elegy to Murtala, later adapted this poem to say that when a man (I add, a woman, as well) wakes up early in the morning and he is not being pursued by anything, he must pursue something because of the finality that dusk poses for hard work. Whoever works conquers poverty – eni bá s’isé jàre òsì, he says.

I gave the above as a keynote address yesterday at a Rotary International, Ibadan, Oyo State (Ring Road) Investiture of Rotn. Bolade Ipadeola. The government cannot claim not to know that hunger is killing Nigerians. I completely share the Igbo philosophical understanding of hunger as a complete erosion of human dignity.

Most Nigerian men have become éfűléfụ, de-masculinised by the Bola Tinubu government. There is a strong link between hunger and the deconstruction of hard work today. Families must rise in defence of hard work. This deconstruction has made the Isé l’òògùn ìsé which Odunjo canvassed in his poem to be a mere rhetoric. Work is no longer an antidote to poverty. Yahoo-Yahoo is. Political positions are. Hard work must return to its pride of place in Nigeria. Let us teach our children that hard work is king.

In the last week of April 2024, pastor and chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, swore that he would “resign as EFCC chairman if embattled former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, is not prosecuted.” Unaccompanied as it was by any calendar or deadline, this undertaking cannot be regarded as having been made with any intention that it should be taken seriously.

Bello lost his constitutional immunity from the legal process when his tenure as governor of Kogi state ended three months earlier on January 27. In the third week of April, Yahaya Bello’s successor as governor of Kogi state, Usman Adodo, accompanied by a retinue of state-sponsored security assets, swooped on Abuja from neighbouring Lokoja, capital of Kogi state to spirit him into fugitive dom under the hapless gaze of EFCC personnel deployed to arrest him.

Since then, the Inspector-General of Police has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of security details previously protecting Bello; the EFCC has declared him wanted; and the Nigerian Immigration Service has placed him on a watchlist, directing that “if seen at any entry or exit point, he should be arrested and referred to the Director of Investigation….” Despite this synchronised hyperventilation by the combined leadership of Nigeria’s leading security agencies, Bello appears to have vanished into thin air. The completeness of his erasure from the combined radars of Nigeria’s security capabilities beggars belief.

Back in Abuja, repeated efforts by the EFCC to arraign Bello in court on multiple counts of plunder of public assets valued at over N80 billion have met with his absence. On the most recent court date at the end of last month, Bello’s counsel taunted the commission with an application seeking to relocate the venue for his trial from Abuja to Lokoja in Kogi state, where, according to Bello, the alleged crimes occurred. One notable columnist laments with a touch of acid that “to the chagrin of many, a fugitive like Mr Bello, transmitting from under the rock where he is hiding, is the one attempting to dictate the terms of how the case against him should be prosecuted.”

Yahaya Bello’s request for his case to be transferred to Lokoja would presumably give him a home-court advantage against the EFCC. In his estimation, the people of Kogi state whose patrimony he is accused of having plundered, would nevertheless embrace him as their home-grown bandit and avatar in the contest for their share of the national loot. The lawyers who make this application on his behalf appear to have secured the complicity of the court in playing along with a script in which they represent a ghost client who transmits instructions to them through a spirit medium.

If all of this makes the EFCC under its current leadership sound like a cruel joke on the consciousness of Nigerians, it is because that is exactly what the commission has chosen to become. The week before it embarked on its vain pursuit of Yahaya Bello, the EFCC recorded what in the public imagination has been its most notable success under its current leadership when it got the Federal High Court in Lagos to convict professional transvestite, Idris Olanrewaju Okuneye –better known as Bobrisky– for the rather ostentatious crime of “Naira abuse”.

The money that Bobrisky supposedly abused was his own. Unlike Yahaya Bello, the commission did not accuse Bobrisky of having stolen from anyone or institution. Yet, despite pleading guilty, the court sentenced Bobrisky, a first offender, to six months in prison without an option of a fine. Upon securing this conviction, the leadership of the EFCC celebrated what was a deployment of the commission in pursuit of bigoted persecution.

While throwing the kitchen sink at Bobrisky, the EFCC chairman was busy offering private assurances to Yahaya Bello to accord him the status of an upmarket outlaw. Under severe public criticism for its unconcealed weaponisation and duplicities, the EFCC got hot under the proverbial collar and embarked on what looked like high-profile feints. In addition to the case of Yahaya Bello, it also went after former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, and increased motion on its part in the case concerning former governor of Anambra state, Willie Obiano. These cases have, however, become performative distractions from the institutional accident that this EFCC has turned into.

Forty-eight hours before it confronted Yahaya Bello’s application to afford him a home-court advantage in the trial over multiple counts of rapine he committed as governor, the Federal High Court in Lagos entered a rather curious verdict in another case of “Naira abuse” instituted by the EFCC with the design to show that its pursuit of Bobrisky was Kosher. The accused this time was celebrity bartender and impresario, Pascal Okechukwu, better known as Cubana Chief Priest. Arraigned in the immediate aftermath of the conviction of Bobrisky on April 17, Okechukwu –unlike Bobrisky– was able to afford the services of a highly-priced Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

In this case, Okechukwu and the EFCC reached a deal under which he agreed to pay N10 million to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation; undertake “intensive and rigorous sensitisation” against Naira abuse, and “bi-monthly post on his various social media handles a minimum of two video clips of his sensitisation/campaign against abuse of naira and sundry offences.”

After taking cognizance of this deal, the trial court reportedly cautioned Okechukwu and thereafter “struck out” [the] charge against the celebrity bartender. How a court can have jurisdiction to caution a suspect in a case that it has struck out, only the judge and the EFCC can divine. The design, it seems clear, is to ensure that Okechukwu, a well-connected Nigerian unlike the much-maligned Bobrisky, doesn’t end up with a criminal record. There is only one word to describe the kind of settlement that the EFCC engineered in this case; it was egregiously corrupt and the commission knows it.

The fact that a commission created to fight network corruption and racketeering has now degenerated into dealing in the currency it was supposed to liquidate is something Nigerians had suspected, but most people did not expect such brazenness about it. As if to gloat about its evolution into an institutionalisation of misadventure, personnel of the EFCC have recently been caught in different states around Nigeria rampantly assaulting poor citizens who were going about their lawful work and lives.

