OTHERS' VIEWS
Yesterday, the 21st of June 2023 was world music day. 21st of June every year has been a date that is reserved exclusively to celebrate music and by extension celebrate the creators of music; the musicians. The primary purpose of celebrating world music day is to encourage aspiring musicians to share their crafts, gain more visibility and create a forum for artists to demonstrate their abilities.
The major problem encountered by aspiring musicians is visibility. Getting to “blow” and becoming famous so that a large number of people will listen to their music and appreciate their talents and from that generate revenues for themselves. Out of that desperation “to blow”, budding artistes have yoked themselves with some throat-cutting record label deals only to regret why they signed the deal later on.
I recently got a brief from an artiste who was complaining hard that he signed out of desperation an eight-year record deal with a record label and he is expected to release 400 songs for the label for the period of the eight years. One of the clauses stated that if the artistes wish to leave the label without dropping 400 songs for the period of the 8 years term, the artiste is to pay the label a certain huge amount of money as compensation.
The legal truth is, no matter how brutal a record label deal like this may seem, it is a contract and every party in a contract is expected to fulfill his or her own obligation in the contract or he will be held for breach of the contract unless the contract was made under fraud, facts were misrepresented or a party signed the contract under coercion or undue influence.
When an artiste signs a record deal contract, it is presumed that the artiste thoroughly read, reviewed the contract, and understood its contents before he appended his signature and he signed it knowing fully what he is signing and it, therefore, becomes a binding contract which the artiste must fulfill his own obligation, anything other than that amounts to breach of contract.
Although, there are some exceptions to an artiste leaving a label without fulfilling his obligation and it won’t be held to be a breach of the record label contract; this includes when a record label deal or the contract expects you as an artiste to do what is literally impossible. Like if a record label expects you to record and release a new song every minute of the day, this is literally impossible and a court of equity will hold that there has not been a breach if the artiste fails to fulfill this obligation. Also, If the record label that signed the artiste fails to fulfill its own obligation or hold up to its own side of the bargain then an artiste can exit the label and he won’t be held to have breached the contract. For instance, if the clause in the record label contract states that the record label will pay the artiste a certain amount as an advance fee for the contract but the label fails to do that, then they have failed to hold up their own end of the bargain and the artiste is entitled to exit. Also if the label fails to regularly invest in the music and promote the music of the artiste as the contract stated, then the artiste is entitled to exit the label anytime and he won’t be foreclosed for breach of contract.
It is always advised that despite your desperation to blow, endeavour to consult a lawyer who will interpret the contents of the contract to you in layman’s terms, and renegotiate some clauses of the contract before you sign it.
This time eight years ago, Nigerians still basking in the euphoria of having a martinet president began to ascribe all kinds of wonderful happenstances to his body language. So excited were the supporters of former President Muhammadu Buhari about the country’s potential under him that they attributed some magicality to otherwise routine happenings. Civil servants resume work at 8 am as expected of them? It was Buhari’s body language that motivated them to their newfound sense of responsibility. Did the electricity company supply power for 18 hours a day instead of their habitual six hours? Yes, that must be Buhari’s body language generating more megawatts. You somehow managed to drive through Lagos without your entire day expended in the soul-crushing traffic? Thanks to Buhari’s body language, hallelujah!
While it lasted, Buhari’s body was like the shadow of Apostle Paul in the Bible. It cured the sick! So great was the illusion that a president’s mere body language can change the norms of a beleaguered nation that some clowns even campaigned that Buhari should be allowed to suspend the constitution just so that the constraints of democratic principles would not incommode his supposed quest to give Nigeria the much-needed moral renewal. Looking back at the abuse of power that characterised his tenure, one cannot but be grateful to those who never mortgaged their common sense to give Buhari any freer hand to operate. Imagine yielding to the shoddy thinking that reduced the creativity of leadership to the mystique of body language instead of the rational processes of policymaking, outcomes assessments, and regular revisions.
Bringing up this recent past is to remind us that, at the inaugural phase of a leadership era, people generally get frenzied on their expectations of a new beginning that every whiff of air that passes under their nostrils is taken as a fresh breath. For instance, it is only three weeks into a new era. Nobody has yet seen any material impact of his policies on anyone’s lives, but some brown nosers are already declaring Bola Tinubu to be the best president Nigeria has ever had. Like Buhari’s body language, another leader whose aura will solve problems is being deified.
It is also troubling how, due to the same euphoria, some economic decisions are being cheered on as necessary pain. They are passing off hard decisions as a matter of “suffer now, enjoy later” without considering enough that one must survive before enjoying Eldorado.
To an extent, there is a basis for the heightened expectations. Tinubu has managed to pull off certain economic decisions like the fuel subsidy removal that his predecessors could not push through. Previous governments, composed of unreconstructed welfarists and miseducated socialists, insisted on those policies even as they enervated the economy. The fuel subsidies not only failed to benefit people as promised, but also subjected them to emotional blackmail. Every failure of the government was blamed on the insistence of the already impoverished to consume cheap petrol. Tinubu took advantage of the transition phase of the government to make some of these changes.
Within the same block of time, they have also announced the removal of the subsidies on electricity tariff and their plans to introduce VAT on diesel. All these supposed harsh measures are coming in the wake of Nigerians’ survival of Buhari’s nightmarish years, including a misconceived naira redesign policy that declined their purchasing power. Tinubu also signed the Student Loan Bill, an indication that the cost of post-secondary education will shoot up. And who knows what is next. Is it that the government considers the patience of the impoverished infinitely elastic, or is there a deliberate tactic to push people off the edge?
Perhaps they do not know what it means to be poor. Last week, I wrote on how the provision of the Student Loan Bill demonstrates that the government’s indices for calibrating poverty are incoherent and faulty. They expect a person (or their family) to live on a paltry <N42,000 monthly to be considered poor enough for the loan. Yet, such a person is still expected to provide at least two guarantors “each of whom must either be a civil servant of at least level 12, a lawyer with at least 10 years post-call experience, or a judicial officer, or a justice of peace.” If you are that poor, it is also improbable you will have ready access to those people who will sign off your loans. The ideas being expressed through policies so far betray an inchoate understanding of what constitutes poverty in Nigeria. At the rate people are being stretched, they will be crushed before their poverty is cured.
We heard versions of “suffer now, enjoy later” under Buhari too. We truly suffered, yes, but did anyone eventually enjoy the promised benefits? Some of the Buhari policies we were told to quietly swallow so that everything good could come were ultimately reversed when they failed their mission. Those ideas that were vociferously defended by supposed analysts who insisted we have had it too good for so long had to be eventually dissolved without achieving much. We should not have to go through that all over again and within the same period too. Nigerians like to talk so much about how we do not learn from our history because the history curriculum has been withdrawn from schools. Yet, we have customarily repeated the same history that unfolded before their very eyes.
We should be savvier this time round. Instead of merely praising a government for making decisions that have yet to translate into a better life, we should be asking why we should suffer any more than we have done. The whole idea of “suffer now and enjoy later” has been the story of our Nigerian lives. Suffer is, in fact, what we have been doing all our Nigerian lives. That is why our religious houses are always full of people begging God—who has grown indifferent—to alleviate our suffering. There is hardly anyone of us whose Nigerian lives is not wrapped up in suffering and expectations of when it finally ends. Yet, hardly anything good ever comes from suffering. It does not always get better; people just get used to the conditions. Some even assume they are privy to some higher truth because they are in pain. Prolonged suffering could become the reality of life to the point that any slight deviation is attributed to some magical force. That is why those who refrigerators saw 18-hour electricity under Buhari quickly attributed it to the miracle of his body language.
People should not be cajoled into accepting suffering based on the expectation that some bright future has been lit at the end of the tunnel. What if one dies inside the tunnel? If there will be a positive end to this, we will have to demand it. The government should be made to communicate where this is leading. To what end is all the suffering? Interestingly, there has been more analysis of the effects of Tinubu’s policies done by social media influencers than communication from government strategists. There should be an idea of where all of these are going, the government’s own share of the sacrifices, and how to cushion the effects of its policies. By that, I do not mean sending the vice president to go and distribute another ten thousand naira per person in the marketplaces.
Even when all kinds of subsidies were in place, Nigeria was not altogether a pleasant experience. The country takes and takes from you, leaving you drained of all virtue. Taking subsidies away based on the myth of some future enjoyment is a tacit indictment that you—rather than a government that lacks imagination—are why the country is so dysfunctional.
Whether you voted for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) in the recent presidential election. Or have spent your political life fighting Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If you are Yoruba by ethnic affiliation, you are likely to be made to bear vicarious responsibility for any failings of government for as long as Tinubu remains president of Nigeria. But you will of course not share in the success. Given how many Nigerians are wired, every wrong choice Tinubu makes will be attributed to “your brother”, no matter how much you try to distance yourself. It is therefore important for some of us to warn our ‘Baba’ in Aso Rock not to play ‘Amunibuni’. It is a warning that his predecessor refused to heed, to his eternal damnation.
