The immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yayaha Bello, has threatened to institute legal proceedings against an online medium that published report linking him to an attack on President Bola Tinubu.

Bello who spoke through the Director, Media office of the former governor, Ohiare Michael, on Monday described the publication as not only a mischievous but absolutely senseless report.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a not only mischievous but senseless report published by a mushroom blog called Daily Excessive, which attributed fake quotes against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to our principal, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

“Ordinarily, we would not have even bothered to give this any attention, because no informed Nigerian would take such a ridiculous story, written by a sick mind, seriously, especially since court records are public documents.

“This clarification is, however, necessary for the record and for the benefit of social media users who circulate fake news without fact-checking the details.”

He said that the report, which is part of the desperate plot by irresponsible politicians to strain the relationship between the President and the former governor is the most laughable twist in their failed bid to execute their bring-him-down-at-all-costs mirage.

“The Media Office of His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, hereby states that the report in circulation by one Daily Excessive blog, which quoted the former governor to have said that he would reveal to the world how President Tinubu became President is not only misleading but also a confirmation of how unintelligent some unrelenting detractors of the former governor are.

“Every Nigerian following court proceedings, since the former governor submitted himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, knows that trial has not commenced in any of the cases. Former Governor Bello has only taken his plea at both courts.

“The court is an open place where journalists and other stakeholders monitor proceedings. This is the reason no informed Nigerian would even consider opening this sick report by an ‘Excessive fake news purveyor’ called Daily Excessive. But a ‘conquered’ mind is a sick mind, so we understand the plight of these mischief makers,” the statement added.

Bello further reiterated his support for Tinubu, and his party, the All Progressives Congress.

[OpinionNigeria]

The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Brig. Gen. Yushau Ahmed Dogara has reiterated the scheme’s zero-tolerance policy for protests and indiscipline among serving corps members.

Dogara, who handed down the warning during a working visit to the temporary orientation camp in Kaduna, said, in the last three months, several corps members have attempted to protest, resulting in disciplinary actions against them.

He reminded corps members that the scheme’s bylaws clearly outline the consequences of indiscipline, and corps members are expected to adhere to these rules.

“In NYSC, just like in the Army and the Police, we don’t allow protest because we are disciplined and law-abiding. So whenever anybody wants to deceive you, go back and read your bylaws.

“In the last three months, we have a few corps members who are indiscipline. They attempted to protest. So, we are keeping them behind due to their act of indiscipline”, he said.

He expressed concerns over the safety of corps members, particularly with regard to night journeys, warning that most night journeys are hazardous and have resulted in accidents and kidnappings.

According to him, the scheme has lost several corps members to night journeys, and it is essential to take proactive measures to prevent such incidents, urging corps members to desist from night journeys and prioritize their safety.

“My concern has been these incessant night journeys that have claimed so many lives. Sometimes they are involved in accidents and some other times kidnapping and we never recover them.

“One of my top agenda is the security and welfare of corps members which is why anywhere I go, I must stress these two issues”, the DG added.

On corps members allowance, he announced that the government has agreed to double the monthly allowance from N33,000 to N77,000.

The increase is expected to reflect in the corps members’ allowances soon, pending the completion of necessary processes, especially the cash backing, he assured.

“I need to tell you that whenever the government increase salary, we in the NYSC approach the government for increment in corps members allowances and there was never a time the government did not respond to us.

“This time, the government has agreed to double the amount from N33,000 to N77,000. We are only waiting for cash back because other processes have been communicated to us”, he confirmed.

The Supreme Court has imposed a N5 million fine on a former presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, for harassing President Bola Tinubu with frivolous and vexatious suits.

Owuru, who contested the 2019 presidential election against former President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), was ordered to pay N5 million to Tinubu.

Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji issued the order against the former presidential candidate while dismissing his fresh suit praying for the removal of Tinubu as Nigeria’s president.

Apart from the N5 million fine, the apex court ordered its Registry not to accept any frivolous suit-originating summons from Owuru again.

At the day’s proceedings, Owuru, who claimed to be a lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, sought to argue his case wearing his wig and gown.

He was ordered out of the Bar and directed to remove his wig and gown before he could be allowed to argue his case.

Upon complying with the orders, Owuru was asked why he came before the court again, having had his suits dismissed three times.

Although he tried unsuccessfully to convince the Apex Court to grant him adequate audience, his explanations were rejected as unconvincing.

Following his recalcitrance, the court threatened to refer him to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee LPDC.

Justice Aba-Aji ruled that Owuru’s conduct was unbecoming of a lawyer of over 40 years, as he claimed to be.

In the end, the Court dismissed his suit and ordered him to pay Tinubu N5 million.

The court lambasted him for taking the Supreme Court for a ride, wasting its precious time with baseless suits and grossly abusing court processes.

