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[OPINION] Bayo Okunade, Leadership Question and Political Science Scholarship at Ibadan - Tunji Olaopa
Admin(Being Prof. Adebayo Okunade’s 70th Birthday Anniversary and Valedictory Lecture Delivered at the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan, on Wednesday, 12th of March, 2025)
Professor Bayo Okunade has crossed into the seventh bracket; he is now effectively a septuagenarian—that state of hoariness where he joins the gang of the sages who have been given the capacity to connect divinity with humanity in terms of wholeness. Seventy is a weighty number in spiritual and cultural terms. In spiritual terms, seven and ten elevates sacredness in numerical reckoning both for the Israelites, the ancient Egyptians and the Yoruba. Seven indicates perfection and ten signals completeness. Must be the reason why Psalms 90 says “The years of our life are seventy.” This makes seventy years a most notable year that represent fullness—the time of reckoning and deep reflection and appreciation. And yet, for the Yorùbá, in terms of the chronological reckoning as àgbà, àgbàlagbà, arúgbó, we also see why seventy is just another chance at consolidating a life well-spent.
That he would eventually become a teacher was something that was almost inevitable. Being born to parents who were teachers could not possibly have been rosy for any young child. Teachers, especially those who have strong cultural knowledge about parenting and child upbringing, could only be seen back then as efficient taskmasters. They are those who were already seen as exemplary and who, by the force of societal expectations, also expect their children to take after them exemplarily. So, when he resumed his teaching trajectory at the Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, it was a critical juncture that would not only lay the foundation of his political science teaching and scholarship—he was the Government teacher. It was also the point at which a young, suave and brilliant Government teacher began to enlighten me particularly as a green-eye Aáwé lad about a possible future in political science tutelage.
This is why, on this occasion, I am celebrating Prof. Okunade’s in terms of the consummation of his stature in the political science scholarship in Nigeria. A brief historical note will serve the purpose of properly situating the significance of Okunade. The emergence of political science in Nigeria was chequered by two significant issues. The first was the colonial administration and its fear of a possible emergence of an ideologically sophisticated student body. The second reason for the delay in the establishment of political science as a discipline was a similar fear by the nationalist elite who suspected that political science will radicalize the Nigerian masses and expose the elite’s standpoint.
By the time Okunade would be completing his undergraduate and graduate studies, he was already getting drawn into the foundational curriculum and pedagogical issues that would shape the political science teaching orientation and scholarship at Ibadan, and provide the stimulus for redirection. From independence to the Nigerian civil war and the aftermath of military incursion into politics, Nigeria was already going through a flood of postcolonial national issues, replicated across Africa, that demanded that political science needed to be taught differently. Bayo Okunade the student was a witness to these curricular unfolding and growth. And Bayo Okunade the teacher was eminently situated at the preeminent citadel at the University of Ibadan, that was to serve as the bastion of the political science education in Nigeria, as part of a critical mass of change agents who had been saddled with the responsibility of bringing political science theorization to bear on the sociopolitical and national experiences of the postcolonial Nigerian state.
This scholarly enthusiasm attending the deployment of social science scholarship to the understanding of the Nigerian national experiences is demonstrated in his first set of over fifty publications, from 1985 to 2010, and the legion of others thereafter. These publications range from local government structure, public policy, public bureaucracies and human rights to foreign relations, electoral processes, constitutionalism, democracy and democratization. This entire corpus signals the urgency of mastering the conceptual, intellectual and empirical bases of the symptoms and morbidities of the Nigerian state and its multiple consequences on and for Nigerians. It was inevitable that the Department of Political Science would be at the forefront of the radical discourse on revolutionary possibilities that ensured. For instance, that a staple of our intellectual and academic learning was the Marxian political economy perspectives on the postcolonial frameworks and trajectories of the Nigerian state was inevitable. Dependency and World System theories and its centre-periphery structure made strenuous efforts that provided the basis for a class analysis of the Nigerian society, especially given the capitalist accumulation enabled by colonialism and its deepening by the postcolonial comprador elements. As the radical fervour of the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary scholarship started to wane on the rubbles of the collapse of the communist Soviet Union, it became increasingly important that political philosophers, political scientists and other committed scholars began to explore alternative theoretical resources and praxis that could facilitate a critical understanding of the structural, institutional and historical bases of Nigeria’s federal system and its hobbled economic development which had from then till now made national development a mirage.
This is the critical defining juncture that opens up the fundamental significance of Prof. Okunade’s social constructivist theoretical framework which enabled a formidable research contribution to the body of scholarly knowledge about political engineering as it relates to Nigeria’s sociopolitical dynamics. With Naija Marxism and the Nigerian Left floundering, and the Nigerian federalism in a lopsided constitutional mire, the next best thing on the table was the idea of restructuring. In the absence of the possibility of a revolution, how do we restructure the political structure of the postcolonial Nigerian state that has been hobbling national development, nation-building and democratic governance for more than six decades since independence? Prof. Okunade has not minced words on this issue: it cannot work. According to him, “any system that is not totally off the mark can work. It takes people for a system to work. For a system to work, there has to be consistency with the construed norms and supportive ethos that will make it work. If we change the system, even with restructuring or whatever, how much of what were on ground are we substantially complying with? And then we change to another system. They are the same thing.”
On the contrary, a much more fruitful course of discourse should be on leadership, and how it could be deployed in facilitating the emergence of a well-ordered society in Nigeria. For sixty-four years, it would seem that Nigeria has been locked in a national question that has not produced any significant governance and development answer by which the lives of Nigerians could be transformed. And, to quote Albert Einstein, insanity is precisely to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result. And such a society, for Okunade, would revolve around the critical variables like the rule of law, constitutionalism, human rights and local governance. These requisite institutions and their fundamental ethos make for an efficient public administration that backstop good governance and our idea of a society that functions efficiently for the betterment of the citizens. The responsibility to pull all these variables together in the service of a vision of a society that governs for her citizens rests squarely on the shoulders of a good political leadership. Such a leadership must be, on the one hand, morally and technically good; and on the other, effective in terms of governance programmes and policies.
Beyond Chinua Achebe’s announcement and analysis of the leadership predicament, Prof. Okunade provided a fundamental iteration of the political leadership as a “big challenge.” This challenge is grounded on a more empirically sophisticated frameworks of the variables involved in bad leadership and the consequences that have kept Nigerians impoverished since independence. And that empirical political analysis has been further demonstrated by the inability of the continent itself to throw up a critical mass of leadership figures that is able to win the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership for four consecutive years. The transformational qualities that the Mo Ibrahim Award requires of the recipient is what Prof. Okunade infuses into his own deep analysis of what leadership requires. The worth of a leadership, as Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson demonstrates, in Why Nations Fail (2012), derives from whether their decision facilitates the emergence of extractive or participatory institutions. The issue is critically about “how decisions actually get made, who gets to make them, and why those people decide to do what they do.” And then, there is the equally fundamental issue of how these decision aggregate in the design and operational function and optimality of public institutions.
What we see, between Okunade’s concession to political leadership, and Acemoglu and Robinson’s concession to institutionalism, is the agelong discourse on the relationship between agency and structure. Yet, both are caught in an empirical grip of counterexamples that undermine their theses. On the one hand, the authors of Why Nations Fail are hard-pressed to explain why China has kept progressing economically under successive authoritarian regimes (same can be said about Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, as well as other Asian Tigers) while India’s progress might be hard to attribute to its putative democratic leaders. On the other hand, Prof. Okunade’s thesis also need to explain the successes of China and Singapore whose leadership demonstrated governance effectiveness without the accompanying ethical imperative.
To rehabilitate Prof. Okunade’s theory of leadership out of this quandary requires first that we undermine the intrinsic assumption in Okunade’s theory, about the leader as a change agent with singular capacity to make people do what is needed. This is evident, in Okunade’s inaugural lecture, from his assessment of leadership activities from Tony Blair and George Bush to Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. I think that this understanding of political leadership stifles the significance of the relationship between leadership, social change and infrastructural development. Indeed, it puts a lot of over-extended pressure on a political leader in terms of the expectation of magical transformation by a wave of the leader’s wand that turns poverty to prosperity. We must therefore ask, legitimately, if this understanding of political leadership is sufficient for national transformation. This question is justified when we take cognisance of Nigeria’s unique political sociology and how it throws up compromised leaders who are forced to play bad politics with the commonwealth to hold on to power. There is a one-to-one relationship between this skewed political sociology and the construction of elite nationalism in Nigeria.
An alternative articulation of the nature and role of leadership can be found in the change space model of leadership. The change space model is meant to facilitate the capability of the institutions and systems of government to encounter and engage changes while factoring in contextual pressures and circumstances. It therefore depends on a distributed and multilevel understanding of leadership that requires, (a) a political leader as the lead change agent, and (b) a critical mass of change agents who can bring abilities/competences, resources and context together in facilitating genuine and transformational change through a problem-solving approach.
Apart from helping us move away from the idea of a leader as a change agent with a singular capacity, it also proposes the understanding of leadership as what influences the difference between a change that is intended for development, and the one that is actualized through infrastructural development. A change leadership is the one that initiate the change space and motivates it efficiently to achieve desired transformation. With this model, therefore, we have a conceptual framework to make sense of the relationship between “leader” and “leadership” in understanding how the change space through leaders and the leadership dynamics that mobilize people, ideas, resources and infrastructures in order to be able to catalyze change. The leadership is therefore expected to: (a) build coalition for change; (b) assemble a team with sufficient IQ, wisdom and commitment to initiate, implement and deliver the change; and (c) grant required authority, incentive and support, with accountability, to these team of leaders in their own right, so they could achieve optimal productivity, performance and impact, that will deliver the change.
It would be interesting to see what a change space model of Nigeria’s political trajectory would have yielded if interjected into Prof. Okunade’s analysis of leadership. More worthwhile is what the idea of distributed and multilevel leadership framework could mean for our understanding of impactful politics and national development. This in my assessment of Prof. Okunade’s “big challenge” of the political leadership in Nigeria—a leader who has the capacity to build and motivate a change space populated by different levels of leadership frameworks, political, religious, social, bureaucratic and civil. It is therefore safe to hypothesize that while a leader is a key and critical factor in transforming a state, it does not by itself resolve the myriads of predicaments and problems that bedevil the Nigerian state and society.
To conclude: Prof. Bayo Okunade stands in a continuum of scholarly excellence that has at one end the scholarly genius of Billy Dudley, E. U. Essien-Udom, Peter Ekeh, Bayo Adekanye, John Ayoade, Tunde Adeniran, Busari Adebisi, Larry Ekpebu, Alex Gboyega, Femi Otubanjo, Fred Onyeoziri, Jimi Adisa, Kunle Amuwo, Eghosa Osaghae, Adigun Agbaje, OBC Nwolise, Rotimi Suberu, and the host of other stellar personalities and scholars that lit up the credentials of the Department of Political Science. Prof. Bayo Okunade’s theory of political leadership—a systematic and empirically sophisticated articulation of Chinua Achebe’s diagnosis of the Nigeria problem—unarguably presents a research outline that speaks to the need for more theoretical and practical engagement with the leadership phenomenon in a postcolonial context like Nigeria. I see this as a critical challenge to the political science scholarship in Nigeria; the challenge of articulating theoretically feasible and nuanced understanding of what ails the Nigerian state, her leaders and leadership and her citizens.
The sex-for-favour tango between the Senate President, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, and another senator, Mrs. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, is the latest scandal in town. Nigeria is a country of one scandal, one moment. So, expect the wind to blow over this scandal quickly. The heat generated may soon get too much for the members of the ruling class to bear and they - all of them, both the victim and the villain, since they both share the same class interest - may conclude that it is in their class interest to sheathe the sword, reach some accommodation and find an excuse to sweep the scandal under Nigeria’s bourgeoning carpet of iniquity.
Another thing that can happen is that another scandal will break before we say “Jack Robinson” and the media will move on to the new scandal and Nigerians will tag along. We are sprinters here and not long-distance runners. We quickly lose steam and our follow-up is miserable. Yet, the wisdom of our people is that the hunter who neglects to trace the game he shoots in the forest often fails to cart it home.
When members of the ruling class fight, it makes no sense to take sides because none of the fights, most times, concern the poor. It is usually intra-class squabbles over privileges and the sharing or allocation of resources amongst themselves that have little or no bearing on the welfare and well-being of the suffering masses. When things are okay among them, when they are all busy “eating”, we hardly hear grumblings. You would think they all belong to the same political party, the same ethnicity, the same religion, and the same sex! It is only when disagreements arise over sharing formulas that allegations begin to fly all over the place!
In the spat between Akpabio and Natasha, both fighters have their past, which has further compounded issues. In “Cockcrow at dawn”, popular artiste, Bongos Ikwue, described how futile it is to look for a virgin in a maternity ward. Searching for a saint in Nigeria's National Assembly is no less elusive. It is a place notorious for turning fire-eating radicals into despicable rascals.
