Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that diversity and multiculturalism have divine purpose, explaining that God designed them for mankind to make the world exciting and not monotonous or stale for mankind.

Obasanjo said diversity and multiculturalism should be embraced, cherished, jealously guarded and sustained by humanity.

The elder statesman gave this explanation in his keynote address at the 2023 World Culture Festival organised by the Art of Living Foundation at the National mall, Washington DC, USA at the weekend.

In a release by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former President submitted that God has given us life with a world of diversity and multiculturalism.

He explained that these traits should be sustained “because of human imperfection, greed, selfishness and dishonesty, war, violence, insecurity, poverty, criminality and evil in one form or the other pervade the world.

“Some would want to blame these on diversity or multiculturalism. And using these to point at the failure of multiculturalism. That, if I may say, is wrong. In spite of human development in science and technology from the stone age to artificial intelligence age, human basic instinct for power, position, popularity, prestige, prosperity at all costs have not changed much if at all.”

Obasanjo emphasised that to have gathered with about 180 countries “is to acknowledge and celebrate diversity which is of God. God is God of diversity and not of sameness. 

“If God has created sameness in the world, it would have been a world of monotony, staleness, unexcitement, dullness and boredom. God created a world of diversity and wonder for us to enjoy and live happily in.

“In the process, we sacrifice love, kindness, goodwill, brotherhood and sisterhood, mercy, forgiveness, consideration for others and love and fear with respect for our Creator.

“Gurudev, my leader, brothers and sisters all over the world, God has given us life with a world of diversity and multiculturalism.”

Obasanjo stressed that as human beings,  “We have an unrelenting task of working to add love, kindness, brotherhood, humanity and humanness to the world of diversity God has given us.”

He pointed further that it was only when these tasks were achieved, “then, we will have one world of peace, common security, stability, wholesomeness, growth, shared prosperity, inclusive society and God’s kingdom on earth. That is our goal to achieve.”

[Nation]

The Christian Association of Nigeria has warned the Federal Government against negotiating with bandits and terrorists and granting them amnesty, saying it should stop playing politics.

CAN said if the Nigerian state was so helpless and could not fight terrorism, it should look for help elsewhere.

While describing them as enemies of the state, the Christian body said banditry and kidnapping had become big business while the government had allowed it to continue for a long time.

CAN Secretary, North-West Zone, Sunday Oibe, issued the warning in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday.

According to him, the FG should be careful with the so-called negotiators who have seen an opportunity to “make more money.”

He was reacting to recent reports that some officials of the FG were negotiating with bandits in Zamfara State, although the state government has kicked against it.

Oibe was also asked if CAN would support such discussions or amnesty for bandits and if such measures would stop banditry.

He said, “It’s shameful and disgusting for the Nigerian state to keep doing this to us as a people. We have been hearing the expression, ‘unknown gunmen’ did this and that over and over again. Suddenly, the unknown gunmen are now known to the point that the federal might is even allowing some of its officials to enter into negotiation with the bandits.

“As long as we keep living in denial, this problem shall remain unsolved. There’s nothing like bandits or unknown gunmen. This is an organised crime against the rest of us that are helpless. The successive governments know them, hire them, empower them and are using them against the rest of us.

“Are we saying that the Nigerian state is so helpless to win the war against these enemies of the state? If we as a nation have become so helpless, let us stomach our pride by seeking help elsewhere. This war must stop and the time is now. Personally, I don’t subscribe to the idea of negotiating with criminals and the enemies of the state. The government knows what to do and should stop playing games.

“There was a governor of APC extraction who told the entire world how they had paid this same group of people under the last administration of Muhammadu Buhari. The question is, why didn’t they stop harassing innocent citizens? After collecting money as alleged by the said governor at a time and they refused to stop causing pain to innocent citizens, why didn’t the Nigerian state go after them?

“Lastly, we want to know who are these alleged government officials that know these bandits and are willing to enter into negotiation with them. Banditry and kidnapping have become a big business and the government has allowed this nonsense for long. Do you know how many families have been plundered into emotional and financial penury because of these evil non-state actors?”

The secretary added, “Negotiation is not the answer but rather, demonstration of political will to root out these criminals from the very root is the solution. The DSS, NIA, Police, etc know the source (s) and are willing to work if given the free hand to do so. Nigerian soldiers who were used to dancing the piton dance elsewhere are capable of rooting out those evil people if given the right motivation and go ahead.

“How do you justify going into negotiation with those that killed your country’s security personnel with impunity leaving their wives as widows and children as orphans? The Federal Government should be careful with the so-called negotiators who have seen the opportunity to make more money.”

[Punch]

Israel, reeling from the deadliest attack in half a century, formally declared war on Hamas Sunday as the conflict’s death toll surged above 1,000 after the Palestinian militant group launched a massive surprise assault from Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steeled the shocked and grieving nation for a “long and difficult” war after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Israel on Saturday and sent a wave of fighters who gunned down civilians and took at least 100 hostages.

The bloody escalation sharply heightened Middle East tensions and killed more than 600 people on the Israeli side, the country’s worst losses since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war when it came under attack from a coalition led by Egypt and Syria.

“Israel was caught flat-footed by the unprecedented attack,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative. “I’ve heard multiple comparisons to 9/11, and many Israelis are struggling to understand how this could have happened.”

In Gaza — which was hammered by Israeli air strikes on 800 targets ahead of what many feared may be a looming ground invasion — officials reported at least 413 deaths, with thousands more wounded across the war zone.