Before the suit was thrown out, Bode Olanipekun SAN who appeared for President Tinubu had drawn the attention of the court to several cases of Owuru that were dismissed on account of frivolity.

He added that the direction of the fresh suit could not be understood because of the poor ways and manners it was couched by the applicant.

Olanipekun SAN also said that it was difficult for him to apologize to the court on behalf of Owuru because the conduct of the applicant had become something unbearable in the practice of the law profession.

In his own response, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Taiwo Osipitan assured that the conduct of the former presidential candidate would be referred to the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.

The Court of Appeal had previously imposed a fine of N40 million on Owuru, to be paid to Tinubu, INEC, and others, for filing a suit against them.

The new suit prayed the Apex Court to sack Tinubu on two major grounds: alleged non-qualification to hold office as Nigeria’s President and alleged usurpation of the office in contravention of the law.

Defendants in the suit were former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Tinubu as 1st to 4th defendants, respectively.

He claimed that his suit at the Supreme Court, which would have removed Buhari from office, was technically jettisoned by the Apex Court due to a mix-up in hearing dates.

He also prayed the Apex Court to disqualify Tinubu on account of the forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States of America over an alleged drug trafficking-related offence.

Besides the alleged forfeiture, Owuru accused Tinubu of being an active agent of the CIA, a position he claimed disqualified Tinubu from holding the office of President of Nigeria.

Specifically, Owuru prayed the Supreme Court to invoke Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution to remove Tinubu from office on the grounds of being under the control of foreign authorities.

He also asked the Supreme Court to declare him Nigeria’s President and order his immediate inauguration to reclaim his alleged usurped mandate.

[TheNation]

The N47.9tn 2025 budget presentation to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu, earlier fixed for Tuesday, December 17, has been shifted to Wednesday, December 18.

Our correspondent in the Senate authoritatively gathered from top management staff of the National Assembly.

The insider source said an official statement on the postponement should be issued within the next few hours.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had, during the announcement at the Thursday plenary, announced that President Tinubu will present the 2025 budget on Tuesday.

He said, “The president has made his intention known to the National Assembly to present the 2025 budget to the joint Assembly of the National Assembly on the 17th of December, 2024.”

Akpabio announced that the budget presentation will occur at the House of Representatives Chamber.

He further informed the lawmakers that plenary will be at 10:30 am to allow senators to meet in the Red Chamber before moving in procession to the House of Representatives chamber where the budget will be presented.

Tinubu had last month submitted the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2025–2027 to both the Senate and the House of Representatives last Tuesday.

[Punch]

Comedian and actor AY Makun has spoken out about the recent controversy surrounding Netflix’s supposed halt in funding Nigerian original films.

The controversy was ignited by filmmaker Kunle Afolayan, who claimed that Netflix had ceased commissioning Nigerian originals, raising concerns about the streaming giant’s commitment to the Nigerian market.

In an interview with Nollywood on Radio, Makun clarified that Netflix is not exiting the Nigerian market but is likely re-strategizing its approach due to financial concerns.

“I had a meeting with Netflix recently and it was never mentioned to me that they are opting out of business in this part of the world,” Makun stated.

“At the last meeting, we discussed my next project and how they can be a part of it. I also do not want to believe strongly that they are leaving Nigeria.”

Makun noted that Netflix’s struggles in Nigeria stem from financial challenges.

“The truth is if you are doing business in a particular region and you are not making money but spending much more than you’re making, you would want to re-strategise. That is what is going on with their system and structure,” he said.

The comedian explained that Netflix’s spending in Nigeria has far exceeded its earnings, prompting the company to reassess its business model.

He pointed to the widespread practice of subscription sharing and low subscription rates as key factors contributing to Netflix’s challenges in the country.

“For example, the subscription basis for Netflix in a country that has a population of over 200 million people is just about 300,000, so there is a leakage somewhere that needs to be corrected,” Makun noted.

He added that many Nigerians are accessing Netflix content through shared subscriptions rather than purchasing individual subscriptions.

“You would see a person with a Netflix subscription sharing with several people, so that’s the problem. It is not just about the filmmakers,” Makun concluded.

Vanguard News

Deborah, the Nigerian singer and daughter of Paul Enenche, the senior pastor of Dunamis International, and her husband Sam Hawthorn on Sunday welcomed their first child. 

The Eneche family took to Instagram on Monday to announce the baby boy’s arrival.

They posted a video showcasing Deborah’s journey to motherhood, from her final trimester to the moment she arrived at the hospital with her loved ones.

The video also captured the tender moment when Deborah hugged her newborn son, surrounded by her family.

In the caption accompanying the video, the Enenches expressed their gratitude to God for the new addition to their family.

“What a Faithful God we serve!” it reads. “He has not left us without His kindness and mercies in this season.