To make sense out of the senseless in-fighting in the Senate, I will act upon four sources; the first being the statement made by the Senate Leader, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, on why the senate suspended Natasha for six months, in which he “clarified” that the senator was suspended for gross misconduct and not because of the sexual harassment allegation she made against Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Opeyemi stressed that Akpoti-Uduaghan was suspended solely for her persistent acts of misconduct, blatant disregard for the provisions of the Senate Standing Orders 2023 and gross indiscipline. He listed the “persistent acts of misconduct”, “blatant disregard for the provisions of the Senate Standing Orders 2023” and “gross misconduct” as refusal to sit in her assigned seat during plenary on 25th February, 2025; speaking without being recognised by the presiding officer; engaging in unruly and disruptive behavior, obstructing the orderly conduct of Senate proceedings; making abusive and disrespectful remarks against the leadership of the Senate; and defying and refusing to comply with the summons of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges mandated to investigate cases of misconduct.
My second source is the intervention by a doyen of the media, Mr. Tony Iredia. Titled “Senate shouldn’t have suspended Natasha Uduaghan”, Iredia argued thus: “… The senate relied heavily on the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act of 2018 which, among other things, regulates the conduct of members and other persons connected with the proceedings of the Legislative House. Of particular importance is Section 21(2) of the Act which provides that ‘where any member is guilty of contempt of a Legislative House, the House may, by resolution, reprimand such member or suspend him from the service of the House for such period as it may determine’…
“A body such as the senate which does not have the power to make a senator, cannot give itself the power to unmake any senator. There are only two authorities that our constitution empowers to remove a legislator from office. These are: an election tribunal and the people that elected the legislator to represent them in the legislature. If an authority has no legal powers to remove a person from office, such an authority cannot validly exercise the illegal power by making the removal a short-term matter. Removal by one day in the name of suspension is a removal, it is irrelevant that the length of time of the removal is long or short because, as the saying goes, no person, group or authority can give what it does not have.
“The senate or any group or organization is no doubt entitled to making its own rules for the smooth running of the body. It is, therefore, in order for the senate to make rules to penalize its members for any infraction, but such punishment must be within its powers. If the senate is satisfied that Senator Natasha Uduaghan breached any of its rules, it can remove her from a chairmanship position of a committee or any other privileges hitherto bestowed on her by the senate. It can, however, not extend the punishment beyond its own power. This point has been repeatedly made and one wonders why our Legislative Houses have continued with the illegality of purporting to have the power to suspend one of its own.
“If they really don’t know, the courts have since severally said so. First, Femi Okurounmu, (Ogun Central) was suspended in 1999. This was followed by Joseph Waku, a senator from Benue State who was suspended in 2000. Senator Arthur Nzeribe from Imo state was suspended in 2002. Senator Ali Ndume, a former Senate leader, was suspended in 2017. Next was Senator Ovie Omo-Agege from Delta state who was suspended in 2018… Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi state was suspended in 2024. Interestingly, the Judiciary quashed all the suspensions, declaring them as illegal and unconstitutional...
“The House of Representatives has also had its own string of illegal suspensions that have similarly been quashed by the Judiciary. One would have thought that the National Assembly should have by now realized that it has no powers to suspend its legislators. But that has not been so. Instead, there have been reports of how some State Houses of Assembly have also followed the same line as their federal colleagues… (One such) celebrated case involved Rifkatu Samson Dannas who was suspended in 2012 by the Bauchi State House of Assembly.
“The offence of Dannas, the then only female and Christian member of the House, was her objection to the proposed relocation of Tafawa Balewa Local Government headquarters from Tafawa Balewa to Bununu - a location heavily populated by Muslims… She went to court to challenge her suspension, which the court declared as illegal and unconstitutional… Aptly put, therefore, the state of the law in Nigeria today is that it is illegal for a legislative House to suspend any member…
“Again, the posture that the legislature cannot be stopped from doing its job appears misconstrued because legislative functions are, in the words of our constitution, subject to judicial review (according to) the relevant provisions of Section 4(8) of our constitution... For this reason, the courts have continued to insist that “access to court is a fundamental right in the Constitution, which cannot be taken away by force or intimidation from any organ… it is unimaginable, as one lawyer suggested the other day, that although Order 67(4) of its own rules limits the suspension of a member of the upper chamber to a maximum of 14 days, the senate went ahead to violate such rules by suspending Uduaghan not for 14 days but for 6 months!”
My third source said “the real reason” Natasha was suspended was her insistence to have the moribund Ajaokuta steel complex investigated. Ajaokuta and the refineries are projects that have gulped, and are still gulping, billions of dollars without any respite or solution in sight. Natasha is said to have a motion crying for investigations. When will the motion see the light of day?
My fourth and final source is a social media post which showed Akpabio as a senator committing the same offence that Natasha is being punished for, against Bukola Saraki as senate president, and he was not given the Natasha treatment! Social media, they say, never forgets! What goes around comes around! He who comes to equity must come with clean hands! And if you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones!
To conclude: Was it the importance of this dog-fight that made the Senate Leader, and not the senate spokesperson, to address the media on the matter while the Senate President himself acted as the accuser and judge in his own case? Why was the latter's incongruity lost on a senate brimming with lawyers?
I believe, with the above, you are able to form your own reasonable opinion on the Akpabio-Natasha face-off!
[OPINION] CBN’s Transparent Recruitment of 16 Directors Signals Cardoso’s Break From The Past - Tajudeen Suleiman
AdminThe central bank of any country is a uniquely influential institution. Due to its mandate of maintaining monetary and financial stability in line with the economic vision of the government, everything it does can impact everyone. That is why PhD. economists and experienced bankers are the top picks for heading the banks.
This is why appointments at the central banks are always of interest to institutions, groups, and individuals. In Nigeria of today, the Central Bank of Nigeria is an institution of utmost public interest due to the state of the economy and the ongoing economic and financial reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
But sadly, in Nigeria, appointments into the CBN are not seen as part of the building block for the country’s economic rejuvenation. The CBN is seen only as a juicy institution where the elites scramble for a seat at the table and where politicians invoke Federal Character provisions of the Nigerian Constitution to put their cronies in positions to access the wealth of the nation.
Whereas, in other times, where economic engineering is taken seriously, only the most talented look forward to a career in the institution. A statement about recruitment into the Bank of England (similar to that of the US Federal Reserve) describes the bank as an “intellectually stimulating” environment that is “highly professional.”
It further states that “While organisations in the private sector are focused primarily on profits, the ultimate objectives for us are always the quality of our thinking, the rigour of our analysis and the overall deliverables in line with our vision of promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.”
Emphasising the importance of competence and professionalism for the bank, it says, “The issues we deal with on a daily basis have implications for everyone in the country.” This statement is as true for the United Kingdom as it is true for Nigeria today.
This is why the Central Bank of Nigeria under Governor Yemi Cardoso has broken with past tradition. Cardoso, like his counterpart at the US Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell is confronted by an economic reform that has brought financial hardship to the majority of citizens due to rising inflation.
But Cardoso’s reforms at the CBN portray a governor who takes his job seriously and is determined to deliver for the good of the country.
Aside from the monetary policy reforms of the CBN, many will welcome the thrilling news that the CBN recently recruited 16 new directors through a highly competitive process and not through arbitrary promotion. These appointments, which was more of internal promotion exercise, took effect from March 3, and it affects critical departments of the apex bank such as Monetary Policy; Trade and Exchange; Banking Supervision; Payment Systems and Consumer Protection among others.
The CBN reportedly engaged the global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct the selection process for the directors from among top officials of the bank who applied, following an internal advertisement, to ensure only the most competent are elevated. It is highly commendable and in line with global best practices for central banks. It is certainly the type of promotion process needed by the CBN at this time.
Reports indicate that the PwC conducted a two-phase appointment process designed to eliminate bias in the recruitment and ensure the process is transparent. Many would wish that all critical national institutions in the country can also conduct their recruitments in this manner to ensure the right persons, no matter their ethnicity or religion, are put in charge.
Usually, for central banks, the recruitment process will include competency-based interviews, ability testing, occupational or motivational questionnaires, written assessments, case studies, and/or presentations. Anyone who scales through all these is an asset to the institution and must not be denied the chance to help the country because of their religion or where they come from as long as they’re Nigerians.
No one will be surprised by reports that staff of the bank commended the selection process as objective, transparent, and merit based. It is a far cry from past tradition where directors are arbitrarily selected because of their connections with VIPs or they’re favored by the CBN governor.
This break with tradition is widely seen in economic and financial circles as a step towards strengthening governance and operational efficiency of the apex bank. It signals a significant internal restructuring aimed at enhancing the bank’s operational efficiency and regulatory oversight. An internal memo quoted by Premium Times said the appointments were aimed at “achieving the Bank’s vision and mission for long-term success.”
A look at some of the new appointees also shows that diversity was one of the selection criteria – a point that can never be over-emphasise in a diverse country as Nigeria. While economic policy should be driven by capacity rather than regional or ethnic consideration, inclusivity is essential in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Nigeria,
Mallam Abdullahi Hamisu, the newly appointed director of Banking Services, is from the north of the country. Before his appointment, he served as coordinator, banking services under the Operations Directorate. He now occupies a position that is pivotal to ensuring smooth banking operations across the nation.
Sike Rita Ijeoma, one of the appointees from the South East, is the director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department. She was formerly the director of the Banking Supervision of CBN. Her expertise and leadership earned her the new position where she is expected to significantly push the CBN’s mission of maintaining a stable and efficient financial system in Nigeria.
Akinwunmi Olubukola Akinniyi, from the southwest, is the director, Banking Supervision Department. He was an assistant director in the Payments System Management Department of the CBN before his new appointment. He is credited with leading the team responsible for formulation of payment system policies and facilitating stakeholder consensus on payments system development strategy in Nigeria. He also participated in major reforms in the Nigerian Payments System, including the implementation of the Nigeria Central Switch, Cash-less Policy, and the Payments System Vision 2020.
Oboh Victor Ugbem, a senior development economist, is the new director, Monetary Policy Department. Victor, who is from the South-south of the country, has over 20 years experience in the areas of monetary, financial, and agricultural policies as well as private sector development.
He was formerly an assistant director in the CBN, providing technical support to the design and implementation of the Bank’s policies.
In what appears a reflection of the prominent role women now play in the board rooms of commercial banks in the country, the CBN has promoted six women to the position of directors in charge of crucial departments. They are: Yusuf Rakiya Opeyemi – Director, Payment System Supervision: Mrs. Jide-Samuel Omoyemen Avbasowamen – Director, Information Technology: Aisha Isa-Olatinwo – Director, Consumer Protection: Mrs. Sike Rita Ijeoma – Director, Financial Policy and Regulation: Mrs. Monsurat Vincent (Strategy Management and Innovation and Dr. Adenike Olubunmi Ojumu (Medical Services).
Other directors named in the appointment are Dr. Usman Moses Okpanachi (Statistics), Mr. Farouk Mujtaba Muhammad (Reserve Management), Dr. Adetona Sikiru Adedeji, (Currency Operation and Branch Management Department), Mr. Mohammed-Jamiu Olayemi Solaja,(Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department) and Mr. Musa Nakorji (Trade and Exchange Department).
Analysts of the CBN reforms have commended the inclusivity of the appointments despite being merit based as proof of its objectivity and transparency. It kudos to the CBN Governor for navigating the vexing challenge of federal character while searching for the brightest minds within the system.
It is only when we put people in position where their skills and qualifications are best suited that we can get positive results. This is what the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and other central banks do to be at the top of their game.
It is hoped that the processes leading to the appointments of these 16 directors would become a tradition to ensure that only bright minds are put in charge of executing the mandates of the apex bank. For the sake of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Cardoso has raised the bar and blazed the trail. He would be judged by the success or failure of his reforms and innovations. On the economic horizon, the weather is getting brighter, and there are reasons to be optimistic.
Nigeria’s economy is recovering faster than anticipated. Inflation eased to 24.5% in January, while Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows are rising, and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expanding.
The BusinessDay reported over the weekend that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-led Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to maintain interest rates at its last meeting has fuelled a rally in Nigeria’s Eurobond market, reinforcing foreign investors’ confidence in the domestic economy.
The paper wrote that the investment report shows that Nigeria’s Eurobond market closed the month of February in positive territory, signaling sustained foreign investor confidence. Quoting data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), it said the average yield on Nigeria’s Eurobonds closed at 8.80 per cent, 41 basis points down from 9.21 per cent at the beginning of February, signalling “strong investor appetite.”
The CBN is proving doubters of its reforms wrong. Cardoso and his team of brilliant deputy governors are doing a good job of brainstorming for the public good. They are showing that the central bank is a laboratory of ideas and not a casino for sleazy men in suit. They deserve the support of all Nigerians to rescue the country from economic abyss that years of thoughtless leadership have plunged it.