In response to these, some citizens thought about mobilising to protest against the commitment of the EFCC to the abuse of public trust. Rather than welcome this as an act of concerned solidarity, the commission defaulted characteristically to bluster and intimidation and went public to proudly advertise its credentials as a threat to the constitutionally entrenched rights of Nigerians. In a release during the past week, it bloviated that it “will not tolerate any breakdown of law and order anywhere in the country, especially around its office locations across Nigeria.” Not done, the EFCC also warned that  it was “in concert with sister security agencies,…. taking necessary measures to deal with possible threats to the peace and security of Nigeria.”

The EFCC under its current leadership has made a mission of fiddling while the country careens. The tragedy of their latest statement was lost on the leadership of an institution that seems incapable of looking at itself in the mirror. If they were able to do so, they would have seen quite easily that the self-imposed incapacities of the commission have now become one of the biggest threats to Nigeria’s peace and security. It’s time to remind Pastor Olukoyede of his promise to resign.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This intervention is inspired by a piece titled “The Menace of the Internet Mob”, authored by Simon Kolawole.

Among other things, he lamented that “social media has become the death of many people, metaphorically and literally. Many have been tried, condemned and executed on social media based on misinformation and disinformation. Conversely, many have also become brain-dead, willingly and wilfully spreading misinformation and disinformation for the sake of clout-chasing”. Drawing a distinction, he emphasised that “misinformation is mostly a mistake — usually borne out of ignorance, poor intellect or laziness to fact-check. Disinformation is deliberate, borne out of pure mischief or vendetta, and often useful for propaganda. The mobsters (I fondly call them “internet thugs”) are not governed by any rules. It is the survival of the loudest, the rudest and the vilest. Unless you are a victim of mob malignment, you would never understand. It is always sweet when you are dishing out the dirt, making unfounded allegations, demonising people, distributing insults or rupturing reputations with vicious rumours. It is exciting to be the enabler and amplifier. But when the boot is on the other foot, reality dawns on you”.

He did not stop there. On why people engage in “standing truth on its head, propagating falsehood and ignoring obvious facts and sound logic” Kolawole provided multiple answers. However, he noted that “the list is by no means exhaustive”.

He acknowledged that “the craving for social media validation, relevance and popularity is a major motive and motivation” and also that “there is a motley crowd of wannabe influencers or activists who seek to be noticed by the loudness of their voices and the vileness of their posts”; thus implying that “it is a race to the bottom: who can post the basest of things”.

Continuing, he added that “monetisation of contents is a perverse incentive to gain engagement through likes and shares” and lastly, that “social media is home to recklessness without commensurate consequences”.

The forgoing underscores the bane of Nigeria’s socio-political development. It shows how the elites, in an attempt to achieve self-preservation, wilfully manipulate the vulnerable and serially commit “murder”.

Because misinformation is synonymous with ignorance, due to limited knowledge, while disinformation represents outright mischief, Simon Kolawole’s homily is a warning that until the elites rightly deploy their senses of exposure and opportunity, Nigeria will continue to experience a motion without movement.

Knowing the truth but deliberately championing the opposite, they stand under the banner of the freedom of expression to promote largely divisive and self-seeking tendencies. They find fulfilment in “dishing out the dirt, making unfounded allegations, demonising people, distributing insults or rupturing reputations” and also derailing governance.

Granted, criticism is essential for good governance. But when it is deployed for mischief, particularly when personalities are given undue prominence rather than issues, then national development is not the ultimate goal.

For example, the elites know more than every one of us that the 1999 constitution (even as amended) makes the legislature utterly powerless concerning its supervisory roles over the executive. The president, in this case, enjoys the latitude to appoint as many aides and spend as much public money as they desire because the much-touted approval of the legislature is merely ceremonial. Authoritatively, there are no clear-cut constitutional consequences for bypassing the legislature in appointing, spending and even borrowing. Yes, this is incontrovertible!

So it amounts to living in denial to contemplate ideal democratic practices without dynamic laws that support a viable and strong legislature.

Hence, how can we justifiably blame the legislature when we fail to first champion a balance of powers among the arms of government or advocate for strong institutions as against strong individuals?

Another example.

Because public office comes with misconceptions, Godswill Akpabio, as the President of the 10th Senate, has suddenly become one of the most debatable Nigerian politicians.

By the orchestrations of the elites, there is no longer a demarcation between his person and the office he occupies. Also, he has since lost his right to hold and express opinions, even as a senator representing a constituency.

Again by those propagated narratives, Akpabio, as a presiding officer, unilaterally passes resolutions and bills or makes decisions without the input of the other 108 senators and also, his personal views represent the corporate position of the Senate. In short, the national assembly under him is just a willing tool in the hands of the presidency of which the only path to redemption is a hostile relationship with the executive, even when the constitution has already undermined the legislature. What a contradiction and validation that hypocrisy is simply knowing the truth but upholding the opposite!

However, and solely to inform the ignorant, a leader and their followers are on the same page only when the former inspires the latter into alignment or when both divides are bound by shared perspectives. Particularly in the parliament, every decision is a product of debates and collaboration.

Furthermore, Bola Tinubu was elected as the president, based on what he promised to deliver in the same manner that Akpabio was elected to preside over the Senate on the strength of what he represented. Though the choices of their party, they were not returned unchallenged. Their elections were keenly contested.

Not just that! Akpabio, right from the onset, has been vocal about pursuing a leadership that is defined by legislature-executive collaboration, which understandably, is the only option for good governance, given Nigeria’s peculiarities. He has never made pretences about it. This is a mark of courage.

Therefore, his favourable disposition to the procurement of a presidential jet is not a surprise. Though still an opinion, the Senate, nay the national assembly takes the responsibility for the eventual outcome, especially as the proposal originated from the House of Representatives. Certainly, there will be debates and votes.

However, beyond the series of parochial narratives, there are genuine concerns. The economy is very bad and people are suffering.

As such, the government should, first of all, renew the hope of the citizenry with the pragmatic assurances that their well-being is a priority. Let the investments begin to flow. Let the refineries commence operations. Let the farmers return to the farmlands without fear. Let the food inflation be addressed. Let the minimum wage debacle be resolved. Let the power sector work optimally.

Unarguably, all these are possible and the aircraft purchase does not in any way foreclose them if there is a will.

The elites only take advantage of the people’s despair to advance their disservice.