On Monday, two statements emanated from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr George Akume. Since the dissolution of the boards of federal government agencies has gone without much attention, we can choose to ignore that one. The first is on the retirement of Service Chiefs and Comptroller General of Customs as well as the appointment of their replacements. Two new special advisers and two senior special assistants were also appointed. These appointments total thirteen. But the statement also added a list of ten military postings within the Villa as part of the appointments. Such announcement has no precedent. In another world, I worked at the Villa for three years and I never heard about officers (Lieutenant, Captain, Major etc.) holding junior command positions at the Villa because they are to work under the radar. From my findings, not only has the announcement of the officers compromised Villa security, but it has also created a problem for their career in the military. And in a nation where the first question people ask is where the appointee hails from, it is no surprise that some are already counting how many Yoruba persons were on the list of 23 names.
Of the several columns I wrote on the lack of sensitivity in critical appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari, one stands out. I used a Yoruba word, ‘Amunibuni’, to situate my intervention. “That making strategic concessions is beyond this administration is an embarrassment, even for many northerners. That is because they are also aware that the appointments being cornered by a tiny clique is not to promote any ‘Northern agenda’ (whatever that may mean) but rather in pursuit of the personal interest by those who nominate these individuals. This explains why they go for their in-laws, kinsmen, friends and the like. Yet nepotism in critical appointments engenders collective insults in the manner of ‘Abunibuni’”.
I then explained the real meaning of the word: “Yoruba loses its flavour when you translate into English, but ‘Amunibuni’ is better explained in the complete idiom: ‘Amunibuni ewure ibiye. Ibiye f’oju otun, ewure re fo t’osi’. Crudely interpreted, it means if a goat is blind on the left eye and its owner is blind on the right eye, any discussion about the goat would always bring into focus the condition of the owner. As one scholar expanded on the idiom, the real message is in the ambiguity that could come from describing the goat as ‘ẹran olójú kan’ which could be interpreted either as a ‘one-eyed goat’ or ‘the goat of a one-eyed person’. Both definitions are correct, but the latter brings the owner into the conversation. Today, any discussion about killings by ‘herdsmen’ brings attention to the inequity in the distribution of opportunities in Abuja by President Buhari. The result is that when you encounter cows on the highway, you look at the poor herder just trying to eke out a living and you blame him for all the problems of Nigeria!”
Even when he did nothing to improve the material condition of the average Fulani man, the damage President Buhari did to people of that ethnic stock in eight years was enormous. And as a Yoruba man, I wouldn’t want President Tinubu to do that to me. I am aware that there are thousands of appointments still to make and most of these things ultimately even out. But signalling is also important, especially by a new administration. That is why presidential handlers need to be circumspect lest they attract insults to Yoruba people who have always advocated for a peaceful and secure Nigeria that works for all citizens and where there is equity and justice in the distribution of opportunities.
Now to the appointments in the security sector. The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Gwabin Musa is from Zangon Kataf, Kaduna State, though born in Sokoto (both in the Northwest). The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla is from Enugu State (Southeast). The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Hassan Abubakar is from Kano (Northwest). The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major General Emmanuel Parker Akomaye Undiandeye is from Cross River State (Southsouth). And the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja is from the Southwest. After General Alani Ipoade Akinrinade who was Chief of Army Staff more than 43 years ago (and only for six months between October 1979 and April 1980), Lagbaja becomes the only other Yorubaman to head the army. And there have been 27 of them before him, with the longest serving being a certain Tukur Yusuf Buratai for whom Nigerians nearly carried placards before Buhari replaced him after five years and eight months!
For the first time in the history of our military, apart from the CDS who is of the 38th Regular Course, other service chiefs are members of the 39th Regular Course who were commissioned in 1992. That should bring comradery and help in information sharing, a problem in recent years. Their appointments also meet the criteria of ethno-religious balancing. In fact, appointing a Christian northerner as CDS and a Muslim southerner as CoAS shatters the myth of ‘Christian South and Muslim North’ with which Nigeria is usually described by the international media. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr Nuhu Ribadu, also comes to the office with law enforcement training as a retired police officer and experience as founding chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He is from Adamawa State (Northeast).
I have heard from those who should know that the appointment of service chiefs ticks all the right boxes: Professional competence, ethno-religious balancing, and the right character. But there are also whispering campaigns in Abuja about growing lopsidedness in the distribution of other opportunities. The appointment of Mr Adewale Bashir Adeniyi as acting Comptroller General of Customs finally ends the regime of Hameed Alli who was so contemptuous of the institution on which he was imposed by President Buhari that he considered wearing its (Customs) uniform beneath him. I have heard eulogies about Mr Kayode Egbetokun, the acting Inspector General of Police. But whatever argument we may make about the merit of those appointments, there is no part of this country where we cannot find competent people.
Mother’s Night in Mbutu Mbaise
With the tone already set by her son-in-law, Dr Paddy Njoku, who described the late Dame Dorothy Nsonma Ihedioha as a quintessential mother, it was no surprise that the former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Hon Austin Opara, would also use the occasion to pay tribute to resilient motherhood in a patriarchal society. At the end, what came out from most of the tributes is the sacrifice many of our mothers made in raising their children into successful men and women against all odds.
The burial last weekend of Emeka Ihedioha’s mother in Mbutu Mbaise, Imo State, attracted several important personalities. The church service was a collection of who-is-who in Nigeria: From former and current governors to National Assembly members and captains of industry. But it was the service of songs at Emeka’s country home last Thursday night that I found quite revealing. Having travelled on the flight that conveyed the corpse to Imo earlier that morning, I witnessed some of the cultural/traditional rites before the service of songs. Presided by the Primate of All Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Dr Henry Ndukuba, it was a solemn affair. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, former Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Senator Uche Ekwunife, Mr Osita Chidoka, Chief Charles Ugwu, Mr Olisa Metuh, Hon. Emeka Nwajuiba and several others.
After eulogizing the late Dame Ihedioha whom he credited with always treating all Emeka’s friends like her children, Opara then drew a parallel between her and his own mother. “My mother was married for 13 years without a child. Within the family, there was a saying that if they had used the money expended on marrying my mother to buy a goat, there would have been many goats in the house. You can then imagine the trauma when she gave birth after 13 years and the child fell from the hands of the nurse and died” recounted Opara who added that he was the first surviving child of his mother who went on to have four others before dying at 96.
Earlier in his tribute, Njoku recalled that the late Dame Ihedioha “had 15 pregnancies, 13 births and raised 11 of them up to the graduate level.” But more significantly, “she was mocked for having five female children in succession”. That was before she had Emeka (and later, Obinna).
With Nollywood actor, Kanayo O. Kanayo combining the role of Master of Ceremony with that of Chief of Protocol (and both so brilliantly) and event planner, Ms Henrietta Okonma making sure everybody was well taken care of, the outing of the Ihedioha matriarch was a worthy celebration of life. But personally, the highlight of the day was the long conversation I had with the urbane and highly cerebral Igwe of Orlu, Dr Patrick Acholonu, son of the late retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Pat Achonolu. With Emeka (whom he came to honour) busy, former Cross River State Governor, Mr Liyel Imoke (who chaired the burial committee) and I played ‘host’ to the lively Igwe for most of the day.
Back to the service of songs. Imoke, Tambuwal, Opara and others testified to the peculiar nature of the late Dame Ihedioha who took all the friends of Emeka like her own children. It was a point I also testified to when conscripted by Emeka to give testimony. In the short tribute I wrote for her 90th birthday last August, I referenced an Ndigbo adage, “Nne bu nne. Ezi-nne bu Ezi-nne” (A mother is a mother. A good mother is a good mother).
For the late Dame Dorothy Nsonma Ihedioha, there cannot be a more fitting tribute!
There were plenty accolades, tributes, humour and pomp as one of the nation’s stars in the financial industry was honoured by his peers last Wednesday. In many respects, the investiture of Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede as the ninth honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) seemed quite like a coronation event; and given that his new line of business is actually known as Coronation Group, the investiture ceremony appeared, more or less, like its eponym. The investiture, holding at the Conference Hall of the Nigerian Exchange Building, Marina, Lagos, was yet another major event in the series of activities marking the 30th anniversary of the institute and an honour to a man who renowned for his philanthropy and immense contributions to the development of our financial industry. CIS is the only body in the country that trains and certifies Nigerians to perform core professional functions in the securities and investment industry (or capital market, as it is often called). Over the last eight months, it has been celebratory mood, marking its 30th anniversary as a chartered professional organization having been established by Act 105 of 1992. But its forerunner, the Nigerian Institute of Stockbrokers, I should stress, was incorporated two years earlier.
According to Chief Oluwole Adeosun, President & Chairman of Council of CIS, the institute was chartered after only two years of existence ‘because it rose to its responsibility in so short a time and was duly recognized by the federal government as ‘’being worthy of filling the obvious void of a professional certifying body that existed in the Nigerian capital market at the time’’. Before then, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (now named The Nigerian Exchange Group or ‘’NGX’’) had combined the function of training and certification of stockbrokers with its primary duty of a listing and trading platform for the market. Over the years, the institute has identified many Nigerians to honour with its fellowship. General Yakubu Gowon was the first to be invested with honourary fellowship because under him as Head of State, the indigenization program that catalyzed the listing of many companies was begun. Gowon, thus, deepen the growth of the stock market. Eminent investment banker, Atedo Peterside; chief executive of Bank of Industry, Olukayode Pitan and General Ibrahim Babangida have also been invested with an honounary fellowship. It was during the IBB administration that the CIS law was enacted in 1992. Others are Dr. Goodie Ibru; Chief Christopher Ogunbanjo (foremost corporate lawyer and Mustafa Chike-Obi (pioneer chief executive AMCON).