But no doubt critics would continue to analyse every action of the CBN because of what the organisation represents. So, just as several economic analysts have done, this purpose of this write-up is to urge the team not to rest on its oars.
[OPINION] Anambra’s Security Experiment: A Model for Nigeria or Just Another Policy Gimmick? - Osita Chidoka
AdminSecurity is the foundation of economic growth and societal stability. Without it, commerce falters, trust erodes, and communities disintegrate. In Nigeria, where kidnapping has become an industry, the search for a sustainable security model is urgent.
According to SBM Intelligence, between July 2023 and June 2024, Nigeria recorded 1,130 kidnapping incidents, with 7,568 victims. Kidnappers demanded a staggering N10.99 billion in ransom but received N1.05 billion—a fraction of their demands, highlighting the growing desperation of criminal networks.
While the Northwest remains the epicentre of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis, the Southeast recorded 240 kidnapping incidents, the lowest of any region in Nigeria, as reported by the NBS Crime Survey, 2024. Anambra state accounted for 29 of these incidents, with 46 victims, placing it among the states with lower overall cases in Nigeria.
However, despite its relative safety, Anambra has become a prime target for criminals due to the high success rate of ransom payments. In one striking case, abductors demanded N300 million but ultimately received N350 million. This paradox presents a harsh reality: criminals go where the money flows.
Nigeria’s security challenge is exacerbated by chronic underfunding of law enforcement. The country’s 2025 police budget translates to $3.43 per capita, rising from $2.60 in 2024. Nigeria’s police budget, compared to South Africa’s $100.12 per person, is 28 times more, while Egypt’s $16.60 per capita is five times more than Nigeria’s police spend. This comparison tells a disturbing story and reveals a deep funding problem. Nigeria’s police force is severely under-resourced compared to global standards. The inadequacy of conventional policing necessitates an urgent rethink.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, a former central bank governor and renowned economist, has introduced a bold and controversial response. The Homeland Security Law 2025 is a radical shift from conventional policing, embedding security within governance, morality, and civic duty. Unlike Nigeria’s traditional approach, which places the entire burden on the police and military, Soludo’s model extends responsibility to landlords, town unions, businesses, and religious institutions.
The law mandates tenant registration, requiring landlords to document and report the identities of those living on their properties. Town unions must submit monthly security reports or risk losing government recognition, effectively making communities accountable for tracking suspicious activities. Hotels and short-let apartments must register all guests and install surveillance systems. Religious institutions found complicit in criminal activities face closure, while properties used for crime will be seized, with their owners facing up to 25 years in prison. Even supernatural fraud—money rituals and charms for wealth—is now a criminal offence, carrying a six-year prison sentence and a hefty fine.
This approach represents a fundamental departure from Nigeria’s historically reactive security framework. It acknowledges that policing alone cannot solve a problem rooted in cultural, economic, and social dysfunction. Soludo’s security doctrine argues that crime thrives because of weak law enforcement and a more profound moral crisis. He has identified three corrosive forces driving crime: a culture that glorifies instant wealth (‘something for nothing’), a societal shift toward materialism at the expense of integrity, and the moral ambivalence of institutions that should serve as society’s ethical compass.
His argument is difficult to ignore. In a society where fraudsters are celebrated, religious institutions bless unexplained wealth, and communities embrace criminals as benefactors, no surveillance cameras or artificial intelligence-driven crime mapping can ensure security. No police force, no matter how well-equipped, can protect a people who refuse to hold themselves accountable. Security, Gov. Soludo insists, is as much a question of values as enforcement.
History provides valuable lessons. Once plagued by crime and corruption, Singapore became one of the safest countries in the world through strict law enforcement, economic opportunity, and a societal commitment to order. At independence, the city-state was overrun with gangs and illicit trade, much like parts of Nigeria today. The government’s response was swift and uncompromising: it introduced zero tolerance for economic and violent crimes, embedded discipline into governance, and institutionalised community-driven security efforts. The result was a nation where crime is neither tolerated nor excused.
The message is clear: crime is not an inevitability but a policy choice. Societies that tolerate minor infractions create an environment where larger crimes flourish. Fraud fuels impunity. Kidnapping finances more sophisticated criminal enterprises. The failure to enforce laws consistently weakens the legitimacy of the state. The principle is well known in criminology—the Broken Windows Theory argues that ignoring minor crimes signals permissiveness, encouraging greater lawlessness. Anambra must not repeat that mistake.
The most significant test for Soludo’s security vision will be public buy-in. A law is only as strong as the willingness of the people to uphold it. The success of this security model depends on a cultural shift—one where communities stop legitimising criminal wealth, where town unions actively engage in crime prevention, and where the government prosecutes offenders without fear or favour. The government must be transparent in reporting activities, respect human rights, and provide a strong governance and redress mechanism for implementing the law.
Nigeria cannot afford to rely solely on kinetic security measures. A non-kinetic approach—one that emphasises citizen participation, intelligence gathering, and preventive security measures—is critical. Soludo’s security vision prioritises prevention over reaction, making security a shared civic responsibility rather than the sole burden of an overstretched police force.
As a nation, we can continue on our current path, tolerating crime and living in fear, or we can embrace a new model of accountability, where security is a collective duty. Anambra has taken the first step; while we wait for the outcomes, other states and Nigeria may consider following the example.
•An excerpt of a speech presented to the Anambra League of Professionals by Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation and the Chancellor Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, ‘accidental’ civil servant, vocal politician and former governor of Kaduna State, has carried out his threat to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The defector is not an ideologue, and his defection was not based on ideological consideration. He is rich, but his wealth cannot match the quantum of human and material resources available to his former party. He left a big party for a smaller and struggling platform with limited prospects.
His departure from the ruling party was not beyond expectation. He had complained about some policies of the party on the pages of newspapers. “APC has left me,” he declared a month ago, hinting about his next move.” Apart from arrogating an exclusive numerical voting power and strength to the North during elections, he also tried to pose as the leader of an impending northern onslaught, warning that in two years time, the North will not vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term.
But, other nothern leading lights from the region disagreed, saying that he only expressed a personal opinion. APC National Chairman Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje rejected El-Rufai’s allegation that the North was neglected, describing it as a figment of imagination. He said the president, through his inclusive policies, have given northerners a sense of belonging.
Having been left in the cold during the inauguration of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by President Tinubu, the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister has not adjusted to life outside power.
As a founding member of APC, the turn of events is worrisome to some of his supporters, who are not likely to jump ship like him. El-Rufai had blamed his exclusion, more from the government, but less from the party, to the alleged plot hatched by the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, his Fulani kinsman from Adamawa State, who arguably became more influential than him after the 2023 polls.
When it was evident that he had lost the nomination for a ministerial slot in the administration, he was worried. His ego was deflated. He attracted public sympathy. The feeling was that after he had said that he was not interested in serving as a minister, he was persuaded to accept nomination by the party leader and he actually showed up for screening at the Senate. Many thought the Power portfolio was for him.
However, 24 days is a long time in politics. The table turned against him on the slippery political field. Sources said El-Rufai was consequently asked to nominate another person for the slot. Yet, in his diminishing camp of supporters in Kaduna and other places, the missed opportunity was a big blow and a sort of dashed hope for cronies who had wished to make an in-road into the administration.
Mixed reactions have trailed his defection to the SDP, a party that came fourth in the last presidential election. It could not be ascertained whether he discussed his move with his former leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and colleagues in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Analysts have pointed out that he left APC to galvanise the opposition and align interest with previous political foes who are united by the motive to work against President Tinubu in 2027.
El-Rufai has been described as a clever and controversial actor, whose political life had reflected a focus and resolve to succeed as an exponent of conditional loyalty and symbol of ethnic bullying.
To the SDP, El-Rufai is a big catch. He is a household name in political circles associated with some past political battles. But his new party is not a formidable platform, although it has two senators who borrowed it during the 2023 polls.
SDP presidential candidate in the last general election, Adebayo Adewole, who once castigated him as a symbol of ethnic and religious bigotry in a plural country thirsty for unity in diversity, acknowledged his strengths and weaknesses. He said El-Rufai would need to work on those weaknesses.
Adewole, a lawyer and businessman, described the former governor as a competent and hardworking public servant, whose skills, experience and energy are needed for effective governance. He said the defection has met the expectation of the SDP, whose strategy is to woo popular politicians into the fold as it prepares to tackle Tinubu in the next election. To him, El-Rufai is an asset to the opposition.
Some politicians and commentators do not share these views. Sheu Sani, a human rights activist and a senator from Kaduna in the first term of El-Rufai as governor, described the defection as a good radiance to a bad rubbish. He described the venerable defector as a civilian dictator, who is guilty of his allegations against the APC.
Sani said El-Rufai has no respect for internal democracy, recalling that when he was governor, the party chairman, secretary, elected local government chairmen and most of the elected public officials were handpicked by him.
“I left APC because of him. If he returns to the APC, I will leave again,” he added.
Sani predicted that El-Rufai will become a divisive factor in his new abode because of his domineering nature.
Kaduna APC welcomed the defection with a sense of relief. Its Secretary, Yahaya Pate, said: “We are unperturbed by former governor Nasir El-Rufai’s defection to another party. Our focus in Kaduna is on how to deliver the state to both President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Uba Sani come 2027.”
A political scientist, Prof. Jideofor Adibe of Nasarawa State University, Nasarawa, said El-Rufai has achieved a motive, adding that his goal is relevance, which he believes SDP can guarantee. But he pointed out that many percieved him as a polarising force in the polity.
Critics also doubted if his defection would have much negative impact on the APC, which is waxing strong. He condemned transactional ambition. The Professor contented that instead of solo efforts, mergers are better.
To many observers, El-Rufai is a complex personality; in a breath very principled, and in another dimension politically unstable. He is an arrogant, clever and an aggressive operator, blessed with persuasive talents and organisational ability crucial for mobilisation under a virile leadership.
Eminent scholar, the late Prof. Oladipo Akinkugbe, who sighted El-Rufai at a function in Lagos, said he suspected that the first class graduate of Quantity Surveying from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was one of his troublesome students on rampange when he was ‘stoned’ as vice chancellor with pure water. He insisted that El-Rufai was at the forefront. The claim could not be ascertained. At the event, El-Rufai just smiled.
Outside school, El-Rufai has not been dumb. In public life, he has really excelled.
El-Rufai first tasted power when former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar appointed him as as an economic advisor in 1998.
His successor, President Olusegun Obasanjo later appointed El-Rufai as the inaugural director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and Secretary of the National Council of Privatisation where he spearheaded the privatisation of government owned corporations under the supervision of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
In July 2003, he was appointed the FCT Minister. He insisted on the implementation of the original masterplan. With the establishment of the Abuja Geographic Information System, the federal capital became the first municipality in Nigeria with a computerised land register and information system.
After El-Rufai’s appointment was approved by the Senate, he alleged that former Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu and Senator Jonathan Zwingina asked for $414,000 bribe before his nomination as a minister was approved. Both senators denied the accusation.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee accused him of paying exorbitant salaries to staff without proper approval. El-Rufai retorted: “Silence is the best answer to a fool.” The Senate was enraged. Obasanjo apologised on his behalf. When it was rejected, he had to go to the Senate to tender a personal apology.
As FCT Minister, El-Rufai demolished 945 buildings and settlements in a bid to sanitise the territory. The residence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)National Chairman, Senator Ahmadu Ali, in Asokoro, built over a water trunk line, was not spared.
At the twilight of the administration El-Rufai presided over a ministerial/administrative panel which indicted his former boss, Atiku.
In 2008, he travelled abroad. When he came back, he enlisted in the CPC, serving as its secretary. When CPC fused with other parties to form APC, he became a legacy member. In 2015, he became governor, defeating former Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of the PDP. He was reelected in 2019.
As governor, he embarked on the reforms of the civil service, reduced the number of ministries and departments, implemented free education at primary and secondary school levels, and blocked financial leakages. His decision to confuct test for teachers sparked a row between him and the teachers’ union.
El-Rufai rendered a vital service to APC and Nigeria when the committee he chaired recommended the restructuring of the polity. The report was dumped into the dustbin.
As governor, he often stormed Lagos to fire salvos at the APC National Leader, who he accused of domineering influence. He decried what he described as monopolisation of power and lack of internal democracy. Party loyalists and other Lagosians ignored the partisan incitement.
Those who decribed him as a Fulani irredentist loathed his statement in defence of tribal interest, when he warned soldiers in the line of duty to know their limitations.
“We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not that kills the Fulani takes a loan payable one day no matter how long it takes,” he tweeted.
His remarks on religion were also labelled by christian bodies as a “divisive, bigoted, hateful and completely unstatesmanlike declaration of Islamic political supremacism in Kaduna State and Nigeria.”
