The Federal Executive Council, FEC, yesterday proposed the sum of N26.01 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year to be submitted to the National Assembly.

The government said it was working towards ensuring that the January to December budget circle was maintained and that the 2024 budget was passed and signed before December 31, 2023.

The Minister of Budget and Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this at the end of council’s meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting alongside his colleagues from Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, as well as the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejecha, Bagudu said the council had approved the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Papers, FSP.

He explained that the executive was required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act to present to the National Assembly, ahead of a budget presentation, a document which would provide the medium-term economic outlook for the economy.

He said FEC made assumptions about the reference price for the price of crude oil which is at $73.96; exchange rate put at N700/$; oil production of 1.78 million barrels per day; debt service of N8. 25 trillion; inflation at 21 per cent and GDP growth at 3.76 percent.

Bagudu said: “Now, it was presented on the background of the commendable measures that have been taken since June in order to restore macroeconomic stability, particularly by the deregulation of petroleum prices, which we maintained that subsidies are gone and, indeed, the regulation of the foreign exchange market.

“So, Council deliberated, as well as the implication of this and all measures promised in the renewed hope agenda, consumer credits, mortgages, reversed or dismissed institution as well as funding the newly aligned institutional changes, particularly ministries, with specific functions that are able to generate growth that would be better for our country.

“The council members acknowledged the medium term expenditure framework, and it is agreed that we can go ahead to the next step of consultation and presentation to the National Assembly.

“The Medium Term Expenditure Framework is a requirement of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. So, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is for years 2024 to 2026.

“The several hundred of dollars reference price assumes optimism that investment flows will continue to come in. Given all the engagements, given all the positive tractions we are seeing from investors from the engagement led by Mr. President personally, two countries, in particular India and UAE, as well as France, the engagements led by the coordinating minister of the economy, engagement led by the trade and investment minister and, indeed, other ministers.

“So, now increasingly, engagement made by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and, indeed, all other ministers. We believe these inflows will help us to clear the backlog and the exchange rate will begin to reflect a stronger value than the current weakness.

“There was a question on the assumptions. I spoke about a number of assumptions. The assumptions include oil price benchmark, which I said for 2024 we are assuming $73.96, oil production of 1.78 million barrels a day, exchange rate of N700/$.

“Then the inflation of 21 per cent and GDP growth rate of 3.76 per cent . The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01 trillion for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3 trillion, non debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26 trillion, debt service estimated at N8.25 trillion, as well as N7.78 trillion being provided for personnel and pension cost.

“Debt service increased because N22.7 trillion with the expectation of scrutinizing the federal government debt at nine per cent.

“So that is easily about N2.1 trillion. This describes that equally personnel cost went up because of transfers under the agreement with labour.”

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said: “We also approved the application for financing from the World Bank. And in particular, the International Development Association, IDA, which is really virtually free or zero interest lending arm or financing arm of the World Bank.

“The total is $1.5 billion. And the background is just as you heard from the minister of planning and budget. The world today is one of high interest rates, as the developed world looks to fight inflation. ”They do it by restricting money, keeping interest rates high so that you can get inflation down. What that means is that interest rates for everybody else, become not just high but very painful, if not affordable within that context.

”Nigeria has been able to make the kind of macro-economic moves, it has been able to take the tough decisions to restore balance in the economy, in government finances that have warranted support, that has elicited support from the multilateral development banks.

“It’s on the basis of that, that the World Bank is willing to consider and process on our behalf $1.5 billion of concessional financing, relatively cheap financing and financing that will be dispersed relatively quickly.
“Secondly, an $80 million financing from African Development Bank was also approved by the Federal Executive Council. “This financing is for a project in Ekiti, called the Ekiti knowledge zone Project EKZ. The EKZ is basically to support young people and their quest to take on technology to use it to be employed, to be trained and to benefit from being part of the knowledge economy, being part of the technological wave that is present very much in Nigeria, which is becoming a bigger and bigger share of the economy.

“So, it’s $80 million to help the young people in the sector of knowledge economy technology and communications generally.”