“We return all the Honor and Glory to Him for the Blessing of a Baby Boy on Sunday the 15th of December 2024.

“Congrats mummy Deborah and Daddy Sam.”

The announcement was met with an outpouring of congratulations from friends, family, and fans.

Hawthorn married Deborah in 2022. Their wedding sparked controversy after she walked down the aisle carrying a Bible instead of a bouquet.

At the time, Deborah said her choice of carrying the Bible reflected her desire to build her marriage on a strong spiritual foundation.

[TheCable]

Bitcoin soared to a record high above $106,000 on Monday following comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump suggesting plans to establish a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, akin to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

This announcement fueled optimism among cryptocurrency investors and sent prices skyrocketing.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $106,533 before settling at $104,462, marking a 3.2% gain.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also saw gains, rising 1.5% to $3,965.

Market enthusiasm on the rise 

Investor confidence was further boosted by the inclusion of MicroStrategy, a major Bitcoin holder, in the Nasdaq 100 index. This development is expected to attract increased institutional inflows, adding to Bitcoin’s momentum.

“This is uncharted territory for Bitcoin. The market now has its sights set on the $110,000 mark. The anticipated pullback never materialized due to the overwhelming bullish sentiment driven by this news,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.

Bitcoin’s meteoric rise aligns with expectations that the incoming Trump administration will adopt a more favorable regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies. Trump’s remarks to CNBC last week hinted at an ambitious agenda:

“We’re going to do something great with crypto because we don’t want China or anyone else—others are embracing it—and we want to lead,” he said.

• When pressed on whether he envisioned a strategic reserve for Bitcoin, Trump responded affirmatively: “Yeah, I think so.” 

• The idea of a national Bitcoin reserve has gained traction as governments globally begin to explore similar strategies.

• Data from CoinGecko reveals that governments currently hold 2.2% of Bitcoin’s total supply, with the U.S. owning nearly 200,000 Bitcoins valued at over $20 billion. Other notable holders include China, the UK, Bhutan, and El Salvador.

Global shift toward crypto reserves

The concept of cryptocurrency reserves is not new. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S. dollar’s diminishing role as a global reserve currency, citing its politicization. “Countries are turning to alternative assets, including Bitcoin. No one can prohibit it,” Putin remarked.

However, despite the excitement, skepticism remains. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently likened Bitcoin to gold, suggesting its role may be more speculative than practical.

Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, expressed caution:

“While Trump’s comments provide a tailwind for Bitcoin, the establishment of a strategic reserve would be a complex process with far-reaching consequences. It’s not something likely to happen soon.” 

What you should know 

Bitcoin has surged more than 50% since the Nov. 5 election that saw Trump elected along with many other pro-crypto candidates. The total value of the cryptocurrency market has almost doubled over the year so far to hit a record over $3.8 trillion, according to CoinGecko.

• Trump – who once labelled crypto a scam – embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.”

• Trump this month named a White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, former PayPal executive David Sacks, a close friend of Trump adviser and megadonor Elon Musk.

• Trump also said he would nominate pro-crypto Washington attorney Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• In Nigeria, stakeholders have urged the Nigerian government to take proactive actions to benefit from the impending crypto boom in the global market under a pro-crypto U.S. President, Donald Trump.

According to the President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Association of Nigeria (SiBAN), Mr. Obinna Iwuno, in a statement shared with Nairametrics on Tuesday, said Nigerian regulators would need to take urgent actions on these steps to avoid losing value to foreign markets.

[Nairametrics]

“Why should the next election be about Tinubu and Atiku again? When is rape enough? For daring to ask those questions, I will be asked to shut up and will be reminded that Atiku and Tinubu are doing with our democracy “things men do.” Their men think they are our husbands, and so, whatever they do with us, we are stuck with them just as Wicker’s world is to Durham Anderson. We wait to see. But, perhaps, more immediate is that in the new year, we need lots of popcorn in our theatre. There will be drama – comedy, tragedy, and a combination of both; a salad bowl of claps and raps”.

Adrian Louis is a witness to what popcorn does in a movie theatre. The American poet’s poems are apparently for Nigeria, a nation in eternal transition: “We gave them corn which, once popped/ into miniature buttered clouds/ gave us the opportunity to watch ourselves: / bloodthirsty, slow-thinking and grunting.”

We need lots of popcorn as we go into the new year. An Atiku Abubakar vs Bola Tinubu spar started last week over where the next president should come from and who the person should be. Tinubu’s man, George Akume, fired the first salvo. He demanded that, “President Tinubu, as a southerner, should be allowed to have a second term, meaning that those eyeing the presidency from the North in 2027 should look beyond that year by waiting till 2031.”