So, why did the institute consider Aig-Imoukhuede, who has already received several laurels from many institutions and the country as a leading banker, investor and philanthropist, worthy of joining these eminent Nigerians? Soon after he retired as the Group chief executive of Access Bank in 2013, he succeeded Aliko Dangote as the President of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. As President of the Exchange, Aig-Imoukhuede initiated series of measures that led to the demutualization of the Exchange which was then a nonprofit organization into a profited-oriented commercial business which it is today. Says CIS President Adeosun ‘’City gentlemen (meaning: capital market operators) will always remember Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede as one President of the NGX that was exceedingly passionate about the demutualization of the entity when it was a non-profit known as The Nigerian Stock Exchange’’. He was also the founding chairman of FMDQ Securities Exchange, another securities exchange, especially in the Fixed Income submarket, no mean feat for successfully serving as the chairmen of two important exchanges.
Corroborating Adeosun, former Deputy Governor of the CBN, Ernest Ebi, said ‘’Aig has done so much for the Nigerian economy and noted that as a global player, the investiture will spur him up to do more. Ebi is also a director of the Coronation Group. Chief Executive of NGX Group, Oscar Onyema describes Aigboje as a very hard-working Nigerian who leaves nothing to chance. His words: ‘’If need a strategy or you are going to war, you need Aig by your side’’. Ambassador Idaere Gogo-Ogan described the investee as a visionary, strong personality and exceptionally brilliant. Chairman of NGX Group, Dr. Umaru Kwaranga said Aig-imoukhuede and Aliko Dangote ‘’changed the face of capital market in Nigeria’’ while Mrs Ojini Olaghere, a former staff of Access Bank who is also a director of Coronation Group, recalled her experience working with the honoree and said that he is a perfectionist who always leaves a place better than he met it.
With his comments, the awardee held the audience, made up of mostly bankers, capital market professionals, businesspeople, friends and family, spellbound. He started by paying tributes to two of the nation’s greatest stockbrokers, Dr. Gamaliel Onosode and Otunba Michael Subomi Balogun. Onosode passed away in September 2015 while Balogun departed only last month. Aig-Imoukhuede then traced the history of stockbroking and its contributions of stockbroking business to wealth creation, capital accumulation and economic development. ‘’It is stockbrokers who planted the trees of merchant banking, investment banking, investment management, venture capital, etc that have grown into Nigeria’s ecosystem’’, he said, eliciting applause. He then recited a Greek proverb that says: ‘’ A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit’’. His interpretation of this proverb in terms of his place in history was exceptionally captivating. He said: ‘’For me, I understand this to mean that for Nigeria and the African continent to rise to their full potentials their privileged elites must move beyond thinking about the profit they must make for themselves and focus on things that will benefit future generations long after they are gone’’. This is the dream of the Coronation Group, he said, noting that it is meant to be the African equivalent of BlackRocks (owned by Larry Fink) and Berkshire Hathaways (owned by Warren Buffet).
After the investiture ceremony, the dignitaries moved to the trading floor of the Exchange for the traditional bell-ringing which was undertaken by the investee himself, as a mark of honour, not only for his investiture, but also for the issuance of Capital Market Holding License to the Coronation Group by Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The Managing Director & Chief Executive of Nigeria Exchange Limited, Mr. Temi Popoola observed that it’s been a long time since the trading floor of the exchange was so full of brokers who came for the bell-ringing, noting that Aig-Imoukhuede is imbued with a convening power. Ever so humorous, the investee brought the house down when he said that with institutions like Coronation Group, the ‘japa’ syndrome plaguing the country would be reversed to ‘pada’.
At the events were Mrs Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede; Council members of CIS; Roosevelt Ogbonna, Managing Director & Chief Executive of Access Bank; other directors of Access Bank; directors and staffs of Coronation Group; directors and management team of NGX Group and many other professionals in the industry. I also saw Mrs Evelyn Oputu, the investee’s mother-in-law, who is one of the first female stockbrokers in the country. A former Managing Director and chief executive of bank of Industry (BOI), she is also a director of the Coronation Group. The ceremonies evoked fond memories of my days as a finance journalist as I met some of the nation’s capital market doyens and doyennes such as Kayode Folawo; Mike Osime (Mike was one of those I interviewed regularly in those days); Sonnie Ayere and Elizabeth Ebi.
Despite such dubious background, Mr. Tinubu still chose Akpabio as the leader of the nation’s lawmaking body. Ironically, this is the same Tinubu, who as the APC National Leader, spearheaded the various attempts to remove Bukola Saraki as Senate president in 2015. He stated then, and rightly so, that “We cannot overlook corrupt persons.” But that was then, clearly then.
It is already well-known that Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains the shadiest politician ever to seek the Nigerian presidency. It is also well-known that this apparent lack of moral compass, together with an invalid health status, played a huge role on why a vast majority of the electorate who voted in the country’s controversial presidential election of 2023 roundly rejected him. Yet, the nation’s ageless corrupt oligarchy selected and swore in Tinubu as president.
Now in power, and widely viewed as a counterfeit president, there was a broad appeal for a benefit of the doubt. In short, many had hoped that Tinubu could begin to launder his image by surrounding himself with people of impeachable character. But even his ardent supporters are finding out the hard way: No amount of stately salad can cleanse the filthy yellow teeth of a primitive pariah.
The objective fact is that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is irredeemable. He is merely making good on his promise to sustain the agenda of his predecessor, General Muhammadu Buhari, whose tenure was a fortified safe haven for corrupt politicians.
Enter a black-market legislature. The most frightening yet is that the former Lagos Governor has succeeded by imposing on the country a head of the Legislature whose entire politics also attracts immorality as honey attracts bees.
In other words, like the Executive arm of the Tinubu’s regime, the Legislature (the nation’s highest law-making body) is also headed by a man who is notoriously dishonourable.
This individual is Godswill Akpabio. As governor of the oil-rich Akwa Ibom State, he allegedly stole N108.1 billion of the state’s funds. But the moral turpitude extended beyond his state. The senate probed his activities as a minister in the Niger Delta Affairs ministry and found that he diverted N19.25 billion to his personal accounts. The report also asserted that the same man awarded contracts to the tune of N81.5 billion to his family members and cronies without due process.
It is clear Mr. Akpabio is no novice in the art. He masterfully thwarted the different efforts to nail him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). As late as March this year 2023, the EFCC under Abdulrasheed Bawa appeared determined to finally book Akpabio. But he dodged again, this time claiming he was abroad to treat a life-threatening case of cardiac arrhythmia together with acute pneumonia. Sad!
Expect Akpabio to go scot-free. Not only was Bawa suspended and arrested, but Tinubu has also gone to foist the former Akwa-Ibom governor as senate president.
But Akpabio’s corrupt baggage is nothing compared to his activities as the Minority Leader in the Senate between 2015 to 2018.
The mortal sin is that the former Akwa Ibom governor betrayed Nigeria by abandoning the opposition and defecting to the ruling All-Progressives Congress (APC) once he sensed that the party had become a shield for immoral behaviors. This political treachery by the leader of the opposition was consequential. The result was a weakened opposition and consequently a rubberstamp legislature that aided Buhari to record the worst regime in the Nigerian history.
Despite such dubious background, Mr. Tinubu still chose Akpabio as the leader of the nation’s lawmaking body. Ironically, this is the same Tinubu, who as the APC National Leader, spearheaded the various attempts to remove Bukola Saraki as Senate president in 2015. He stated then, and rightly so, that “We cannot overlook corrupt persons.” But that was then, clearly then.
Today, Mr. Tinubu has made immorality a badge of honor. Every high-profile appointment endorsed thus far by the president is tainted by stark stench of shadiness. Think of his Vice-President, Kashim Shettima; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; George Akume, the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria; and Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Who is next? Asari-Dukobo, Femi Fani-Kayode, Abdullahi Ganduje, Chimaroke Nnamani, Nyesom Wike? How about Oyenusi, Anini, Evans…? Why not?
Clearly, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is in a shameless pursuit to make the Guinness World Records by creating the most immoral regime in history. But the nonsense must stop. This man must stop shaming Nigeria. This country is a bastion of qualified manpower. Instead of recycling shady politicians, Tinubu should tap from millions of untainted talents within the ruling party or outside of it.
SKC Ogbonnia, A Former APC Presidential Aspirant, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
Nehemiah was always asking God to provide a vision for him. He understood that a true vision must come from God. It must be a God-inspired and God-revealed vision. Only such a vision is worthy of leadership. The prophet Nehemiah provides modern-day leaders with a wonderful model of leadership. Upon learning of the distress of his people, Nehemiah receives permission from the king he was serving to go help them. Despite obstacles and opposition, he discerns a challenging vision and leads the people in the accomplishment of the task.
While Nehemiah was the leader who first articulated the vision, the people confirmed the vision and committed themselves to the task. The gifts of all were required to achieve the vision. Accomplishing the vision was not easy. Divisions and hard feelings, combined with outside opposition, made faithfulness very difficult. Yet, Nehemiah and the people persevered faithfully, though not perfectly. These are some lessons we might learn from Nehemiah’s leadership example. Hence the title, “Baba Fast Fast: Jagaban Modern Era Nehemiah” fits the narratives as we begin to examine the less than a hundred days of President Bola Tinubu’s ‘Unity Trinity’ era.