Around 2017, El-Rufai, accompanied by Rotimi Amaechi, former Transportation minister, held a parley with reporters at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, to collate facts on Buhari’s popularity in the Southwest. To their surprise, they found out that the key and gate to the Southwest remained Asiwaju Tinubu. In fact, a reporter retorted: “Why are you coming to us to ask questions about the strength of Buhari in the Southwest,or whether the people of the zone will vote for him in 2019? In 2014/15, you people went to Bourdillion to see Asiwaju. Why are you coming to us instead of going to meet your National Leader?” Amaechi kicked at the comment. But, El-Rufai was jotting down the observations. During the Tinubu birthday that followed in 2018, Buhari stormed Lagos, proclaiming Tinubu as master strategist.
There was no evidence to suggest that El-Rufai was rooting for Tinubu ahead of the presidential primary. But, when certain elements in the party claimed that Buhari had anointed Senator Ahmed Lawan, El-Rufai led some governors to the former president to affirm support for zoning.
A predecessor-successor crisis broke out in Kaduna, shortly after El-Rufai left office. Today, he and his sucessor do not see eye to eye.
What difference can he now make in SDP, having left APC, his natural habitat, which he would be attacking as the polity warms up for 2027?
SDP is a small party, and it is wrong to describe the current SDP as the incarnate of the Moshood Abiola’s SDP of the Third Republic.
The party has limited tentacles, being majorly a borrowed platform, like the Labour Party (LP), and place of temporary refuge for aggrieved chieftains from the APC and PDP. In the National Assembly and across the states, SDP is a minority of minorities.
What is El-Rufai’s future ambition? President or Vice president?
Competence should be agnostic.
This was the thought that occurred to me as I read a piece referencing the recent appointment of 16 directors by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in what has been described as a rigorous, thorough and well-organised “two-phase appointment process.”
And in considering the furore that has erupted in the wake of the conclusion of the recruitment exercise with commentators from a section of the country alleging ethnic bias, I recalled a story I was told at a party years ago in Atlanta.
An old southern lady was rushed to the ER by ambulance. She presented with abdominal pain. Tests showed that she had a ruptured appendix and she was rushed to the theatre for an emergency appendectomy.
But when a black surgeon came in to operate on her she screamed. “I ain’t letting that N!gg@r touch me!”
It was her daughter who had come with her in the ambulance who gave her a hot slap which, as we say in Nigeria, reset her brain.
When I heard that story I remember saying to my American host, “Dana, in Africa we don’t slap our parents”
Dana’s answer was a simple, “Toni Kan, you are missing the point.”
The Nigerian economy is like that old southern lady; it is in dire straits and while the financial and fiscal authorities are working hard to get it on an even keel people are focusing on the tribes of the surgeons assembled to perform life-saving surgery.
A month ago the attack was against three women. Luckily, in that instant, all three women hailed from various parts of the country so tribal bias was not invoked as it is being done now.
In this case, with ethnic bias being alleged in the emergence of the 16 newly appointed directors, one is constrained to ask; when will it end, these irksome microscopic examinations of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s hiring practices.
It should be simple to understand that when it comes to picking the best to do a critical and intensive job we must look past tribe, religion and creed. Yes, there is the principle of federal character – which we are quick to invoke when things don’t go our way – but some national assignments demand the consideration of a different approach; one whose focus on competence, qualification, experience and merit should trump any other consideration.
How did we get here?
The CBN advertised, internally, for eligible deputy directors to apply for vacant director positions. Applications were received and vetted. The first round of interviews was conducted by human Resources and Director Generals before the next round which now had the CBN governor, Yemi Cardoso involved. The process was overseen from beginning to end by world renowned consultancy firm, PriceWaterHouseCoopers in order to ensure not just transparency but alignment with global best practice.
At the end of the exercise 16 new directors were appointed on March 3, 2025 and they include: Dr. Rakiya Opemi Yusuf (Payment System Supervision Department), Dr. Adenike Olubunmi Ojumu (Medical Services Department), Dr. Aisha Isa-Olatinwo (Consumer Protection Department), Mrs. Rita Ijeoma Sike (Financial Policy and Regulation Department), Mrs. Monsurat Vincent (Strategy Management and Innovation Department), and Mrs. Omoyemen Avbasowamen Jide-Samuel from the Information Technology Department), Mr. Hamisu Abdullahi (Banking Services Department), Dr. Usman Moses Okpanachi (Statistics); Dr. Oboh Victor Ugbem (Monetary Policy); and Mr. Farouk Mujtaba Muhammad, (Reserve Management.), Mr. Olubukola Akinniyi Akinwumi (Banking Supervision), Hassan Ibrahim Umar (Development and Finance Institutions)
The rest are Dr. Adetona Sikiru Adedeji, ( Currency Operation and Branch), Mr. Mohammed-Jamiu Olayemi Solaja, (Other Financial Institutions Supervision), Mr. Musa Nakorji (Trade and Exchange Department) and Mr. Kayode Olarewaju Makinde ( Procurement and Support Services).
The appointment of the 16 new directors with a 35% female representation brings to 27 the total number of substantive directors at the apex bank. At the conclusion of the exercise only the Corporate Communications department had an acting director.
The delay many not be unconnected with the merging of the newly created Investor Relations Department with the Corporate Communications Department in what a source described as “part of the Bank’s strategic efforts to enhance stakeholder engagement, optimize resources, and ensure a more coordinated approach to communication.”
The new directors have been described as “best-in-class” and “distinguished individuals who have demonstrated exceptional expertise, leadership, and commitment” to lead the Bank into the future.
While the process that led to the emergence of these new directors went smoothly, the reception has been anything but. Scathing commentaries in the papers and blogosphere have alleged an ethnic slant in the appointments while also purporting that deputy directors from a particular part of Nigeria were shortchanged.
Phrases like “regional favoritism”, glaring marginalistion”, “regional sentiments” have been bandied around to justify the supposed “unprecedented imbalance” and what one of the commentators described as “serious concerns about fairness, inclusivity and the credibility of the apex bank.”
But the fact to take away from all this especially as the CBN’s policies are beginning to impact the economy positively is a simple one; when it comes to dealing with the financial health of our nation, we must rise above atavistic parochialism.
A man laid out on the operating table does not worry about the race or religion or tribe of his surgeon. His major concern is whether the surgeon is capable, competent and experienced.
We must teach ourselves to take the same approach when it comes to working on the financial health of the nation by looking for the best hands within the system to lead the CBN into a new era.
That is what I think the bank has done and as staffers attest the exercise produced the right, experienced and qualified candidates but as Dana, my American friend told me many years ago, tribal irredentists “are missing the point” as usual.
Kan is a PR expert, financial analyst and biographer.
The mobile industry will post nearly $11 trillion in economic value by 2030 or 8.4 percent of GDP. Last year, 2024, mobile technology and services generated 5.8 percent of global GDP, which is equivalent to $6.5 trillion of economic value. This was part of the highlights of the annual Mobile Economy Report 2025 launched by the GSMA at the Mobile World Congress (MWC25) which was held in Barcelona last week.
Much of this will be driven by countries around the world increasingly benefiting from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased take-up of mobile services and digital technologies, including 5G, IOT and AI, the report informed.
Mats Granryd, Director General of the GSMA sketched the scope of the industry when he said, “Our industry connects nearly six billion people, and powers economies worldwide. And, at MWC, over 50 percent of attendees come from outside the Mobile ecosystem, a clear signal that industries recognise the vast opportunities our networks create. This week will shine a light on those opportunities – from 5G to AI and many more – and their role in helping us to unlock new markets, drive innovation and shape the future of the mobile digital economy.”
No doubt the market is huge and there is so much money to be made from the industry and ancillary sectors by those who are bold and creative enough to invest their energy, resources and expertise in the components parts of the industry. Those who gathered in Barcelona last week would be interested in how much comes to their organisation, their sector and. above all, their country.
That is the question every sane person should ask and, without doubt, it won’t be a question for Nigeria but a matter of humility to admit that our country at this time really needs a heavy dose of fund injection from that mind-blowing projection. But we don’t have to wave a magic wand to attract it but a lot of hard work based on the gaps that are noticeable in the research details. So, what is going to be Nigeria’s share of this money?
Let’s take a look at the report. 5G enjoyed a lot of attention at the Mobile World Congress. The report also focussed attention on 5G as it periscopes trends that will affect the industry well into the future, and also marks it out as the technology that will dominate, being able to inspire other technologies to instigate growth. According to the report, 58 percent of the world’s population were using mobile internet at the end of 2024, representing 4.7 billion users – a number expected to rise to 5.5 billion users (65%) by 2030.
It also says that 5G connections worldwide surpassed two billion at the end of 2024 and will account for over half (57%) of total mobile connections in 2030, overtaking 4G adoption by 2028.
Here is another interesting observation which interpretation may translate to wealth for the industry and even nations. “With 2G and 3G networks accounting for less than 20 percent of mobile connectivity worldwide, legacy networks are being phased out in many regions. By the end of November 2024, a total of 152 networks had been shut down and another 131 networks were planned to be shut down by 2030. Asia Pacific and Europe lead the way, accounting for around 70 percent of networks sunsets to date. Network sunsets enable more efficient spectrum use while also reducing energy consumption,” the report stated.
But while legacy technologies are facing deserved sunset in the developed world, they remain very strong in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. For instance, 2G still controls 41.63 percent of network buildout in Nigeria while 3G has .8.60 per cent, and 4G, 47.23 percent. 5G has less than 3 percent.
The GSMA sees the world moving into the future with 5G, observing that Sub-Saharan Africa will contribute to strong Mobile connectivity growth before 2030. Between 2024 and 2030, operators will spend a whopping $1.5 trillion on their mobile networks. Nigerian operators will do part of this spending to expand services and aggressively pursue 5G deployment.
“This trend will not be uniform across all markets; in emerging 5G markets, CapEx will continue to accelerate over the forecast period on 5G network rollout. Overall, 92 percent of operators’ CapEx between 2023 and 2030 will be spent on 5G network deployment,” the report stated.
There are three 5G operators in Nigeria with a fourth license waiting to be issued at the right price. Rollout efforts of the three operators – MTN, Mafab and Airtel, could only yield less than 3 percent coverage. But the GSMA report gives Sub-Saharan Africa an interesting 2024 Technology mix which presents the following picture: 2G – 11 percent; 3G – 49 percent; 4G – 38 percent; and 5G – 3 percent.
However, by 2030, the picture will be progressively different: 2G – 2 percent; 3G – 28 percent; 4G – 52 percent; and 5G – 17 percent. It is not just a different picture but an entirely different game in terms of network deployment, service rollout and other industry support services that will be provided. Within the period, 2024 to 2030, smartphones will grow from 54 percent to 81 percent.
This is why the report notes that despite increasing mobile saturation in developed regions, there remains room for growth in many large, underpenetrated markets in developing regions. For example, India and Sub-Saharan Africa will account for around half of new mobile subscribers globally over 2022 to 2030.
Although the GSMA annual Mobile Economy Report 2025 paints Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, as a developing market for the mobile industry, a little analysis shows that countries in the region can make so much money only if they can achieve the projections that look very humble. For instance, 17 percent of the 5G market in Sub-Saharan Africa is pegged at 247 million lines.
It means that the regulator must create the right ecosystem to encourage operators’ activities that can directly and indirectly affect the market to create needed returns to both industry and the public, which includes the government.
For instance, in 2024, the mobile sector made a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector with around $600 billion raised through taxes on the sector. The industry also directly created 24 million jobs while supporting another 16 million, bringing it to a total of 40 million. It is the responsibility of the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to ensure that Nigerian operators are spruced up to enable them. contribute their share of these global projections.
Through proper regulation and other interventions, there is much benefit that can accrue to the nation from the mobile industry. The report also harped on creative regulatory processes. My humble suggestion is for the regulator to encourage operators to offer good services, make more money and be able to support the government through tax remittances and other channels. The regulator must work hard to give Nigeria a decent share of that $30 trillion by 2030.
“We must ascertain who we are, how many we are, and how to manage our data. Without an accurate census, we can’t successfully plan for employment, agriculture, and food sovereignty. So many problems come up without accurate data.” – President Bola Tinubu on February 24, 2025.
How many are we in Nigeria? Sincerely, there is no reliable data to back up claims that Nigeria has a population of 220 million. It has all been unreliable estimates. According to the National Population Commission, a census was first conducted in the area known today as Nigeria in the year 1866 by the British colonial government within the Colony of Lagos. There were also decennial censuses conducted only for the Lagos Colony in the years 1871, 1881 and 1901, respectively. 10 years later, in the year 1911, the census exercise covered the Southern Protectorate, including Lagos and the Northern Protectorate. Thereafter, there had been a census in 1921, 1931, 1951/53, 1962, 1963, 1973, 1991 and 2006.