But even at that, once again, there is nothing anybody can do should the aircraft be purchased without the approval of the legislature because the Constitution has since settled the matter. History is replete with similar cases. Only recently, the Senate twice opposed the electricity tariff increase, but the executive had its way.

Meanwhile, according to a report, “the nation’s presidential jet is a brand from Nigeria to the world and it can boost a robust foreign policy and global engagements. The jet is not personal to Tinubu, it is for Nigeria”.

Quite instructively, “there are many ways it can be done cost-effectively. It could be done by having a long-term lease, which will involve periodic payments, and by having engine programmes and insurance, which will ensure that parts of the aircraft are duly insured and paid by insurers. So, there are many means of doing it. Sometimes, it is cost-effective. And we have enough central bankers and corporate finance gurus to support it, such that it’s not a whopping amount. So, besides the current economic challenges, we should not lose sight of a jet for Nigeria. It is not for President Tinubu, personally. It is for Nigeria. The last one, currently in use, was bought by former president Obasanjo. We need another one at this time”.

Interpretatively, a strategic government can replace an old jet without further impoverishing the people.

Who says that the elites are not aware of all these?

Equally, they are informed about the limitations of the legislature in developing democracies. They know that whereas one is entitled to their opinion, truth and objectivity are not to be sacrificed on the altar of activism and also that in every criticism, national interest should be the ultimate goal.

Even in their passion for an ‘unblemished’ senate president, our revered elites know, in their subconscious minds, that it is ideal to attack issues rather than personalities, and similarly, that advocacy for a strengthened legislature is superior to subjective criticisms.

Yet, they choose the demeaning path of ridiculing the legislature and manipulating the vulnerable through disinformation. Knowing the truth but upholding the opposite!

Whatever they set out to achieve is left to conjecture, if not outright mischief.

But may they be reminded that though “it is always sweet when you are the one dishing out the dirt, making unfounded allegations, demonising people, distributing insults or rupturing reputations”, posterity never forgets. Yes, as they say, the internet does not forget! At the fullness of time, especially “when the boot is on the other foot, reality dawns on” them.

And again, until the constitution is repackaged to guarantee a truly independent legislature and until Godswill Akpabio is found wanting by his colleagues, he deserves the support and respect of all. Morality demands that national unity and development should guide every criticism. Like all mortals, Akpabio is not perfect but a fair assessment of the 10th Senate so far reinforces this patriotic appeal.

Egbo is a parliamentary affairs analyst.

President Bola Tinubu has been re-elected as the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), about one year after he took over the leadership of the regional bloc. 

The Nigerian leader who rose to power in May 2023 was re-elected as the ECOWAS chairman during the 65th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government. That event took place at the Presidential Villa in Nigeria’s Abuja capital on Sunday.

Stabilising Fund

During his opening remark at the summit, President Tinubu urged ECOWAS member states to make financial commitments to help in the battle against terrorism in the region.

“As we move to operationalise the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) in combating terrorism, I must emphasise that the success of this plan requires not only strong political will but also substantial financial resources,” he told the gathering.

“We must therefore ensure that we meet the expectations and recommendations set forth by our ministers of defence and finance in order to counter the insecurity and stabilise our region. Member states must make extra commitments to providing resources for stabilising the region.”

Coup-Hit Region

In recent years, ECOWAS has been hit by a wave of coups in member nations. Niger Republic, Mali, and Burkina Faso have been taken over by junta leaders.

ECOWAS had in the wake of the coups imposed a raft of sanctions including border closure on the three nations.

While they were lifted in February, the countries left the regional bloc a few days later. The trio said they have “irrevocably turned their backs” on ECOWAS and have instead formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

During the AES maiden summit in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Saturday, Niger Republic’s military leader Abdourahamane Tiani accused ECOWAS of incompetence in tackling jihadists’ incursion into the region.

“Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Tiani insisted.

“The AES is the only effective sub-regional grouping in the fight against terrorism,” Tiani declared on Saturday, calling ECOWAS “conspicuous by its lack of involvement in this fight”.

The exit came as the trio shifted away from former colonial ruler France, with Tiani calling for the new bloc to become a “community far removed from the stranglehold of foreign powers”.

[Channels TV]

Zeb Ejiro, the ace Nollywood filmmaker, will be honoured with the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award at the 2024 Nigerian Week in the United Kingdom.

Held annually in London, the Nigerian Week is a week-long international festival encompassing entertainment and business events.

According to NAN, an invitation extended to the producer of the 1996 hit film ‘Domitila’ showed the award is in recognition of Ejiro’s contributions to the entertainment industry.

The event will be held from July 22 to 28 and organised by SRTV London in partnership with the federal ministry of information and national orientation, federal ministry of trade and investment, Nigerian Films Corporation, and the Association of Movie Producers of Nigeria (AMP).

The festival will showcase the best of Nigerian products, services, businesses, and diverse and rich cultural heritage.

It will also feature a mixture of entertainment, music, dances, fashion, food, exhibitions, trade fairs, investment opportunity workshops, and summits, allowing visitors to join in and have a first-hand experience in culture and experiences.

Some of the activities for the ceremony include an Afrobeats music extravaganza, a moonlight film festival with an exhibition of the best of African movies, and a Nigeria fashion show and contest.

There will also be a Nigeria cultural display featuring a national Troupe and trade exhibition of Nigerian cash crops and agricultural produce, and many more.

Ejiro, a Delta-born producer, is one of the two brothers of Chico Ejiro, also an ace filmmaker and producer who died in 2020.

In 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo honoured Zeb with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) award.

The filmmaker has several movies to his name including ‘Nneka the ‘Pretty Serpent’ (1994), ‘Domitila’ (1996) and the 2017 sequel, ‘Sakobi’ the Snake Girl’ (1998), and ‘Mortal Sin’ (2003).

Others are ‘Extreme Measure’ (2003), ‘A Night in the Philippines’ (2005), ‘Yellow Cassava’ (2016), and ‘Pure Honey’ (2017).

Zeb is the producer of the acclaimed longest-running drama series on NTA in the 1990s, ‘Ripples’.

[TheCable]

The Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has maintained an open arm relationship with the media. It is in line with the philosophy of the President as an avowed democrat who spent a lifetime fighting for the entrenchment of democracy and human rights.

