US President Joe Biden has condemned the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, his predecessor and presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. 

In an address from the Oval Office late Sunday, Biden harped on the need “to lower the temperature” in politics.

“We are not enemies, we’re neighbours, we’re friends, co-workers, citizens, and most importantly, we are Americans,” he said.

“Yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high. The choice we make in this is going to shape the future of America and the world for decades to come.

“But politics must never be a literal battlefield, or God forbid, a killing field. I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate.

“We stand for an America not of extremism and fury, but of decency and grace. All of us now face a time of testing as the election approaches.

“The higher the stakes, the more fervent the passions become. This places an added burden on each of us to ensure that no matter how strong our convictions are, it must never descend into violence.”

Biden said he spoke with Trump last night, who “thankfully… is not seriously injured”.

“I’m grateful he’s doing well. Jill and I hold him and his family in our prayers,” the president added.

Biden called for differences to be settled at the ballot box, not through bullets.

The president also offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

Hours after the assassination attempt, Trump said the “bullet pierced the upper part of my right ear” after he felt it ripping through his skin.

The former president said he has shelved plans to speak on how bad the current US administration is at the Republican national convention scheduled for Thursday.

Trump said he now wants to speak about overcoming the political divide in the country.

[TheCable]

Last week, Nigeria’s Supreme Court took a fundamental step towards dismantling the grip of state governors on the local government(LG) system and local government funds. The Supreme Court ruling on a suit filed by the attorney general of the federation, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, pointedly said the governors were undermining the functionality and operations of the LG system. They stretched it further by inferring that the governors were hell-bent on destroying democracy. In this landmark judgement, the Supreme Court made it clear that it is unconstitutional for state governments to control, withhold or tamper with funds meant for local governments and prohibited any further allocation of LG  funds to state governments or funds to councils without elected officials. Even with the best of intentions, the judiciary exercised legislative authority and redefined the fundamental concepts of federalism. With this move, Nigeria’s 774 local government councils will receive allocations directly, circumventing State-LG joint accounts prescribed by the constitution in Section 162(6) and governors’ interference. This decision aims to ensure that state governments do not misappropriate LG funds and provide financial independence for LGs. The court further directed that governors cannot dissolve democratically elected LG officials because it violates our 1999 constitution. 

Presently, LGAs are provided for and captured in the constitution, but they are just extensions and appendages, in fact, at the mercy of state governments. Governors and regional leaders have consistently opposed any attempt to provide LG autonomy from the post-independence days (1960-1966). The subordination of that level of government and the alleged embezzlement of its finances reached a fever pitch in 1999.  At some point, governors elected on the APC platform cautioned the National Assembly in 2013 to focus on their business and forget local government autonomy. The governors contend that other presidential-style federations, from which we derived our model, all have two tiers of federating units. The LGA system in all such two-tier federations is entirely and discretionarily the responsibility of the state government. 

Governors perceive local government autonomy as a danger to their power and influence at the grassroots. They want to maintain a firm grip on LG politics and administration. Governors believe state autonomy and local government autonomy as congruent and not separated. These ruling challenges this assumption and tries to establish LG autonomy and financial independence from the state. However, some have argued that it affects the balance of power between the federal and state governments when the federal directly funds the local governments and may use it to control or challenge the state power or other political leverage. 

For decades, governors have been seen by the populace as meddling in the smooth functioning of LG councils, especially tempering the funds allocated to that tier of government. The trust of the Supreme Court ruling, which evidently was influenced by popular yearning, is on the issue of financial autonomy and did not extend to other fundamental issues affecting local government functionality in Nigeria. It is a no-brainer that the fight to liberate local government from the shackles of control by different tiers of government may have started with financial independence; much more needs to be done.

Like most Nigerian institutions, the most significant reason why the LGA system is functioning sub-optimally is the complete absence of free, fair, and credible elections. Without free and fair elections, accountability and transparency are just wishful thinking. Leaders at that level, or any other level for that matter, do not owe their emergence to the power of the people and, therefore, have no sense of responsibility. The creation of state independent electoral commissions, practiced in other federal systems  , has become our albatross in Nigeria. Except for a few states, abusing that constitutional provision merits an award for infamy.

Related to the abuse of the electoral process, which is widespread and deeply rooted in the country’s political landscape, is the issue of the quality of persons “elected” to that level of government. The dearth of capacity is not limited to elected officials but is also established in the LGA civil service. The outcome is disastrous when charlatans and political jobbers are forced on the people in local governments with little or no capacity to lead or even manage resources. The practice is that governor’s gift local government chairman positions to their cronies and touts who are experts in rigging elections but have no modicum of decency, leadership capacity or intellectual dexterity needed to lead LGs.  

Another reason LG autonomy is a mirage is the recruitment, discipline, and appointment of top LG civil servants by the state government through the LG Service Commission. This is where political interference is most located, and we have given the least attention. There is often a need for more qualified and motivated personnel in local governments. This shortage of skilled workers affects the quality of services provided and the implementation of development projects. Bureaucratic inefficiency, red tape and slow administrative processes hinder the effective delivery of services and the implementation of development projects.

We have been seduced to believe that financial autonomy is  the only pathway  for LGs to define their own development priorities and implement them independently. This can be compared to giving you a coin in one hand and taking it from another hand. The devil is often in the details. We must dig deep to evaluate the quality and capacity of the human resources needed for effective and modern local government governance. 

The institutional frameworks within which local governments operate are often weak and poorly enforced. This results in a lack of accountability and transparency in the management of local government affairs and that is the greatest problem of a financially independent LG system. Weak institutions and poor oversight are the other stumbling blocks to LG system that can achieve a modicum of results or development. The legislative councils, where they exist, are comparable to living furniture in the chairman’s office or a waiter for the most powerful state-level politician in the LGA. Annual audits from the office of the auditor general of LG and internal auditors in the Council are more of a ritual than any serious assignment of examining and verifying financial transactions.