Minister of Works, Engr. Umahi, said: “We presented a memo on an inherited scope of road infrastructure from the past administration and the total length of the roads we inherited and bridges was 18,897 kilometres.
“We also brought to the notice of FEC that a number of projects were awarded, some lasting up to 20 years back, abandoned, ongoing with no proper funding and so on and so forth. And there’s some new critical roads totalling 12,000 kilometres and 24 bridges.

“You know, FEC approved for the continuation of these inherited projects and the new proposal and directed that Federal Executive Council committee, Chief of Staff, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Minister of Works, Minister of Budget and Planning, GCEO/GMD of NNPLC, Chairman of FIRS and SSA on Tax Reform, to meet and come up with strategies to source for funds and everything pertaining to the funding.
“Number two, FEC was also informed on the ongoing projects and to mitigate so much inflation and variation of the projects, to have some of the projects that have attained completion to be redesigned on concrete and going forward, for new projects to be done on concrete.

“FEC approved that concept that most of the ongoing projects should be designed on concrete pavements, depending on the level of completion and if you’re doing asphalt, there are also conditions for that.
Meanwhile, FEC meetings will now hold on Mondays, away from the Wednesdays they were held in the past.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the November governorship election in Kogi State, Dino Melaye alleged that Governor Yahaya Bello, is seeking a third term in proxy.

Melaye made this claim while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.

Bello, who is serving his second term as Kogi governor, is backing his party, All Progressive Congress, APC candidate, Ahmed Ododo as his successor. 

But Melaye has claimed that the governor is tacitly trying to remain in power through Ododo.

Melaye said, “Don’t be deceived that Yahaya Bello is not on the ballot. Ododo is physically on the ballot but Yahaya Bello is the one seeking a third term through a proxy.

“I will not want this debate to be about Yahaya Bello, rather I would like to market my political party and market what we have for Kogi State.”

The former lawmaker representing Kogi West in the Senate said he was confident of unseating the ruling APC because it had happened before in 2003 when the PDP unseated Abubakar Audu.

He added that even though Yahaya Bello was the governor in 2019, he still won his senatorial election under the PDP.

Melaye said the Kogi West and Central Leaders Forum accessed the three contestants from the zone after which he was endorsed as the choice of the zones.

According to Melaye, all the candidates from the Kogi West and Central are qualified to govern the state.

He insisted that he (Melaye) is the most qualified, saying that he is the most educated, most exposed, and most experienced of all the candidates.

He said, “It’s not debatable. I was a member of the House of Reps and I was voted twice as senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Leke Abejide is a member of the House of Reps but I was in the House of Reps 17 years ago.

“And the governorship of Kogi State is not a learning ground. It’s a place you need people who definitely must have managed human and material resources over the years.”

Scores of people have been reportedly kidnapped as gunmen suspected of being bandits attack Yola village of Karaye Local Government Area in Kano State.

Reports made available to newsmen on Tuesday morning revealed that the gunmen carried out the latest attack during the last weekend. The number of the villagers abducted and reportedly killed could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, Naija News understands.

A resident, who confirmed the latest attack to Daily Trust on condition of anonymity, said he could not ascertain how many people were abducted or killed in the Saturday invasion.

“I was told that on the first day of the attack, about four people were abducted and two killed, while in the second attack, two people were abducted and one killed. It is apparent that Karaye needs the presence of army posts because of these attacks,” he said.

Naija News learnt that bandits have been carrying out incessant attacks on the axis of Karaye and Rogo local governments, causing unrest for residents of the area due to Rogo’s proximity with Katsina and Kaduna states.

Reports had it that sometime in April 2023, bandits kidnapped a popular businessman in Gangarbi Village of the Rogo LGA of Kano State, Alhaji Nasiru Na’ayya, and killed one person.

However, it was also reported that the Karaye Emirate had in 2021 raised the alarm on migration of Zamfara illegal miners to the emirate and had devised some measures to address the issues.

Sources close to the emirate told journalists that the measures taken include registration of migrants in the emirate.

The state police command, however, has not issued any official response to the recent attack in Karaye.