This administration has remained very tolerant of media criticism and guaranteed citizens' rights to freedom of expression. It is however disheartening that some elements are abusing this free environment guaranteed by the Government. We are alarmed by the level of reckless reporting and statements by some media organisations and individuals that border on national security and stability.

While we sometimes view and treat those occasional reporting as part of media's normal work, we have now seen a pattern that is difficult to be wished away as normal journalism.

The insidious and inciting publications by the Daily Trust these past months have come across as nothing but a deliberate effort to brush the government with a tar. On many occasions we have restrained ourselves from believing that this was the case but the consistency of the jejune and mischievous publications leaves us with no option.

In the aftermath of the coup in Niger Republic, Daily Trust championed a jaundiced narrative that the Federal Government was driving the country into a war and twisted it with regional sentiment to cause disaffection. The same newspaper gave a banner headline to a baseless accusation that the Government was working on citing foreign military bases in the country. Neither Daily Trust nor originators of that imaginative allegation provided any shred of evidence. 

Then just two weeks ago, Daily Trust concocted and popularised a lie that the Federal Government had renamed the Murtala Mohammed Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way. In all those instances all that the paper depended on were falsehood and hearsays. They also showed no remorse or the humility to recant.

We however did not envisage that Daily Trust and people behind it could decend to the reckless level of attempting to set the country on fire by falsely accusing the government of signing a deal to promote LGBTQ. We found that despicable and wicked because the allegation is nowhere in the document signed. Surprisingly, the paper put forward no evidence nor provided the agreement allegedly signed to prove their point.

The baseless and sensational story unfortunately formed a basis for khutba (sermons) by some of our respected imams who were misled by the story thereby raising tempers. 

On the part of the Government, we continue on the honourable path of civility by restraining ourselves from taking self-help or draconian measures. While past governments clamped down on the media for infractions much lower than this, we are however toeing the path of civility and the rule of law. 

This afternoon, I have the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning to provide more clarity on this issue.

But beyond this, the Federal Government is lodging a formal complaint to the NPAN Ombudsman on this irresponsible reporting. 

In addition, the Federal Government will use every lawful means to seek redress in the court of law.

The Federal Government once again restates its friendly policy towards ethical media and free speech. We would however not take fake news and disinformation that would injure the peace of our country and it's national security lightly. 

We once again thank you for your support and cooperation.

THE  Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, is a cantankerous old fossil – irascible, quarrelsome and testy, no doubt. Whether as a local government chairman, chief of staff, minister or governor, he is bad-tempered, cranky and grouchy; a man not only at war with himself but perpetually with others. This is not the quality of a good leader even if the person is dubbed “Mr. Projects,” whether deserved or otherwise.

Leadership demands a healthy dose of humility. But as governor of Rivers State for eight years, Wike was at war with everyone, abusing all who dared cross his path. With him, every criticism, no matter how constructive is a definite no-no. His entire worldview is governed by the “us against them” mentality and in pursuit of this cock-eyed philosophy of life, he takes no prisoners, which explains why barely two months out of office, he was engaged in a war of attrition with his successor and anointed political godson, Siminalayi Fubara.

Even as that war rages in his home state with debilitating consequences, Wike, characteristically has opened another battle front, this time in the FCT against Senator Ireti Kingibe. 

Ideally, both the minister and the senator ought to work together for the good of the FCT. Not being a state, Abuja has no legislature but the territory is subject to the laws made for it by the National Assembly and administered by the President in accordance with Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that:  “The provisions of this Constitution shall apply to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as if it were one of the states  of the Federation; and accordingly-  (a) all the legislative powers, the executive powers and the judicial powers vested in the House of Assembly, the Governor of a State and in the courts of a State shall, respectively, vest in the National Assembly, the President of the Federation and in the courts which by virtue of the foregoing provisions are courts established for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

But such synergistic relationships based on co-creating outcomes will always be an anathema to Wike, through whom the president administers Abuja in his capacity as the FCT Minister because nobody can be his coequal. And Kingibe, elected by an overwhelming majority of the Abuja electorate on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), desired a minister she could partner with for the good of the FCT and not a boss with an exaggerated opinion of himself.

That is the genesis of the fight. Kingibe voiced out her frustration in a television interview on Sunday, making it clear that she was not Wike’s friend, whom she accused of sidelining her. But she was decent in all she said even as she reeled out her constituents’ complaints.

While acknowledging that Wike has done some commendable jobs in the FCT, she, however, lamented that it has not trickled down to the masses. For instance, she complained that in the 2024 FCT supplementary budget of nearly N100 billion, only N19 billion has to do with the people.

Anyone who knows Wike’s antecedents will attest to the veracity of Kingibe’s claims. The minister is a brick and mortar business aficionado with zero penchant for human capacity building, which explains why despite the immense resources available to the state under his watch, Rivers reported the third highest rate of unemployment with 43.7 per cent, coming only behind Imo State with 48.7 per cent, and Akwa-Ibom State with 45.2 per cent.

Expectedly, Wike, a man with such a thin skin, who is not known for taking prisoners, went for the kill.

Speaking at the flag-off of the construction of Mabushi Bus Terminal in Abuja on Monday, he vowed to ensure that Kingibe does not return to the senate in 2027.

Typically, he went overboard: “I overheard somebody on Arise TV this morning. Unfortunately I hear the person is a member of the National Assembly and it is unfortunate I say so. With all due respect, what you don’t know, you don’t know, what you know you know, and the good thing for you is to tell people you don’t when you don’t know, then people will educate you.”

Then, being someone not given to decorousness, he hubristically postured: “The Honourable Minister of State and my humble self have not been in office for more than 11 months and the person is angry that they are praising us. If you don’t want or you are angry about that, go and hang yourself in a transformer.”   

But what he said next, which is typical of Wike, should give every well-meaning Nigerian and lover of democracy cause to worry.

“I challenge that legislator,” he thundered, “If you are very popular, 2027 come and run under Abuja, we will fail you. Do you think that what happened last time, will happen again? It will not happen again. Luckily for me, I am the FCT Minister now. So that is my territory and I’m not afraid.”

Of course, what happened last time was that in the 2023 elections, the Abuja electorate, egalitarian, urbane and enlightened, and thoroughly embarrassed by the scandalous records posted by the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government rebuked the ruling party by rejecting its candidates, including Tinubu. Ireti Kingibe is a primary beneficiary of that loud rebuke.