Corruption has since been democratized in LGs. True, it is rampant at all levels of government in Nigeria, including the local level. Funds meant for development projects often get siphoned off by corrupt officials, leaving local communities needing more resources for growth and improvement. Also, in many parts of Nigeria, local governments face significant security challenges, including insurgency, banditry, and communal conflicts. These security issues divert resources away from development projects and create an unstable environment for effective local governance.

Finally, there is high public apathy and low civic engagement in LGs. The populace are too distant from the LG administration to insist on accountability . Many citizens need to be more engaged in local government activities. This lack of public involvement and oversight allows dysfunction and corruption to persist unchallenged. Addressing these issues requires comprehensive reforms to improve governance, increase transparency, ensure adequate funding, and foster greater civic engagement.

Beyond these anchors on the neck of LGs, the Supreme Court verdict is a starting point for a long-drawn process. It will help the LGs in three ways. First, the  profound constitutional change by the Supreme Court  will put them on a journey of financial independence and accountability. Second, this ruling may become the catalyst for the further reform of the LGs to become fit for purpose. It will help set the agenda of having a holistic look at LG to make it more functional and purposeful. Third, we must decide whether to take LGs seriously as the third level sub sovereign  with attendant functions and responsibilities or to scrap it and have proper two level federating units. Some have argued that it does not help to have a superstructure that recognised LG as micro sovereign tier of government  on paper and not in practice. 

Aside from financial autonomy, LGs  must achieve administrative and political freedom to foster grassroots growth. They exist as separate legal entities free of state government apron strings or should be removed from the constitution to create a two-tier structure. Free, fair, and credible elections are the most critical step towards genuine LG autonomy without contestation. We must revisit this and decide how best to achieve this, either through the existing state Independent Electoral Commission (state INEC) or by allowing the Federal INEC to conduct all elections in Nigeria.

Nigeria is held down by economic losses and threats to lives due to the perennial insufficiency in public power supply. According to a report, “what Nigerians spend on self-generation of power – on fuelling and servicing their generators – is N16.5 trillion” yearly. Imagine the economic outcomes of investing this sum elsewhere. Yet, the federal government is seemingly indifferent.

Though there have been successive attempts the power sector is still yearning for robust interventions.

The latest was the privatization of the generation and distribution segments of the electricity value chain with Nigeria retaining the transmission component. It was designed to last for 10 years, from 2013 to 2023, for possible renewal.

Presently, the 10th Senate is investigating several messy deals perpetrated in the last administration which cumulatively heightened the debt profile of the country.

One of them is the Make-Up Gas (MUG) transaction involving the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited and the Calabar Generation Company Limited.

Nigeria recorded a scandalous loss in this project.

Going by the preliminary outcomes, Nigeria cannot attain availability and affordability of electricity except decisive actions are urgently taken.

Establishing the overall ineligibility of NDPHC, the panel, through its vice chairman, Senator Lola Ashiru, retorted that “looking at all these things, there is issue of capacity to enter into contract. When there is no capacity to enter into contract, what it means is that the existence of your business is in doubt. The only way we can get out of this is a total renegotiation and when you are doing total renegotiation, you must be sure of your own capacity to do business. If you are not sure of it, we will just be going round and going deeper into debt”.

The committee further lamented that “now we are talking of our own GenCos and every day of our lives we are going deeper and deeper into debts. I don’t know what we should do at this stage, but I think it is important for you to carefully restructure your business, to carefully restructure yourself and repackage all these indices into a new contract renegotiation”.

This is just a reinforcement to the persistent outcries that the licensed operators lacked the integrity, competence and capacity to discharge their obligations.

But sadly, political expediency and sundry narrow interests would not allow for necessary actions.

According to Senator Ahmad Lawan, sitting then as the president of the Senate, “the federal government in recent years has invested billions of dollars in this sector, most of which money appear to have gone down the drain as the problems of inadequate power supply continue to plague Nigeria. Even the subsequent privatisation of the sector has had no visible impact. In fact, many Nigerians believe that we allowed ourselves to be further defrauded through the privatisation of the sector”.

Continuing, “the truth is that we all know what is wrong. What we really need to do is to have the political will to take on the challenges generally. From the electricity power reform of 2005 to the privatisation of GenCos and DisCos and to what is happening today, we know that everything is a fraud”.

Fraud?

He therefore warned that “if we play the ostrich, in the next 10 years we will be talking about the same things. I think the time has come for us to have courage”.

Elsewhere, he stressed that “the distribution companies have no capacity to supply us power. We shouldn’t continue to give them money. They are private businesses. We need to review this whole thing”.

Note: “We shouldn’t continue to give them money”. Also, this was a verdict by the head of a crucial arm of the federal government which was unchallenged, even to date.

So, what happened afterwards, one may rightly ask?

Lawan’s 9th Senate investigated “all federal government interventions in the power sector since the privatisation of the sector with a view to ascertaining the adequacy of such interventions and their desired impact”.

But while Nigerians were feeling upbeat, the Senate handed down two directives.

The first was for “the Ministry of Finance to include the Nigerian Electric Power Sector in the disbursement of the proposed N500bn COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund in order to ameliorate the financial hazards and operational challenges” while the other was for the Central Bank of Nigeria “to allow operators in the power sector access to foreign exchange for procurement and materials”.

Nigerians were taken aback at this display of inconsistency. Rather than dealing with the identified “fraud” the government kept empowering these private investors in their desperation to milk the already ailing economy, in addition to subsidy payments.

How time flies!

Exactly four years after Lawan’s outburst there was yet another subtle threat of imminent calamity in a 10-year interval. The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, stunned Nigerians with the revelation that “for this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than $10 BILLION ANNUALLY IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS”.