Almost immediately, Tinubu’s ex-friend, ex-(political) bedmate, Atiku Abubakar, came out roaring. He counter-asked that the next president must come from his part of the country, the North, and queried Akume’s sense of justice. “Where, then, does true equity and fairness reside? By the year 2027, the South will have enjoyed 17 years of leadership—eight years under Obasanjo, five years under Jonathan, and four years under Tinubu—while the North will have experienced only 11 years, with Yar’Adua serving three and Buhari eight. This results in a disparity of six years between the North and South, casting a shadow over the balance of power.” That was from Atiku Abubakar.

Tinubu’s man said that Tinubu should be the sole beneficial owner of the future. Atiku spoke about “equity and fairness”. He said “the South will have enjoyed 17 years of leadership…” I read him two, three times and I was tempted to ask him: Did Nigeria start to exist in 1999 when his calculation started? If fairness is the talk, what would have been more equitable than starting our maths from independence, 1960? And, looking forward, why should the future be locked in for just those two lions in our jungle? Why must the future be a continuation of the story of those two who have been major (mis)writers of our democratic story since 1999? Should they forever think all others are stags, food for their lions?

People who reason that way obviously think ‘the lion’s share’ should be for the lions. Aesop, storyteller of antiquity, puts what those two think of us in perspective. The story is reproduced here verbatim as told in folklore:

A long time ago, the Lion, the Fox, the Jackal, and the Wolf agreed to go hunting together, sharing with each other whatever they found.

One day the Wolf ran down a deer and immediately called his comrades to divide the spoil.

Without being asked, the Lion placed himself at the head of the feast to do the carving, and, with a great show of fairness, began to count the guests.

“One,” he said, counting on his claws, “that is myself the Lion. Two, that’s the Wolf, three, is the Jackal, and the Fox makes four.”

He then very carefully divided the meat into four equal parts and said: “I take the first portion because of my title since I am addressed as king; the second portion you will assign to me, since I’m your partner; then because I am the strongest, the third will follow me; and an accident will happen to anyone who touches the fourth.” The other animals kept quiet – they dared not talk, and got nothing for their efforts; the king of the jungle took all the benefits. That is the meaning of might; it is always right. It is also the root of ‘the lion’s share’ as an English expression.

Thomas Grey Wicker was an American political reporter and columnist. He spent a large chunk of his 85 years on earth reporting and writing books. He wrote ‘Facing the Lions’ – a political novel published in 1973. Before then, he wrote ‘The Kingpin’; he wrote ‘The Devil Must’; he wrote ‘The Judgment.’ Then he wrote ‘A Time to Die.’ He wrote many more books, three of them under the pseudonym ‘Paul Connolly.’ But it is to his ‘Facing the Lions’ I turn in discussing Tinubu and Atiku and their ambition to be boss forever. Charmaine Allmon Mosby’s ‘Among the Dog Eaters’, an excellent review of the novel, makes it easy for me to use Wicker here. I encounter in their character Bull Durham Anderson, a political leader who “plays upon the emotions of the masses for power, profit, and place…” and who “does not mind if the ends are contaminated by the means…” Mosby is surprised that the man “frankly admitted misuse of his power, and yet the voters repeatedly returned him to office…” Why? We ask that question here also in Nigeria. The answer may come tomorrow.

This and several other quotes from that novel could well have come from the page of an irreverent Nigerian newspaper columnist: “I’ve known men with good sense otherwise that would swear on the Bible that if (Anderson) stole a dollar he gave ten back in hell to the corporation…” At the man’s death, his son excuses everything he did; he says that his dad was merely “a man like you and me.” Then, he concludes that: “Every vicious thing he did, every law he broke, every man he bought and cheated and ruined, all that power he used for his own ends, the barnyard of corruption he made out of this state – just like it says on there, he was always a man. He did the things men do.”

Why should the next election be about Tinubu and Atiku again? When is rape enough? For daring to ask those questions, I will be asked to shut up and will be reminded that Atiku and Tinubu are doing with our democracy “things men do.” Their men think they are our husbands, and so, whatever they do with us, we are stuck with them just as Wicker’s world is to Durham Anderson. We wait to see. But, perhaps, more immediate is that in the new year, we need lots of popcorn in our theatre. There will be drama – comedy, tragedy, and a combination of both; a salad bowl of claps and raps.

I may well not have indulged in the controversy surrounding Kemi Badenoch’s ill-statement about Nigeria had it remained a discourse among low profile Nigerians. But when I read a piece on her by Bishop Mathiew Hassan Kuka, whom I respect very greatly, I knew the matter has gone up to the highest echelon of the Nigerian society. Bishop Kuka, by all standards, is a highly placed, powerful, respected and influential Nigerian, whose views not only deeply resonate in society but also motivate and mold public opinion at home and abroad. Hence, when I saw his write up expressing his considered thoughts and a prayer on her, and conveying a perspective that I most respectfully do not wholly agree with, I decided to pen down my view as a way of averting people’s minds to another perspective.