US President Joe Biden ordered “additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist assault by Hamas,” the White House said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington “will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions”.

Austin also said he had directed the USS Gerald R. Ford, an aircraft carrier, and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, and that Washington was augmenting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.

Several foreign countries have reported nationals killed, abducted or missing in the fighting, among them Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, Ukraine and the United States.

Tens of thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle holdout Hamas fighters in the south, where the bodies of civilians had been found strewn on roads and in town centres.

“The enemy is still on the ground,” said military spokesman Daniel Hagari as a second night fell after the attack, adding that Israel was reinforcing its military strength near the Gaza Strip.

Gun battles raged as the Israeli army sought to secure desert regions near the coastal enclave, rescue Israeli hostages and evacuate all areas near Gaza.

“We’ll reach each and every community until we kill every terrorist in Israel,” vowed Hagari, a day after Hamas fighters launched their shock offensive and surged into Israel using vehicles, boats and motorised paragliders.

Countries around the world have condemned a wave of Palestinian attacks by land, sea and air that Israel’s army says left more than 600 dead.

Israeli jets carried out “intense” airstrikes on targets in Gaza Sunday afternoon, shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the security cabinet had voted Saturday evening to put the country officially at war, meaning it can carry out “significant military activities.”

Some countries also called for a de-escalation of the conflict, after Israel launched air strikes and other military operations targeting Gaza that Palestinian .

“We are at war,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said when he vowed severe retaliation after Hamas’s surprise assault.

Here is a roundup of the reactions:

United States
President Joe Biden said US support for Israel was “rock solid and unwavering”.

“The United States stands with Israel,” Biden said in a televised statement at the White House, flanked by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We will not ever fail to have their back.”

A White House official said talks with Israel on military aid were “very much under way”.

Iran
A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed support for the attack, calling it a “proud operation”.

“We support this operation,” Yahya Rahim Safavi said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

Safavi expressed backing for the Palestinian militants “until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem”.

At a parliament session on Saturday, Iranian lawmakers chanted “Down with Israel”, “Down with America” and “Welcome Palestine”, according to a video published by the Tasnim news agency.

Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said: “The Kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, protection of civilians, and self-control”.

“The Kingdom is reminded of its repeated warnings of the dangers of an explosive situation as a result of the continued occupation and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights,” it added.

UN
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged diplomatic efforts in the Middle East in order to prevent wider conflict, saying Saturday that “only through negotiation leading to a two-state solution can peace be achieved.”

The UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk said: “I call for an immediate stop to the violence, and appeal to all sides and key countries in the region to de-escalate to avoid further bloodshed.”

He said he was “deeply concerned at reports that Israeli civilians have been taken hostage”.

EU
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “I unequivocally condemn the attack carried out by Hamas terrorists against Israel.”

“It is terrorism in its most despicable form. Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks,” she said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “This horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing. The EU expresses its solidarity with Israel in these difficult moments.”

He added: “News of civilians taken as hostages in their homes or to Gaza are appalling. This is against international law. Hostages must be released immediately”.

Brazil
Brazil, which holds the UN Security Council presidency, condemned the attacks on Israel.

A statement from its foreign ministry urged “all parties to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid escalating the situation”.

Shortly after, it said it would call an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the crisis. The Council announced they would meet Sunday.

China
China said it was “deeply concerned” by the weekend’s dramatic escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, urging all sides to show “calm”.

“China is deeply concerned about the current escalation of tension and violence between Palestine and Israel,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said, adding it “calls on all parties concerned to remain calm and exercise restraint, cease fire immediately, protect civilians and prevent further deterioration of the situation”.

Russia
Russia’s foreign ministry called for an “immediate ceasefire”.

“We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to immediately cease fire, renounce violence, show the necessary restraint and — with the help of the international community — establish a negotiation process aimed at establishing a comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country is fending off a Russian invasion, said Israel had an “indisputable” right to defend itself.

“Terror is always a crime, not just against one country or specific victims, but against humanity as a whole,” he said.

Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel and Palestinians to avoid further escalation.

“We invite all parties to act reasonably and to stay away from impulsive steps that raise tensions,” said Erdogan, who strongly supports the Palestinian cause.

France
France expressed “full solidarity with Israel and the victims” and underscored “its absolute rejection of terrorism and its commitment to Israel’s security”.

President Emmanuel Macron said he “firmly condemns” the attacks.

Germany
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel “has our full solidarity” and “the right, guaranteed by international law, to defend itself against terrorism”.

Britain
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked” by the attacks.

“Israel has an absolute right to defend itself,” he said.

He went further in a post later on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“As the barbarity of today’s atrocities becomes clearer, we stand unequivocally with Israel,” he wrote.

“This attack by Hamas is cowardly and depraved.”

Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke by telephone on Sunday with Netanyahu, to whom she “reaffirmed Rome’s full solidarity” following the offensive launched by Hamas.

“The Italian government will work with international partners to coordinate support” for Israel, Rome said in a statement.

“Italy stands by the Israeli people at this difficult time”.

Japan
Japan “strongly condemns” the cross-border attacks, foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa said.

Tokyo also criticised the kidnapping of a number of Israelis, including several civilians, she said in a statement.

“Meanwhile, we are seriously concerned about the large number of casualties in the Gaza Strip as a result of attacks by the Israel Defence Forces,” her statement continued.

“Japan once again calls on all parties to exercise the utmost restraint to prevent further damage.”

South Africa
South Africa’s foreign ministry expressed its “grave concern over the recent devastating escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

“The region is in desperate need of a credible peace process that delivers on the calls of a plethora of previous UN resolutions for a two-state solution and a just and comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine,” it added.