The Director-General (DG) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Professor Mohammed Sambo, has declared that health insurance is now mandatory for all Nigerians.

Speaking in Kaduna during an event on Monday where he was honoured with the Award of Excellence by the Kaduna State NHIA office, Professor Sambo emphasised the significant shift brought about by the NHIA Act 2022.

Represented by the acting director of special duties of NHIA, Sulaiman Ibrahim, the DG highlighted the key provisions of the NHIA Act 2022, noting that the legislation has not only redefined the NHIA’s objectives but has also made it compulsory for all Nigerians and legal residents to have health insurance coverage.

He said, “The Act has made health insurance mandatory to all Nigerians and legal residents, the establishment of the Vulnerable Group Fund to subsidise the cost of provision of health care services to the vulnerable persons in Nigeria, amongst other innovations that have changed the health insurance ecosystem.”

This declaration reflects the NHIA’s unwavering commitment to achieving Universal Health Coverage, and it underscores the importance of ensuring that no Nigerian is left without health insurance.

In his opening remarks, the Kaduna State coordinator of the Authority, Aminu Tanimu explained that the purpose of the award ceremony was to commemorate excellence, recognize outstanding accomplishments, and acknowledge the exceptional contributions of individuals and organisations within the NHIA ecosystem.

Notable recipients of the award included the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, Prof. Aishatu Armaya’u; as well as the Police Health Management Organization (HMO), Giwa Specialist Hospital, Regenix HMO, Freedom Radio 92.9, Invicta FM 98.9, Hajia Ummulkhair Sada, Alhaji Kabiru Umar, and others.

The federal government last week launched operational guidelines for the 2022 National Health Insurance Authority Act to improve healthcare affordability and accessibility for Nigerians.

These guidelines clarify roles, responsibilities, and obligations of health sector stakeholders and promote health insurance implementation.

They also define a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services, set standards for accreditation, and specify penalties for violations. The guidelines also support the integration of State Social Health Insurance Agencies (SSHIAs) as part of a coordinated framework.

Minister of women affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has given a 30-day ultimatum to the United Nations to provide a detailed account of all the funds received in Nigeria’s name from donors or face legal repercussions.

According to Ms Ohanenye’s outburst on AIT on Monday, the UN may have been embezzling donations from affluent individuals and organisations intended to combat poverty or cater to other unique needs of underprivileged Nigerians.

“I stand here as a minister of women affairs to demand from UN, all the UN; that we want account of all the money they sourced from donors in the name of Nigeria,” Ms Ohanenye passionately expressed. “We want to see the account of what they did with it and if you (UN) don’t give us this account, at least let Nigerians see what has been going on. Then you plead with them, apologise to them and change your ways.”

Ms Ohanenye said the nation is prepared to take legal measures to see that the UN complies with her demand for a comprehensive report outlining how funds have so far been obtained from donors and disbursed to Nigerians in need.

She stressed that the report must be submitted between October 16 and November 15 in order to avoid legal repercussions.

“From 16th of October to November 15th. If we don’t see these reports published for Nigerians to see, we are heading to court. From 16th of October to November 8, they get our pre-action letters,” Ms Ohanenye stressed on Monday.

“That is to prepare them on the 15th, we are heading to court. And I am promising Nigerians that immediately it is that 15th, by the next day, you will hear the suit number and all of you, we will gather to that place for the case to come on, and call for them to defend the money they are using you (Nigerians) to collect from donors.”

The report, if published, would show whether the funds sourced from generous donors have so far served their purpose or could corroborate Ms Ohanenye’s suggestions of corruption in the UN.

Donald Trump promised on Monday that if elected president again he will bar immigrants who support Hamas from entering the US and send officers to pro-Hamas protests to arrest and deport immigrants who publicly support the Palestinian group.

On a campaign stop in Iowa, Trump was responding to the Hamas killing of at least 1,300 Israelis that triggered a war in which Palestinian health officials say Israel has killed more than 2,800 Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump, president from 2017-2021, said that if elected to a second White House term he will ban entry to the US of anybody who does not believe in Israel's right to exist, and revoke the visas of foreign students who are "antisemitic."