He had earlier justified the outrageous electricity tariff increase with the claim that the federal government owed N3 trillion to the operators in addition to about N1.5 trillion for the 2024 subsidy.

For the record, the 10th Senate twice opposed the hike without success because with the weak constitution, the legislature has its say but the executive has its way.

Meanwhile, the privatisation terms provided that Nigeria would generate 40,000 megawatts by 2020. Yet, 10 years later, it remains a herculean task exceeding 3500 despite all the successive noises about economic prosperity.

Just recently, Aliko Dangote reminded us that “nobody can create jobs with an interest rate of 30 per cent. No growth will happen. NO POWER, NO PROSPERITY. No affordable financing, no growth, no development”.

But the craving for political correctness would still not allow for the acknowledgement that the inefficiency of the regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, catalysed the “fraud” in the first place.

Realizing that the operators lacked the financial capacity and convictions to invest, but were only out to make profits, a patriotic regulator would have saved Nigeria the harrowing experience.

Bola Tinubu is the third president in the lifespan of the ill-fated privatization. His first five months in office were coincidentally the last five months of the deal.

He admitted that “10 years on, I believe it is fair to say that the objectives of the sector privatisation have by and large, not been met”.

But moving forward, “the poor performance must not continue to drag the sector down. All licensees must not only have the technical capacity to deliver on their license but must also have the financial muscles to invest to improve their operations”.

Supporting Mr President, the power minister emphasized that “10 years down the line the licenses are expiring, and it is high time for renewal. Renewal is not automatic. Any of the privatized companies that have not lived up to expectations will not have the license renewed. We have to consider whether you have complied with the terms and conditions of the licence you were given. We will look at the technical capacity of the GenCos and the DisCos. We will look at the financial credibility”.

What a reassuring presentation!

But right away, both Tinubu and his minister were mercilessly punctured with the revelation that the failed operators’ licences had since been renewed.

According to NERC, “it has been rumoured that the licenses of the DisCos will expire this year, but the truth is that the DisCos were given a 10-year license, but AS THEY TOOK OVER, the commission extended their license by five years. So, the DisCos have 15 years license. So, their license will expire five years from now which is 2028”.

This is enough proof that somebody is not actually in charge!

Who says that Adams Oshiomhole was not right in his assertion that the people driving governance are the ones sabotaging the economy?

However, Tinubu has fairly demonstrated a sense of commitment.

Within his first week in office, he exhumed and signed into law, the Electricity Bill that was passed by the 9th Assembly but was not processed. Ideally, this legislation holds a great future for the power sector, especially in the areas of empowering the states and other independent entities to produce electricity as well as the vast opportunities in the Green Economy. Again, he approved the settlement of the debts owed to the operators and exempted them from paying “withholding taxes” and also, removed the electricity subsidy, albeit, ill-timed.

Then, he created the Presidential Economic Coordination Council to among other targets, achieve “energy security”.

But respectfully, Mr President, there are already, sufficient policies. Implementation is the issue. You can only extract views from critical stakeholders to enrich the existing frameworks for purposeful implementations. Rather than billions of naira, it is better to inject discipline and efficiency in the power sector, primarily, to diminish the ‘saboteurs’. Nigerians are eager to know what informed the questionable renewal of the operators’ licences.

To fully unleash the inherent potentials of the Electricity Act, the headship of the MDAs should be about competency and capacity rather than political patronage. The minister should embody the policy direction, key performance indicators and operational framework for productivity.

Finally, Your Excellency, please, further demonstrate that yours is a forward-thinking government. Restore and renew citizens’ hopes with available, accessible and affordable electricity towards revamping the economy. It is only in this that Nigerians can believe that truly, the era of playing politics with the power sector is now buried with a genuine commitment.

Egbo is a parliamentary affairs analyst.

There is palpable fear and confusion in the camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as another party bigwig at the weekend rejected appointment into the party’s campaign council for the Edo governorship election taking place on September 21, 2024

In a statement, a former deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Pally Iriase, declined the party's nomination into the membership of the National Campaign Council of the APC released on Wednesday.

Iriase’s name had appeared as a member of the Campaign Council but in a statement at the weekend rejected the appointment.

The statement reads, “My attention has been drawn to the fact that my name is included in the list of appointees into the National Campaign Council for the gubernatorial election in Edo State by the All Progressive Congress (APC).

“I appreciate the National Working Committee (NWC) for finding me worthy of the appointment.

“But, I hereby reject the appointment for the following reasons:

“I was never consulted. I have for several years stepped away from partisan politics and I do not intend to change my mind.

“I do not want my associates, friends, admirers, and family to see me as a hypocrite.

“While wishing them a successful campaign and a peaceful election, I strongly urge everyone to respect my desire to be excluded from partisan politics.”

My Dearest brother & Publisher

Your life's journey has been a testament to innovation and passion. Your contributions to the media industry and beyond are a lasting legacy.

May this milestone birthday be a celebration of your achievements and your unwavering commitment to making a difference. May your day be filled with joy, love and the knowledge that your impact has touched countless lives.

?Here's to many more years of inspiration, leadership, and making a positive impact on our world! Congratulations, my dear brother!

Segun Awolowo

Treacherous was the moment. Most editors got a whiff of the story but were either afraid or reluctant to publish. Meffy (Godwin Emefiele, then CBN governor) had gone rogue in a perfect depiction of either state capture or paralysis.

Unfolding before the nation was a farcical drama in which Meffy, long declared wanted by DSS for a raft of alleged weighty felonies against the fatherland, had not just continued to disobey Supreme Court ruling against the Naira freeze but added the novelty of being chaperoned around Abuja by a battalion of troops of the Nigerian military whose Chief of Defence Staff, Lt General Lucky Irabor, had his spouse, Victoria, planted as a director in an agency reporting directly to the errant CBN governor.