India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country stood “in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour”.

“Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel,” Modi said.

Venezuela
Venezuela’s government expressed its “deep concern” over the clashes.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, it said the fighting was “the result of the impossibility of the Palestinian people to find in multilateral international legality a space to assert their historic rights”.

Yemen
In Yemen, Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa expressed their support for “the heroic jihadist operation”.

In a statement published on the website of the Huthi-controlled SABA news agency, the Iran-aligned militant group said the attack “revealed the weakness, fragility and impotence” of Israel.

It added that this operation “is a battle of dignity, pride, and defence”.

AFP

…this has become the rule, not the exception. The result is that Nigeria’s judiciary now suffers a terminal credibility deficit that endangers civilised dispute resolution to the point of making vigilantism highly profitable. The Council of Foreign Relations validates this causality between “public mistrust of the police and the judicial system” on the one hand and what it calls Nigeria’s “epidemic of lawlessness” on the other.

In July 2023, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) presided over a meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to appoint his own son as a judge of the Federal High Court. On 4 October, as the father presided over the swearing in of his own son, it fell on the Old Students Association of Ikolaba Grammar School, which the new judge attended for his secondary education, to defend his appointment with the cringe-inducing statement that “contrary to claims in some quarters, Ariwoola Jr.’s appointment as a judge was not on the influence of his father, who is the CJN.” They lacked the standing to say this, of course, because they could not possibly know how he was appointed.

In June 2023, the NJC convened to approve the elevation of the President of the Court of Appeal’s son-in-law. This individual had previously been appointed as a judge of the National Industrial Court of Nigerian (NICN), a mere six years earlier in 2017.

In January 2021, the Governor of Plateau State swore in the wife of this same son-in-law, herself the daughter of the same President of the Court of Appeal, as a judge of the High Court of Plateau State.

The following year, the wife of the Judge President of the NICN was similarly appointed a judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. Her brother, like her husband, was also a member of the NJC.

Meanwhile, at the meeting where it approved the son of the CJN for a judgeship, the NJC also approved for appointment to the Federal High Court, a nephew of the Chief Judge of Ogun State.

What is good for the judges is also good for the politicians. So, as the country headed into the 2019 elections, the then ruling party handed the ticket to represent Bauchi North in the Senate to the husband of the President of the Court of Appeal, who plays the primary role in election dispute resolution. On his exit from the Senate four years later, this Senator confessed that instead of using the bedroom to enjoy geriatric connubium, he had converted it into a venue where he habitually “encroached” on his wife’s judicial independence for the benefit of his political co-travellers.

Meanwhile, following the retirement of that President of the Court of Appeal, her husband became surplus to requirements and the party promptly re-allocated the ticket in 2023 for his senatorial seat instead to one of the sons of the then CJN.

Not to be outdone, another major political party handed a ticket to the House of Representatives to another son of the same CJN.

Law professor, Itsejuwa Sagay, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who also chaired the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) in the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, was on firm grounds when he declaimed over three years ago that “sons and daughters of retired and serving judges and justices are being nominated for appointment into sensitive judicial positions at the expense of more qualified candidates without privileged support and backing.”

In 2022, the Governor of Bayelsa State appointed his wife as a judge of the state High Court. He is just one of many senior politicians around Nigeria who keep their own judges in their bedrooms.

These examples are just a tip of an iceberg of what has become a pattern of diversion and capture of high judicial office in Nigeria by a mutually sustaining incest of political and judicial insiders, mostly connected through bloodlines, personal favours, or genital relations. More than 63 years after Independence, this group has conspired to erode judicial independence in Nigeria.

Law professor, Itsejuwa Sagay, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who also chaired the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) in the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, was on firm grounds when he declaimed over three years ago that “sons and daughters of retired and serving judges and justices are being nominated for appointment into sensitive judicial positions at the expense of more qualified candidates without privileged support and backing.”

One response to this trend is the refrain that propinquity or relationship to a judicial or political insider should not bar qualified persons from judicial office. Yomi Aliyu (SAN) even goes further to claim that “the judiciary had become a family affair throughout the world, especially common law nations.” He could not produce any evidence to back up this unimaginative invention, which is not surprising because there is none.

Surely, if judicial temperament and skills were to be hereditary or sexually transmitted, as Mr Aliyu suggests, this tendency in Nigeria should have had some antiquity. But, among Nigeria’s first eight indigenous CJNs, until after Mohammed Uwais who retired in June 2006, only the first, Adetokunbo Ademola, could count a child of his (Philip Adenekan Ademola) as a judge. Many among their successors since then, used their office at the head of the NJC to prefer their own children to high judicial office, with no care or concern for conflicts of interest. Indeed, a former CJN preferred two of his children to the bench of the High Court and another two into positions in the registry of different courts in the country.

The idea that these scions of the well-placed are more qualified for judicial office than others, does not bear scrutiny. To begin with, the only constitutional requirement for judicial appointment in Nigeria is a minimum number of years of enrolment as a lawyer in Nigeria. There are no prescribed skill, character, or integrity thresholds.

The judicial managers of the appointment process skew it deliberately to ensure pre-determined outcomes. This will not be the case if their children, spouses and mistresses (with whom they choose to fill many judicial vacancies) were that competitive. In 2020, for instance, the NJC advertised 15 vacancies for the FCT High Court but nominated 34 persons for appointment, with all of the non-advertised nominations going to the children or relatives of judicial insiders. It seemed clear that they were deliberately parsimonious with disclosure of all the vacancies, in order to be able to share those in an exclusive bazaar among judicial insiders.