He also vowed to step up travel bans from "terror-plagued countries." He did not explain how he would enforce his demands, including the one requiring immigrants to support Israel's right to exist under what he called "strong ideological screening."

Many of Trump's immigration policies were challenged in court during his presidency and his newest pledges could also face challenges.

A ban he imposed on immigrants from some Muslim-majority nations was struck down in lower courts but ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court. Biden ended that ban when he took office.

Trump said on Monday he would ban immigrants from Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen "or anywhere else that threatens our security". Trump also read a poem that he used to liken immigrants to deadly snakes.

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, described Trump's pledges as Islamophobic, extreme and designed to exploit "fear and anxiety."

Iowa is one of the earliest states to hold a Republican presidential nominating contest. A tough approach to immigrants was a cornerstone of Trump's first term as president.

He is the frontrunner to win his party's White House nomination and take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election.

Promising to drastically tighten US immigration laws, Trump said: "If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you're disqualified, if you support Hamas or the ideology behind Hamas, you're disqualified, and if you're a communist, Marxist, or fascist, you are disqualified."

Most of Trump's Republican rivals have condemned Hamas and offered full-throated support for an expected Israeli invasion of Gaza, but none has laid out such a tough series of proposals to keep people out of and expel Hamas sympathizers from the US

The United States along with several other countries have designated Hamas a terrorist organization.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Trump's Republican rivals for the presidential nomination, said on Monday he favored the deportation of foreign students who support Hamas and would bar Gaza refugees from the US if elected president.

Trump last week accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being unprepared for the Hamas attacks and called Hezbollah - the Iran-backed Lebanese group - "very smart."

His Iowa remarks appeared to be an effort in part to blunt that criticism.

"We will aggressively deport resident aliens with jihadist sympathies," Trump said.

The Super Eagles recorded their first win in a friendly game in five years following a 3-2 victory over 10-man Mozambique in Portimäo, Portugal, yesterday.

Goals from Terem Moffi, Frank Onyeka and Moses Simon steered Coach Jose Peseiro’s team to victory in a thrilling encounter.

Mozambique had taken the lead seven minutes into the game via Geny Catamo, raising fresh fears that Nigeria’s winless run in a friendly game may continue.

But OGC Nice’s Terem Moffi shot from close range 13 minutes later to restore parity for the Super Eagles at the Estádio Municipal de Albufeira, Albufeira in Portugal.

While Nigeria continued to dictate most of the play, it was no surprise as they took the lead through Brentford star, Frank Onyeka, who bounced on a loose ball at the half-hour mark – just at the edge of the box – and fired home to make it 2-1 for the Eagles!

Although Mozambique were reduced to ten men after a shirt pull on goal-bound Joe Aribo in the 37th minute, it took Nigeria a few more minutes before scoring their third goal when the irrepressible Moses Simon netted from the penalty spot in added time of the first half.

The southern Africans were bullish in the second period, unhindered by the numerical disadvantage, and got a second goal through Bangal with 10 minutes into the closing half.

Nigeria later made some changes in the latter stages of the tie with Sadiq Umar among them. The Real Sociedad striker made an immediate impact.

He thought he had scored in the 70th and 84th minutes of the game but his goals were flagged offside.

With four minutes added time after 90 minutes, the Super Eagles held off the East Africans to earn their first victory in a friendly match since a 1-0 win over Egypt in March 2019.
Victory means the Eagles have established a winning mentality ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches starting in November as well as the 34th Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Cote d’Ivoire.

[Leadership]

Writing this piece, I am aware that perhaps the biggest lessons and examples in leadership and management in the world today, trapped as it is in a season of crisis are better extracted from the Russia vs. Ukraine war, as well as the Israel vs. Hamas war that broke out subsequently on Saturday, October 7, and the concerted efforts by the international community to safeguard international humanitarian law, the body of legal codes guiding armed conflict. In this regard, we have heard the voices of President Joe Biden of the United States and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, now on a frantic shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak also in the Middle East trying to make peace from Jordan to Israel and elsewhere. And the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, of whom Josef Stalin in 1943, legendarily, perhaps apocryphally, once asked: how many divisions does the Pope have?