The importance of the national population and housing census cannot be overemphasised or underestimated. NPC listed 13 benefits of having this exercise at regular intervals. It says that accurate census data are critical for developing accurate assessments of economic well-being for the nation as a whole and helping the government in proper economic planning. Data from the census will help the government identify the special population, e.g. people living with disabilities and how the government can be of help to them. Census data also helps the government in designing programmes that aim to identify areas eligible for housing conditions, assistance and rehabilitation.
The data from the census helps in the allocation of funding for numerous educational programmes, such as vocational and adult education and provides data that can help estimate or even forecast the number of schools required, out-of-school children, percentage of literacy in the country, quality of the educational curriculum, et cetera. Census helps generate data that will help business forecasting. That is, identifying areas where businesses can thrive using the population size as an advantage. The resultant profit from this will enhance improvement in the amount of tax that will be generated by the government. Accurate census information helps the government plan disaster recovery and contingency initiatives. The census also provides information on the healthcare needs of the population.
Census data can help formulate, evaluate, change, and propose policies and programmes that help farmers. A population census can provide data that can help the government to be aware of the ratio of security officers to be proportionate to the nation’s population, which can help in improving the security of lives and properties in the country. Census data also assists in the determination of the standard of living of the people. The number of people in a country is used to formulate policies for development.
A population census gives the government an idea of the different demographics in different parts of the country, which will in turn aid the government in the adequate provision of social amenities like water, electricity, roads, and hospitals, which are beneficial to the citizens of the country. Lastly, the census will provide reliable and evidence-based data for the implementation of the revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development and the realisation of the SDGs.
It is very heartwarming that President Bola Tinubu has shown renewed interest in conducting a fresh national population and housing census for Nigeria after 19 years. Recall that the last one was held in November 2006. It is also gratifying that the President wants the national population and housing census with biometric and digital components. Tinubu, at the February 24, 2025, meeting with officials of the National Population Commission at the Statehouse, said he would set up a committee to align the census budget to the government’s present financial realities. He said the National Identity Management Commission must be part of the review. The President told the delegation that biometric capturing should be central to the process, with multiple identification features, including facial and voice recognition.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, said the census data would be central to future planning and resource distribution. He was quoted as saying, “Mr President, we have been having ecosystem meetings to link the identity agencies, even the geo-spatial chaired by the ministry, because of our mandate as the supervising ministry of the National Bureau of Statistics. So, the NPC, NBS, NIMC, Ministry of Digital Economy, passport, social register, voter register, and even telecoms data have been meeting with the National Space Research and Development Agency to see how much is available to the government regarding data and how much optimisation can take place.”
At the February meeting, the NPC Chairman, Nasir Kwarra, said 760,000 tablets had been acquired and stored with the Central Bank of Nigeria, promising that the commission would engage with development partners to seek support whenever President Tinubu proclaimed the new census date. It was reliably learnt that the development partners bore 40 per cent of the costs of the last census exercise. With the mopping up of funds and foreign aid freeze by different countries, it is doubtful if Nigeria can rely much on international development assistance for its national census exercise.
It will be recalled that the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had planned to hold the national population and housing census in 2023, but the wrong timing did not allow it to sail through. Historically, it is dangerous to hold a census close to an election year. Not only are the two—election and census—capital intensive, but political interference will most likely not make the census credible. This is why the Tinubu administration must strive to have the census in 2025 because next year will be suffused with preparations for the 2027 general elections.
When the census was to be held in 2023, the cost was estimated at N400bn. However, information in the news media over the weekend shows that the National Population Commission has submitted a bill of N942bn for the 2025 exercise. Now, a lot of people are shouting that it is a padded budget. However, I do not think so. As the saying goes, the best time to buy anything in economics is yesterday. With the devaluation of the naira and the floating of the currency, prices of commodities now cost three or four times their cost in 2023. That is why it is popularly said that “delay is dangerous”. If Nigeria fails to have the census this year, we may have to be looking for trillions by the next time we want to have it done.
The Yorubas say, “A sweet soup costs a lot of money to prepare.” To have a digitised census will cost a fortune more because many of the hardware and software equipment are not manufactured locally and have to be imported using foreign exchange. If the Federal Government can award N15tn Lagos-Calabar Super Highway, we can also source for whatever financial resources will be needed for a long overdue national population and housing census. The funding for the census could come from the federation account since it is a national exercise; states and LGAs should share the cost of the exercise. The critical factor should not just be the cost but how to have credible, reliable, usable, and acceptable exercise. I do not need to remind readers that previous exercises have been enmeshed in controversies and litigations. I fully endorse all cost-cutting measures the Federal Government may want to take, including using youth corps members as enumerators. However, the standard should not be compromised so that the outcome can be fully endorsed by all sections of the country.
To be discussing inappropriate, unrequited and not too clear love tangos between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi State Central Senatorial District and the raucous session in the Senate is a waste of precious time.
Except for the need to look out for the interests of females in Nigeria’s political and corporate “jungle”. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan was once reported to have told whoever to “Please stop turning off my microphone. I represent people, including women who have been silenced.”
The nonsense going on in the Nigerian Senate makes one wish that Amaka Igwe would resurrect, write a script and gather Kunle Bamtefa and the cast of “Fuji House of Commotion” for another sitcom, “Senate House of Commotion”.
How else, other than comedy, should one describe the abandonment of serious affairs of state for frivolities by the Senate President, Nigeria’s number three citizen, and a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, engaging in fare other than the serious affairs of state for which senators are rumoured to be paid about N353m per annum.
How what the Yoruba describe as, “Aa yan ore, aa yan ore,” or the tango over whether people want to date each other or not, has become a matter that is engaging the entire attention of the Nigerian Senate, and almost grinding serious legislative work to a halt, is baffling and regrettable.
Order 11(1,2) of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended) provides in plain English, “The President of the Senate shall allocate a seat to each Senator (and) a Senator may only speak from the seat allocated to him (or her), provided that the President of the Senate may change the allocation from time to time.”
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was obviously uncomfortable because the new seating arrangement that arose due to new party realignments was not communicated to her, naturally made her feelings known to the Senate President.
But when she did not get what she would consider to be an appropriate response, she took the matter to Gear 5. She submitted a petition, “directed at… Senator Akpabio… requesting the (Senate) distinguished redress on the matter”, to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
The grounds of the petition were “Reprehensible acts of sexual harassment… (and) deliberate obstruction of legislative efforts”. She listed two occasions, one in Akwa Ibom, when Akpabio allegedly asked her for “quality moments”, and the other, in Abuja, when he allegedly told her he would give her whatever she wanted and all she had to do was to “make me happy”.
The only person who could substantiate at least the Akwa Ibom incident was Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s husband, Emmanuel Uduaghan. But she admitted to having deflected her husband’s request to know what Senator Akpabio said to her.
She added, “During a debate in the Senate, (Akpabio) maliciously addressed me inappropriately, referring to me as a nightclub girl.” She prayed the committee to “request a comprehensive investigation into the actions of (Akpabio)”.
However, Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Peter Nwanonyi, thought that the beef of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who worked in Brass LNG, by the way, stemmed from her removal from the Senate Committee on Oil & Gas.
Well, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition includes allegations that Senator Akpabio “abruptly removed me as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Local Content… limiting my involvement in the LNG project” in Ajaokuta, in her home state, Kogi.
Rather than address the issues raised by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, the committee stood on the technical grounds that the way she handled the petition did not conform with the rules of the Nigerian Senate.
According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Neda Imasuen, the petition was “dead on arrival” because Order 41(b) says, “No Senator may present to the Senate a petition signed by himself (or herself).” Also, Section 41(7) provides that “The Senate shall not receive any petition on any matter for which there is a judicial remedy.”
But Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan stood on Order 41(1) which enables a petition “to be presented to the Senate by a senator, who shall affix his (or her) name at the beginning thereof,” and got a six-month suspension from a Senate plenary.
The Senate plenary, inappropriately chaired by the Senate President, who is the defendant, chose to discuss the matter after an unconvincing debate, probably stage-managed to make the Senate appear to be liberal and unperturbed by the grave allegations.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had taken the matter to the law courts that seem to be on a recess from taking up the responsibilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare who won or lost elections in Nigeria.
But she is not suing Senator Akpabio based on the content of her petition, but for statements allegedly made on Facebook by his legislative aide, Mfon Patrick, to wit, “Is Local Content Committee of the Senate Natasha’s birthright?”
Patrick allegedly added, “It is bottled anger of the Kogi lawmaker, who knows nothing about legislative rules. She thinks being a lawmaker is all about pancaking her face and wearing transparent outfits to the chambers.”
Only the courts can determine if this amounts to defamation and intent to cause Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan public opprobrium. But whatever cosmetics or garments Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan adorns her body with is not the business of Patrick.
The court should answer her prayer by issuing “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants (or anyone else)… from further publishing, or cause to be published, the said defamatory words… about (her) on the social media platform, or in any other manner, which is capable of defaming (her).” Maybe she should also sue Patrick on relevant cybercrime grounds.
Senator Akpabio’s wife, Ekaete, has gone to court to sue Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for N350bn on the grounds that the allegation of sexual harassment made against her husband amounted to emotional and psychological abuse of her children and herself. Only the courts can determine if this is frivolous.
And what looks like opposing rented crowds stormed the streets of Abuja in support of one or the other senator. When interviewed by pressmen, some of the ignorant protesters could not even correctly articulate the issues.
Those who wonder if Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, a lawyer, is conversant with the rules of the Senate, should remember the Rivonia Trials, where Nelson Mandela, also a lawyer, chose to put South Africa’s apartheid regime on trial in the court of public opinion rather than defend himself.
But those stretching the matter of reallocation of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s seat to Rosa Parks proportions are probably not quite accurate, though Senator Ireti Kingibe has pointed out that the Nigerian Senate is not exactly gender-sensitive.
Those who wonder why it appears as if issues of sexual harassment seem to be revolving around these two senators deserve answers. Senator Akpabio was once accused of sexually harassing a former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
On the other hand, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan is said to have previously accused three other men, a former state governor, a former sitting senator from her state, and a former presidential aide from her husband’s state, of sexually harassing her.
Both must extricate themselves and the Senate from this web of scandals and concentrate on the urgent and grave matters of state.
Chief Ayo Adebanjo , Afenifere leader who died, aged 96 ,and last of the original Awoists, was a vivacious, joyous soul. He was a zestful political warrior who embraced political combat with gusto. In his usual ebullience, he embraced death and even humorously cast the news headline for the media on his imminent passage : “ Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, the controversial man, is gone”. He had added : ‘’He last spoke with his daughter’’. It was his last video chat. For a man who preached fairness, equity and love of country for a united Nigeria, it was symbolic that he took his last bow on February 14, 2025, Valentine Day , a day humanity celebrate love.
I first made contact with Mr. Ayo Adebanjo, as he was then , the ebony black handsome lawyer , as a village child in Okelamuren, Ogbo community, near Ijebu-Ode , Ogun State when he made a triumphant homecoming on his return from England in 1961. . The then 33- year old lawyer rode into the village in the same car with Chief ( Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo. It was a glorious day for us villagers. We, the children, crowded the slow moving car, as it waltzed its way to the village square, to get a glimpse of this illustrious son of the soil just returned from ‘ilu Oyinbo’ ( the White man’s land) . In those days, we village children used to wave at any aeroplane passing over our village asking the passengers, in Ijebu dialect, to help us greet our relations in ‘Ilu Oyinbo’ !!! A childhood blissful ignorance ! We got heightened excitement when we found out that the lady who rode in the car with him was the wife of the legendary AWO ! Mythical Awo !! My maternal grandmother, Olori Adejoke Adebambo, wife of Ilamuren of Okelamuren, Oba Julius Adebambo, referred to Ayo Adebanjo as ‘omo Bada ‘ ( son of Bada ) a Lagos-based , successful goldsmith. Chief Ayo Adebanjo inherited his handsomeness and sartorial elegance from his father, who was always resplendently dressed , with long gold chain.
Chief Ayo Adebanjo was committed to his local Ogbo community, comprising 11 villages ( Ogbo mokanla ) . His country home , a compact, elegant bungalow built on a landscaped expanse of land, in the centre of Ogbo community, straddles Isanya and Okelamuren villages. He was the Asiwaju of Ibido-Ogbo, the Baba Oba of Okelamuren , Grand Patron of Okelamuren Progressive Union ( OPU ) and leader of Ogbo Christian community . For decades, he hosted Ogbo community members in Lagos to annual new year party at his Lagos residence on the second Sunday of every January. He paid his tithe and regularly packaged money for the local clergy at Saint Phillips Anglican church, Isanya-Ogbo. On one of my visits to the country home, I witnessed his doling out two envelopes of money to the assistant pastor of his home church. After the pastor left, I had asked Baba why at age 95 he was still giving out money. He had smiled , pointing out that as church leader , there were some expectations of him, adding that even his wife, also in her 90s, made similar donations. What a devotion !