There is no magic bullet out of this mess. But it is essential to return credibility to judicial appointments. That must begin with unbundling the multiplicity of roles in the office of the CJN and making judicial appointments more transparent and less dependent on his or her whim.

This is not the only problem. Femi Falana (SAN) complained last year that “two years ago, a candidate who scored zero in the NJC interview was made a judge.” The qualification of that candidate was their relationship to a judicial insider. This is not an exception. A nephew of another senior judicial figure from southern Nigeria, who similarly failed the written test, was also jumped above other more qualified candidates in a recent round of judicial appointments.

The alacrity with which parents and paramours in high judicial or political office in Nigeria suddenly discover these days that the hidden genius of their scions or sleep mates deserve elevation to the highest levels of judicial office, tasks every calculus of probability beyond the realm of plausibility. The only explanation for this pattern is that judicial office is hawked as a transactional token or filial favour, or for genital propinquity. In Nigeria, enabled by politicians in whose favour these offices are procured as inoculation against electoral misadventure, this pattern of abuse of judicial office prospers without credible challenge.

Most importantly, this practice of insider dealing in judicial appointments violates the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, as well as Judicial Code of Conduct established by the NJC itself. As a rule under the Basic Principles, “any method of judicial selection shall safeguard against judicial appointments for improper motives.” That is what happens when the best qualification of a nominee for judicial office is who they are related to or whom they sleep with.

Moreover, Rule 8.3 of the Judicial Code of Conduct, contains this explicit prohibition: “a Judge who takes advantage of the judicial office for personal gain or for gain by his or her relative or relation abuses power.” It is impossible not to see that for a CJN, who sits as chair of the NJC, to prefer his own child to judicial office, violates this stipulation.

Yet, this has become the rule, not the exception. The result is that Nigeria’s judiciary now suffers a terminal credibility deficit that endangers civilised dispute resolution to the point of making vigilantism highly profitable. The Council of Foreign Relations validates this causality between “public mistrust of the police and the judicial system” on the one hand and what it calls Nigeria’s “epidemic of lawlessness” on the other.

There is no magic bullet out of this mess. But it is essential to return credibility to judicial appointments. That must begin with unbundling the multiplicity of roles in the office of the CJN and making judicial appointments more transparent and less dependent on his or her whim.

It is my pleasure to be in your midst today. The topic you have chosen for discussion is globally relevant because the implications of the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the workforce are of interest to every person in the world. The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) is alive to its responsibility to its members and Nigerian society. I have always had strong emotional attachment to CIPM and similar bodies everywhere. My strong attachment to talent development owes to the fact no organisation or society make worthwhile progress without well-developed human resources, otherwise known in the modern world as talent. Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Israel are highly respected because of their high level of development. Yet they have practically no mineral resources.

What each of them has is an abundance of talent which has turned these places into wonders of history. The American Deputy Secretary of Treasury, Waly (Wale) Adeyemo, was in Nigeria in the middle of last month. During a major speech at Lagos Business School, he reminded us that our greatest asset as a nation is not the petroleum resources we have in considerable quantity or any other mineral. Our greatest resource, according to Waly, is our people. I am in total agreement. For Nigeria to make quantum progress that we desperately need, the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management has its job cut out for it. AI is one of the key strategies to adopt. AI is here for good or for ill.

Around the 24th of last Month, the global media reported how a group of young men in Spain between 11 and 14 years used AI to generate nude pictures of about 20 girls in the southwestern part between 11 and 17 years. The faces of the girls are real, but not the bodies. But the generated photos look so real that it is tough to recognise that these are not actually the bodies. These pictures generated an international furore, and raised a lot of ethical, legal, regulatory, emotional, and technical questions.

The development occurred in a village in southwestern Spain. In other words, location is not important in the use of AI. AI is software engineering. It is not constrained by space like manufacturing engineering which is carried out physically. The youngsters who perpetrated the act are underaged, and so the law can’t be used against them easily. The victims are innocent children who didn’t know that their pictures on the social media could be manipulated to harm them, at least emotionally. Of course, the pictures were obtained without their consent. This means that your own pictures and those of your friends, neighbours, associates, daughters, sons, cousins, etc, can easily be manipulated to bring you and these people into disrepute. Sometimes there is very little you can do about it, legally speaking, because the perpetrators are kids. Their parents and guardians may not always be blamed. They cannot be with them always and know what the children are doing. AI capabilities and development are available via the open source. Even the most protected Internet Protocols (IPs) are now falling apart. In a memo that leaked recently, Google lamented that ordinary people are flooding their supposedly well-guarded spaces with their own ideas.

Samsung has in the last few months been very careful in its AI application. A few months ago, it discovered that confidential information about its numerous customers and partners had gone viral. It was caused by an AI app. This accident reminds me of an accident in Brazil two years ago. A female senator, after a Zoom meeting with her colleagues, began to undress without knowing that her video camera was still on. Her unclad pictures went viral. Lessons here are twofold: Technology invades our privacy and all of us must be careful in its application.