2. While reading Bishop Kukah’s piece extolling Kemi Badenoch’s ascension to the leadership of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, one could see how well-meaning and hopeful the erudite clergyman is regarding the first Black leader of Britain’s major political party. However, with all due regards, the respected Bishop’s article omitted to critically evaluate the broader implications of her political trajectory vis~a~vis her controversial disavowal of her Nigerian ancestry. Even though Badenoch’s rise is, indeed, a remarkable feat of political progress, her widely reported comments on Nigeria, characterizing the country in a reductive and dismissive manner, reveal not only a lack of strategic foresight but also an underestimation of the importance of identity in politics.
3. Surely, Badenoch’s accomplishment is historic, for whatever it is worth. Still, it cannot justify Bishop Kukah’s piece glorifying her status without interrogating the consequences of her rhetoric on Nigeria and the broader African diaspora. I believe it is essential to distinguish between her personal success and the lost opportunity for a more inclusive political narrative that embraces and uplifts her heritage rather than repudiating it. In essence, therefore, my perspective invites a reflection on the responsibility of political leaders to balance personal ambition with the broader implications of their narratives on identity, legacy and global solidarity.
4. In politics, identity is power. Leaders such as Rishi Sunak in the UK and Barack Obama in the US exemplify how embracing one’s ancestry enhances relatability and strengthens their political narrative. Sunak’s proud acknowledgment of his Indian heritage did not diminish his Britishness but, instead, fortified his position as a symbol of the UK’s multicultural promise. Similarly, Obama’s Kenyan roots became an integral part of his message of hope and global unity, projecting the United States as a melting pot of global identities.
5. By contrast, Badenoch’s diminutive remarks about Nigeria signify not only a strategic misstep but portrays her poor understanding of politics, especially British politics that she somehow found herself in. Instead of weaving her heritage into a narrative of resilience and aspiration to her advantage, as Obama and Sunak perceptively did, she distanced herself from it, denouncing her ancestral home to a stereotype of corruption, terrorism and dysfunction. This approach, while seemingly pandering to her base, undermines her long-term political credibility. In an increasingly globalized world, where diasporic ties are increasingly becoming vital in politics, Badenoch’s dismissal of her roots alienates potential allies and supporters, and gave the British society a lethal political weapon against her.
6. Anyone with an elementary knowledge and understanding of British politics will tell that its underlying trait is treachery. From Christopher Cromwell to Keir Starmer, British politics is characterized by its cutthroat pragmatism. Yes, Badenoch’s rise within the Conservative Party is commendable, but it is naïve to assume her ascent will shield her from the entrenched treachery of British political culture. Thus, any romanticization of her accomplishment that ignores this historical pattern of the British political establishment co-opting “outsiders” as symbols of diversity while swiftly discarding them when expedient is a faulty narrative.
7. Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, both celebrated female leaders, faced brutal exits orchestrated by their party. Badenoch, as a Black woman and child of immigrants, will face even greater scrutiny. By alienating her ancestral identity, she forfeits the solidarity and moral support that could cushion her inevitable fall from grace. When the treacherous British political knives are out, and they will be soon enough, pilloring her and making reference to her ancestry that she denied, not only Badenoch won’t have any answer to that but she won’t also have a supporting ancestral country. At that time, she will know that she is not English, and won’t ever be. Then she will find herself politically homeless, neither accepted as fully British nor embraced by the Nigerian diaspora she disowned. The massive rejection of Kamala Harris by the conservative white majority of America in last month’s presidential election is a lesson to note.
8. But respected Bishop Kukah’s argument downplays this significant aspect of Badenoch’s Nigerian roots, suggesting that her critics are motivated by envy or misplaced nationalism. With all respect, this perspective misjudges the symbolic power of ancestry in global politics. Ordinarily, within the framework of current liberal democracy in the West, Badenoch’s background as the child of Nigerian immigrants holds transformative potential for her rise to British Prime Ministership. Her position offers a unique platform to challenge stereotypes about Africa and its diaspora, showcasing the contributions of Nigerians to global progress. But her denigrating views of her ancestral homeland put her out as untrustworthy. Nigeria has many great citizens holding critical global leadership positions who remain proud of their Nigerian heritage, such as Dr. Akinwumi Adesina of AfDB, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of WTO, Hajia Amina Mohammed of UNO and a host of others holding high elective, appointive and bureaucratic positions across the globe.
9. Instead of leveraging this potential, Badenoch has chosen not just to distance herself from her heritage but even denigrate it. This decision reflects not strength, but weakness on her part – a poor cognitive ability to recognize the profound interconnectedness of personal identity and political success! By rejecting her roots, Badenoch loses the opportunity to redefine what it means to be British while remaining proudly of Nigerian descent. Though Bishop Kukah posits that Nigeria should rally around Badenoch as a symbol of diasporic excellence, I am afraid her rhetoric does little to inspire such support. Her statements reinforcing negative stereotypes about Nigeria, perpetuating a narrative of dysfunction rather than resilience, suggest that she does not need nor deserve the support of Nigeria and patriotic Nigerians.
10. Figures like Sunak and Obama succeeded by turning their ancestral identities into assets, celebrating their heritage while advocating for progress. Badenoch’s approach, however, suggests a lack of pride and confidence in her roots, which makes her unfit for public trust even by the British society. Nigeria does not need people who exploit its weaknesses for personal gain but rather those who highlight its potential and advocate for its betterment.
11. While respected Bishop Kukah’s admiration for Badenoch’s achievements is understandable, his piece overlooks the strategic and moral failings of her approach to identity and politics. True leadership requires not only personal ambition but also the capacity to inspire and uplift others. Badenoch’s disavowal of her Nigerian roots is not merely a personal choice but a political error that undermines her credibility and integrity to give good leadership. In celebrating Badenoch’s rise, let us not miss the opportunity to challenge her to do better – to embrace the complexity of her identity and use her position to advance a more inclusive and representative vision of leadership. Without this, Badenoch’s political legacy will remain a tale of missed opportunities and a betrayal of the very heritage that made her story possible.