The Pope incidentally does not command divisions. He wields strong moral and spiritual authority, and this is what Pope Francis has done by calling on all the warring parties in the Middle East, this last Sunday, to give peace a chance by respecting international humanitarian law. He has asked for prayers around the world today, Tuesday, October 17, for peace. It is a charge from the Pope for an urgent need for leadership in the world, in the face of the failure, if not the ineffectuality of the divisive United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It is not certain that anyone would listen. The same US that is talking across board, even via back-door channels to China, to rein in Iran, has sent in two military carriers to back up Israel, similarly in Europe the sentiment on official sides is pro-Israel.

Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister has vowed to “demolish” Hamas, the Palestinian militant group and inflict a long and prolonged war. Israel however faces war from three fronts: Lebanon from where the Hezbollah has already fired rockets into Northern Israel, and Israel has retaliated, and also from Gaza and Syria. The fear that the situation could escalate rapidly is well-placed. For more than 100 years, the world has tried to deal with the menace and the barbarity of war by creating structures for managing conflict. It would appear however that the prevailing logic is the position by Carl von Clausewitz, in his book, On War (1943). Clausewitz was a Prussian military strategist whose theory of state was perhaps stronger than his theory of war, given his argument that “war is politics by other means among states.”

The reality is that the world has been torn apart by this corrosive, selfish ambition of states couched in nationalistic terms or as patriotism but nonetheless most of the distortions of the last three centuries and even earlier have persisted. It is a throw-back to the selfish nature of man. Netanyahu, Mohammed Deif and all the other leaders involved in the current conflict claim that they are fighting for their own people’s interests. In doing so, they and their allies are not too keen about the humanity of others. Pope Francis’s intervention is a throw-back to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, the additional protocols of 1971 and 2005 and the guidelines of 2009, which taken together uphold the connecting, common Article 3 of the Conventions to wit that war no matter how tough must have a human face: there must be a humanitarian corridor, as the Pope demands, non-combatants, children, Prisoners of war, the sick and the wounded must be protected, relief providing bodies like the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and others must be allowed access to the distressed and the wounded. In the Israel vs. Hamas conflict, over 4, 000 persons have been killed, more than 3, 000 are injured, over 7, 000 have been displaced, and the casualties continue to increase. Hamas is still bombing Israel. Israel is insisting that hospitals in Gaza must be evacuated. We have seen similar barbarity between Russia and Ukraine. Before now, Russia not only cut off energy supplies to Europe, it also shut down the major global food supply route.

The story of Israel vs Hamas is about “terrorism, evil and hate”. In. 1917, the British, through Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour announced the establishment in Palestine of “a national home for the Jewish people”, and “will use the best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of World War I, the British took control of Palestine until Israel emerged as an independent state in 1947/48. The objectives enunciated by Balfour have never been met since then. Israel has known no peace from Palestinians and the Arab States who object to its existence. The conflict between Jews and Arabs is more than a century old, dating back to ancient times, further made worse by conflicts over historical sites and monuments. Everything came to a head on October 7, with the surprise attack on Israel, on a holy day, 50 years almost to the day after a similar attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria, the Yom Kippur war of 1973. Since then, the world has been scrambling to manage the situation and find leadership. The conflict reminds us poignantly of the failure of leadership from Babylonian times to the British, the United Nations, and the reign of evil/hypocrisy in our world and the increasing helplessness, non-meaning and expendability of man, in a world driven by might and arrogance. Man qua man is the biggest threat to humanity, and world peace. The world has failed Israel, and also the Palestinians.

II. CAC And NIPOST

Our second lesson in management and leadership is local, and closer home and it has to do with the contrastive dramas that we have seen this week, at the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria (CAC) and the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST). In recent appointments, President Bola Tinubu reportedly changed the CEOs of the two government agencies. The reactions by the staff have been different, somewhat hilariously morbid and of a burlesque nature but useful all the same as case studies in management and the nature of man. On Monday, it was announced that the Registrar-General and CEO of the CAC, Garba Abubakar had been removed, and upon hearing the news of his removal, lawyers, law firms and staff of the CAC broke out in jubilation.