There are a number of challenges with AI. Generative AI like ChatGPT (General Purpose Technology) is known for perpetrating stereotypes and biases. This is because the machines train on existing data. Extant data is full of bias. Bias is a serious matter in a world striving towards inclusion and social justice. Diversity, Equity and inclusion (DEI) is a powerful phenomenon in the world today. Against this background, AI researchers and developers are advised to follow the example of Mustafa Suleyman and his team at Inflection who have developed a Large Language Model (LLM) named Pi which is reported to be free of biases and stereotypes. It is also claimed that, unlike ChatGPT, Pi cannot be used to make to make bombs and other dangerous things. Some of you may be aware that I have been in the forefront of the campaign for the responsible development and use of AI. I have been advocating AI regulation and coordination on the international scene. It is good to see Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and some other persons involved in the AI industry share the same view.

You must have heard that students throughout the world now use ChatGPT to answer class questions. All they do is type the key words and prompt them on the computer. Behold, the answer appears! But this is plagiarism. ChatGPT can reproduce in seconds a perfect drawing of any of any sophisticated and complex work by Picasso or Michael Angelo or any other great artist. It can produce music or a video or an advert jingle in seconds. Just any creative work.

But don’t get carried away by the thinking that you can become the writer of a great novel through ChatGPT. Experts have pointed out that creative work by ChatGPT is always ordinary or regular. Good novels are always outstanding creative work, not the average or regular type. This means that to produce a great novel, you must break with tradition, with norms, rules, with the way everyone writes. ChatGPT, on the other hand, trains on existing work, on regular work that conforms to the status quo.

For those of you who want to use generative AI to do your academic work, I have news for you: the citations or references which ChatGPT generates are frequently not accurate! ChatGPT is notorious for wrong or non-existent references. So, be careful. Otherwise, you will be accused of academic fraud.

Still, AI is an indispensable tool. It is immensely useful. It is revolutionary. It helps to detect and prevent fraud. It does most things with precision and faster and cheaper. But it cannot take take the place of humans so much. In radiology where it performs wonders in analysis and detection, doctors are still needed. When you use ChatGPT in academic or research work, you need to crosscheck the data and information generated for you. A close friend recently typed his name and prompted it to find out what ChatGPT knew about him, it generated a lot of both accurate and inaccurate information. He corrected the errors which the machine accepted with an apology and thanks.

Many of you are afraid that AI will take your jobs away. Well, some jobs will go. Clerical and administrative jobs. These are routine jobs. Computers learn to do them better through repitive performance. That’s what is called machine learning. Some companies in the UK have have replaced their customer service teams with AI because it has over the period learnt to do the work faster. Therefore, it is advisable you upscale your skills. You need to reskill, whether you are doing a job easily replaceable by AI or not. As a recent study by Standford and MIT researchers has shown, AI does help organisational members retain their jobs! So, I urge you to reskill by learning how to use AI as a tool in task performance. Don’t be like typists, secretaries and clerks of the 1980s who refused to retool in the 1980s when the computer was becoming ubiquitous and consequently lost their jobs.

Nigeria must brace up for the impending AI revolution. The top leadership of the country must be very keen on AI so as to understand it. It is only when our leaders have a good understanding of what AI is that they that they can make the right policies, implement and monitor them properly. In China, which is competing well with the United States in the development and application of AI capabilities, President Xi is personally involved in the AI drive. Washington has taken a number of measures at the highest level like banning microchips from being exported to China because American leaders have a good understanding of IT matters. We have seen American leaders like the National Security Adviser and the Secretary of State make strong policy statements on AI. In fact, the American top leadership is taking AI so seriously that the State Department is mulling a policy enabling career diplomats to take years out of their office and learn technology development in IT organisations and still earn credits for the periods outside the Department of State. Such officers will enjoy incentives like rapid promotions. Other government departments and organisations are expected to take similar steps. The United States does not want China or any other country to narrow the competitive edge it enjoys in AI and other technologies.

China is assisted in its AI development by its people, including Chinese-owned firms, in different parts of the world. There are a lot of Nigerians in Silicon Valley and elsewhere who can help our country in this regard. The government should reach out to them. They must be incentivised. Patriotic sentiment is not enough in AI business. Nvidia, with Jaesen Huang (formerly from Taiwan) as a co-founder, recently developed a special chip to circumvent the American ban on chip exports to China. It made some five billion dollars ($5bn) in the first half of this year alone from the chip exports.

I am delighted that the Minister of Communication and Creative Economy is an IT expert recruited from abroad, regardless of his past political views. I was myself brought in 1993 from the University of Massachusetts where I was holding the position of Distinguished Professor of Industrial Engineering and Director of the Robotics and Automation Laboratory and made the Minister of Science and Technology, without regard to my political view as an activist Nigerian in the United States.

AI is driven by high computing, data and algorithm. Institutions which deal with these three things must be considered frontline development Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The Ministry of Communications and Creative Economy as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Communications Commission and the National Agency for the Acquisition of Technology, among others, fall into this category. The Digital Bridge Institute which exists in only three places in Nigeria should be set up in each of the six geopolitical zones. Ours is a nation of over 200 million. The Digital Bridge Institute should be given pride of place the way the Indian government has accorded pride of place to the Indian Institutes of Technology. The IITs are a major contributor o India’s current amazing development, including in AI.

The IT curricula in Nigerian academic and professional institutions must be flexible and change with the rapidity of AI development. A month seems like a decade in the AI world. Constant training, retraining, learning, unlearning and relearning should be the way of life for Nigerian IT institutions and IT professionals. We must always bear in mind that solid and relevant education helps the global competitiveness of a nation. Following the American example, many nations prioritise Science, Technology, Engineering and Engineering (STEM) subjects to compete effectively in the future. There is a new realisation that STEM is not enough, so we now have STEM+E. Here E represents Entrepreneurship. This is thoughtful because you need STEM skills to develop, grow and sustain organisations, including basically science and engineering firms like NASA, Apple, ExxonMobil, AliBaba, etc. But mere entrepreneurial skills are not as good as the kind of knowledge and skills advocated for STEM professionals by Phillip Kotler, arguably the greatest marketing management scholar of all time. Kotler argues that STEM education must go hand-in-hand with reasonable education in economics and management. He, therefore, calls for good business and economics schools for nations which we want to do well in this century. We need in Nigeria not just more internationally recognised management schools like Lagos Business School but also excellent economics programmes in our institutions.