As is the tradition with Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, as Afenifere Leader, hosted the organization’s meetings at his Isanya-Ogbo country home, usually under a canopy provided for the occasion, with entertainment sponsored by various groups. At such meetings, where he presided , Chief Adebanjo stamped his authority , as the man in charge . Meeting must follow procedure as laid out in items in the agenda. If you got up to speak on item 6 while discussion was on item 4, he shuts you up , mid sentence. Also, you don’t go back to an item that had been treated , he would dismiss you as absent-minded, inattentive and a time waster. Some did not like the brusque manner, but to him meetings must be ordered business.
The point is, whoever got to interact with Chief Ayo Adebanjo saw him as a Strong Man ! Strong in intellectual articulation and elocution, a strong robust physique, strong vocally in his emphatic tone and very, very strong in his convictions. With him , there is no ambivalence, no ambiguity – he takes a reasoned stand and sticks with it – his last unequivocal stand being his endorsement of Peter Obi of Labour Party for president in the 2023 presidential election, based on justice and equity. It turned out his last political battle. With Bola Ahmed Tinubu as presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party ( APC ), a large section of Yorubas went into ethnic mode to pillory the Afenifere leader for supporting an Igbo against a fellow Yoruba. Some members of Afenifere left to form a splinter group that endorsed Tinubu for president. Chief Ayo Adebanjo was the target of a bruising campaign of calumny to which he usually responded with infectious , boisterous aplomb in stoutly defending the logic of his stand on equity among Nigeria’s tripod of North, West and East to the presidency. When Peter Obi , the one they said had no structure on ground, scored the landmark, upset victory of defeating, Tinubu, the Lagos Landlord, in his Lagos domain, in the presidential election, the opposition went for broke in the virulence of their attacks on Chief Adebanjo. Nothing was spared in the demonization of the old political warhorse . One character, in a social media post that went viral, even claimed Chief Ayo Adebanjo was half Igbo, that his mother was Igbo !!! Imagine the audacity of that blatant lie. Of course, Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s mother was Yoruba, of Ijebu stock. I had raised the issue with Baba at his Isanya-Ogbo country home, that we should counter this big lie. But he had told me , with a wry smile, “ Bisi, leave them alone. It is not worth it “. Days later, I had an appointment with a Professor of Ophthalmology in Lagos who repeated the lie of Chief Adebanjo not being a full blooded Yoruba because his mother was Igbo. I tried to correct the misinformation but she was not convinced, telling me why was it not refuted. But my greatest shock was on Saturday, February 15, 2025, the day after the passing on of Chief Adebanjo, when at Ede, where I live, people gathered at the vendor’s place in Oke Gada while discussing the late Afenifere leader’s last political stand also said he supported his kinsman Obi because his mother was Igbo !!. It then dawned on me gravity of the menace posed by disseminators of fake news and why it must be tackled by the government with the urgency and severity of sanctions it deserves. If someone can brazenly peddle such a lie about a national figure like Chief Ayo Adebanjo, what can they not publish about us regular folks ?
The 2023 elections which triggered the lie about Chief Adebanjo’s maternal nativity, also drew editorial attacks. Three days to the gubernatorial election, I had written a piece captioned ‘ The Igbo & the battle for Lagos’, published in many newspapers, including The Guardian and The Nigerian Tribune, both on March 16, 2023. In that write-up, I had , among others, stated : “ Whipping up Yoruba ethnic sentiments against the Igbo portrays the APC as a drowning party seeking any straw to cling on. It is a manifestation of the desperation of Tinubu and the APC, apparently destabilized by the Obidients’ phenomenon “. Surprisingly, on the same day the write-up was published , the Tinubu media gladiators published a counter in The Nation newspaper, which did not publish the article itself. Rather than responding to the points raised , the surrogate writer, Ayodele Ola Daniels, described the write-up as ‘’ malicious , malevolent analyses’’ . However, it was a manifestation of their obsession with Chief Ayo Adebanjo that they implied that he sponsored the write-up by noting that : “ After all, Olawunmi’s kinsman , mentor and sponsor, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, endorsed Peter Obi in the presidential election”. Then the clincher : “Pa Adebanjo is not known to have won any election anywhere in his life ! ‘’. This is what had confounded critics of Chief Ayo Adebanjo over the years , how in spite of his not having occupied any of those lofty , aphrodisiac , public offices like minister , senator or governor, he had, by strength of character, attained prominent public visibility and earned respect for his articulate position on issues, from restructuring to a united one Nigeria. He had only been pioneer organizing secretary of the Action Group in the 1950s. One concedes that Tinubu’s thunder in Abeokuta – the Emilokan battle cry – was seen by many as tantamount to committing political hara-kiri, but in spite of the odds stacked against him, still triumphantly clinched the presidency. But the question arises : after the victory, where is the beef ? Back then in 2023, Daniels had assured us that ‘’ Tinubu’s presidency will usher in a new , brighter , more prosperous , stable, secure and United Nigeria’’ and that ‘’ The Bisi Olawunmis of this world would have a long, inconsolable winter ahead.’’. Well, getting to two years on in the Tinubu Presidency, prosperity and security remain elusive and millions of Nigerian Bisi Olawunmis, nationwide, are experiencing inconsolable, harsh economic winter !!
Chief Ayo Adebanjo had opposed Tinubu’s presidential bid on principle of equity and often said it was not a declaration of war, which was why he visited Tinubu during the time he had health challenges before the election. This gesture was lost on the Tinubu boys. However, in spite of the irreverent Tinubu political gladiators, among the glowing tributes to Chief Ayo Adebanjo, I found the one by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ( a.k.a. Emilokan ) quite gratifying for the humility in publicly acknowledging the pivotal role of Chief Ayo Adebanjo , as acting chairman of the Alliance for Democracy party , in getting him elected as Governor of Lagos state in 1999, a position that launched his political trajectory. “ His ( Adebanjo ) unwavering commitment to truth and justice extended to my journey as governorship candidate in 1999. Baba Adebanjo’s steadfast support was instrumental in my election as Governor of Lagos State under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy’. Tinubu had added : ‘’Until his death, I shared a deep personal bond with Baba Adebanjo; he was like a father figure’’ . Those Tinubu laudatory words about Chief Ayo Adebanjo , ‘’ unwavering commitment to justice ‘’ played out in 1999 in commendation but played out in 2023 in condemnation !!! Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a man of politics without bitterness, died on Feb. 14 - Valentine Day - a day of showing amity, which hopefully, may create a pathway to restoring harmony to Afenifere, the umbrella Yoruba body, which he led with passion and dedication.
Chief Ayo Adebanjo lived a frank , unpretentious and fulfilling life. He harped on life’s transient nature and had always jokingly reminded people of his imminent passage. He used to say : Ayo Adebanjo ti se ti e , o ku siyin lowo ( Ayo Adebanjo has done his beat, it is left for others to carry on).. He ran a good race and ended well. He left a legacy of political fidelity to justice, equity and a principled stand in furtherance of Nigerian brotherhood.
Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede, is a former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria and Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors. PHONR : 0803 364 7571 Email : olawunmibisi@yahoo.com.
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Politics has been variously defined as ‘authoritative allocation of values or “who gets what when and how”. But I think in terms of intrigue that goes into balancing the interest of pressure groups and public interest, deviousness and ruthlessness of office seekers and for our purpose in this write up ‘politics as the art of the possible will be more appropriate (Otto Von Bismarck, German statesman and First Chancellor of Unified Germany 1815-1898).
The truth is that not all office seekers or office holders are politicians. Politicians are a special breed of selfless public servants who are not deterred by the fact they that are hardly trusted by the public they serve who often see them as corrupt, devious and men of many words. These largely misunderstood patriots ruled and may sometimes be addressed as their excellences, but others call the tune. Unfortunately, no matter how much politicians are detested, our survival as an organized society depends on their resourcefulness and brinkmanship.
Of course, bluffing Governor Similayi Fubara who had all his past battle fought for him is not a politician. In fact he is not smart enough to learn from our recent history.
We once had a Raji Babatunde Fashola, a non-politician but a very smart guy as governor of Lagos State. He was not his party’s but his godfather’s choice. When he had a slight disagreement with his godfather, all those who had wanted his job, rose up in his defence not because they loved him, but to spite his godfather. Opposition parties were dangling their party’s’ ticket in his face in case he was denied his party’s ticket for a second term.
But instead of swallowing the poison as Fubara did, he went for an international engagement where he gave a lecture and announced to the whole world that “Tinubu made me governor”. That became newspaper headlines in both local and international newspaper the following day. The godfather was humbled. If the godfather today takes credit for landmark projects like the Lagos rail line and Atlantic City, it was because his trusted godson, the actualiser, unlike Ambode who ignored some of the projects during his four years tenure, remained faithful to his godfather and his dream project.
Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, following some disagreement with Obasanjo also joined forces with his estranged godfather’s political foes including James Ibori who also headed the Yar’Adua group that did not want Jonathan to succeed the ailing President Yar’Adua. This was long after he had declared publicly that apart from God and his biological parents, Obasanjo was the next most important personality in is life. Jonathan was hijacked by the late pa Edwin Clark, who gave himself the title of ’father of the president’ to spite Obasanjo. Jonathan forgot his battle was fought by the likes of Tunde Bakare on the streets of Lagos and Abuja with the ‘doctrine of necessity’ slogan. The rest is history.
Today, facing the same scenario, Fubara, like Jonathan, teamed up with enemies of Wike, his estranged godfather including Imo Ikenga Ugochinyere, who has today become Fubara’s interpreter of court pronouncements. Others include PDP stalwarts in borrowed robe of media men who would not forgive Wike for bringing PDP down during the 2023 elections. Some of them pretend to be news anchors without appreciating that the greatest attributes of a news anchor include journalistic integrity, professionalism and ability to be ‘silent and listen”. These men lionized Fubara, encouraged him to stand up to his estranged godfather and talked him out of his initial undertaking to implement term of truce reached when the president first intervened.
Unfortunately, Fubara still does not understand that the only people benefiting from the tragedy he has inadvertently brought upon his people are these self-serving advisers and media promoters who smile to the banks at the expense of besieged people of Rivers.
For instance, ‘News commercialisation’ which refers to situation “whereby the electronic media report as news or news analysis a commercial message by an unidentified or unidentifiable sponsor giving the audience the impression that news is fair, objective and socially responsible”(Nnorom,1994) is not cheap. The 30 minutes slot cannot be anything less than N20m. That is what someone coughs out to allow the likes of Ikenga Ugochinyere to speak without substance on TV for 30 minutes in the name of fighting Fubara’s war. He was pathetic to watch last week on Fubara’s favourite TV platform as he gave his own interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment after which he urged Fubara to ‘carry on’ the battle.
The above forces that exploited Fubara’s lack of capacity to understand that sometimes in political warfare , you may have to stoop to conquer, were behind his missing of an historic opportunity provided by last week landmark Supreme Court judgment to end his people’s nightmare after two years of his unstable government.
The Supreme Court judgment was straight forward.
The court ruled there is no evidence that the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), because without evidence presented before the court, in the eyes of the law, no defection took place and consequently the status quo in the House of Assembly must remain.
It criticized the governor for behaving likes a despot by demolishing the House of Assembly complex and preventing the 27 lawmakers from sitting. It also condemned Fubara for destroying of Rivers State over his fear of impeachment
“Since the executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the legislature to enable him to govern without the legislature as a despot, the Supreme Court held that “As it is, there is no government in Rivers State”.
It held that “The doctrine of necessity cannot be invoked to justify the continued existence of a deliberately contrived illegal or unconstitutional status quo.
That “political disagreements cannot justify these attacks and contempt for the rule of law by the governor of a state or any person.
That “The part of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, affirming the judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No. FHC/AB)/CS/984/2024 is hereby affirmed.
That “The said judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No. FHC/AB)/CS/984/2024 is hereby restored.
That “For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby ordered that the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant General of the Federation should forthwith stop releasing and paying to the Government of Rivers State, its organs,… until an Appropriation Law is made by Rivers State House of Assembly constituted as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution.
That “The Rt. Honourable Martin Chike Amaewhule and the other 26 members should forthwith resume unhindered sitting as Speaker and members respectively of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
With all the roads blocked, if only Fubara understands politics as the art of the possible, and had without the meddlesomeness of elders and politicians on both sides of the aisle who speak from both sides of the mouth, picked up the phone to congratulate the speaker of his state House of Assembly and his colleagues over their victory at the court and offer to forward the 2025 budget and the list of his commissioners as directed by the Supreme Court, the following day.