Admittedly, a nation progresses or regresses on the quality and values of its leadership. When the then vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Kashim Shettima, assured Nigerians that if elected, the Bola Tinubu administration would be inclusive, just, and fair to all Nigerians, irrespective of tribal, religious, or political affiliation. Shettima, posited: “We’ll Be Equitable, Just, Inclusive If Elected. We need to build a new nation because the hope of the black man is in Nigeria. The onus is on us to secure the future of our children yet unborn.”
“I want to assure Nigerians that we are going to be just and fair to all Nigerians. We are going to be all-inclusive because no society can strive for injustice. Ours will be an all-encompassing, all-embracing government. We will build a country of our dreams, where people are judged by their character, irrespective of their political affiliations, religious persuasions, sectional or tribal ground.” It is thus, imperative that when we conduct ourselves, being just and equitable citizens, a worthy leader would naturally emerge from our midst.
Kashim Shettima: the accidental governor who is now Nigeria’s vice president in the above message was very clear and leaves no one in doubt about the making of our own story of Nehemiah. Surprisingly or so to say, Nigerians in their millions are beginning to rethink the difference between the personalities and attributes of the new leadership under President Bola Tinubu and the previous. In less than a month, the new sheriff has effectively stamped his authority firmly on the polity to the extent of global acknowledgments with the sobriquet “Baba fast fast”
Although, Herbert Spencer, an English polymath, phycologist, noted philosopher, sociologist, biologist, and political theorist of the Victorian era, countered that the Great Man Theory was childish, primitive, and unscientific. He believed leaders were products of their environment. He advocated that before a “great man” can remake his society, society has to make him. Over the course of history, we have seen examples of great leaders who shape how people view the world and remould their sense of self-worth – Mind Restructuring.
Regrettably, however, most good leaders don’t buy into their followers’ idealized images of them. But even leaders who are reasonably self-aware can become victims of illusion. Leaders who emerge from within a group have the ability to influence other teammates positively. Team members accept and welcome them because of their influence within the organization and the skills they offer as a leader. They have respect from their peers because they seek the input of others, which helps them maintain credibility as a leader.
Thankfully, the President has hit the ground running; unlike his predecessors particularly @Mbuhari in the recent past eight years ago who spent a whole six months not knowing what to do and couldn’t form a government, and when he eventually, it was a complete failure. Apart from the controversial fuel subsidy issue, the student loan act, and the sacking of the Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele a public office holder with a mindset of terrorist. Liberalization of electric power generation, harmonization of the retirement age of senior Judges.
Furthermore, the EFCC boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa saga, the collapse of the parallel markets, and the dissolution of all the boards and some agencies will either be merged or scrapped completely. Meanwhile, the new administration under President Bola Tinubu in his appointments so far have been more inclusive than his predecessors particularly the immediate past administration under President Buhari; in the circumstances, he must have heard the cries of marginalization of some section of the country and the crass nepotism of his predecessor who is an unrepentant hardliner in religion and ethnic jingoism. So far, so good! It is a good start.
This is a major step for Nigeria, when will this be cascaded down to the state level? It is time for the government to begin to roll out policies that will quickly jumpstart and revive the economy. 4th Industrial Revolution on my mind: factories, industries, and many of our institutions of technological innovations must be revived to provide jobs for our youths. The examples of the Zaria ‘Aviation College’ and many others are issues of concern. It could attract direct foreign investment which is capable of mitigating the “JAPA SYNDROME” of our citizens.
To conclude, I quote MAHATMA GANDHI: “We are too near the scene of the tragedy to realize that this canker or untouchability has traveled far beyond its prescribed limits and has sapped the very foundation of the whole nation.” Our leaders have been too reckless and plundering resources and squandering riches including the very recent corrupt tendencies typically characterized by the impunity of our public officeholders and their private sector conspirators. Mr President Sir! With all humility I join our citizens in praying to God to grant you the courage to pull through and also wish Your Excellency the speed of light in the task ahead. There must be punishment for unwholesome behaviors.
[OPINION] Beyond Exchange Rate Unification: Imperatives For Reviving The Nigerian Economy - Olorogun Bernard Okumagba
AdminIt is indeed fitting and appropriate to applaud the bold step taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) on the unification of the Naira exchange rate and removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). Timely and appropriate, these policy initiatives will unlock the huge potentials for investment, jobs and capital flows, thereby enhancing investor confidence in our economy.
The extant regime where the Naira had several rates versus the dollar and which promoted unproductive arbitrage, rent seeking and unfair competition significantly hurt the nation’s economy. Also, the previous PMS subsidy regime promoted corruption and had become a massive drain pipe on our country’s finances. Having said that, the challenges of the Nigerian economy go beyond exchange rate unification and fuel subsidy removal. There are fundamental issues that need to be addressed if rapid progress must be made in the new political dispensation. I will however focus on the unification of the Naira exchange rate and the key issues arising from the policy.
Contemporary economics holds that the exchange rate is influenced by six main factors viz: inflation, interest rates, current account deficit, public debt, terms of trade and political stability/economic performance. A cursory glance at how Nigeria ranks on these indicators would reveal that we have been performing below par. Inflation for instance increased from 9% in 2015 to 22% in 2023. Interest rates (MPR) jumped 500 bps from 13% in 2015 to 18% in 2023. As for the Current Account Deficit, the challenge is that it is more structural rather than cyclical. Structural deficits are underpinned by under-investments, relatively low productivity, persistently high relative inflation rates and lower cost competition. And these are all visible indicators evident in the current state of the Nigerian economy. In terms of public debt, Nigeria’s total public debt stock stood at N46.25 trillion (excluding the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means loans from the CBN) as of March 2023. With the floating of the naira and the accompanying depreciation, this figure is expected to balloon further. Ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with borrowing. If a country uses external debt to finance investments that have higher returns than the interest rate on the debt, the country can remain solvent. The question is what have we done with these vast amounts of debt over the years?
Flowing from the above, it can be safely posited that the problem with Nigeria’s exchange rate goes just beyond the multiple rates and pseudo-fixed regime adopted in recent years. There is a fundamental need to address other pressing issues highlighted above. A few suggestions that could assist in resolving these issues are enumerated below:
Taming Inflation, Curbing Food Prices, And Improving Food Security
Food and energy prices have remained at the core of Nigeria’s inflationary pressure over the years and urgent steps need to be taken. To cushion the impact of higher spending on petrol which affects transportation from the farm gate to the markets and raises the costs of food between the farm and the fork, there is need to embark on widescale investments in agricultural production. Production of staple foods need to be boosted by policies that would attract investments into such ventures. For instance, Nigeria is a top three producer of sorghum globally with 6.7 million metric tonnes annually. The USA tops the charts with 11.4 million metric tonnes per annum. Incidentally, sorghum grows naturally in about 21 states countrywide. Nigeria also leads the world in the production of other staples like yam and cassava. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) ranked Nigeria as one of the World’s largest producers of yam with about 60% of the Global production of the product. In terms of cassava, the FAO also posits that Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, producing one-fifth of the world’s output. Despite this, the country is yet to meet sufficient domestic composite demand for cassava. Focusing on the production of these three staples and their derivatives alone can earn Nigeria huge export revenues, temper food inflation and improve food security. There are many other crops that Nigeria produces very well. In fact, the country ranks 6th globally in terms of countries with the most arable land with over 84 million acres of arable land. The top five countries are United States, India, Russia, China, and Brazil.
Boosting Foreign Exchange (FX) Earnings Via Economic Diversification
The convergence of the rates is only the first step in curing the ills of the FX market. The next step is the most crucial and that is to boost supply into the market. The government should prioritise supply of dollars to support the naira float. In a floating exchange rate regime, there should be sufficient availability of foreign exchange to defend the currency against the actions of speculators. History recounts what happened to Britain on the infamous Black Wednesday when the pound suffered its steepest intraday decline due to speculatory attacks. it is instructive to note that steps must be taken to prevent any speculatory attack on the naira.
To address this problem, there is a stringent need to boost the sources of foreign exchange outside of the current crude oil exports. This is the time to diversify the Nigerian economy away from fossil fuel dependence and invest profitably in non-oil resources. It is estimated that Nigeria is relatively rich and replete with solid minerals in commercial quantities. The administration should now focus on how to profitable exploit the vast amounts of solid minerals available in almost every state of the federation. According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigeria has 45 different solid minerals buried in various locations across the country. But these minerals are largely untapped. Both local and foreign investors can leverage on this multi-billion-dollar market. But because of the unwavering focus on crude oil in the last 60 years, successive governments have not paid enough attention to the exploitation of these vast reserves of solid minerals estimated to be worth billions of dollars. Most of the mining of these solid minerals including precious ones like gold is done by artisanal miners who are not licensed or regulated and who are being exploited by their foreign patrons operating below the line in key states like Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Osun, etc. The data from the NIPC estimates that the country loses about $40billion annually in unexploited gold. Imagine if this was added to our dwindling export revenue from crude oil. It would literally double our export earnings, improve our current account position, ameliorate our debt service/revenue issues, and make available huge sums of cash to be invested in the exploitation of other solid minerals required for industrialisation.