In the last one year since that rejection at the polls, things have become direr in Nigeria. Tinubu promised to continue from where Buhari stopped. And what a fantastic job he has done of his self-assigned job, not only consolidating on the tragic failures of the Buhari administration but redefining, literally, the meaning of cluelessness in governance.

So, the only way what happened in 2023 will not happen again in 2027 is if Wike and his likes are prevented from doing what they did in 2023.

Wike did not tell Nigerians who he is plotting with to fail Kingibe in 2027. But we can hazard a guess. This is a government that is barely one year in office in a country where all the indices of human development have gone south and rather than working strategically to pull Nigeria out of the pit of despair, all that bothers Wike and his ilk is how to wangle their way back to power even without the people’s mandate.

And don’t forget, Wike has no vote in Abuja having not transferred his voter registration from Rivers State to the FCT. And it is not likely he will do so because he will also be going back home in 2027 to ensure that he “fails” his nemesis – Fubara. But even if he transfers his voting location from Obio-Akpor to the FCT, he still has only one vote. So, how will that stop Kingibe’s re-election if the people decide otherwise?

Truth be told, Wike represents all that is bad with our democratic peregrination since 1999. His is the ugliest face of Nigeria’s democracy. He and his ilk have become so entitled that they now take Nigerians for granted.

But the good thing is that Nigerians now know what they are planning to do in 2027. Definitely, they are not preparing for elections. They want to, once again, snatch it, grab it, and run with it, while asking their hapless victims to go to court.

But Wike may also be right in a sense that what happened the last time will not happen again. He may be surprised that Nigerians, having been pushed to the wall by the people in power, have decided to resist the shenanigans that hallmarked the 2023 polls going forward. After all, the only thing they will lose if they do so will be their chains.

As Nigeria battles an economic crisis sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of FX windows, United Kingdom-based Diageo joined about 15 other multinational companies that have exited the country in the past three years.

Diageo is the latest to announce its departure on Tuesday, June 11 when it said it will sell its 58.02% stake in Guinness Nigeria to Tolaram.

Diageo joins others like Kimberly-Clark, manufacturers of Huggies and Kotex brands of diapers; US-based Procter and Gamble (P&G); GlaxoSmithKline (GSK); Unilever and Sanofi-Aventi Nigeria, who are either exiting completely or reducing their exposure in a country facing its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

Unilever Nigeria announced its exit from the home care and skin cleansing markets in Nigeria in November 2023, saying it did so “to find a more sustainable and profitable business model.”
Procter & Gamble was the last to announce its exit from the country the same year.
Similar reasons given by these and other companies include high energy costs, currency depreciation, insecurity etc.

The Federal Government itself acknowledged these challenges in an interview granted by Minister of Finance, Wale Edun on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, where he said “lack of a liquid foreign exchange market was the major reason why some multinational companies exited Nigeria,” explaining that the inability of the exiting multinationals to access foreign exchange was a major impediment to their operations in the country.

Weighing-in, the Director-General of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Adewale Oyerinde, disclosed that at least 15 multinationals have either divested or partially closed operations in the country in the last three years.

Oyerinde, in his assessment, stated: “Over 15 organisations, with a combined value-chain staff strength of over 20,000 employees, have either divested or partially closed operations,” lamenting that this has “dire consequences not only for organised businesses but also for labour, government revenue and the households; massive job losses across sectors, which would continue to create insecurity challenges”.

Oyerinde added, “When NECA examined the exit of prominent companies like GSK, Sanofi, Procter & Gamble, Nampak, and others, who had been doing business in Nigeria for decades and were huge employers of labour, it was worried about the ripple effect on the broader business ecosystem.

“Within the value chain, numerous enterprises serve as suppliers to these major corporations, and their sustainability is significantly compromised when the primary businesses they cater to face extinction.

“The survival prospects of these secondary businesses are at stake, and their employees are also at risk, as the departure of the main clients could lead to their demise. The crisis within the value chain deserves more attention than it currently receives”.

Other sectoral group leaders and analysts maintain that the continuous exit of multinational firms would dampen Nigeria’s $1trn GDP target of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The President had, at the 29th Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja, told business leaders and Nigerians that Nigeria’s economy can grow to $1 trillion by 2026.

Analysts believe the persistent exit of multinational companies from the country is set to impact negatively on this target.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.32 per cent and contributed 58.04 per cent to the aggregate GDP, whereas the nominal GDP growth of the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 2024 was recorded at 8.21 per cent (year-on-year), 9.64 per cent points lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.

Real GDP growth in the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 2024, on its part, was 1.49 per cent (year-on-year), lower than the same quarter of 2023.

Reacting to this, President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Otunba Francis Meshioye said, “MAN expects the government to frontally address insecurity, improve electricity supply, promote fiscal sustainability and ensure policy consistency.

“Among other priorities, the fiscal authority must also lend supportive measures by adequately incentivising the manufacturing sector and other productive sectors.

“This is very important to boost non-oil export earnings in addition to the increase in oil export proceeds occasioned by increased oil production, rising global oil prices and the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery”.

Director-General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Chinyere Almona, also speaking on the issue, said: “Over the last few months, there has been a consistent increase in exit plans or a reduction in involvement in the Nigerian market by the multinationals, and this trend is worrisome.

“We have seen the likes of Unilever Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline, and recently now Guinness Nigeria Plc.

“In Nigeria, lingering foreign exchange scarcity, poor power supply, port congestion, multiple taxation, insecurity, and poor infrastructure, among others, have taken a toll on many businesses in the country.”

The chamber recommended that the government should implement measures to stabilise and ensure the availability of foreign exchange for businesses, particularly those operating in dollar-denominated environments, also imploring the government to create a more flexible and transparent foreign exchange policy to address scarcity issues.

“Further, the Chamber urges the government to engage multinational corporations and the business community to understand their challenges and gather input and feedback on policy decisions to collaboratively develop solutions that will forestall the exodus of businesses from Nigeria. The CBN should prioritise the stability of the country’s currency and adopt the right policy mix to ensure price stability,” Almona said.

National President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria, ASBON, Femi Egbesola, maintained that multinationals are among the companies that contribute largely to the country’s GDP and earnings.