From November 25 to 28, 2024, the Katsina State government hosted the annual conference of the National Council for Civil Service Commissions (NCCSC). This is coming on the heel of a hiatus of over ten years. This fact in itself immediately speaks to a significant issue in the ineffectiveness of the gatekeeping function of the civil service commissions in Nigeria. If the body in charge of the gatekeepers has failed for over ten years to adjudicate on their effectiveness or otherwise, it raises a cause for concern. However, the conference theme—“The Role of the Civil Service Commissions in Driving the Renewed Hope Agenda”—signals a readiness of the NCCSC to regain its constitutional function in regulating the affairs of the civil service commissions in Nigeria as a means of getting the public service to function effectively as a mechanism for democratic governance and development effectiveness. 

Apart from my keynote as the chairman of the federal civil service commission (FCSC), three significant technical sessions were also facilitated by distinguished resource persons who are well-versed in the signifiers of the defining challenges that the public service faces from their different vantage points of expertise. Professor Adeola Adenikinju is the president of the Nigerian Economic Society and had been involved in national planning designs, macro-economic policy change management and advisories for decades; Mr Soji Apampa, the founder of the Convention on Business Integrity, had contributed to conversations and praxis in the building of national integrity systems as systemic bulwark in the anti-corruption campaign, and as essential pillar in the values reorientation dimension to national cultural adjustment dynamic; and Prof. Abdullahi Shehu, a professor of criminology, is the former Nigerian ambassador to the Russian Federation, has core expertise in capacity building on anti-corruption policies and mechanisms; promoting integrity as vital component of governance and institutional reforms, and anti-money laundering and terrorism financing. Between the three of them, they highlighted several fundamental issues. First, there is the critical role that the civil servants must play in deploying transparency, accountability, professionalism and innovation in facilitating the efficient and effective implementation of the key priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.   

In my keynote, I laid a fundamental emphasis on the transformation of the CSCs as the ultimate game changing agent that is committed to a renewed governance partnership with the government through the institutional reform of the public service. And the objective of this reform is to achieve the re-institution of a professionalized, competency-based, meritocratic, and efficient value institution in Nigeria through the effective monitoring of the constitutional gatekeeping mandate. This demand that the CSCs be capacitated sufficiently to facilitate, in the shortest possible time, the emergence of a new generation of public managers who are patriotically committed to the reconstitution of the public service for effective and efficient service delivery in Nigeria. This will demand, within the framework of the renewed governance partnership, the establishment of performance contract with the employees of the MDAs, and a service compact with the communities of service and practice of public administration in Nigeria, as well as with the Nigerian citizenry. This compact will instigate the generation of flagship reform and service initiatives, change programmes, peer review platforms and learning events that will likely keep the various CSCs of the federation engaged all year round. 

A brief historical excursion will throw into broad relief the emergence of the civil service commission as the handmaiden of the British government in ensuring the institutional sanitation of the British civil service as the fulcrum of meritocratic efficiency. It will also firmly ground the significant relevance of the Katsina Declaration as a critical watershed in getting the CSCs to gatekeep the vocational significance of the civil service in making the Renewed Hope Agenda crucial for the betterment of Nigerians. Through its evolution from the ancient pharaonic Egyptian society to the monarchy in Britain, it had been difficult for public administration, or the appointment of public servants, to be divorced from the whims of the king or the emperor. Indeed, the Crown deployed the civil service as a system of patronage that is, of course, determined by political consideration and ridden by corruption. It is a system that flouts the politics-administration distinction which is meant to separate between politics and administrative matter for a meritocratic administrative efficiency. However, by the time the Magna Carta had been crafted in the 13th century, there was already a growing need to separate politics and administration, and orient the status of the civil servants on the state and not the Crown. 