Investing in solid minerals will not only serve as a good source of foreign exchange earnings but could assist in resolving Nigeria’s huge energy poverty. For instance, the key metal components of the lithium battery which is crucial to solar energy adoption are found in commercial quantity in Nigeria. To date, a key discouraging factor for the rapid adoption of solar power systems is the cost of purchasing and replacing batteries which are often sourced cheaply from Asia and have very low quality and longevity. Imagine how quickly solar would become a way of life for Nigerians if the batteries could be manufactured locally and sold at comparatively affordable rates.
Conclusively, whilst applauding the new administration for the bold and rapid steps taken so far to steer the economy in the right direction, it is pertinent to say that the work is just beginning and all stakeholders within the private and public sectors must be ready to support the administration’s effort through effective collaboration, hard work and sacrifice. We must all stand ready to make our dear nation great again to enable it occupy its justified place amongst its peers in the comity of nations in the coming years.
•Olorogun Bernard Okumagba, FCA is a former Delta State Commissioner for Finance
No leader or President in the history of our country has effected so many positive changes and reforms and appointed so many credible, decisive, courageous and effective people into key positions in his administration within THREE weeks of being sworn into office as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT).
Today even his most ardent critics and those that bent over backwards to stop, discredit, denigrate, humiliate and destroy him during the presidential campaign are commending him.
He has made those of us that recognised and appreciated his value and potentials, had faith in him, risked all, stood with him and fought for him proud and most importantly we have been vindicated.
Thanks to BAT Nigeria now has a new lease of life and the light of God has began to dispel the thick darkness and tangible cloud of stagnation, retrograde and retrogressive policies, monumental corruption, vicious persecution, selective application of justice, abuse of power, incompehensible incompetence and wholesale and malicious impunity that we have witnessed over the last few years.
Today where are those that deprived the Nigerian people of all their money and threw them into penury in the name of printing new notes just to stop Tinubu from emerging as President?
Where are those that mocked and poured scorn on him on television, in the newspapers, on social media and in international forums and that consistently portrayed him as being shallow, superficial, dangerous, incompetent, unreliable and evil to the Nigerian people and the international community?
Where are those that said he was too old to be President, that he takes hard drugs and that he is a drug baron, thief, international criminal and a mafia don?
Where are those that said he cannot put a sentence together, that he talks hullabaloo and gibberish and that swearing him in would be tantamount to inviting the military to take power and lead to a coup?
Where are those that said he is incurably and terminally ill and that he is so broken, befuddled, confused, incapacitated and debilitated by sickness, senility and old age that he could not possibly perform well as President and Commander in Chief or make the right decisions and choices?
I say shame on them all!
I also say kudos to BAT and glory hallelujah to the Living God who saw fit to provide Nigeria with a second chance by making him President.
(FFK)
“We had always thought that it was only our oil pipelines that were put under the care of Nigeria’s surplus mafia guns. But Dokubo has revealed an extension of the frontiers of the privatization of our nation’s security. I read the army’s response; I read the navy’s too; I did not see any word shooting down Dokubo’s claim that he is the commander of the forces that have brought peace and security to critical parts of northern and southern Nigeria. He said, and he was emphatic, that it was not our armed forces that are keeping Nigeria safe, especially in the northern corridor: “It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men…” That is what he said, right in the Villa with the Coat of Arms solidly behind him as his star witness. I think that was huge, and gross, and embarrassing! Is it true that Asari Dokubo is in charge of our security? All our security forces should come clean on this issue which I think is even more important than the tug of war over who does per-second stealing of barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil. A private citizen declared in our State House that he was the reason why Nigerians travel in peace from our federal capital to the capital of northern Nigeria and the government and its forces are keeping mum. If Dokubo’s claim is true, then what it says is that our case is worse than we thought. It means the government has ceded our sovereignty to bands of men with errant guns. It means the country has moved from fragility to failure.”
In 1948, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, thought of the best way to protect his country’s security information from invasive media toxins. He summed his strategy up in one short sentence: “Take the thief and make him guard.” But a thief would remain a thief even if he is made the chief hunter. A maxim of the Yoruba drives this home: Twenty years after you’ve made the palm wine tapper king, he still won’t stop casting furtive glances at the neck of the palm tree (Bi ó lé l’ógún ọdún táa ti fi ad’ẹ́mu j’ọba, kò ní yé ọrùn ọ̀pẹ ẹ́ wò). There is an Italian Island called Sicily; it gave the world the term ‘mafia’ to describe its homegrown group of outlaws who sold protection and competed violently with the law. Increasingly failing states exhibit this tragedy of falling into the hands of mafia dons. That point appears to be where Nigeria is today. Mafia gunmen are on parade –and are in charge, almost officially.
I watched Niger Delta chief militant, Asari Dokubo, addressing the press inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday after his meeting with President Bola Tinubu. He exuded the very awe of power as he waxed lyrical boasting brazenly of his efficiency as a protection entrepreneur. The man sat with absolute confidence; directly behind him was Nigeria’s national Coat of Arms, the solemn symbol of the authority of the government and of the sovereignty of the Nigerian State. Only the president, and, maybe, the vice president are statutorily allowed that privilege in that complex. But the militant enjoyed it on Friday and nothing happened. That is what you do when you think you have the king behind you. Everyone and everything, including the law, rose to meet this big man at our seat of government.
Dokubo spoke not like a sovereign but as the sovereign. He sells security and the Nigerian Armed Forces are his competitors. At the press conference, the man maximally used the hallowed grounds of the State House to advertise his business and do a very negative review of the ‘enemy’ and their operations. He attacked the Nigerian Armed Forces using the very visible platform of their Commander-in-Chief. He said our forces and their men were felons who would rather steal than protect what they were employed to guard. Then he adroitly advertised his protection business and rammed its ‘efficiency’ down the throat of a terrorized nation. The big man from the creeks announced that he was in charge of security from our Federal Capital, Abuja to one, two, three, four, five, six states of the country. Nigeria has 36 states. Dokubo said he is in charge of six. He looked foolish Nigeria in the eyes, raised his voice and sensationally attempted a destruction of his competitors, our soldiers: “There is a full-scale war going on,” he announced while declaring that “the blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listen to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars. I repeat, they are liars because I am a participant. I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state in Plateau, Niger, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers. And in Abuja today, you are travelling to Kaduna on this road. It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger. Today, you travel to Baga, you go to Shiroro, you go to Wase. We have lost so many men and in all these engagements, we don’t even have one percent of the armament deployed by the Nigerian military; one percent, and we have had resounding success. So, this blackmail must end. They have enough resources to fight. Instead of fighting, they are busy stealing…” That was excellent mafia marketing unfurled, but I think it was reckless and unfortunate – especially given where those words were said and who said them. If Fox has disproportionately big eye balls, should that fact be heard from the mouth of the village Hen? It is true that there are bad eggs everywhere, including among our soldiers, but the armed forces are the very last twines holding together the Nigerian contraption. The day we allow their humiliation by entrepreneurs of violence and unwashed street gangs, we will all be in trouble.
I have read the very tepid responses from the army and the navy. They both denied being thieves. One said their accuser should name names; another took a politically safe lane and merely listed its achievements in curtailing crude oil theft. The replies were not as they would be if the accuser were an ordinary foul-mouthed lout. But this one was a presidential guest who had just enjoyed a photo op with the Commander-in-Chief. I pity the village hunters; they did not know how to say it that the village head’s mother was a witch. The sky is indeed falling and the world is ending. If you were the one who said what the militant said, I am very sure your ankles and knee caps would be in some soldiers’ play plate now. But our Generals heard the iron man from the creeks very clearly and turned the discourse to a farcical rendition of Fela’s “you be thief, a no be thief.” Khaki has become leather finally!
We had always thought that it was only our oil pipelines that were put under the care of Nigeria’s surplus mafia guns. But Dokubo has revealed an extension of the frontiers of the privatization of our nation’s security. I read the army’s response; I read the navy’s too; I did not see any word shooting down Dokubo’s claim that he is the commander of the forces that have brought peace and security to critical parts of northern and southern Nigeria. He said, and he was emphatic, that it was not our armed forces that are keeping Nigeria safe, especially in the northern corridor: “It is not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja or travel to Kaduna, and vice versa. It is my men…” That is what he said, right in the Villa with the Coat of Arms solidly behind him as his star witness. I think that was huge, and gross, and embarrassing! Is it true that Asari Dokubo is in charge of our security? All our security forces should come clean on this issue which I think is even more important than the tug of war over who does per-second stealing of barrels of Nigeria’s crude oil. A private citizen declared in our State House that he was the reason why Nigerians travel in peace from our federal capital to the capital of northern Nigeria and the government and its forces are keeping mum. If Dokubo’s claim is true, then what it says is that our case is worse than we thought. It means the government has ceded our sovereignty to bands of men with errant guns. It means the country has moved from fragility to failure.