“We cannot be talking of growing our economy when the real investors are leaving. Assuming they are leaving and the indigenous ones are increasing, it would have been a different thing. But that is not the case. You make income as a nation when you have investments and investors,” he said.

However, since the coming of the Tinubu administration, Tinubu and Edun, among others, have been speaking on efforts being put in place towards revamping the economy, encouraging Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and also making local industries vibrant and competitive.

Whether the assurances of Edun, who, on the Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, said, “recent executive orders signed by President Bola Tinubu have improved the investment climate … and also disclosed that tax reform proposals aimed at simplifying doing business for local and foreign manufacturers are being considered as part of an Economic Stabilisation Package,” would stem the flow of multinationals exiting the country, only time will tell.

[Vanguard]

States across Nigeria experienced another round of blackout on Saturday as the national electricity power grid crashed to 70.60 megawatts around 4 pm.

It marked the seventh time the national grid would collapse in 2024. The previous collapses were on February 4, April 10, April 15, March 11, March 12, and March 28.

During the inauguration of the 31-member Presidential Economic Coordination Council held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday, President Bola Tinubu described the current low electricity generation in the country as shameful.

Tinubu said, “We have the challenge of energy security in Nigeria. We need to work together to improve our oil and gas sector, and we must also increase electricity generation, as well as distribution throughout the country. We are determined to do that with your cooperation, collaboration, and recommendations. As a nation, it is so shameful that we are still generating 4.5GW of electricity.”

Data on the ‘Nigeria Grid: Generation Profile’ supplied by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, indicated that the country’s power generation crashed to 70.60MW on Saturday.

Electricity generation initially increased from 3,788.63MW to 3,976.24MW around 10am yesterday, but dropped to 1,075.08MW at 3 pm, before crashing to 70.60MW around 4 pm. It was observed that only the Trans-Amadi Gas Turbine Power Plant in Rivers State supplied power to the grid around 4 pm on Saturday, producing just 0.80MW at the time. Power generation on the grid moved up slightly to 72.30MW around 5 pm, as engineers from TCN struggled to restore the grid, according to sources from the transmission company.

DisCos lament

Confirming the collapse of the grid, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, in a statement, said all its interfaces in the TCN stations were out of supply, adding that it was unable to provide services to customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states.

“The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company wishes to inform its esteemed customers of a general system collapse which occurred at 15:09 hours today, July 6, 2024. This has resulted in the loss of supply currently being experienced across the network. Due to this development, all our interface TCN stations are out of supply, and we are unable to provide services to our customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states. We are on standby awaiting detailed information on the collapse and restoration of supply from the National Control Centre, Osogbo,” a statement signed by the EEDC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Emeka Ezeh, read.

The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company also tweeted on X, “We regret to inform you that the power outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to the system collapse of the national grid.”

Similarly, the Kano DisCo said, “We regret to inform you that the power outage being experienced in our franchise states is due to the system collapse of the national grid. The collapse occurred at about 3:10pm, hence the loss of supply in all our outgoing feeders. The power supply shall be restored as soon as the national grid is powered back. Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience.”

In a statement released by its management on Saturday, titled, Notice of System Collapse, Ikeja DisCo equally appealed to its customers to bear with the company for its inability to supply power, noting that it was due to the national grid collapse. It said, “The current service disruption is due to a system collapse of the national grid at about 15:08 hours today. We are in collaboration with relevant stakeholders within the power value chain to ensure speedy restoration of supply.”

Meanwhile, data on the TCN Discos load profile site showed that all the eight Discos had 0.00MW load allocation as of 6pm on Saturday.

‘Incessant grid collapse embarrassing’

Commenting on the development, Adetayo Adegbemle, who is the convener and Executive Director of PowerUp Nigeria, an electricity consumer rights and power sector policy advocacy organisation, stated that everyone involved in the electricity value chain should be embarrassed by their inability to prevent grid collapses.

Adegbemle added that some people should be sacked to fix the situation. He said, “I think everyone involved in the value chain should be embarrassed by the regular occurrence and inability to put measures in place to avoid this constant grid collapse. It is unfortunate because everyone blames others.

“I believe that if heads had been rolling for people not taking responsibility, someone would have stood up to fix this problem.”

Suggesting a way forward, Adegbemle said, “There is a need to align the value chain, and that was something the Siemens deal promised to achieve. If the head of TCN, for instance, were to lose his job tonight, the next MD would be more willing to work with other subsectors to ensure this does not happen again.

“Whatever is needed to forestall these grid collapses is definitely in the hands of the leadership of the TCN, especially.”

Also reacting, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, regretted that the grid kept collapsing, despite the increase in electricity tariffs.

Okorie expressed concern that unmetered customers would still be made to pay for the period of the collapse, questioning what the government had been doing to prevent such incidents.

Asking some pertinent questions, Okorie said, “What are the causes of these grid collapses? Are the materials used in building the grid of good quality? Who is managing the grid? The players in the sector are more interested in collecting money from consumers, rather than making the system stable. What you hear more about the power sector is payment. The money that international communities are bringing into the industry and the money that is unlawfully collected from consumers—where is it being utilised? How do the DisCos spend their operational expenditures?

“In the past few months, they keep increasing tariffs, yet the power sector is inefficient. They are interested in collecting money, but whether the money is judiciously utilised or not, nobody cares. They keep overbilling customers. The desperation to collect revenue for services not delivered is a challenge. Now that the grid has collapsed, the unmetered customers will still be made to pay for darkness. That is injustice. The government should address this issue of grid collapse once and for all.”

NECA urges upgrade of power grid

On his part, the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale Oyerinde, urged the government to address the persistent collapse of the national power grid.

He stated that the incessant collapses severely disrupt power supply, leading to erratic electricity provision across the country, stressing that the power grid should be upgraded. He called for swift action to prevent further disruptions and ensure a reliable power supply for all Nigerians.

Oyerinde said, “They should ensure to fix the cause of the national grid collapse. Once there is a collapse of the national grid, there won’t be power supply, or it becomes epileptic.

“We urge the government to fix the power grid, especially now that there is no subsidy on electricity. They need to upgrade the grid to stop the incessant collapse.”

[Punch]

• FG releases details, insists pact won’t hurt Nigeria
• Disregard fake news about agreement, govt tells clerics
• Ex-British Diplomat: Reports linking deal to LGBT rights irresponsible

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, yesterday said there was no clause on $150 billion for Nigeria in Samoa Agreement.