In ordinary times, only the commander-in-chief is considered worthy of such significant deployment of soldiers. The second round of the 2023 general polls, already touted as the most consequential in two decades, was only days away.

The pervading suspense in the land could, therefore, only be imagined given that the results of the presidential polls in which a toxic combo of region and religion was weaponised were still being collated across the country.

The lead floating in the media was a plot for an encore. That is, a repeat of a not-so-secret release of hefty tranches of banknotes to certain candidates a few days before the first election at the expense of other contenders. Even as the rest of the populace roiled in an induced fiscal pestilence in which Naira notes were clinically drained from circulation.

Lagos, the nation’s economic nerve centre, was particularly targeted for “hostile takeover” by the Abuja power cabal in cahoots with Meffy now leaving no one in doubt he had descended into the political arena.

At Matori (The Nation newspaper’s headquarters in Lagos), the customary bolt and nut of the big story had been tightened, with discreet help from Tunji Bello leveraging his vast network of contacts in the intelligence community to double-check the facts.

Regardless, as the production deadline approached, a big dilemma seized the newspaper’s Editor-In-Chief, Victor Ifijeh, whether to approve as the lead story for the next day, considering its “high sensitivity”. At such dire moments of clouds, The Nation newspaper customarily never looks up to another oracle other than Dr. Olatunji Dare for direction.

So, a frantic call was made to his base in the United States. In this particular case, without hesitation, the old journalism professor gave unqualified approval “however the risk, if only in the defence of truth and democracy”.

On account of the dramatic turn of events thereafter, The Nation’s lead story on the Monday preceding the state elections in March 2023 could then be described as the tie-breaker in a perilous season of power abuse at the highest level in the land, all obviously calculated to force the outcome of a national poll in a certain direction.

For the heat it generated right from the break of dawn the next day was so earth-shaking, was sufficient enough to force the hitherto vacillating presidency — conspiratorially silent, some said — to finally issue a clear statement disowning Emefiele in his continued disobedience of the Supreme Court that hoarded Naira cash be released to suffering bank depositors across Nigeria.

The recourse to Dr. Dare in faraway United States by The Nation, it bears restating, is a measure of the absolute trust reposed in his professional and moral judgement.
Indeed, as the exemplary teacher turns 80 (July 17), there can be no better time to celebrate a life dedicated entirely to the pursuit of the very symbiosis intended in the conceptualization of the idea of town and gown on the one hand, and an unstinting exhibition of the nobility of spirit and moral purpose at a personal level on the other. And one who, with the force of personal example, demonstrated professional courage at a dangerous hour in Nigeria’s history.

As philosophers already postulated, the ivory towers should serve as the nursery of ideas that nourishes and regenerates society.

As the first-ever first-class graduate of Mass Communication at UNILAG at a time when tempting offers awaited those in such an elite academic category in the job market, Dr. Dare deliberately chose the far less materially rewarding but socially sacrificial: teaching.

Though most professorial in thoughts and articulation (having bagged the much-coveted President’s Prize for Meritorious Service from the prestigious Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, and long been proclaimed a full professor until August 2015 when named Professor of Journalism, Emeritus following retirement), Dr. Dare still prefers to be addressed simply as “Dr. Dare” till date.

Thus affirming the aphorism that empty vessels make the loudest noise. Certainly not when the title is increasingly bastardised by just any quack and con artist now also prefacing their cognomen with “Professor”.
In nearly five decades, he has taught and practised journalism at the elite level and is widely acclaimed today more as a master satirist, bagging coveted medals along the line, too numerous to list here.

He has reported from more than a dozen datelines on three continents and interviewed several statesmen of global stature. His professional journalism has appeared in West Africa, Newsday, and The Seattle Times.

His popular and respected weekly column, “At Home Abroad”, is in its fourteenth year in The Nation.

Literary scholars will compare Dr. Dare to Charles Dicken, often acclaimed as one of the greatest British writers of the 19th century, in terms of this inimitable facility to command words to inflict otherwise lacerating blows with the most insidious guile. In Nigeria’s contemporary media space, his is now regarded as the gold standard in satire writing.

In fact, his satire has been the subject of two M.A. theses in Nigerian universities and articles in learned journals. It has also been featured in courses on Stylistics in programs in the English Department of some universities.

However, faced with clear death threats in 1996 under Abacha’s military despotism, he had to flee Nigeria through the fabled “NADECO route” and had no difficulty in picking a ready faculty position at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, U.S on account of his academic reputation.

A year earlier, he was awarded the Louis M. Lyon's Prize for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, recognising his steadfast commitment to journalism’s best practices.

In 1994, when compromise was quite profitable in Nigeria under a military dictatorship intent on silencing dissent, Dr. Dare, as editorial page editor, conscientiously objected to joining The Guardian mission that went to Abuja to beg Abacha as pre-condition to re-open Rutam House following the sweeping clampdown on media houses with the resurgent agitation for June 12.

To the bitter pain of the Nigerian dictator, exile only seemed to have further energized Dr. Dare’s satirist sorties against the evil rule at home at the time.

When they could not get him, the evil men on a rampage in Nigeria soon pounced on his younger brother in the Army and retired him prematurely. Years earlier, the Dare family had another illustrious son, a promising officer in the police, reported dead in suspicious circumstances.

A conscientious detective, he had bumped on probable leads to unmasking the faces behind the 1986 murder, via letter bomb, of journalist Dele Giwa. He would not yield to threats from anonymous callers to back off the investigation of a murder in which circumstantial evidence clearly established a prima facie case against Babangida’s ranking intelligence chiefs.

Then, one day, the police told the Dare family their son had died in a motor accident without any convincing proof. So much for one family to bear in the search of truth and defence of liberty.