How did that man find the knob of the presidential door? Is he the landlord’s son? I have always known that the child of the house does not knock before entering the house. Dokubo boasted that the president was “a father-figure” to him and that he had enjoyed with our new leader filial embrace and hugs for more than thirty years. I heard that too and felt that it was not funny. Where was this fellow 30 years ago and what were his acts of engagement with the Nigerian state at the turn of this century? His life is an open book; he has never hidden anything, including his ways and beliefs. His swagger suggests he is an insider in this new government. I congratulate him. No one in government is uncomfortable because the elephant is leaving the forest for the city. Ordinarily, the farm owner should have no problem slapping any intruder who abuses his ridges. A planter is looking on, looking away while his farm becomes footpath for delinquent dogs and errant goats. Something is not right; some things are wrong somewhere. President Bola Tinubu’s minders should tell him that a king does not receive every visitor that comes knocking at the palace door. They should also tell him that not every guest he receives at the Villa should henceforth address the press in the State House. The Asari that I saw there on Friday had no regard for the institutions of the Nigerian state. He spoke as a competitor for state power and control, almost as a parallel Commander-in-Chief with his own army “stationed in Niger.” Tinubu as a Yoruba proper should have no problem recollecting what untrimmed Iroko collects from town and king when it matures.
Foxes and hawks are not just fast and cunning; they are bold. But those are not the only two things they have in common. Both are lethal predatory beings. They exist to prey on hens and their chicks. The farmer who entrusts his poultry to their care does so to his sorrow. We can learn from them and their ways. The state, its peace and security take a bow where gangs are the law. John Dickie, in his ‘Cosa Nostra: The Definitive History of the Sicilian Mafia’ (2004) describes the situation with chilly poignancy: “Mafiosi…were entrepreneurs in violence, specialists who had developed what today would be called the most sophisticated business model in the marketplace. Under the leadership of their bosses, mafia bands ‘invested’ violence in various commercial spheres in order to extort protection money and guarantee monopolies…In the violence industry, the mafia boss…acts as capitalist, impresario and manager. He unifies the management of the crimes committed…, he regulates the way labour and duties are divided out, and controls discipline amongst the workers…It is the mafia boss’s job to judge from circumstances whether the acts of violence should be suspended for a while, or multiplied and made fiercer. He has to adapt to market conditions to choose which operations to carry out, which people to exploit, which form of violence to use…”
There are other scholars. One of them is emeritus Professor Anton Blok, Dutch cultural anthropologist and author of ‘The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, 1860-1960: A Study of Violent Peasant Entrepreneurs’ (1974). He presents, in that book, a vivid description of a Sicily where the state failed to monopolise the use and control of physical violence and estate owners turned to “armed men and field guards” for protection, and insecurity and lawlessness reigned. Russian Professor of Sociology, Vadim Volkov, is yet another scholar on the violence industry created and nursed by non-state actors. He published a seminal work with the title: ‘Violent Entrepreneurs: The Use of Force in the Making of Russian Capitalism’ (2016). A reviewer said the author “entered” the shady world of what he called “violent entrepreneurship”,… explored the economic uses of violence and coercion in Russia in the 1990s where violence played “a crucial role in creating the institutions of a new market economy,” where “competition among so-called violence-managing agencies—criminal groups, private security services, private protection companies, and informal protective agencies associated with the state” reigned. Some of the groups, Volkov notes, “wore state uniforms and others did not, but all of their members spoke and acted essentially the same and were engaged in the same activities: intimidation, protection, information gathering, dispute management, contract enforcement, and taxation. Each group controlled the same resource—organized violence.”
Are our armed forces working? Yes. Are they doing enough? They can improve on their performance, especially now that they have a new Commander-in-Chief with the swag of knowledge. The last three weeks have been epochal. We have watched Tinubu putting his feet where angels fear to tread: Deregulation of petrol supply and sales; deregulation of foreign exchange supply and sales. Deregulation of education and its funding? That one is still coy; the head of its ogre peeks inside the president’s breast pocket. But the man has taken those unforgettable steps and has moved on to other things in an ‘I dey kampe’ manner. The people are not complaining, at least loudly. An Ibadan person told me five days ago that he once asked General Ibrahim Babangida where he got the guts to put Nigerians through his many experiments and experimentations. IBB, the person said, submitted that Nigerians were a very resilient people. There is no situation you throw at them that they will not adapt to. Unlike the goat that fights back when it hits the wall, there is always a space for Nigerians to shift to beyond the wall. We have seen that fact come to play with the N500/per-litre petrol and the hike in the price of everything. The rugged chassis of the Nigerian has absorbed the shock and he is moving on, even if with sputtering bouts. Nigerians have taken more and they are likely to take even more but handing over their lives to street gangs and creepy creatures should not be part of the bargain.
Ruling a state should not be a Captain Flint kind of voyage. Who is Captain Flint? Explore the fictional universe of Robert Louis Stevenson to refresh who that character is. Should the Oluode (chief hunter) be found sharing his apron with his dogs? May it never happen! That is why I counsel that the president can, and should, appreciate his backers and enforcers without allowing them turn his presidency to another Black Sails series. The times are hard but the wind is behind the sails of the new president. Whatever he does with his voyage is his to choose. If he likes, let him bring pirates on board his ship. Àgunlá, àguntètè. We will write the story when the buccaneers do their thing. But Nigerians are battle-weary; they deserve peace and good life, at least for once. That is why we will not keep quiet in the face of an insidious capture of our state by mafia dons.
The fallout from the 2023 general elections are now being felt by Ndigbo living in other parts of Nigeria. Lagos in particular has become a sore point
Many South-Easterners were happy to see the five South-East Governors together last week. It has been a long time since we last saw them in such ‘united front’ posturing. Perhaps it was the occasion of the newly constituted National Economic Council by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that brought them together. In their first ever meeting since the new Governors of Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia states were sworn -in, the governors elected Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma as Chairman of the South -East Governors Forum (SEGF).
This seeming unity is a departure from the cold war that existed among the Governors in the last dispensation, when meetings of South-East Governors became a huge joke and assault on the feelings and aspirations of people of the South-East. The Governors during that time towed different political lines and didn’t seem to agree. They prioritized the interests of their various political parties and so not much was achieved. Even the SEGF secretariat was poorly funded, secretariat staff were owed and they cried out severally in the media.
Their meetings then were attended mainly by their Deputy Governors, showing how less important the Governors considered the forum. There were just too many egos to massage, to the detriment of the interests of the people of the region. While South-West governors were discussing regional development, integration and cooperation through their Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), none of such discussions took place in the South-East.
Even in the heat of major crises such as the the economic meltdown, insecurity issues in the region, the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB situation, COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, there was no synergy or attempt to come up with a collaborative agenda for the South-East region.
All that appears to be in the past now, hopefully. We have new Sheriffs in town in the newly elected Governors and the not-so-new ones. There is much expectation from people of the South-East. The Governors should play less politics and show more leadership for their people. The Ala Igbo Development Foundation (ADF), a regional non-governmental organisation, during a prayer rally in Abia state urged Governors of the South-East region of Nigeria to initiate programmes and policies that will impact positively on the lives of the citizens. The South- East Governors roll call; Alex Otti, Abia State (Labour Party); Peter Mbah, Enugu State (PDP),Francis Nwifuru, Ebonyi State (APC), Charles Soludo, Anambra state (APGA), and Hope Uzodinma, Imo state (APC).
There is so much to do and there is less time to do them. Reducing insecurity in the region should be top on their agenda. Kidnap – for – ransom has become a thriving business in the region. Gangs now engage in the criminal enterprise in the name of freedom fighting. They inhabit ungoverned spaces, camps and forests across the region. Cross boundary crime has become the norm. The people of the region are scared and scarred permanently. The Monday-Sit-At-Home orders have further decimated the economy of the region. Businesses and people are leaving the region in droves for safer environments. The Governors must come up with urgent solutions to fight insecurity. In doing that, technology, intelligence gathering, providing adequate security gadgets and commensurate compensation for security officials should be prioritized.
There is so much youth unemployment in the region. How to economically and gainfully keep the teeming youths engaged should be another agenda for the Governors. An idle man is the devil’s workshop goes a popular saying. Many of these unemployed youths have now become willing tools in the hands of manipulators who have enrolled them into kidnapping business in the name of freedom fighting. Others have resorted to rituals and patronizing ‘digital dibias’ and other get-rich-quick schemes to make it. The South-East region is now awash with pastors and native medicine men promising young men and women fame and fortune. They advertise on social media and lure gullible young men and women. ‘Ibute Ike’ and ‘Oke Ite’ are now popular phrases amongst our teeming youths, replacing expressions such as ‘Igba Mbo’, ‘Olu Aka’ and ‘Oge Nke Chukwu Ka Nma’. The South-East Governors must come up with measures to control the activities of these dibias confusing our young men. During the administration of Governor Willie Obiano in Anambra, a Special Adviser was appointed to manage the activities of traditional medicine practitioners. That template could be strengthened and replicated across the South-East states.
The fallout from the 2023 general elections are now being felt by Ndigbo living in other parts of Nigeria. Lagos in particular has become a sore point. The Lagos state legislature plans to enact anti – settler laws, even though such laws go against the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria which guarantees every Nigerian freedom and rights to live anywhere in Nigeria and acquire properties legally. This is not time to open the constitution. Desperate times call for desperate measures. This is time for shuttle diplomacy. The South-East Governors must engage with their Brother Governor in Lagos state with a view to convincing him to intervene and avert the looming economic disaster that will hit Ndigbo hard if the laws are passed. Their properties and businesses in Lagos are under threat.