Lawyers accused Abubakar of messing up the CAC, even when no one knows what awaits the agency with the appointment of a replacement, Hussaini Mogaji (SAN). What I found even more shocking is the fact that yesterday, the staff at the CAC headquarters in Abuja recruited a musical band to celebrate the exit of their former boss. They put up banners and placards calling Abubakar an “emperor” and “a vicious tyrant”, and as the band belled out tunes, they danced joyously. They even prayed for the new CAC CEO and sang in praise of President Tinubu: “On your mandate, Tinubu, we shall stand” to pledge their loyalty.

They accused the former CAC CEO of being too wicked. Mr. Abubakar has not been given an opportunity to defend himself, and he may take all the staff complaints about his failure to attend to staff welfare, nepotism, high handedness, arrogance, abuse of office, backwardness and insensitivity… in his stride. But still I do not think that the CAC should become a hideout for closet politicians. There is a lesson here however, for all managers and chief executives. In the CEO Handbook, managers and CEOs are expected to be people persons, exhibit emotional intelligence and realize the simple fact that any organization is only as successful as its people. The complaints about Mr. Abubakar’s tenure by lawyers and CAC customers may have been a direct consequence of the former CEO’s disconnect with his own team. This may not be the first time this kind of reaction will occur. There have been reports of former CEOs who were not even allowed to return to the office to clear out their offices, after their departure. The banner at the CAC headquarters in Abuja listing Abubakar’s offences should be photographed and used as reference material in the teaching of management and leadership.

In contrast, yesterday, however, there was a different situation at NIPOST. The new NIPOST boss, Post-Master General/CEO, Tola Odeyemi whose appointment was announced on October 11, had gone to the headquarters to assume duties. The workers said they did not want her. They carried placards and blocked the gate. They insisted they preferred the former Post-Master General, Adeyemi Adepoju. Somehow, Ms. Odeyemi managed to find her way in at about 1 pm to meet with top Directors of the agency. Having been met with such hostility, and the pro-Adepoju sentiments of the staff, the lady rejected the seat that she was offered and chose to sit elsewhere. This one is clearly a superstitious appointee! If she survives the storm, she would be the first female to be appointed head of NIPOST, which by the way, is a moribund organization despite the massive assets it owns across Nigeria. But the staff seem to like the former Post-Master General. The uncertainty that now hangs over Odeyemi’s appointment is not helpful. Whatever may have recommended the former CEO to the staff as a good leader, the Presidency must quickly clarify the situation at the agency. Was the former Post Master General reinstated after his sack? What is his exact status today? Heads of MDAs hold their positions at the pleasure of the President, on whose behalf every appointee executes delegated authority. We can only hope that if Odeyemi survives her present ordeal, she would be confident enough subsequently, to sit on the CEO’s chair and endeavour to make the kind of difference that would endear her to the staff. Again, the personnel make much difference in any organization. They do the work. They write obituaries.

III: Nigeria Goes A-Borrowing?

One of the issues during the Presidential campaigns for the 2023 general elections was Nigeria’s debt profile. The point was made repeatedly that Nigeria ‘s debt burden was too high, but the Debt Management (DMO) kept insisting that Nigeria could in fact borrow more money, because we had a relatively low debt burden compared to other African countries. Those who should know argued then that the problem was that the country was borrowing not for productivity, but crass assumption. By the time the Tinubu administration assumed office in May 29, the debt profile had grown bigger with about 98% country revenue to debt service ratio. Subsequent disclosures showed that inflation was well over 26%, food inflation much higher, the foreign reserves was down to a paltry $4 million, equivalent of just 4 months of imports, the country’s unemployment rate was over 36%, later reviewed strangely downwards, through voodoo methodology. But more persons had slipped into multidimensional poverty. By the time President Tinubu took key steps in the economy: removal of fuel subsidy, that the Buhari administration tactfully dodged, and the harmonization of the foreign exchange regime, our nightmare was complete.