AI will create more global wealth. It will create more business and economic opportunities. When the digital revolution was emerging a few decades ago, it was feared that most people would lose their jobs and many businesses would suffer. A few lost their jobs and a few firms ran into a stormy weather. But it created far more jobs and businesses and prosperity. It even gave rise to new academic disciplines like computer engineering which is a major enabler of world development and an employer of labour. Prompt engineering, created by AI, may develop into a full academic discipline and employ a arge workforce. Economists right from the time of Adam Smith have always spoken of the Invisible Finger in the affairs of human beings. This is likely to be the case with AI.
18. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for listening. Let me hear your remarks and questions.  

German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz has warned against violence spreading like wildfire “with incalculable consequences for the whole region” following the biggest attack on Israel in years by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

“We warn everyone against fueling and spreading terror in this situation,” he said, noting he would hold a discussion with US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the topic later.

“The security of Israel is Germany’s reason of state and we will act accordingly,” he said.

Scholz said he had already spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also aimed to speak with the Egyptian president about possible mediation efforts.

He added that authorities had increased the protection of Israeli and Jewish institutions in Germany in view of the attack on Israel and condemned reported celebrations of the violence on German streets.

[REUTERS]

In a wave of resurgence of attacks on Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa, another Nigerian has been killed by an unknown gunman.

The latest victim is Anambra-born Anene Esihi from Agulu in Anaocha Local Government Area.

The National Secretary- General of Nigeria Union South Africa (NUSA), Mr Somadina Okeke, announced the death in a statement on Sunday, a copy of which was emailed to Persecondnews.

On Sept. 22 this year, NUSA had raised the alarm over fresh terror attacks being unleashed on Nigerians by a criminal vigilance group in Sasolburg, Freestate Province.

The union had in a statement claimed that the attacks were not only perpetrated on the streets but that the group also located, robbed, denuded and assaulted Nigerians in their homes.

The union also accused the police in the province of complicity in the fundamental human rights infringed and which had led to the death of three persons.

“Three persons were killed. No arrest has been made. Survivors are living with traumatic scars.

“Some are terrified of leaving their places of abode to carry out their daily activities for fear of being assaulted,” it said.

Okeke alleged that Esihi was attacked and shot severally by his assailants between 7.30 p.m. and 8 p.m., at his shop, No. 8A St. Georges Street Central Business District, Bloemfontein.

He said that after he was shot, his landlord chased the unknown assailant but he couldn’t get him.

“During the chase, a cell phone fell from the unknown gunman which another onlooker picked from the ground.

“The Police and Ambulance Service were called but when they arrived, the medical team declared Anene dead.

“The crime scene department also came with its forensic officials and afterward his body was taken to a government mortuary,’’ Okeke said.

He added: “The cell phone recovered from the unknown gunman was handed over to the Police investigation officer as evidence.’’

The union urged Nigerians in that country to be law-abiding and to carry on with their legitimate business, promising that it would do its best to ensure that it secured justice for the slain member.

NUSA also condoled with the family and friends of the deceased as well as Nigerians living in that country.

[persecondnews]

Prominent corporate lawyer and former NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, 51, is running for governor of Edo State on the platform of Labour Party. The election is scheduled for September next year. Announcing his aspiration last week, Akpata said he chose Labour Party because it is people-oriented. But the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, prefers another corporate lawyer, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, 64, as his successor. APC is yet to make its choice. The stage is therefore set for a titanic electoral battle in Edo with the main combatants being two prominent Lagos lawyers who are also friends. I know both of them, but in this piece, I want to share a few tips with Akpata on what he should expect as he prepares to take on an incumbent who does not brook dissent. Outgoing governors usually invest all the resources at their disposal, including their emotions, ego and psychology, into installing their preferred successors, so much so that the governor begins to assume that the contest is a personal affront to him. To that extent, Olumide Akpata should have in the back of his mind that he would be contesting against Godwin Obaseki; or to put it more appropriately, he would be confronting the incumbent governor; and he may take it personal.

Succession politics could be a matter of life and death for some exiting chief executives because the power of incumbency is the most potent political force in Nigeria. In fact, since 1999, less than 10 % of all outgoing governors have failed to put their anointed choices as their replacements. Statistically, the odds do not favour the opposition candidate. You must therefore be well prepared for the battle ahead. I have some experience in this. Since 2015, I have served as a communication consultant to three different opposition governorship candidates in Akwa Ibom State, and I can confirm that being an opposition candidate no be moi moi.

The first hurdle to overcome is the issue of zoning; and this depends on how strong this factor is in Edo politics. Gov. Obaseki and former governor Lucky Igbenedion are from Edo South, while former governor Adams Oshiomhole is from Edo North. Akpata is from Edo South and Ighodalo from Edo Central. Since 1999, Central has not produced a governor apart form Prof. Osunbor Oserheimen who was on the seat for only 18 months before he was sacked by a court judgement in 2008 and was replaced by Oshiomhole. Within PDP, the sentiment is that the next governor should come from Edo Central, but Labour and APC are yet to make a categorical statement on their zoning preferences. In some states like Akwa Ibom, zoning is a very strong factor and so the governorship position moves to another senatorial district every eight years. There is no debate. But if zoning is not such an important consideration in Edo, then Akpata ought not to worry. He should, however, be well prepared to give a convincing justification for why he is running in case voters in Edo Central come up with ‘’it is our turn’’ protests. No doubt, Gov. Obaseki will definitely play it up.