Already, anti-Igbo policies in Lagos state are rearing their heads. Viral videos last week showed Igbo traders moving their goods away from Alaba International Market. The traders were given just 24 hours to move out their goods by Lagos state government officials who planned to demolish some of the plazas. Many are speculating that the planned demolitions are part of vengeance against Igbo traders for voting Labour Party during the 2023 presidential, gubernatorial and state assembly elections.
Gbolahan Oki, Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, General Manager however denies this. He was quoted in the media as saying that, “LASBCA identified at least 17 buildings in Alaba International Market, Ojo Local Government Area, as being in an advanced condition of distress and in need of immediate removal”.
Some of the shopping plazas marked for demolition by LASBCA include; G80 Alaba Rago Road, Good Season Shopping Complex, the building on 840 Ojo Igbede and the structure behind Oba Oseni Plaza, among others.
The Governor of Imo state, Hope Uzodinma, being a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), should urgently lead the other South-East governors to Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos state to resolve this and other pending issues affecting Ndigbo living in Lagos. High level public diplomacy is required at this time to prevent the escalation of the crises. This will be a litmus test of the seriousness of the newly inaugurated South-East Governors Forum. It should not be business as usual.
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With the new administration in Akwa Ibom State settling down, the attention of the people is gradually turning to Ikono and Ini LGAs as the next centre of political activities in the state. The two LGAs are not only neighbours in the northern tip of the state, they both constitute one of the 10 federal constituencies in the state. Ikono/Ini federal constituency is one of the four federal constituencies in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District. The two LGAs are also the major food producing centers in the state.
But first, I should ask the people of Ikono and Ini to come together, unite and work together for the progress of their communities. The communal crises that plagued those communities, especially the one between Nkari people in Ini and the neighbouring communities in Abia State should be settled permanently. I am pleased that the governments of the two states are determined to bring a permanent solution to this perennial problem.
To adequately prepare for future opportunities, I suggest that the professionals and educated politicians from the two LGAs should come together and form an advocacy group that will promote their interests. The main objective of this group should be to promote the political interests of Ikono and Ini and groom key members to assume leadership responsibilities.
This short piece is therefore a call to action by the good people of Ikono and Ini. The future beckons on you now to get prepared to take your rightful place in the polity of Akwa Ibom State in the next 8 years. Bring out your best and brightest, your stars, from the professions, business and government and begin to groom them. They should begin now to prepare for the future by building bridges and friendship across the state. They should invest heavily in their communities and people. the journey should begin today. This is your time.
Recently, I have been seeing some contracts of employment (offer letters) laced with some obnoxious clauses; one of which caught my attention is the clause that you are not allowed to leave the job for a so-so number of years and if you do you will have to pay the company a so so amount. This is to say that as a part of the employment requirement, you are not allowed to quit or resign from the job for whatever reason for a period of years and if you do or if you intend to do that you will refund the company 80% of the salary they have paid you and if you decide to play smart and relocate out of the country or elope, the guarantor whom you provided and have signed off on your behalf before you got the employment will be closed on by the company.
A friend who got a job with an investment bank drew my attention to this because his offer letter also contained this clause and
an internet user recently posted something similar to this; he was offered a job as a medical laboratory scientist, with a pay of N270k per month but with a non-negotiable clause in the offer letter that he must not leave or resign from the job for the next 2 years and if he does or intends to resign before the expiration of two or more years he must refund 80% of every monthly salary ever collected.
This type of contract of employment clause as I have got to know is quite familiar in the banking and medical industry.
Now the big question is; what is the legality and enforceability of clauses like this in the contract of employment; are they legal and are they enforceable in court?
The simple answer is that conditions or clauses like this embedded in a contract of employment are not legal and enforceable. You can leave or resign a job whenever you want despite whatever clause or time bond you signed, as long as you have given the organization a reasonable notice of your intention to resign or quit. Even if you leave without notice, the employer cannot enforce that clause of you staying for stipulated years in court because such clauses are illegal and the court can not be used to enforce an illegality.
Loosely speaking, parties are at liberty to contract however they wish and add covenants and clauses they deem fit into the contract and the parties are to be bound by those clauses in the contract but such contractual clauses must always conform with legality for it to be valid, legal and enforceable in court. This is to say that the liberty or freedom of contracting parties to make their contract has its limitations.
Why such a clause in a contract of employment of working for a stipulated number of years before you could leave is illegal and enforceable is that such clause subjects an employee to servitude and both the constitution and other labour laws prohibit contract of servitude.
Lawyer’s closing note; if you get a good job with good pay but the job comes with a time-bound clause, go ahead and take the job and you can leave whenever you like because such clauses are not legal and can never be enforced against you, just ensure to give the organisation a reasonable notice of your intention to resign before you leave so as to satisfy the provisions of the labour law.
Globally, subsidies, whether for food, transportation, energy or housing, are part of good governance. So, the issue is not subsidies but who benefit from them. In Nigeria, subsidies are primarily of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. I will highlight a few, how they are being manipulated and how huge sums of money can be recovered not just to subsidise fuel but also provide funds for development.
1. Diversion of N40 billion from Federation Account
A company, Continental Transfert Technique had been hired by the Ministry of Interior to collect the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card, CERPAC, fee of $2,000 per annum from every expatriate in Nigeria. The revenue from 2019 comes to an average of N40 billion per annum. This collection which violates Section 162 of the Constitution and provisions of the Immigration Act 2015, is then shared on percentages of Federal Government, 30; Interior Ministry, 7; Immigration Service, and Continental Transfert Technique, 58 per cent. We challenged this illegality at the Federal High Court and won the cases. The court directed the NIS to collect the funds henceforth and remit same to the Federation Account. But the contractor and the Federal Government appealed against the judgement and have continued to share the N40 billion per annum.
2. Additional Revenue of $1.5 billion payable to Federation Account
In July 2015, I drew the attention of the Federal Government to the fact that the 15-year fiscal incentives given to the oil and gas companies operating under the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act had expired in June 2014. When the Federal Government ignored our request, we drafted a Bill for the amendment of the law. The Bill which was adopted and sponsored by Senator T. Orji scaled the first reading in the Senate but was not passed before the dissolution of the 8th National Assembly. However, the same Bill was modified and passed by both houses of the 9th National Assembly and assented to by President Buhari on November 4, 2019. In justifying the passage of this Bill, then Senate President Ahmed Lawan announced that the new law would increase the revenue of the nation by not less than $1.5 billion per annum.
3. Outstanding royalties of $62 billion
In campaigning for the amendment of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, I requested the Federal Government to collect outstanding royalties payable by the International Oil Companies under the Act. The Federal Government admitted that the country had lost a whopping sum of $60 billion. But my demand for the collection of the huge fund was ignored.
The governments of Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states then approached the Supreme Court which on October 20, 2018 ordered the Federal Government to collect the royalties for the past 18 years. The Federal Government confirmed that the outstanding royalty withheld by the IOCs is $62 billion but has refused to collect it.
4. FG denied revenue of $500 million by a group of corrupt public officers
The international Cargo Tracking Note Scheme to protect international shipping and prevent the movement of dangerous cargo and arms shipments was introduced into Nigeria in 2010 via an agreement between the Nigerian Port Authority and TPMS, a private company. Barely a year later, the agreement was suspended. When our attention was drawn to the illegal suspension of the Cargo Tracking Note system, we protested and the suspension was lifted on May 28, 2015 only to be suspended again in 2016.
In 2022, President Buhari issued an executive order which authorised a company to operate the Cargo Tracking Note. But five companies sponsored by top government functionaries overruled the President and hijacked the contract. The company that won the contract has since sued the Federal Government at the Federal High Court. Meanwhile, Nigeria has lost at least $500 million while the security of the nation has been compromised by a bunch of corrupt public officers.
5. Sale of public assets and enterprises
Successive regimes have been selling assets and enterprises owned by the Federal Government to members of the ruling class in the name of privatisation. The buyers turned round to engage in asset stripping. According to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, between 2004 and 2002, the Federal Government sold 142 public enterprises to members of the ruling class. The 10 per cent shares reserved for the staff of every privatised enterprise have been cornered by the so called “core investors” contrary to the provision of section 5(3) òf the Privatization and Commercialisation Act.
6. $7 billion fixed in 14 banks
Sometime in 2006, the CBN yanked off $7 billion from the nation’s foreign reserves and fixed it in 14 commercial banks in Nigeria. The deposit and the accrued interests were not recovered from the banks. When I reported the matter to one of the anti-graft agencies, the CBN claimed that it had forgiven “the forbearance”.
7. Sale of Polaris by Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank by CBN
The CBN took over Heritage Bank, Keystone Bank, Union Bank and Polaris Bank, spent trillions of Naira to revitalise them only to turn round to sell them under the table. For instance, CBN invested N1.3 trillion in Polaris Bank but sold it for N50 billion!
8. Theft of Crude oil
The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has revealed that Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at N16.25 trillion ($46.16 billion) to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020. Immediate past National Security Adviser, General Babagana said that Nigeria might lose $23 billion in 2023 to crude oil theft.
9. Theft of gold and other solid minerals
The theft of the nation’s mineral resources is not limited to crude as solid minerals are equally smuggled out of the country by highly placed criminal elements. Former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr Uche Ogah, recently disclosed that private jets are being used by the rich for gold smuggling in Nigeria. He stated this at an investigative hearing on $9 billion annual loss to illegal mining and smuggling of gold organised by the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel Development and Metallurgy. During his contribution at the hearing, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu disclosed that Nigeria lost close to $54b from 2012-2018 due to illegal smuggling of gold.