And let us for a moment imagine Fubara with awesome apparatus of his office storming Wike’s victory church thanksgiving in Abuja and insisting Rivers State seat of power remains in his house until he agrees to join him for another thanksgiving in Port Harcourt to convince the mass of Rivers people in whose name they all swore, that the battle was over.
Of course Fubara would have seized the initiative while Wike would have been humbled.
Unfortunately, Fubara who cannot appreciate the worth of the office he never fought for will rather keep on playing the ostrich. Whilst he claims to wait for certified copy of the court judgment to start complying with the Supreme Court judgment, that has not stopped him from starting preparation for the conduct of a new local government election. A few days after informing his street boys to wait for signals, a trending video of AK-47 wielding militants in the creeks threatening to attack oil installations emerged. The Punch gave an elaborate coverage to them and their demand.
Ijaw youths have also joined the fray in support of Fubara, the first Rivers governor of Ijaw ethnic extraction.
The question now is with Fubara’s resolve to continue waging war against his own government, politicians admitting treachery against their state, elders speaking from both side of the mouth while our once beautiful ‘Garden City’ turns into a city of blood by militants groomed and armed by Rivers’ successive governors, who is going to save Rivers?
On March 6, 2025, chaos erupted at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (DISCO) in Lagos when a group of Nigerian Air Force personnel stormed the premises. Their reason? The power supply to their base had been disconnected. The attack, reminiscent of a military-style raid, left DISCO staff in panic and confusion.
This incident occurred at a time when Nigerians were still processing the news that the country’s power generation had increased from an embarrassingly low 4,000 megawatts—woefully inadequate for a nation of over 200 million people—to 5,800 megawatts. Coincidentally, following the assault on Ikeja DISCO, the national electricity grid suffered yet another collapse on March 7, 2025, plunging the nation into darkness.
Some conspiracy theorists speculate that the grid failure may have been an act of silent protest by electricity workers, sympathizing with their assaulted colleagues. Others point to the alarming pattern: the March 7 collapse was the third nationwide blackout in just three months, with the previous one occurring on February 12. A look at historical data paints an even grimmer picture—Nigeria experienced 12 system failures last year, averaging one per month, while over the past decade, the grid has collapsed more than 100 times, often leaving the country without power for hours or even days.
The Root Cause of Nigeria’s Power Crisis
At the heart of this crisis lies an aging electricity infrastructure inherited from the colonial era, now severely outdated. To illustrate the severity of the situation, consider this analogy:
A friend of mine owned a battered Volkswagen Beetle while studying at the University of Benin. The car was so old and unreliable that it wouldn’t start with just the turn of a key—it needed to be pushed to get moving. Aware of this, my friend always parked on a slope, ensuring he could start the car without help. This strategy allowed him to keep using the car, even though it was far from ideal. However, if an unsuspecting driver parked it on flat ground, they would be stranded without assistance.
Nigeria’s power system is like that Volkswagen Beetle—an outdated, fragile infrastructure barely kept running by experienced operators who know its weaknesses. For decades, these professionals have managed to sustain the grid at a suboptimal level, much like my friend kept his car running. However, when a “new driver”—in this case, the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu—attempts to overload the system without addressing its weaknesses, the result is frequent, catastrophic failures. Experts have warned that the transmission infrastructure is too fragile to handle increased power loads, yet these warnings have been ignored, leading to repeated grid collapses.
A Century of Neglect
Nigeria’s electricity system has suffered from a lack of investment, maintenance, and modernization since colonial times. Infrastructure that should be displayed in a museum as a relic of the past remains the backbone of the nation’s power supply. For nearly a century, successive governments have failed to replace this antiquated system, leaving Nigeria trapped in a cycle of power shortages and economic stagnation.
If Nigeria is to escape this crisis, urgent reforms and large-scale investments in modern electricity infrastructure are needed. Without these changes, the country will remain stuck with a failing system—much like a driver trying to start a broken-down car on level ground, hoping for a miracle.
Why Nigeria’s Power Supply Remains Unstable 65 Years After Independence
More than six decades after gaining independence, Nigeria continues to struggle with an unreliable power supply, largely due to its outdated electricity infrastructure. The country’s national grid dates back to the colonial era, with its foundations laid as early as 1914, when the northern and southern protectorates were amalgamated. Despite the passage of time, the power sector has seen little progress, particularly in the transmission segment, which remains in a state of disrepair.
The reason for this is rooted in the flawed privatization of the power sector. While the generation (GENCOs) and distribution (DISCOs) segments were transferred to private ownership, the transmission network remained under government control through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). As a result, while private investors have upgraded parts of the generation and distribution infrastructure, the transmission system has remained stagnant due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and lack of investment.
A Flawed Privatization Process
The unbundling of Nigeria’s power sector began in 2005 under President Olusegun Obasanjo, with Vice President Atiku Abubakar leading the initiative and Nasir El-Rufai overseeing it as Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The process continued under President Goodluck Jonathan, who, in 2013, further liberalized the sector by selling power assets to private investors.
However, political conflicts—particularly the fallout between Obasanjo and Abubakar towards the end of their tenure—disrupted what could have been a successful transition. Unlike the telecommunications sector, which attracted major global players like MTN and Econet during its privatization, the power sector was largely taken over by local businessmen with limited financial and technical expertise. Instead of industry giants like Siemens or General Electric, Nigeria’s electricity assets ended up in the hands of investors who lacked the capacity to revamp the sector.
Limited Success and Persistent Challenges
A decade after privatization, the expected improvements in power supply have not materialized. While a few DISCOs—such as Ikeja, Eko, and Abuja—have made some progress, many others struggle to remain viable. On the other hand, the generation sector has seen notable improvements, with output increasing from 4,000 megawatts to 15,000 megawatts due to investments in upgrading old power plants and new entrants like Azure Power in Edo State and Geometric Power in Abia State.
However, the biggest bottleneck remains the transmission network. Despite the increased power generation, only a fraction of the electricity produced reaches end-users due to the outdated and insufficient transmission infrastructure, which is at least 50 years old. The inefficiency of TCN—still under government control—has prevented the electricity sector from functioning optimally.
A Better Approach to Power Sector Reform
Nigeria’s electricity privatization model deviates from global best practices. In many countries, the entire power supply chain—generation, transmission, and distribution—is sold to a single investor, ensuring integrated operations and accountability. In contrast, Nigeria split the sector into three separate entities, each with different operators who have varying capacities and resources. This fragmented approach has resulted in inefficiencies, with TCN becoming the weak link in the value chain.
To address this issue, Nigeria must either privatize the transmission segment to attract serious investors or adopt a more integrated approach to power sector management. Without these reforms, the country will continue to experience erratic power supply, regardless of how much electricity is generated.
Strengthening Nigeria’s Power Sector: Lessons from China and India
Nigeria’s electricity supply chain—spanning generation, transmission, and distribution—has proven to be weak, particularly at the points where these three segments intersect. This situation can be likened to a relay race where the baton handoff between runners is frequently botched, leading to inefficiencies and failures.
In more advanced economies, power companies are typically granted exclusive market zones where they generate, transmit, and distribute electricity seamlessly. However, Nigeria adopted a different approach, similar to the telecom sector, where multiple operators were licensed to handle different aspects of the power supply chain in an interconnected system. This model, while theoretically workable, has not delivered the expected results due to poor coordination and weak infrastructure.
To understand the depth of the problem, Nigeria’s power sector can be compared to a river that began to be polluted in 2005, became heavily contaminated by 2013, and now, in 2025, requires urgent purification. Instead of continuous complaints about the failures in the sector, it is time to take decisive action to remove the barriers hindering the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. Industrialization—a key driver of national development—depends on solving this crisis.
Learning from China and India
A possible way forward is to draw lessons from China and India, two countries that were once in similar power supply crises but successfully transformed into industrial powerhouses.
China’s Strategy for Electrification
China tackled its electricity challenges through a multi-pronged strategy, integrating electrification into its national development plans as part of its broader poverty eradication strategy. Key steps included:
1. Infrastructure Development: The “Infrastructure to Every Village Project” ensured that electricity, roads, water, and telecoms reached rural areas.
2. Stakeholder Coordination: The central government led policy formulation and investment, while provincial governments handled implementation. This coordination was critical in expanding and upgrading the national grid.
3. Renewable Energy Investments: China aggressively pursued clean energy, setting a target for non-fossil energy to contribute 20% of its total energy consumption by 2025. It built mega renewable energy projects, smart grids, and hybrid high-voltage transmission lines to balance power supply across regions.
These efforts culminated in China achieving full electrification by 2015, positioning the country as the world’s leading industrial hub.
India’s Path to Energy Security
Like Nigeria, India was once a British colony and faced similar electricity shortages. However, through targeted reforms and investments, India overcame its power crisis and became an economic powerhouse. The key measures taken included:
1. Institutional Reforms:
• Establishment of Electricity Regulatory Commissions (ERCs) to ensure fair competition and consumer protection.
• Creation of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to coordinate the national power system.
2. Policy Reforms:
• Electricity Act (2003): Unbundled state electricity boards, promoted private sector participation, and established a national grid.
• National Electricity Policy (2005): Aimed at universal electricity access, energy efficiency, and reliable power supply.
• Renewable Energy Policy: Set ambitious targets for non-fossil fuel energy sources, aiming for 40% of installed capacity by 2030.
3. Infrastructure Investments:
• Expansion of Power Generation: Increased capacity from 112 GW in 2005 to over 400 GW by 2022, focusing on renewable energy.
• National Grid Development: Strengthened the grid to ensure efficient power transmission across the country.
• Smart Grid Initiatives: Modernized grid infrastructure, improving energy efficiency and customer experience.
4. Financial Incentives:
• Viability Gap Funding (VGF): Government support for renewable energy projects to make them financially viable.
• Tax Incentives: Encouraged private sector investment in the power sector.
• Low-Cost Funding: Provided affordable financing for power sector projects through institutions like the Power Finance Corporation.
By implementing these measures, India scaled up its energy production from 190 GW to 400 GW, transforming itself into a global manufacturing hub. The success of its “Make in India” initiative underscores the role of stable electricity in industrial growth.
The Way Forward for Nigeria
Nigeria can no longer afford to lag in electricity reform. The success stories of China and India prove that targeted policies, infrastructure investments, and strong regulatory frameworks can turn an electricity-deficient nation into an industrial powerhouse. If Nigeria adopts a similar approach—prioritizing electrification in national development plans, streamlining regulatory frameworks, and attracting serious investors—it can finally break free from its chronic power shortages and achieve long-overdue industrialization.
Nigeria has much to learn from both China and India, particularly the latter, which successfully leveraged World Bank funding to address its electricity challenges—something Nigeria has attempted but with less commitment.
A closer examination of Nigeria’s energy crisis reveals a troubling reality. Despite the country’s numerous political and administrative reforms over the years, the electricity sector has remained largely unchanged since colonial times. While Nigeria has evolved from its amalgamation in 1914 to independence in 1960 and has since expanded from three regions to 36 states, its electricity infrastructure remains centralized and outdated.
This stagnation is evident in the persistent lack of investment in critical areas, particularly transmission. Given this reality, it is unrealistic for Nigerians to expect stable and adequate power supply when the sector remains underfunded and structurally inefficient. For instance, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, recently revealed that power generation companies (GENCOs) are owed approximately ₦350 billion. This financial strain threatens the viability of the sector, which depends on consistent investment to sustain operations and generate returns for private investors. Many of these investors rely on bank loans, and if they default, it could trigger a broader financial crisis with severe economic consequences.
The challenges extend to the distribution companies (DISCOs), where workers face significant risks while delivering electricity to end users. A recent case in Lagos saw officers from the Nigerian Air Force storming Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company’s premises after the company disconnected power to the air force base due to an unpaid ₦4 billion debt. This reflects a broader problem, as many government agencies and military installations across the country regularly default on their electricity bills. Even the Aso Rock Presidential Villa and several state governments have been threatened with disconnection due to outstanding payments.
This persistent non-payment culture stems from an outdated mindset in the public sector, where officials still view electricity as a government-provided service rather than a privatized utility that requires payment. The 2013 privatization of the power sector failed to address this issue, leading to ongoing financial distress and operational inefficiencies.
Addressing these challenges requires significant structural reforms. Unlike generation and distribution, which are privately owned, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) remains government-controlled. This presents an opportunity for privatization, allowing for a more integrated and efficient electricity supply chain. Furthermore, of the 11 DISCOs operating in Nigeria, only three are financially viable, while the remaining eight have effectively been taken over by the government. A logical next step would be to merge the viable DISCOs with strong GENCOs and allow them to acquire transmission infrastructure in their respective zones, creating a model similar to those in advanced economies.
This restructuring will be difficult but necessary. As the saying goes, “No pain, no gain.” To succeed, Nigeria’s leadership must embrace bold reforms. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum once said, “An easy life doesn’t make men, nor does it build nations. Challenges make men, and it is these men who build nations.” Nigeria’s energy crisis demands decisive action.