Much later, and specifically in 1782, some series of economic reform programmes were initiated to effectively deal with the system of royal patronage and decrease the influence of the King on the legislature. Even though this reform had a political motive, its unintended consequence on administration was the emergence of an efficient and non-political civil service. In other words, as the officials who were gradually removed from political activities became more non-political, they also increasingly became more permanent. It then became increasingly impossible for any of these administrators to lose their positions on political grounds. The early eighteenth-century Britain therefore began to see the gradual rise of non-party officials who remain in place when government changes. This led to the second reason that facilitated the separation between politics and administration. As administration was consolidating its autonomy, politics was equally becoming more complex for a minister to ever think of combining it with administrative activities. 

It was at this period that the term “civil servants”, as opposed to the military servants deployed by the East India Company, was first used in India. By this time, it was already settled that a permanent civil service could only be secured by the establishment of a security of tenure for public servants. On the other side of the Atlantic in the United States, the Pendelton Act of 1883 was promulgated to undermine the spoil system which made political patronage the basis of recruitment into the service. The Act recognized the significance of competitive examinations as the basis for ensuring merit in the recruitment of civil servants. It was founded on three specific objectives: (a) the use of competitive examinations for admission into public service; (b) provided job security for public employees; (c) prohibited political activity by the civil service; and (d) encouraged a non-partisan approach to an employee selection

However, by 1854 two very significant reform reports were submitted that would transform the administrative efficiency of the British civil service and redeem its status as a noble vocation. The Report on the Indian Civil Service and the Northcote-Trevelyan Report were both meant to safeguard the system against recruitment practices that will undermine the relevance and utility of the civil service for the British government. The Report on the Indian Civil Service was meant to institute specific intellectual tests which will constitute the moral standard for cultivating unique qualities—“industry, self-denial, a taste for pleasure, not sensual, a laudable desire for honorable distinction, a still more laudable desire to obtain the approbation of friends and relations”—that will stand the civil servants out as public spirited and professional.  

On the other hand, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report is even more revealing. In specific terms, the Report was based on four basic premises:

• Recruitment into the Civil Service should be by open competitive examination, the examinations would be conducted by an independent Civil Service Board who would ensure that entry into the service would be entirely on the basis of merit.
• Entrants should not be recruited for life into a specific department but would enter a Home Civil Service that would facilitate inter-departmental staff transfers. Civil servants, therefore, would need to have had a general education and to be generalist rather than specialist in their knowledge and experience.
• Recruits would be segregated at entry into a hierarchical structure of grades, ranging from the lowest (mechanical) level of clerical officers, only capable of simple routine task, up to the most elevated (intellectual) administrative level which would provide the ranks of senior civil servants who exist to assist and guide ministers in the formulation and administration of policy.
• Promotion ought only to be on the basis of merit and should not be on the ground of preferment, patronage, purchase or simple length of service (Pilkington, 1999: 19).

These two reports inaugurated the emergence of the civil service commission in Britain. There are two implications for the civil service system in the Commonwealth that inherited the British administrative system. The first is the understanding of the politics-administration dynamics that specifies the relationship between the minister and the civil servants. In other words, the CSC becomes the institutional mechanism that would ensure that the civil service system retain its objective of producing intelligent, efficient and effective public servants that would be able to help implement government policies. The second implication is the emergence of the cadre system which ensures that entry into the civil service is gained through competitive examinations. This served as the basis for the establishment of a generalist class—administrative, executive and clerical—as the administrative echelon of the civil service system in a descending hierarchical order of responsibilities and qualifications. 

If, as it has become clear from the bureau-pathology of the civil service in Nigeria (and the various technical sessions at the Conference), that we have not kept faith with the founding mandate that inaugurated the CSC as the gatekeeping mechanism for constantly reinventing the civil service as a noble calling, how do we then commence that reform? What are the fundamental next steps to be taken in pushing the CSCs in the right reform directions? The ultimate objective is the restoration of the CSC as the efficient gatekeeper for professionalism and service integrity enabled by a constitutional mandate to serve as the defender and protector of a merit system grounded on a competency-based human resource management practices in the civil service. 

Six fundamental steps are possible to get the CSCs in Nigeria to this ultimate objective. One: there is the need to professionalize the CSC secretariat so as to capacitate it as the core change space for resolving all human resource and other related issues concerning the public administration profession in Nigeria. Two: there is the correlated urgency to modernize the processes and services of the secretariat through continuing digitization that will enable it to eliminate barriers to creativity and innovation in the service delivery mandate of the public service. Three: the various CSCs need to review and upgrade the guidelines for appointment, promotion and discipline in the civil services, as well as reinforce the standard operating procedures across the various CSCs as a mean of guiding against the incidences of sharp practices, the politicization of staff career management, and the enforcement of strict compliance with the rules of law and the constitutional order in all operations. With regard to promotion, there is the need, for instance, to institute a performance-based promotion system rooted in competency and project-based assessments. 