As a Mass Comms tutor at UNILAG for ages, Dr. Dare was directly involved in nurturing of minds and moulding the character of generations of media practitioners who have excelled in the outside world. By their fruits, says the holy Bible, you shall know them.

Today, you don’t have to look too far or think too hard to identify products of Dr. Dare’s sterling pedagogy. Among them is John Momoh, now an icon of broadcast journalism and founder of Channel TV. Another is Azu Ishiekwene, winner of multiple awards and arguably Nigeria’s most syndicated columnist.

Not forgetting Victor Ifijeh, the self-effacing prodigy who has steered The Nation from a rather small beginning to its present Olympian height in Nigeria’s print media space within a record time.

Despite a colossal record of accomplishments, Dr. Dare remains a study in modesty. Whenever home and he chooses to stop over at The Nation‘s Lagos office, there is hardly any trumpeting to herald his coming. If he were to meet you at the opposite side of the staircase, there is a high probability that Dr. Dare would be the first to concede the right of way to you. Such is the intensity of his humility.

But don’t be fooled.

The saunter of a lion at leisure is starkly different from its ferocious leap when enraged or in offence. An experience perhaps best described by another senior columnist from Arewaland who once found himself in a literary cage-fight with the ordinarily gentle warrior from Kabbaland in Kogi state over a decade ago.

The equally respected writer had made an innuendo in a piece. But as they say in Dr. Dare’s native Yorubaland, only a coward afraid of the fight will conveniently choose to misinterpret a poignant innuendo to be a compliment. The ink of that insult had barely dried when Dr. Dare responded in kind.

Here is wishing the king of satire a happy 80th birthday.

Coping with Lufthansa’s racist discrimination

Travelling surely comes with its own vicissitudes: fun sometimes and nightmare at another. But one’s recent experience with Lufthansa, a German airline, was worse than a nightmare.

First, the flight from Lagos to Frankfurt was delayed more than six hours!

When we landed in Frankfurt, my connecting flight to Texas, U.S., had departed. Long story short, I spent 48 hours in transit on a journey scheduled to be less than 24 hours. Worse still, it took bouts of epistolary hell-raising before my two luggage were delivered 96 hours after departing Lagos!

But that was even a child’s play compared to my ordeal on my return trip a week later. Again, the trip was delayed by almost four hours from the take-off point such that by the time we arrived in Houston, the connecting flight had again gone. Eventually, I spent four days in transit, missing an important meeting in Lagos!

Annoyingly, on arrival, I left the airport empty-handed. It took another 48 hours to receive my luggage.
Worse still, it turned out that one of my bags was completely destroyed. When I lodged a complaint demanding compensation consistent with international best practices, Lufthansa would not accept liability. Hear their apology:
“Kindly note that Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 applies to flights departing from EU member states and flights arriving in EU member states from third countries. As your journey starts in Nigeria and ends in the United States of America, we cannot accommodate your request for compensation according to Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004.

“We would appreciate the chance to earn back your trust in our service and hope to welcome you on board again soon.

“Sincerely, Yogesh Umarani”

President Bola Tinubu extends his congratulations to Prince Nduka Obaigbena, CON, on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

President Tinubu notes the enterprising spirit of the former President of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association of Nigeria (NPAN), who founded ThisWeek Magazine, and later, THISDAY Newspapers, Arise Magazine, and The Arise News Channel.

The President prays for greater achievements for the renowned publisher, whose philanthropic efforts, especially in education, have demonstrated his passion for human development.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity) 

If you were to choose between three infrastructure, which is also often referred to as social amenities, which of these three would you choose? Or, better still still, how will you prioritize power supply, water supply and good roads? Which will come first in your order of preference? 

Power supply is the life-wire of economic activities, apart from its domestic use as well as for relaxation. Power supply also aids security. In the dark, anything can happen. That is why our people say darkness does not recognize who is VIP and who is not. Important as power is - it was the first creation of God (Genesis 1:1-5) - we can still do without it but no one can do without water. In one of Fela’s songs, he said “water no get enemy”.

 As a general rule - there may be exceptional cases - a man can only survive without water for about three days. According to Google, wilderness guides often refer to what they call the “rule of 3”, which means that a person can live without air (oxygen) for 3 minutes, without water for 3 days, and without food for 3 weeks. Water is also the soul of hygiene. Without water, it is impossible to keep our environment clean, tidy and hygienic.

Now, what are good roads? If you travel by road as often as some of us do, you will realize the importance of good roads as critical infrastructure that cannot be relegated to the background. Apart from over-speeding, one of the major causes of avoidable deaths on our roads is bad roads. Other causes include reckless driving, mechanical fault and, wait for it, overzealous and corrupt road traffic officers such as the police, civil defence, Customs, VIO, and road safety marshals. 

The wear-and-tear that bad roads inflict affect the vehicle as well as the person driving it. The economic loss that results and the health impairment that road users suffer cannot be quantified. While citizens can provide themselves with power through generating sets (even if it is the poor man’s generator called “I pass my neighbour”), inverter and solar panels; and we can also dig boreholes or wells to meet our water needs, no one is able to build all the roads he will travel on. This is a duty set apart for the government. Hence, a road is either a federal, state or local government road. How effective, responsible and responsive has the three tier of government been in living up to this obligation?

On Monday last week, I traveled to Abeokuta to participate in a live radio programme on Rockcity 101. 9 FM at the invitation of my friend and professional colleague, Niran Malaolu. The topic of discussion was the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), which the six governors of the south-west states (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo) appear to have suddenly developed interest in! 

Someone said it was because of the marching orders given to the 36 state governors by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to find a solution to the food shortage and the resounding cries of “we are hungry” resonating all over the country. Another said the incentive was the funds the president promised would be made available. I am sure you know our leaders go after the money, like the two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people (Hem and Haw) went after the cheese in the book “Who moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson.