President Bola Tinubu should take inspiration from the transformative approaches of China and India by declaring a state of emergency in the electricity sector. These countries recognized that reliable power was the foundation of industrial growth and took radical steps to achieve it.
As Ernest Hemingway put it, “Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the way with what matters.” For Nigeria, nothing matters more at this moment than ensuring abundant electricity supply—because without it, the nation’s industrial ambitions will remain unfulfilled.
Magnus Onyibe, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, democracy advocate, development strategist, alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and a former commissioner in the Delta State government, sent this piece from Lagos, Nigeria.
The English language is a compulsive borrower; a great debtor. It borrows any word that catches its fancy anyhow and from anywhere. From Ancient Rome, the Englishman got loaned mobile vulgus, the Latin phrase for ‘movable, excitable crowd’. The Englishman took that loan and quickly slim-fit the borrowed item to ‘mobile’, then in 1688, he clipped the abbreviation to ‘mob’.
If you are looking for a more practical definition of ‘mob’, go to the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Members there will, in confounding unity, act the mob if you dare their leader and question their privileges. Or you go and read reports of how soldiers beat up electricity workers in Ikeja, Lagos last week. Think of the parliament as a mob. Think of a military of rioters and street brawlers. Can you ever spot the difference between having soldiers as rioters and having rioters as soldiers? Think about the confusion here.
What the mob is came to my mind as I read of some soldiers of the Nigerian Air Force invading the headquarters of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) last Thursday, beating up workers and visitors and even journalists. Why? They acted wild because of the very high electricity bill they get while their base get supplied with very low or no electricity by the company. The attack was a shocking, shameful, deplorable act of security people wreaking insecurity.
Self-help is an eye for an eye; it is the Roman’s Lex talionis, the law of retaliation. If it is allowed to reign here, everyone will soon be blind. Criminal self-help is when soldiers had a payment-for-power dispute with a company and decided to use the might they have to claim their rights. Do our brothers in uniform think we (Nigerians without guns) are stupid for peacefully surrendering to Never Expect Power Always?
Poor soldiers beating up poor electricity workers and journalists is a shame. Everyone is misdirecting their anger. They are just oppressing their own tribe, the tribe of the dispossessed. The real sinners beyond the whip, they are too safe to be beaten.
Who told our soldiers that beating the hell out of electricity workers would give them uninterrupted power supply? The problem is bigger than big. You can’t force the eunuch to ‘do’ that thing. His existence is defined by impotence with all the innuendos and allusions. Force won’t help the forces. Even powerful Tiger in the old story of ‘Tortoise, Tiger and Monkey’ could not hammer out sweet shit from the traumatized belly of his victim.
The power supply situation in the country is horrible. Businesses are stuttering and bleeding and crying. A friend in telecoms told me that the reality of power in Nigeria and, particularly, the cost of diesel, has turned every base station to a full company. The cost of Nigeria’s darkness is horrifying, frustrating. Everyone is displeased and angry. But self-help by officers of the law is subversion of the law; it is not the solution.
What the solution is, I do not know. What I know is what my culture says impunity is. It is Taa ní ó mú mi? The translation is something like “Whatever I do, who will query and punish me? Who can?”
Because I am as helpless as the beaten workers and reporters, I plead with military authorities to beg the beaten for forgiveness, compensate them for the trauma and sanction the beaters. I also beg the authorities to leash their dogs and recalibrate the discipline we’ve always known with our uniformed forces. Gold should not rust. If it does, what then shall iron do?
“Possibly he cohabited with Miss Bloggs, but don’t mention it in front of his wife, let the sleeping dogs lie.” Gordon Jarvie’s ‘Dictionary of Idioms’ contains that example of a warning that has been with us since Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1385 epic poem, Troilus and Criseyde. When the storm is angry and howling, the wise stay safe. I thought every man has that wisdom until I heard Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the weekend in Abuja vowing to devour a bowl of very hot 20-year-old pounded yam. To him, the sleeping dog must stop sleeping.
For some people, one trouble at a time is not enough. I count Akpabio among such persons. The mouthful wahala from delectable Senator Natasha is not enough; voracious Akpabio must do Oliver Twist; he wants one more problem to solve. He threatened at the weekend to sue former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, over her 2020 allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him. Where are Akpabio’s younger friends? They should read to him Harry Porter’s exasperation: “And quite honestly, I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.”
In July 2020, Nunieh alleged that she slapped Akpabio, who was the then Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, because he allegedly sexually harassed her:
“Why did he not tell Nigerians that I slapped him in his guest house at Apo? I am the only Ogoni woman, the only Nigerian woman that has slapped him. I slapped him because of his plan B. Since he couldn’t get me to take that money, he thought that he could come up on me,” she told Arise TV at the time and proceeded to explain that sexual harassment was what she meant by “come up on me.”
For five years, Akpabio slumbered and snored. A slap from a lady called Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan appears to have now woken up Nigeria’s number one lawmaker. Addressing the matter at the weekend, Akpabio announced his intention to take legal action against Nunieh. “My other sister, the one they sometimes refer to as Joy Nunieh, I will like to mention her name because she will be hearing from my lawyer anytime in the next one week. Crime never dies.”
When is trouble enough? And, does the right to seek judicial remedies exist forever? By July this year, it will be five years since Nunieh made her sensational slap statement. She uttered the claim, Akpabio pretended she said nothing significant. Akpabio is a lawyer. At the law school, his teachers taught him that rights of action are subject to specific time frames. The cause of action occurred in Abuja. The Limitation Act which applies in Abuja, what does it say on when a man is stopped from suing for defamation of character? Or does Akpabio want to approach this as a criminal offence which is not statute-barred, especially now that he is Nigeria’s very powerful number three citizen? In that case, it won’t be a case of “hearing from (his) lawyers”. It will be a case of the slapper hearing from the very duteous Nigeria police. We cannot wait.
What should be a leader’s reaction to attacks and allegations? The British House of Lords in 1987 delivered a controversial judgment backing the ban of Spycatcher, the memoirs of a former MI5 officer, Peter Wright. The Daily Mirror reacted with an upside down photo of the three law lords who decided the case in favour of Margaret Thatcher’s government. The picture came with the caption: ‘You Old Fools.’ Many thought that was insulting and contemptuous of the court. But, the Law Lord, Sydney William Templeman, did not think so. The lord noted that the caption contained three words ‘You’, ‘Old’ and ‘Fools’. The world might think the caption offensive but to my lord, they were not. Templeman said it was indeed true that he was an old man. He said being a fool or not was a matter of perception but he knew he was not a fool. He caused the matter to end right there.
Sir Alexander Cockburn was England’s Lord Chief Justice in 1879. He was incensed at scathing criticisms of one of his rulings. He thought the right course to take was to use his high office and his knowledge of the law to take down his critics. Cockburn did the very unusual: he published a 24-page pamphlet in rebuttal of the strictures and thoroughly abused his critics. But his pamphlet did not help him; his rebuttal attracted a string of counter-rebuttals. Records say that the Lord Chief Justice came out of that controversy diminished in social and intellectual standing. Roderick Munday who went over that case again in 1987, wrote that “this unedifying episode illustrates how even the holder of the highest office can make a spectacle of himself.” Munday’s conclusion is that “if ever a judge again feels disposed to respond to public strictures, he might first do well to ponder the experience of Cockburn C.J.”
A man in a hole is still digging. Senator Akpabio thinks an old and long-forgotten war is worth exhuming. He must combine it with the present and have both crushed.
Can I now examine how he is handling the present problem? Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Akpabio of sexual harassment. Akpabio kept quiet for almost a week; when he spoke, it was as a judge in his own case. His wife and almost the whole of the Senate were the first to come out roaring. They said Akpabio did not do what he was accused of doing. They said the lady had assaulted the integrity of their presiding officer. They were very rancorous like passengers in a midair troubled plane.
One of the senators said Natasha should use the period of her suspension to learn the Senate rules. I found that quite ironic. It will be appropriate if that member and other members learn what the law says about a man judging his own case. Or, what did they think happened when Mr Akpabio appointed the jury, sat as the judge, read his judgment and convicted his accuser? If you are accused of harbouring unsightly intestines, why wouldn’t you use common sense to pack it well and far from public sneer. The convicted is already shouting fair hearing. A first-year law student knows that the Latin phrase, ‘Nemo Judex In Causa Sua’ means no one should be a judge in his own cause. It is a universal principle of fair hearing that in judicial and administrative proceedings, a judge or an administrator having personal or proprietary interest in the outcome of a proceeding must not exercise adjudicatory powers in the case in question. Was Akpabio set up to take that route? A smart Akpabio would have let his deputy handle that case. If he did, justice would have been seen to have been done. Or, could it be that Akpabio and his Senate believed that only weaklings without money and power bother about procedural fairness? And there are lawyers among them.
I do not know how they do it where Akpabio comes from but in my part of the country, no wise man is allowed to directly judge his own case. A man would be an original àgbà òsìkà to make himself judge over his enemies. Section 36 of our constitution is clear on this. And it is universal in its application. The US Supreme Court also carefully laid this out: “A fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process. Fairness, of course, requires an absence of actual bias in the trial of cases… To this end, no man can be a judge in his own case and no man is permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome.” In another case, the court held that “prejudice, in order to be disqualifying, must consist of a personal animosity toward one party or very strong feeling in favour of the other party.” In this case of Natasha, Chief Akpabio was actually the other party – the accused; and he was the judge.
The senate riotously mobbed the accuser out of the chamber. She will be in the cold for six months. This is not about who is saying the truth and who is lying. No one outside the two actors can say what the truth is. What is true is known to the supposedly harassed and the alleged harasser. But I think Akpabio, for whatever reasons, should not have bungled his case. He shouldn’t have sat over the matter with the catty visage of the lion, king of the jungle. What he did is what the English qualify with the word ‘impunity’. And I think he did so because in this country, anyone blessed with his kind of uncommon bigness is hefty enough to pocket the law.
At the weekend again, Akpabio went regional in search of defence. He thought his tribulations should wear the tunic of politics. He vowed that the South South region (where he comes from) would not surrender the senate presidency no matter the level of gang up against him. He said: “The Senate President of today is not representing himself alone. He is representing a people who are very crucial to the economic life wire of this country. So, when people gang up and conspire, I hear voices from Adamawa shouting, I hear voices from Kwara State shouting, I hear some young people from the southwest being used for something they don’t know, they don’t know the rules of the Senate, you can’t be a herbalist and start quoting the Bible, you won’t know what to quote.” Interesting. So, are Akpabio’s enemies from the South West, the North Central and the North East? Who are they? Those who want to be lame should be completely lame, the blind should be blind totally; half blinded people always plunge the world into wars. If I were Akpabio, I would be total in naming names. That is what real men do.
If you carry a pot of uncommon palm oil, run away from stone throwers. Has Akpabio ever heard the Yoruba story of Eku kékeré tó ní òun yóò ba isé àgbè jé (The small rat that says it will destroy the farmer’s work)? The story, with a little adjustment, is reproduced here as told by James Bọ̀dé Agbájé in his ‘Proverbs: A Strategy for Resolving Conflict in Yorùbá Society’:
“There was once a small rat on a farm who said to the farmer that he would destroy all the farmer’s work. The farmer answered the rat: ‘How can you destroy my work, you tiny idiot?’ When the maize on the farm matured, the rat went to see the farmer and told him again that he would destroy all the farmer’s work. The farmer just burst out laughing and told the rat: ‘You are joking. How will you destroy this huge maize farm?’ The rat said okay and departed. When the farmer was harvesting his maize, the rat revisited the farm and again promised the farmer that one day all his harvest would be destroyed. The farmer just ignored the rat and the rat went away. After the farmer had finished packing all his harvested crops in the aka (‘barn’), the rat managed to enter the barn unnoticed. He started eating part of the maize and left the wasted remnants covering the ground.
“The farmer knew what was happening and announced, ‘I know you are in there. You just hide yourself there.’ He was determined to deal ruthlessly with the small wicked rat. The rat heard the farmer and answered him. He told him that he had promised the farmer that his farm would be destroyed and the time had now come for the operation. The angry farmer thought he should just smoke out the stupid tiny rat. A little fire he made went out of hand. Within the twinkling of an eye, all the maize caught fire. Just then, the rat escaped and the whole place was burnt to ashes. Later, the rat went to the farmer and said to him that the deed was done. The rat boasted: ‘I promised to shatter your efforts and you underrated what I said. Haven’t I destroyed all the fruits of your labour now?’ The farmer was downcast and started to bite his fingers in regret. He said that if he had taken the proper precautions and had not underrated the stupid tiny rat, the whole situation could have been averted.” The powerful should be very careful; the ground is wet and slippery.