He said what Nigeria signed was the “Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Members States and members of the Organization of the Caribbean and Pacific States”.

He denied that the agreement had anything to do with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) rights.

He said Nigeria’s signing of the agreement was accompanied by a declaration clarifying its understanding of it.

He said the agreement Nigeria entered into contained 103 foundational articles and 79 African region specific protocols.

He said “none of the protocols offends our laws.”

He said the agreement has no clause on LGBTQ+ rights or any agreement indicating that Nigeria support LGBTQ rights.  He said: “Anything we sign must be in tandem with our constitution and laws. Anything beyond that is null and void.

“Tinubu respects Nigeria’s sensitivity and diversity and will never approve anything that will be seen as damaging our sensitivity.”

Bagudu spoke at an emergency press briefing on Abuja in the company of the Minister of information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris, and the Special Assistant to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.

FG threatens to drag Daily Trust to Ombudsman, court

Taking the first shot, the Minister of information and Orientation described as fake news and disinformation the report that the government has signed the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) agreement in exchange for $150 billion, saying the government would consider legal actions against the media House.

He said the agreement has no provision for LGBT in whatever form, adding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will never sign any agreement that is against the country’s constitution, law, culture and religion.

He said the government would drag Daily Trust newspaper to an Ombudsman and the court to prove that it misled Nigerians on the agreement.

Idris advised some clerics already inciting Muslims in the country against being misdirected by fake news.

He said contrary to what was reported, there is nothing in the agreement that is of concern.

Idris said that following the report in the national daily, Ulamas started to use it in their Friday sermons to castigate the government.

The minister cautioned against media publication that continued to advance the erroneous narrative that the Samoa Agreement recently signed by the Federal Government was to promote the LGBT agenda in the country.

He said the affected media outfit would be dragged before the, Ombudsman of the Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria (NPAN).

He, however, assured that the Tinubu administration will not trample on press freedom.

He said: “We are alarmed by the level of reckless reporting and statements by some media organisations and individuals that border on national security and stability.

“While we sometimes view and treat those occasional reporting as part of media’s normal work, we have now seen a pattern that is difficult to be wished away as normal journalism.

“The insidious and inciting publications by Daily Trust these past months have come across as nothing but a deliberate effort to brush the government with a tar.

“On many occasions we have restrained ourselves from believing that this was the case, but the consistency of the jejune and mischievous publications leaves us with no option.

“In the aftermath of the coup in Niger Republic, Daily Trust championed a jaundiced narrative that the Federal Government was driving the country into a war and twisted it with regional sentiment to cause disaffection.

“The same newspaper gave a banner headline to a baseless accusation that the government was working on citing foreign military bases in the country. Neither Daily Trust nor originators of that imaginative allegation provided any shred of evidence.

“Then just two weeks ago, Daily Trust concocted and popularised a lie that the Federal Government had renamed the Murtala Mohammed Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way.

“In all those instances all that the paper depended on were falsehood and hearsays. They also showed no remorse or the humility to recant.

“We however did not envisage that Daily Trust and people behind it could descend to the reckless level of attempting to set the country on fire by falsely accusing the government of signing a deal to promote LGBTQ.

“We found that despicable and wicked because the allegation is nowhere in the document signed. Surprisingly, the paper put forward no evidence nor provided the agreement allegedly signed to prove their point.

“The baseless and sensational story unfortunately formed a basis for Khutba (sermons) by some of our respected imams who were misled by the story, thereby raising tempers.

“On the part of the government, we continue on the honourable path of civility by restraining ourselves from taking self-help or draconian measures.

“While past governments clamped down on the media for infractions much lower than this, we are however toeing the path of civility and the rule of law.

“But beyond this, the Federal Government is lodging a formal complaint to the NPAN Ombudsman on this irresponsible reporting.

“In addition, the Federal Government will use every lawful means to seek redress in the court of law.

“The Federal Government once again restates its friendly policy towards ethical media and free speech. We would however not take fake news and disinformation that would injure the peace of our country and its national security lightly.”

Idris insisted that the Federal Government has nothing to hide.

He said the Tinubu administration was committed to Probity and Transparency.

He added: “The Ministry of Information and National Orientation under my leadership will do everything possible to ensure transparency, honesty in the dissemination of credible information.

“We made this solemn pledge at the beginning when we were new to office and we will continue to do that.

 “We call on you, members of the media, to please help us to spread only what is correct and what you know you can verify.

“It is normal and indeed within the right of the media to scrutinise the affairs of government.

“Nobody can take that away but it is important that care is taken so that when information is being passed, we only present what we know to only the true, credible, honest and in the best interest of our nation.

“Whenever information is being spread that will harm our unity, that will harm our political existence as a nation, then of course there must be something to be asked there.

“We will continue to provide information to the media as needed.

“I would also implore the media to please report only what is factual.

 “The series of headlines we think that we have received from the newspaper has given us a cause for concern.

 “For me, as a member of this industry, I am really particularly pained that I have to come to address a particular medium in this regard.

“But it is important because we have made this pledge that we are only going to provide what is credible, what we know to be factual.

“The President and this administration will not in any way, in any way, I repeat, the President will not sign or cause any office official to sign anything that will harm our nation, not in any way.

“So to all those who come on in that there is a signature out there that gives away our country as an LGBT-compliant country or seeking to do that, it is mischaracterization, misrepresentation.

“The current government insists that our laws will be respected, our norms will be respected, our traditions will also be respected and our values will be respected.

“The two major religions here are against it.

There is a law existing against the issue of LGBT. The current government of Nigeria would not go against that.

“I think it is important that we put this out there for those who have reacted largely due to ignorance.

There is also a Surah, Surah Al-Hujurat in the Holy Quran.

“Before you put out any information out there, it is important that you cross-check and be sure of your facts.”

He also called on religious leaders to show understanding, while promising that the government will continue to engage with them.

“We will continue to engage them, we will continue to put out the truth there, we will continue to give them.

“That is why we came, not just with the document that Nigeria sent, but the entire document relating to the whole issue of Samoa, the so-called Samoa agreement, the cross-cultural agreement.

 “There is nothing we have examined, the Attorney General of the Federation has examined it, and there is nothing that is said there that is of concern.