 Yet, another explanation was that the fear of military coup (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso) and the people’s rage (Kenya) has suddenly become the beginning of wisdom for our leaders. So, DAWN, which had been comatose since its inauguration in July 2013, with many of the governors failing in their statutory financial obligation to it, has suddenly become the darling of the south-west governors. We shall return to that.

The trip from inner Lagos to the interior of Abeokuta took me less than two hours. In times past, that would have been impossible. Good roads make trips easier, faster and pleasurable. You are able to meet up with appointments - and with ease. No sweat. Each time I hopped into my car to travel, I always felt the trepidation and disgust of what lay ahead of me on some of our roads. There was an occasion when I spent six hours on the Lagos - Sango-ota - Abeokuta road that ordinarily should not have taken more than one hour. I missed the appointment I went for. That was when the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was undergoing its unending construction. I never again ventured near that road!

 Not only has it not been made good, it has gotten even worse. The right hand side of that road, going from Lagos to Abeokuta, I understand, has now totally collapsed from very close to the foot of the Abule-Egba flyover all the way to Abeokuta while the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, blames the FG . How is a gateway without good road networks linking it to Lagos, the commercial and economic life-wire of the entire country? To think that this is the same state that has produced some of the country’s foremost leaders - Awolowo, Obasanjo, Diya, MKO, Shonekan, Osinbajo, among others!

Neighbouring south-west states cannot take full advantage of their proximity to Lagos because of bad roads. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which took eternity to construct, is already wobbling at some sections, particularly at Ogere and as you drive into Ibadan around the Foursquare church camp , down to Guru Maharaj and beyond. As they say, a stitch in time saves nine. But not with Nigeria! Here, nine stitches are needed to save one! It is only when contracts worth billions of Naira can be awarded that our leaders get interested. I am sure you understand why this is usually so. 

The federal road that runs from Ibadan through Ife to Ilesa is a nightmare. I have lost tyres, shock absorbers, tie rods, upper joint, lower joint - what have I not lost on that stretch of road, save life? I have run into crevices and potholes better described as manholes. I have suffered breakdowns and skidded off the road once. On one occasion, my friend, Prof. Tope Ogunbodede (immediate past VC of OAU), had to come in the dead of night to tow my vehicle off that road. Only the grace of God sustains someone on that road.

From Ilesha juncture to Akure is fairly okay but from Akure to Owo, my hometown, is another nightmare. I understand Akure to Ado-Ekiti has become impassable. Apart from its disincentive to economic activities, bad roads make the job of terrorists, kidnappers and other sundry criminals easier. They - and the traffic and security officials who extort money from motorists and other road users - wait at the very bad sections of the road to strike because they know you must slow down there. One mischievous FRSC official sarcastically told me: “Sir, it is in your interest that the roads are bad because our statistics show that ghastly accidents are more prevalent on good roads than on bad roads!” Let's ask our leaders: is that, then, the consideration?

From the Ibadan end of the Lagos - Ibadan expressway to Iwo road junction and from there until one gets out of Ibadan and is on the Ibadan - Ife road was nightmarish in times past. One could spend hours there - a stretch of road that, ordinarily, should not take more than 10 minutes. The road was particularly bad at the time. Now, it has been reconstructed. The by-pass from the expressway into Old Ife road, just before the Iwo road junction, has also helped travelers to escape getting enmeshed in the unpredictable traffic flow at the Iwo road junction. 

The clincher, however, is the Ibadan Circular Road that the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, is constructing at a whopping cost of N120 billion. When the road is completed in November this year (hopefully!) travelers coming from Lagos and going towards Ife and those from Ife travelling towards Lagos will have the opportunity of bypassing Ibadan. I told Makinde during the facility tour of his legacy projects during the first anniversary celebration of his second term in office on Saturday, June 8, that I cannot wait to see that happen!

The 110 km Circular Road, named after a former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Olawolu Ladoja, comprises bridges and interchanges to ease traffic congestion in various areas of the city. Handled by Craneburg Construction Company, it encircles the urban area of the Ibadan metropolis and will provide a strategic link between different parts of the city and the new Central Business District. 

According to the Oyo State Commissioner for Public Works and Transport, Prof. Daud Sangodoyin, the Circular Road is not just a mere stretch of asphalt but “a catalyst for monumental change and advancement. The expansive setbacks along the road corridor will be transformed into sprawling industrial parks and a myriad other amenities. Appropriately, Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa by land mass, aims, with this project, to rival and even surpass the landmarks set by other larger and (more famous?) African cities like Cairo (Egypt), Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Johannesburg (South Africa). Again, I cannot wait to see this happen!

 Only last Thursday, the Oyo State Government carried newspaper adverts personally signed by the governor announcing the commissioning of 33 klm roads in what Makinde described as keeping his promise to fix hundreds of city centre and rural settlement roads during his second term in office. Thirty-three minus hundreds leaves us with how many more roads for Makinde to fix?

Now back to DAWN! Its mandate is: To manage Western Nigeria Development Agenda. The vision is: For the south-west region of Nigeria to become the preferred place for people to visit, live, work, and invest. Its mission is: To engender regional cooperation and integration as a catalyst for development and facilitate sustainable working relationships among different governance stakeholders. Noble ideals! 

Our problem, I am sure you know, is not in formulating ideas and coming up with programmes and policies that will wow anyone. Leadership deficiency, lack of the political will to implement laudable policies and programmes, reluctance to follow-up and conclude what we start (leading to abandoned projects and waste of resources), the selfishness and self-centredness of our leaders, their lack of discipline; political partisanship, political instability and incessant change of leaders are some of the problems that we face. 