To address this, the government of the day has been busy announcing palliatives and loans, up to about N3. 27 trillion that would be used to alleviate the suffering that has descended heavily on the land: as follows: N200 billion to boost agriculture, N75bn for manufacturers, N125 bn for MSMEs and the informal sector, N185 billion as palliatives for states, N1 trillion as student loans, N315 billion to pay federal workers allowances for six months, N1. 13 trillion to 15 million households at N25, 000 for 3 months, N100 billion to acquire 3, 000 units of 20-seater CNG fuelled buses, N70 billion as palliative for lawmakers, N75 billion loan for market women… and so on. The way this Nigerian government has been announcing a spending spree of billions since June 2023 is frightening. Wale Edun, the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy has said the country will no longer rely on Ways and Means. So where is the money to run the economy and fund wastage and leakages coming from? Even the IMF/World Bank, at their recent Annual Summit in Marrakech, Morocco while praising recent reforms in Nigeria have said openly that the Naira is under pressure, with inflation at 26% year on year, and while reviewing Nigeria’s growth projection downwards, advised that Nigeria has to tighten monetary policy and address its foreign exchange to build trust and confidence. IMF says it is willing to lend Nigeria money if it is approached by Nigerian authorities. May we not end up like Sri Lanka and Venezuela. And Ghana next door.

The truth is that we have been on a borrowing spree since June 2023: $449 million in IBRD loan and $301 million IDA credit totalling $750 million, $500 million from the World Bank to invest in improving livelihoods of Nigerian women; in July, it was further reported that Tinubu’s administration is to take $800 million pre-approved loan to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal, by September 2023, within three months, Nigeria had borrowed $1.95 bn from the World Bank. By last weekend, it was reported that Nigeria was poised to borrow an additional fresh loan of $1.5 billion from the World Bank, what is otherwise called HOPE loan. Who is going to pay? Hope? How? The projected revenue of N10 trillion for 2023 cannot support fresh borrowings. The Senate has asked the government to bring a supplementary 2023 budget, nobody has said anything, perhaps because the lawmakers themselves have been allocated N70 billion for expensive SUV vehicles. Yesterday was World Food Day, food inflation in Nigeria is above 24%, much higher in some of the states. And yet on top of it all, the government continues to make appointments on a daily basis, driving up the cost of governance. One or two Governors have more than 50 media aides, most of them bearing the same titles, doing nothing.

Is the Tinubu government planning to run the country by borrowing? Some commentators have praised the choice of President’s economic managers: Wale Edun – Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Yemi Cardoso – Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and National Planning, but all the praise from the international community about suitability just because these managers appear to be dancing to the tunes of the neo-liberal economists at the IMF and the World Bank would be of no use to Nigeria, if the average citizen can no longer eat bread or corn. Nigerians cannot be fed with rhetoric and platitudes. Can we stop the grandstanding, and do real work? It is a question of management and leadership.

If conscienceless violence is a credible measure of evil, then I'm afraid the distinction between Benjamin Netanyahu's regular army and Hamas terrorists is becoming less and less clear. The only difference I still see is the temporal order of cause and effect. Evil does not stop being evil simply because it is reactionary. We cannot canonize horrific evil because it is perpetrated in response to an earlier heinous evil. There are no equities in evil. If we have all established that the women and children of Palestine are not Hamas terrorists; if we have already agreed that the women and children of Palestine are as much victims of Hamas terrorism as are Israeli women and children, then we must also agree that the ongoing campaign of indiscriminate bombings and killings of women and children of Gaza is equally terroristic.

The disturbing images streaming out of Gaza Strip are as shockingly horrifying as they are searingly traumatizing. Our already violated collective innocence is under further daily assault in Gaza. Our television boxes have become box offices of horror, except that this is no movie. This reel is real. The tragedy of TV in times like this is that it makes all of us complicit. TV denies us the luxury of plausible deniability and the defense of ignorance. We cannot claim we didn't see it, because we did. We do.