Four: it is also imperative to undertake a comprehensive review of the CSC’s delegated powers to the MDAs in terms of operational guidelines with a view to strengthening oversight, compliance and enforcement. Five: it becomes imperative that all CSCs must strategically collaborate with their respective heads of service to undertake and facilitate the value audit of the civil service that will achieve the objective of enforcing discipline in terms of the code of conduct and code of ethics of the civil service. This will be to articulate a cultural adjustment programme and value reorientation of the civil service as a noble calling. Six: the CSCs must embark on studies to profile changes and transformations in the emerging new public service, especially in terms of the new normal demanded by COVID-19 transformation of the workplace, the increasing changes enforced in the nature of administrative processes due to new digital technologies and artificial intelligences, and the peculiar sociological imperatives of emergence of the Gen Z and Gen Alpha and their impact on the nature of work. This new normal articulates urgent administrative measures that are demanded for situating the public service within the urgency of relevance for the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions. Seventh and finally: each CSC must align these new reform directions and imperatives with their implications for industrial relations. The plan must be to shift the focus away from the adversarial to developmental labour activism and relations that make possible sustainable change agenda in the public sector.          

Setting out on these reform directions requires specific reform strategies and focus of implementation. It demands, in other words, change management requirements that are specific for getting the CSCs up to speed in its intent of achieving its constitutional role as the powerhouse for the enforcement of merit-based competency in the civil service. The NCCSC Conference threw up lots of strategic reconsiderations that promise significant reform rewards—in terms of facilitating the “Katsina Declaration”—for advancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the civil service in Nigeria as a world class institution for backstopping democratic governance and the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.  

One fundamental and pressing business the Conference threw up which has an overarching impact on not only firming the rearticulation of the public service as a new institutional brand—as a vocational calling—is the urgency of promulgating a Public Service Act as a legal tool for codifying the instrumental efficiency of civil service governance and operations. The need for the Act derives from the argument that the inherited administrative codes such as public service rules, financial regulation, guideline on administrative procedures, etc., which have their deep roots in the British unwritten constitution tradition, have become outdated, especially in the light of contemporary postcolonial realities in Nigeria. This is also more so that the British that bequeathed this administrative tradition has evolved beyond it to enact numerous legislations for the governance of the public service. 

This Public Service Act also has deep implication for strategically revisiting the staffing requirements of the civil service, but specifically that of the CSCs. This speaks, for instance, first to the generalist framework that constitutes the CSC secretariats’ skills set. This framework grossly limits the CSCs and their problem-solving capacity to resolve various career management issues involving staff. This is further complicated by the high turnover rate and other challenges associated with staffing the CSC from the civil service common pool. The next strategic consideration derives from the urgency of digitization and automation that must be the basis of modernizing the CSCs’ critical operations. Recruitment, for example, requires online application portals that are back-ended by effective databases. Promotion also demands online recalibration in terms of accreditation and CBT assessments. Discipline and appeals can be fast tracked through the deployment of software that tracks reports, cases and processes. 

Civil service commissions will need to capacitated to be much more effective and efficient within the context of available funds and resourcing frameworks. The FCSC and the state CSC will therefore need to become creative in sourcing for a range of technical supports to raise funds that will enable critical studies. 

• First, there is the need to reinvent the CSC founding mandate to deepen guidelines that undergird merit in entry-level assessment and to infuse better contents and standards to, for instance, review quality of the syllabi and questions in the computer-based tests at promotion exams. 
• Second, the CSCs need to deepen the guidelines for grounding the application of the federal character policy on merit and meritocratic parameters in the recruitment process. 
• Third, the CSCs need to initiate diagnostic studies to unravel the structural bottlenecks hindering career progression of officers as mean by which to reinvent manpower planning, manpower forecasting and succession planning that articulate a better framework for monitoring the size and growth of service through internal management controls.

Lastly, the Katsina Declaration emphasized the need to keep the modernizing imperative in sight through the constant organization of seminar events, both virtual and physical, that keep the attention of the CSCs firmly on new and emerging trends and global practices in human resource practices that keep the Commissions on their toes in terms of their constitutional mandate in the new administrative normal.

The Katsina Declaration constitutes another turning point, and a crucial one at that, in facilitating the reawakening of the CSCs to their constitutional mandate. And this is even more fundamental at this period when the Tinubu administration really demands that the civil service regain its effectiveness to be able to translate the policies of government into dividends of democratic governance.