Our people have a saying: This thing is our own is different from this thing is my own. “This thing is our own” often suffers neglect. It is passing the buck that ensures that the hen being taken care of by two owners ends up in the wolf’s belly. That was one of the viruses that killed Sketch newspapers where I started my journalism. We also saw it rear its ugly head in the tussle between Oyo and Osun states over the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso jointly owned by them. I suspect the same factor will dog, if it has not already dogged the feet of DAWN. 

DAWN’s name will also wag it, like the tail wags the dog: It is the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria; not the Development Agenda for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states. We must return, first of all, to Western Nigeria. Stop putting the cart before the horse!   

 Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of THE WESTERNER newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD'S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

The Supreme Court judgment on Thursday, July 11, granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in Nigeria has been widely commended by Nigerians.

This is as Nigerians have expressed fears that the governors, who may not give up easily, might find another means of diverting council funds.

The judgment reinstated the powers to the local government areas across the nation by mandating that financial allocations from the federation account be channeled directly to them.

It is believed that this would effectively curb the authority of state governments to remove local government executives at will.

The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), had earlier filed a legal suit against the 36 state governors, seeking full autonomy and direct funds allocation to the 774 local governments in the country.

He had prayed the apex court to make an order that funds of local governments being run by caretaker committee chairmen appointed by governors instead of elected chairmen and councillors should be withheld.

The AGF had also asked the apex court to grant all the reliefs sought by the Federal Government and grant the local governments full autonomy as the third tier of government in Nigeria as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.

He prayed the court to order the direct allocation of funds from the federation account to the local governments, even as he also sought an order prohibiting the unlawful dissolution of local government administration and the state governors’ appointment of caretaker committees to run the councils.

The suit was hinged on 27 grounds that the Constitution of Nigeria recognises federal, state and local government as three tiers of government.

It also averred that the three recognised tiers of government, draw funds for their operation and functioning from the federation account created by the constitution.

The originating summons read: “That by the provisions of the constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system and that the constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than the democratically elected local government system.

“That in the face of the clear provisions of the constitution, the governors have failed and refused to put in place a democratically elected local government system even where no state of emergency has been declared to warrant the suspension of democratic institutions in the state.

“That the failure of the governors to put a democratically elected local government system in place is a deliberate subversion of the 1999 Constitution, which they and the President have sworn to uphold.

“That all efforts to make the governors comply with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution in terms of putting in place a democratically elected local government system has not yielded any result, and that to continue to disburse funds from the federation account to governors for non-existing democratically elected local governments is to undermine the sanctity of the 1999 Constitution.”

The AGF asked the apex court to invoke sections 1, 4, 5, 7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the governors and state houses of assembly are under obligation to ensure democratically elected systems at the third tier.

But, the 36 state governments, represented by their attorneys general, opposed the suit on various grounds, including their contention that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit. All the states opposed the suit and prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss it.

However, on Thursday, the seven-man panel of Supreme Court Justices, in the judgment delivered by Emmanuel Agim, declared that the 774 local government councils in the country should manage their funds themselves, maintaining that the power of the government was portioned into three arms of government, the federal, the state and the local government.

However, in the last three days that the judgment was delivered, Nigerians from all walks of life, including ethnic nationality groups, labour unions, eminent lawyers, and ordinary Nigerians, have been commending the judgment.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Prof. Mike Ozekhome, described the judgment as timely and courageous, noting that by the decision, money would now be made available directly to the local government areas.

His position was contained in a statement he released after the judgement.

He said: “What the judgement has done is more like interpreting section 162 of the Constitution, which provides for a joint State-Local Government Account. In which case, money is normally paid to state governors’ accounts and then for them to disburse to the local governments for them to share.

“But what has been happening is that, as I noted in 2020, over three years ago, the state governors have been behaving like ‘bandits,’ waylaying local governments funds along the way, and thus, impoverishing them, and leaving them with nothing to work for, just a little for salary, and nothing to actually work for the people whom they represent.

“I agree totally with the judgment of the supreme court to grant full financial autonomy so that money is released and paid directly to the 774 local government councils, which constitute the third-tier of government, to develop their places because the LGAs are grass-rooted and nearest to the people.

“Rather than allow overbearing state governors to throw their weight around and muzzle the local governments and seize their purse, they will now allow LGs breathe some air of freedom.

“If you take a look at our situation, Nigeria is operating a very lopsided federation, more like a unitary system of government. Where the Federal Government is supposed to be a small government, it is controlling 67 items on the exclusive legislative list.

“That is why the Federal Government gets the lion share of the federation account up to the tune of 52.68 percent.

“The states get 26.72 percent, while the entire 774 local government councils in Nigeria get just 20.60 percent of the monthly allocation by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RLASMC.

“The question is: what is the Federal Government doing with almost 53 percent of the national income? That is because it is a government that is behemoth and elephantine; a government that intrudes and intervenes in areas that should not concern it at all.

“What is the Federal Government’s business with licensing cars and trucks for states? What is its business with the Marriage Act, dealing with how people marry and wed in Nigeria and how they live together as husband and wife and separate or divorce?

“What is the Federal Government’s business with unity schools; FG operating secondary schools? What is their business? Why is the FG not allowing states to generate their own power, operate their own railway stations, if they have the capacity?

“Why should the Federal Government not allow states to have their own police force? Even for the local governments to have their own police force as we have in the United States and other advanced countries of the world where even tertiary institutions have their own police?

“The truth is that the Federal Government is over bloated and over pampered. That is why it is using too much money and making the centre become too attractive, eating deep into funds that ought to be meant for the states and local government areas.

“The states take not only that which belongs to the states, but also waylay at source that which is meant for the local government areas. No nation grows that way.

“So, I see this judgment as epochal, having a far-reaching effect because money will now be made available directly to the local government areas, which will no longer be subservient, like fawning slaves to state governors.”