By the electoral law and INEC Guidelines, party primaries are held six months to the election. There is a bit of time to prepare for it, but as a major opposition candidate, Akpata will do well to pay attention to a few important things now. It is crucial that he secures the backing of the national and state leaders of his party. As the national leader, Peter Obi will be an important influence in deciding who secures the nomination, but other NWC and SWC leaders are also very crucial and he should endeavour to establish very close relationships with them. I am pleased to note that the State Chairman of the Labour Party, Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi, had already pledged to be fair to all the aspirants. But nothing should be taken for granted. The party executives in Benin will expect Akpata to fund the party handsomely, in addition to making regular cash payments to them ‘’for logistics’’. As we say in this business, he is now the new ATM of the party! The demands will be many and regular, and if he fails to meet their expectations, the leaders may turn treacherous and back another aspirant, or even an opposition party candidate. They will then give some strange reasons for their about-face; something like: ‘’Akpata is not serious. Politics is not law. We are not joking in this business’’. I have seen it all.

In addition, the rank-and-file supporters will also exert pressures on him for financial gratification. If he does not have a thick skin and deep pocket, he may not accommodate their varied requests – money for food; school fees; hospital bills; house rents; house-warming; wedding; baby dedication and even funeral expenses. In return, they will pledge to ‘’win my Local government 100% because nothing happens in my polling unit without me. I am the one that makes things happen on election day’’. Some may not even have a voter’s card! As election day approaches, the more senior politicians and party excos will also ask him for money for sundry items – to arrange for security; to settle INEC; to see the DPO or Commissioner of Police; to see ‘’Abuja’’ or ‘’clear road’’ or for ‘’voter appreciation’’ (another name for vote-buying). They too have their language. ‘’I am on the ground in my ward. On election day, I can commandeer everything. I have been on ground since the days of Action Group. I have never lost my unit’’. I don’t know about Edo, but in my state, there are basic terminologies that convey the message. They include: ‘’trans’’; ‘’close the meeting, etc’’. They all refer to putting down cash to be shared to party members at the end of every meeting.

By now, Mr. Akpata should be going around the state, meeting with and introducing himself to key politicians, businessmen, religious and traditional leaders and other important stakeholders in all the LGAs. Known as consultation, these visits constitute the first round of campaign (well, unofficial campaign in the sense that the campaign season is yet to be officially flagged off by INEC), but it is, nonetheless, very important and not cheap to execute. The aspirant will give cash and drinks at every stop, and the hosts will pray for him and assure him of their support, depending on how pleased they are with the size of his envelops and the assortment of the drinks he brought. Note that the same prayers would be offered to all the other aspirants that visit. Even if the host is a member of Labour Party, he may open his doors and receive aspirants from other parties in the name of ‘’we are all brothers. Politics will not separate us’’. But in reality, the envelops and the drinks are the attraction. As one traditional ruler told a visiting aspirant to my hearing, ‘’my job is to receive all aspirants, pray for them and bless them, but it is up to God in Heaven to choose one of them and make him governor’’.

Consultations usually last till the beginning of the primaries. Each party decides whether to do a direct or indirect primary; the former being more easily manipulated by the Party executives than the later. If the aspirant does not have a strong standing with the party leaders in the state, he should go for the indirect primary. For the indirect, he will have to spend money to secure the delegates’ list. There are usually the ‘’Abuja List’’ and the ‘’List from the State party Office’’. May God help that aspirant who is not favoured by the Abuja List. Sometime, trying to harmonize the two lists could tear the party apart and this usually result is pre-election court cases. In 2019, Prof Pat Utomi contested for governor of Delta State. Utomi reported later that on the primary day, he was driving around looking for the venue of the primary election when he heard on the car radio that the event had been concluded and the winner’s name announced. Clearly, Utomi was not favoured by the party leaders. Party primaries have become very complicated and corruption-ridden components of our party politics.

By the Electoral Law, it is the national headquarters of the party that should conduct party primaries; and more often than not, it is their decision that stands, even if the state executives have a different opinion. But it is the state executives that work with the candidates to campaign for the election. So, if you win the party’s ticket, but you fail to secure the backing of your state executives, you could suffer calamitous back-stabbing. In the last election, I knew of one state chairman of a party who openly campaigned for another party because his party’s candidate was not generous enough! It is, however, important for an aspirant to understand how delegates emerge from the different congresses that would be conducted before the primaries. A smart and wealthy politician can influence the process, and therefore have full control ‘’the List’’.

After winning the party primary election, the aspirant becomes the candidate. This is typical a Nigerian characterization as there is no other country in which this demarcation exists. If Akpata wins the Labour Party ticket, he will go on to face Ighodalo of PDP and the APC candidate. Wherever the APC candidate comes from will have some influence on the outcome of the general election. If he is from Central, that means he will split the vote from that region with Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, and if he is from South, he and Akpata will share the votes in that zone. But since the most influential APC leader in Edo, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, is from Edo North, my sense is that the APC candidate will emerge from North. Already, Mr. Clem Agba, a former commissioner in Oshiomhole’s cabinet who also served in Buhari’s cabinet as Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, is preparing to announce his bid soon. Agba enjoys the support of the former labour leader.