10. AMCON is owed N5.4 trillion by the rich
A few years ago, commercial banks were going to collapse due to toxic loans taken by members of the ruling class. To prevent the impending economic doom, the Federal Government set up the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, to buy off the loans with trillions of Naira provided by the CBN. AMCON has not been able to recover the loans of N5.4 trillion from about 370 corporate bodies.
11. Indiscriminate import duty waivers
A few privileged members of the business community buy dollars at official rate while they are allowed to import all manners of goods into the country. In the last five years, import duties worth N16 trillion were waived for them.
12. Effort to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel sabotage by NNPC
On August 8, 2018, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF, for N17 billion. The technology which was designed to track and monitor tankers conveying fuel and other petroleum products was not acquired while the N17 billion approved for it was diverted.
13. N10 trillion diverted by CEOs of government enterprises
The Buhari government revealed in December 19, 2018 that government enterprises including the CBN owed about N10 trillion in unremitted operating surplus as at August 2018. The details were provided. The said sum of N10 trillion remains unpaid.
The Minister no doubt enjoyed her trip to Nigeria and Lagos in particular as during her interactions with Nigerians throughout her official visit, she never failed to allude that Nigeria is a good place as her French colleagues, including the French Ambassador, Emmanuelle Blatmann who accompanied her all through the visit were ecstatic and at home with Nigerians.
The Minister may also be re-echoing what she has been hearing from her boss, President Macron who was quoted by Habib Haruna, Chief Press Secretary to former Lagos State Governor, Ambode during his visit in 2018 that “I discovered Nigeria and a lot of my friends are here. I discovered Nigeria and I discovered Lagos and I discovered the shrine, an iconic place, a place where the best of music is given”.
Falana, SAN, lawyer and human rights activist, wrote from Lagos
In the sphere of presidential engagement and communication, Nigeria has had different shades of Presidents, from the docile and absent, laidback, garrison-style communication, taciturn, to the pragmatic. Each shade created the mood and tone of the presidency and invariably impacted the quality of leadership the presidency exhibited. Although not ascribing to or recommending any shade of communication and engagement for the presidency, I understand the importance of effective communication and engagement of the President to all citizens and stakeholders of Project Nigeria.
In a republican democracy, the primary assumption is that the President is, first and foremost, a fellow citizen. Therefore, consistent engagement with citizens, interest groups and special interests is axiomatic. The challenge is that we are yet to accept that ability to engage effectively with our constituents is a critical function of leadership. Our Leaders are used to giving orders only and not listening to the people or explaining why they must make some decisions. The implication is that we have had rulers and not necessarily leaders.
Arguably, the most critical skill needed by a leader is his ability to communicate effectively with citizens, sectoral groups and structured interest groups to pursue a specific agenda. In a short period, we have witnessed significant changes in presidential engagement. And this is bearing fruit in citizens’ responses. International media and international community are taking note. On this score, the President is on firm ground and needs to be encouraged. This is where President Tinubu’s early steps of continuous engagement with diverse stakeholders deserve interrogation.
In the first 21 days of the Bola Ahmed presidency, he has met with at least 50 citizens and 20 stakeholder groups. The citizens and groups are as diverse as Nigeria’s divergent sectors and sections. Some of these engagements have led to the defusion of tension, such as with fuel subsidy removal, explaining contentious issues as we had in the foreign exchange unification or giving insight into presidential actions like the student loan bill. The President has engaged with ex-militants and Niger Delta leaders like Asari Dokubo, Timi Alaibe, Former Emir of Kano and first-rate Economist Sanusi L Sanusi, Billionaire Aliko Dangote, opposition politician Rabiu Kwankwaso ,ex-presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Abdulsalam Abubakar, G-5 “PDP” Governors, fiery lawyer Femi Falana, labour leaders Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, Sultan of Sokoto, Oni of Ife and other traditional rulers, among several others.
The engagement with Asari Dokubo may have unsettled some presidency watchers . The argument they have against it is that legitimate state does not engage openly with non state actors who seize the platform to denigrate strategic state institutions like the armed and security forces no matter their deficits. However there is still value in that engagement .
President Tinubu’s style is a refreshing and decisive departure from the style and disposition of his immediate predecessor. He has shown a remarkable ability to listen and consult widely .The account of Khalifa Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that he listens attentively, grasps the core issues communicated to him, tries to make sense of these issues, internalises the significant points raised and responds appropriately is relevant . Yours truly can confirm it as the truth.
For insight , Nigeria is a democratic country, and the principles of democracy emphasise the inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes. Listening to citizens and stakeholders ensures their voices are heard and considered when formulating policies and making important decisions. Outlining his presidential philosophy during his inauguration speech, the President was emphatic that he would be a servant leader and not a ruler, emphasising the importance of listening to and engaging with the citizens at various times to feel their pulse, understand their views, dreams, and aspirations, and making decisions that will help actualise his vision for Nigeria and reflect the broader interests of the nation.
Second, engaging with citizens and multiple stakeholders fosters transparency and accountability in governance. By listening to the concerns and feedback of the people, the President can address their grievances, respond to their needs, and explain the rationale behind governmental actions. This helps build trust between the government and the citizens and enhances transparency in decision-making processes. We are a country with a rich cultural, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity.
Third, by listening to the concerns of different stakeholders, the President identifies potential conflicts early on and works towards peaceful resolutions. The way the President handled the labour negotiation that led to a quick resolution and how he listened and explained the issue of unification of the exchange rates give ample proof of the efficacy of his communication style . Open dialogue and inclusive decision-making can help prevent or mitigate social unrest and promote national unity. These engagements with multiple stakeholders bring diverse expertise, experiences, and knowledge to the table, which can contribute to the formulation of more effective and well-rounded policies. This can lead to better outcomes and solutions for the country’s challenges.
We may wonder why President BAT’s continuous engagement and communication with citizens, stakeholders and other special interests deserve close observation. Let us examine three significant reasons.
Undoubtedly, our multi-party general elections produced a president with just about 36% of the voters voting for him and the rest for the other parties. The president understands there was a need for building consensus quickly in his presidency to bring everybody together and lead Nigeria not as an APC president but as the President of Nigeria. This constant engagement is even more crucial at this stage because he does not have a cabinet yet, so it falls on him to make the engagements and decisions and communicate them. This level of engagement may reduce a bit when his full cabinet is in full swing.
The second reason is that the President uses the opportunity to familiarise himself with different issues and perspectives. This allows the President to stay attuned to the evolving concerns and priorities of the people. By actively listening to citizens and stakeholders, the President can identify emerging challenges and respond effectively with policies that address current needs. It is an avenue for feedback on government policies and programmes. The President gains diverse insights and expertise by engaging with different stakeholders, including civil society organisations, community leaders, business leaders, and experts. This information helps him make well-informed decisions considering multiple viewpoints and potential impacts.
The next likely reason for BAT’s engagement is that not only is he a natural engager , as seen in his style of politics and governance, but he also has a keen interest in giving citizens insight into how critical decisions were arrived at. This opportunity to explain these decisions and their likely impacts affords President BAT more reasons to engage and get the citizen’s buy-in into his programmes, especially in preparing the citizens for the road ahead. Regular interaction allows the President to assess the impact of existing initiatives and make necessary adjustments or improvements. This feedback loop ensures that governance remains responsive and accountable to the people it serves.
The last reason may be that the President wants to build trust, make informed decisions, mobilise resources, prevent conflicts, and promote social cohesion. This is an essential component of effective and inclusive governance that is people-oriented and focuses on policies and projects that serve the people’s interests. Hence, the President’s constant desire to listen, decide and communicate effectively. This has made BAT’S policy direction so evident to all.
Some significant milestones have been achieved in just 21 days: Oil subsidy is gone; major labour crisis averted; student loan bill signed into law; exchange rate harmonised; house cleaning is ongoing; new electricity bill signed into law; Data protection bill signed into law; building consensus and unifying Nigeria; and wooing foreign investors. These are early days so no objective assessment of his presidency can be done.
Building Nigeria is more than just a job for Mr President. All Nigerians must play their part. However, he has shown outstanding leadership in these early days that is worthy of emulation by leaders in the state and local governments. They must adopt the servant leader approach, build consensus, and engage with all stakeholders in their states and LGAs. Developing Nigeria requires growth at the grassroots.
Failure of the state governors and LGA chairpersons will mock the federal government’s efforts, even with the best policy interventions in place. It is time that governors and LGA chairpersons stop being little emperors, come off their high horses, and serve their people. The difference between good governors and LGA chairpersons and bad ones is seen in the level of development, both infrastructural and human capital development, in these states and LGAs.
There is no doubt that President BAT has hit the ground running as he promised. We commend his leadership and look forward to more achievements from his administration in the days ahead. We also implore other leaders at all levels to embrace stakeholder engagement and communication as practical tools for good leadership.
The quality of President BAT’s cabinet, we hope, will reflect his deep conviction in quality leadership and the leaders he appoints will continue to build on the momentum he has created in these first few days. Quality leaders create quality leadership, which then creates development. We are full of optimism and hope for what lies ahead for Nigeria. We must all stand together, support his vision, and help build a great nation.