“But of course, the government is there to continue to clarify, to continue to explain and to continue to appeal for the understanding of not just the media but for the Nigerian population, for us to continue to grow on the path of progress and unity of our country.

 “Please, we call on all of you, and I want to use this opportunity to thank those media organizations that have provided clarity by fact-checking some of these claims put forward by this particular newspaper.

 “It has been fast-checked, the statements and all the documents are actually out there, and the equality of this agreement has also been shared.”

Bagudu clarifies agreement

Bagudu clarified that the agreement signed by Nigeria was for cooperation and the economic development of the country.

 He said: “President Bola Tinubu did not authorise anything that is damaging or hurtful to our sensitivity and we have not signed any such agreement.”

 “Mr. President has undertaken, consistent with his campaign promise, a very demanding diplomacy in order to convince the world that we need all the support and the world is taking it seriously, because there is so much transparency, because there is so much clarity.

“I recall when we visited Saudi Arabia for the first time, the Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia stated that they compare what President Nasser al-Baghdadi is doing to that of his brother, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, taking on courageous measures that they should have been taking decades ago.

“Development partners, as you very well know, are also media savvy. They see what is happening. So let us not ridicule our nation based on misrepresentation.

“Let us support the commendable endeavours and reward the hard work so that the development partners we are relating with, the investors we are looking for will be interested in our resolve.

“When industrialists or development partners see a lie coming too far, they will have the right to worry.”

Bagudu cautioned against reports beclouded with political expediency.

He said: “So we know that some will do it because it is politically expedient. We can do nothing about it, but we believe the majority of Nigerians are able to see paths for themselves and support so that Nigeria can continue to be respected, Nigeria can continue to be an investment destination.

“And also appreciate that hardworking men and women in service, in ministries are dealing with these issues and they will be demoralised if all they see is their effort being misrepresented by somebody with a big voice in society, using their power wrongly, a media house or a group of media entrepreneurs.

“So I appeal to all Nigerians to support the bold, courageous endeavoors we are taking, so that our development partners will also be strengthened and continue to relate with us and to know that we appreciate what they are doing for us.

Giving insights into the contents of the agreement, Bagudu said Nigeria did not sign an agreement only with the EU but with many other countries.

He added: “It’s a requirement by those countries so that they set out the parameters of the cooperation.

“When you get a copy of the document, you will see that this is a broad agreement.

“It is about education; it is about food security; it is about water and sanitation; it is about decent work; and it is about demography.

“It is about youth. It is about culture and sustainable development. It is about inclusive economic development. It is about private sector development. It is about human rights, democracy and rule of law. It is about good governance, public administration, personal data, peace and security.

“So those are the articles. Each article is about an area of cooperation. We signed an agreement with the EU to say that we believe we can cooperate in these areas, in the several areas, which are about 100 and almost 200 distinct areas.”

Bagudu, who was visibly upset by the narration in the public domain, said Nigeria was painstaking in signing the agreement.

He added: “Even when we signed this agreement, we had to also sign a specific implementation agreement.

“For example, we have a rule of law agreement. We have just signed one about four months ago. “The EU will say that for this period of time, between 2024 and 2027, for example, we are going to give you this amount of money.

“The rule of law is $30 million to support ICPC, to support the EFCC, to support the Ministry of Justice.

“We have the migration agreement also. We also have on the democratic institutions.

“So what I say is that within this agreement, there is nowhere where it is mentioned that Nigeria is going to receive $150 billion or any sum for that money.

“But these areas of cooperation are areas which will develop further and grow further.

“And they will lead to capital, will lead to support, will lead to technical support that we can enhance good production.

“One of the biggest supports we are receiving from the EU, for example, is called IDICE, which is our digital. About $300-600 million worth of projects are coming under that.

 “So I would say that there is nowhere in the world of development where you see 150 billion.

“But these are agreements which I believe, like with other countries, define what you want to relate with those countries in and how to go about it.”

Responding to a question, Bagudu said: “So you can imagine what about 79 other countries are like. That is why the agreement provides a proviso where a country, each country, not just Nigeria, can issue a declaration, clarifying some basis in which it is signing.

“Like I gave the example, one of the obvious ones; we didn’t provide it because of concerns about misrepresentation about LGBT, for example. We are clear. 

“But I gave the example of what we were worried about. We were worried that because of the way Europe is moving to clean energy, we don’t want to sign something that limits our capacity to develop our oil and gas sector clearly.

“One of the declarations you see made it clear that even though we signed any agreement on climate, we were categorical that it was not to limit us in any way because those are developmental rights and we kept within our constitution.”

Reports linking Samoa Agreement to LGBT rights irresponsible, says ex-British diplomat

A former British diplomat in Nigeria, Mr David Roberts, yesterday condemned reports linking the Samoa Agreement Nigeria signed penultimate Friday to the protection of LGBT rights as irresponsible, saying the document was a partnership pact on the growth and development of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and the Pacific States that signed it with EU Member countries.

There had been a backlash against the Federal Government after a national newspaper published a claim that some provisions of the agreement protect the rights of LGBT, contending that Nigeria signed on the back of a proposed $150bn loan.

Despite the rebuttal by the Federal Government through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris, social media remained agog with the condemnation of the agreement, forcing the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu to address a press conference yesterday to clarify the content of the document further.

“I found it incredible that anybody could believe that the Samoa Agreement, which is a protocol of economic and social development  between the EU and its member states and the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) on the other hand is to further Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights,” Roberts said in a statement yesterday. 

He said nothing could be further from the truth, adding that except the reports were deliberate misinformation, he failed to see how anybody could have read the agreement and come to such a conclusion.

According to the former diplomat, “the agreement is a document that journalists can read. You do not need a Freedom of Information Act request to read it. It is a public document on the EU’s website.

“It is a harmless treaty that aims to reduce and eradicate poverty in the ACP nations and lead to the financial integration of African and Caribbean nations into the world economy.”

He said the best predictor of future events was the past, explaining that it was an agreement that over 50 countries had signed.

“How many of those countries have been forced to implement the LGBT agenda? Zero. None,” the former Director British Council in Nigeria said.

Saying that the reports were capable of inciting violence and civil unrest in a country as conservative as Nigeria, Robert said there ought to be punitive consequences for the publishers of the false reports if such irresponsible reportage was to be avoided in future.

[TheNation]