While Ighodalo will enjoy the support and protection of the governor, Akpata will fend for himself, grappling with series of unexpected challenges that would crop up as the campaigns progress. He may be denied use of government facilities like school premises, parks or public arenas on which to stage his campaign rallies. Sponsored thugs could be sent to disrupt his rallies or his billboards may be torn down. Even the police may turn against him, if he is seen as a serious contender who may cause an upset. Of course, the state-owned media will never carry any positive news about him. Everything depends on how fair Gov. Obaseki wants to be. Although Labour Party performed very well in Edo State during the last presidential election, Akpata should note that governorship elections are typically influenced by local issues. First, the voters will ask many questions about the candidate; his family background and his personal contributions to the state. What has been the level of his philanthropic investments in the people? Does he have a statewide empowerment programme like a scholarship scheme? Has he been extending help to the widows; market women; orphans and the poor in Edo State? In Akwa Ibom State, governorship candidates are assessed by the level of their philanthropy and economic investments in the state. Although Mr. Umo Eno was assailed by many certificate scandals which the courts eventually dismissed, his credentials as a major employer of labour through his hotel chain helped him considerably.

Funding the campaign is always a major challenge for an opposition candidate. He should, first of all, put together a campaign team, headed by a competent manager, usually referred to as Director General, who preferably should be a former senator or House of Representatives member. It pays for the DG to have cognate experience in contesting election. The campaign organization will have departments like Security; Media & Communication; Venue; Transport; Finance; Protocol, etc. A governorship campaign costs a lot of money (between N5 billion and N10 billion) and this is where the government-sponsored candidate has a major advantage over the other candidates. Sooner than later, the opposition candidate runs low on cash, and he’d be surprised that his friends and associates, who had been pushing him on, will not help much in contributing money. One rich guy blatantly refused to help his friend financially. When I asked why, he answered, ‘’I cannot see his path to victory’’. In other words, the likely your chances of success, the more funds you can raise; and without money, your chances dim and dims.

Finally, Edo is lucky to have successful professionals as the main candidates for next year’s election. I am of the opinion that if a critical mass of successful, competent and honest professionals makes their way into politics, they would make positive impact.

The management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has responded to ticket racketeering allegations in its rail operations, saying it has suspended nine workers found culpable.

This comes after some staff members of the NRC were alleged to be involved in fraudulent dealings, collecting cash from passengers which they do not remit to the government as well as ticket racketeering.

Speaking to journalists at the Obafemi Awolowo Station in Ibadan, the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, said nine members of staff involved in the fraudulent practice had been suspended.

“It’s an offence to carry an intending passenger to enter the train without having a ticket,” Okhiria said.

“We have made that arrangement and we have staff members to check the tickets before they get to the departure hall and also check the tickets before they can get to the platforms to board the train.”

The NRC boss stated that adequate steps had been taken to prevent such people without tickets from being allowed to pass into the departure hall and onto the platform to board the train.

“I just came here to remind them that anybody caught will not be spared and to ensure that we do the right thing at the right time,” he added.

[NaijaTimes]

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has said that Nigeria, at 63, needs to become truly independent and self sufficient instead of depending on loans.

The Deputy Speaker said this while speaking at a stakeholders’ dialogue on the implementation of Section 45 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, on Saturday in Lagos.

Kalu, who was represented by Mr Nalaraba Abubakar, Chairman, House Committee on Loans and Debt Management, noted that previous governments sustained budgets through loans, an approach he considered not sustainable.

According to him, the compliance of the provisions of Section 45 of the FRA remains crucial to the banks and other financial institutions before lending to any government of the federation.

“Lending by banks and financial institutions is contravention to the FRA 2007 is unlawful,” he said.

The Deputy Speaker further stated that it was imperative for banks and financial institutions to comply with the provisions outlined in Section 45 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act before they lend to the government.

He also noted that it was essential to consider the authorised borrowing limit specified in the appropriation Act and adhere to the extant provisions of Section 45.

Kalu, who expressed disappointment that state governments were borrowing for consumption rather than focusing on long-term capital expenditure for production purposes, argued that the trend worsens the country’s inflation and inhibits economic growth.

He, however, urged state governments to explore their own potentials and enhance local production to increase internally generated revenue instead of relying solely on the Federal Government.

“We encourage states to stop depending on federal government and boost their local production, thereby increasing internally generated revenue.

“I commend FRC in its responsibility of keeping up with promoting a transparent and accountable government fiscal management framework for Nigeria,” the deputy speaker said.

Kalu also expressed disappointment that the authorities in charge of monitoring inflow of grants into the country had no proper record of the grants.

“These grants do not just pass through the thin air, but by processes, which the commercial banks are involved in.

“It is important for commercial banks to liaise with the government by making disclosure on the inflow of the grants,” he said.

According to him, accumulation of those aids and grants are crippling the economy, which has become unbearable.

He, therefore, confirmed that the 10th Assembly was prepared to introduce legislation that would bring transparency to the processes of grants entering the country, adding that there are plans to enact a law compelling commercial banks to disclose the sources of grants, their beneficiaries, and who holds custody of the funds.

The lawmaker said: “We have billions of dollars coming into Nigeria as grants, but cannot pin point where the grants are going into in the economy.

“So, it’s important that the commercial banks work together with the government to rebuild the country, because a bouyant economy would also contribute in the activities of the banks too.”

[RipplesNigeria]