We are watching deadly violence in real time, not recorded playback. Yes, Hamas shocked and terrorized our conscience with grotesquely abominable evil on Black Saturday. Nobody can deny that. But Israel is revictimizing us in real time. Telegraphing violence before it happens makes us all accomplices because of our failure to stop it and protect innocent victims. When it telegraphs its plan of violence, Israel puts us on notice, extorts our consent, and assumes our permission to evil.

Israel has used TV to conscript the rest of us into this orgy of violence. Without knowing it, we are playing along. Sports events this weekend, from London to LA, began with one-minute silence for Israeli victims of Hamas terrorism. But more than twice Palestinian children have been blown up by Israeli rockets in the week that has followed. When will the world cure itself of this cataract of selective blindness? The blood of every innocent Palestinian child spilled in the kiosks of Gaza is as precious as the blood of every Israeli child shed in the kibbutz of Ashkelon. The only difference is that one child was murdered by an organized terrorist group and the other by an organized army.

Yes, even in our general and generous grief and solidarity for Israel, we must pause to ask difficult and inconvenient questions. What is the endgame? You can't root out Hamas by creating more Hamas. Every mother killed by Israeli bomb while her young boy watches and cries in helplessness is a Hamas recruited. Israel stated that its goal was to kill the last Hamas terrorist in Gaza. So far close to 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and 10,000 wounded. Israel has not told us how many of those numbers are Hamas terrorists. But it is the age of TV. We know, because we see. We see, because we watch TV. And what we watch, see, and know is that lifeless and limbless bodies of 6 months and 6 years could not have been those of Hamas terrorists. This siege of sacrilege must cease.

If revenge and vengeance have driven Israel to counter-evil, enough of that has been exacted already. The world must now help Israel to regain rationality. Any war that rides exclusively on emotion will ultimately end in annihilation and extinction. Israel must heal. The world must assist Israel to heal. But effective healing for Israel cannot come from the collateral graves of innocent Palestinian children and women. Their innocent blood will impose guilt, not healing. It is time to regain our rationality. It is time to ask hard questions and give inconvenient answers.

We must mourn the lives of innocent Israelis, including the 260 innocent young men and women butchered at a music festival by Hamas terrorists. But we cannot turn blind eyes to the sad fact that Israel is committing a genocidal orgy in Gaza and the world is eagerly watching. My fear for Israel is that the human memory has limited storage capacity. It operates on a recency, not primacy, structure. It wipes off older events to save the newest data. The human memory remembers the last vivid atrocity. I'm afraid the last thing the world will remember when it is all over is the cemeterization and golgothaization of Gaza by Israel. Sadly, that is what Hamas terrorists want.

Dr. Vitus Ozoke is a lawyer, a civil and human rights activist, and a public commentator based in the United States.

The University of Health and Allied Sciences, Volta Region, Ghana has been adjudged the country’s best higher institution to study Sports Medicine.

 The university came out tops in a global rating conducted by the renown rating agency, EduRank in its 2023 exercise.

According to EduRank, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Volta Region, Ghana was ranked 16 in Africa and 1,279 in the world “based on their research performance in Sports Medicine”.

 The ranking results, according to EduRank, was premised on a number of variables, including citations of the academic papers and publication ratings published by the universities involved.  

A Nigerian Professor of Sports and Exercise Psychology, Seun Omotayo, who is the pioneer Head of Department (HOD), Department of Sports and Exercise Medical Science at University of Health and Allied Sciences, designed the Department’s curriculum from scratch four years ago and led its development to achieve this feat.

 In a reaction to the rating achievement, Prof. Omotayo said: “This is something to cheer. It is not a walk in the park I am very happy at this development which is the result of innovation in academic curriculum development and creative, job-driven curriculum implementation.”

 Prof. Omotayo was the Team Psychologist of the Nigerian Flying Eagles which in Saudi ’89 recorded “The Dammam Miracles” by rallying from 0-4 down to beat the Union of Soviet and Socialist Republic (USSR).

 He urged Nigerian universities to “develop such job-focused Sports Medicine programmes” and expressed readiness to put his expertise in the service of the country to tap into this vastly untapped field in the Nigerian university system.