For the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the judgment is a triumph for the nation’s democracy.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described the judgment as courageous and transformative, saying, “We, at the Nigeria Labour Congress, wish to commend the Supreme Court of Nigeria for restoring power to the local governments.

“Its epochal pronouncement on Thursday, July 11, 2024, directing that financial allocations be made directly to local governments, as well as divesting state governments of the power to remove local government executives, is both courageous and salubrious.

“The Supreme Court, through this landmark judgment, has not only restored our democracy, but also our hope in democracy.

“Not a few believe the stunted national growth or development and the overwhelming surge in crimes and threats to our collective good is directly tied to the seizure and paralysis of local governments by state governments.

“The journey to the local governments’ freedom has been a tortuous one. For years, we have watched with dismay and discontent, the remorseless and mindless erosion of the powers of the local governments, and embarked on a series of national protests as workers.

“We also note the effort made by the Buhari administration to remove the strangle-hold of governors on local governments. We must also mention the commendable role on this matter by the 9th Assembly.

“We pay tribute to the Tinubu government for its presence of mind to institute this action at the Supreme Court. We specifically commend the President and the Attorney General of the Federation.”

Ajaero noted that, henceforth, the focus should shift towards ensuring smooth implementation without any sabotage.

“This brings us to the conduct of elections at local governments. Elections by the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIECS, have been anything but fair.

“The true freedom of the local governments, in our view, must also come from those who govern them. Should SIECS be allowed to conduct elections or should the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, take over, even as they are over-burdened and are not exactly the best example?

“Should there be a regulatory agency or commission with an oversight over SIECs? We will find the devil in the details through a stakeholders’ conversation.

“Finally, the freedom of local governments will be nothing if those who will take charge end up behaving badly like their predecessors in power. Thus, there is need for a self-purgulation or a national rebirth as laws or court pronouncements alone may not be enough,” he said.

Also for the Igbo youths, under the aegis of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, the judgment was a landmark that would deepen the nation’s democracy.

President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, said it has returned governance to the people in line with the vision of the 1999 constitution.

“All governors should immediately conduct local government elections in accordance with the Supreme Court Judgement and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We call on the National Assembly to amend the constitution to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducts Local Government elections.

“The amendments should include that the tenure of LG Chairmen must be three years as enshrined in the constitution.

“We call on the Economic Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, ICPC, NFIU and other anti-crime agencies to monitor all allocations to the local governments to ensure that their funds are being used for the purpose and benefit of the people.

“No local government chairman should allow himself to be intimidated by their governor to handover the people’s money to him. The Chairmen should know that they are only accountable to the people,” Ibem said.

Concerns, fear

Much as Nigerians across all divides have commended the judgment, there is growing concern and fear that the governors might resort to subtle threat to obtain money from the local government chairmen, thereby defeating the purpose of the judgment.

Those on this divide are arguing that if the conduct of the local government elections are still left for the governors, using the State Independent Electoral Commission, SIEC, they would still handpick and install their cronies and puppets as LG chairmen.

It is the thinking of those who hold this view that the National Assembly should move a step further to make a law that would hand over the conduct of local government elections to the INEC.

One of the proponents of this view is Mr Anthony Ugwuoke, a public affairs analyst.

He said: “The only way to make the joy of Nigerians complete over this judgment is for the National Assembly to make a law removing the power to conduct local government elections from the SIECs to the INEC.

“This is because if SIECs are allowed to do that, the governors will make sure that only their candidates emerge, and by doing so, they will still be in control of the LG funds.”

There is also a call on the National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution to legislate a uniform tenure and election for the local governments across the country.

This was amplified by the National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau, during the opening of a two-day retreat for members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review, the 36 state Houses of Assembly Speakers, and the judiciary in Lagos.

He argued that a uniform tenure of office and election for local government executive would enhance grassroots government and strengthen the country’s democratic experience.

There is also a belief in some quarters that with this judgment in place, it is now time for the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, to track the council funds and prevent their diversion to state governors by council chairmen.

A Lagos based lawyer, Mr Marcellus Onah noted that strict adherence to the NFIU guidelines would prevent any diversion of funds to state governors by local government chairmen.

He told DAILY POST: “Any person that wants to tamper with the local government funds should be ready to go to jail.

“Governors are not only doing it because they have immunity, they are also doing it because the money goes through them to the local governments.

“Now that the money is going directly to the local government account, no governor will ask the chairmen to rewire the money to them.

“I know that some governors would want to try by using subtle threats on the LG chairman, but once the chairmen are aware of the NFIU guidelines, they can stand their grounds and nothing will happen.”

The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON as well as the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, are equally asking the NFIU to brace up for the job ahead, as they have also expressed concern that the governors might not want to give up the fight so easily.

[DailyPost]

A serving police inspector, identified as Hussaini Umar, has been reportedly murdered by some suspected members of a ‘one chance’syndicate in Abuja.

The deceased, said to be attached to the Force Intelligence Bureau (FID), had reportedly boarded the gang’s vehicle from Maitama Junction in the city centre to his home in Dei-Dei community, FCT, on Friday night.

Our reporter who visited the Kubwa General Hospital on Saturday morning, came across a police convoy, who went into the facility to convey his remains, and headed for Zaria, his home town, for burial.

A police official in the convoy,  who didn’t disclose his name, said Umar was stabbed robbers before they dumped him around a bridge, near the NNPC Junction in Kubwa.

He said another vehicle ran over him, before the police patrol team, stationed around the junction, were alerted about the incident by some motorists, who took him to the hospital.

A police source in Dei-Dei equally confirmed the incident, adding that the victim had been living in the area for a while, and recently relocated his family to join him.

The FCT Police Command spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, promised to make an inquiry and get back to our correspondent, but she was yet to do so as at the time of filing this report.

[DailyTrust]